943 research outputs found
On the flying squid stenotuthis oualaniensis (lessons) in Hawaiian waters
By the request of Honolulu Laboratory, Southwest Fisheries Center, National Marine
Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the cooperative research of squid species in Hawaiian waters by Hokusei Maru Training ship of Hokkaido University was began from February, 1981, from two years. Furthermore University of Hawaii hopes for continuation of this research from November in 1983, and planned until 1987
The potential impact of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) on fisheries
The commercial development of ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) operations will involve some environmental perturbations for which there is no
precedent experience. The pumping of very large volumes of warm surface water and cold deep water and its subsequent discharge will result in the impingement, entrainment, and redistribution of biota. Additional stresses to biota will be caused by biocide usage and temperature depressions. However, the artificial upwelling of nutrients associated with the pumping of cold deep water, and the artificial
reef created by an OTEC plant may have positive effects on the local environment.
Although more detailed information is needed to assess the net effect of an OTEC operation on fisheries, certain assumptions and calculations are made supporting the conclusion that the potential risk to fisheries is not significant enough to deter the early development of IDEe. It will be necessary to monitor a commercial-scale plant in order to remove many of the remaining uncertainties. (PDF file contains 39 pages.
The influence of chiral surface states on the London penetration depth in SrRuO
The London penetration depth for the unconventional superconductor
SrRuO is analyzed assuming an order parameter which breaks time
reversal symmetry and parity simultaneously. Such a superconducting state
possesses chiral quasiparticle states with subgap energies at the surface. We
show that these subgap states can give a significant contribution to the
low-temperature behavior of the London penetration depth yielding a
power-law even though bulk quasiparticle spectrum is gapped. The presence of
several electron bands gives rise to interband transition among the subgap
surface states and influences the properties of the surface impedance.
Furthermore, the surface states lead also to a non-linear Meissner effect.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, the definition of the Nambu field operator
introduced, and some typos correcte
Spontaneous flux in a d-wave superconductor with time-reversal-symmetry-broken pairing state at {110} boundaries
The induction of an s-wave component in a d-wave superconductor is
considered. Near the {110}-oriented edges of such a sample, the induced s-wave
order parameter together with d-wave component forms a complex combination
d+e^{i\phi} s, which breaks the time reversal symmetry (BTRS) of the pairing
state. As a result, the spontaneous current is created. We numerically study
the current distribution and the formation of the spontaneous flux induced by
the current. We show that the spontaneous flux formed from a number of defect
lines with {110} orientation has a measurable strength. This result may provide
a unambiguous way to check the existence of BTRS pairing state at
{110}-oriented boundaries.Comment: 4 pages, 2 ps-figures, content changed, references adde
Spontaneous magnetization and Hall effect in superconductors with broken time-reversal symmetry
Broken time reversal symmetry (BTRS) in d wave superconductors is studied and
is shown to yield current carrying surface states. The corresponding
spontaneous magnetization is temperature independent near the critical
temperature Tc for weak BTRS, in accord with recent data. For strong BTRS and
thin films we expect a temperature dependent spontaneous magnetization with a
paramagnetic anomaly near Tc. The Hall conductance is found to vanish at zero
wavevector q and finite frequency w, however at finite q,w it has an unusual
structure.Comment: 7 pages, 1 eps figure, Europhysics Letters (in press
Biochemical reconstitution of abasic DNA lesion replication in Xenopus extracts
Cellular DNA is under constant attack from numerous exogenous and endogenous agents. The resulting DNA lesions, if not repaired timely, could stall DNA replication, leading to genome instability. To better understand the mechanism of DNA lesion replication at the biochemical level, we have attempted to reconstitute this process in Xenopus egg extracts, the only eukaryotic in vitro system that relies solely on cellular proteins for DNA replication. By using a plasmid DNA that carries a site-specific apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) lesion as template, we have found that DNA replication is stalled one nucleotide before the lesion. The stalling is temporary and the lesion is eventually replicated by both an error-prone mechanism and an error-free mechanism. This is the first biochemical system that recapitulates efficiently and faithfully all major aspects of DNA lesion replication. It has provided the first direct evidence for the existence of an error-free lesion replication mechanism and also demonstrated that the error-prone mechanism is a major contributor to lesion replication
Promotion of Intestinal Peristalsis by Bifidobacterium spp. Capable of Hydrolysing Sennosides in Mice
BACKGROUND:While there are a variety of identifiable causes of constipation, even idiopathic constipation has different possible mechanisms. Sennosides, the main laxative constituents of Daio, an ancient Kampo medicine, are prodrugs that are converted to an active principle, rheinanthrone, by intestinal microbiota. In this study, we aimed to determine the sennoside hydrolysis ability of lactic acid bacterial strains and bifidobacteria in the intestine and to investigate their effect on intestinal peristalsis in mice. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:A total of 88 lactic acid bacterial strains and 47 bifidobacterial strains were evaluated for their ability to hydrolyze sennosides. Our results revealed that 4 strains, all belonging to the genus Bifidobacterium, had strong sennoside hydrolysis ability, exhibiting a decrease of >70% of sennoside content. By thin-layer chromatography analysis, rheinanthrone was detected in the medium cultured with B. pseudocatenulatum LKM10070 and B. animalis subsp. lactis LKM512. The fecal sennoside contents significantly (P<0.001) decreased upon oral administration of these strains as compared with the control. Intestinal peristalsis activity was measured by the moved distance of the charcoal powder administered orally. The distance travelled by the charcoal powder in LKM512-treated mice was significantly longer than that of control (P<0.05). Intestinal microbiota were analysed by real-time PCR and terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism. The diversity of the intestinal microbiota was reduced by kanamycin treatment and the diversity was not recovered by LKM512 treatment. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE:We demonstrated that intestinal peristalsis was promoted by rheinanthrone produced by hydrolysis of sennoside by strain LKM512 and LKM10070
Zero-energy Andreev surface bound states in the lattice model
The conditions for zero-energy Andreev surface bound states to exist are
found for the lattice model of d-wave superconductor with arbitrary surface
orientation. Both nearest neighbors and next nearest neighbors models are
considered. It is shown that the results are very sensitive to the surface
orientation. In particular, for half-filled -surface zero-energy Andreev
surface states only appear under the condition that and are odd
simultaneouslyComment: 9 pages, 1 figur
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Geological and geochemical contraints on the isotopic composition of interstitial waters from the Hydrate Ridge region, Cascadia Continental margin
The isotopic compositions of interstitial waters collected from Hydrate
Ridge during Ocean Drilling Program Leg 204 were measured to
evaluate the fluid evolution of this accretionary prism. At shallow
depths, the dissolved Cl- concentrations and δD and δšâ¸O values of the
interstitial water reflect changes in the salinity and the isotopic compositions
of seawater from the Last Glacial Maximum to the present. The
presence of disseminated gas hydrates, which is well identified by discrete
low Cl- anomalies within the gas hydrate stability zone, is accompanied
by high δD and δšâ¸O values of the freshened fluids. This is
consistent with incorporation of heavy isotopes into the gas hydrate
lattice, which is also apparent in the signals observed at the ridge summit.
Here, massive gas hydrate formation in the upper 20 meters below
seafloor leads the formation of brines with dissolved Cl- concentrations
as high as 1400 mM. The interstitial waters sampled near massive gas
hydrates at the ridge summit are extremely depleted in D and šâ¸O. Clay
mineral dehydration within the deep prism results in a progressive decrease
in Cl¯ and δD with depth. Dehydration temperature estimates
based on those data likely suggest a progressive increase in the temperature
of isotopic fractionation between clay and water with distance
from the prism toe. The oxygen isotope data probably reflect the combined
effects of clay dehydration, carbonate precipitation, and alteration of oceanic basement;
however, there are not enough data to
constrain the relative contribution of these processes to the observed
signals
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