3,664 research outputs found
Cryptic Variation in Morphological Evolution: HSP90 as a Capacitor for Loss of Eyes in Cavefish
In the process of morphological evolution, the extent to which cryptic, preexisting variation provides a substrate for natural selection has been controversial. We provide evidence that heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) phenotypically masks standing eye-size variation in surface populations of the cavefish Astyanax mexicanus. This variation is exposed by HSP90 inhibition and can be selected for, ultimately yielding a reduced-eye phenotype even in the presence of full HSP90 activity. Raising surface fish under conditions found in caves taxes the HSP90 system, unmasking the same phenotypic variation as does direct inhibition of HSP90. These results suggest that cryptic variation played a role in the evolution of eye loss in cavefish and provide the first evidence for HSP90 as a capacitor for morphological evolution in a natural setting
Head-on collision of unequal mass black holes: close-limit predictions
The close-limit method has given approximations in excellent agreement with
those of numerical relativity for collisions of equal mass black holes. We
consider here colliding holes with unequal mass, for which numerical relativity
results are not available. We try to ask two questions: (i) Can we get
approximate answers to astrophysical questions (ideal mass ratio for energy
production, maximum recoil velocity, etc.), and (ii) can we better understand
the limitations of approximation methods. There is some success in answering
the first type of question, but more with the second, especially in connection
with the issue of measures of the intrinsic mass of the colliding holes, and of
the range of validity of the method.Comment: 19 pages, RevTeX + 9 postscript figure
Cosmology of a brane radiating gravitons into the extra dimension
We study in a self-consistent way the impact of the emission of bulk
gravitons on the (homogeneous) cosmology of a three-brane embedded in a
five-dimensional spacetime. In the low energy regime, we recover the well known
result that the bulk affects the Friedmann equation only via a radiation-like
term \C/a^4, called dark or Weyl radiation. By contrast, in the high energy
regime, we find that the Weyl parameter \C is no longer constant but instead
grows very rapidly as \C\propto a^4. As a consequence, the value of \C
today is not a free parameter as usually considered but is a fixed number,
which, generically, depends only on the number of relativistic degrees of
freedom at the high/low energy transition. Our estimated amount of Weyl
radiation satisfies the present nucleosynthesis bounds.Comment: 12 page
Processing sites in the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) Gag-Pro-Pol precursor are cleaved by the viral protease at different rates
Abstract We have examined the kinetics of processing of the HIV-1 Gag-Pro-Pol precursor in an in vitro assay with mature protease added in trans. The processing sites were cleaved at different rates to produce distinct intermediates. The initial cleavage occurred at the p2/NC site. Intermediate cleavages occurred at similar rates at the MA/CA and RT/IN sites, and to a lesser extent at sites upstream of RT. Late cleavages occurred at the sites flanking the protease (PR) domain, suggesting sequestering of these sites. We observed paired intermediates indicative of half- cleavage of RT/RH site, suggesting that the RT domain in Gag-Pro-Pol was in a dimeric form under these assay conditions. These results clarify our understanding of the processing kinetics of the Gag-Pro-Pol precursor and suggest regulated cleavage. Our results further suggest that early dimerization of the PR and RT domains may serve as a regulatory element to influence the kinetics of processing within the Pol domain
Dimension in a Radiative Stellar Atmosphere
Dimensional scales are examined in an extended 3+1 Vaidya atmosphere
surrounding a Schwarzschild source. At one scale, the Vaidya null fluid
vanishes and the spacetime contains only a single spherical 2-surface. Both of
these behaviors can be addressed by including higher dimensions in the
spacetime metric.Comment: to appear in Gen. Rel. Gra
A surface-patterned chip as a strong source of ultracold atoms for quantum technologies
Laser-cooled atoms are central to modern precision measurements. They are also increasingly important as an enabling technology for experimental cavity quantum electrodynamics, quantum information processing and matter–wave interferometry. Although significant progress has been made in miniaturizing atomic metrological devices, these are limited in accuracy by their use of hot atomic ensembles and buffer gases. Advances have also been made in producing portable apparatus that benefits from the advantages of atoms in the microkelvin regime. However, simplifying atomic cooling and loading using microfabrication technology has proved difficult. In this Letter we address this problem, realizing an atom chip that enables the integration of laser cooling and trapping into a compact apparatus. Our source delivers ten thousand times more atoms than previous magneto-optical traps with microfabricated optics and, for the first time, can reach sub-Doppler temperatures. Moreover, the same chip design offers a simple way to form stable optical lattices. These features, combined with simplicity of fabrication and ease of operation, make these new traps a key advance in the development of cold-atom technology for high-accuracy, portable measurement devices
Dissipative fluids out of hydrostatic equilibrium
In the context of the M\"{u}ller-Israel-Stewart second order phenomenological
theory for dissipative fluids, we analyze the effects of thermal conduction and
viscosity in a relativistic fluid, just after its departure from hydrostatic
equilibrium, on a time scale of the order of relaxation times. Stability and
causality conditions are contrasted with conditions for which the ''effective
inertial mass'' vanishes.Comment: 21 pages, 1 postscript figure (LaTex 2.09 and epsfig.sty required)
Submitted to Classical and Quantum Gravit
Surface characterization and surface electronic structure of organic quasi-one-dimensional charge transfer salts
We have thoroughly characterized the surfaces of the organic charge-transfer
salts TTF-TCNQ and (TMTSF)2PF6 which are generally acknowledged as prototypical
examples of one-dimensional conductors. In particular x-ray induced
photoemission spectroscopy turns out to be a valuable non-destructive
diagnostic tool. We show that the observation of generic one-dimensional
signatures in photoemission spectra of the valence band close to the Fermi
level can be strongly affected by surface effects. Especially, great care must
be exercised taking evidence for an unusual one-dimensional many-body state
exclusively from the observation of a pseudogap.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures, v2: minor changes in text and figure labellin
Tensor Regression with Applications in Neuroimaging Data Analysis
Classical regression methods treat covariates as a vector and estimate a
corresponding vector of regression coefficients. Modern applications in medical
imaging generate covariates of more complex form such as multidimensional
arrays (tensors). Traditional statistical and computational methods are proving
insufficient for analysis of these high-throughput data due to their ultrahigh
dimensionality as well as complex structure. In this article, we propose a new
family of tensor regression models that efficiently exploit the special
structure of tensor covariates. Under this framework, ultrahigh dimensionality
is reduced to a manageable level, resulting in efficient estimation and
prediction. A fast and highly scalable estimation algorithm is proposed for
maximum likelihood estimation and its associated asymptotic properties are
studied. Effectiveness of the new methods is demonstrated on both synthetic and
real MRI imaging data.Comment: 27 pages, 4 figure
Dynamics of Relativistic Interacting Gases : from a Kinetic to a Fluid Description
Starting from a microscopic approach, we develop a covariant formalism to
describe a set of interacting gases. For that purpose, we model the collision
term entering the Boltzmann equation for a class of interactions and then
integrate this equation to obtain an effective macroscopic description. This
formalism will be useful to study the cosmic microwave background
non-perturbatively in inhomogeneous cosmologies. It should also be useful for
the study of the dynamics of the early universe and can be applied, if one
considers fluids of galaxies, to the study of structure formation.Comment: Latex file, 28 pages, accepted for publication in Class. Quant. Gra
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