12,364 research outputs found
Black Holes, Entropy Bound and Causality Violation
The gravity/gauge theory duality has provided us a way of studying QCD at
short distances from straightforward calculations in classical general
relativity. Among numerous results obtained so far, one of the most striking is
the universality of the ratio of the shear viscosity to the entropy density.
For all gauge theories with Einstein gravity dual, this ratio is \eta/s=1/4\pi.
However, in general higher-curvature gravity theories, including two concrete
models under discussion - the Gauss-Bonnet gravity and the (Riemann)^2 gravity
- the ratio \eta/s can be smaller than 1/4\pi (thus violating the conjecture
bound), equal to 1/4\pi or even larger than 1/4\pi. As we probe spacetime at
shorter distances, there arises an internal inconsistency in the theory, such
as a violation of microcausality, which is correlated with a classical limit on
black hole entropy.Comment: 8 pages, no figures; Invited contribution to appear in the
Proceedings of the 75 Years since Solvay, Singapore, Nov 2008, (World
Scientific, Singapore, 2009
Bringing self assessment home: repository profiling and key lines of enquiry within DRAMBORA
Digital repositories are a manifestation of complex organizational, financial, legal, technological, procedural, and political interrelationships. Accompanying each of these are innate uncertainties, exacerbated by the relative immaturity of understanding prevalent within the digital preservation domain. Recent efforts have sought to identify core characteristics that must be demonstrable by successful digital repositories, expressed in the form of check-list documents, intended to support the processes of repository accreditation and certification. In isolation though, the available guidelines lack practical applicability; confusion over evidential requirements and difficulties associated with the diversity that exists among repositories (in terms of mandate, available resources, supported content and legal context) are particularly problematic. A gap exists between the available criteria and the ways and extent to which conformity can be demonstrated. The Digital Repository Audit Method Based on Risk Assessment (DRAMBORA) is a methodology for undertaking repository self assessment, developed jointly by the Digital Curation Centre (DCC) and DigitalPreservationEurope (DPE). DRAMBORA requires repositories to expose their organization, policies and infrastructures to rigorous scrutiny through a series of highly structured exercises, enabling them to build a comprehensive registry of their most pertinent risks, arranged into a structure that facilitates effective management. It draws on experiences accumulated throughout 18 evaluative pilot assessments undertaken in an internationally diverse selection of repositories, digital libraries and data centres (including institutions and services such as the UK National Digital Archive of Datasets, the National Archives of Scotland, Gallica at the National Library of France and the CERN Document Server). Other organizations, such as the British Library, have been using sections of DRAMBORA within their own risk assessment procedures.
Despite the attractive benefits of a bottom up approach, there are implicit challenges posed by neglecting a more objective perspective. Following a sustained period of pilot audits undertaken by DPE, DCC and the DELOS Digital Preservation Cluster aimed at evaluating DRAMBORA, it was stated that had respective project members not been present to facilitate each assessment, and contribute their objective, external perspectives, the results may have been less useful. Consequently, DRAMBORA has developed in a number of ways, to enable knowledge transfer from the responses of comparable repositories, and incorporate more opportunities for structured question sets, or key lines of enquiry, that provoke more comprehensive awareness of the applicability of particular threats and opportunities
Fission Hindrance in hot 216Th: Evaporation Residue Measurements
The fusion evaporation-residue cross section for 32S+184W has been measured
at beam energies of E_beam = 165, 174, 185, 196, 205, 215, 225, 236, 246,and
257 MeV using the ATLAS Fragment Mass Analyzer. The data are compared with
Statistical Model calculations and it is found that a nuclear dissipation
strength, which increases with excitation energy, is required to reproduce the
excitation function. A comparison with previously published data show that the
dissipation strength depends strongly on the shell structure of the nuclear
system.Comment: 15 pages 9 figure
Taxonomic Features and Comparison of the Gut Microbiome from Two Edible Fungus-Farming Termites (Macrotermes falciger, M. natalensis) Harvested in the Vhembe District of Limpopo, South Africa
Background Termites are an important food resource for many human populations around the world, and are a good supply of nutrients. The fungus-farming âhigherâ termite members of Macrotermitinae are also consumed by modern great apes and are implicated as critical dietary resources for early hominins. While the chemical nutritional composition of edible termites is well known, their microbiomes are unexplored in the context of human health. Here we sequenced the V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene of gut microbiota extracted from the whole intestinal tract of two Macrotermes sp. soldiers collected from the Limpopo region of South Africa. Results Major and minor soldier subcastes of M. falciger exhibit consistent differences in taxonomic representation, and are variable in microbial presence and abundance patterns when compared to another edible but less preferred species, M. natalensis. Subcaste differences include alternate patterns in sulfate-reducing bacteria and methanogenic Euryarchaeota abundance, and differences in abundance between Alistipes and Ruminococcaceae. M. falciger minor soldiers and M. natalensissoldiers have similar microbial profiles, likely from close proximity to the termite worker castes, particularly during foraging and fungus garden cultivation. Compared with previously published termite and cockroach gut microbiome data, the taxonomic representation was generally split between termites that directly digest lignocellulose and humic substrates and those that consume a more distilled form of nutrition as with the omnivorous cockroaches and fungus-farming termites. Lastly, to determine if edible termites may point to a shared reservoir for rare bacterial taxa found in the gut microbiome of humans, we focused on the genus Treponema. The majority of Treponemasequences from edible termite gut microbiota most closely relate to species recovered from other termites or from environmental samples, except for one novel OTU strain, which clustered separately with Treponema found in hunter-gatherer human groups. Conclusions Macrotermes consumed by humans display special gut microbial arrangements that are atypical for a lignocellulose digesting invertebrate, but are instead suited to the simplified nutrition in the fungus-farmer diet. Our work brings to light the particular termite microbiome features that should be explored further as avenues in human health, agricultural sustainability, and evolutionary research
AKSZ-BV Formalism and Courant Algebroid-induced Topological Field Theories
We give a detailed exposition of the Alexandrov-Kontsevich-Schwarz-
Zaboronsky superfield formalism using the language of graded manifolds. As a
main illustarting example, to every Courant algebroid structure we associate
canonically a three-dimensional topological sigma-model. Using the AKSZ
formalism, we construct the Batalin-Vilkovisky master action for the model.Comment: 13 pages, based on lectures at Rencontres mathematiques de Glanon
200
Mean first passage time for fission potentials having structure
A schematic model of over-damped motion is presented which permits one to
calculate the mean first passage time for nuclear fission. Its asymptotic value
may exceed considerably the lifetime suggested by Kramers rate formula, which
applies only to very special, favorable potentials and temperatures. The
additional time obtained in the more general case is seen to allow for a
considerable increment in the emission of light particles.Comment: 7 pages, LaTex, 7 postscript figures; Keywords: Decay rate, mean
first passage tim
Harmonic lattice behavior of two-dimensional colloidal crystals
Using positional data from video-microscopy and applying the equipartition
theorem for harmonic Hamiltonians, we determine the wave-vector-dependent
normal mode spring constants of a two-dimensional colloidal model crystal and
compare the measured band-structure to predictions of the harmonic lattice
theory. We find good agreement for both the transversal and the longitudinal
mode. For , the measured spring constants are consistent with the
elastic moduli of the crystal.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitte
Quantification of Cell Movement Reveals Distinct Edge Motility Types During Cell Spreading
Actin-based motility is central to cellular processes such as migration, bacterial engulfment, and cancer metastasis, and requires precise spatial and temporal regulation of the cytoskeleton. We studied one such process, fibroblast spreading, which involves three temporal phases: early, middle, and late spreading, distinguished by differences in cell area growth. In these studies, aided by improved algorithms for analyzing edge movement, we observed that each phase was dominated by a single, kinematically and biochemically distinct cytoskeletal organization, or motility type. Specifically, early spreading was dominated by periodic blebbing; continuous protrusion occurred predominantly during middle spreading; and periodic contractions were prevalent in late spreading. Further characterization revealed that each motility type exhibited a distinct distribution of the actin-related protein VASP, while inhibition of actin polymerization by cytochalasin D treatment revealed different dependences on barbed-end polymerization. Through this detailed characterization and graded perturbation of the system, we observed that although each temporal phase of spreading was dominated by a single motility type, in general cells exhibited a variety of motility types in neighboring spatial domains of the plasma membrane edge. These observations support a model in which global signals bias local cytoskeletal biochemistry in favor of a particular motility type
Low Energy Analyzing Powers in Pion-Proton Elastic Scattering
Analyzing powers of pion-proton elastic scattering have been measured at PSI
with the Low Energy Pion Spectrometer LEPS as well as a novel polarized
scintillator target. Angular distributions between 40 and 120 deg (c.m.) were
taken at 45.2, 51.2, 57.2, 68.5, 77.2, and 87.2 MeV incoming pion kinetic
energy for pi+ p scattering, and at 67.3 and 87.2 MeV for pi- p scattering.
These new measurements constitute a substantial extension of the polarization
data base at low energies. Predictions from phase shift analyses are compared
with the experimental results, and deviations are observed at low energies.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure
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