307 research outputs found
Phylogenetic relationships and call structure in four African bufonid species
Four species of toads of the genus Bufo, comprising three species endemic to southern Africa and one closely-related species, were examined electrophoretically to infer their phylogenetic relationships. The evolution of advertisement call structure in these species is discussed in relation to this phylogeny. Bufo rangeri and B. gutturalis, two species with very different call structures, are sister taxa. Two pairs of species with very similar call structures, B. partialis and B. gutturalis, and B. rangeri and B. angusticeps, were only distantly related. Our resufts suggest that call parameters are poor characters to use in inferring phylogenies among congeneric species, probably because of selection for optimal audibility in different habitats, and because of the role that they play in premating isolation. The phylogeny derived from allozyme data agrees with evidence on albumin immunological distance, karyotype and morphology
Description of electrophoretic loci and tissue specific gene expression in the horseshoe bat genus Rhinolophus (Rhinolophidae)
The number of loci encoding an enzyme system, tissue specificity of gene expression and the degree of gene expression in various tissues are often not mentioned in evolutionary studies, but could indirectly provide evidence of evolutionary relationships. Protein electrophoresis was used to study the distributions and tissue specificity of gene expression of enzymes encoded by 42 loci in Rhinolophus clivosus and R. landeri, the genetically most divergent of the ten species of southern African horseshoe bats. No differences in gene expression were found between R. clivosusand R. landeri and isozyme patterns may be compared with other bat species to derive possible phylogenetic relationships
Nanomaterial structure determination using XUV diffraction
Diffraction using coherent XUV radiation is used to study the structure of nanophotonic materials, in this case an ordered array of 196nm spheres. Crystal structure and defects are visible, and the nanomaterial dielectric constant determined
Stellar structure and compact objects before 1940: Towards relativistic astrophysics
Since the mid-1920s, different strands of research used stars as "physics
laboratories" for investigating the nature of matter under extreme densities
and pressures, impossible to realize on Earth. To trace this process this paper
is following the evolution of the concept of a dense core in stars, which was
important both for an understanding of stellar evolution and as a testing
ground for the fast-evolving field of nuclear physics. In spite of the divide
between physicists and astrophysicists, some key actors working in the
cross-fertilized soil of overlapping but different scientific cultures
formulated models and tentative theories that gradually evolved into more
realistic and structured astrophysical objects. These investigations culminated
in the first contact with general relativity in 1939, when J. Robert
Oppenheimer and his students George Volkoff and Hartland Snyder systematically
applied the theory to the dense core of a collapsing neutron star. This
pioneering application of Einstein's theory to an astrophysical compact object
can be regarded as a milestone in the path eventually leading to the emergence
of relativistic astrophysics in the early 1960s.Comment: 83 pages, 4 figures, submitted to the European Physical Journal
Synthesis, structure and magnetic properties ofÎČ-MnO2nanorods
We present synthesis, structure and magnetic properties of structurally well-ordered single-crystalline ÎČ-MnO2nanorods of 50â100 nm diameter and several ”m length. Thorough structural characterization shows that the basic ÎČ-MnO2material is covered by a thin surface layer (âŒ2.5 nm) of α-Mn2O3phase with a reduced Mn valence that adds its own magnetic signal to the total magnetization of the ÎČ-MnO2nanorods. The relatively complicated temperature-dependent magnetism of the nanorods can be explained in terms of a superposition of bulk magnetic properties of spatially segregated ÎČ-MnO2and α-Mn2O3constituent phases and the soft ferromagnetism of the thin interface layer between these two phases
B^0-\bar{B}^0 mixing and B \to X_s \gamma decay in the third type 2HDM: effects of NLO QCD contributions
In this paper, we calculated the next-to-leading order (NLO) new physics
contributions to the mass splitting \dmd and the branching ratio \brbxsga
induced by the charged Higgs loop diagrams in the third type of
two-Higgs-doublet models (model III) and draw the constraints on the free
parameters of model III. For the model III under consideration, we found that
(a) an upper limit |\ltt|\leq 1.7 is obtained from the precision data of
\dmd=0.502 \pm 0.007 ps^{-1}, while |\ltt| \approx 0.5 is favored
phenomenologicaly; (b) for decay, the NLO QCD contributions
tend to cancel the LO new physics contributions; (c) a light charged Higgs
boson with a mass around or even less than 200 GeV is still allowed at NLO
level by the measured branching ratio \brbxsga: numerically, 188 \leq \mh
\leq 215 GeV for (|\ltt|,|\lbb|)=(0.5,18); (d) the NLO QCD contributions
tend to cancel the LO contributions effectively, the lower limit on \mh is
consequently decreased by about 200 GeV; (e) the allowed region of \mh will
be shifted toward heavy mass end for a non-zero relative phase between
the Yukawa couplings \ltt and \lbb. The numerical results for the
conventional model II are also presented for the sake of a comparison.Comment: 42 pages, 18 eps figures, Revtex, new references adde
and in the Two Higgs Doublet Model with Flavor Changing Neutral Currents
A study of and is presented in the context of a Two Higgs Doublet
Model (2HDM) with flavor changing scalar currents (FCSC). Implications of the
model for the -parameter and for are also considered. The
experimental data on places stringent constraints on the model
parameters. The configuration of the model needed to account for is found
to be irreconcilable with constraints from and . In
particular, if R^{\rm exp}_b>R^{\sss{\rm SM}}_b persists then this version of
2HDM will be ruled out or require significant modifications. Noting that
aspects of the experimental analysis for and may be of some
concern, we also disregard and and give
predictions for these using constraints from and
parameter only. We emphasize the theoretical and experimental advantages of the
observable R_{b+c}\equiv \Gamma(Z\to b\bar b\mbox{ or } c\bar
c)/\Gamma(Z\to\mbox{hadrons}). We also stress the role of R_\ell\equiv
\Gamma(Z\to\mbox{hadrons})/\Gamma(Z\to \ell^+\ell^-) in testing the Standard
Model (SM) despite its dependence on QCD corrections. Noting that in models
with FCNC the amplitude for receives a contribution which grows
with , the importance and uniqueness of precision
measurements for constraining flavor changing currents is
underscored.Comment: 35 pages, 5 Postscript figures, 10 Postscript files used in the tex
file, uses epsf.st
Phase Effect of A General Two-Higgs-Doublet Model in
In a general two-Higgs-doublet model (2HDM), without the {\it ad hoc}
discrete symmetries to prevent tree-level flavor-changing-neutral currents, an
extra phase angle in the charged-Higgs-fermion coupling is allowed. We show
that the charged-Higgs amplitude interferes destructively or constructively
with the standard model amplitude depending crucially on this phase angle. The
popular model I and II are special cases of our analysis. As a result of this
phase angle the severe constraint on the charged-Higgs boson mass imposed by
the inclusive rate of from CLEO can be relaxed. We also examine
the effects of this phase angle on the neutron electric dipole moment.
Furthermore, we also discuss other constraints on the charged-Higgs-fermion
couplings coming from measurements of mixing, , and
.Comment: LaTeX 17 pages, 3 figure
Quantitative importance of staminodes for female reproductive success in Parnassia palustris under contrasting environmental conditions.
The five sterile stamens, or staminodes, in Parnassia palustris act both as false and as true nectaries. They attract pollinators with their conspicuous, but non-rewarding tips, and also produce nectar at the base. We removed staminodes experimentally and compared pollinator visitation rate and duration and seed set in flowers with and without staminodes in two different populations. We also examined the relative importance of the staminode size to other plant traits. Finally, we bagged, emasculated, and supplementary cross-pollinated flowers to determine the pollination strategy and whether reproduction was limited by pollen availability. Flowers in both populations were highly dependent on pollinator visitation for maximum seed set. In one population pollinators primarily cross-pollinated flowers, whereas in the other the pollinators facilitated self-pollination. The staminodes caused increased pollinator visitation rate and duration to flowers in both populations. The staminodes increased female reproductive success, but only when pollen availability constrained female reproduction. Simple linear regression indicated a strong selection on staminode size, multiple regression suggested that selection on staminode size was mainly caused by correlation with other traits that affected female fitness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR
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