Transcriptional adaptation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis within macrophages: Insights into the phagosomal environment

Little is known about the biochemical environment in phagosomes harboring an infectious agent. To assess the state of this organelle we captured the transcriptional responses of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) in macrophages from wild-type and nitric oxide (NO) synthase 2–deficient mice before and after immunologic activation. The intraphagosomal transcriptome was compared with the transcriptome of MTB in standard broth culture and during growth in diverse conditions designed to simulate features of the phagosomal environment. Genes expressed differentially as a consequence of intraphagosomal residence included an interferon � – and NO-induced response that intensifies an iron-scavenging program, converts the microbe from aerobic to anaerobic respiration, and induces a dormancy regulon. Induction of genes involved in the activation and �-oxidation of fatty acids indicated that fatty acids furnish carbon and energy. Induction of �E-dependent, sodium dodecyl sulfate–regulated genes and genes involved in mycolic acid modification pointed to damage and repair of the cell envelope. Sentinel genes within the intraphagosomal transcriptome were induced similarly by MTB in the lungs of mice. The microbial transcriptome thus served as a bioprobe of the MTB phagosomal environment

Courant-like brackets and loop spaces

We study the algebra of local functionals equipped with a Poisson bracket. We discuss the underlying algebraic structures related to a version of the Courant-Dorfman algebra. As a main illustration, we consider the functionals over the cotangent bundle of the superloop space over a smooth manifold. We present a number of examples of the Courant-like brackets arising from this analysis.Comment: 20 pages, the version published in JHE

A luminous blue kilonova and an off-axis jet from a compact binary merger at z=0.1341

The recent discovery of a faint gamma-ray burst (GRB) coincident with the gravitational wave (GW) event GW 170817 revealed the existence of a population of low-luminosity short duration gamma-ray transients produced by neutron star mergers in the nearby Universe. These events could be routinely detected by existing gamma-ray monitors, yet previous observations failed to identify them without the aid of GW triggers. Here we show that GRB150101B was an analogue of GRB170817A located at a cosmological distance. GRB 150101B was a faint short duration GRB characterized by a bright optical counterpart and a long-lived X-ray afterglow. These properties are unusual for standard short GRBs and are instead consistent with an explosion viewed off-axis: the optical light is produced by a luminous kilonova component, while the observed X-rays trace the GRB afterglow viewed at an angle of ~13 degrees. Our findings suggest that these properties could be common among future electromagnetic counterparts of GW sources.Comment: 28 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publicatio

The Angstrom Project Alert System: real-time detection of extragalactic microlensing

The Angstrom Project is undertaking an optical survey of stellar microlensing events across the bulge region of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) using a distributed network of two-meter class telescopes. The Angstrom Project Alert System (APAS) has been developed to identify in real time candidate microlensing and transient events using data from the Liverpool and Faulkes North robotic telescopes. This is the first time that real-time microlensing discovery has been attempted outside of the Milky Way and its satellite galaxies. The APAS is designed to enable follow-up studies of M31 microlensing systems, including searches for gas giant planets in M31. Here we describe the APAS and we present a few example light curves obtained during its commissioning phase which clearly demonstrate its real-time capability to identify microlensing candidates as well as other transient sources.Comment: 4 pages, submitted to ApJ Letter

The Origin of the Intrinsic Scatter in the Relation Between Black Hole Mass and Bulge Luminosity for Nearby Active Galaxies

We investigate the origin of the intrinsic scatter in the correlation between black hole mass (MBH) and bulge luminosity [L(bulge)] in a sample of 45 massive, local (z < 0.35) type~1 active galactic nuclei (AGNs). We derive MBH from published optical spectra assuming a spherical broad-line region, and L(bulge) from detailed two-dimensional decomposition of archival optical Hubble Space Telescope images. AGNs follow the MBH-L(bulge) relation of inactive galaxies, but the zero point is shifted by an average of \Delta log MBH ~ -0.3 dex. We show that the magnitude of the zero point offset, which is responsible for the intrinsic scatter in the MBH-L(bulge) relation, is correlated with several AGN and host galaxy properties, all of which are ultimately related to, or directly impact, the BH mass accretion rate. At a given bulge luminosity, sources with higher Eddington ratios have lower MBH. The zero point offset can be explained by a change in the normalization of the virial product used to estimate MBH, in conjunction with modest BH growth (~ 10%--40%) during the AGN phase. Galaxy mergers and tidal interactions appear to play an important role in regulating AGN fueling in low-redshift AGNs.Comment: To appear in ApJ; 67 pages, 56 figures, 4 tables, version with full resolution figures at http://users.ociw.edu/mjkim/papers/scatter.pd

Multi-Attribute SCADA-Specific Intrusion Detection System for Power Networks

The increased interconnectivity and complexity of supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems in power system networks has exposed the systems to a multitude of potential vulnerabilities. In this paper, we present a novel approach for a next-generation SCADA-specific intrusion detection system (IDS). The proposed system analyzes multiple attributes in order to provide a comprehensive solution that is able to mitigate varied cyber-attack threats. The multiattribute IDS comprises a heterogeneous white list and behavior-based concept in order to make SCADA cybersystems more secure. This paper also proposes a multilayer cyber-security framework based on IDS for protecting SCADA cybersecurity in smart grids without compromising the availability of normal data. In addition, this paper presents a SCADA-specific cybersecurity testbed to investigate simulated attacks, which has been used in this paper to validate the proposed approach

Focusing and Compression of Ultrashort Pulses through Scattering Media

Light scattering in inhomogeneous media induces wavefront distortions which pose an inherent limitation in many optical applications. Examples range from microscopy and nanosurgery to astronomy. In recent years, ongoing efforts have made the correction of spatial distortions possible by wavefront shaping techniques. However, when ultrashort pulses are employed scattering induces temporal distortions which hinder their use in nonlinear processes such as in multiphoton microscopy and quantum control experiments. Here we show that correction of both spatial and temporal distortions can be attained by manipulating only the spatial degrees of freedom of the incident wavefront. Moreover, by optimizing a nonlinear signal the refocused pulse can be shorter than the input pulse. We demonstrate focusing of 100fs pulses through a 1mm thick brain tissue, and 1000-fold enhancement of a localized two-photon fluorescence signal. Our results open up new possibilities for optical manipulation and nonlinear imaging in scattering media

Essential self-adjointness for combinatorial Schr\"odinger operators II- Metrically non complete graphs

We consider weighted graphs, we equip them with a metric structure given by a weighted distance, and we discuss essential self-adjointness for weighted graph Laplacians and Schr\"odinger operators in the metrically non complete case.Comment: Revisited version: Ognjen Milatovic wrote to us that he had discovered a gap in the proof of theorem 4.2 of our paper. As a consequence we propose to make an additional assumption (regularity property of the graph) to this theorem. A new subsection (4.1) is devoted to the study of this property and some details have been changed in the proof of theorem 4.

On zeros of irreducible characters lying in a normal subgroup

[EN] Let N be a normal subgroup of a finite group G. In this paper, we consider the elements g of N such that x(g)¿0 for all irreducible characters x of G. Such an element is said to be non-vanishing in G. Let p be a prime. If all p-elements of N satisfy the previous property, then we prove that N has a normal Sylow p-subgroup. As a consequence, we also study certain arithmetical properties of the G-conjugacy class sizes of the elements of N which are zeros of some irreducible character of G. In particular, if N=G, then new contributions are obtained.The first author is supported by Proyecto Prometeo II/2015/011, Generalitat Valenciana (Spain). The research of the second author is partially funded by the Istituto Nazionale di Alta Matematica - INdAM. The third author acknowledges the predoctoral grant ACIF/2016/170, Generalitat Valenciana (Spain). The first and third authors are also supported by Proyecto PGC2018-096872-B-I00, Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades (Spain).Felipe Román, MJ.; Grittini, N.; Ortiz-Sotomayor, VM. (2020). On zeros of irreducible characters lying in a normal subgroup. Annali di Matematica Pura ed Applicata (1923 -). 199:1777-1789. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10231-020-00942-1S17771789199Beltrán, A., Felipe, M.J.: Prime powers as conjugacy class lengths of $$\pi$$-elements. Bull. Aust. Math. Soc. 69, 317–325 (2004)Beltrán, A., Felipe, M.J., Malle, G., Moretó, A., Navarro, G., Sanus, L., Solomon, R., Tiep, P.H.: Nilpotent and abelian Hall subgroups in finite groups. Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 368, 2497–2513 (2016)Berkovich, Y., Kazarin, L.S.: Indices of elements and normal structure of finite groups. J. Algebra 283, 564–583 (2005)Bianchi, M., Chillag, D., Lewis, M.L., Pacifici, E.: Character degree graphs that are complete graphs. Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 135, 671–676 (2007)Brough, J., Kong, Q.: On vanishing criteria that control finite group structure II. Bull. Aust. Math. Soc. 98, 251–257 (2018)Brough, J.: Non-vanishing elements in finite groups. J. Algebra 460, 387–391 (2016)Dolfi, S., Pacifici, E., Sanus, L., Spiga, P.: On the orders of zeros of irreducible characters. J. Algebra 321, 345–352 (2009)Grüninger, M.: Two remarks about non-vanishing elements in finite groups. J. Algebra 460, 366–369 (2016)Isaacs, I.M.: Character Theory of Finite Groups. Academic Press Inc., London (1976)Isaacs, I.M., Navarro, G., Wolf, T.R.: Finite group elements where no irreducible character vanishes. J. Algebra 222, 413–423 (1999)Malle, G., Navarro, G.: Characterizing normal Sylow $$p$$-subgroups by character degrees. J. Algebra 370, 402–406 (2012)Malle, G., Navarro, G., Olsson, J.B.: Zeros of characters of finite groups. J. Group Theory 3, 353–368 (2000)The GAP Group: GAP—Groups, Algorithms, and Programming. Version 4.10.0 (2018). http://www.gap-system.or