Efficient Production of Large 39K Bose-Einstein Condensates

We describe an experimental setup and the cooling procedure for producing 39K Bose-Einstein condensates of over 4x10^5 atoms. Condensation is achieved via a combination of sympathetic cooling with 87Rb in a quadrupole-Ioffe-configuration (QUIC) magnetic trap, and direct evaporation in a large volume crossed optical dipole trap, where we exploit the broad Feshbach resonance at 402 G to tune the 39K interactions from weak and attractive to strong and repulsive. In the same apparatus we create quasi-pure 87Rb condensates of over 8x10^5 atoms.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures; figure font compatibility improve

Application of design science research to design a modelling approach for procurement of infrastructure systems

© 2019 IEEE. Model-driven approaches are widely used in managing the complex domains such as infrastructure systems or disaster management. The foundation of conducting a systematic research is designing a methodology that pertinently covers the steps of research from problem definition to solution proposal and then identifying or tailoring a method for developing and validating the solution. This paper explains the application of Design Science for conducting a research which aims at providing a model-driven approach for addressing the complexities of infrastructure procurement projects. So firstly the design science artefacts are adopted for designing the method for this research. Then the steps of this method are explained briefly along with description of how each step is applied in this research. The core of this method is proposing a process for developing and validating the metamodels which is designed based on combination of other metamodeling processes

Identification of critical amino acids involved in α1-β interaction in voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels

AbstractIn voltage-dependent Ca2+ channels, the α1 and β subunits interact via two cytoplasmic regions defined as the Alpha Interaction Domain (AID) and Beta Interaction Domain (BID). Several novel amino acids for that interaction have now been mapped in both domains by point mutations. It was found that three of the nine amino acids in AID and four of the eight BID amino acids tested were essential for the interaction. Whereas the important AID amino acids were clustered around five residues, the important BID residues were more widely distributed within a larger 16 amino acid sequence. The affinity of the AIDA GST fusion protein for the four interacting β1b BID mutants was not significantly altered compared with the wild-type β1b despite the close localization of mutated residues to disruptive BID amino acids. Expression of these interactive β mutants with the full-length α1A subunit only slightly modified the stimulation efficiency when compared with the wild-type β1b subunit. Our data suggest that non-disruptive BID sequence alterations do not dramatically affect the β subunit-induced current stimulation

Identification of QTL Controlling Thermal Properties of Maize Starch

Starch has many uses and some of these uses would be facilitated by altering its thermal properties. Genetic manipulation of starch thermal properties will be facilitated by a better understanding of the genetic control of starch gelatinization. We used differential scanning calorimetry to characterize the gelatinization parameters of maize (Zea mays L.) kernel starch prepared from two populations of recombinant inbred lines, an intermated B73xMo17 population (IBM) and an F6:7 Mo17xH99 population. The traits examined were the onset and peak temperatures of gelatinization and the enthalpy of gelatinization. These traits were measured for both native starch and for gelatinized starch allowed to recrystallize, a process called retrogradation. Substantial variation in these traits was found in spite of the narrow genetic base of the populations. We identified several quantitative trait loci (QTL) controlling traits of interest in each population. In the IBM population, a significant QTL for the peak temperature of gelatinization of retrograded starch co-localized to a molecular marker in the Wx1 gene, which encodes a granule bound starch synthase. The major QTL identified in this study explain, on average, ≈15% of the variation for a given trait, underscoring the complexity of the genetic control of starch functional properties

Can a Bose gas be saturated?

Bose-Einstein condensation is unique among phase transitions between different states of matter in the sense that it occurs even in the absence of interactions between particles. In Einstein's textbook picture of an ideal gas, purely statistical arguments set an upper bound on the number of particles occupying the excited states of the system, and condensation is driven by this saturation of the quantum vapour. Dilute ultracold atomic gases are celebrated as a realisation of Bose-Einstein condensation in close to its purely statistical form. Here we scrutinise this point of view using an ultracold gas of potassium (39K) atoms, in which the strength of interactions can be tuned via a Feshbach scattering resonance. We first show that under typical experi-mental conditions a partially condensed atomic gas strongly deviates from the textbook concept of a saturated vapour. We then use measurements at a range of interaction strengths and temperatures to extrapolate to the non-interacting limit, and prove that in this limit the behaviour of a Bose gas is consistent with the saturation picture. Finally, we provide evidence for the universality of our observations through additional measurements with a different atomic species, 87Rb. Our results suggest a new way of characterising condensation phenomena in different physical systems.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Giving voters what they want? Party orientation perceptions and preferences in the British electorate

Some of the most important propositions in the political marketing literature hinge on assumptions about the electorate. In particular, voters are presumed to react in different ways to different orientations or postures. Yet there are theoretical reasons for questioning some of these assumptions, and certainly they have seldom been empirically tested. Here, we focus on one prominent example of political marketing research: Lees-Marshment’s orientations’ model. We investigate how the public reacts to product and market orientation, whether they see a trade-off between the two (a point in dispute among political marketing scholars), and whether partisans differ from non-partisan voters by being more inclined to value product over market orientation. Evidence from two mass sample surveys of the British public (both conducted online by YouGov) demonstrates important heterogeneity within the electorate, casts doubt on the core assumptions underlying some political marketing arguments and raises broader questions about what voters are looking for in a party

A recent whole-genome duplication divides populations of a globally-distributed microsporidian

The Microsporidia are a major group of intracellular fungi and important parasites of animals including insects, fish, and immunocompromised humans. Microsporidian genomes have undergone extreme reductive evolution but there are major differences in genome size and structure within the group: some are prokaryote-like in size and organisation (<3 Mb of gene-dense sequence) while others have more typically eukaryotic genome architectures. To gain fine-scale, population-level insight into the evolutionary dynamics of these tiny eukaryotic genomes, we performed the broadest microsporidian population genomic study to date, sequencing geographically isolated strains of Spraguea, a marine microsporidian infecting goosefish worldwide. Our analysis revealed that population structure across the Atlantic Ocean is associated with a conserved difference in ploidy, with American and Canadian isolates sharing an ancestral whole genome duplication that was followed by widespread pseudogenisation and sorting-out of paralogue pairs. While past analyses have suggested de novo gene formation of microsporidian-specific genes, we found evidence for the origin of new genes from noncoding sequence since the divergence of these populations. Some of these genes experience selective constraint, suggesting the evolution of new functions and local host adaptation. Combining our data with published microsporidian genomes, we show that nucleotide composition across the phylum is shaped by a mutational bias favoring A and T nucleotides, which is opposed by an evolutionary force favoring an increase in genomic GC content. This study reveals ongoing dramatic reorganization of genome structure and the evolution of new gene functions in modern microsporidians despite extensive genomic streamlining in their common ancestor

Condensation dynamics in a quantum-quenched Bose gas

By quenching the strength of interactions in a partially condensed Bose gas we create a "super-saturated" vapor which has more thermal atoms than it can contain in equilibrium. Subsequently, the number of condensed atoms ($N_0$) grows even though the temperature ($T$) rises and the total atom number decays. We show that the non-equilibrium evolution of the system is isoenergetic and for small initial $N_0$ observe a clear separation between $T$ and $N_0$ dynamics, thus explicitly demonstrating the theoretically expected "two-step" picture of condensate growth. For increasing initial $N_0$ values we observe a crossover to classical relaxation dynamics. The size of the observed quench-induced effects can be explained using a simple equation of state for an interacting harmonically-trapped atomic gas.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

On the existence of internal modes of sine-Gordon kinks

We study whether or not sine-Gordon kinks exhibit internal modes or ``quasimodes.'' By considering the response of the kinks to ac forces and initial distortions, we show that neither intrinsic internal modes nor ``quasimodes'' exist in contrast to previous reports. However, we do identify a different kind of internal mode bifurcating from the bottom edge of the phonon band which arises from the discretization of the system in the numerical simulations, thus confirming recent predictions.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, REVTeX, to appear as a Rapid Communication in Phys Rev E (July 1st