Radial Distribution Function for Semiflexible Polymers Confined in Microchannels

An analytic expression is derived for the distribution $G(\vec{R})$ of the end-to-end distance $\vec{R}$ of semiflexible polymers in external potentials to elucidate the effect of confinement on the mechanical and statistical properties of biomolecules. For parabolic confinement the result is exact whereas for realistic potentials a self-consistent ansatz is developed, so that $G(\vec{R})$ is given explicitly even for hard wall confinement. The theoretical result is in excellent quantitative agreement with fluorescence microscopy data for actin filaments confined in rectangularly shaped microchannels. This allows an unambiguous determination of persistence length $L_P$ and the dependence of statistical properties such as Odijk's deflection length $\lambda$ on the channel width $D$. It is shown that neglecting the effect of confinement leads to a significant overestimation of bending rigidities for filaments

The correlation between auditory speech sensitivity and speaker recognition ability

In various applications of forensic phonetics the question arises as to how far aural-perceptual speaker recognition performance is reliable. Therefore, it is necessary to examine the relationship between speaker recognition results and human perception/production abilities like musicality or speech sensitivity. In this study, performance in a speaker recognition experiment and a speech sensitivity test are correlated. The results show a moderately significant positive correlation between the two tasks. Generally, performance in the speaker recognition task was better than in the speech sensitivity test. Professionals in speech and singing yielded a more homogeneous correlation than non-experts. Training in speech as well as choir-singing seems to have a positive effect on performance in speaker recognition. It may be concluded, firstly, that in cases where the reliability of voice line-up results or the credibility of a testimony have to be considered, the speech sensitivity test could be a useful indicator. Secondly, the speech sensitivity test might be integrated into the canon of possible procedures for the accreditation of forensic phoneticians. Both tests may also be used in combination

Modeling and simulation of phase-transitions in multicomponent aluminum alloy casting

The casting process of aluminum products involves the spatial distribution of alloying elements. It is essential that these elements are uniformly distributed in order to guarantee reliable and consistent products. This requires a good understanding of the main physical mechanisms that affect the solidification, in particular the thermodynamic description and its coupling to the transport processes of heat and mass that take place. The continuum modeling is reviewed and methods for handling the thermodynamics component of multi-element alloys are proposed. Savings in data-storage and computing costs on the order of 100 or more appear possible, when a combination of data-reduction and data-representation methods is used. To test the new approach a simplified model was proposed and shown to qualitatively capture the evolving solidification front

Alkali suppression within laser ion-source cavities and time structure of the laser ionized ion-bunches

The chemical selectivity of the target and ion-source production system is an asset for Radioactive Ion-Beam (RIB) facilities equipped with mass separators. Ionization via laser induced multiple resonant steps Ionization has such selectivity. However, the selectivity of the ISOLDE Resonant Ionization Laser Ion-Source (RILIS), where ionization takes place within high temperature refractory metal cavities, suffers from unwanted surface ionization of low ionization potential alkalis. In order to reduce this type of isobaric contaminant, surface ionization within the target vessel was used. On-line measurements of the efficiency of this method is reported, suppression factors of alkalis up to an order of magnitude were measured as a function of their ionization potential. The time distribution of the ion bunches produced with the RILIS was measured for a variety of elements and high temperature cavity materials. While all ions are produced within a few nanoseconds, the ion bunch sometimes spreads over more than 100 ms. This demonstrates that ions are confined within high temperature metallic cavities. It is the internal electrical field of these cavities that causes the ions to drifts to the extraction region and defines the dwell time of the ions in the cavity. Beam optics calculations were carried out to simulate the pulse shape of a RILIS ion bunch and are compared to the actual measurements

Energy distributions and yields of 3H, 4He and 6He-particles emitted in the 245Cm(n_th,f) reaction

The energy distributions and yields of light charged particles emitted during thermal neutron induced fission of 245Cm have been measured at the high flux reactor of the Institute Laue Langevin in Grenoble (France). The detection of the ternary particles was done using a Delta-E/E telescope, permitting a good separation of the ternary particles. In this way, the characteristics of the energy distribution (average energy and full width at half maximum) for 4He, 3H and 6He particles as well as their emission probabilities could be determined. For the emission probabilities per fission, the following values were obtained: LRA/B=(2.15+-0.05)E-3, 3H/B=(1.85+-0.10)E-4 and 6He/B=(4.95+-1.25)E-5

Off-line production of intense 7,10Be+^{7,10}Be^{+} beams

$^7$Be and $^{10}$Be were produced by 590~MeV proton bombardment of a graphite target at PSI. Parts of this graphite target were transferred into an ISOLDE target and ion source unit and ionized with the ISOLDE resonance ionization laser ion source (RILIS). Thus intense radioactive ion beams of 300~nA of $^{7,10}$Be$^+$ were produced off-line

Egg mortality: predation and hydrography in the central Baltic

Cod and sprat are the dominant fish species in the Baltic pelagic ecosystem, both of great economic importance and ecologically strongly interlinked. Management of both species is challenged by highly variable recruitment success. Recent studies have identified predation and hydrographic conditions during the egg phase to be of critical importance. Two years of extensive field investigations in the Bornholm Basin, central Baltic Sea, were undertaken. In 2002, a typical stagnation situation characterized by low salinity and poor oxygen conditions was investigated, and in early 2003, a major inflow of North Sea water completely changed the hydrographic conditions by increasing salinity and oxygen content, thereby altering ecological conditions. The goal was to quantify egg mortality caused by predation and hydrography, and to compare these estimates with independent estimates based on cohort analysis. Results indicated high intra-annual variability in egg mortality. Cod and sprat egg mortality responded differently to the major Baltic inflow: mortality related to hydrographic conditions increased for sprat and decreased for cod. On the other hand, predation mortality during peak spawning decreased for sprat and increased for cod

beta-decay study of Cu-77

A beta-decay study of Cu-77 has been performed at the ISOLDE mass separator with the aim to deduce its beta-decay properties and to obtain spectroscopic information on Zn-77. Neutron-rich copper isotopes were produced by means of proton- or neutron-induced fission reactions on U-238. After the production, Cu-77 was selectively laser ionized, mass separated and sent to different detection systems where beta-gamma and beta-n coincidence data were collected. We report on the deduced half-live, decay scheme, and possible spin assignment of 77Cu

Study of shock waves generation, hot electron production and role of parametric instabilities in an intensity regime relevant for the shock ignition

We present experimental results at intensities relevant to Shock Ignition obtained at the sub-ns Prague Asterix Laser System in 2012 . We studied shock waves produced by laser-matter interaction in presence of a pre-plasma. We used a first beam at 1ω (1315 nm) at 7 × 10 13 W/cm 2 to create a pre-plasma on the front side of the target and a second at 3ω (438 nm) at ∼ 10 16 W/cm 2 to create the shock wave. Multilayer targets composed of 25 (or 40 μm) of plastic (doped with Cl), 5 μm of Cu (for Kα diagnostics) and 20 μm of Al for shock measurement were used. We used X-ray spectroscopy of Cl to evaluate the plasma temperature, Kα imaging and spectroscopy to evaluate spatial and spectral properties of the fast electrons and a streak camera for shock breakout measurements. Parametric instabilities (Stimulated Raman Scattering, Stimulated Brillouin Scattering and Two Plasmon Decay) were studied by collecting the back scattered light and analysing its spectrum. Back scattered energy was measured with calorimeters. To evaluate the maximum pressure reached in our experiment we performed hydro simulations with CHIC and DUED codes. The maximum shock pressure generated in our experiment at the front side of the target during laser-interaction is 90 Mbar. The conversion efficiency into hot electrons was estimated to be of the order of ∼ 0.1% and their mean energy in the order ∼50 keV. Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distributio