397 research outputs found
Electron-Phonon Coupling Origin of the resistivity in YNi_{2}B_{2}C Single Crystals
Resistivity measurements from 4.2 K up to 300 K were made on YNi_{2}B_{2}C
single crystals with Tc=15.5 K. The resulting rho(T) curve shows a perfect
Bloch-Grueneisen (BG) behavior, with a very small residual resistivity which
indicates the low impurity content and the high cristallographic quality of the
samples. The value lambda_{tr}=0.53 for the transport electron-phonon coupling
constant was obtained by using the high-temperature constant value of d(rho)/dT
and the plasma frequency reported in literature. The BG expression for the
phononic part of the resistivity rho_{ph}(T) was then used to fit the data in
the whole temperature range, by approximating alpha^{2}_{tr}F(Omega) with the
experimental phonon spectral density G(Omega) multiplied by a two-step
weighting function to be determined by the fit. The resulting fitting curve
perfectly agrees with the experimental points. We also solved the real-axis
Eliashberg equations in both s- and d-wave symmetries under the approximation
alpha^{2}F(Omega)= alpha^{2}_{tr}F(Omega). We found that the value of
lambda_{tr} here determined in single-band approximation is quite compatible
with Tc and the gap Delta experimentally observed. Finally, we calculated the
normalized tunneling conductance, whose comparison with break-junction tunnel
data gives indication of the possible s-wave symmetry for the order parameter
in YNi_{2}B_{2}C.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures. Proceedings of SATT10 Conference, to be published
in Int. J. Mod. Phys.
Sonographie bei intrakorporalem Drogenschmuggel
Um die Bedeutung der Sonographie zur Erfassung inkorporierter Drogenpäckchen (»body-packs«) zu überprüfen, wurden nach Erarbeitung sonographisch-diagnostischer Kriterien im Wasserbad zehn Probanden zwischen 23 und 30 Jahren, die je vier »body-packs« geschluckt hatten, sonographisch untersucht. Die »body-packs« bestanden aus mit festgepreßter Glucose gefüllten Fingerlingen mit einem Durchmesser von 1,5-1,8 cm. Im Wasserbadversuch zeigte sich als Identifikationskriterium der »body-packs« ein sichelförmiger Reflex mit dorsaler Schallauslöschung. Aufgrund dieses Kriteriums konnten bei acht der zehn Probanden 23 der 40 »body-packs« im Magen identifiziert werden. Dabei ließen sich innerhalb der ersten drei Stunden nach Ingestion bei acht Probanden 22 »body-packs« und nach etwa 17 Stunden bei vier Probanden neun »body-packs« im Magen nachweisen; nur bei einem Probanden gelang der Nachweis von zwei »body-packs« im Dünn-Dickdarm-Bereich. Da in der Praxis des intrakorporalen Drogenschmuggels zum möglichen Untersuchungszeitpunkt fast immer »body-packs« im Magen vorhanden sind, kann ein breiter Einsatz des Ultraschalls im Screening des Drogenschmuggels empfohlen werden.To evaluate the place of ultrasonography in the detection of intracorporeal drug packets (body-packs) ten volunteers were examined by ultrasound after having swallowed four body-packs each. Diagnostic criteria had first been established by ultrasound imaging of body-packs in a water bath. The body-packs contained fingerstalls, 1.5-1.8 cm in diameter, filled with hard-pressed glucose. The criterion for identification in the water-bath was shown to be a sickle-shaped echo with a dorsal echo deficit. This sign identified 23 of the 40 body-packs in eight of the ten subjects. Within the first three hours of ingestion 22 body-packs were demonstrated in eight of the subjects; after 17 hours nine body-packs were identified in the stomach of four subjects. In only one subject was it possible to identify (two) body-packs in the region of the small-large intestine. In practice, intracorporeal drug smugglers will almost always have the body-packs in the stomach at the time of likely examination. Extensive ultrasound screening of suspected smugglers is, therefore, recommended
Comparative studies on the structure of an upland African stream ecosystem
Upland stream systems have been extensively investigated in Europe, North America and Australasia and many of the central ideas concerning their function are based on these systems. One central paradigm, the river continuum concept is ultimately derived from those North American streams whose catchments remain forested with native vegetation. Streams of the tropics may or may not fit the model. They have been little studied. The Amani Nature Reserve in the East Usambara Mountains of north-eastern Tanzania offers an opportunity to bring these naturally forested systems to the attention of the ecological community. This article describes a comparison made between two lengths of the River Dodwe in this area. The work was carried out by a group of postgraduate students from eighteen European and African countries with advice from five staff members, as part of a course organised by the Tropical Biology Association. Rigorous efforts were made to standardise techniques, in a situation where equipment and laboratory facilities were very basic, through a management structure and deliberate allocation of work to specialists in each area.The article offers a summary of invertebrate communities found in the stream and its biomass. Crabs seem to be the key organism in both sections of the streams
Spectroscopy of 230Th in the (p,t) reaction
The excitation spectra in the deformed nucleus 230Th were studied by means of
the (p,t) reaction, using the Q3D spectrograph facility at the Munich Tandem
accelerator. The angular distributions of tritons are measured for about 200
excitations seen in the triton spectra up to 3.3 MeV. Firm 0+ assignments are
made for 16 excited states by comparison of experimental angular distributions
with the calculated ones using the CHUCK code. Additional assignments are
possible: relatively firm for 4 states and tentative also for 4 states.
Assignments up to spin are made for other states. Sequences of the states
are selected which can be treated as rotational bands and as multiplets of
excitations. Experimental data are compared with interacting boson model IBM)
and quasiparticle-phonon model (QPM) calculations.Comment: 35 pages in PDF, 14 figures in text and 8 figures in appendix
Extended version of the paper published in Phys.Re
αA-crystallin R49Cneo mutation influences the architecture of lens fiber cell membranes and causes posterior and nuclear cataracts in mice
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>αA-crystallin (CRYAA/HSPB4), a major component of all vertebrate eye lenses, is a small heat shock protein responsible for maintaining lens transparency. The R49C mutation in the αA-crystallin protein is linked with non-syndromic, hereditary human cataracts in a four-generation Caucasian family.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This study describes a mouse cataract model generated by insertion of a neomycin-resistant (neo<sup>r</sup>) gene into an intron of the gene encoding mutant R49C αA-crystallin. Mice carrying the neo<sup>r </sup>gene and wild-type <it>Cryaa </it>were also generated as controls. Heterozygous knock-in mice containing one wild type gene and one mutated gene for αA-crystallin (WT/R49C<sup>neo</sup>) and homozygous knock-in mice containing two mutated genes (R49C<sup>neo</sup>/R49C<sup>neo</sup>) were compared.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>By 3 weeks, WT/R49C<sup>neo </sup>mice exhibited large vacuoles in the cortical region 100 μm from the lens surface, and by 3 months posterior and nuclear cataracts had developed. WT/R49C<sup>neo </sup>mice demonstrated severe posterior cataracts at 9 months of age, with considerable posterior nuclear migration evident in histological sections. R49C<sup>neo</sup>/R49C<sup>neo </sup>mice demonstrated nearly complete lens opacities by 5 months of age. In contrast, R49C mice in which the neo<sup>r </sup>gene was deleted by breeding with CreEIIa mice developed lens abnormalities at birth, suggesting that the neo<sup>r </sup>gene may suppress expression of mutant R49C αA-crystallin protein.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>It is apparent that modification of membrane and cell-cell interactions occurs in the presence of the αA-crystallin mutation and rapidly leads to lens cell pathology <it>in vivo</it>.</p
Flavor decomposition of the sea quark helicity distributions in the nucleon from semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering
Double-spin asymmetries of semi-inclusive cross sections for the production
of identified pions and kaons have been measured in deep-inelastic scattering
of polarized positrons on a polarized deuterium target. Five helicity
distributions including those for three sea quark flavors were extracted from
these data together with re-analyzed previous data for identified pions from a
hydrogen target. These distributions are consistent with zero for all three sea
flavors. A recently predicted flavor asymmetry in the polarization of the light
quark sea appears to be disfavored by the data.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
- …