1,672 research outputs found
Great cities look small
Great cities connect people; failed cities isolate people. Despite the
fundamental importance of physical, face-to-face social-ties in the functioning
of cities, these connectivity networks are not explicitly observed in their
entirety. Attempts at estimating them often rely on unrealistic
over-simplifications such as the assumption of spatial homogeneity. Here we
propose a mathematical model of human interactions in terms of a local strategy
of maximising the number of beneficial connections attainable under the
constraint of limited individual travelling-time budgets. By incorporating
census and openly-available online multi-modal transport data, we are able to
characterise the connectivity of geometrically and topologically complex
cities. Beyond providing a candidate measure of greatness, this model allows
one to quantify and assess the impact of transport developments, population
growth, and other infrastructure and demographic changes on a city. Supported
by validations of GDP and HIV infection rates across United States metropolitan
areas, we illustrate the effect of changes in local and city-wide
connectivities by considering the economic impact of two contemporary inter-
and intra-city transport developments in the United Kingdom: High Speed Rail 2
and London Crossrail. This derivation of the model suggests that the scaling of
different urban indicators with population size has an explicitly mechanistic
origin.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figure
Finite-temperature hole dynamics in the t-J model: Exact results for high dimensions
We discuss the dynamics of a single hole in the t-J model at finite
temperature, in the limit of large spatial dimensions. The problem is shown to
yield a simple and physically transparent solution, that exemplifies the
continuous thermal evolution of the underlying string picture from the T=0
string-pinned limit through to the paramagnetic phase.Comment: 6 pages, including 2 figure
Model of host-pathogen Interaction dynamics links In vivo optical imaging and immune responses
Tracking disease progression in vivo is essential for the development of treatments against bacterial infection. Optical imaging has become a central tool for in vivo tracking of bacterial population development and therapeutic response. For a precise understanding of in vivo imaging results in terms of disease mechanisms derived from detailed postmortem observations, however, a link between the two is needed. Here, we develop a model that provides that link for the investigation of Citrobacter rodentium infection, a mouse model for enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC). We connect in vivo disease progression of C57BL/6 mice infected with bioluminescent bacteria, imaged using optical tomography and X-ray computed tomography, to postmortem measurements of colonic immune cell infiltration. We use the model to explore changes to both the host immune response and the bacteria and to evaluate the response to antibiotic treatment. The developed model serves as a novel tool for the identification and development of new therapeutic interventions
27 - Effects of temperature during non-breeding months on size of three species of sparrow
Earth’s climate has warmed at an average rate of 0.17°C (0.31°F) per decade since 1970, and many scientists question how birds might adapt to this temperature change. Vertebrate body size likely has been associated with temperature based on two prominent hypotheses. Bergmann’s rule states that body size is larger in cooler climates because larger-bodied animals are better able to maintain stable internal temperatures. Allen’s rule states that appendages are smaller in cooler climates to decrease the amount surface area to lose heat. We hypothesize that as temperatures increase, body mass will decrease and wing chord will increase. We captured 932 swamp sparrows, 794 song sparrows, and 373 field sparrows at Panola Mountain State Park, in Stockbridge, GA between 2007-2017. We recorded the hatch year by back-calculating from age at capture, body mass, and wing chord length. We compared these measurements to the average temperature during non-breeding months at Panola Mountain, obtained from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration database. Swamp sparrows born in warmer years were smaller in eight out of the nine years, as predicted by Bergmann’s rule. Similarly, Swamp sparrows born in warmer years had larger wing chords in eight out of nine years, as predicted by Allen’s rule. Neither Song sparrow nor Field sparrow mass or wing chord length were associated with temperature in any years. Our study shows that Swamp sparrow size may be affected by the temperature during their first winter and may be more susceptible to climate changes than other sparrow species
Labyrinthine Island Growth during Pd/Ru(0001) Heteroepitaxy
Using low energy electron microscopy we observe that Pd deposited on Ru only
attaches to small sections of the atomic step edges surrounding Pd islands.
This causes a novel epitaxial growth mode in which islands advance in a
snakelike motion, giving rise to labyrinthine patterns. Based on density
functional theory together with scanning tunneling microscopy and low energy
electron microscopy we propose that this growth mode is caused by a surface
alloy forming around growing islands. This alloy gradually reduces step
attachment rates, resulting in an instability that favors adatom attachment at
fast advancing step sections
Nanoscale periodicity in stripe-forming systems at high temperature: Au/W(110)
We observe using low-energy electron microscopy the self-assembly of
monolayer-thick stripes of Au on W(110) near the transition temperature between
stripes and the non-patterned (homogeneous) phase. We demonstrate that the
amplitude of this Au stripe phase decreases with increasing temperature and
vanishes at the order-disorder transition (ODT). The wavelength varies much
more slowly with temperature and coverage than theories of stress-domain
patterns with sharp phase boundaries would predict, and maintains a finite
value of about 100 nm at the ODT. We argue that such nanometer-scale stripes
should often appear near the ODT.Comment: 5 page
Probability Models for Degree Distributions of Protein Interaction Networks
The degree distribution of many biological and technological networks has
been described as a power-law distribution. While the degree distribution does
not capture all aspects of a network, it has often been suggested that its
functional form contains important clues as to underlying evolutionary
processes that have shaped the network. Generally, the functional form for the
degree distribution has been determined in an ad-hoc fashion, with clear
power-law like behaviour often only extending over a limited range of
connectivities. Here we apply formal model selection techniques to decide which
probability distribution best describes the degree distributions of protein
interaction networks. Contrary to previous studies this well defined approach
suggests that the degree distribution of many molecular networks is often
better described by distributions other than the popular power-law
distribution. This, in turn, suggests that simple, if elegant, models may not
necessarily help in the quantitative understanding of complex biological
processes.
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