215 research outputs found
The impact of water pH on association preferences in fish
Acidification of lakes and rivers, as a consequence of anthropogenic interference, can cause fundamental changes to biological and ecological processes. One of the main consequences of a reduction in water pH for aquatic organisms is the disruption of their chemosensory abilities, as the detection of chemical cues underpins a wide range of decision-making processes; for example, a reduction to low pH has been shown to interfere with predator avoidance and the detection of foraging cues. Moreover, aquatic organisms are known to make widespread use of chemical information to inform their social behaviour, although we have a comparably poor understanding of how this is impacted by water acidification, especially their shoaling behaviour. Using a standard behavioural assay, we therefore investigated the impact of low water pH on the social interactions mediated by diet-derived chemical cues in three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus), by quantifying social behaviour in water that varied either experimentally or naturally in pH. In both cases we predicted that association patterns would be disrupted by low pH conditions, as reduced pH has shown to interfere with the perception of chemical cues in other non-social contexts. Consistent with this prediction, our results demonstrate that an acute, short-term reduction in water pH caused a breakdown in the diet-mediated social interaction patterns seen in more alkaline water, although, interestingly, the pattern of associations for fish tested in naturally acidic water was both more complex and in a direction that was precisely contrary to our predictions. Overall the findings provide insights into the potential effects of an acute reduction in water pH on fish communication and social interaction patterns, which may have implication for various individual, group, population and community-level processes
Basic principles of stable isotope analysis in humanitarian forensic science.
While the identity of a victim of a localized disaster â such as a train or bus crash â may be established quickly through personal effects, fingerprints, dental records, and a comparison of decedent DNA to family reference specimen DNA, a different scenario presents itself in mass disasters, such as the Asian Tsunami of 2004. In the aftermath of the tsunami, visual appearance was initially used to assign âforeignâ or âindigenousâ classifications to the remains of thousands of victims. However, this visual identification approach was undermined by the speed with which bodies deteriorated under the hot and humid conditions. Time was spent populating ante-mortem DNA databases for different nationalities, which led to problems when creating a post-mortem DNA database because recovery of viable DNA was compromised due to rapid decomposition. As a consequence, only 1.3% of victims were identified by DNA; in contrast, 61% were identified based on dental examination, although this process took several months and a significant number of deceased from the 2004 Asian Tsunami still remain to be identified
First observation of the decay and a measurement of the ratio of branching fractions
The first observation of the decay using
data collected by the LHCb detector at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV,
corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36 pb, is reported. A
signal of events is obtained and the absence of signal is
rejected with a statistical significance of more than nine standard deviations.
The branching fraction is measured relative to
that of : , where the first uncertainty is statistical, the second systematic and
the third is due to the uncertainty on the ratio of the and
hadronisation fractions.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Lett. B; ISSN 0370-269
Data visualization in yield component analysis: an expert study
Even though data visualization is a common analytical tool in numerous disciplines, it has rarely been used in agricultural sciences, particularly in agronomy. In this paper, we discuss a study on employing data visualization to analyze a multiplicative model. This model is often used by agronomists, for example in the so-called yield component analysis. The multiplicative model in agronomy is normally analyzed by statistical or related methods. In practice, unfortunately, usefulness of these methods is limited since they help to answer only a few questions, not allowing for a complex view of the phenomena studied. We believe that data visualization could be used for such complex analysis and presentation of the multiplicative model. To that end, we conducted an expert survey. It showed that visualization methods could indeed be useful for analysis and presentation of the multiplicative model
Effects of sleep deprivation on neural functioning: an integrative review
Sleep deprivation has a broad variety of effects on human performance and neural functioning that manifest themselves at different levels of description. On a macroscopic level, sleep deprivation mainly affects executive functions, especially in novel tasks. Macroscopic and mesoscopic effects of sleep deprivation on brain activity include reduced cortical responsiveness to incoming stimuli, reflecting reduced attention. On a microscopic level, sleep deprivation is associated with increased levels of adenosine, a neuromodulator that has a general inhibitory effect on neural activity. The inhibition of cholinergic nuclei appears particularly relevant, as the associated decrease in cortical acetylcholine seems to cause effects of sleep deprivation on macroscopic brain activity. In general, however, the relationships between the neural effects of sleep deprivation across observation scales are poorly understood and uncovering these relationships should be a primary target in future research
On the mechanisms governing gas penetration into a tokamak plasma during a massive gas injection
A new 1D radial fluid code, IMAGINE, is used to simulate the penetration of gas into a tokamak plasma during a massive gas injection (MGI). The main result is that the gas is in general strongly braked as it reaches the plasma, due to mechanisms related to charge exchange and (to a smaller extent) recombination. As a result, only a fraction of the gas penetrates into the plasma. Also, a shock wave is created in the gas which propagates away from the plasma, braking and compressing the incoming gas. Simulation results are quantitatively consistent, at least in terms of orders of magnitude, with experimental data for a D 2 MGI into a JET Ohmic plasma. Simulations of MGI into the background plasma surrounding a runaway electron beam show that if the background electron density is too high, the gas may not penetrate, suggesting a possible explanation for the recent results of Reux et al in JET (2015 Nucl. Fusion 55 093013)
InfluĂȘncia do EPTC no desenvolvimento e absorção de macronutrientes pela cultura de feijĂŁo (Phaseolus vulgaris L. var. Carioca)
Prompt K_short production in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=0.9 TeV
The production of K_short mesons in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy
of 0.9 TeV is studied with the LHCb detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The
luminosity of the analysed sample is determined using a novel technique,
involving measurements of the beam currents, sizes and positions, and is found
to be 6.8 +/- 1.0 microbarn^-1. The differential prompt K_short production
cross-section is measured as a function of the K_short transverse momentum and
rapidity in the region 0 < pT < 1.6 GeV/c and 2.5 < y < 4.0. The data are found
to be in reasonable agreement with previous measurements and generator
expectations.Comment: 6+18 pages, 6 figures, updated author lis
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