4,183 research outputs found
Maternal behaviour in Mus musculus sp.: An ethological review
In this paper, we review the scientific literature on maternal behaviour in commensal house mice and laboratory mice. Similar to other altricial species, female mice prepare a nest before parturition. Once the pups are born, nursing is the main part of maternal behaviour, and pups are weaned through a gradual non-aggressive process after about 3 weeks. Mice are social and both males and females show parental behaviour. Female mice giving birth at about the same time form communal nests, where pups are also communally nursed, a phenomenon that may confer benefit in inclusive fitness. However, social living may also be risky with conspecifics being the main predators of pups. A distinct aggressive behaviour pattern shown by pregnant and lactating female is thought to protect nest and pups against such attacks. Maternal aggression is influenced by the presence of pups and by litter size and composition. Communication through external stimuli from the pups contributes to maintaining maternal behaviour, thereby influencing pup growth. Handling of infants and pre- and peri-natal stress affects maternal behaviour. When resources are limited, females may reduce litter size through infanticide; however, the phenomenon of maternal cannibalism under normal laboratory conditions is poorly understood. Many studies included in this review use only standard tests to measure maternal behaviour, and more ethological research would be valuable to understand problems with reproduction in laboratory strains as well as to understand the influence of different housing conditions.We would like to thank Robert Eriksson, Bo Algers, Hanno Würbel, Dan Weary and an anonymous
referee for useful comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. The work was supported by a
grant from The Swedish National Board for Laboratory Animals and The Swedish Animal Welfare
Agenc
Coherent Electron-Phonon Coupling in Tailored Quantum Systems
The coupling between a two-level system and its environment leads to
decoherence. Within the context of coherent manipulation of electronic or
quasiparticle states in nanostructures, it is crucial to understand the sources
of decoherence. Here, we study the effect of electron-phonon coupling in a
graphene and an InAs nanowire double quantum dot. Our measurements reveal
oscillations of the double quantum dot current periodic in energy detuning
between the two levels. These periodic peaks are more pronounced in the
nanowire than in graphene, and disappear when the temperature is increased. We
attribute the oscillations to an interference effect between two alternative
inelastic decay paths involving acoustic phonons present in these materials.
This interpretation predicts the oscillations to wash out when temperature is
increased, as observed experimentally.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure
TESTING A SUBTYPE-SPECIFIC GP41 AMPLIFICATION METHOD FOR GENOTYPING INDIVIDUALS INFECTED BY HUMAN IMMUNODEFICIENCY VIRUS TYPE-1 IN THE BRAZILIAN POPULATION OF ITAJAI, SOUTH BRAZIL
The method used by YAGYU et al. for the subtype-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of the gp41 transmembrane region of the human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) env gene, was tested. HIV-1 proviral DNA from 100 infected individuals in Itajaí, South Brazil was used to analyze this method. Seventy individuals were determined according to this method as having PCR products at the expected size for subtypes B, C, D and F. Of these individuals, 26 (37.1%) were observed as having the expected amplification for subtype C, and 42 (60%) were observed as having the expected products for subtypes B and D. Of the subtype B and D amplicons, 16 (22.9%) were classified as subtype D, and 26 (37.1%) were classified as subtype B. Two individuals (2.9%) had amplicons that were observed after subtype F-specific amplification was performed. Sequencing and comparing the patient sequences to reference sequences confirmed the classification of sequences of subtypes C and B. However, sequences that were falsely determined as being D and F in the PCR assay were determined as being subtypes C and B, respectively, by sequence analysis. For those individuals from whom no amplified products were obtained, a low viral load that was indicated in their patient history may explain the difficulty in subtyping by PCR methods. This issue was demonstrated by the results of ANOVA when testing the effect of viral load on the success of PCR amplification. The alignment of the obtained sequences with HIV-1 reference sequences demonstrated that there is high intra-subtype diversity. This indicates that the subtype-specific primer binding sites were not conserved or representative of the subtypes that are observed in the Brazilian populations, and that they did not allow the correct classification of HIV-1 subtypes. Therefore, the proposed method by YAGYU et al. is not applicable for the classification of Brazilian HIV-1 subtypes
Pseudogap temperature as a Widom line in doped Mott insulators
The pseudogap refers to an enigmatic state of matter with unusual physical
properties found below a characteristic temperature in hole-doped
high-temperature superconductors. Determining is critical for
understanding this state. Here we study the simplest model of correlated
electron systems, the Hubbard model, with cluster dynamical mean-field theory
to find out whether the pseudogap can occur solely because of strong coupling
physics and short nonlocal correlations. We find that the pseudogap
characteristic temperature is a sharp crossover between different
dynamical regimes along a line of thermodynamic anomalies that appears above a
first-order phase transition, the Widom line. The Widom line emanating from the
critical endpoint of a first-order transition is thus the organizing principle
for the pseudogap phase diagram of the cuprates. No additional broken symmetry
is necessary to explain the phenomenon. Broken symmetry states appear in the
pseudogap and not the other way around.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures and supplementary information; published versio
Modular Descriptions of Regular Functions
We discuss various formalisms to describe string-to-string transformations.
Many are based on automata and can be seen as operational descriptions,
allowing direct implementations when the input scanner is deterministic.
Alternatively, one may use more human friendly descriptions based on some
simple basic transformations (e.g., copy, duplicate, erase, reverse) and
various combinators such as function composition or extensions of regular
operations.Comment: preliminary version appeared in CAI 2019, LNCS 1154
A transient liquid-like phase in the displacement cascades of zircon, hafnon and thorite
The study of radiation effects in solids is important for the development of 'radiation-resistant' materials for fission-reactor applications'. The effects of heavy-ion irradiation in the isostructural orthosilicates zircon (ZrSiO4), hafnon (HfSiO4) and thorite (ThSiO4) are particularly important because these minerals are under active investigation for use as a waste form for plutonium-239 resulting from the dismantling of nuclear weapons(2-4). During ion irradiation, localized 'cascades' of displaced atoms can form as a result of ballistic collisions in the target material, and the temperature inside these regions may for a short time exceed the bulk melting temperature. Whether these cascades do indeed generate a localized liquid state(5-8) has, however, remained unclear. Here we investigate the irradiation-induced decomposition of zircon and hafnon, and find evidence for formation of a liquidlike state in the displacement cascades. Our results explain the frequent occurrence of ZrO2 in natural amorphous zircong(9-12) Moreover, we conclude that zircon-based nuclear waste forms should be maintained within strict temperature Limits, to avoid potentially detrimental irradiation-induced amorphization or phase decomposition of the zircon.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/62853/1/395056a0.pd
Electron-Spin Excitation Coupling in an Electron Doped Copper Oxide Superconductor
High-temperature (high-Tc) superconductivity in the copper oxides arises from
electron or hole doping of their antiferromagnetic (AF) insulating parent
compounds. The evolution of the AF phase with doping and its spatial
coexistence with superconductivity are governed by the nature of charge and
spin correlations and provide clues to the mechanism of high-Tc
superconductivity. Here we use a combined neutron scattering and scanning
tunneling spectroscopy (STS) to study the Tc evolution of electron-doped
superconducting Pr0.88LaCe0.12CuO4-delta obtained through the oxygen annealing
process. We find that spin excitations detected by neutron scattering have two
distinct modes that evolve with Tc in a remarkably similar fashion to the
electron tunneling modes in STS. These results demonstrate that
antiferromagnetism and superconductivity compete locally and coexist spatially
on nanometer length scales, and the dominant electron-boson coupling at low
energies originates from the electron-spin excitations.Comment: 30 pages, 12 figures, supplementary information include
Strong Interactions of Single Atoms and Photons near a Dielectric Boundary
Modern research in optical physics has achieved quantum control of strong
interactions between a single atom and one photon within the setting of cavity
quantum electrodynamics (cQED). However, to move beyond current
proof-of-principle experiments involving one or two conventional optical
cavities to more complex scalable systems that employ N >> 1 microscopic
resonators requires the localization of individual atoms on distance scales <
100 nm from a resonator's surface. In this regime an atom can be strongly
coupled to a single intracavity photon while at the same time experiencing
significant radiative interactions with the dielectric boundaries of the
resonator. Here, we report an initial step into this new regime of cQED by way
of real-time detection and high-bandwidth feedback to select and monitor single
Cesium atoms localized ~100 nm from the surface of a micro-toroidal optical
resonator. We employ strong radiative interactions of atom and cavity field to
probe atomic motion through the evanescent field of the resonator. Direct
temporal and spectral measurements reveal both the significant role of
Casimir-Polder attraction and the manifestly quantum nature of the atom-cavity
dynamics. Our work sets the stage for trapping atoms near micro- and
nano-scopic optical resonators for applications in quantum information science,
including the creation of scalable quantum networks composed of many
atom-cavity systems that coherently interact via coherent exchanges of single
photons.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, Supplemental Information included as ancillary
fil
Beyond Volume: The Impact of Complex Healthcare Data on the Machine Learning Pipeline
From medical charts to national census, healthcare has traditionally operated
under a paper-based paradigm. However, the past decade has marked a long and
arduous transformation bringing healthcare into the digital age. Ranging from
electronic health records, to digitized imaging and laboratory reports, to
public health datasets, today, healthcare now generates an incredible amount of
digital information. Such a wealth of data presents an exciting opportunity for
integrated machine learning solutions to address problems across multiple
facets of healthcare practice and administration. Unfortunately, the ability to
derive accurate and informative insights requires more than the ability to
execute machine learning models. Rather, a deeper understanding of the data on
which the models are run is imperative for their success. While a significant
effort has been undertaken to develop models able to process the volume of data
obtained during the analysis of millions of digitalized patient records, it is
important to remember that volume represents only one aspect of the data. In
fact, drawing on data from an increasingly diverse set of sources, healthcare
data presents an incredibly complex set of attributes that must be accounted
for throughout the machine learning pipeline. This chapter focuses on
highlighting such challenges, and is broken down into three distinct
components, each representing a phase of the pipeline. We begin with attributes
of the data accounted for during preprocessing, then move to considerations
during model building, and end with challenges to the interpretation of model
output. For each component, we present a discussion around data as it relates
to the healthcare domain and offer insight into the challenges each may impose
on the efficiency of machine learning techniques.Comment: Healthcare Informatics, Machine Learning, Knowledge Discovery: 20
Pages, 1 Figur
Study protocol of the LARK (TROG 17.03) clinical trial: a phase II trial investigating the dosimetric impact of Liver Ablative Radiotherapy using Kilovoltage intrafraction monitoring
BACKGROUND: Stereotactic Ablative Body Radiotherapy (SABR) is a non-invasive treatment which allows delivery of an ablative radiation dose with high accuracy and precision. SABR is an established treatment for both primary and secondary liver malignancies, and technological advances have improved its efficacy and safety. Respiratory motion management to reduce tumour motion and image guidance to achieve targeting accuracy are crucial elements of liver SABR. This phase II multi-institutional TROG 17.03 study, Liver Ablative Radiotherapy using Kilovoltage intrafraction monitoring (LARK), aims to investigate and assess the dosimetric impact of the KIM real-time image guidance technology. KIM utilises standard linear accelerator equipment and therefore has the potential to be a widely available real-time image guidance technology for liver SABR. METHODS: Forty-six patients with either hepatocellular carcinoma or oligometastatic disease to the liver suitable for and treated with SABR using Kilovoltage Intrafraction Monitoring (KIM) guidance will be included in the study. The dosimetric impact will be assessed by quantifying accumulated patient dose distribution with or without the KIM intervention. The patient treatment outcomes of local control, toxicity and quality of life will be measured. DISCUSSION: Liver SABR is a highly effective treatment, but precise dose delivery is challenging due to organ motion. Currently, there is a lack of widely available options for performing real-time tumour localisation to assist with accurate delivery of liver SABR. This study will provide an assessment of the impact of KIM as a potential solution for real-time image guidance in liver SABR. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This trial was registered on December 7th 2016 on ClinicalTrials.gov under the trial-ID NCT02984566
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