1,834 research outputs found
Finding a rare fossilized comb jelly reveals new gaps in the fossil record
They look like jellyfish but they aren’t. They seem inoffensive but are efficient predators — occasionally, they even eat fish. They are gelatinous and very delicate — and extremely rarely do they fossilize!
Ctenophores, also known as comb jellies, are colourful, translucent animals, that drift through oceanic waters. Unlike jellyfish, ctenophores don’t have stinging cells, and typically capture prey using long, sticky tentacles.
Our research describing a fossilized ctenophore from Eastern Canada, published recently in Scientific Reports, suggests that our creature was a very late survivor from the very dawn of animals. It also means that a very controversial idea about early animal evolution can’t be rejected by the fossil record
Constructive updating/downdating of oblique projectors: a generalization of the Gram-Schmidt process
A generalization of the Gram-Schmidt procedure is achieved by providing
equations for updating and downdating oblique projectors. The work is motivated
by the problem of adaptive signal representation outside the orthogonal basis
setting. The proposed techniques are shown to be relevant to the problem of
discriminating signals produced by different phenomena when the order of the
signal model needs to be adjusted.Comment: As it will appear in Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and
Theoretical (2007
Photoactivation experiment on 197Au and its implications for the dipole strength in heavy nuclei
The 197Au(gamma,n) reaction is used as an activation standard for
photodisintegration studies on astrophysically relevant nuclei. At the
bremsstrahlung facility of the superconducting electron accelerator ELBE
(Electron Linear accelerator of high Brilliance and low Emittance) of
Forschungszentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, photoactivation measurements on 197Au
have been performed with bremsstrahlung endpoint energies from 8.0 to 15.5 MeV.
The measured activation yield is compared with previous experiments as well as
with calculations using Hauser-Feshbach statistical models. It is shown that
the experimental data are best described by a two-Lorentzian parametrization
with taking the axial deformation of 197Au into account. The experimental
197Au(gamma,n) reaction yield measured at ELBE via the photoactivation method
is found to be consistent with previous experimental data using photon
scattering or neutron detection methods.Comment: 9 page
Oxygen Deficient α-Fe2O3Photoelectrodes: A Balance Between Enhanced Electrical Properties and Trap-Mediated Losses
Intrinsic doping of hematite through the inclusion of oxygen vacancies (VO) is being increasingly explored as a simple, low temperature route to preparing active water splitting α-Fe2O3-x photoelectrodes. Whilst it is widely accepted that the introduction of VO leads to improved conductivities, little else is verified regarding the actual mechanism of enhancement. Here we employ transient absorption (TA) spectroscopy to build a comprehensive kinetic model for water oxidation on α-Fe2O3-x. In contrast to previous suggestions, the primary effect of introducing VO is to block very slow (ms) surface hole – bulk electron recombination pathways. In light of our mechanistic research we are also able to identify and address a cause of the high photocurrent onset potential, a common issue with this class of electrodes. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) of Al2O3 is found to be particularly effective with α-Fe2O3-x, leading to the photocurrent onset potential shifting by ca. 200 mV. Significantly TA measurements on these ALD passivated electrodes also provide important insights into the role of passivating layers, that are relevant to the wider development of α-Fe2O3 photoelectrode
Measurement of the Absolute Differential Cross Section for np Elastic Scattering at 194 MeV
A tagged medium-energy neutron beam has been used in a precise measurement of
the absolute differential cross section for np back-scattering. The results
resolve significant discrepancies within the np database concerning the angular
dependence in this regime. The experiment has determined the absolute
normalization with 1.5% uncertainty, suitable to verify constraints of
supposedly comparable precision that arise from the rest of the database in
partial wave analyses. The analysis procedures, especially those associated
with evaluation of systematic errors in the experiment, are described in detail
so that systematic uncertainties may be included in a reasonable way in
subsequent partial wave analysis fits incorporating the present results.Comment: 22 pages, 21 figures, submitted for publication in Physical Review
Transformation Pathways of Silica under High Pressure
Concurrent molecular dynamics simulations and ab initio calculations show
that densification of silica under pressure follows a ubiquitous two-stage
mechanism. First, anions form a close-packed sub-lattice, governed by the
strong repulsion between them. Next, cations redistribute onto the interstices.
In cristobalite silica, the first stage is manifest by the formation of a
metastable phase, which was observed experimentally a decade ago, but never
indexed due to ambiguous diffraction patterns. Our simulations conclusively
reveal its structure and its role in the densification of silica.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure
Measurement of the Absolute np Scattering Differential Cross Section at 194 MeV
We describe a double-scattering experiment with a novel tagged neutron beam
to measure differential cross sections for np back-scattering to better than 2%
absolute precision. The measurement focuses on angles and energies where the
cross section magnitude and angle-dependence constrain the charged pion-nucleon
coupling constant, but existing data show serious discrepancies among
themselves and with energy-dependent partial wave analyses (PWA). The present
results are in good accord with the PWA, but deviate systematically from other
recent measurements.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
High real-space resolution measurement of the local structure of Ga_1-xIn_xAs using x-ray diffraction
High real-space resolution atomic pair distribution functions (PDF)s from the
alloy series Ga_1-xIn_xAs have been obtained using high-energy x-ray
diffraction. The first peak in the PDF is resolved as a doublet due to the
presence of two nearest neighbor bond lengths, Ga-As and In-As, as previously
observed using XAFS. The widths of nearest, and higher, neighbor pairs are
analyzed by separating the strain broadening from the thermal motion. The
strain broadening is five times larger for distant atomic neighbors as compared
to nearest neighbors. The results are in agreement with model calculations.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
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