5,425 research outputs found
Spatial connectedness imposes local‐ and metapopulation‐level selection on life history through feedbacks on demography
Dispersal evolution impacts the fluxes of individuals and hence, connectivity in metapopulations. Connectivity is therefore decoupled from the structural connectedness of the patches within the spatial network. Because of demographic feedbacks, local selection also drives the evolution of other life history traits. We investigated how different levels of connectedness affect trait evolution in experimental metapopulations of the two-spotted spider mite. We separated local- and metapopulation-level selection and linked trait divergence to population dynamics. With lower connectedness, an increased starvation resistance and delayed dispersal evolved. Reproductive performance evolved locally by transgenerational plasticity or epigenetic processes. Costs of dispersal, but also changes in local densities and temporal fluctuations herein are found to be putative drivers. In addition to dispersal, demographic traits are able to evolve in response to metapopulation connectedness at both the local and metapopulation level by genetic and/or non-genetic inheritance. These trait changes impact the persistence of spatially structured populations
Interacting new agegraphic Phantom model of dark energy in non-flat universe
In this paper we consider the new agegraphic model of interacting dark energy
in non-flat universe. We show that the interacting agegraphic dark energy can
be described by a phantom scalar field. Then we show this phantomic description
of the agegraphic dark energy and reconstruct the potential of the phantom
scalar field.Comment: 8 pages, no figur
Interacting Three Fluid System and Thermodynamics of the Universe Bounded by the Event Horizon
The work deals with the thermodynamics of the universe bounded by the event
horizon. The matter in the universe has three constituents namely dark energy,
dark matter and radiation in nature and interaction between then is assumed.
The variation of entropy of the surface of the horizon is obtained from unified
first law while matter entropy variation is calculated from the Gibbss' law.
Finally, validity of the generalized second law of thermodynamics is examined
and conclusions are written point wise.Comment: 7 page
QCD Green functions in a gluon field
We formulate a dressed perturbative expansion of QCD, where the standard
diagrams are evaluated in the presence of a constant external gluon field whose
magnitude is gaussian distributed. The approach is Poincar{\'e} and gauge
invariant, and modifies the usual results for hard processes only by power
suppressed contributions. Long distance propagation of quarks and gluons turns
out to be inhibited due to a branch point singularity instead of a pole at
in the quark and gluon propagators. The dressing keeps the (massless)
quarks in q qbar fluctuations of the photon at a finite distance from each
other.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figures. Minor modifications in text. Version to be
published in JHE
Improved Approximation Algorithms for Computing k Disjoint Paths Subject to Two Constraints
For a given graph with positive integral cost and delay on edges,
distinct vertices and , cost bound and delay bound , the bi-constraint path (BCP) problem is to compute disjoint
-paths subject to and . This problem is known NP-hard, even when
\cite{garey1979computers}. This paper first gives a simple approximation
algorithm with factor-, i.e. the algorithm computes a solution with
delay and cost bounded by and respectively. Later, a novel improved
approximation algorithm with ratio
is developed by constructing
interesting auxiliary graphs and employing the cycle cancellation method. As a
consequence, we can obtain a factor- approximation algorithm by
setting and a factor- algorithm by
setting . Besides, by setting , an
approximation algorithm with ratio , i.e. an algorithm with
only a single factor ratio on cost, can be immediately obtained. To
the best of our knowledge, this is the first non-trivial approximation
algorithm for the BCP problem that strictly obeys the delay constraint.Comment: 12 page
Holographic dark energy with time varying parameter
We consider the holographic dark energy model in which the model parameter
evolves slowly with time. First we calculate the evolution of EoS
parameter as well as the deceleration parameter in this generalized version of
holographic dark energy (GHDE). Depending on the parameter , the phantom
regime can be achieved earlier or later compare with original version of
holographic dark energy. The evolution of energy density of GHDE model is
investigated in terms of parameter . We also show that the time-dependency
of can effect on the transition epoch from decelerated phase to
accelerated expansion. Finally, we perform the statefinder diagnostic for GHDE
model and show that the evolutionary trajectories of the model in plane
are strongly depend on the parameter .Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, accepted by Astrophys Space Sc
Dark energy from conformal symmetry breaking
The breakdown of conformal symmetry in a conformally invariant scalar-tensor
gravitational model is revisited in the cosmological context. Although the old
scenario of conformal symmetry breaking in cosmology containing scalar field
has already been used in many earlier works, it seems that no special attention
has been paid for the investigation on the possible connection between the
breakdown of conformal symmetry and the existence of dark energy. In this
paper, it is shown that the old scenario of conformal symmetry breaking in
cosmology, if properly interpreted, not only has a potential ability to
describe the origin of dark energy as a symmetry breaking effect, but also may
resolve the coincidence problem.Comment: 11 pages, minor revision, published online in EPJ
Apolipoprotein AIV gene variant S347 is associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease and lower plasma apolipoprotein AIV levels
The impact of common variants in the apolipoprotein gene cluster (APOC3-A4-A5) on prospective coronary heart disease (CHD) risk was examined in healthy UK men. Of the 2808 men followed over 9 years, 187 had a clinically defined CHD event. Examination of 9 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in this group revealed that homozygotes for APOA4 S347 had significantly increased risk of CHD [hazard ratio (HR) of 2.07 (95%CI 1.04 to 4.12)], whereas men homozygous for APOC3 1100T were protected [HR 0.28 (95%CI 0.09 to 0.87)]. In stepwise multiple regression analysis, after entering all the variants and adjusting for established risk factors APOA4 T347S alone remained in the model. Using all nine SNPs, the highest risk-estimate haplotypes carried APOA4 S347 and rare alleles of the two flanking intergenic markers. The protective effect of APOC3 1100T could be explained by negative linkage disequilibrium with these alleles. To determine the association of APOA4 T347S with apoAIV levels, the relationship was examined in 1600 healthy young European men and women. S347 homozygotes had significantly lower apoAIV plasma levels (13.64±0.59 mg/dL) compared with carriers of the T347 allele (14.90±0.12 mg/dL) (P=0.035). These results demonstrate that genetic variation in and around APOA4, independent of the effects of triglyceride, is associated with risk of CHD and apoAIV levels, supporting an antiatherogenic role for apoAIV
- …