219 research outputs found
DNA Barcoding analysis of seafood accuracy in Washington, D.C. restaurants
Indexación: Scopus.In Washington D.C., recent legislation authorizes citizens to test if products are properly represented and, if they are not, to bring a lawsuit for the benefit of the general public. Recent studies revealing the widespread phenomenon of seafood substitution across the United States make it a fertile area for consumer protection testing. DNA barcoding provides an accurate and cost-effective way to perform these tests, especially when tissue alone is available making species identification based on morphology impossible. In this study, we sequenced the 5' barcoding region of the Cytochrome Oxidase I gene for 12 samples of vertebrate and invertebrate food items across six restaurants in Washington, D.C. and used multiple analytical methods to make identifications. These samples included several ambiguous menu listings, sequences with little genetic variation among closely related species and one sequence with no available reference sequence. Despite these challenges, we were able to make identifications for all samples and found that 33% were potentially mislabeled. While we found a high degree of mislabeling, the errors involved closely related species and we did not identify egregious substitutions as have been found in other cities. This study highlights the efficacy of DNA barcoding and robust analyses in identifying seafood items for consumer protection.https://peerj.com/articles/3234
Thomas-Fermi-Poisson theory of screening for latterally confined and unconfined two-dimensional electron systems in strong magnetic fields
We examine within the self-consistent Thomas-Fermi-Poisson approach the
low-temperature screening properties of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG)
subjected to strong perpendicular magnetic fields. Numerical results for the
unconfined 2DEG are compared with those for a simplified Hall bar geometry
realized by two different confinement models. It is shown that in the strongly
non-linear screening limit of zero temperature the total variation of the
screened potential is related by simple analytical expressions to the amplitude
of an applied harmonic modulation potential and to the strength of the magnetic
field.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figure
Density-functional theory of quantum wires and dots in a strong magnetic field
We study the competition between the exchange and the direct Coulomb
interaction near the edge of a two-dimensional electron gas in a strong
magnetic field using density-functional theory in a local approximation for the
exchange-energy functional. Exchange is shown to play a significant role in
reducing the spatial extent of the compressible edge channel regions obtained
from an electrostatic description. The transition from the incompressible edge
channels of the Hartree-Fock picture to the broad, compressible strips
predicted by electrostatics occurs within a narrow and experimentally
accessible range of confinement strengths.Comment: 24 pages latex and 10 postscript figures in self extracting fil
A dc voltage step-up transformer based on a bi-layer \nu=1 quantum Hall system
A bilayer electron system in a strong magnetic field at low temperatures,
with total Landau level filling factor nu =1, can enter a strongly coupled
phase, known as the (111) phase or the quantum Hall pseudospin-ferromagnet. In
this phase there is a large quantized Hall drag resistivity between the layers.
We consider here structures where regions of (111) phase are separated by
regions in which one of the layers is depleted by means of a gate, and various
of the regions are connected together by wired contacts. We note that with
suitable designs, one can create a DC step-up transformer where the output
voltage is larger than the input, and we show how to analyze the current flows
and voltages in such devices
Mission-based hull-form and propeller optimization of a transom stern destroyer for best performance in the sea environment
An overview is presented of the activities conducted within the NATO STO Task
Group AVT-204 to “Assess the Ability to Optimize Hull Forms of Sea Vehicles for the Best Per-
formance in a Sea Environment.” The objective is the development of a greater understanding of
the potential and limitations of the hydrodynamic optimization tools. These include
low- and high-fidelity solvers, automatic shape modification methods, and multi-objective optimiza-
tion algorithms, and are limited here to a deterministic application. The approach
includes simulation-based design optimization methods from different research teams.
Analysis tools include potential flow and Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equation solvers.
Design modifica- tion tools include global modification functions, control point based methods, and
parametric modelling by hull sections and basic curves. Optimization algorithms include particle
swarm optimization, sequential quadratic programming, genetic and evolutionary algorithms. The ap-
plication is the hull-form and propeller optimization of the DTMB 5415 model for significant
conditions, based on actual missions at sea
Imaging of Low Compressibility Strips in the Quantum Hall Liquid
Using Subsurface Charge Accumulation scanning microscopy we image strips of
low compressibility corresponding to several integer Quantum Hall filling
factors. We study in detail the strips at Landau level filling factors
2 and 4. The observed strips appear significantly wider than predicted by
theory. We present a model accounting for the discrepancy by considering a
disorder-induced nonzero density of states in the cyclotron gap.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
The staggered domain wall fermion method
A different lattice fermion method is introduced. Staggered domain wall
fermions are defined in 2n+1 dimensions and describe 2^n flavors of light
lattice fermions with exact U(1) x U(1) chiral symmetry in 2n dimensions. As
the size of the extra dimension becomes large, 2^n chiral flavors with the same
chiral charge are expected to be localized on each boundary and the full
SU(2^n) x SU(2^n) flavor chiral symmetry is expected to be recovered. SDWF give
a different perspective into the inherent flavor mixing of lattice fermions and
by design present an advantage for numerical simulations of lattice QCD
thermodynamics. The chiral and topological index properties of the SDWF Dirac
operator are investigated. And, there is a surprise ending...Comment: revtex4, 7 figures, minor revisions, 2 references adde
Semiclassical theory of transport in a random magnetic field
We study the semiclassical kinetics of 2D fermions in a smoothly varying
magnetic field . The nature of the transport depends crucially on
both the strength of the random component of and its mean
value . For , the governing parameter is ,
where is the correlation length of disorder and is the Larmor radius
in the field . While for the Drude theory applies, at
most particles drift adiabatically along closed contours and are
localized in the adiabatic approximation. The conductivity is then determined
by a special class of trajectories, the "snake states", which percolate by
scattering at the saddle points of where the adiabaticity of their
motion breaks down. The external field also suppresses the diffusion by
creating a percolation network of drifting cyclotron orbits. This kind of
percolation is due only to a weak violation of the adiabaticity of the
cyclotron rotation, yielding an exponential drop of the conductivity at large
. In the regime the crossover between the snake-state
percolation and the percolation of the drift orbits with increasing
has the character of a phase transition (localization of snake states) smeared
exponentially weakly by non-adiabatic effects. The ac conductivity also
reflects the dynamical properties of particles moving on the fractal
percolation network. In particular, it has a sharp kink at zero frequency and
falls off exponentially at higher frequencies. We also discuss the nature of
the quantum magnetooscillations. Detailed numerical studies confirm the
analytical findings. The shape of the magnetoresistivity at is
in good agreement with experimental data in the FQHE regime near .Comment: 22 pages REVTEX, 14 figure
Lowest-Landau-level theory of the quantum Hall effect: the Fermi-liquid-like state
A theory for a Fermi-liquid-like state in a system of charged bosons at
filling factor one is developed, working in the lowest Landau level. The
approach is based on a representation of the problem as fermions with a system
of constraints, introduced by Pasquier and Haldane (unpublished). This makes
the system a gauge theory with gauge algebra W_infty. The low-energy theory is
analyzed based on Hartree-Fock and a corresponding conserving approximation.
This is shown to be equivalent to introducing a gauge field, which at long
wavelengths gives an infinite-coupling U(1) gauge theory, without a
Chern-Simons term. The system is compressible, and the Fermi-liquid properties
are similar, but not identical, to those in the previous U(1) Chern-Simons
fermion theory. The fermions in the theory are effectively neutral but carry a
dipole moment. The density-density response, longitudinal conductivity, and the
current density are considered explicitly.Comment: 32 pages, revtex multicol
Constraining the expansion rate of the Universe using low-redshift ellipticals as cosmic chronometers
We present a new methodology to determine the expansion history of the
Universe analyzing the spectral properties of early type galaxies (ETG). We
found that for these galaxies the 4000\AA break is a spectral feature that
correlates with the relative ages of ETGs. In this paper we describe the
method, explore its robustness using theoretical synthetic stellar population
models, and apply it using a SDSS sample of 14 000 ETGs. Our motivation
to look for a new technique has been to minimise the dependence of the cosmic
chronometer method on systematic errors. In particular, as a test of our
method, we derive the value of the Hubble constant (stat)
(syst) (68% confidence), which is not only fully compatible with the
value derived from the Hubble key project, but also with a comparable error
budget. Using the SDSS, we also derive, assuming w=constant, a value for the
dark energy equation of state parameter (stat)
(syst). Given the fact that the SDSS ETG sample only reaches , this
result shows the potential of the method. In future papers we will present
results using the high-redshift universe, to yield a determination of H(z) up
to .Comment: 25 pages, 17 figures, JCAP accepte
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