The Micro-Bubble Distribution in the Wake of a Cavitating Circular Cylinder

Bubble nuclei populations in the wake of a circular cylinder under cavitating and noncavitating conditions were measured using a Phase Doppler Anemometry (PDA) system. In addition, the mean velocity defect and the turbulent fluctuations were monitored in order to try to understand the nuclei population dynamics within the flow. At the Reynolds numbers of these experiments (20000->33000) the laminar near-wake is fairly steady and under very limited cavitation conditions nuclei accumulate in this wake so that the population there is several orders of magnitude larger than in the upstream flow. Further downstream the population declines again as nuclei are entrained into the wake. However at fifteen diameters downstream the population is still much larger than in the upstream flow

Deletion mutants in COP9/Signalosome subunits in fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe display distinct phenotypes

The COP9/signalosome complex is highly conserved in evolution and possesses significant structural similarity to the 19S regulatory lid complex of the proteasome. It also shares limited similarity to the translation initiation factor eIF3. The signalosome interacts with multiple cullins in mammalian cells. In the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, the Csn1 subunit is required for the removal of covalently attached Nedd8 from Pcu1, one of three S. pombe cullins. It remains unclear whether this activity is required for all the functions ascribed to the signalosome. We previously identified Csn1 and Csn2 as signalosome subunits in S. pombe. csn1 and csn2 null mutants are DNA damage sensitive and exhibit slow DNA replication. Two further putative subunits, Csn4 and Csn5, were identified from the S. pombe genome database. Herein, we characterize null mutations of csn4 and csn5 and demonstrate that both genes are required for removal of Nedd8 from the S. pombe cullin Pcu1 and that their protein products associate with Csn1 and Csn2. However, neither csn4 nor csn5 null mutants share the csn1 and csn2 mutant phenotypes. Our data suggest that the subunits of the signalosome cannot be considered as a distinct functional unit and imply that different subunits of the signalosome mediate distinct functions

Calcium-sensing receptor activation increases cell-cell adhesion and ß-cell function

Background/Aims: The extracellular calcium-sensing receptor (CaR) is expressed in pancreatic β-cells where it is thought to facilitate cell-to-cell communication and augment insulin secretion. However, it is unknown how CaR activation improves β-cell function. Methods: Immunocytochemistry and western blotting confirmed the expression of CaR in MIN6 β-cell line. The calcimimetic R568 (1µM) was used to increase the affinity of the CaR and specifically activate the receptor at a physiologically appropriate extracellular calcium concentration. Incorporation of 5-bromo-2’-deoxyuridine (BrdU) was used to measure cell proliferation, whilst changes in non-nutrient-evoked cytosolic calcium were assessed using fura-2-microfluorimetry. AFM-single-cell-force spectroscopy related CaR-evoked changes in epithelial (E)-cadherin expression to improved functional tethering between coupled cells. Results: Activation of the CaR over 48hr doubled the expression of E-cadherin (206±41%) and increased L-type voltage-dependent calcium channel expression by 70% compared to control. These changes produced a 30% increase in cell-cell tethering and elevated the basal-to-peak amplitude of ATP (50µM) and tolbutamide (100µM)-evoked changes in cytosolic calcium. Activation of the receptor also increased PD98059 (1-100µM) and SU1498 (1-100µM)-dependent β-cell proliferation. Conclusion: Our data suggest that activation of the CaR increases E-cadherin mediated functional tethering between β-cells and increases expression of L-type VDCC and secretagogue-evoked changes in [Ca2+]i. These findings could explain how local changes in calcium, co-released with insulin, activate the CaR on neighbouring cells to help ensure efficient and appropriate secretory function

Extreme Thouless effect in a minimal model of dynamic social networks

In common descriptions of phase transitions, first order transitions are characterized by discontinuous jumps in the order parameter and normal fluctuations, while second order transitions are associated with no jumps and anomalous fluctuations. Outside this paradigm are systems exhibiting `mixed order transitions' displaying a mixture of these characteristics. When the jump is maximal and the fluctuations range over the entire range of allowed values, the behavior has been coined an `extreme Thouless effect'. Here, we report findings of such a phenomenon, in the context of dynamic, social networks. Defined by minimal rules of evolution, it describes a population of extreme introverts and extroverts, who prefer to have contacts with, respectively, no one or everyone. From the dynamics, we derive an exact distribution of microstates in the stationary state. With only two control parameters, $N_{I,E}$ (the number of each subgroup), we study collective variables of interest, e.g., $X$, the total number of $I$-$E$ links and the degree distributions. Using simulations and mean-field theory, we provide evidence that this system displays an extreme Thouless effect. Specifically, the fraction $X/\left( N_{I}N_{E}\right)$ jumps from $0$ to $1$ (in the thermodynamic limit) when $N_{I}$ crosses $N_{E}$, while all values appear with equal probability at $N_{I}=N_{E}$.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1408.542

Invalidation of the Kelvin Force in Ferrofluids

Direct and unambiguous experimental evidence for the magnetic force density being of the form $M\nabla B$ in a certain geometry - rather than being the Kelvin force $M\nabla H$ - is provided for the first time. (M is the magnetization, H the field, and B the flux density.)Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Computing top intersections in the tautological ring of MgM_g

We derive effective recursion formulae of top intersections in the tautological ring $R^*(M_g)$ of the moduli space of curves of genus $g\geq 2$. As an application, we prove a convolution-type tautological relation in $R^{g-2}(M_g)$.Comment: 18 page

Strong gravitational lensing in a squashed Kaluza-Klein black hole spacetime

We investigate the strong gravitational lensing in a Kaluza-Klein black hole with squashed horizons. We find the size of the extra dimension imprints in the radius of the photon sphere, the deflection angle, the angular position and magnification of the relativistic images. Supposing that the gravitational field of the supermassive central object of the Galaxy can be described by this metric, we estimated the numerical values of the coefficients and observables for gravitational lensing in the strong field limit.Comment: 13pages, 5 figures, Final version appeared in PR

Bulk matter fields on two-field thick branes

In this paper we obtain a new solution of a brane made up of a scalar field coupled to a dilaton. There is a unique parameter $b$ in the solution, which decides the distribution of the energy density and will effect the localization of bulk matter fields. For free vector fields, we find that the zero mode can be localized on the brane. And for vector fields coupled with the dilaton via $\text{e}^{\tau\pi}F_{MN}F^{MN}$, the condition for localizing the zero mode is $\tau\geq-\sqrt{b/3}$ with $0-1/\sqrt{3b}$ with $b>1$, which includes the case $\tau=0$. While the zero mode for free Kalb-Ramond fields can not be localized on the brane, if only we introduce a coupling between the Kalb-Ramond fields and the dilaton via $\text{e}^{\zeta \pi}H_{MNL}H^{MNL}$. When the coupling constant satisfies $\zeta>1/\sqrt{3b}$ with $b\geq1$ or $\zeta>\frac{2-b}{\sqrt{3b}}$ with $0<b<1$, the zero mode for the KR fields can be localized on the brane. For spin half fermion fields, we consider the coupling $\eta\bar{\Psi}\text{e}^{\lambda \pi}\phi\Psi$ between the fermions and the background scalars with positive Yukawa coupling $\eta$. The effective potentials for both chiral fermions have three types of shapes decided by the relation between the dilaton-fermion coupling constant $\lambda$ and the parameter $b$. For $\lambda\leq-1/\sqrt{3b}$, the zero mode of left-chiral fermion can be localized on the brane. While for $\lambda>-1/\sqrt{3b}$ with $b>1$ or $-1/\sqrt{3b}<\lambda<-\sqrt{b/3}$ with $0<b\leq1$, the zero mode for left-chiral fermion also can be localized.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figures, improved version, accepted by Physical Review