Backreaction in Axion Monodromy, 4-forms and the Swampland

Axion monodromy models can always be described in terms of an axion coupled to 3-form gauge fields with non-canonical kinetic terms. The presence of the saxions parametrising the kinetic metrics of the 3-form fields leads to backreaction effects in the inflationary dynamics. We review the case in which saxions backreact on the K\"ahler metric of the inflaton leading to a logarithmic scaling of the proper field distance at large field. This behaviour is universal in Type II string flux compactifications and consistent with a refinement of the Swampland Conjecture. The critical point at which this behaviour appears depends on the mass hierarchy between the inflaton and the saxions. However, in tractable compactifications, such a hierarchy cannot be realised without leaving the regime of validity of the effective theory, disfavouring transplanckian excursions in string theory.Comment: Proceedings prepared for the "Workshop on Geometry and Physics", November 2016, Ringberg Castl

Ghost Dog

The single crystal of the extra-large pore zeolite, ITQ-33, was obtained and used to explore its crystal structure details. The ITQ-33 structure was found to be disordered with the columnar periodic building unit, explaining the morphology changes upon the different Si/Ge ratio, and the formation of the hierarchical structure from assembling of ITQ-33 nanofibers

MEI Kodierung der frühesten Notation in linienlosen Neumen

Das Optical Neume Recognition Project (ONRP) hat die digitale Kodierung von musikalischen Notationszeichen aus dem Jahr um 1000 zum Ziel – ein ambitioniertes Vorhaben, das die Projektmitglieder veranlasste, verschiedenste methodische Ansätze zu evaluieren. Die Optical Music Recognition-Software soll eine linienlose Notation aus einem der ältesten erhaltenen Quellen mit Notationszeichen, dem Antiphonar Hartker aus der Benediktinerabtei St. Gallen (Schweiz), welches heute in zwei Bänden in der Stiftsbibliothek in St. Gallen aufbewahrt wird, erfassen. Aufgrund der handgeschriebenen, linienlosen Notation stellt dieser Gregorianische Gesang den Forscher vor viele Herausforderungen. Das Werk umfasst über 300 verschiedene Neumenzeichen und ihre Notation, die mit Hilfe der Music Encoding Initiative (MEI) erfasst und beschrieben werden sollen. Der folgende Artikel beschreibt den Prozess der Adaptierung, um die MEI auf die Notation von Neumen ohne Notenlinien anzuwenden. Beschrieben werden Eigenschaften der Neumennotation, um zu verdeutlichen, wo die Herausforderungen dieser Arbeit liegen sowie die Funktionsweise des Classifiers, einer Art digitalen Neumenwörterbuchs

Frequency distribution of the number means of different chromosome types for the 191 woody broad-leaved species, which were averaged within the same type of chromosomes across species.

<p>Wherein (B), m, sm, st and T were m-, sm-, st- and T-chromosome, respectively. ± bars indicated standard error. </p

Cross-species scaling relationship of karyotype asymmetry vs. m-chromosome number among deciduous species (D-group) and evergreen species (E-group).

<p>There are two regression lines of the reduced major axis (RMA) in the graph for the D-group (triangles and the solid line) and for the E-group (circles and the dashed line), respectively. </p

Cross-species scaling relationship of relative short arm length vs. relative long arm length among chromosomes of both deciduous species (D-group) and evergreen species (E-group).

<p>There are two regression lines of the reduced major axis (RMA) in the graph for the D-group (triangles and the solid line) and for the E-group (circles and the dashed line), respectively.</p

Effects of Advanced Treatment Systems on the Removal of Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Wastewater Treatment Plants from Hangzhou, China

This study aimed at quantifying the concentration and removal of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in three municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) employing different advanced treatment systems [biological aerated filter, constructed wetland, and ultraviolet (UV) disinfection]. The concentrations of <i>tetM</i>, <i>tetO</i>, <i>tetQ</i>, <i>tetW</i>, <i>sulI</i>, <i>sulII</i>, <i>intI1</i>, and 16S rDNA genes were examined in wastewater and biosolid samples. In municipal WWTPs, ARG reductions of 1–3 orders of magnitude were observed, and no difference was found among the three municipal WWTPs with different treatment processes (<i>p</i> > 0.05). In advanced treatment systems, 1–3 orders of magnitude of reductions in ARGs were observed in constructed wetlands, 0.6–1.2 orders of magnitude of reductions in ARGs were observed in the biological aerated filter, but no apparent decrease by UV disinfection was observed. A significant difference was found between constructed wetlands and biological filter (<i>p</i> < 0.05) and between constructed wetlands and UV disinfection (<i>p</i> < 0.05). In the constructed wetlands, significant correlations were observed in the removal of ARGs and 16S rDNA genes (<i>R</i>² = 0.391–0.866; <i>p</i> < 0.05). Constructed wetlands not only have the comparable ARG removal values with WWTP (<i>p</i> > 0.05) but also have the advantage in ARG relative abundance removal, and it should be given priority to be an advanced treatment system for further ARG attenuation from WWTP

Pushing the Resolving Power of Tyndall–Powell Gate Ion Mobility Spectrometry over 100 with No Sensitivity Loss for Multiple Ion Species

Ion gate is a key buildup for drift tube ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) and its combination with mass spectrometry. Bradbury–Nielsen gate, as the most commonly used ion gate in IMS, possesses a distinct ion mobility discrimination effect due to its depletion features. This impedes the scaling of the ion gate opening time to improve the separation capability of IMS while keeping its sensitivity for multiple ion species. In this work, a Tyndall–Powell gate (TPG) simply composed of two identical wire grids was used to develop an ion gate with nearly no ion mobility discrimination for IMS. Experimental results showed that the TPG features a gate region where the electric field for opening the gate could be enhanced to effectively solve the ion mobility discrimination problem related to it. Meanwhile, enhancing that electric field enabled the TPG-IMS to keep a resolving power over 106 at 100 °C for ion peak with a signal-to-noise ratio up to 800. With that TPG-IMS, baseline separation of two ion peaks, the hydronium and the acetone monomer peaks with a reduced mobility difference of only 0.04 cm² V^–1 s^–1, was achieved with no sensitivity loss for the least mobile acetone dimer ions

Iodobenzene-Catalyzed Synthesis of α ,α ′-Dihydroxy Ketones: In Situ Generation of [Bis(Trifluoroacetoxy)iodo]benzene

<div><p></p><p>Exposure of ethynyl carbinols to oxone / (CF₃CO)₂O in the presence of a catalytic amount of iodobenzene afforded α , α ′- dihydroxy ketones in good yield, which are common structural motifs in natural products and biologically active compounds. Compared with traditional methods, this method is more convenient and avoids using stoichiometric amounts of hypervalent iodine reagents.</p></div

Genistein Affects Histone Modifications on Dickkopf-Related Protein 1 (DKK1) Gene in SW480 Human Colon Cancer Cell Line

<div><p>Genistein (GEN) is a plant-derived isoflavone and can block uncontrolled cell growth in colon cancer by inhibiting the WNT signaling pathway. This study aimed to test the hypothesis that the enhanced gene expression of the WNT signaling pathway antagonist, DKK1 by genistein treatment is associated with epigenetic modifications of the gene in colon cancer cells. Genistein treatment induced a concentration-dependent G2 phase arrest in the human colon cancer cell line SW480 and reduced cell proliferation. Results from several other human colon cancer cell lines confirmed the growth inhibitory effects of genistein. Overexpression of DKK1 confirmed its involvement in growth inhibition. Knockdown of DKK1 expression by siRNA slightly induced cell growth. DKK1 gene expression was increased by genistein in SW480 and HCT15 cells. DNA methylation at the DKK1 promoter was not affected by genistein treatment in all the cell lines tested. On the other hand, genistein induced histone H3 acetylation of the DKK1 promoter region in SW480 and HCT15 cells. This indicates that increased histone acetylation is associated with the genistein-induced DKK1 expression. The association between histone acetylation and DKK1 gene expression is confirmed by the histone deacetylase inhibitor trichostatin A (TSA) treatment. In conclusion, genistein treatment decreases cell growth and proliferation in colon cancer cell lines. The effect is associated with the increased DKK1 expression through the induction of histone acetylation at the DKK1 promoter region.</p> </div