836 research outputs found
A spatially explicit model for competition among specialists and generalists in a heterogeneous environment
Competition is a major force in structuring ecological communities. The
strength of competition can be measured using the concept of a niche. A niche
comprises the set of requirements of an organism in terms of habitat,
environment and functional role. The more niches overlap, the stronger
competition is. The niche breadth is a measure of specialization: the smaller
the niche space of an organism, the more specialized the organism is. It
follows that, everything else being equal, generalists tend to be more
competitive than specialists. In this paper, we compare the outcome of
competition among generalists and specialists in a spatial versus a nonspatial
habitat in a heterogeneous environment. Generalists can utilize the entire
habitat, whereas specialists are restricted to their preferred habitat type. We
find that although competitiveness decreases with specialization, specialists
are more competitive in a spatial than in a nonspatial habitat as patchiness
increases.Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/105051606000000394 in the
Annals of Applied Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aap/) by the Institute
of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org
Spatially explicit non-Mendelian diploid model
We introduce a spatially explicit model for the competition between type
and type alleles. Each vertex of the -dimensional integer lattice is
occupied by a diploid individual, which is in one of three possible states or
genotypes: , or . We are interested in the long-term behavior of
the gene frequencies when Mendel's law of segregation does not hold. This
results in a voter type model depending on four parameters; each of these
parameters measures the strength of competition between genes during meiosis.
We prove that with or without a spatial structure, type and type
alleles coexist at equilibrium when homozygotes are poor competitors. The
inclusion of a spatial structure, however, reduces the parameter region where
coexistence occurs.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/09-AAP598 the Annals of
Applied Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aap/) by the Institute of
Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org
Stochastic spatial models of host-pathogen and host-mutualist interactions I
Mutualists and pathogens, collectively called symbionts, are ubiquitous in
plant communities. While some symbionts are highly host-specific, others
associate with multiple hosts. The outcomes of multispecies host-symbiont
interactions with different degrees of specificity are difficult to predict at
this point due to a lack of a general conceptual framework. Complicating our
predictive power is the fact that plant populations are spatially explicit, and
we know from past research that explicit space can profoundly alter plant-plant
interactions. We introduce a spatially explicit, stochastic model to
investigate the role of explicit space and host-specificity in multispecies
host-symbiont interactions. We find that in our model, pathogens can
significantly alter the spatial structure of plant communities, promoting
coexistence, whereas mutualists appear to have only a limited effect. Effects
are more pronounced the more host-specific symbionts are.Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/105051605000000782 in the
Annals of Applied Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aap/) by the Institute
of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org
Rotation periods of Post-T Tauri stars in Lindroos systems
We present a rotational study of Post-T Tauri stars (PTTSs) in Lindroos
systems, defined as binaries with early type primaries on the main-sequence
(MS) and late-type secondaries on the pre-main-sequence (PMS) phase. The
importance of this study in comparison with previous ones is that the Lindroos
sample is not X-ray selected so we avoid a possible bias towards fast rotators.
In this preliminary study we have monitored eleven stars in the UBVRI bands
during two campaigns of ten consecutive nights each. Eight of the observed
PTTSs show periodic modulations in their lightcurves and the derived periods
range from 1.9d to 8.0d. The comparison of these results with theoretical
rotational tracks based on disk-star locking theory shows that star-disk
decoupling times of 1-20 Myr could reproduce the rotational properties of the
targets, assuming an initial rotation period of ~8d and a mass of 1 Mo. We have
studied the rotation-activity relations of Lindroos PTTSs and compared them
with those found in other groups of PMS and zero-age main-sequence (ZAMS) ~1 Mo
stars. The Lindroos sample displays activity-rotation relations very similar to
those found in TTSs. It contains a mixture of very active stars, with Lx/Lbol
ratios close to the saturation level of -3, and less active (unsaturated)
stars. This could be the result of different star-disk decoupling times. Future
monitoring of a larger and unbiased sample of PTTS will be important to confirm
the significance of these results
Error-resistant Single Qubit Gates with Trapped Ions
Coherent operations constitutive for the implementation of single and
multi-qubit quantum gates with trapped ions are demonstrated that are robust
against variations in experimental parameters and intrinsically indeterministic
system parameters. In particular, pulses developed using optimal control theory
are demonstrated for the first time with trapped ions. Their performance as a
function of error parameters is systematically investigated and compared to
composite pulses.Comment: 5 pages 5 figure
How genealogies are affected by the speed of evolution
In a series of recent works it has been shown that a class of simple models
of evolving populations under selection leads to genealogical trees whose
statistics are given by the Bolthausen-Sznitman coalescent rather than by the
well known Kingman coalescent in the case of neutral evolution. Here we show
that when conditioning the genealogies on the speed of evolution, one finds a
one parameter family of tree statistics which interpolates between the
Bolthausen-Sznitman and Kingman's coalescents. This interpolation can be
calculated explicitly for one specific version of the model, the exponential
model. Numerical simulations of another version of the model and a
phenomenological theory indicate that this one-parameter family of tree
statistics could be universal. We compare this tree structure with those
appearing in other contexts, in particular in the mean field theory of spin
glasses
System-wide Perturbation Analysis with Nearly Complete Coverage of the Yeast Proteome by Single-shot Ultra HPLC Runs on a Bench Top Orbitrap
Yeast remains an important model for systems biology and for evaluating proteomics strategies. In-depth shotgun proteomics studies have reached nearly comprehensive coverage, and rapid, targeted approaches have been developed for this organism. Recently, we demonstrated that single LC-MS/MS analysis using long columns and gradients coupled to a linear ion trap Orbitrap instrument had an unexpectedly large dynamic range of protein identification (Thakur, S. S., Geiger, T., Chatterjee, B., Bandilla, P., Frohlich, F., Cox, J., and Mann, M. (2011) Deep and highly sensitive proteome coverage by LC-MS/MS without prefractionation. Mol. Cell Proteomics 10, 10.1074/mcp.M110.003699). Here we couple an ultra high pressure liquid chromatography system to a novel bench top Orbitrap mass spectrometer (Q Exactive) with the goal of nearly complete, rapid, and robust analysis of the yeast proteome. Single runs of filter-aided sample preparation (FASP)-prepared and LysC-digested yeast cell lysates identified an average of 3923 proteins. Combined analysis of six single runs improved these values to more than 4000 identified proteins/run, close to the total number of proteins expressed under standard conditions, with median sequence coverage of 23%. Because of the absence of fractionation steps, only minuscule amounts of sample are required. Thus the yeast model proteome can now largely be covered within a few hours of measurement time and at high sensitivity. Median coverage of proteins in Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways with at least 10 members was 88%, and pathways not covered were not expected to be active under the conditions used. To study perturbations of the yeast proteome, we developed an external, heavy lysine-labeled SILAC yeast standard representing different proteome states. This spike-in standard was employed to measure the heat shock response of the yeast proteome. Bioinformatic analysis of the heat shock response revealed that translation-related functions were down-regulated prominently, including nucleolar processes. Conversely, stress-related pathways were up-regulated. The proteomic technology described here is straightforward, rapid, and robust, potentially enabling widespread use in the yeast and other biological research communities
Composite absorbing potentials
The multiple scattering interferences due to the addition of several
contiguous potential units are used to construct composite absorbing potentials
that absorb at an arbitrary set of incident momenta or for a broad momentum
interval.Comment: 9 pages, Revtex, 2 postscript figures. Accepted in Phys. Rev. Let
The spectacular evolution of Supernova 1996al over 15 years: a low energy explosion of a stripped massive star in a highly structured environment
Spectrophotometry of SN 1996al carried out throughout 15 years is presented.
The early photometry suggests that SN 1996al is a Linear type-II supernova,
with an absolute peak of Mv ~ -18.2 mag. Early spectra present broad,
asymmetric Balmer emissions, with super-imposed narrow lines with P-Cygni
profile, and He I features with asymmetric, broad emission components. The
analysis of the line profiles shows that the H and He broad components form in
the same region of the ejecta. By day +142, the Halpha profile dramatically
changes: the narrow P-Cygni profile disappears, and the Halpha is fitted by
three emission components, that will be detected over the remaining 15 yrs of
the SN monitoring campaign. Instead, the He I emissions become progressively
narrower and symmetric. A sudden increase in flux of all He I lines is observed
between 300 and 600 days. Models show that the supernova luminosity is
sustained by the interaction of low mass (~1.15 Msun) ejecta, expelled in a low
kinetic energy (~ 1.6 x 10^50 erg) explosion, with highly asymmetric
circumstellar medium. The detection of Halpha emission in pre-explosion archive
images suggests that the progenitor was most likely a massive star (~25 Msun
ZAMS) that had lost a large fraction of its hydrogen envelope before explosion,
and was hence embedded in a H-rich cocoon. The low-mass ejecta and modest
kinetic energy of the explosion are explained with massive fallback of material
into the compact remnant, a 7-8 Msun black hole.Comment: 27 pages, 23 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRA
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