81 research outputs found
Cheating and the evolutionary stability of mutualisms
Interspecific mutualisms have been playing a central role in the functioning of all ecosystems since the early history of life. Yet the theory of coevolution of mutualists is virtually nonexistent, by contrast with well-developed coevolutionary theories of competition, predatorâprey and hostâparasite interactions. This has prevented resolution of a basic puzzle posed by mutualisms: their persistence in spite of apparent evolutionary instability. The selective advantage of 'cheating', that is, reaping mutualistic benefits while providing fewer commodities to the partner species, is commonly believed to erode a mutualistic interaction, leading to its dissolution or reciprocal extinction. However, recent empirical findings indicate that stable associations of mutualists and cheaters have existed over long evolutionary periods. Here, we show that asymmetrical competition within species for the commodities offered by mutualistic partners provides a simple and testable ecological mechanism that can account for the long-term persistence of mutualisms. Cheating, in effect, establishes a background against which better mutualists can display any competitive superiority. This can lead to the coexistence and divergence of mutualist and cheater phenotypes, as well as to the coexistence of ecologically similar, but unrelated mutualists and cheaters
Generalized Cylinders in Semi-Riemannian and Spin Geometry
We use a construction which we call generalized cylinders to give a new proof
of the fundamental theorem of hypersurface theory. It has the advantage of
being very simple and the result directly extends to semi-Riemannian manifolds
and to embeddings into spaces of constant curvature. We also give a new way to
identify spinors for different metrics and to derive the variation formula for
the Dirac operator. Moreover, we show that generalized Killing spinors for
Codazzi tensors are restrictions of parallel spinors. Finally, we study the
space of Lorentzian metrics and give a criterion when two Lorentzian metrics on
a manifold can be joined in a natural manner by a 1-parameter family of such
metrics.Comment: 29 pages, 2 figure
Vanishing Theorems and String Backgrounds
We show various vanishing theorems for the cohomology groups of compact
hermitian manifolds for which the Bismut connection has (restricted) holonomy
contained in SU(n) and classify all such manifolds of dimension four. In this
way we provide necessary conditions for the existence of such structures on
hermitian manifolds. Then we apply our results to solutions of the string
equations and show that such solutions admit various cohomological restrictions
like for example that under certain natural assumptions the plurigenera vanish.
We also find that under some assumptions the string equations are equivalent to
the condition that a certain vector is parallel with respect to the Bismut
connection.Comment: 25 pages, Late
Compact Einstein-Weyl four-dimensional manifolds
We look for four dimensional Einstein-Weyl spaces equipped with a regular
Bianchi metric. Using the explicit 4-parameters expression of the distance
obtained in a previous work for non-conformally-Einstein Einstein-Weyl
structures, we show that only four 1-parameter families of regular metrics
exist on orientable manifolds : they are all of Bianchi type and
conformally K\"ahler ; moreover, in agreement with general results, they have a
positive definite conformal scalar curvature. In a Gauduchon's gauge, they are
compact and we obtain their topological invariants. Finally, we compare our
results to the general analyses of Madsen, Pedersen, Poon and Swann : our
simpler parametrisation allows us to correct some of their assertions.Comment: Latex file, 13 pages, an important reference added and a critical
discussion of its claims offered, others minor modification
Blowing up generalized Kahler 4-manifolds
We show that the blow-up of a generalized Kahler 4-manifold in a
nondegenerate complex point admits a generalized Kahler metric. As with the
blow-up of complex surfaces, this metric may be chosen to coincide with the
original outside a tubular neighbourhood of the exceptional divisor. To
accomplish this, we develop a blow-up operation for bi-Hermitian manifolds.Comment: 16 page
Einstein-Weyl structures and Bianchi metrics
We analyse in a systematic way the (non-)compact four dimensional
Einstein-Weyl spaces equipped with a Bianchi metric. We show that Einstein-Weyl
structures with a Class A Bianchi metric have a conformal scalar curvature of
constant sign on the manifold. Moreover, we prove that most of them are
conformally Einstein or conformally K\"ahler ; in the non-exact Einstein-Weyl
case with a Bianchi metric of the type or , we show that the
distance may be taken in a diagonal form and we obtain its explicit
4-parameters expression. This extends our previous analysis, limited to the
diagonal, K\"ahler Bianchi case.Comment: Latex file, 12 pages, a minor modification, accepted for publication
in Class. Quant. Gra
Small Horizons
All near horizon geometries of supersymmetric black holes in a N=2, D=5
higher-derivative supergravity theory are classified. Depending on the choice
of near-horizon data we find that either there are no regular horizons, or
horizons exist and the spatial cross-sections of the event horizons are
conformal to a squashed or round S^3, S^1 * S^2, or T^3. If the conformal
factor is constant then the solutions are maximally supersymmetric. If the
conformal factor is not constant, we find that it satisfies a non-linear vortex
equation, and the horizon may admit scalar hair.Comment: 21 pages, latex. Typos corrected and reference adde
Relevance of cyclin D1b expression and CCND1 polymorphism in the pathogenesis of multiple myeloma and mantle cell lymphoma
BACKGROUND: The CCND1 gene generates two mRNAs (cyclin D1a and D1b) through an alternative splicing at the site of a common A/G polymorphism. Cyclin D1a and b proteins differ in their C-terminus, a region involved in protein degradation and sub-cellular localization. Recent data have suggested that cyclin D1b could be a nuclear oncogene. The presence of cyclin D1b mRNA and protein has been studied in two hemopathies in which cyclin D1 could be present: multiple myeloma (MM) and mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). The A/G polymorphism of CCND1 has also been verified in a series of patients. METHODS: The expression of cyclin D1 mRNA isoforms has been studied by real-time quantitative PCR; protein isoforms expression, localization and degradation by western blotting. The CCND1 polymorphism was analyzed after sequencing genomic DNA. RESULTS: Cyclin D1 mRNA isoforms a and b were expressed in mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) and multiple myeloma (MM). Cyclin D1b proteins were present in MCL, rarely in MM. Importantly, both protein isoforms localized the nuclear and cytoplasmic compartments. They displayed the same short half-life. Thus, the two properties of cyclin D1b recognized as necessary for its transforming activity are missing in MCL. Moreover, CCND1 polymorphism at the exon/intron boundary had no influence on splicing regulation in MCL cells. CONCLUSION: Our results support the notion that cyclin D1b is not crucial for the pathogenesis of MCL and MM
Twisted characters and holomorphic symmetries
We consider holomorphic twists of arbitrary supersymmetric theories in four
dimensions. Working in the BV formalism, we rederive classical results
characterizing the holomorphic twist of chiral and vector supermultiplets,
computing the twist explicitly as a family over the space of nilpotent
supercharges in minimal supersymmetry. The BV formalism allows one to work with
or without auxiliary fields, according to preference; for chiral superfields,
we show that the result of the twist is an identical BV theory, the holomorphic
system with superpotential, independent of whether or not
auxiliary fields are included. We compute the character of local operators in
this holomorphic theory, demonstrating agreement of the free local operators
with the usual index of free fields. The local operators with superpotential
are computed via a spectral sequence, and are shown to agree with functions on
a formal mapping space into the derived critical locus of the superpotential.
We consider the holomorphic theory on various geometries, including Hopf
manifolds and products of arbitrary pairs of Riemann surfaces, and offer some
general remarks on dimensional reductions of holomorphic theories along the
-sphere to topological quantum mechanics. We also study an
infinite-dimensional enhancement of the flavor symmetry in this example, to a
recently-studied central extension of the derived holomorphic functions with
values in the original Lie algebra that generalizes the familiar Kac--Moody
enhancement in two-dimensional chiral theories
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