45,217 research outputs found
Entanglement entropy with localized and extended interface defects
The quantum Ising chain of length, L, which is separated into two parts by
localized or extended defects is considered at the critical point where scaling
of the interface magnetization is non-universal. We measure the entanglement
entropy between the two halves of the system in equilibrium, as well as after a
quench, when the interaction at the interface is changed for time t>0. For the
localized defect the increase of the entropy with log(L) or with log(t)
involves the same effective central charge, which is a continuous function of
the strength of the defect. On the contrary for the extended defect the
equilibrium entropy is saturated, but the non-equilibrium entropy has a
logarithmic time-dependence the prefactor of which depends on the strength of
the defect.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure
Semiclassical Time Evolution of the Holes from Luttinger Hamiltonian
We study the semi-classical motion of holes by exact numerical solution of
the Luttinger model. The trajectories obtained for the heavy and light holes
agree well with the higher order corrections to the abelian and the non-abelian
adiabatic theories in Ref. [1] [S. Murakami et al., Science 301, 1378(2003)],
respectively. It is found that the hole trajectories contain rapid oscillations
reminiscent of the "Zitterbewegung" of relativistic electrons. We also comment
on the non-conservation of helicity of the light holes.Comment: 4 pages, 5 fugure
Combining Genome Wide Association Studies and Differential Gene Expression Data Analyses Identifies Candidate Genes Affecting Mastitis Caused by Two Different Pathogens in the Dairy Cow
Mastitis is a costly disease which hampers the dairy industry. Inflammation of the mammary gland is commonly caused by bacterial infection, mainly Escherichia coli, Streptococcus uberis and Staphylococcus aureus. As more bacteria become multi-drug resistant, one potential approach to reduce the disease incidence rate is to breed selectively for the most appropriate and potentially protective innate immune response. The genetic contribution to effective disease resistance is, however, difficult to identify due to the complex interactions that occur. In the present study two published datasets were searched for common differentially expressed genes (DEGs) with similar changes in expression in mammary tissue following intra-mammary challenge with either E. coli or S. uberis. Additionally, the results of seven published genome-wide association studies (GWAS) on different dairy cow populations were used to compile a list of SNPs associated with somatic cell count. All genes located within 2 Mbp of significant SNPs were retrieved from the Ensembl database, based on the UMD3.1 assembly. A final list of 48 candidate genes with a role in the innate immune response identified from both the DEG and GWAS studies was further analyzed using Ingenuity Pathway Analysis. The main signalling pathways highlighted in the response of the bovine mammary gland to both bacterial infections were 1) granulocyte adhesion and diapedesis, 2) ephrin receptor signalling, 3) RhoA signalling and 4) LPS/IL1 mediated inhibition of RXR function. These pathways comprised a network regulating the activity of leukocytes, especially neutrophils, during mammary gland inflammation. The timely and properly controlled movement of leukocytes to infection loci seems particularly important in achieving a good balance between pathogen elimination and excessive tissue damage. These results suggest that polymorphisms in key genes in these pathways such as SELP, SELL, BCAR1, ACTR3, CXCL2, CXCL6, CXCL8 and FABP may influence the ability of dairy cows to resist mastitis
Product Measure Steady States of Generalized Zero Range Processes
We establish necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of
factorizable steady states of the Generalized Zero Range Process. This process
allows transitions from a site to a site involving multiple particles
with rates depending on the content of the site , the direction of
movement, and the number of particles moving. We also show the sufficiency of a
similar condition for the continuous time Mass Transport Process, where the
mass at each site and the amount transferred in each transition are continuous
variables; we conjecture that this is also a necessary condition.Comment: 9 pages, LaTeX with IOP style files. v2 has minor corrections; v3 has
been rewritten for greater clarit
Flavor violating decays of the Higgs bosons in the THDM-III
We calculate the branching ratios for the decays of neutral Higgs bosons
() into pairs of fermions, including flavor violating
processes, in the context of the General Two Higgs Doublet Model III.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figures, 6 tables. Text clarifying equations and
references added, typos correction
New e-Learning system architecture based on knowledge engineering technology
The paper focuses on the field of research on next generational e-Learning facility, in which knowledge-enhanced systems are the most important candidates. In the paper, a reference architecture based on the technologies of knowledge engineering is proposed, which has following three intrinsic characteristics, first, education ontologies are used to facilitate the integration of static learning resource and dynamic learning resource, second, based on semantic-enriched relationships between Learning Objects (LOs), it provides more advanced features for sharing, reusing and repurposing of LOs, third, with the concept of knowledge object, which is extended from LO, an implementing mechanism for knowledge extraction and knowledge evolution in e-Learning facilities is provided. With this reference architecture, a prototype system called FekLoma (Flexible Extensive Knowledge Learning Object Management Architecture) has been realized, and testing on it is carrying out
Measurement of the c-axis optical reflectance of AFeAs (A=Ba, Sr) single crystals: Evidence of different mechanisms for the formation of two energy gaps
We present the c-axis optical reflectance measurement on single crystals of
BaFeAs and SrFeAs, the parent compounds of FeAs based
superconductors. Different from the ab-plane optical response where two
distinct energy gaps were observed in the SDW state, only the smaller energy
gap could be seen clearly for \textbf{E}c-axis. The very pronounced
energy gap structure seen at a higher energy scale for
\textbf{E}ab-plane is almost invisible. We propose a novel picture
for the band structure evolution across the SDW transition and suggest
different driving mechanisms for the formation of the two energy gaps.Comment: 4 page
Quantified Derandomization of Linear Threshold Circuits
One of the prominent current challenges in complexity theory is the attempt
to prove lower bounds for , the class of constant-depth, polynomial-size
circuits with majority gates. Relying on the results of Williams (2013), an
appealing approach to prove such lower bounds is to construct a non-trivial
derandomization algorithm for . In this work we take a first step towards
the latter goal, by proving the first positive results regarding the
derandomization of circuits of depth .
Our first main result is a quantified derandomization algorithm for
circuits with a super-linear number of wires. Specifically, we construct an
algorithm that gets as input a circuit over input bits with
depth and wires, runs in almost-polynomial-time, and
distinguishes between the case that rejects at most inputs
and the case that accepts at most inputs. In fact, our
algorithm works even when the circuit is a linear threshold circuit, rather
than just a circuit (i.e., is a circuit with linear threshold gates,
which are stronger than majority gates).
Our second main result is that even a modest improvement of our quantified
derandomization algorithm would yield a non-trivial algorithm for standard
derandomization of all of , and would consequently imply that
. Specifically, if there exists a quantified
derandomization algorithm that gets as input a circuit with depth
and wires (rather than wires), runs in time at
most , and distinguishes between the case that rejects at
most inputs and the case that accepts at most
inputs, then there exists an algorithm with running time
for standard derandomization of .Comment: Changes in this revision: An additional result (a PRG for quantified
derandomization of depth-2 LTF circuits); rewrite of some of the exposition;
minor correction
Global Transcriptomic Profiling of Bovine Endometrial Immune Response In Vitro. I. Effect of Lipopolysaccharide on Innate Immunity
The dysregulation of endometrial immune response to bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) has been implicated in uterine disease and infertility in the postpartum dairy cow, although the mechanisms are not clear. Here, we investigated whole-transcriptomic gene expression in primary cultures of mixed bovine epithelial and stromal endometrial cells. Cultures were exposed to LPS for 6 h, and cellular response was measured by bovine microarray. Approximately 30% of the 1006 genes altered by LPS were classified as being involved in immune response. Cytokines and chemokines (IL1A, CX3CL1, CXCL2, and CCL5), interferon (IFN)-stimulated genes (RSAD2, MX2, OAS1, ISG15, and BST2), and the acute phase molecule SAA3 were the most up-regulated genes. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis identified up-regulation of many inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, which function to attract immune cells to the endometrium, together with vascular adhesion molecules and matrix metalloproteinases, which can facilitate immune cell migration from the tissue toward the uterine lumen. Increased expression of many IFN-signaling genes, immunoproteasomes, guanylate-binding proteins, and genes involved in the intracellular recognition of pathogens suggests important roles for these molecules in the innate defense against bacterial infections. Our findings confirmed the important role of endometrial cells in uterine innate immunity, whereas the global approach used identified several novel immune response pathways triggered by LPS in the endometrium. Additionally, many genes involved in endometrial response to the conceptus in early pregnancy were also altered by LPS, suggesting one mechanism whereby an ongoing response to infection may interfere with the establishment of pregnancy
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