Algebraic Properties of BRST Coupled Doublets

We characterize the dependence on doublets of the cohomology of an arbitrary nilpotent differential s (including BRST differentials and classical linearized Slavnov-Taylor (ST) operators) in terms of the cohomology of the doublets-independent component of s. All cohomologies are computed in the space of local integrated formal power series. We drop the usual assumption that the counting operator for the doublets commutes with s (decoupled doublets) and discuss the general case where the counting operator does not commute with s (coupled doublets). The results are purely algebraic and do not rely on power-counting arguments.Comment: Some explanations enlarged, references adde

Transmittance, Reflectance and Emission Spectroscopy of Meteorites from the IV to the IR Spectral Range

In the last decade the Planetary Emissivity Laboratory (PEL) of DLR in Berlin has provided spec-tral measurements of planetary analogues from the visible to the far-infrared range for comparison with remote sens-ing spacecraft/telescopic measurements of planetary surfaces [1-5]. Bi-directional reflection, transmission and emis-sion spectroscopy are the techniques we used to acquire spectral data of target materials. In fall 2015 we started upgrading our laboratory set-up, adding a new spectrometer, three external sources, and new detectors and beamsplitters to further extend the spectral range of measurements that can be performed in the laboratory. Reflecting the wider scope of measurement capabilities the facility was renamed to Planetary Spectros-copy Laboratory (PSL). Two FTIR instruments are operating at PSL, in an air-conditioned room. The spectrometers are two Bruker Ver-tex 80V that can be evacuated to ~.1 mbar. One spectrometer is equipped with aluminum mirrors optimized for the UV, visible and near-IR, the second features gold-coated mirrors for the near to far IR spectral range. Apart from the mirrors the two instruments are identical, and can therefore share the collection of detectors and beamsplitters we have in our equipment to cover a very wide spectral range. The instruments and the accessory units used are fully automatized and the data calibration and reduction are made with software developed at DLR[4]. By using several pairings of detector+beamsplitter we can perform spectral measurements in the whole spectral range from 0.2 to 200 μm

Neonatal oxytocin administration and weaning onto a gruel based diet reduce weight loss at weaning and enhance gastric leptin expression

Administering oxytocin to neonatal rats has positive long-term effects on growth and development (Uvnas-Moberg and Petersson, 2005). These effects include a reduction in the stress response to weaning, increased post-weaning feed intake and alterations in the expression of gastrointestinal (GI) hormones regulating feed intake (Uvnas-Moberg et al., 1998; Sohlstrom et al., 1999). Two GI hormones of importance in regulating feed intake are ghrelin and leptin, which have antagonistic actions. Ghrelin expression is increased in response to fasting and leptin expression increases rapidly in response to feed intake. Since weaning the piglet is associated with stress and growth restriction, this study examined whether oxytocin given to young pigs could reduce the extent of the post-weaning growth check, along with any associated changes in ghrelin and leptin expression

A Compact Semi-Lumped Tunable Complex Impedance Transformer

International audienceThis article describes the design and performance of a compact tunable impedance transformer. The structure is based on a transmission line loaded by varactor diodes. Using only two pairs of diodes, the circuit is very small with a total length of only λ/10. Both the frequency range and the load impedance can be tuned by varying the varactor bias voltages. Our design provides a tunable operating frequency range of ± 40% and an impedance match ranging from 20 Ω to 90 Ω at 0.8 GHz and from 30 Ω to 170 Ω at 1.5 GHz. In addition, a new approach that considers losses for the simulation and measurement of this impedance transformer was investigated. The measured performance of a 1 GHz prototype design confirmed the validity of this new approach

Spectroscopic Temperature Determination of Degenerate Fermi Gases

We suggest a simple method for measuring the temperature of ultra-cold gases made of fermions. We show that by using a two-photon Raman probe, it is possible to obtain lineshapes which reveal properties of the degenerate sample, notably its temperature $T$. The proposed method could be used with identical fermions in different hyperfine states interacting via s-wave scattering or identical fermions in the same hyperfine state via p-wave scattering. We illustrate the applicability of the method in realistic conditions for $^6$Li prepared in two different hyperfine states. We find that temperatures down to 0.05 $T_{F}$ can be determined by this {\it in-situ} method.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, Revtex

Not equal in the face of habitat change: closely related fishes differ in their ability to use predation-related information in degraded coral

Coral reefs are biodiversity hotpots that are under significant threat due to the degradation and death of hard corals. When obligate coral-dwelling species die, the remaining species must either move or adjust to the altered conditions. Our goal was to investigate the effect of coral degradation on the ability of coral reef fishes to assess their risk of predation using alarm cues from injured conspecifics. Here, we tested the ability of six closely related species of juvenile damselfish (Pomacentridae) to respond to risk cues in both live coral or dead-degraded coral environments. Of those six species, two are exclusively associated with live coral habitats, two are found mostly on dead-degraded coral rubble, while the last two are found in both habitat types. We found that the two live coral associates failed to respond appropriately to the cues in water from degraded habitats. In contrast, the cue response of the two rubble associates was unaffected in the same degraded habitat. Interestingly, we observed a mixed response from the species found in both habitat types, with one species displaying an appropriate cue response while the other did not. Our second experiment suggested that the lack of responses stemmed from deactivation of the alarm cues, rather than the inability of the species to smell. Habitat preference (live coral versus dead coral associates) and phylogeny are good candidates for future work aimed at predicting which species are affected by coral degradation. Our results point towards a surprising level of variation in the ability of congeneric species to fare in altered habitats and hence underscores the difficulty of predicting community change in degraded habitats

Risk assessment and predator learning in a changing world: understanding the impacts of coral reef degradation

Habitat degradation is among the top drivers of the loss of global biodiversity. This problem is particularly acute in coral reef system. Here we investigated whether coral degradation influences predator risk assessment and learning for damselfish. When in a live coral environment, Ambon damselfish were able to learn the identity of an unknown predator upon exposure to damselfish alarm cues combined with predator odour and were able to socially transmit this learned recognition to naïve conspecifics. However, in the presence of dead coral water, damselfish failed to learn to recognize the predator through alarm cue conditioning and hence could not transmit the information socially. Unlike alarm cues of Ambon damselfish that appear to be rendered unusable in degraded coral habitats, alarm cues of Nagasaki damselfish remain viable in this same environment. Nagasaki damselfish were able to learn predators through conditioning with alarm cues in degraded habitats and subsequently transmit the information socially to Ambon damselfish. Predator-prey dynamics may be profoundly affected as habitat degradation proceeds; the success of one species that appears to have compromised predation assessment and learning, may find itself reliant on other species that are seemingly unaffected by the same degree of habitat degradation

Production of high purity silica by microfluidic-inclusion fracture using microwave pre-treatment

© 2018 Demand for high purity silica used in component manufacture is set to outstrip current supply in the near future. As such, alternative processing routes to feed-stock materials suitable for use in lighting and solar cell fabrication are required, without having to rely on reject material from semi-conductor manufacture. In this work, we report a facile, environmentally friendly method of producing quartz powder with a total residual impurity level of 30 ± 3 ppm from whole pebbles having an initial impurity level of 158 ± 22 ppm. This has been achieved using a metallurgical upgrading process incorporating microwave pre-treatment, crushing and milling, High Intensity Wet Magnetic Separation (HIWMS) and acid leaching. This process yielded a quartz powder having an 80% reduction in residual impurities compared to the untreated quartz pebbles. Pre-treatment of whole quartz pebbles in a multimode microwave cavity for 10 min yielded a reduction of the residual elemental impurity content associated with micro-fluidic inclusion sites containing calcium, potassium and sodium of 84, 78, and 50% respectively. Statistically significant reduction in residual aluminium phases was also observed (83%) compared to the as received material to below the IOTA® specification for Ultra High Pure Quartz produced by Sibleco. Mechanistically, this has been achieved by selectively heating impurity containing micro-fluidic inclusion sites. Resulting in their explosive decrepitation and enabling removal of the impurities in subsequent processing steps. It has been concluded that natural quartz pebbles can be upgraded through a combination of microwave treatment, magnetic and chemical refinement to produce a viable feedstock for the subsequent production of solar grade silicon

Superdiffusivity of the 1D lattice Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation

The continuum Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation in one dimension is lattice discretized in such a way that the drift part is divergence free. This allows to determine explicitly the stationary measures. We map the lattice KPZ equation to a bosonic field theory which has a cubic anti-hermitian nonlinearity. Thereby it is established that the stationary two-point function spreads superdiffusively.Comment: 21 page

Weakly supervised semantic segmentation with a multi-image model

We propose a novel method for weakly supervised semantic segmentation. Training images are labeled only by the classes they contain, not by their location in the image. On test images instead, the method predicts a class label for every pixel. Our main innovation is a multi-image model (MIM)- a graphical model for recovering the pixel labels of the training images. The model connects superpixels from all training images in a data-driven fashion, based on their appearance similarity. For generalizing to new test images we integrate them into MIM using a learned multiple kernel metric, instead of learning conventional classifiers on the recovered pixel labels. We also introduce an “objectness” potential, that helps separating objects (e.g. car, dog, human) from background classes (e.g. grass, sky, road). In experiments on the MSRC 21 dataset and the LabelMe subset of [18], our technique outperforms previous weakly supervised methods and achieves accuracy comparable with fully supervised methods. 1