1,154 research outputs found
Signatures of hermitian forms and the Knebusch Trace Formula
Signatures of quadratic forms have been generalized to hermitian forms over
algebras with involution. In the literature this is done via Morita theory,
which causes sign ambiguities in certain cases. In this paper, a hermitian
version of the Knebusch Trace Formula is established and used as a main tool to
resolve these ambiguities.
The last page is an erratum for the published version. We inadvertently (I)
gave an incorrect definition of adjoint involutions; (II) omitted dealing with
the case . As , the
omission does not affect our reasoning or our results. For the sake of
completeness we point out where some small changes should be made in the
published version.Comment: This is the final version before publication. The last page is an
updated erratum for the published versio
Identification and Functional Clustering of Genes Regulating Muscle Protein Degradation from amongst the Known C. elegans Muscle Mutants
Loss of muscle mass via protein degradation is an important clinical problem but we know little of how muscle protein degradation is regulated genetically. To gain insight our labs developed C. elegans into a model for understanding the regulation of muscle protein degradation. Past studies uncovered novel functional roles for genes affecting muscle and/or involved in signalling in other cells or tissues. Here we examine most of the genes previously identified as the sites of mutations affecting muscle for novel roles in regulating degradation. We evaluate genomic (RNAi knockdown) approaches and combine them with our established genetic (mutant) and pharmacologic (drugs) approaches to examine these 159 genes. We find that RNAi usually recapitulates both organismal and sub-cellular mutant phenotypes but RNAi, unlike mutants, can frequently be used acutely to study gene function solely in differentiated muscle. In the majority of cases where RNAi does not produce organismal level phenotypes, sub-cellular defects can be detected; disrupted proteostasis is most commonly observed. We identify 48 genes in which mutation or RNAi knockdown causes excessive protein degradation; myofibrillar and/or mitochondrial morphologies are also disrupted in 19 of these 48 cases. These 48 genes appear to act via at least three sub-networks to control bulk degradation of protein in muscle cytosol. Attachment to the extracellular matrix regulates degradation via unidentified proteases and affects myofibrillar and mitochondrial morphology. Growth factor imbalance and calcium overload promote lysosome based degradation whereas calcium deficit promotes proteasome based degradation, in both cases myofibrillar and mitochondrial morphologies are largely unaffected. Our results provide a framework for effectively using RNAi to identify and functionally cluster novel regulators of degradation. This clustering allows prioritization of candidate genes/pathways for future mechanistic studies
The population of propellers in Saturn's A Ring
We present an extensive data set of ~150 localized features from Cassini
images of Saturn's Ring A, a third of which are demonstrated to be persistent
by their appearance in multiple images, and half of which are resolved well
enough to reveal a characteristic "propeller" shape. We interpret these
features as the signatures of small moonlets embedded within the ring, with
diameters between 40 and 500 meters. The lack of significant brightening at
high phase angle indicates that they are likely composed primarily of
macroscopic particles, rather than dust. With the exception of two features
found exterior to the Encke Gap, these objects are concentrated entirely within
three narrow (~1000 km) bands in the mid-A Ring that happen to be free from
local disturbances from strong density waves. However, other nearby regions are
similarly free of major disturbances but contain no propellers. It is unclear
whether these bands are due to specific events in which a parent body or bodies
broke up into the current moonlets, or whether a larger initial moonlet
population has been sculpted into bands by other ring processes.Comment: 31 pages, 10 figures; Accepted at A
Functional diversity of microbial ecologies estimated from ancient human coprolites and dental calculus
Human microbiome studies are increasingly incorporating macroecological approaches, such as community assembly, network analysis and functional redundancy to more fully characterize the microbiome. Such analyses have not been applied to ancient human microbiomes, preventing insights into human microbiome evolution. We address this issue by analysing published ancient microbiome datasets: coprolites from Rio Zape (n = 7; 700 CE Mexico) and historic dental calculus (n = 44; 1770-1855 CE, UK), as well as two novel dental calculus datasets: Maya (n = 7; 170 BCE-885 CE, Belize) and Nuragic Sardinians (n = 11; 1400-850 BCE, Italy). Periodontitis-associated bacteria (Treponema denticola, Fusobacterium nucleatum and Eubacterium saphenum) were identified as keystone taxa in the dental calculus datasets. Coprolite keystone taxa included known short-chain fatty acid producers (Eubacterium biforme, Phascolarctobacterium succinatutens) and potentially disease-associated bacteria (Escherichia, Brachyspira). Overlap in ecological profiles between ancient and modern microbiomes was indicated by similarity in functional response diversity profiles between contemporary hunter-gatherers and ancient coprolites, as well as parallels between ancient Maya, historic UK, and modern Spanish dental calculus; however, the ancient Nuragic dental calculus shows a distinct ecological structure. We detected key ecological signatures from ancient microbiome data, paving the way to expand understanding of human microbiome evolution. This article is part of the theme issue 'Insights into health and disease from ancient biomolecules'
On post-Lie algebras, Lie--Butcher series and moving frames
Pre-Lie (or Vinberg) algebras arise from flat and torsion-free connections on
differential manifolds. They have been studied extensively in recent years,
both from algebraic operadic points of view and through numerous applications
in numerical analysis, control theory, stochastic differential equations and
renormalization. Butcher series are formal power series founded on pre-Lie
algebras, used in numerical analysis to study geometric properties of flows on
euclidean spaces. Motivated by the analysis of flows on manifolds and
homogeneous spaces, we investigate algebras arising from flat connections with
constant torsion, leading to the definition of post-Lie algebras, a
generalization of pre-Lie algebras. Whereas pre-Lie algebras are intimately
associated with euclidean geometry, post-Lie algebras occur naturally in the
differential geometry of homogeneous spaces, and are also closely related to
Cartan's method of moving frames. Lie--Butcher series combine Butcher series
with Lie series and are used to analyze flows on manifolds. In this paper we
show that Lie--Butcher series are founded on post-Lie algebras. The functorial
relations between post-Lie algebras and their enveloping algebras, called
D-algebras, are explored. Furthermore, we develop new formulas for computations
in free post-Lie algebras and D-algebras, based on recursions in a magma, and
we show that Lie--Butcher series are related to invariants of curves described
by moving frames.Comment: added discussion of post-Lie algebroid
Eliminating Ditransitives
Abstract. We discuss how higher arity verbs such as give or promise can be treated in an algebraic framework that admits only unary and binary relations and does not rely on event variables
Photoswitchable diacylglycerols enable optical control of protein kinase C.
Increased levels of the second messenger lipid diacylglycerol (DAG) induce downstream signaling events including the translocation of C1-domain-containing proteins toward the plasma membrane. Here, we introduce three light-sensitive DAGs, termed PhoDAGs, which feature a photoswitchable acyl chain. The PhoDAGs are inactive in the dark and promote the translocation of proteins that feature C1 domains toward the plasma membrane upon a flash of UV-A light. This effect is quickly reversed after the termination of photostimulation or by irradiation with blue light, permitting the generation of oscillation patterns. Both protein kinase C and Munc13 can thus be put under optical control. PhoDAGs control vesicle release in excitable cells, such as mouse pancreatic islets and hippocampal neurons, and modulate synaptic transmission in Caenorhabditis elegans. As such, the PhoDAGs afford an unprecedented degree of spatiotemporal control and are broadly applicable tools to study DAG signaling
Developing serious games for cultural heritage: a state-of-the-art review
Although the widespread use of gaming for leisure purposes has been well documented, the use of games to support cultural heritage purposes, such as historical teaching and learning, or for enhancing museum visits, has been less well considered. The state-of-the-art in serious game technology is identical to that of the state-of-the-art in entertainment games technology. As a result, the field of serious heritage games concerns itself with recent advances in computer games, real-time computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence. On the other hand, the main strengths of serious gaming applications may be generalised as being in the areas of communication, visual expression of information, collaboration mechanisms, interactivity and entertainment. In this report, we will focus on the state-of-the-art with respect to the theories, methods and technologies used in serious heritage games. We provide an overview of existing literature of relevance to the domain, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the described methods and point out unsolved problems and challenges. In addition, several case studies illustrating the application of methods and technologies used in cultural heritage are presented
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