52,616 research outputs found
On the role of physisorption states in molecular scattering: A semi-local density-functional theory study on O2/Ag(111)
We simulate the scattering of O from Ag(111) with classical dynamics
simulations performed on a six-dimensional potential energy surface calculated
within semi-local density-functional theory (DFT). The enigmatic experimental
trends that originally required the conjecture of two types of repulsive walls,
arising from a physisorption and chemisorption part of the interaction
potential, are fully reproduced. Given the inadequate description of the
physisorption properties in semi-local DFT, our work casts severe doubts on the
prevalent notion to use molecular scattering data as indirect evidence for the
existence of such states.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Natural antisense transcripts with coding capacity in Arabidopsis may have a regulatory role that is not linked to double-stranded RNA degradation
BACKGROUND:
Overlapping transcripts in antisense orientation have the potential to form double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), a substrate for a number of different RNA-modification pathways. One prominent route for dsRNA is its breakdown by Dicer enzyme complexes into small RNAs, a pathway that is widely exploited by RNA interference technology to inactivate defined genes in transgenic lines. The significance of this pathway for endogenous gene regulation remains unclear.
RESULTS:
We have examined transcription data for overlapping gene pairs in Arabidopsis thaliana. On the basis of an analysis of transcripts with coding regions, we find the majority of overlapping gene pairs to be convergently overlapping pairs (COPs), with the potential for dsRNA formation. In all tissues, COP transcripts are present at a higher frequency compared to the overall gene pool. The probability that both the sense and antisense copy of a COP are co-transcribed matches the theoretical value for coexpression under the assumption that the expression of one partner does not affect the expression of the other. Among COPs, we observe an over-representation of spliced (intron-containing) genes (90%) and of genes with alternatively spliced transcripts. For loci where antisense transcripts overlap with sense transcript introns, we also find a significant bias in favor of alternative splicing and variation of polyadenylation.
CONCLUSION:
The results argue against a predominant RNA degradation effect induced by dsRNA formation. Instead, our data support alternative roles for dsRNAs. They suggest that at least for a subgroup of COPs, antisense expression may induce alternative splicing or polyadenylation
Mechanical properties of polycrystalline graphene based on a realistic atomistic model
Graphene can at present be grown at large quantities only by the chemical
vapor deposition method, which produces polycrystalline samples. Here, we
describe a method for constructing realistic polycrystalline graphene samples
for atomistic simulations, and apply it for studying their mechanical
properties. We show that cracks initiate at points where grain boundaries meet
and then propagate through grains predominantly in zigzag or armchair
directions, in agreement with recent experimental work. Contrary to earlier
theoretical predictions, we observe normally distributed intrinsic strength (~
50% of that of the mono-crystalline graphene) and failure strain which do not
depend on the misorientation angles between the grains. Extrapolating for grain
sizes above 15 nm results in a failure strain of ~ 0.09 and a Young's modulus
of ~ 600 GPa. The decreased strength can be adequately explained with a
conventional continuum model when the grain boundary meeting points are
identified as Griffith cracks.Comment: Accepted for Physical Review B; 5 pages, 4 figure
Acoustical evaluation of the NASA Langley full-scale wind tunnel
Determining types of acoustical measurements suitable for test section of NASA Langley wind tunne
Harnack Inequality and Regularity for a Product of Symmetric Stable Process and Brownian Motion
In this paper, we consider a product of a symmetric stable process in
and a one-dimensional Brownian motion in . Then we
define a class of harmonic functions with respect to this product process. We
show that bounded non-negative harmonic functions in the upper-half space
satisfy Harnack inequality and prove that they are locally H\"older continuous.
We also argue a result on Littlewood-Paley functions which are obtained by the
-harmonic extension of an function.Comment: 23 page
Two-temperature coronal flow above a thin disk
We extended the disk corona model (Meyer & Meyer-Hofmeister 1994; Meyer, Liu,
& Meyer-Hofmeister 2000a) to the inner region of galactic nuclei by including
different temperatures in ions and electrons as well as Compton cooling. We
found that the mass evaporation rate and hence the fraction of accretion energy
released in the corona depend strongly on the rate of incoming mass flow from
outer edge of the disk, a larger rate leading to more Compton cooling, less
efficient evaporation and a weaker corona. We also found a strong dependence on
the viscosity, higher viscosity leading to an enhanced mass flow in the corona
and therefore more evaporation of gas from the disk below. If we take accretion
rates in units of the Eddington rate our results become independent on the mass
of the central black hole. The model predicts weaker contributions to the hard
X-rays for objects with higher accretion rate like narrow-line Seyfert 1
galaxies (NLS1s), in agreement with observations. For luminous active galactic
nuclei (AGN) strong Compton cooling in the innermost corona is so efficient
that a large amount of additional heating is required to maintain the corona
above the thin disk.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures. ApJ accepte
- …