Exotic radiation from a photonic crystal excited by an ultra-relativistic electron beam

We report the observation of an exotic radiation (unconventional Smith-Purcell radiation) from a one-dimensional photonic crystal. The physical origin of the exotic radiation is direct excitation of the photonic bands by an ultra-relativistic electron beam. The spectrum of the exotic radiation follows photonic bands of a certain parity, in striking contrast to the conventional Smith-Purcell radiation, which shows solely a linear dispersion. Key ingredients for the observation are the facts that the electron beam is in an ultra-relativistic region and that the photonic crystal is finite. The origin of the radiation was identified by comparison of experimental and theoretical results.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Neotropical club-tailed scorpions.

134 pages : illustrations (some color), maps ; 26 cm.The Neotropical "club-tailed" scorpions of the genus Rhopalurus Thorell, 1876, and two related genera in family Buthidae C.L. Koch, 1837, i.e., Physoctonus Mello-Leitão, 1934, and Troglorhopalurus Lourenço et al., 2004, are revised, based on a simultaneous phylogenetic analysis of 90 morphological characters and 4260 aligned DNA nucleotides from three mitochondrial and two nuclear gene loci. The monophyletic New World buthid subfamily Rhopalurusinae Bucherl, 1971, to which these scorpions were originally assigned, is redefined, revised diagnoses and a key to identification of its genera and species (except for Centruroides Marx, 1890) provided, and their distributions mapped. The paraphyly of Rhopalurus Thorell, 1876, which comprises several monophyletic groups congruent with its disjunct distribution, justifies its relimitation and that of Troglorhopalurus Lourenço et al., 2004, the revalidation of Heteroctenus Pocock, 1893, and creation of Ischnotelson, gen. nov. (type species: Rhopalurus guanambiensis Lenarducci, Pinto-da-Rocha and Lucas, 2005) and Jaguajir, gen. nov. (type species: Rhopalurus agamemnon C.L. Koch, 1839). Ten new combinations are proposed: Heteroctenus abudi (Armas and Marcano Fondeur, 1987), comb. nov.; Heteroctenus bonettii (Armas, 1999), comb. nov.; Heteroctenus garridoi (Armas, 1974), comb. nov.; Heteroctenus gibarae (Teruel, 2006), comb. nov.; Heteroctenus princeps (Karsch, 1879), comb. nov.; Ischnotelson guanambiensis (Lenarducci, Pinto-da-Rocha and Lucas, 2005), comb. nov.; Jaguajir agamemnon (C.L. Koch, 1839), comb. nov.; Jaguajir pintoi (Mello-Leitão, 1932), comb. nov.; Jaguajir rochae (Borelli, 1910), comb. nov.; Troglorhopalurus lacrau (Lourenço and Pinto-da-Rocha, 1997), comb. nov. Three new species are described: Ischnotelson peruassu, sp. nov. (type locality: Parque Estadual do Peruassu, Minas Gerias, Brazil); Physoctonus striatus, sp. nov. (type locality: Castelo do Piauí, Piauí, Brazil); Rhopalurus ochoai, sp. nov. (type locality: San Agustín, Edo. Zulia, Venezuela). Fifteen new junior subjective synonyms are proposed: Rhopalurus acromelas Lutz and Mello, 1922, Rhopalurus melleipalpus Lutz and Mello, 1922, Rhopalurus iglesiasi Werner, 1927, Rhopalurus lambdophorus Mello-Leitão, 1932, Rhopalurus dorsomaculatus Prado, 1938, and Rhopalurus goiasensis Prado, 1940 = Jaguajir agamemnon (C.L. Koch, 1839); Rhopalurus pintoi kourouensis Lourenço, 2008 = Jaguajir pintoi (Mello-Leitão, 1932); Rhopalurus crassicauda Caporiacco, 1947, Rhopalurus amazonicus Lourenço, 1986, and Rhopalurus crassicauda paruensis Lourenço, 2008 = Rhopalurus laticauda Thorell, 1876; Rhopalurus melloleitaoi Teruel and Armas, 2006, and Rhopalurus aridicola (Teruel and Armas, 2012) = Heteroctenus junceus (Herbst, 1800); Rhopalurus granulimanus Teruel, 2006 = Heteroctenus gibarae (Teruel, 2006); Rhopalurus virkii Santiago-Blay, 2009 = Heteroctenus abudi (Armas and Marcano Fondeur, 1987); Rhopalurus brejo Lourenço, 2014 = Troglorhopalurus lacrau (Lourenço and Pinto-da-Rocha, 1997)

Fractalization of Torus Revisited as a Strange Nonchaotic Attractor

Fractalization of torus and its transition to chaos in a quasi-periodically forced logistic map is re-investigated in relation with a strange nonchaotic attractor, with the aid of functional equation for the invariant curve. Existence of fractal torus in an interval in parameter space is confirmed by the length and the number of extrema of the torus attractor, as well as the Fourier mode analysis. Mechanisms of the onset of fractal torus and the transition to chaos are studied in connection with the intermittency.Comment: Latex file ( figures will be sent electronically upon request):submitted to Phys.Rev. E (1996

Multifractal Scaling, Geometrical Diversity, and Hierarchical Structure in the Cool Interstellar Medium

Multifractal scaling (MFS) refers to structures that can be described as a collection of interwoven fractal subsets which exhibit power-law spatial scaling behavior with a range of scaling exponents (concentration, or singularity, strengths) and dimensions. The existence of MFS implies an underlying multiplicative (or hierarchical, or cascade) process. Panoramic column density images of several nearby star- forming cloud complexes, constructed from IRAS data and justified in an appendix, are shown to exhibit such multifractal scaling, which we interpret as indirect but quantitative evidence for nested hierarchical structure. The relation between the dimensions of the subsets and their concentration strengths (the "multifractal spectrum'') appears to satisfactorily order the observed regions in terms of the mixture of geometries present: strong point-like concentrations, line- like filaments or fronts, and space-filling diffuse structures. This multifractal spectrum is a global property of the regions studied, and does not rely on any operational definition of "clouds.'' The range of forms of the multifractal spectrum among the regions studied implies that the column density structures do not form a universality class, in contrast to indications for velocity and passive scalar fields in incompressible turbulence, providing another indication that the physics of highly compressible interstellar gas dynamics differs fundamentally from incompressible turbulence. (Abstract truncated)Comment: 27 pages, (LaTeX), 13 figures, 1 table, submitted to Astrophysical Journa

On Deformations of n-Lie algebras

The aim of this paper is to review the deformation theory of $n$-Lie algebras. We summarize the 1-parameter formal deformation theory and provide a generalized approach using any unital commutative associative algebra as a deformation base. Moreover, we discuss degenerations and quantization of $n$-Lie algebras.Comment: Proceeding of the conference Dakar's Workshop in honor of Pr Amin Kaidi. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:hep-th/9602016 by other author

Compensatory shifts in visual perception are associated with hallucinations in Lewy body disorders

Abstract Visual hallucinations are a common, distressing, and disabling symptom of Lewy body and other diseases. Current models suggest that interactions in internal cognitive processes generate hallucinations. However, these neglect external factors. Pareidolic illusions are an experimental analogue of hallucinations. They are easily induced in Lewy body disease, have similar content to spontaneous hallucinations, and respond to cholinesterase inhibitors in the same way. We used a primed pareidolia task with hallucinating participants with Lewy body disorders (n = 16), non-hallucinating participants with Lewy body disorders (n = 19), and healthy controls (n = 20). Participants were presented with visual “noise” that sometimes contained degraded visual objects and were required to indicate what they saw. Some perceptions were cued in advance by a visual prime. Results showed that hallucinating participants were impaired in discerning visual signals from noise, with a relaxed criterion threshold for perception compared to both other groups. After the presentation of a visual prime, the criterion was comparable to the other groups. The results suggest that participants with hallucinations compensate for perceptual deficits by relaxing perceptual criteria, at a cost of seeing things that are not there, and that visual cues regularize perception. This latter finding may provide a mechanism for understanding the interaction between environments and hallucinations

Observation of Live Ticks (Haemaphysalis flava) by Scanning Electron Microscopy under High Vacuum Pressure

Scanning electron microscopes (SEM), which image sample surfaces by scanning with an electron beam, are widely used for steric observations of resting samples in basic and applied biology. Various conventional methods exist for SEM sample preparation. However, conventional SEM is not a good tool to observe living organisms because of the associated exposure to high vacuum pressure and electron beam radiation. Here we attempted SEM observations of live ticks. During 1.5×10−3 Pa vacuum pressure and electron beam irradiation with accelerated voltages (2–5 kV), many ticks remained alive and moved their legs. After 30-min observation, we removed the ticks from the SEM stage; they could walk actively under atmospheric pressure. When we tested 20 ticks (8 female adults and 12 nymphs), they survived for two days after SEM observation. These results indicate the resistance of ticks against SEM observation. Our second survival test showed that the electron beam, not vacuum conditions, results in tick death. Moreover, we describe the reaction of their legs to electron beam exposure. These findings open the new possibility of SEM observation of living organisms and showed the resistance of living ticks to vacuum condition in SEM. These data also indicate, for the first time, the usefulness of tick as a model system for biology under extreme condition

Spiral valve parasites of blue and common thresher sharks as indicators of shark feeding behaviour and ecology

Open Access via the Jisc Wiley agreement Acknowledgements This work would not have been possible without the assistance and samples provided by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Southwest Region Fishery Observer Program and the participating drift gillnet fishermen. A. Arevalo, E. Reed, H. Colley, J. Williams, J. Tamez and K. Tran assisted with spiral valve dissections and parasite sorting in the lab. D. Losey helped with library research. D. Sweetnam, A. Yau, A. Thompson, M. Craig, S. Stohs, G. DiNardo provided constructive critiques that helped improve the manuscript. This research was supported by the National Oceanographic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

No association of xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus with prostate cancer or chronic fatigue syndrome in Japan

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The involvement of xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV) in prostate cancer (PC) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is disputed as its reported prevalence ranges from 0% to 25% in PC cases and from 0% to more than 80% in CFS cases. To evaluate the risk of XMRV infection during blood transfusion in Japan, we screened three populations--healthy donors (<it>n </it>= 500), patients with PC (<it>n </it>= 67), and patients with CFS (<it>n </it>= 100)--for antibodies against XMRV proteins in freshly collected blood samples. We also examined blood samples of viral antibody-positive patients with PC and all (both antibody-positive and antibody-negative) patients with CFS for XMRV DNA.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Antibody screening by immunoblot analysis showed that a fraction of the cases (1.6-3.0%) possessed anti-Gag antibodies regardless of their gender or disease condition. Most of these antibodies were highly specific to XMRV Gag capsid protein, but none of the individuals in the three tested populations retained strong antibody responses to multiple XMRV proteins. In the viral antibody-positive PC patients, we occasionally detected XMRV genes in plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells but failed to isolate an infectious or full-length XMRV. Further, all CFS patients tested negative for XMRV DNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our data show no solid evidence of XMRV infection in any of the three populations tested, implying that there is no association between the onset of PC or CFS and XMRV infection in Japan. However, the lack of adequate human specimens as a positive control in Ab screening and the limited sample size do not allow us to draw a firm conclusion.</p

A new species of cosmocercoides (Nematoda; cosmocercidae) and other helminths in leptodactylus latrans (anura; leptodactylidae) from Argentina

Cosmocercoides latrans n. sp. (Cosmocercidae) from the small intestine of Leptodactylus latrans (Anura: Leptodactylidae) from Northeastern Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina is described. The new species can be distinguished from their congeners by a combination of the characters, among which stands out the number of rosette papillae, the lack of gubernaculum and the presence of lateral alae in both sexes. There are over 20 species in the genus Cosmocercoides, and Cosmocercoides latrans n. sp. represents the third species from the Neotropical realm and the second for Argentina. Additionally, seven previously known taxa are reported; Pseudoacanthocephalus cf. lutzi, Catadiscus uruguayensis, Rauschiella palmipedis, Aplectana hylambatis, Cosmocerca parva, Schrankiana sp. and Rhabdias elegans; providing literature records and information on distribution and host-parasite relationships.Fil: Draghi, Regina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Zoología Invertebrados; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Drago, Fabiana Beatriz. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Zoología Invertebrados; Argentina. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas; ArgentinaFil: Lunaschi, Lía Inés. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Zoología Invertebrados; Argentin