AFLPs: genetic markers for paternity studies in newts (Triturus vulgaris)

DNA-based genetic markers can reveal paternity whenever the direct assignment of fathers to offspring is precluded by multiple matings and internal fertilisation. Microsatellites are the current marker of choice in many behavioural studies, and have revealed important insights into genetic mating systems of European amphibians. However, the number of amphibian species for which the time-consuming designing of locus-specific microsatellite primers was successful is still limited, and the cross-utilisation of existing markers to closely related taxa seems to have a particularly low success rate. Allozymes can infer parentage without a species-specific protocol, but, due to their low degree of polymorphism, in mate choice experiments require the a priori screening of individuals. Dominant markers such as RAPDs successfully identified closely-related amphibian species and their hybrids, but might be less suited to distinguish between closely related individuals with a putatively high frequency of shared bands

Semi-analytical model for nonlinear light propagation in strongly interacting Rydberg gases

Rate equation models are extensively used to describe the many-body states of laser driven atomic gases. We show that the properties of the rate equation model used to describe nonlinear optical effects arising in interacting Rydberg gases can be understood by considering the excitation of individual super-atoms. From this we deduce a simple semi-analytic model that accurately describes the Rydberg density and optical susceptibility for different dimensionalities. We identify the previously reported universal dependence of the susceptibility on the Rydberg excited fraction as an intrinsic property of the rate equation model that is rooted in one-body properties. Benchmarking against exact master equation calculations, we identify regimes in which the semi-analytic model is particularly reliable. The performance of the model improves in the presence of dephasing which destroys higher order atomic coherences.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Correlated Exciton Transport in Rydberg-Dressed-Atom Spin Chains

We investigate the transport of excitations through a chain of atoms with non-local dissipation introduced through coupling to additional short-lived states. The system is described by an effective spin-1/2 model where the ratio of the exchange interaction strength to the reservoir coupling strength determines the type of transport, including coherent exciton motion, incoherent hopping and a regime in which an emergent length scale leads to a preferred hopping distance far beyond nearest neighbors. For multiple impurities, the dissipation gives rise to strong nearest-neighbor correlations and entanglement. These results highlight the importance of non-trivial dissipation, correlations and many-body effects in recent experiments on the dipole-mediated transport of Rydberg excitations.Comment: 5 page

Quantum simulation of energy transport with embedded Rydberg aggregates

We show that an array of ultracold Rydberg atoms embedded in a laser driven background gas can serve as an aggregate for simulating exciton dynamics and energy transport with a controlled environment. Spatial disorder and decoherence introduced by the interaction with the background gas atoms can be controlled by the laser parameters. This allows for an almost ideal realization of a Haken-Reineker-Strobl type model for energy transport. Physics can be monitored using the same mechanism that provides control over the environment. The degree of decoherence is traced back to information gained on the excitation location through the monitoring, turning the setup into an experimentally accessible model system for studying the effects of quantum measurements on the dynamics of a many-body quantum system.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 3 pages supp. in

Molecular Analysis of Arabidopsis thaliana Genes Involved in Stress Response

Arabidopsis thaliana is an excellent model plant to study various plant processes, including plant’s response to environment, its interactions with other organisms, etc. In this study I characterized eight Arabidopsis genes that are likely to regulate plant’s responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. Microarray analysis was done previously in our lab to identify Arabidopsis genes that are differentially expressed in response to various biotic and abiotic stresses and several plant hormones. The biotic stresses include bacterial, fungal and viral pathogens (both virulent and avirulent strains), sucking and chewing insects. The abiotic stresses include chemicals that induce variety of oxidative stresses (paraquat, 3AT, mixture of glucose/glucose oxidase, and mixture of xanthine/xantine), wounding, heat, cold, freezing, senescence, drought, flooding and salt. The plant hormones include IAA (auxin), 2,4-D (synthetic auxin), BA (cytokinin), GA (gibberellic acid) ,ABA (abscisic acid) , ACC (ethylene precursor), JA (jasmonic acid), BR (brassinosteroid), and SA (salicylic acid). The results of these experiments were used to construct Arabidopsis Stress Microarray Database (ASMD). From this database, eight genes that were considerably up regulated in a number of different stress treatments were identified. To determine the role of these genes in regulating stresses, I constructed transgenic plants that over- or under-express the target genes

Alien Registration- Whitlock, Elsie M. (Milford, Penobscot County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/8045/thumbnail.jp

Technical innovation changes standard radiographic protocols in veterinary medicine: is it necessary to obtain two dorsoproximal-palmarodistal oblique views of the equine foot when using computerised radiography systems?

Since the 1950s, veterinary practitioners have included two separate dorsoproximal–palmarodistal oblique (DPr–PaDiO) radiographs as part of a standard series of the equine foot. One image is obtained to visualise the distal phalanx and the other to visualise the navicular bone. However, rapid development of computed radiography and digital radiography and their post-processing capabilities could mean that this practice is no longer required. The aim of this study was to determine differences in perceived image quality between DPr–PaDiO radiographs that were acquired with a computerised radiography system with exposures, centring and collimation recommended for the navicular bone versus images acquired for the distal phalanx but were subsequently manipulated post-acquisition to highlight the navicular bone. Thirty images were presented to four clinicians for quality assessment and graded using a 1–3 scale (1=textbook quality, 2=diagnostic quality, 3=non-diagnostic image). No significant difference in diagnostic quality was found between the original navicular bone images and the manipulated distal phalanx images. This finding suggests that a single DPr–PaDiO image of the distal phalanx is sufficient for an equine foot radiographic series, with appropriate post-processing and manipulation. This change in protocol will result in reduced radiographic study time and decreased patient/personnel radiation exposure