Aspects of integrability in a classical model for non-interacting fermionic fields

In this work we investigate the issue of integrability in a classical model for noninteracting fermionic fields. This model is constructed via classical-quantum correspondence obtained from the semiclassical treatment of the quantum system. Our main finding is that the classical system, contrary to the quantum system, is not integrablein general. Regarding this contrast it is clear that in general classical models for fermionic quantum systems have to be handled with care. Further numerical investigation of the system showed that there may be islands of stability in the phase space. We also investigated a similar model that is used in theoretical chemistry and found this one to be most probably integrable, although also here the integrability is not assured by the quantum-classical correspondence principle

Signatures of irreversibility in microscopic models of flocking

Flocking in $d=2$ is a genuine non-equilibrium phenomenon for which irreversibility is an essential ingredient. We study a class of minimal flocking models whose only source of irreversibility is self-propulsion and use the entropy production rate (EPR) to quantify the departure from equilibrium across their phase diagrams. The EPR is maximal in the vicinity of the order-disorder transition, where reshuffling of the interaction network is fast. We show that signatures of irreversibility come in the form of asymmetries in the steady state distribution of the flock's microstates. They occur as consequences of the time reversal symmetry breaking in the considered self-propelled systems, independently of the interaction details. In the case of metric pairwise forces, they reduce to local asymmetries in the distribution of pairs of particles. This study suggests a possible use of pair asymmetries both to quantify the departure from equilibrium and to learn relevant information about aligning interaction potentials from data.Comment: 8 pages + Appendix; 6 figure

Influence of SiO2 micro-particles onto microstructure, mechanical properties and wear resistance of uhmwpe based composite under dry sliding friction

Operation is demonstrated of a field-effect transistor made of transparant oxidic thin films, showing an intrinsic memory function due to the usage of a ferroelectric insulator. The device consists of a high mobility Sb-doped n-type SnO2 semiconductor layer, PbZr0.2Ti0.8O3 as a ferroelectric insulator, and SrRuO3 as a gate electrode, each layer prepared by pulsed laser deposition. The hysteresis behavior of the channel conductance is studied. Using gate voltage pulses of 100 µs duration and a pulse height of ±3 V, a change of a factor of two in the remnant conductance is achieved. The dependence of the conductance on the polarity of the gate pulse proves that the memory effect is driven by the ferroelectric polarization. The influence of charge trapping is also observed and discussed. © 1996 American Institute of Physics

Subunit-selective proteasome activity profiling uncovers uncoupled proteasome subunit activities during bacterial infections

The proteasome is a nuclear‐cytoplasmic proteolytic complex involved in nearly all regulatory pathways in plant cells. The three different catalytic activities of the proteasome can have different functions, but tools to monitor and control these subunits selectively are not yet available in plant science. Here, we introduce subunit‐selective inhibitors and dual‐color fluorescent activity‐based probes for studying two of the three active catalytic subunits of the plant proteasome. We validate these tools in two model plants and use this to study the proteasome during plant–microbe interactions. Our data reveal that Nicotiana benthamiana incorporates two different paralogs of each catalytic subunit into active proteasomes. Interestingly, both β1 and β5 activities are significantly increased upon infection with pathogenic Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 lacking hopQ1‐1 [PtoDC3000(ΔhQ)] whilst the activity profile of the β1 subunit changes. Infection with wild‐type PtoDC3000 causes proteasome activities that range from strongly induced β1 and β5 activities to strongly suppressed β5 activities, revealing that β1 and β5 activities can be uncoupled during bacterial infection. These selective probes and inhibitors are now available to the plant science community, and can be widely and easily applied to study the activity and role of the different catalytic subunits of the proteasome in different plant species.Bio-organic Synthesi

Proteases and inhibitors in the interaction between Nicotiana benthamiana and Agrobacterium tumefaciens – systematic analysis and emerging solutions for molecular farming

Nicotiana benthamiana is now an established platform for molecular farming, the production of biopharmaceuticals in plants. Infiltration with Agrobacterium tumefaciens (agroinfiltration) is commonly used to transiently express one or multiple transgenes in N. benthamiana leaves. Agroinfiltrated N. benthamiana is a flexible and scalable recombinant protein (RP) production platform, but is impeded by low RP yields. Plant proteases can degrade RPs and thus limit RP accumulation. To inform, design and implement strategies for enhancing RP accumulation, I present four papers about proteases and protease inhibitors in agroinfiltrated N. benthamiana. First, I investigated the transcriptome, extracellular proteome and active secretome to understand the plant response to agroinfiltration and investigate the expressed proteases. I show that an extracellular immune response is mounted at the expense of photosynthesis. Comprehensive annotation and monitoring uncover a large, diverse repertoire of proteases in agroinfiltrated leaves, indicating that broad-range depletion of protease activity may be required to enhance RP accumulation. Second, I reviewed the literature on multifunctional plant protease inhibitors (PIs) and grouped them into three types of multifunctional PIs that evolved independently. Third, I screened candidate PIs and discovered that three new, unrelated PIs enhance RP accumulation. I present universal elements of the RP degradation machinery, uncovering new questions on our understanding of the protease network that degrades RPs. Fourth, I identified targets of SlCYS8, a PI that enhances RP accumulation. The target proteases of SlCYS8 are implicated in RP degradation and the high specificity of SlCYS8 can be used to study their role in other processes. By elucidating the immune response to agroinfiltration, by uncovering the N. benthamiana protease repertoire and by providing new tools to deplete the activity of specific proteases, this thesis makes a relevant contribution to both basic plant research and molecular farming.</p