1,786 research outputs found
Regulation of desmocollin transcription in mouse preimplantation embryos
The molecular mechanisms regulating the biogenesis of the first desmosomes to form during mouse embryogenesis have been studied. A sensitive modification of a reverse transcriptase-cDNA amplification procedure has been used to detect transcripts of the desmosomal adhesive cadherin, desmocollin. Sequencing of cDNA amplification products confirmed that two splice variants, a and b, of the DSC2 gene are transcribed coordinately. Transcripts were identified in unfertilized eggs and cumulus cells and in cleavage stages up to the early 8-cell stage, were never detected in compact 8-cell embryos, but were evident again either from the 16-cell morula or very early blastocyst (approx 32-cells) stages onwards. These two phases of transcript detection indicate DSC2 is encoded by maternal and embryonic genomes. Previously, we have shown that desmocollin protein synthesis is undetectable in eggs and cleavage stages but initiates at the early blastocyst stage when desmocollin localises at, and appears to regulate assembly of, nascent desmosomes that form in the trophectoderm but not in the inner cell mass (Fleming, T. P., Garrod, D. R. and Elsmore, A. J. (1991), Development 112, 527–539). Maternal DSC2 mRNA is therefore not translated and presumably is inherited by blastomeres before complete degradation. Our results suggest, however, that initiation of embryonic DSC2 transcription regulates desmocollin protein expression and thereby desmosome formation. Moreover, data from blastocyst single cell analyses suggest that embryonic DSC2 transcription is specific to the trophectoderm lineage. Inhibition of E-cadherin-mediated cell-cell adhesion did not influence the timing of DSC2 embryonic transcription and protein expression. However, isolation and culture of inner cell masses induced an increase in the amount of DSC2 mRNA and protein detected. Taken together, these results suggest that the presence of a contact-free cell surface activates DSC2 transcription in the mouse early embryo. <br/
How Could the Proton Transversity be Measured
The perspectives of two new nonstandard methods of transversal quark
polarization measurement are considered: the jet handedness and the so-called
"Collins effect" due to spin dependent T-odd fragmentation function responsible
for the left-right asymmetry in fragmenting of transversally polarized quarks.
Recent experimental indications in favor of these effects are observed: 1.The
correlation of the T-odd one-particle fragmentation functions found by DELPHI
in -jet decay. Integrated over the fraction of longitudinal and
transversal momenta, this correlation is of 1.6% order, which means order of
13% for the analyzing power. 2.A rather large () handedness
transversal to the production plane observed in the diffractive production of
() triples from nuclei by the --beam.
It shows a clear dynamic origin and resembles the single spin asymmetry
behavior.
All this makes us hope to use these effects in polarized DIS experiments for
transversity measurement. The first estimation of transversity was done by
using the azimuthal asymmetry in semi-inclusive DIS recently measured by HERMES
and SMC.Comment: 8 pages, Latex, czjphys2.sty. Talk at Int. Workshop "PRAHA-SPIN99",
Prague 6-11 Sept 1999. To appear in Czech.J.Phys Supp
New concepts in the abstract format of the Compositional Interchange Format
The compositional interchange format for hybrid systems (CIF) supports inter-operability of a wide range of tools by means of model transformations to and from the CIF. Work on the CIF takes place in the FP7 Multiform project, and in several other European projects. The CIF consists of an abstract and a concrete format, used for defining a formal semantics and for modeling, respectively. This paper
discusses the results of a redesign of the abstract format as previously published, leading to the following main changes: variables are introduced using scoping operators; the abstract language is made more orthogonal by providing an operator for each concept in the language; parallel composition has been defined in such a way that compositional verification (assume/guarantee reasoning) is supported; and the concept of urgent actions has been properly defined. As a result, the expressivity and semantics of the abstract language have been considerably improved
Stochastic Resonance in Ion Channels Characterized by Information Theory
We identify a unifying measure for stochastic resonance (SR) in voltage
dependent ion channels which comprises periodic (conventional), aperiodic and
nonstationary SR. Within a simplest setting, the gating dynamics is governed by
two-state conductance fluctuations, which switch at random time points between
two values. The corresponding continuous time point process is analyzed by
virtue of information theory. In pursuing this goal we evaluate for our
dynamics the tau-information, the mutual information and the rate of
information gain. As a main result we find an analytical formula for the rate
of information gain that solely involves the probability of the two channel
states and their noise averaged rates. For small voltage signals it simplifies
to a handy expression. Our findings are applied to study SR in a potassium
channel. We find that SR occurs only when the closed state is predominantly
dwelled. Upon increasing the probability for the open channel state the
application of an extra dose of noise monotonically deteriorates the rate of
information gain, i.e., no SR behavior occurs.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Sampled-data control of hybrid systems with discrete inputs and outputs
We address the control synthesis of hybrid systems with discrete inputs, disturbances and outputs. The control objective is to ensure that the events of the closed-loop system belong to the language of the control requirements. The controller is sampling-based and it is representable by a finite-state machine. We formalize the control problem and provide a theoretically sound solution. The solution is based on solving a discrete-event control problem for a finite-state abstraction of the plant. We propose a specific construction for the finite-state abstraction. This construction is not based on discretizing the state-space, but rather on converting the continuous-time hybrid system to a discrete-time one based on sampling. The construction works only for a specific class of hybrid systems. We describe this class of systems and we provide an example of such a system, inspired by an industrial use-case
Brane cosmology with curvature corrections
We study the cosmology of the Randall-Sundrum brane-world where the
Einstein-Hilbert action is modified by curvature correction terms: a
four-dimensional scalar curvature from induced gravity on the brane, and a
five-dimensional Gauss-Bonnet curvature term. The combined effect of these
curvature corrections to the action removes the infinite-density big bang
singularity, although the curvature can still diverge for some parameter
values. A radiation brane undergoes accelerated expansion near the minimal
scale factor, for a range of parameters. This acceleration is driven by the
geometric effects, without an inflaton field or negative pressures. At late
times, conventional cosmology is recovered.Comment: RevTex4, 8 pages, no figures, minor change
Old and new parton distribution and fragmentation functions
A short review of problems with parton distribution functions in nucleons,
non-polarized and polarized, is given. The main part is devoted to the
transversity distribution its possible measurement and its first experimental
probe via spin asymmetry in semi-inclusive DIS. It is argued that the proton
transversity distribution could be successfully measured in future DIS
experiments with {\it longitudinally} polarized target.Comment: 9 pages, latex, czjphys2.sty, 4 eps figures. Submitted at 35-th
Rancontre de Moriond, March 2000 and at Praha-SPIN-2000, July 2000. To be
published in Czechoslovak J. Phys. (Suppl) 51 (2001
The potential benefits of on-farm mitigation scenarios for reducing multiple pollutant loadings in prioritised agri-environment areas across England
The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding provided by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) via project LM0304
Eutectic colony formation: A phase field study
Eutectic two-phase cells, also known as eutectic colonies, are commonly
observed during the solidification of ternary alloys when the composition is
close to a binary eutectic valley. In analogy with the solidification cells
formed in dilute binary alloys, colony formation is triggered by a
morphological instability of a macroscopically planar eutectic solidification
front due to the rejection by both solid phases of a ternary impurity that
diffuses in the liquid. Here we develop a phase-field model of a binary
eutectic with a dilute ternary impurity and we investigate by dynamical
simulations both the initial linear regime of this instability, and the
subsequent highly nonlinear evolution of the interface that leads to fully
developed two-phase cells with a spacing much larger than the lamellar spacing.
We find a good overall agreement with our recent linear stability analysis [M.
Plapp and A. Karma, Phys. Rev. E 60, 6865 (1999)], which predicts a
destabilization of the front by long-wavelength modes that may be stationary or
oscillatory. A fine comparison, however, reveals that the assumption commonly
attributed to Cahn that lamella grow perpendicular to the envelope of the
solidification front is weakly violated in the phase-field simulations. We show
that, even though weak, this violation has an important quantitative effect on
the stability properties of the eutectic front. We also investigate the
dynamics of fully developed colonies and find that the large-scale envelope of
the composite eutectic front does not converge to a steady state, but exhibits
cell elimination and tip-splitting events up to the largest times simulated.Comment: 18 pages, 18 EPS figures, RevTeX twocolumn, submitted to Phys. Rev.
The UKIDSS Galactic Plane Survey
'The definitive version is available at www.blackwell-synergy.com .' Copyright Blackwell Publishing DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13924.xThe UKIDSS Galactic Plane Survey (GPS) is one of the five near-infrared Public Legacy Surveys that are being undertaken by the UKIDSS consortium, using the Wide Field Camera on the United Kingdom Infrared TelescopePeer reviewe
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