48 research outputs found
Evolution of the Laurentide and Innuitian ice sheets prior to the Last Glacial Maximum (115 ka to 25 ka)
The Laurentide Ice Sheet was the largest global ice mass to grow and decay during the last glacial cycle (~115 ka to ~10 ka). Despite its importance for driving major changes in global mean sea level, long-term landscape evolution, and atmospheric circulation patterns, the history of the Laurentide (and neighbouring Innuitian) Ice Sheet is poorly constrained owing to sporadic preservation of stratigraphic records prior to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; ~25 ka) and a case-study approach to the dating of available evidence. Here, we synthesize available geochronological data from the glaciated region, together with published stratigraphic and geomorphological data, as well as numerical modelling output, to derive 19 hypothesised reconstructions of the Laurentide and Innuitian ice sheets from 115 ka to 25 ka at 5-kyr intervals, with uncertainties quantified to include best, minimum, and maximum ice extent estimates at each time-step. Our work suggests that, between 115 ka and 25 ka, some areas of North America experienced multiple cycles of rapid ice sheet growth and decay, while others remained largely ice-free, and others were continuously glaciated. Key findings include: (i) the growth and recession of the Laurentide Ice Sheet from 115 ka through 80 ka; (ii) significant build-up of ice to almost LGM extent at ~60 ka; (iii) a potentially dramatic reduction in North American ice at ~45 ka; (iv) a rapid expansion of the Labrador Dome at ~38 ka; and (v) gradual growth toward the LGM starting at ~35 ka. Some reconstructions are only loosely constrained and are therefore speculative (especially prior to 45 ka). Nevertheless, this work represents our most up-to-date understanding of the build-up of the Laurentide and Innuitian ice sheets during the last glacial cycle to the LGM based on the available evidence. We consider these ice configurations as a series of testable hypotheses for future work to address and refine. These results are important for use across a range of disciplines including ice sheet modelling, palaeoclimatology and archaeology and are available digitally
Open su(4)-invariant spin ladder with boundary defects
The integrable su(4)-invariant spin-ladder model with boundary defect is
studied using the Bethe ansatz method. The exact phase diagram for the ground
state is given and the boundary quantum critical behavior is discussed. It
consists of a gapped phase in which the rungs of the ladder form singlet states
and a gapless Luttinger liquid phase. It is found that in the gapped phase the
boundary bound state corresponds to an unscreened local moment, while in the
Luttinger liquid phase the local moment is screened at low temperatures in
analogy to the Kondo effect.Comment: Revtex 9 pages, published in PR
Magnetic Field Amplification in Galaxy Clusters and its Simulation
We review the present theoretical and numerical understanding of magnetic
field amplification in cosmic large-scale structure, on length scales of galaxy
clusters and beyond. Structure formation drives compression and turbulence,
which amplify tiny magnetic seed fields to the microGauss values that are
observed in the intracluster medium. This process is intimately connected to
the properties of turbulence and the microphysics of the intra-cluster medium.
Additional roles are played by merger induced shocks that sweep through the
intra-cluster medium and motions induced by sloshing cool cores. The accurate
simulation of magnetic field amplification in clusters still poses a serious
challenge for simulations of cosmological structure formation. We review the
current literature on cosmological simulations that include magnetic fields and
outline theoretical as well as numerical challenges.Comment: 60 pages, 19 Figure
Primordial Nucleosynthesis for the New Cosmology: Determining Uncertainties and Examining Concordance
Big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) and the cosmic microwave background (CMB) have
a long history together in the standard cosmology. The general concordance
between the predicted and observed light element abundances provides a direct
probe of the universal baryon density. Recent CMB anisotropy measurements,
particularly the observations performed by the WMAP satellite, examine this
concordance by independently measuring the cosmic baryon density. Key to this
test of concordance is a quantitative understanding of the uncertainties in the
BBN light element abundance predictions. These uncertainties are dominated by
systematic errors in nuclear cross sections. We critically analyze the cross
section data, producing representations that describe this data and its
uncertainties, taking into account the correlations among data, and explicitly
treating the systematic errors between data sets. Using these updated nuclear
inputs, we compute the new BBN abundance predictions, and quantitatively
examine their concordance with observations. Depending on what deuterium
observations are adopted, one gets the following constraints on the baryon
density: OmegaBh^2=0.0229\pm0.0013 or OmegaBh^2 = 0.0216^{+0.0020}_{-0.0021} at
68% confidence, fixing N_{\nu,eff}=3.0. Concerns over systematics in helium and
lithium observations limit the confidence constraints based on this data
provide. With new nuclear cross section data, light element abundance
observations and the ever increasing resolution of the CMB anisotropy, tighter
constraints can be placed on nuclear and particle astrophysics. ABRIDGEDComment: 54 pages, 20 figures, 5 tables v2: reflects PRD version minor changes
to text and reference
Psychology and aggression
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68264/2/10.1177_002200275900300301.pd
Correction: “The 5th edition of The World Health Organization Classification of Haematolymphoid Tumours: Lymphoid Neoplasms” Leukemia. 2022 Jul;36(7):1720–1748
Preliminary investigation of trapped particle instabilities in EBT
An investigation is presented of the role which trapped particles might play in the drift wave stability of ELMO Bumpy Torus (EBT). The model adopted consists of a bounce-averaged drift kinetic equation with a Krook collision operator. Care has been taken to model, at least in an elementary way, the features which distinguish the physics of EBT from that of tokamaks, namely the large magnitude and velocity space dependence of the poloidal drift frequency ..cap omega.., the relatively small collisionality ..nu../..cap omega.., the enhancement of ..nu../sub eff/ for passing particles, and the closed nature of the field lines. Instabilities are found which have a somewhat dissipative character, however the precessional drift is found to be a significant stabilizing influence. In most cases, the modes are completely stabilized when ..omega../sub *//l..cap omega.. approximately equal to 1 for normal gradients. For reversed gradients (..omega../sub *//l..cap omega.. < 0), stability is greatly enhanced
Sparks, signals and shock absorbers: how dystrophin loss causes muscular dystrophy
The dystrophin–glycoprotein complex (DGC) can be considered as a specialized adhesion complex, linking the extracellular matrix to the actin cytoskeleton, primarily in muscle cells. Mutations in several components of the DGC lead to its partial or total loss, resulting in various forms of muscular dystrophy. These typically manifest as progressive wasting diseases with loss of muscle integrity. Debate is ongoing about the precise function of the DGC: initially a strictly mechanical role was proposed but it has been suggested that there is aberrant calcium handling in muscular dystrophy and, more recently, changes in MAP kinase and GTPase signalling have been implicated in the aetiology of the disease. Here, we discuss new and interesting developments in these aspects of DGC function and attempt to rationalize the mechanical, calcium and signalling hypotheses to provide a unifying hypothesis of the underlying process of muscular dystrophy
Recruitment of dbl by ezrin and dystroglycan drives membrane proximal cdc42 activation and filopodia formation
Dystroglycan is an essential laminin binding cell adhesion molecule, which is also an adaptor for several SH2 domain-containing signaling molecules and as a scaffold for the ERK-MAP kinase cascade. Loss of dystroglycan function is implicated in muscular dystrophies and the aetiology of epithelial cancers. We have previously demonstrated a role for dystroglycan and ezrin in the formation of filopodia structures. Here we demonstrate the existence of a dystroglycan:ezrin:Dbl complex that is targeted to the membrane by dystroglycan where it drives local Cdc42 activation and the formation of filopodia. Deletion of an ezrin binding site in dystroglycan prevented the association with ezrin and Dbl and the formation of filopodia. Furthermore, expression of the dystroglycan cytoplasmic domain alone had a dominant-negative effect on filopodia formation and Cdc42 activation by sequestering ezrin and Dbl away from the membrane. Depletion of dystroglycan inhibited Cdc42-induced filopodia formation. For the first time we also demonstrate co-localization of Cdc42 and dystroglycan at the tips of dynamic filopodia
The late Mesoproterozoic - early Neoproterozoic tectonostratigraphic evolution of NW Scotland: the Torridonian revisited
The Torridonian succession of NW Scotland comprises three groups, deposited during late Mesoproterozoic to early Neoproterozoic time, the Stoer, Sleat and Torridon. Previous workers have inferred that each was formed in a rift basin and that each is internally conformable. New fieldwork and detrital zircon age data indicate that this model is incorrect. Our main findings are as follows: (1) the facies characteristics and detrital zircon data for the Sleat Group indicate that it is genetically unrelated to the Torridon Group; (2) the Sleat and Stoer Groups contain features suggestive of deposition in extension-related basins that predate the c. 1.0 Ga Grenville Orogeny; (3) the base of the Applecross–Aultbea succession of the Torridon Group is an unconformity; (4) the Applecross–Aultbea succession is most objectively interpreted as a non-marine molasse. The significance of these data is that they can be used as a constraint to test and define tectonic models for the deposition of the Torridonian succession and geological evolution of the Scottish Highlands. The view that the Torridonian rocks record deposition in a suite of long-lived rifts whereas the rest of the consanguineous Laurentian margin experienced collisional and orogenic episodes becomes equivocal and in need of reassessment, if not outright abandonment