3,210 research outputs found
Cosmological Relativity: A General-Relativistic Theory for the Accelerating Expanding Universe
Recent observations of distant supernovae imply, in defiance of expectations,
that the universe growth is accelerating, contrary to what has always been
assumed that the expansion is slowing down due to gravity. In this paper a
general-relativistic cosmological theory that gives a direct relationship
between distances and redshifts in an expanding universe is presented. The
theory is actually a generalization of Hubble's law taking gravity into account
by means of Einstein's theory of general relativity. The theory predicts that
the universe can have three phases of expansion, decelerating, constant and
accelerating, but it is shown that at present the first two cases are excluded,
although in the past it had experienced them. Our theory shows that the
universe now is definitely in the stage of accelerating expansion, confirming
the recent experimental results
Local Strategy Improvement for Parity Game Solving
The problem of solving a parity game is at the core of many problems in model
checking, satisfiability checking and program synthesis. Some of the best
algorithms for solving parity game are strategy improvement algorithms. These
are global in nature since they require the entire parity game to be present at
the beginning. This is a distinct disadvantage because in many applications one
only needs to know which winning region a particular node belongs to, and a
witnessing winning strategy may cover only a fractional part of the entire game
graph.
We present a local strategy improvement algorithm which explores the game
graph on-the-fly whilst performing the improvement steps. We also compare it
empirically with existing global strategy improvement algorithms and the
currently only other local algorithm for solving parity games. It turns out
that local strategy improvement can outperform these others by several orders
of magnitude
Heterotic Cosmic Strings
We show that all three conditions for the cosmological relevance of heterotic
cosmic strings, the right tension, stability and a production mechanism at the
end of inflation, can be met in the strongly coupled M-theory regime. Whereas
cosmic strings generated from weakly coupled heterotic strings have the well
known problems posed by Witten in 1985, we show that strings arising from
M5-branes wrapped around 4-cycles (divisors) of a Calabi-Yau in heterotic
M-theory compactifications, solve these problems in an elegant fashion.Comment: 25 pages, v2: section and references adde
Symmetric Strategy Improvement
Symmetry is inherent in the definition of most of the two-player zero-sum
games, including parity, mean-payoff, and discounted-payoff games. It is
therefore quite surprising that no symmetric analysis techniques for these
games exist. We develop a novel symmetric strategy improvement algorithm where,
in each iteration, the strategies of both players are improved simultaneously.
We show that symmetric strategy improvement defies Friedmann's traps, which
shook the belief in the potential of classic strategy improvement to be
polynomial
Isoform-specific subcellular localization and function of protein kinase A identified by mosaic imaging of mouse brain.
Protein kinase A (PKA) plays critical roles in neuronal function that are mediated by different regulatory (R) subunits. Deficiency in either the RIβ or the RIIβ subunit results in distinct neuronal phenotypes. Although RIβ contributes to synaptic plasticity, it is the least studied isoform. Using isoform-specific antibodies, we generated high-resolution large-scale immunohistochemical mosaic images of mouse brain that provided global views of several brain regions, including the hippocampus and cerebellum. The isoforms concentrate in discrete brain regions, and we were able to zoom-in to show distinct patterns of subcellular localization. RIβ is enriched in dendrites and co-localizes with MAP2, whereas RIIβ is concentrated in axons. Using correlated light and electron microscopy, we confirmed the mitochondrial and nuclear localization of RIβ in cultured neurons. To show the functional significance of nuclear localization, we demonstrated that downregulation of RIβ, but not of RIIβ, decreased CREB phosphorylation. Our study reveals how PKA isoform specificity is defined by precise localization
Gaussian coordinate systems for the Kerr metric
We present the whole class of Gaussian coordinate systems for the Kerr
metric. This is achieved through the uses of the relationship between Gaussian
observers and the relativistic Hamilton-Jacobi equation. We analyze the
completeness of this coordinate system. In the appendix we present the
equivalent JEK formulation of General Relativity -- the so-called
quasi-Maxwellian equations -- which acquires a simpler form in the Gaussian
coordinate system. We show how this set of equations can be used to obtain the
internal metric of the Schwazschild solution, as a simple example. We suggest
that this path can be followed to the search of the internal Kerr metric
Signal peptide peptidases and gamma-secretase: Cousins of the same protease family?
Signal peptide peptidase (SPIP) is an unusual aspartyl protease, which mediates clearance of signal peptides by proteolysis within the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Like presenilins, which provide the proteolytically active subunit of the,gamma-secretase complex, SPP contains a conserved GxGD motif in its C-terminal domain which is critical for its activity. While SPIP is known to be an aspartyl protease of the GxGD type, several presenilin homologues/SPP-like proteins (PSHs/ SPPL) of unknown function have been identified by database searches. In contrast to SPP and SPPL3, which are both restricted to the endoplasmic reticulum, SPPL2b is targeted through the secretory pathway to endosomes/lysosomes. As suggested by the differential subcellular localization of SPPL2b and SPPL3 distinct phenotypes were found upon antisense gripNA-mediated knockdown in zebrafish. spp and sppl3 knockdowns in zebrafish result in cell death within the central nervous system, whereas reduction of sppl2b expression causes erythrocyte accumulation in an enlarged caudal vein. Moreover, expression of D/A mutants of the putative C-terminal active sites of spp, sppl2, and spp13 produced phenocopies of the respective knockdown phenotypes. These data suggest that all investigated PSHs/SPPLs are members of the novel family of GxGD aspartyl proteases. More recently, it was shown that SPPL2b utilizes multiple intramembrane cleavages to liberate the TNF(x intracellular domain into the cytosol and to release the C-terminal counterpart into the lumen. These findings suggest common principles of intramembrane proteolysis by GxGD type aspartyl proteases. In this article,we will review the similarities of SPPs and gamma-secretase based on recent findings by us and others
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