Previous attentional set can induce an attentional blink with task-irrelevant initial targets

Identification of a second target is often impaired by the requirement to process a prior target in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP). This is termed the attentional blink. Even when the first target is task-irrelevant an attentional blink may occur providing this first target shares similar features with the second target (contingent capture). An RSVP experiment was undertaken to assess whether this first target can still cause an attentional blink when it did not require a response and did not share any features with the following target. The results revealed that such task-irrelevant targets can induce an attentional blink providing that they were task-relevant on a previous block of trials. This suggests that irrelevant focal stimuli can distract attention on the basis of a previous attentional set

Gauge dependenceof the order parameter anomalous dimension in the Ginzburg-Landau model and the critical fluctuations in superconductors

The critical fluctuations of superconductors are discussed in a fixed dimension scaling suited to describe the type II regime. The gauge dependence of the anomalous dimension of the scalar field is stablished exactly from the Ward-Takahashi identities. Its fixed point value gives the $\eta$ critical exponent and it is shown that $\eta$ is gauge independent, as expected on physical grounds. In the scaling considered, $\eta$ is found to be zero at 1-loop order, while $\nu\approx 0.63$. This result is just the 1-loop values for the XY model obtained in the fixed dimension renormalization group approach. It is shown that this XY behavior holds at all orders. The result $\eta=\eta_{XY}$ should be contrasted with the negative values frequently reported in the literature.Comment: EuroLaTex, 7 pages, 2 figures, reference updated; version to be published in Europhysics Letter

Nuclear Spin Dynamics in Double Quantum Dots: Fixed Points, Transients, and Intermittency

Transport through spin-blockaded quantum dots provides a means for electrical control and detection of nuclear spin dynamics in the host material. Although such experiments have become increasingly popular in recent years, interpretation of their results in terms of the underlying nuclear spin dynamics remains challenging. Here we point out a fundamental process in which nuclear spin dynamics can be driven by electron shot noise; fast electric current fluctuations generate much slower nuclear polarization dynamics, which in turn affect electron dynamics via the Overhauser field. The resulting extremely slow intermittent current fluctuations account for a variety of observed phenomena that were not previously understood.Comment: version accepted for publication in Physical Review B, figure repaire

Stress-strain behavior and geometrical properties of packings of elongated particles

We present a numerical analysis of the effect of particle elongation on the quasistatic behavior of sheared granular media by means of the Contact Dynamics method. The particle shapes are rounded-cap rectangles characterized by their elongation. The macroscopic and microstructural properties of several packings subjected to biaxial compression are analyzed as a function of particle elongation. We find that the shear strength is an increasing linear function of elongation. Performing an additive decomposition of the stress tensor based on a harmonic approximation of the angular dependence of branch vectors, contact normals and forces, we show that the increasing mobilization of friction force and the associated anisotropy are key effects of particle elongation. These effects are correlated with partial nematic ordering of the particles which tend to be oriented perpendicular to the major principal stress direction and form side-to-side contacts. However, the force transmission is found to be mainly guided by cap-to-side contacts, which represent the largest fraction of contacts for the most elongated particles. Another interesting finding is that, in contrast to shear strength, the solid fraction first increases with particle elongation, but declines as the particles become more elongated. It is also remarkable that the coordination number does not follow this trend so that the packings of more elongated particles are looser but more strongly connected.Comment: Submited to Physical Review

Quantized conductance doubling and hard gap in a two-dimensional semiconductor-superconductor heterostructure

The prospect of coupling a two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor heterostructure to a superconductor opens new research and technology opportunities, including fundamental problems in mesoscopic superconductivity, scalable superconducting electronics, and new topological states of matter. For instance, one route toward realizing topological matter is by coupling a 2D electron gas (2DEG) with strong spin-orbit interaction to an s-wave superconductor. Previous efforts along these lines have been hindered by interface disorder and unstable gating. Here, we report measurements on a gateable InGaAs/InAs 2DEG with patterned epitaxial Al, yielding multilayer devices with atomically pristine interfaces between semiconductor and superconductor. Using surface gates to form a quantum point contact (QPC), we find a hard superconducting gap in the tunneling regime, overcoming the soft-gap problem in 2D superconductor-semiconductor hybrid systems. With the QPC in the open regime, we observe a first conductance plateau at 4e^2/h, as expected theoretically for a normal-QPC-superconductor structure. The realization of a hard-gap semiconductor-superconductor system that is amenable to top-down processing provides a means of fabricating scalable multicomponent hybrid systems for applications in low-dissipation electronics and topological quantum information.Comment: includes main text, supplementary information and code for simulations. Published versio

Fission Yeast CSL Transcription Factors: Mapping Their Target Genes and Biological Roles

BACKGROUND: Cbf11 and Cbf12, the fission yeast CSL transcription factors, have been implicated in the regulation of cell-cycle progression, but no specific roles have been described and their target genes have been only partially mapped. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using a combination of transcriptome profiling under various conditions and genome-wide analysis of CSL-DNA interactions, we identify genes regulated directly and indirectly by CSL proteins in fission yeast. We show that the expression of stress-response genes and genes that are expressed periodically during the cell cycle is deregulated upon genetic manipulation of cbf11 and/or cbf12. Accordingly, the coordination of mitosis and cytokinesis is perturbed in cells with genetically manipulated CSL protein levels, together with other specific defects in cell-cycle progression. Cbf11 activity is nutrient-dependent and Δcbf11-associated defects are mitigated by inactivation of the protein kinase A (Pka1) and stress-activated MAP kinase (Sty1p38) pathways. Furthermore, Cbf11 directly regulates a set of lipid metabolism genes and Δcbf11 cells feature a stark decrease in the number of storage lipid droplets. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our results provide a framework for a more detailed understanding of the role of CSL proteins in the regulation of cell-cycle progression in fission yeast

Spin and Conductance-Peak-Spacing Distributions in Large Quantum Dots: A Density Functional Theory Study

We use spin-density-functional theory to study the spacing between conductance peaks and the ground-state spin of 2D model quantum dots with up to 200 electrons. Distributions for different ranges of electron number are obtained in both symmetric and asymmetric potentials. The even/odd effect is pronounced for small symmetric dots but vanishes for large asymmetric ones, suggesting substantially stronger interaction effects than expected. The fraction of high-spin ground states is remarkably large.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Dimensional crossover in dipolar magnetic layers

We investigate the static critical behaviour of a uniaxial magnetic layer, with finite thickness L in one direction, yet infinitely extended in the remaining d dimensions. The magnetic dipole-dipole interaction is taken into account. We apply a variant of Wilson's momentum shell renormalisation group approach to describe the crossover between the critical behaviour of the 3-D Ising, 2-d Ising, 3-D uniaxial dipolar, and the 2-d uniaxial dipolar universality classes. The corresponding renormalisation group fixed points are in addition to different effective dimensionalities characterised by distinct analytic structures of the propagator, and are consequently associated with varying upper critical dimensions. While the limiting cases can be discussed by means of dimensional epsilon expansions with respect to the appropriate upper critical dimensions, respectively, the crossover features must be addressed in terms of the renormalisation group flow trajectories at fixed dimensionality d.Comment: 25 pages, Latex, 12 figures (.eps files) and IOP style files include

CSL protein regulates transcription of genes required to prevent catastrophic mitosis in fission yeast.

For every eukaryotic cell to grow and divide, intricately coordinated action of numerous proteins is required to ensure proper cell-cycle progression. The fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe has been instrumental in elucidating the fundamental principles of cell-cycle control. Mutations in S. pombe 'cut' (cell untimely torn) genes cause failed coordination between cell and nuclear division, resulting in catastrophic mitosis. Deletion of cbf11, a fission yeast CSL transcription factor gene, triggers a 'cut' phenotype, but the precise role of Cbf11 in promoting mitotic fidelity is not known. We report that Cbf11 directly activates the transcription of the acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase gene cut6, and the biotin uptake/biosynthesis genes vht1 and bio2, with the former two implicated in mitotic fidelity. Cbf11 binds to a canonical, metazoan-like CSL response element (GTGGGAA) in the cut6 promoter. Expression of Cbf11 target genes shows apparent oscillations during the cell cycle using temperature-sensitive cdc25-22 and cdc10-M17 block-release experiments, but not with other synchronization methods. The penetrance of catastrophic mitosis in cbf11 and cut6 mutants is nutrient-dependent. We also show that drastic decrease in biotin availability arrests cell proliferation but does not cause mitotic defects. Taken together, our results raise the possibility that CSL proteins play conserved roles in regulating cell-cycle progression, and they could guide experiments into mitotic CSL functions in mammals

Activation of transglutaminase and production of protein-bound gamma-glutamylhistamine in stimulated mouse mast cells

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