It Began in Ponds and Rivers: Charting the Beginnings of the Ecology of Fish Cognition.

But fish cognitive ecology did not begin in rivers and streams. Rather, one of the starting points for work on fish cognitive ecology was work done on the use of visual cues by homing pigeons. Prior to working with fish, Victoria Braithwaite helped to establish that homing pigeons rely not just on magnetic and olfactory cues but also on visual cues for successful return to their home loft. Simple, elegant experiments on homing established Victoria's ability to develop experimental manipulations to examine the role of visual cues in navigation by fish in familiar areas. This work formed the basis of a rich seam of work whereby a fish's ecology was used to propose hypotheses and predictions as to preferred cue use, and then cognitive abilities in a variety of fish species, from model systems (Atlantic salmon and sticklebacks) to the Panamanian Brachyraphis episcopi. Cognitive ecology in fish led to substantial work on fish pain and welfare, but was never left behind, with some of Victoria's last work addressed to determining the neural instantiation of cognitive variation.

Characterization and simulation of soft gamma-ray mirrors for their use with spent fuel rods at reprocessing facilities.

The use of a grazing incidence optic to selectively reflect K-shell fluorescence emission and isotope-specific lines from special nuclear materials is a highly desirable nondestructive analysis method for use in reprocessing fuel environments. Preliminary measurements have been performed, and a simulation suite has been developed to give insight into the design of the x ray optics system as a function of the source emission, multilayer coating characteristics, and general experimental configurations. The experimental results are compared to the predictions from our simulation toolkit to illustrate the ray-tracing capability and explore the effect of modified optics in future measurement campaigns.

Changing tides: ecological and historical perspectives on fish cognition.

The capacity for specialization and radiation make fish an excellent group in which to investigate the depth and variety of animal cognition. Even though early observations of fish using tools predates the discovery of tool use in chimpanzees, fish cognition has historically been somewhat overlooked. However, a recent surge of interest is now providing a wealth of material on which to draw examples, and this has required a selective approach to choosing the research described below. Our goal is to illustrate the necessity for basing cognitive investigations on the ecological and evolutionary context of the species at hand. We also seek to illustrate the importance of ecology and the environment in honing a range of sensory systems that allow fish to glean information and support informed decision-making. The various environments and challenges with which fish interact require equally varied cognitive skills, and the solutions that fish have developed are truly impressive. Similarly, we illustrate how common ecological problems will frequently produce common cognitive solutions. Below, we focus on four topics: spatial learning and memory, avoiding predators and catching prey, communication, and innovation. These are used to illustrate how both simple and sophisticated cognitive processes underpin much of the adaptive behavioral flexibility exhibited throughout fish phylogeny. Never before has the field had such a wide array of interdisciplinary techniques available to access both cognitive and mechanistic processes underpinning fish behavior. This capacity comes at a critical time to predict and manage fish populations in an era of unprecedented global change.

How ecology shapes prey fish cognition.

Fish exhibit diverse cognitive capacities: they cooperate, punish, develop cultural traditions, learn to map their environment and communicate their intentions to one another. Skills such as these have helped fish radiate to colonize the many and diverse aquatic niches available. Prey fish are no exception to this, and several recent studies have shown them to be a rich resource for understanding the evolutionary ecology of animal cognition. Many fish have to cope with the threat of predation, but some environments contain more predators than others. These environments deliver the opportunity to investigate how predation pressure shapes fish cognition and behaviour. Here we compared fish from two high and two low predation habitats in their ability to learn a sequential choice spatial task. We also investigated their ability to solve the maze after it was rearranged. Fish from high predation sites made more errors as they learned to navigate the maze than fish from low predation sites. The fish also varied in the cues that they learned to help them solve the task. These did not vary by levels of predation pressure, rather, they differed between rivers, with fish from one river learning to use landmark cues, and those from the other river learning the sequence of left and right turns. As the different populations varied in how well they learned to navigate through a reconfigured maze, it seems likely that predation pressure is not the only factor influencing spatial behavior in these fish.

All-optical vector atomic magnetometer.

We demonstrate an all-optical magnetometer capable of measuring the magnitude and direction of a magnetic field using nonlinear magneto-optical rotation in cesium vapor. Vector capability is added by effective modulation of the field along orthogonal axes and subsequent demodulation of the magnetic-resonance frequency. This modulation is provided by the ac Stark shift induced by circularly polarized laser beams. The sensor exhibits a demonstrated rms noise floor of ∼65 fT/√[Hz] in measurement of the field magnitude and 0.5 mrad/√[Hz] in the field direction; elimination of technical noise would improve these sensitivities to 12 fT/√[Hz] and 10 µrad/√[Hz], respectively. Applications for this all-optical vector magnetometer would include magnetically sensitive fundamental physics experiments, such as the search for a permanent electric dipole moment of the neutron.

Cavity-enhanced room-temperature magnetometry using absorption by nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond.

We demonstrate a cavity-enhanced room-temperature magnetic field sensor based on nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond. Magnetic resonance is detected using absorption of light resonant with the 1042 nm spin-singlet transition. The diamond is placed in an external optical cavity to enhance the absorption, and significant absorption is observed even at room temperature. We demonstrate a magnetic field sensitivity of 2.5 nT/Hz, and project a photon shot-noise-limited sensitivity of 70 pT/Hz for a few mW of infrared light, and a quantum projection-noise-limited sensitivity of 250 fT/Hz for the sensing volume of ∼90 µm×90 µm×200 µm.

Long-lived heteronuclear spin-singlet states in liquids at a zero magnetic field.

We report an observation of long-lived spin-singlet states in a 13C-1H spin pair in a zero magnetic field. In 13C-labeled formic acid, we observe spin-singlet lifetimes as long as 37 s, about a factor of 3 longer than the T1 lifetime of dipole polarization in the triplet state. In contrast to common high-field experiments, the observed coherence is a singlet-triplet coherence with a lifetime T2 longer than the T1 lifetime of dipole polarization in the triplet manifold. Moreover, we demonstrate that heteronuclear singlet states formed between a 1H and a 13C nucleus can exhibit longer lifetimes than the respective triplet states even in the presence of additional spins that couple to the spin pair of interest. Although long-lived homonuclear spin-singlet states have been extensively studied, this is the first experimental observation of analogous singlet states in heteronuclear spin pairs.

On-chip manipulation of single photons from a diamond defect.

Operating reconfigurable quantum circuits with single photon sources is a key goal of photonic quantum information science and technology. We use an integrated waveguide device containing directional couplers and a reconfigurable thermal phase controller to manipulate single photons emitted from a chromium related color center in diamond. Observation of both a wavelike interference pattern and particlelike sub-Poissionian autocorrelation functions demonstrates coherent manipulation of single photons emitted from the chromium related center and verifies wave particle duality.

Molecular dynamics calculation of molecular volumes and volumes of activation.

Experimentally, the effects of pressure on reaction rates are described by their pressure derivatives, known as volumes of activation. Transition state theory directly links activation volumes to partial molar volumes of reactants and transition states. We discuss a molecular dynamics method for the accurate calculation of molecular volumes, within which the volumes of molecular species are obtained as a difference between the volumes of pure solvent and solvent with a single molecule inserted. The volumes thus obtained depend on the molecular geometry, the strength and type of the solute-solvent interactions, as well as temperature and pressure. The partial molar volumes calculated using this approach agree well with experimental data. Since this method can also be applied to transition state species, it allows for quantitative analysis of experimental volumes of activation in terms of structural parameters of the corresponding transition states. The efficiency of the approach is illustrated by calculation of volumes of activation for three nonpolar reactions in nonpolar solvents. The results agree well with the experimental data.

Effects of deep-bedded finishing system on market pig performance, composition and pork quality.

The purpose of this study was to compare effects of finishing environment on growth performance, pork quality and lipid composition of pork. Environments compared were standard confinement (CON) and deep-bedded semi-outdoor systems. The deep-bedded method employed in the current study was the use of hoop structures. Hoops are large, tent-like shelters with cornstalks or straw for bedding. Gilts ranging in weight from 59 to 71 kg were randomly assigned to treatments of Hoop (n = 50) and CON (n = 18) environments. Gilts were fed a two-phase dietary sequence, ad libitum for 45 days. Six gilts per treatment were selected for carcass composition and quality evaluation. The experiment was replicated a total of five times. Pigs raised in the Hoop environment gained significantly less and required significantly more feed for growth than pigs raised in the CON environment. Carcasses from CON-finished pigs were significantly fatter at the 10th rib, which lowered carcass percentage fat-free lean(FFL) and they also had greater loin marbling scores compared with carcasses from Hoop-finished pigs (P < 0.05). Significant replication effects were noted on beginning weight, live weight, carcass weight, percentage FFL, backfat, lipid content and adipose firmness. Carcasses from Hoop pigs had lower proportions of palmitic acid (P < 0.05), and higher proportions of oleic and linoleic acid (P < 0.05) in the inner layer of adipose tissue. The proportion of saturated fatty acid was lower, and that of mono- and poly-unsaturated fatty acid was higher in the inner layer of the adipose tissue of Hoop pigs. Variations in fatty acid composition and lipid deposition may have been caused by environmental temperature, since decreases in environmental temperature accompanied compositional variation of the adipose, leading to higher proportions of monounsaturated fatty acid and lower proportions of saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acid in adipose tissue, regardless of treatment. Volatile profile analysis revealed that adipose tissue of Hoop pigs had significantly higher amounts of 3-butanal and heptanal compared with CON pigs, which may be related to the amount of oleic and linoleic acids composing the adipose tissue. These data indicate finishing pigs in hoop structures allows for exposure to fluctuating temperatures, which may influence the growth of pigs, as well as fatty acid composition and firmness of pork products.

Effects of space allocation within a deep-bedded finishing system on pig growth performance, fatty acid composition and pork quality.

The objectives of the current study were to determine the degree to which space allocation in a deep-bedded system influences swine performance and pork quality. The deep-bedded method employed was hoop structures, which are large, tent-like shelters with cornstalks or straw for bedding. One hundred gilts ranging in weight from 59 to 71 kg were randomly assigned to treatments of low (0.70 m2 per pig, n = 50) or high (1.13 m2 per pig, n = 50) space allocation. During the 45-day experimental period, gilts were ad libitum fed a two-phase diet. Six gilts per treatment were used for carcass composition and pork quality evaluation for each replication. Five replications were conducted over a period of 4 months. Pigs finished with greater space allocation had smaller longissimus muscle area and produced pork that appeared to be darker. Variations in fatty acid composition and lipid percentage of subcutaneous adipose and longissimus dorsi muscle were observed when space allocation was changed within hoop structures. Less space resulted in greater proportion of lipid present as polyunsaturated fatty acids. Greater space allocation resulted in lower total lipid in subcutaneous pork adipose tissue. Space allocation did not affect fat firmness. Replications spanned the months of August to November, with temperatures ranging from 32°C to -2°C within the hoop structure. As environmental temperature declined, the proportion of monounsaturated fatty acids increased. Providing more space during finishing in these systems had only a small affect on pig growth and pork quality. Variations observed from replication to replication at fluctuating temperatures provide insight to seasonal differences in growth and adipose tissue composition and firmness. Therefore, finishing pigs in these systems may lead to seasonal variation in lipid composition.

Intrinsic impurities in glass alkali-vapor cells.

We report NMR measurements of metallic (133)Cs in glass cells. The solid-liquid phase transition was studied by observing the NMR peaks arising from these two phases; surprisingly, many cells yielded two additional NMR peaks below the melting point. We attribute these signals to two distinct impurities which can dissolve in the liquid alkali metal and affect its chemical shift. Intentional contamination of cesium cells with O(2) confirms this hypothesis for one peak. The other contaminant remains unknown but can appear in evacuated cells. Similar effects have been seen in (87)Rb cells.

Spin transfer from an optically pumped alkali vapor to a solid.

We report enhancement of the spin polarization of 133Cs nuclei in CsH salt by spin transfer from an optically pumped cesium vapor. The nuclear polarization was 4.0 times the equilibrium polarization at 9.4 T and 137 degrees C, with larger enhancements at lower fields. This work is the first demonstration of spin transfer from a polarized alkali vapor to the nuclei of a solid, opening up new possibilities for research in hyperpolarized materials.

Hyperinsulinism in mice with heterozygous loss of K(ATP) channels.

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: ATP-sensitive K(+) (K(ATP)) channels couple glucose metabolism to insulin secretion in pancreatic beta cells. In humans, loss-of-function mutations of beta cell K(ATP) subunits (SUR1, encoded by the gene ABCC8, or Kir6.2, encoded by the gene KCNJ11) cause congenital hyperinsulinaemia. Mice with dominant-negative reduction of beta cell K(ATP) (Kir6.2[AAA]) exhibit hyperinsulinism, whereas mice with zero K(ATP) (Kir6.2(-/-)) show transient hyperinsulinaemia as neonates, but are glucose-intolerant as adults. Thus, we propose that partial loss of beta cell K(ATP) in vivo causes insulin hypersecretion, but complete absence may cause insulin secretory failure. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Heterozygous Kir6.2(+/-) and SUR1(+/-) animals were generated by backcrossing from knockout animals. Glucose tolerance in intact animals was determined following i.p. loading. Glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS), islet K(ATP) conductance and glucose dependence of intracellular Ca(2+) were assessed in isolated islets. RESULTS: In both of the mechanistically distinct models of reduced K(ATP) (Kir6.2(+/-) and SUR1(+/-)), K(ATP) density is reduced by approximately 60%. While both Kir6.2(-/-) and SUR1(-/-) mice are glucose-intolerant and have reduced glucose-stimulated insulin secretion, heterozygous Kir6.2(+/-) and SUR1(+/-) mice show enhanced glucose tolerance and increased GSIS, paralleled by a left-shift in glucose dependence of intracellular Ca(2+) oscillations. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: The results confirm that incomplete loss of beta cell K(ATP) in vivo underlies a hyperinsulinaemic phenotype, whereas complete loss of K(ATP) underlies eventual secretory failure.

New insights on the mechanism of palladium-catalyzed hydrolysis of sodium borohydride from 11B NMR measurements.

To gain insight on the mechanistic aspects of the palladium-catalyzed hydrolysis of NaBH(4) in alkaline media, the kinetics of the reaction has been investigated by (11)B NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) measurements taken at different times during the reaction course. Working with BH(4)(-) concentration in the range 0.05-0.1 M and with a [substrate]/[catalyst] molar ratio of 0.03-0.11, hydrolysis has been found to follow a first-order kinetic dependence from concentration of both the substrate and the catalyst (Pd/C 10 wt %). We followed the reaction of NaBH(4) and its perdeuterated analogue NaBD(4) in H(2)O, in D(2)O and H(2)O/D(2)O mixtures. When the process was carried out in D(2)O, deuterium incorporation in BH(4)(-) afforded BH(4)(-)(n)D(n)(-) (n = 1, 2, 3, 4) species, and a competition between hydrolysis and hydrogen/deuterium exchange processes was observed. By fitting the kinetics NMR data by nonlinear least-squares regression techniques, the rate constants of the elementary steps involved in the palladium-catalyzed borohydride hydrolysis have been evaluated. Such a regression analysis was performed on a reaction scheme wherein the starting reactant BH(4)(-) is allowed both to reversibly exchange hydrogen with deuterium atoms of D(2)O and to irreversibly hydrolyze into borohydroxy species B(OD)(4)(-). In contrast to acid-catalyzed hydrolysis of sodium borohydride, our results indicate that in the palladium-catalyzed process the rate constants of the exchange processes are higher than those of the corresponding hydrolysis reactions.

Coherent control and polarization readout of individual excitonic states.

We present measurements and simulations of coherent control and readout of the polarization in individual exciton states. The readout is accomplished by transient four-wave mixing detected by heterodyne spectral interferometry. We observe Rabi oscillations in the polarization, which show half the period of the Rabi oscillations in the population. A decrease of the oscillation amplitude with pulse area is observed, which is not accompanied by a change in the dephasing time. This suggests the transfer of the excitation to other states as the origin of the Rabi-oscillation damping. Detuning of the excitation enables the control of the polarization in phase and amplitude and is in qualitative agreement with simulations for a two-level system. Additionally, simultaneous Rabi flopping of several spatially and energetically close exciton states is demonstrated.

Fast nuclear spin relaxation in hyperpolarized solid 129Xe.

We report extensive new measurements of the longitudinal relaxation time T1 of 129Xe nuclear spins in solid xenon. For temperatures T<120 K and magnetic fields B>0.05 T, we found T1 on the order of hours, in good agreement with previous measurements and with the predicted phonon-scattering limit for the spin-rotation interaction. For T>120 K, our new data show that T1 can be much shorter than the phonon scattering limit. For B = 0.06 T, a field often used to accumulate hyperpolarized xenon, T1 is approximately 6 s near the Xe melting point T(m) = 161.4 K. From T = 50 K to T(m), the new data are in excellent agreement with the theoretical prediction that the relaxation is due to (i) modulation of the spin-rotation interaction by phonons, and (ii) modulation of the dipole-dipole interaction by vacancy diffusion.

Functional abrogation of p53 is required for T-Ag induced proliferation in cardiomyocytes.

Targeted expression of the SV40 large T-antigen oncoprotein (T-Ag) induces cardiomyocyte proliferation in the atria and ventricles of transgenic mice. Previous studies have identified the p53 tumor suppressor, p107 (a homologue of the retinoblastoma tumor suppressor), and p193 (a novel BH3 only proapoptosis protein) as prominent TAg binding proteins in cardiomyocyte cell lines derived from these transgenic mice. To further explore the significance of these protein-protein interactions in the regulation of cardiomyocyte proliferation, a transgene comprising the human atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) promoter and sequences encoding a mutant T-Ag lacking the p53 binding domain was generated. Repeated micro-injection of this DNA gave rise to genetically mosaic animals with minimal transgene content, suggesting that widespread cardiac expression of mutant T-Ag was deleterious. This notion was supported by the observation that the transgene was selectively lost from the cardiac myocytes (but not the cardiac fibroblasts) in the mosaic animals. Crosses between the mosaic mice and animals expressing a cardiac restricted dominant negative p53 resulted in transgene transmission with ensuing overt cardiac tumorigenesis. Transfection of the mutant T-Ag in embryonic stem (ES) cell-derived cardiomyocytes resulted in wide-spread cell death with characteristics typical of apoptosis. Co-transfection with a dominant negative p53 transgene rescued mutant TAg-induced cell death in the ES-derived cardiomyocyte cultures, resulting in a marked proliferative response similar to that seen in vivo with the rescued transgenic mouse study. These results indicate that T-Ag expression in the absence of p53 functional abrogation results in cardiomyocyte death.

Properly formed but improperly localized synaptic specializations in the absence of laminin alpha4.

Precise apposition of pre- to postsynaptic specializations is required for optimal function of chemical synapses, but little is known about how it is achieved. At the skeletal neuromuscular junction, active zones (transmitter release sites) in the nerve terminal lie directly opposite junctional folds in the postsynaptic membrane. Few active zones or junctional folds form in mice lacking the laminin beta2 chain, which is normally concentrated in the synaptic cleft. beta2 and the broadly expressed gamma1 chain form heterotrimers with alpha chains, three of which, alpha2, alpha4 and alpha5, are present in the synaptic cleft. Thus, alpha2beta2gamma1, alpha4beta2gamma1 and alpha5beta2gamma1 heterotrimers are all lost in beta2 mutants. In mice lacking laminin alpha4, active zones and junctional folds form in normal numbers, but are not precisely apposed to each other. Thus, formation and localization of synaptic specializations are regulated separately, and alpha4beta2gamma1 (called laminin-9) is critical in the latter process.

Ciliary neurotrophic factor is required for motoneuron sprouting.

We used mutant mice that lack the gene for ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) to test the hypothesis that it is an endogenous sprouting factor. Fibers in the lateral gastrocnemius muscle were either partially denervated by transection of one of the branches of its nerve or paralyzed by intramuscular injection of botulinum toxin. This results in a significant sprouting response at the terminals of intact motoneurons in normal animals. We did not detect sprouting produced by either stimulus in mice lacking CNTF. When exogenous CNTF was administered to CNTF knockout mice following partial muscle denervation, they mounted a typical sprouting response. Thus CNTF is a critical factor in the process of sprout formation after both partial denervation injury and neuromuscular paralysis. It may function as part of a cellular compensatory mechanism after neuronal injury.