Influence of clinical mastitis during early lactation on reproductive performance of Jersey cows

In the common goby, Pomatoschistus microps (Pisces, Gobiidae), males build nests under mussel shells where they care for the eggs until hatching. To investigate why male common gobies cannibalize their own eggs (filial cannibalism), we conducted a feeding experiment. Males given little food ate from their eggs more often than males given food in excess. However, males given mussel meat in excess did not eat more of their eggs than males fed with both mussel meat in excess and goby eggs. This may suggest that male common gobies cannibalize their eggs to obtain energy rather than essential nutrients lacking in other diets. Moreover, males ate their whole clutch if it was exceptionally small regardless of food treatment, suggesting that males stop investing in their clutch if its reproductive value is less than the cost of guarding it. Thus, whole clutch cannibalism and partial clutch cannibalism seem to be governed by different factors. Furthermore, poorly built nests were associated with starved males, suggesting that nest concealing is costly. There was an association between how well the nest was built and partial clutch filial cannibalism, suggesting that the appearance of the nest may indicate the condition of the male, and thus the risk of filial cannibalism. Copyright 1998 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.     

Non diffusive mobility of solid hydrogen films

We have used a hole-burning technique to study the mobility of thin solid films of H₂ and D₂ for temperatures between 1.6 K and 5 K. Even at low temperatures where transport through the vapor is negligible, the solid films remain mobile. The transport is thermally activated with an activation energy of 19 K for H₂ and 38 K for D₂. The time dependence of the regrowth shows that surface transport is not due to simple diffusion.     

Supercooling Helium Vapor: Nucleation and Fog Formation Induced by Strong Evaporation

We have studied heterogeneous nucleation of liquid ⁴He on cesiated surfaces using calorimetric techniques. Nucleation kinetics are strongly influenced by wetting properties. Since liquid ⁴He does not wet cesium below 2K, substantial supercooling of the vapor is expected on theoretical grounds. Experimentally, however, we have been unable to detect any supercooling in our cells. This may be due to microscopic defects in the Cs coating, which in turn may be related to the fact that we have been unable to find a cell construction material which is wetted by Cs. Somewhat paradoxically, it is possible to supercool helium vapor even in a container made of conventional wetted materials by imposing a large heat and mass flux from the liquid to the vapor across the bulk liquid-vapor interface. When evaporation is sufficiently strong, the vapor above the liquid becomes unstable, and forms a dense fog. Videos of this process show that the fog front propagates rapidly from very near the liquid-vapor interface upward into the vapor. Fog formation near the liquid interface implies that the vapor is in a supercooled metastable state. Qualitative ideas from non-equilibrium thermodynamics and kinetic theory are used to explain this phenomenon.     

Planar multimode detector arrays for infrared and millimeter-wave applications

A new type of detector array is described. By means of a suitably designed metallic network, many detector elements (each individually small compared to wavelength) are assembled into an impedance-matched termination for radiation incident normally on the plane of the device. Residual reactance is tuned out by means of a movable backshort. An array of 400 bismuth-film microbolometers with a total area of 1 cm²has been tested at 215 GHz. A coupling efficiency of approximately 60 percent was observed. The detector has aD*of4 times 10^{8}cm . Hz^1/2/W at room temperature with response time on the order of2 times 10^{-7}s. Similar arrays of Schottky and SIS diodes can probably be constructed.