690 research outputs found
A photometric study of the hot exoplanet WASP-19b
Context: When the planet transits its host star, it is possible to measure
the planetary radius and (with radial velocity data) the planet mass. For the
study of planetary atmospheres, it is essential to obtain transit and
occultation measurements at multiple wavelengths.
Aims: We aim to characterize the transiting hot Jupiter WASP-19b by deriving
accurate and precise planetary parameters from a dedicated observing campaign
of transits and occultations.
Methods: We have obtained a total of 14 transit lightcurves in the r'-Gunn,
IC, z'-Gunn and I+z' filters and 10 occultation lightcurves in z'-Gunn using
EulerCam on the Euler-Swiss telescope and TRAPPIST. We have also obtained one
lightcurve through the narrow-band NB1190 filter of HAWK-I on the VLT measuring
an occultation at 1.19 micron. We have performed a global MCMC analysis of all
new data together with some archive data in order to refine the planetary
parameters and measure the occultation depths in z'-band and at 1.19 micron.
Results: We measure a planetary radius of R_p = 1.376 (+/-0.046) R_j, a
planetary mass of M_p = 1.165 (+/-0.068) M_j, and find a very low eccentricity
of e = 0.0077 (+/-0.0068), compatible with a circular orbit. We have detected
the z'-band occultation at 3 sigma significance and measure it to be dF_z'= 352
(+/-116) ppm, more than a factor of 2 smaller than previously published. The
occultation at 1.19 micron is only marginally constrained at dF_1190 = 1711
(+/-745) ppm.
Conclusions: We have shown that the detection of occultations in the visible
is within reach even for 1m class telescopes if a considerable number of
individual events are observed. Our results suggest an oxygen-dominated
atmosphere of WASP-19b, making the planet an interesting test case for
oxygen-rich planets without temperature inversion.Comment: Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics. 11 pages, 11 figures, 4 table
Collective synchronization in populations of globally coupled phase oscillators with drifting frequencies
We generalize the Kuramoto model for coupled phase oscillators by allowing
the frequencies to drift in time according to Ornstein-Uhlenbeck dynamics. Such
drifting frequencies were recently measured in cellular populations of
circadian oscillator and inspired our work. Linear stability analysis of the
Fokker-Planck equation for an infinite population is amenable to exact solution
and we show that the incoherent state is unstable passed a critical coupling
strength K_c(\ga, \sigf), where \ga is the inverse characteristic drifting
time and \sigf the asymptotic frequency dispersion. Expectedly agrees
with the noisy Kuramoto model in the large \ga (Schmolukowski) limit but
increases slower as \ga decreases. Asymptotic expansion of the solution for
\ga\to 0 shows that the noiseless Kuramoto model with Gaussian frequency
distribution is recovered in that limit. Thus varying a single parameter allows
to interpolate smoothly between two regimes: one dominated by the frequency
dispersion and the other by phase diffusion.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, accepted in Phys. Rev.
"Medikamente sind Bomben" - zum Metapherngebrauch von Lungentransplantations-Patienten mit guter oder ungenügender Compliance
Fragestellung: Nach einer Organtransplantation finden komplexe psychologische Verarbeitungsprozesse statt. In der vorliegenden Studie wurde untersucht, welche Metaphern im Zusammenhang mit Transplantationserfahrungen verwendet werden, und ob Unterschiede zwischen Patienten mit guter bzw. ungenügender Compliance im Gebrauch dieser Metaphern bestehen.
Methode: 14 lungentransplantierte Patienten wurden in einem halbstrukturierten Interview zu ihren Transplantationserfahrungen befragt. Ihre Compliance wurde von den behandelnden Ärzten eingeschätzt. Die Auswertung der Interviews erfolgte anhand einer Metaphernanalyse, welche Hinweise auf vor- und unbewusste Vorstellungen der Patienten liefert. Die Interraterreliabilität über die Metapherngruppen war Cohen’s Kappa K = 0.8.
Ergebnisse: Die Patienten konzeptualisierten ihren Körper, aber auch ihr Selbst als ein “Gefäß”, dass sowohl materielle (z.B. die Lunge) wie immaterielle Objekte (z.B. Gedanken an den Spender, Affekte) enthält. Der wichtigste Unterschied zwischen den Compliance-Gruppen bestand darin, dass Patienten mit ungenügender Compliance eine grössere Distanz zur transplantierten Lunge erlebten. Auch konzeptualisierten sie ihren Körper bzw. ihr Selbst nicht als ein Gefäß, das die Lunge enthält.
Diskussion: Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass gute Compliance mit einer erfolgreichen Organintegration assoziiert ist, welche die Zugehörigkeit der Lunge in einem als Gefäß konzeptualisierten Körper bzw. Selbst umfasst. Patienten mit ungenügender Compliance nehmen die Lunge eher als Fremdkörper wahr. Diese Verarbeitungsprozesse sind teils bewusster, teils vor- und unbewusster Natur
Dynamics of the Apple Fruit Microbiome after Harvest and Implications for Fruit Quality
The contribution of the apple microbiome to the production chain of apple was so far largely unknown. Here, we describe the apple fruit microbiome and influences on its composition by parameters such as storage season, storage duration, storage technology, apple variety, and plant protection schemes. A combined culturing and metabarcoding approach revealed significant differences in the abundance, composition, and diversity of the apple fruit microbiome. We showed that relatively few genera contribute a large portion of the microbiome on fruit and that the fruit microbiome changes during the storage season depending on the storage conditions. In addition, we show that the plant protection regime has an influence on the diversity of the fruit microbiome and on the dynamics of pathogenic fungal genera during the storage season. For the genus Neofabraea, the quantitative results from the metabarcoding approach were validated with real-time PCR. In conclusion, we identified key parameters determining the composition and temporal changes of the apple fruit microbiome, and the main abiotic driving factors of microbiome diversity on apple fruit were characterized
The effects of mismatches on hybridization in DNA microarrays: determination of nearest neighbor parameters
Quantifying interactions in DNA microarrays is of central importance for a
better understanding of their functioning. Hybridization thermodynamics for
nucleic acid strands in aqueous solution can be described by the so-called
nearest-neighbor model, which estimates the hybridization free energy of a
given sequence as a sum of dinucleotide terms. Compared with its solution
counterparts, hybridization in DNA microarrays may be hindered due to the
presence of a solid surface and of a high density of DNA strands. We present
here a study aimed at the determination of hybridization free energies in DNA
microarrays. Experiments are performed on custom Agilent slides. The solution
contains a single oligonucleotide. The microarray contains spots with a perfect
matching complementary sequence and other spots with one or two mismatches: in
total 1006 different probe spots, each replicated 15 times per microarray. The
free energy parameters are directly fitted from microarray data. The
experiments demonstrate a clear correlation between hybridization free energies
in the microarray and in solution. The experiments are fully consistent with
the Langmuir model at low intensities, but show a clear deviation at
intermediate (non-saturating) intensities. These results provide new
interesting insights for the quantification of molecular interactions in DNA
microarrays.Comment: 31 pages, 5 figure
Integration of Light and Temperature in the Regulation of Circadian Gene Expression in Drosophila
Circadian clocks are aligned to the environment via synchronizing signals, or Zeitgebers, such as daily light and temperature cycles, food availability, and social behavior. In this study, we found that genome-wide expression profiles from temperature-entrained flies show a dramatic difference in the presence or absence of a thermocycle. Whereas transcript levels appear to be modified broadly by changes in temperature, there is a specific set of temperature-entrained circadian mRNA profiles that continue to oscillate in constant conditions. There are marked differences in the biological functions represented by temperature-driven or circadian regulation. The set of temperature-entrained circadian transcripts overlaps significantly with a previously defined set of transcripts oscillating in response to a photocycle. In follow-up studies, all thermocycle-entrained circadian transcript rhythms also responded to light/dark entrainment, whereas some photocycle-entrained rhythms did not respond to temperature entrainment. Transcripts encoding the clock components Period, Timeless, Clock, Vrille, PAR-domain protein 1, and Cryptochrome were all confirmed to be rhythmic after entrainment to a daily thermocycle, although the presence of a thermocycle resulted in an unexpected phase difference between period and timeless expression rhythms at the transcript but not the protein level. Generally, transcripts that exhibit circadian rhythms both in response to thermocycles and photocycles maintained the same mutual phase relationships after entrainment by temperature or light. Comparison of the collective temperature- and light-entrained circadian phases of these transcripts indicates that natural environmental light and temperature cycles cooperatively entrain the circadian clock. This interpretation is further supported by comparative analysis of the circadian phases observed for temperature-entrained and light-entrained circadian locomotor behavior. Taken together, these findings suggest that information from both light and temperature is integrated by the transcriptional clock mechanism in the adult fly head
Replica Symmetry Breaking in Attractor Neural Network Models
The phenomenon of replica symmetry breaking is investigated for the retrieval
phases of Hopfield-type network models. The basic calculation is done for the
generalized version of the standard model introduced by Horner [1] and by
Perez-Vicente and Amit [2] which can exhibit low mean levels of neural
activity. For a mean activity the Hopfield model is recovered. In
this case, surprisingly enough, we cannot confirm the well known one step
replica symmetry breaking (1RSB) result for the storage capacity which was
presented by Crisanti, Amit and Gutfreund [3] (\alpha_c^{\hbox{\mf
1RSB}}\simeq 0.144). Rather, we find that 1RSB- and 2RSB-Ans\"atze yield only
slightly increased capacities as compared to the replica symmetric value
(\alpha_c^{\hbox{\mf 1RSB}}\simeq 0.138\,186 and \alpha_c^{\hbox{\mf
2RSB}}\simeq 0.138\,187 compared to \alpha_c^{\hbox{\mf RS}}\simeq
0.137\,905), significantly smaller also than the value \alpha_c^{\hbox{\mf
sim}} = 0.145\pm 0.009 reported from simulation studies. These values still
lie within the recently discovered reentrant phase [4]. We conjecture that in
the infinite Parisi-scheme the reentrant behaviour disappears as is the case in
the SK-spin-glass model (Parisi--Toulouse-hypothesis). The same qualitative
results are obtained in the low activity range.Comment: Latex file, 20 pages, 8 Figures available from the authors upon
request, HD-TVP-94-
The CORALIE survey for southern extra-solar planets. X. A Hot Jupiter orbiting HD73256
Recent radial-velocity measurements obtained with the CORALIE spectrograph on
the 1.2-m Euler Swiss telescope at La Silla unveil the presence of a new
Jovian-mass Hot Jupiter around HD 73256. The 1.85-M_Jup planet moves on an
extremely short-period (P=2.5486 d), quasi-circular orbit. The best Keplerian
orbital solution is presented together with an unsuccessful photometric
planetary-transit search performed with the SAT Danish telescope at La Silla.
Over the time span of the observations, the photometric follow-up of the
candidate has nevertheless revealed a P=14-d photometric periodicity
corresponding to the rotational period of the star. This variation as well as
the radial-velocity jitter around the Keplerian solution are shown to be
related to the fair activity level known for HD 73256.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures. Accepted in A&
Reactive Hall response
The zero temperature Hall constant R_H, described by reactive
(nondissipative) conductivities, is analyzed within linear response theory. It
is found that in a certain limit, R_H is directly related to the density
dependence of the Drude weight implying a simple picture for the change of sign
of charge carriers in the vicinity of a Mott-Hubbard transition. This novel
formulation is applied to the calculation of R_H in quasi-one dimensional and
ladder prototype interacting electron systems.Comment: 4 pages, 3 Postscript figure
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