8,998 research outputs found
Effective medium theory of elastic waves in random networks of rods
We formulate an effective medium (mean field) theory of a material consisting
of randomly distributed nodes connected by straight slender rods, hinged at the
nodes. Defining novel wavelength-dependent effective elastic moduli, we
calculate both the static moduli and the dispersion relations of ultrasonic
longitudinal and transverse elastic waves. At finite wave vector the waves
are dispersive, with phase and group velocities decreasing with increasing wave
vector. These results are directly applicable to networks with empty pore
space. They also describe the solid matrix in two-component (Biot) theories of
fluid-filled porous media. We suggest the possibility of low density materials
with higher ratios of stiffness and strength to density than those of foams,
aerogels or trabecular bone.Comment: 14 pp., 3 fig
Collective hormonal profiles predict group performance
Prior research has shown that an individual's hormonal profile can influence the individual's social standing within a group. We introduce a different construct-a collective hormonal profile-which describes a group's hormonal make-up. We test whether a group's collective hormonal profile is related to its performance. Analysis of 370 individuals randomly assigned to work in 74 groups of three to six individuals revealed that group-level concentrations of testosterone and cortisol interact to predict a group's standing across groups. Groups with a collective hormonal profile characterized by high testosterone and low cortisol exhibited the highest performance. These collective hormonal level results remained reliable when controlling for personality traits and group-level variability in hormones. These findings support the hypothesis that groups with a biological propensity toward status pursuit (high testosterone) coupled with reduced stress-axis activity (low cortisol) engage in profit-maximizing decision-making. The current work extends the dual-hormone hypothesis to the collective level and provides a neurobiological perspective on the factors that determine who rises to the top across, not just within, social hierarchies
Financing Maternal and Child Health—What Are the Limitations in Estimating Donor Flows and Resource Needs?
Marco Schäferhoff and colleagues critique funding estimates for the maternal and child health Millennium Development Goals, and make recommendations for improving the tracking of financing flows and estimating the costs of scaling up interventions for mothers and children
Interleukin-1 beta-converting enzyme-like protease cleaves DNA-dependent protein kinase in cytotoxic T cell killing.
Cytotoxic T cells (CTL) represent the major defense mechanism against the spread of virus infection. It is believed that the pore-forming protein, perforin, facilitates the entry of a series of serine proteases (particularly granzyme B) into the target cell which ultimately leads to DNA fragmentation and apoptosis. We demonstrate here that during CTL-mediated cytolysis the catalytic subunit of DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PKcs), an enzyme implicated in the repair of double strand breaks in DNA, is specifically cleaved by an interleukin (IL)-1 beta-converting enzyme (ICE)-like protease. A serine protease inhibitor, 3,4-dichloroisocoumarin (DCl), which is known to block granzyme B activity, inhibited CTL-induced apoptosis and prevented the degradation of DNA-PKcs in cells but failed to prevent the degradation of purified DNA-PKcs by CTL extracts. However, Tyr-Val-Ala-Asp-CH2Cl (YVAD-CMK) and other cysteine protease inhibitors prevented the degradation of purified DNA-PKcs by CTL extracts. Furthermore, incubation of DNA-PKcs with granzyme B did not produce the same cleavage pattern observed in cells undergoing apoptosis and when this substrate was incubated with either CTL extracts or the ICE-like protease, CPP32. Sequence analysis revealed that the cleavage site in DNA-PKcs during CTL killing was the same as that when this substrate was exposed to CPP32. This study demonstrates for the first time that the cleavage of DNA-PKcs in this intact cell system is exclusively due to an ICE-like protease
Strong Decays of Strange Charmed P-Wave Mesons
Goldstone boson decays of P-wave mesons are studied within the
framework of Heavy Hadron Chiral Perturbation Theory. We first analyze the
simplest single kaon decays of these strange charmed mesons. We derive a model
independent prediction for the width of and use experimental
information on to constrain the S-wave contribution to decay.
Single and double pion decay modes are then discussed and shown to be
significantly restricted by isospin conservation. We conclude that the pion
channels may offer the best hope for detecting one strange member of an
otherwise invisible P-wave flavor multiplet.Comment: 16 pages, 2 updated figures not included but available upon request,
CALT-68-1902. (Revised estimates for error on width and for isospin
violating neutral pion decay of .
Similarities and differences between the E5 oncoproteins of bovine papillomaviruses type 1 and type 4: Cytoskeleton, motility and invasiveness in E5-transformed bovine and mouse cells
Bovine papillomaviruses (BPVs) are oncogenic viruses. In cattle, BPV-1/2 is associated with urinary bladder cancer and BPV-4 with upper GI tract cancer. BPV E5 is a small hydrophobic protein localised in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and Golgi apparatus (GA). E5 is the major transforming protein of BPVs, capable of inducing cell transformation in cultured mouse fibroblasts and, in cooperation with E7, in primary bovine cells. E5-induced cell transformation is accompanied by activation of several cellular protein kinases, including growth factor receptors, and alkalinisation of endosomes and GA. We have reported that BPV E5 causes swelling and fragmentation of the GA and extensive vacuolisation of the cytoplasm. We now show that E5 from both BPV-1 and BPV-4 disturbs the actin cytoskeleton and focal adhesions in transformed bovine cells, where these morphological and behavioural characteristics are accompanied by hyperphosphorylation of the cellular phosphotyrosine kinase c-src. Both BPV-1 and BPV-4 E5 increase the motility of transformed mouse cells, but only BPV-1 E5 causes transformed mouse cells to penetrate a matrigel matrix. BPV-1 transformed mouse cells, but not BPV-4 transformed mouse cells, have hyperhpsphorylated c-src
On Winding Branes and Cosmological Evolution of Extra Dimensions in String Theory
We consider evolution of compact extra dimensions in cosmology and try to see
whether wrapped branes can prevent the expansion of the internal space. Some
difficulties of Brandenberger and Vafa mechanism for decompactification are
pointed out. In both pure Einstein and dilaton gravities, we study cosmology of
winding brane gases in a continuum approximation. The energy momentum tensor is
obtained by coupling the brane action to the gravity action and we present
several exact solutions for various brane configurations. T-duality invariance
of the solutions are established in dilaton gravity. Our results indicate that
phenomenologically the most viable scenario can be realized when there is only
one brane wrapping over all extra dimensions.Comment: 17 pages, RevTex4, 2 figures, a paragraph added, to appear in
Classical and Quantum Gravit
Ab initio alpha-alpha scattering
Processes involving alpha particles and alpha-like nuclei comprise a major
part of stellar nucleosynthesis and hypothesized mechanisms for thermonuclear
supernovae. In an effort towards understanding alpha processes from first
principles, we describe in this letter the first ab initio calculation of
alpha-alpha scattering. We use lattice effective field theory to describe the
low-energy interactions of nucleons and apply a technique called the adiabatic
projection method to reduce the eight-body system to an effective two-cluster
system. We find good agreement between lattice results and experimental phase
shifts for S-wave and D-wave scattering. The computational scaling with
particle number suggests that alpha processes involving heavier nuclei are also
within reach in the near future.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure
Stabilization of Deterministically Chaotic Systems by Interference and Quantum Measurements: The Ikeda Map Case
We propose a method which can effectively stabilize fixed points in the
classical and quantum dynamics of a phase-sensitive chaotic system with
feedback. It is based on feeding back a selected quantum sub-ensemble whose
phase and amplitude stabilize the otherwise chaotic dynamics. Although the
method is rather general, we apply it to realizations of the inherently chaotic
Ikeda map. One suggested realization involves the Mach-Zender interferometer
with Kerr nonlinearity. Another realization involves a trapped ion interacting
with laser fields.Comment: RevTeX, 5 pages, two figure
Alternative approach to electromagnetic field quantization in nonlinear and inhomogeneous media
A simple approach is proposed for the quantization of the electromagnetic
field in nonlinear and inhomogeneous media. Given the dielectric function and
nonlinear susceptibilities, the Hamiltonian of the electromagnetic field is
determined completely by this quantization method. From Heisenberg's equations
we derive Maxwell's equations for the field operators. When the nonlinearity
goes to zero, this quantization method returns to the generalized canonical
quantization procedure for linear inhomogeneous media [Phys. Rev. A, 43, 467,
1991]. The explicit Hamiltonians for the second-order and third-order nonlinear
quasi-steady-state processes are obtained based on this quantization procedure.Comment: Corrections in references and introductio
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