Progressive Transient Photon Beams

In this work we introduce a novel algorithm for transient rendering in participating media. Our method is consistent, robust, and is able to generate animations of time-resolved light transport featuring complex caustic light paths in media. We base our method on the observation that the spatial continuity provides an increased coverage of the temporal domain, and generalize photon beams to transient-state. We extend the beam steady-state radiance estimates to include the temporal domain. Then, we develop a progressive version of spatio-temporal density estimations, that converges to the correct solution with finite memory requirements by iteratively averaging several realizations of independent renders with a progressively reduced kernel bandwidth. We derive the optimal convergence rates accounting for space and time kernels, and demonstrate our method against previous consistent transient rendering methods for participating media

Adjoint "quarks" on coarse anisotropic lattices: Implications for string breaking in full QCD

A detailed study is made of four dimensional SU(2) gauge theory with static adjoint ``quarks'' in the context of string breaking. A tadpole-improved action is used to do simulations on lattices with coarse spatial spacings $a_s$, allowing the static potential to be probed at large separations at a dramatically reduced computational cost. Highly anisotropic lattices are used, with fine temporal spacings $a_t$, in order to assess the behavior of the time-dependent effective potentials. The lattice spacings are determined from the potentials for quarks in the fundamental representation. Simulations of the Wilson loop in the adjoint representation are done, and the energies of magnetic and electric ``gluelumps'' (adjoint quark-gluon bound states) are calculated, which set the energy scale for string breaking. Correlators of gauge-fixed static quark propagators, without a connecting string of spatial links, are analyzed. Correlation functions of gluelump pairs are also considered; similar correlators have recently been proposed for observing string breaking in full QCD and other models. A thorough discussion of the relevance of Wilson loops over other operators for studies of string breaking is presented, using the simulation results presented here to support a number of new arguments.Comment: 22 pages, 14 figure

Sub-Doppler spectroscopy of Rb atoms in a sub-micron vapor cell in the presence of a magnetic field

We report the first use of an extremely thin vapor cell (thickness ~ 400 nm) to study the magnetic-field dependence of laser-induced-fluorescence excitation spectra of alkali atoms. This thin cell allows for sub-Doppler resolution without the complexity of atomic beam or laser cooling techniques. This technique is used to study the laser-induced-fluorescence excitation spectra of Rb in a 50 G magnetic field. At this field strength the electronic angular momentum J and nuclear angular momentum I are only partially decoupled. As a result of the mixing of wavefunctions of different hyperfine states, we observe a nonlinear Zeeman effect for each sublevel, a substantial modification of the transition probabilities between different magnetic sublevels, and the appearance of transitions that are strictly forbidden in the absence of the magnetic field. For the case of right- and left- handed circularly polarized laser excitation, the fluorescence spectra differs qualitatively. Well pronounced magnetic field induced circular dichroism is observed. These observations are explained with a standard approach that describes the partial decoupling of I and J states

Both base excision repair and O-6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase protect against methylation-induced colon carcinogenesis

Methylating agents are widely distributed environmental carcinogens. Moreover, they are being used in cancer chemotherapy. The primary target of methylating agents is DNA, and therefore, DNA repair is the first-line barrier in defense against their toxic and carcinogenic effects. Methylating agents induce in the DNA O[superscript 6]-methylguanine (O[superscript 6]MeG) and methylations of the ring nitrogens of purines. The lesions are repaired by O[superscript 6]-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (Mgmt) and by enzymes of the base excision repair (BER) pathway, respectively. Whereas O[superscript 6]MeG is well established as a pre-carcinogenic lesion, little is known about the carcinogenic potency of base N-alkylation products such as N3-methyladenine and N3-methylguanine. To determine their role in cancer formation and the role of BER in cancer protection, we checked the response of mice with a targeted gene disruption of Mgmt or N-alkylpurine-DNA glycosylase (Aag) or both Mgmt and Aag, to azoxymethane (AOM)-induced colon carcinogenesis, using non-invasive mini-colonoscopy. We demonstrate that both Mgmt- and Aag-null mice show a higher colon cancer frequency than the wild-type. With a single low dose of AOM (3 mg/kg) Aag-null mice showed an even stronger tumor response than Mgmt-null mice. The data provide evidence that both BER initiated by Aag and O[superscript 6]MeG reversal by Mgmt are required for protection against alkylation-induced colon carcinogenesis. Further, the data indicate that non-repaired N-methylpurines are not only pre-toxic but also pre-carcinogenic DNA lesions.Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) (FOR 527)Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) (DFG KA 724/13-3)Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) (WI 3304/1-1

Balancing repair and tolerance of DNA damage caused by alkylating agents

Alkylating agents constitute a major class of frontline chemotherapeutic drugs that inflict cytotoxic DNA damage as their main mode of action, in addition to collateral mutagenic damage. Numerous cellular pathways, including direct DNA damage reversal, base excision repair (BER) and mismatch repair (MMR), respond to alkylation damage to defend against alkylation-induced cell death or mutation. However, maintaining a proper balance of activity both within and between these pathways is crucial for a favourable response of an organism to alkylating agents. Furthermore, the response of an individual to alkylating agents can vary considerably from tissue to tissue and from person to person, pointing to genetic and epigenetic mechanisms that modulate alkylating agent toxicity

Geographic Charisma and the Potential Energy of Ebola

The Ebola virus is unparalleled in its charismatic ability to ignite fear, anxiety and disgust at a scale grossly disproportionate to the number of lives it claims. As an archetypal ‘Emerging Infectious Disease’ (EID), this designation and the politics that have encircled it have provided Ebola with a conceptual space in which epidemiology and geography to splice together in the genesis and maintenance of its charismatic valence. Even before the West African outbreak of 2013–2016, Ebola was an ‘exceptional’ and ‘master status’ disease around which media attention mobilised to an unparalleled degree and effect. This paper argues that even if never directly conceptualised as such, Ebola is uniquely charismatic among EIDs and, more, this charisma can be understood geographically. To do so, the paper proceeds in three parts to explore how Ebola's geographic charisma emerges from: (i) it being fixed ‘in place’ as something innately African; (ii) fears about the virus moving ‘out of place’ and (iii) its ‘potential energy’ or the persistent unease generated by the uncertainty of when and where the virus's potential geographies will become actual