11,557 research outputs found
Crystallization, data collection and data processing of maltose-binding protein (MalE) from the phytopathogen Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri
Maltose-binding protein is the periplasmic component of the ABC transporter
responsible for the uptake of maltose/maltodextrins. The Xanthomonas axonopodis
pv. citri maltose-binding protein MalE has been crystallized at 293 Kusing
the hanging-drop vapour-diffusion method. The crystal belonged to the
primitive hexagonal space group P6_122, with unit-cell parameters a = 123.59,
b = 123.59, c = 304.20 Ã…, and contained two molecules in the asymetric unit. It
diffracted to 2.24 Ã… resolution
Mass Generation from Lie Algebra Extensions
Applied to the electroweak interactions, the theory of Lie algebra extensions
suggests a mechanism by which the boson masses are generated without resource
to spontaneous symmetry breaking. It starts from a gauge theory without any
additional scalar field. All the couplings predicted by the Weinberg-Salam
theory are present, and a few others which are nevertheless consistent within
the model.Comment: 11 pages; revtex; title and PACS have been changed; comments included
in the manuscrip
Analytical results for a Bessel function times Legendre polynomials class integrals
When treating problems of vector diffraction in electromagnetic theory, the
evaluation of the integral involving Bessel and associated Legendre functions
is necessary. Here we present the analytical result for this integral that will
make unnecessary numerical quadrature techniques or localized approximations.
The solution is presented using the properties of the Bessel and associated
Legendre functions.Comment: 4 page
The Stellar Content of Obscured Galactic Giant HII Regions. VI: W51A
We present K-band spectra of newly born OB stars in the obscured Galactic
giant H II region W51A and ~ 0.8'' angular resolution images in the J, H and
K_S-bands. Four objects have been spectroscopically classified as O-type stars.
The mean spectroscopic parallax of the four stars gives a distance of 2.0 \pm
0.3 kpc (error in the mean), significantly smaller than the radio recombination
line kinematic value of 5.5 kpc or the values derived from maser propermotion
observations (6--8 kpc). The number of Lyman continuum photons from the
contribution of all massive stars (NLyc ~ 1.5 x 10^{50} s^{-1}) is in good
agreement with that inferred from radio recombination lines (NLyc = 1.3 x
10^{50} s^{-1}) after accounting for the smaller distance derived here.
We present analysis of archival high angular resolution images (NAOS CONICA
at VLT and T-ReCS at Gemini) of the compact region W51 IRS2. The K_S--band
images resolve the infrared source IRS~2 indicating that it is a very young
compact HII region. Sources IRS2E was resolved into compact cluster (within 660
AU of projected distance) of 3 objects, but one of them is just bright extended
emission. W51d1 and W51d2 were identified with compact clusters of 3 objects
(maybe 4 in the case of W51d1) each one. Although IRS~2E is the brightest
source in the K-band and at 12.6 \micron, it is not clearly associated with a
radio continuum source. Our spectrum of IRS~2E shows, similar to previous work,
strong emission in Br and HeI, as well as three forbidden emission
lines of FeIII and emission lines of molecular hydrogen (H_2) marking it as a
massive young stellar object.Comment: 31 pages and 9 figures, submitted to A
Solution of an associating lattice gas model with density anomaly on a Husimi lattice
We study a model of a lattice gas with orientational degrees of freedom which
resemble the formation of hydrogen bonds between the molecules. In this model,
which is the simplified version of the Henriques-Barbosa model, no distinction
is made between donors and acceptors in the bonding arms. We solve the model in
the grand-canonical ensemble on a Husimi lattice built with hexagonal
plaquettes with a central site. The ground-state of the model, which was
originally defined on the triangular lattice, is exactly reproduced by the
solution on this Husimi lattice. In the phase diagram, one gas and two liquid
(high density-HDL and low density-LDL) phases are present. All phase
transitions (GAS-LDL, GAS-HDL, and LDL-HDL) are discontinuous, and the three
phases coexist at a triple point. A line of temperatures of maximum density
(TMD) in the isobars is found in the metastable GAS phase, as well as another
line of temperatures of minimum density (TmD) appears in the LDL phase, part of
it in the stable region and another in the metastable region of this phase.
These findings are at variance with simulational results for the same model on
the triangular lattice, which suggested a phase diagram with two critical
points. However, our results show very good quantitative agreement with the
simulations, both for the coexistence loci and the densities of particles and
of hydrogen bonds. We discuss the comparison of the simulations with our
results.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure
Post-activation Potentiation In Propulsive Force After Specific Swimming Strength Training
We investigated whether a conditioning activity (8x12.5m with 2.5min-interval using both hand paddles and parachute) induced post-activation potentiation in swimming propulsive force and whether a swimmer's force level affected a post-activation potentiation response. 8 competitive swimmers (5 males and 3 females, age: 18.4 +/- 1.3 years; IPS=796 +/- 56) performed a 10s maximum tethered swimming test 8 and 4min before (the highest value was considered as PRE), and 2.5 and 6.5min after (POST1 and POST2, respectively) the conditioning activity. Rate of force development was not affected, but peak force in POST1 (p=0.02) and impulse in both POST1 (p=0.007) and POST2 (p=0.004) were reduced. Possibly the conditioning activity induced greater fatigue than post-activation potentiation benefits. For instance, the number of repetitions might have been excessive, and rest intervals between the conditioning activity and POST1 and POST2 were possibly too short. There were positive correlations between PRE peak force and changes in peak force and rate of force development. Although conditioning activity was detrimental, positive correlations suggest that weaker swimmers experience a deterioration of performance more than the stronger ones. This conditioning activity is not recommended for swimmers with the current competitive level before a competitive event.37431331
Network conduciveness with application to the graph-coloring and independent-set optimization transitions
We introduce the notion of a network's conduciveness, a probabilistically
interpretable measure of how the network's structure allows it to be conducive
to roaming agents, in certain conditions, from one portion of the network to
another. We exemplify its use through an application to the two problems in
combinatorial optimization that, given an undirected graph, ask that its
so-called chromatic and independence numbers be found. Though NP-hard, when
solved on sequences of expanding random graphs there appear marked transitions
at which optimal solutions can be obtained substantially more easily than right
before them. We demonstrate that these phenomena can be understood by resorting
to the network that represents the solution space of the problems for each
graph and examining its conduciveness between the non-optimal solutions and the
optimal ones. At the said transitions, this network becomes strikingly more
conducive in the direction of the optimal solutions than it was just before
them, while at the same time becoming less conducive in the opposite direction.
We believe that, besides becoming useful also in other areas in which network
theory has a role to play, network conduciveness may become instrumental in
helping clarify further issues related to NP-hardness that remain poorly
understood
Early appraisal of the fixation probability in directed networks
In evolutionary dynamics, the probability that a mutation spreads through the
whole population, having arisen in a single individual, is known as the
fixation probability. In general, it is not possible to find the fixation
probability analytically given the mutant's fitness and the topological
constraints that govern the spread of the mutation, so one resorts to
simulations instead. Depending on the topology in use, a great number of
evolutionary steps may be needed in each of the simulation events, particularly
in those that end with the population containing mutants only. We introduce two
techniques to accelerate the determination of the fixation probability. The
first one skips all evolutionary steps in which the number of mutants does not
change and thereby reduces the number of steps per simulation event
considerably. This technique is computationally advantageous for some of the
so-called layered networks. The second technique, which is not restricted to
layered networks, consists of aborting any simulation event in which the number
of mutants has grown beyond a certain threshold value, and counting that event
as having led to a total spread of the mutation. For large populations, and
regardless of the network's topology, we demonstrate, both analytically and by
means of simulations, that using a threshold of about 100 mutants leads to an
estimate of the fixation probability that deviates in no significant way from
that obtained from the full-fledged simulations. We have observed speedups of
two orders of magnitude for layered networks with 10000 nodes
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