348 research outputs found
Comparative Analysis of RNA Families Reveals Distinct Repertoires for Each Domain of Life
The RNA world hypothesis, that RNA genomes and catalysts preceded DNA genomes
and genetically-encoded protein catalysts, has been central to models for the
early evolution of life on Earth. A key part of such models is continuity
between the earliest stages in the evolution of life and the RNA repertoires of
extant lineages. Some assessments seem consistent with a diverse RNA world, yet
direct continuity between modern RNAs and an RNA world has not been
demonstrated for the majority of RNA families, and, anecdotally, many RNA
functions appear restricted in their distribution. Despite much discussion of
the possible antiquity of RNA families, no systematic analyses of RNA family
distribution have been performed. To chart the broad evolutionary history of
known RNA families, we performed comparative genomic analysis of over 3 million
RNA annotations spanning 1446 families from the Rfam 10 database. We report
that 99% of known RNA families are restricted to a single domain of life,
revealing discrete repertoires for each domain. For the 1% of RNA
families/clans present in more than one domain, over half show evidence of
horizontal gene transfer, and the rest show a vertical trace, indicating the
presence of a complex protein synthesis machinery in the Last Universal Common
Ancestor (LUCA) and consistent with the evolutionary history of the most
ancient protein-coding genes. However, with limited interdomain transfer and
few RNA families exhibiting demonstrable antiquity as predicted under RNA world
continuity, our results indicate that the majority of modern cellular RNA
repertoires have primarily evolved in a domain-specific manner.Comment: 47 pages, 4 main figures, 3 supplementary figures, 4 supplementary
tables. Submitted to PLOS Computational Biolog
A combined experimental and computational study of the pressure dependence of the vibrational spectrum of solid picene C_22H_14
We present high-quality optical data and density functional perturbation
theory calculations for the vibrational spectrum of solid picene
(CH) under pressure up to 8 GPa. First-principles calculations
reproduce with a remarkable accuracy the pressure effects on both frequency and
intensities of the phonon peaks experimentally observed . Through a detailed
analysis of the phonon eigenvectors, We use the projection on molecular
eigenmodes to unambiguously fit the experimental spectra, resolving complicated
spectral structures, in a system with hundreds of phonon modes. With these
projections, we can also quantify the loss of molecular character under
pressure. Our results indicate that picene, despite a \sim 20 % compression of
the unit cell, remains substantially a molecular solid up to 8 GPa, with phonon
modes displaying a smooth and uniform hardening with pressure. The Grueneisen
parameter of the 1380 cm^{-1} a_1 Raman peak () is much lower
than the effective value () due to K doping. This is an
indication that the phonon softening in K doped samples is mainly due to charge
transfer and electron-phonon coupling.Comment: Replaced with final version (PRB
Daily College Student Drinking Patterns Across the First Year of College
Objective:
Despite the long recognized importance and well-documented impact of drinking patterns on health and safety, college student drinking patterns are understudied. This study used a daily-level, academic-year-long, multisite sample to identify subpopulations of college student drinking patterns and to describe how these groups differ from one another before, during, and after their first year of college.
Method:
wo cohorts of first-year college students (n = 588; 59% female) reported daily drinking on a biweekly basis using web-based surveys and completed surveys before and after their first year of college.
Results:
Cluster analyses based on time series analysis estimates of within-person drinking differences (per weekday, semester, first 6 weeks) and other descriptors of day-to-day drinking identified five drinking patterns: two low (47% and 6%), two medium (24% and 15%), and one high (8%) drinking cluster. Multinomial logistic regression analyses examined cluster differences in pre-college characteristics (i.e., demographics, alcohol outcome expectancies, alcohol problems, depression, other substance use) and first-year college experiences (i.e., academic engagement, alcohol consequences, risky drinking practices, alcohol problems, drinking during academic breaks). Low-drinking students appeared to form a relatively homogeneous group, whereas two distinct patterns were found for medium-drinking students with different weekend and Thursday drinking rates. The Thursday drinking cluster showed lower academic engagement and greater participation in risky drinking practices.
Conclusions:
These findings highlight quantitative and qualitative differences in day-to-day drinking patterns and suggest a link between motivational differences and drinking patterns, which may be addressed in developing tailored interventional strategies
Design, Fabrication, and Testing of Silicon-integrated Li-ion Secondary Micro Batteries with Interdigital Electrodes
This paper reports the design, fabrication, and testing of silicon-integrated lithium ion secondary micro batteries with a side-by-side electrode setup. Cavities separated by narrow silicon spacers served as containments for two interdigitally arranged electrodes and were etched into -Si by wet chemical etching. The etched silicon battery containments were passivated by a layer of SiOx/SixNy. Al current collectors were applied by sputtering and back etching. A volumetric micro dispenser served to fill the cavities with slurries of the active materials - lithium cobalt manganese oxide (Liy(Ni1/2Co1/5Mn3/10)O2) as the cathode and lithium titanate (Li4Ti5O12) as the anode material. Filling with electrolyte, encapsulation, and electrochemical characterization of the finished cells took place in an Ar-filled glove box. The fabricated batteries with IDE show considerably lower impedances than cells with single side by side electrodes and are capable of constant current loads up to 10 C. A linear capacity loss rate of <0.1% per cycle was observed over 30 full cycles at 0.2C
A Tribute to the Mind, Methodology and Mentoring of Wayne Velicer
Wayne Velicer is remembered for a mind where mathematical concepts and calculations intrigued him, behavioral science beckoned him, and people fascinated him. Born in Green Bay, Wisconsin on March 4, 1944, he was raised on a farm, although early influences extended far beyond that beginning. His Mathematics BS and Psychology minor at Wisconsin State University in Oshkosh, and his PhD in Quantitative Psychology from Purdue led him to a fruitful and far-reaching career. He was honored several times as a high-impact author, was a renowned scholar in quantitative and health psychology, and had more than 300 scholarly publications and 54,000+ citations of his work, advancing the arenas of quantitative methodology and behavioral health. In his methodological work, Velicer sought out ways to measure, synthesize, categorize, and assess people and constructs across behaviors and time, largely through principal components analysis, time series, and cluster analysis. Further, he and several colleagues developed a method called Testing Theory-based Quantitative Predictions, successfully applied to predicting outcomes and effect sizes in smoking cessation, diet behavior, and sun protection, with the potential for wider applications. With $60,000,000 in external funding, Velicer also helped engage a large cadre of students and other colleagues to study methodological models for a myriad of health behaviors in a widely applied Transtheoretical Model of Change. Unwittingly, he has engendered indelible memories and gratitude to all who crossed his path. Although Wayne Velicer left this world on October 15, 2017 after battling an aggressive cancer, he is still very present among us
Restricted dispersal in a sea of gene flow
Howfar domarine larvae disperse in the ocean? Decades of population genetic
studies have revealed generally low levels of genetic structure at large spatial
scales (hundreds of kilometres). Yet this result, typically based on discrete
sampling designs, does not necessarily imply extensive dispersal. Here, we
adopt a continuous sampling strategy along 950 km of coast in the northwestern
Mediterranean Sea to address this question in four species. In line
with expectations, we observe weak genetic structure at a large spatial scale.
Nevertheless, our continuous sampling strategy uncovers a pattern of isolation
by distance at small spatial scales (few tens of kilometres) in two species. Individual-
based simulations indicate that this signal is an expected signature of
restricted dispersal. At the other extreme of the connectivity spectrum, two
pairs of individuals that are closely related genetically were found more
than 290 km apart, indicating long-distance dispersal. Such a combination of
restricted dispersal with rare long-distance dispersal events is supported by
a high-resolution biophysical model of larval dispersal in the study area,
and we posit that it may be common in marine species. Our results bridge
population genetic studies with direct dispersal studies and have implications
for the design of marine reserve networksVersión del edito
Technical Design Report for the PANDA Solenoid and Dipole Spectrometer Magnets
This document is the Technical Design Report covering the two large
spectrometer magnets of the PANDA detector set-up. It shows the conceptual
design of the magnets and their anticipated performance. It precedes the tender
and procurement of the magnets and, hence, is subject to possible modifications
arising during this process.Comment: 10 pages, 14MB, accepted by FAIR STI in May 2009, editors: Inti
Lehmann (chair), Andrea Bersani, Yuri Lobanov, Jost Luehning, Jerzy Smyrski,
Technical Coordiantor: Lars Schmitt, Bernd Lewandowski (deputy),
Spokespersons: Ulrich Wiedner, Paola Gianotti (deputy
Collins and Sivers asymmetries in muonproduction of pions and kaons off transversely polarised proton
Measurements of the Collins and Sivers asymmetries for charged pions and
charged and neutral kaons produced in semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering
of high energy muons off transversely polarised protons are presented. The
results were obtained using all the available COMPASS proton data, which were
taken in the years 2007 and 2010. The Collins asymmetries exhibit in the
valence region a non-zero signal for pions and there are hints of non-zero
signal also for kaons. The Sivers asymmetries are found to be positive for
positive pions and kaons and compatible with zero otherwise.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures and 1 tabl
Spin alignment and violation of the OZI rule in exclusive and production in pp collisions
Exclusive production of the isoscalar vector mesons and is
measured with a 190 GeV proton beam impinging on a liquid hydrogen target.
Cross section ratios are determined in three intervals of the Feynman variable
of the fast proton. A significant violation of the OZI rule is found,
confirming earlier findings. Its kinematic dependence on and on the
invariant mass of the system formed by fast proton
and vector meson is discussed in terms of diffractive
production of resonances in competition with central
production. The measurement of the spin density matrix element of
the vector mesons in different selected reference frames provides another
handle to distinguish the contributions of these two major reaction types.
Again, dependences of the alignment on and on are
found. Most of the observations can be traced back to the existence of several
excited baryon states contributing to production which are absent in
the case of the meson. Removing the low-mass resonant
region, the OZI rule is found to be violated by a factor of eight,
independently of .Comment: 23 pages, 13 figures and 5 table
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