241 research outputs found
On Turing dynamical systems and the Atiyah problem
Main theorems of the article concern the problem of M. Atiyah on possible
values of l^2-Betti numbers. It is shown that all non-negative real numbers are
l^2-Betti numbers, and that "many" (for example all non-negative algebraic)
real numbers are l^2-Betti numbers of simply connected manifolds with respect
to a free cocompact action. Also an explicit example is constructed which leads
to a simply connected manifold with a transcendental l^2-Betti number with
respect to an action of the threefold direct product of the lamplighter group
Z/2 wr Z. The main new idea is embedding Turing machines into integral group
rings. The main tool developed generalizes known techniques of spectral
computations for certain random walk operators to arbitrary operators in
groupoid rings of discrete measured groupoids.Comment: 35 pages; essentially identical to the published versio
An algorithm to identify automorphisms which arise from self-induced interval exchange transformations
We give an algorithm to determine if the dynamical system generated by a
positive automorphism of the free group can also be generated by a self-induced
interval exchange transformation. The algorithm effectively yields the interval
exchange transformation in case of success.Comment: 26 pages, 8 figures. v2: the article has been reorganized to make for
a more linear read. A few paragraphs have been added for clarit
Converging and diverging burn rates in North American boreal forests from the Little Ice Age to the present
Warning. This article contains terms, descriptions, and opinions used for historical context that may be culturally sensitive for some readers. Background. Understanding drivers of boreal forest dynamics supports adaptation strategies in the context of climate change. Aims. We aimed to understand how burn rates varied since the early 1700s in North American boreal forests. Methods. We used 16 fire-history study sites distributed across such forests and investigated variation in burn rates for the historical period spanning 1700-1990. These were benchmarked against recent burn rates estimated for the modern period spanning 1980-2020 using various data sources. Key results. Burn rates during the historical period for most sites showed a declining trend, particularly during the early to mid 1900s. Compared to the historical period, the modern period showed less variable and lower burn rates across sites. Mean burn rates during the modern period presented divergent trends among eastern versus northwestern sites, with increasing trends in mean burn rates in most northwestern North American sites. Conclusions. The synchronicity of trends suggests that large spatial patterns of atmospheric conditions drove burn rates in addition to regional changes in land use like fire exclusion and suppression. Implications. Low burn rates in eastern Canadian boreal forests may continue unless climate change overrides the capacity to suppress fire.Peer reviewe
Plate tectonics drive tropical reef biodiversity dynamics
The Cretaceous breakup of Gondwana strongly modified the global distribution of shallow tropical seas reshaping the geographic configuration of marine basins. However, the links between tropical reef availability, plate tectonic processes and marine biodiversity distribution patterns are still unknown. Here, we show that a spatial diversification model constrained by absolute plate motions for the past 140 million years predicts the emergence and movement of diversity hotspots on tropical reefs. The spatial dynamics of tropical reefs explains marine fauna diversification in the Tethyan Ocean during the Cretaceous and early Cenozoic, and identifies an eastward movement of ancestral marine lineages towards the Indo-Australian Archipelago in the Miocene. A mechanistic model based only on habitat-driven diversification and dispersal yields realistic predictions of current biodiversity patterns for both corals and fishes. As in terrestrial systems, we demonstrate that plate tectonics played a major role in driving tropical marine shallow reef biodiversity dynamics
Phase Transitions on Nonamenable Graphs
We survey known results about phase transitions in various models of
statistical physics when the underlying space is a nonamenable graph. Most
attention is devoted to transitive graphs and trees
Microbiota Sensing by Mincle-Syk Axis in Dendritic Cells Regulates Interleukin-17 and -22 Production and Promotes Intestinal Barrier Integrity
We are grateful to members of the D.S. laboratory and Dr. E. FernĂĄndez-MalavĂ© for discussions and critical reading of the manuscript. We appreciate the support of A. TomĂĄs-Loba, G. Sabio, P. MartĂn, A. Tsilingiri, A.R. Ramiro, C.L. Abram, C.A. Lowell, J.M. GarcĂa-Lobo, M. Molina, and M.C. RodrĂguez for providing reagents and support. We thank the staff at the FundaciĂłn Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III (CNIC) facilities for technical support. M.M.-L. received a FormaciĂłn de Personal Universitario (FPU) fellowship (AP2010-5935) from the Spanish Ministerio de EducaciĂłn. S.I. is funded by grant SAF2015-74561-JIN from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, InnovaciĂłn, y Universidades (MCIU) and Fondos Europeos de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER). G.D.B and D.M.R. are supported by the Wellcome Trust and the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology at the University of Aberdeen. S.L.L. is supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (PP00P3_150758). Work in the D.S. laboratory is funded by the CNIC and grant SAF2016-79040-R from MCIU, the Agencia Estatal de InvestigaciĂłn, and FEDER; B2017/BMD-3733 Immunothercan-CM from Comunidad de Madrid; RD16/0015/0018-REEM from FIS-Instituto de Salud Carlos III, MCIU, and FEDER; the Acteria Foundation; the Constantes y Vitales prize (Atresmedia); La MaratĂł de TV3 Foundation (201723); the European Commission (635122-PROCROP H2020), and the European Research Council (ERC-2016-Consolidator Grant 725091). The CNIC is supported by the MCIU and the Pro-CNIC Foundation and is a Severo Ochoa Center of Excellence (SEV-2015-0505).Peer reviewedPublisher PD
To respond or not to respond - a personal perspective of intestinal tolerance
For many years, the intestine was one of the poor relations of the immunology world, being a realm inhabited mostly by specialists and those interested in unusual phenomena. However, this has changed dramatically in recent years with the realization of how important the microbiota is in shaping immune function throughout the body, and almost every major immunology institution now includes the intestine as an area of interest. One of the most important aspects of the intestinal immune system is how it discriminates carefully between harmless and harmful antigens, in particular, its ability to generate active tolerance to materials such as commensal bacteria and food proteins. This phenomenon has been recognized for more than 100 years, and it is essential for preventing inflammatory disease in the intestine, but its basis remains enigmatic. Here, I discuss the progress that has been made in understanding oral tolerance during my 40 years in the field and highlight the topics that will be the focus of future research
Intersection form, laminations and currents on free groups
Let be a free group of rank , let be a geodesic current
on and let be an -tree with a very small isometric action
of . We prove that the geometric intersection number is equal
to zero if and only if the support of is contained in the dual algebraic
lamination of . Applying this result, we obtain a generalization of
a theorem of Francaviglia regarding length spectrum compactness for currents
with full support. As another application, we define the notion of a
\emph{filling} element in and prove that filling elements are "nearly
generic" in . We also apply our results to the notion of \emph{bounded
translation equivalence} in free groups.Comment: revised version, to appear in GAF
The Intestinal Microbiota Plays a Role in Salmonella-Induced Colitis Independent of Pathogen Colonization
The intestinal microbiota is composed of hundreds of species of bacteria, fungi
and protozoa and is critical for numerous biological processes, such as nutrient
acquisition, vitamin production, and colonization resistance against bacterial
pathogens. We studied the role of the intestinal microbiota on host resistance
to Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium-induced colitis.
Using multiple antibiotic treatments in 129S1/SvImJ mice, we showed that
disruption of the intestinal microbiota alters host susceptibility to infection.
Although all antibiotic treatments caused similar increases in pathogen
colonization, the development of enterocolitis was seen only when streptomycin
or vancomycin was used; no significant pathology was observed with the use of
metronidazole. Interestingly, metronidazole-treated and infected C57BL/6 mice
developed severe pathology. We hypothesized that the intestinal microbiota
confers resistance to infectious colitis without affecting the ability of
S. Typhimurium to colonize the intestine. Indeed, different
antibiotic treatments caused distinct shifts in the intestinal microbiota prior
to infection. Through fluorescence in situ hybridization,
terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism, and real-time PCR, we showed
that there is a strong correlation between the intestinal microbiota composition
before infection and susceptibility to Salmonella-induced
colitis. Members of the Bacteroidetes phylum were present at significantly
higher levels in mice resistant to colitis. Further analysis revealed that
Porphyromonadaceae levels were also increased in these mice. Conversely, there
was a positive correlation between the abundance of
Lactobacillus sp. and predisposition to colitis. Our data
suggests that different members of the microbiota might be associated with
S. Typhimurium colonization and colitis. Dissecting the
mechanisms involved in resistance to infection and inflammation will be critical
for the development of therapeutic and preventative measures against enteric
pathogens
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