GPU accelerated investigation of a dual-frequency driven nonlinear oscillator

The bifurcation structure of a dual-frequency driven, second order nonlinear oscillator (Keller–Miksis equation) is investigated by exploiting the high computational resources of professional GPUs. The numerical scheme of the applied initial value problem solver was the explicit, adaptive Runge–Kutta–Cash–Karp method with embedded error estimation using solutions of order 4 and 5. The four dimensional parameter space (amplitudes and frequencies of the driving) is explored by means of several high resolution bi-parametric plots with the amplitudes as control parameters at fixed frequencies. The resolution of the control parameter plane is 500 × 500 with 10 initial conditions at each parameter pair (altogether 2.5 million initial value problems in each bi-parametric plot). The program code for one fine parameter scan runs approximately 50 times faster on a Tesla K20 GPU (Kepler architecture) than on an Intel i7-4790 4 core CPU even applying double precision floating point operations

Dog feeding test for assessing the nutritional adequacy of practical diets

The nutritive value of dog foods declared by the manufacturer as nutritionally complete and balanced can be best assessed by feeding trials with dogs. A protocol of a feeding trial has been developed and tested with working dogs fed two different commercial complete and balanced diets for 8 weeks. The parameters used for evaluating the effect of diets were general health status, body and hair coat condition, change of body weight, haematological parameters (white blood cell (WBC) count, red blood cell (RBC) count, haemoglobin, packed cell volume), and biochemical parameters in blood serum (alanine aminotransferase, urea, albumin). The trial protocol proved to be appropriate to monitor the dogs' nutritional status and to reveal differences between diets. This method of evaluation is recommended for use in supporting the nutritional claims (labelling) of dog foods

A Penicillium chrysogenum-based expression system for the production of small, cysteine-rich antifungal proteins for structural and functional analyses

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Preliminary evaluation of selected Prunus spinosa and P. insititia genotypes for their nutraceutical properties

Fruits of nine Prunus spinosa and P. insititia selections were compared in their ferric reducing antioxidant power and total phenoliccontent. The antioxidant capacity and total phenolic content ranged between 6.36 and 29.26 mmol AA/L, and 5.04 and 29.71 mmol GA/L,respectively. These ranges cover an almost 5-times variation among the tested genotypes. The Pearson’s coefficient was very high (0.92)indicating a major contribution of polyphenolics to the antioxidant capacity of the tested Prunus fruits. Conserving resulted in an approximate20 % loss of antioxidant power and slightly increased phenolic contents. Our results led us to the conclusion that fruit of Prunus spinosa andP. insititia might be considered as rich sources of antioxidants. In addition, procession with heat treatment caused only a slight decrease in theantioxidant capacity without loss in the total polyphenolic content

Exact finite size spectrum in super sine-Gordon model

We present the coupled nonlinear integral equations (NLIE) governing the finite size effects in N=1 super sine-Gordon model for the vacuum as well as for the excited states. Their infrared limit correctly yields the scattering data of the super sine-Gordon S-matrix conjectured by Ahn. Ultraviolet analysis is in agreement with the expected conformal data of c=3/2 CFT. Conformal perturbation theory further corroborates this result.Comment: 28 pages, LaTe

Discovery of a substellar companion in the TESS light curve of the δ\delta Scuti/γ\gamma Doradus hybrid pulsator HD 31221

Close-in, sub-stellar companions to $\delta$ Scuti type stars present a highly suitable testbed for examining how planetary-mass objects can influence stellar pulsations. We aim to constrain the mass of HD 31221 b, probe its atmosphere, and demonstrate how it affects the pulsational pattern of its host, HD 31221. We made use of the available data from the short-cadence Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). We modeled the nine observed transits and the out-of-phase variations, including Doppler beaming, ellipsoidal variations, and the reflection effect. We also incorporated ground-based photometry from the MuSCAT2 imager installed at the 1.52 m Telescopio Carlos Sanchez in the Teide Observatory, Spain. We found HD 31221 b to have an orbital period of $4.66631 \pm 0.00011$ days, with a radius of $1.32 \pm 0.14$ R$_J$ and a mass of $11.5 \pm 10.3$ M$_J$ (from the ellipsoidal effect), making it consistent with either a brown dwarf or a giant planet. As HD 31221 is a rapid rotator ($v \sin I_\star = 175.31 \pm 1.74$ km s$^{-1}$), we deduced the spin-orbit misalignment to be $\lambda = -121.6 \pm 14.4^\circ$ and $I_\star = 55.9 \pm 11.3^\circ$. The phase curve is dominated by the reflection effect, with a geometric albedo of $1.58 \pm 0.50$. We also found evidence that HD 31221 is a $\delta$ Scuti/$\gamma$ Doradus hybrid pulsator. There are three cases for which the $3$rd, $85$th, and $221$st orbital harmonics almost exactly coincide with peaks in the Fourier spectrum of the star, hinting at tidally perturbed stellar oscillations. HD 31221 b is the third substellar object that is found to be disrupting the pulsations of its host, following HAT-P-2 and WASP-33. Additional photometric observations by CHEOPS and/or PLATO can be used to further constrain its mass and provide a more in-depth analysis of its atmosphere.Comment: Accepted for publication as a Letter in A&A, 12 pages, 10 figure

The Absence of N-Acetyl-D-glucosamine Causes Attenuation of Virulence of Candida albicans upon Interaction with Vaginal Epithelial Cells In Vitro.

To better understand the molecular events underlying vulvovaginal candidiasis, we established an in vitro system. Immortalized vaginal epithelial cells were infected with live, yeast form C. albicans and C. albicans cultured in the same medium without vaginal epithelial cells were used as control. In both cases a yeast to hyphae transition was robustly induced. Whole transcriptome sequencing was used to identify specific gene expression changes in C. albicans. Numerous genes leading to a yeast to hyphae transition and hyphae specific genes were upregulated in the control hyphae and the hyphae in response to vaginal epithelial cells. Strikingly, the GlcNAc pathway was exclusively triggered by vaginal epithelial cells. Functional analysis in our in vitro system revealed that the GlcNAc biosynthesis is involved in the adherence to, and the ability to kill, vaginal epithelial cells in vitro, thus indicating the key role for this pathway in the virulence of C. albicans upon vulvovaginal candidiasis

MiniCORVET is a Vps8-containing hemocyte- and nephrocyte-specific early endosomal tether in Drosophila

Cet ouvrage est la version « allégée », mais substantielle, d’une thèse de doctorat soutenue le 9 novembre 2009 à l’Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis. Disons d’emblée que cette étude, très structurée et écrite dans une langue limpide, est remarquable et devra être lue et méditée par les historiens de la justice. Ils y trouveront un modèle d’analyse dialectique des rapports entre délinquance et fonctionnement des institutions pénales replacées dans leur contexte législatif et historique. S’i..

Hybrid-NLIE for the AdS/CFT spectral problem

Hybrid-NLIE equations, an alternative finite NLIE description for the spectral problem of the super sigma model of AdS/CFT and its gamma-deformations are derived by replacing the semi-infinite SU(2) and SU(4) parts of the AdS/CFT TBA equations by a few appropriately chosen complex NLIE variables, which are coupled among themselves and to the Y-functions associated to the remaining central nodes of the TBA diagram. The integral equations are written explicitly for the ground state of the gamma-deformed system. We linearize these NLIE equations, analytically calculate the first correction to the asymptotic solution and find agreement with analogous results coming from the original TBA formalism. Our equations differ substantially from the recently published finite FiNLIE formulation of the spectral problem.Comment: 63 pages, 1 figur