Conformational mechanism for the stability of microtubule-kinetochore attachments

Regulating the stability of microtubule(MT)-kinetochore attachments is fundamental to avoiding mitotic errors and ensure proper chromosome segregation during cell division. While biochemical factors involved in this process have been identified, its mechanics still needs to be better understood. Here we introduce and simulate a mechanical model of MT-kinetochore interactions in which the stability of the attachment is ruled by the geometrical conformations of curling MT-protofilaments entangled in kinetochore fibrils. The model allows us to reproduce with good accuracy in vitro experimental measurements of the detachment times of yeast kinetochores from MTs under external pulling forces. Numerical simulations suggest that geometrical features of MT-protofilaments may play an important role in the switch between stable and unstable attachments

Ensemble Inequivalence and the Spin-Glass Transition

We report on the ensemble inequivalence in a many-body spin-glass model with integer spin. The spin-glass phase transition is of first order for certain values of the crystal field strength and is dependent whether it was derived in the microcanonical or the canonical ensemble. In the limit of infinitely many-body interactions, the model is the integer-spin equivalent of the random-energy model, and is solved exactly. We also derive the integer-spin equivalent of the de Almeida-Thouless line.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figure

MECHANISM OF CATIONIC LACTAM POLYMERIZATION

The authors suggested a new mechanism for the interpretation of cationic lactam polymerization according to which in the chain propagation reaction. through the appropriate intermediates. compounds belonging to various polymer homologous series are formed and additional polymerization processes are superimposed onto the original ones. On the basis of the new mechanism a kinetic model has been developed by the computer simulation of which rate and equilibrium constants could be determined. The latter enabled. a good quantitative description of polymerization

Ensemble Inequivalence in the Spherical Spin Glass Model with Nonlinear Interactions

We investigate the ensemble inequivalence of the spherical spin glass model with nonlinear interactions of polynomial order $p$. This model is solved exactly for arbitrary $p$ and is shown to have first-order phase transitions between the paramagnetic and spin glass or ferromagnetic phases for $p \geq 5$. In the parameter region around the first-order transitions, the solutions give different results depending on the ensemble used for the analysis. In particular, we observe that the microcanonical specific heat can be negative and the phase may not be uniquely determined by the temperature.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figure

An Emergent Space for Distributed Data with Hidden Internal Order through Manifold Learning

Manifold-learning techniques are routinely used in mining complex spatiotemporal data to extract useful, parsimonious data representations/parametrizations; these are, in turn, useful in nonlinear model identification tasks. We focus here on the case of time series data that can ultimately be modelled as a spatially distributed system (e.g. a partial differential equation, PDE), but where we do not know the space in which this PDE should be formulated. Hence, even the spatial coordinates for the distributed system themselves need to be identified - to emerge from - the data mining process. We will first validate this emergent space reconstruction for time series sampled without space labels in known PDEs; this brings up the issue of observability of physical space from temporal observation data, and the transition from spatially resolved to lumped (order-parameter-based) representations by tuning the scale of the data mining kernels. We will then present actual emergent space discovery illustrations. Our illustrative examples include chimera states (states of coexisting coherent and incoherent dynamics), and chaotic as well as quasiperiodic spatiotemporal dynamics, arising in partial differential equations and/or in heterogeneous networks. We also discuss how data-driven spatial coordinates can be extracted in ways invariant to the nature of the measuring instrument. Such gauge-invariant data mining can go beyond the fusion of heterogeneous observations of the same system, to the possible matching of apparently different systems

Ensemble equivalence in spin systems with short-range interactions

We study the problem of ensemble equivalence in spin systems with short-range interactions under the existence of a first-order phase transition. The spherical model with nonlinear nearest-neighbour interactions is solved exactly both for canonical and microcanonical ensembles. The result reveals apparent ensemble inequivalence at the first-order transition point in the sense that the microcanonical entropy is non-concave as a function of the energy and consequently the specific heat is negative. In order to resolve the paradox, we show that an unconventional saddle point should be chosen in the microcanonical calculation that represents a phase separation. The XY model with non-linear interactions is also studied by microcanonical Monte Carlo simulations in two dimensions to see how this model behaves in comparison with the spherical model.Comment: 17 pages, 19 figures, revised versio

Quantum dot-based multiphoton fluorescent pipettes for targeted neuronal electrophysiology

Targeting visually identified neurons for electrophysiological recording is a fundamental neuroscience technique; however, its potential is hampered by poor visualization of pipette tips in deep brain tissue. We describe quantum dot-coated glass pipettes that provide strong two-photon contrast at deeper penetration depths than those achievable with current methods. We demonstrated the pipettes' utility in targeted patch-clamp recording experiments and single-cell electroporation of identified rat and mouse neurons in vitro and in vivo