877 research outputs found
How to Choose a Champion
League competition is investigated using random processes and scaling
techniques. In our model, a weak team can upset a strong team with a fixed
probability. Teams play an equal number of head-to-head matches and the team
with the largest number of wins is declared to be the champion. The total
number of games needed for the best team to win the championship with high
certainty, T, grows as the cube of the number of teams, N, i.e., T ~ N^3. This
number can be substantially reduced using preliminary rounds where teams play a
small number of games and subsequently, only the top teams advance to the next
round. When there are k rounds, the total number of games needed for the best
team to emerge as champion, T_k, scales as follows, T_k ~N^(\gamma_k) with
gamma_k=1/[1-(2/3)^(k+1)]. For example, gamma_k=9/5,27/19,81/65 for k=1,2,3.
These results suggest an algorithm for how to infer the best team using a
schedule that is linear in N. We conclude that league format is an ineffective
method of determining the best team, and that sequential elimination from the
bottom up is fair and efficient.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure
Alternating Spin and Orbital Dimerization in Strong-coupling Two-band Models
We study a one-dimensional Hamiltonian consisting of coupled SU(2) spin and
orbital degrees of freedom. Using the density matrix renormalization group, we
calculate the phase-diagram and the ground state correlation functions for this
model. We find that, in addition to the ferromagnetic and power-law
antiferromagnetic phases for spin and orbital degrees of freedom, this model
has a gapless line extending from the ferromagnetic phase to the Bethe ansatz
solvable SU(4) critical point, and a gapped phase with doubly degenerate ground
states which form alternating spin and orbital singlets. The spin-gap and the
order parameters are evaluated and the relevance to several recently discovered
spin-gap materials is discussed.Comment: 4 pages REVTEX and 4 Postscript figure
Spinons in a Crossed-Chains Model of a 2D Spin Liquid
Using Random Phase Approximation, we show that a crossed-chains model of a
spin-1/2 Heisenberg spins, with frustrated interchain couplings, has a
non-dimerized spin-liquid ground state in 2D, with deconfined spinons as the
elementary excitations. The results are confirmed by a bosonization study,
which shows that the system is an example of a `sliding Luttinger liquid'. In
an external field, the system develops an incommensurate field-induced long
range order with a finite transition temperature.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; added references; scaling analysis, preserving
spin rotational invariance, is extended to finite temperatur
Comparative analysis of miRNAs and their targets across four plant species
BACKGROUND: MicroRNA (miRNA) mediated regulation of gene expression has been recognized as a major posttranscriptional regulatory mechanism also in plants. We performed a comparative analysis of miRNAs and their respective gene targets across four plant species: Arabidopsis thaliana (Ath), Medicago truncatula(Mtr), Brassica napus (Bna), and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (Cre). RESULTS: miRNAs were obtained from mirBase with 218 miRNAs for Ath, 375 for Mtr, 46 for Bna, and 73 for Cre, annotated for each species respectively. miRNA targets were obtained from available database annotations, bioinformatic predictions using RNAhybrid as well as predicted from an analysis of mRNA degradation products (degradome sequencing) aimed at identifying miRNA cleavage products. On average, and considering both experimental and bioinformatic predictions together, every miRNA was associated with about 46 unique gene transcripts with considerably variation across species. We observed a positive and linear correlation between the number miRNAs and the total number of transcripts across different plant species suggesting that the repertoire of miRNAs correlates with the size of the transcriptome of an organism. Conserved miRNA-target pairs were found to be associated with developmental processes and transcriptional regulation, while species-specific (in particular, Ath) pairs are involved in signal transduction and response to stress processes. Conserved miRNAs have more targets and higher expression values than non-conserved miRNAs. We found evidence for a conservation of not only the sequence of miRNAs, but their expression levels as well. CONCLUSIONS: Our results support the notion of a high birth and death rate of miRNAs and that miRNAs serve many species specific functions, while conserved miRNA are related mainly to developmental processes and transcriptional regulation with conservation operating at both the sequence and expression level
Field dependent thermodynamics and Quantum Critical Phenomena in the dimerized spin system Cu2(C5H12N2)2Cl4
Experimental data for the uniform susceptibility, magnetization and specific
heat for the material Cu2(C5H12N2)2Cl4 (abbreviated CuHpCl) as a function of
temperature and external field are compared with those of three different
dimerized spin models: alternating spin-chains, spin-ladders and the bilayer
Heisenberg model. It is shown that because this material consists of weakly
coupled spin-dimers, much of the data is insensitive to how the dimers are
coupled together and what the effective dimensionality of the system is. When
such a system is tuned to the quantum critical point by application of a field,
the dimensionality shows up in the power-law dependences of thermodynamic
quantities on temperature. We discuss the temperature window for such a quantum
critical behavior in CuHpCl.Comment: Revtex, 5 pages, 4 figures (postscript
Effect of Hund coupling in the one-dimensional SU(4) Hubbard model
The one-dimensional SU(4) Hubbard model perturbed by Hund coupling is
studied, away from half-filling, by means of renormalization group and
bosonization methods. A spectral gap is always present in the spin-orbital
sector irrespective of the magnitude of the Coulomb repulsion. We further
distinguish between two qualitatively different regimes. At small Hund
coupling, we find that the symmetry of the system is dynamically enlarged to
SU(4) at low energy with the result of {\it coherent} spin-orbital excitations.
When the charge sector is not gapped, a superconducting instability is shown to
exist. At large Hund coupling, the symmetry is no longer enlarged to SU(4) and
the excitations in the spin sector become {\it incoherent}. Furthermore, the
superconductivity can be suppressed in favor of the conventional charge density
wave state.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figur
Effects of a magnetic field on the one-dimensional spin-orbital model
We study the effects of a uniform magnetic field on the one-dimensional
spin-orbital model in terms of effective field theories. Two regions are
examined: one around the SU(4) point (J=K/4) and the other with K<<J. We found
that when , the spin and orbital correlation functions exhibit
power-law decay with nonuniversal exponents. In the region with J>K/4, the
excitation spectrum has a gap. When the magnetic field is beyond some critical
value, a quantum phase transition occurs. However, the correlation functions
around the SU(4) point and the region with K<<J exhibit distinct behavior. This
results from different structures of excitation spectra in both regime.Comment: 22 pages, no figure
Fractal Profit Landscape of the Stock Market
We investigate the structure of the profit landscape obtained from the most
basic, fluctuation based, trading strategy applied for the daily stock price
data. The strategy is parameterized by only two variables, p and q. Stocks are
sold and bought if the log return is bigger than p and less than -q,
respectively. Repetition of this simple strategy for a long time gives the
profit defined in the underlying two-dimensional parameter space of p and q. It
is revealed that the local maxima in the profit landscape are spread in the
form of a fractal structure. The fractal structure implies that successful
strategies are not localized to any region of the profit landscape and are
neither spaced evenly throughout the profit landscape, which makes the
optimization notoriously hard and hypersensitive for partial or limited
information. The concrete implication of this property is demonstrated by
showing that optimization of one stock for future values or other stocks
renders worse profit than a strategy that ignores fluctuations, i.e., a
long-term buy-and-hold strategy.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure
Functional Specialization of the Plant miR396 Regulatory Network through Distinct MicroRNA–Target Interactions
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are ∼21 nt small RNAs that regulate gene expression in animals and plants. They can be grouped into families comprising different genes encoding similar or identical mature miRNAs. Several miRNA families are deeply conserved in plant lineages and regulate key aspects of plant development, hormone signaling, and stress response. The ancient miRNA miR396 regulates conserved targets belonging to the GROWTH-REGULATING FACTOR (GRF) family of transcription factors, which are known to control cell proliferation in Arabidopsis leaves. In this work, we characterized the regulation of an additional target for miR396, the transcription factor bHLH74, that is necessary for Arabidopsis normal development. bHLH74 homologs with a miR396 target site could only be detected in the sister families Brassicaceae and Cleomaceae. Still, bHLH74 repression by miR396 is required for margin and vein pattern formation of Arabidopsis leaves. MiR396 contributes to the spatio-temporal regulation of GRF and bHLH74 expression during leaf development. Furthermore, a survey of miR396 sequences in different species showed variations in the 5′ portion of the miRNA, a region known to be important for miRNA activity. Analysis of different miR396 variants in Arabidopsis thaliana revealed that they have an enhanced activity toward GRF transcription factors. The interaction between the GRF target site and miR396 has a bulge between positions 7 and 8 of the miRNA. Our data indicate that such bulge modulates the strength of the miR396-mediated repression and that this modulation is essential to shape the precise spatio-temporal pattern of GRF2 expression. The results show that ancient miRNAs can regulate conserved targets with varied efficiency in different species, and we further propose that they could acquire new targets whose control might also be biologically relevant
Spatial interactions in agent-based modeling
Agent Based Modeling (ABM) has become a widespread approach to model complex
interactions. In this chapter after briefly summarizing some features of ABM
the different approaches in modeling spatial interactions are discussed.
It is stressed that agents can interact either indirectly through a shared
environment and/or directly with each other. In such an approach, higher-order
variables such as commodity prices, population dynamics or even institutions,
are not exogenously specified but instead are seen as the results of
interactions. It is highlighted in the chapter that the understanding of
patterns emerging from such spatial interaction between agents is a key problem
as much as their description through analytical or simulation means.
The chapter reviews different approaches for modeling agents' behavior,
taking into account either explicit spatial (lattice based) structures or
networks. Some emphasis is placed on recent ABM as applied to the description
of the dynamics of the geographical distribution of economic activities, - out
of equilibrium. The Eurace@Unibi Model, an agent-based macroeconomic model with
spatial structure, is used to illustrate the potential of such an approach for
spatial policy analysis.Comment: 26 pages, 5 figures, 105 references; a chapter prepared for the book
"Complexity and Geographical Economics - Topics and Tools", P. Commendatore,
S.S. Kayam and I. Kubin, Eds. (Springer, in press, 2014
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