132 research outputs found
Relative energetics and structural properties of zirconia using a self-consistent tight-binding model
We describe an empirical, self-consistent, orthogonal tight-binding model for
zirconia, which allows for the polarizability of the anions at dipole and
quadrupole levels and for crystal field splitting of the cation d orbitals.
This is achieved by mixing the orbitals of different symmetry on a site with
coupling coefficients driven by the Coulomb potentials up to octapole level.
The additional forces on atoms due to the self-consistency and polarizabilities
are exactly obtained by straightforward electrostatics, by analogy with the
Hellmann-Feynman theorem as applied in first-principles calculations. The model
correctly orders the zero temperature energies of all zirconia polymorphs. The
Zr-O matrix elements of the Hamiltonian, which measure covalency, make a
greater contribution than the polarizability to the energy differences between
phases. Results for elastic constants of the cubic and tetragonal phases and
phonon frequencies of the cubic phase are also presented and compared with some
experimental data and first-principles calculations. We suggest that the model
will be useful for studying finite temperature effects by means of molecular
dynamics.Comment: to be published in Physical Review B (1 march 2000
Exact Fermi-edge singularity exponent in a Luttinger liquid
We report the exact calculation of the Fermi-edge singularity exponent for
correlated electrons in one dimension (Luttinger liquid). Focusing on the
special interaction parameter g=1/2, the asymptotic long-time behavior can be
obtained using the Wiener-Hopf method. The result confirms the previous
assumption of an open boundary fixed point. In addition, a dynamic k-channel
Kondo impurity is studied via Abelian bosonization for k=2 and k=4. It is shown
that the corresponding orthogonality exponents are related to the orthogonality
exponent in a Luttinger liquid.Comment: 8 Pages RevTeX, no figure
Exact calculation of spectral properties of a particle interacting with a one dimensional fermionic system
Using the Bethe ansatz analysis as was reformulated by Edwards, we calculate
the spectral properties of a particle interacting with a bath of fermions in
one dimension for the case of equal particle-fermion masses. These are directly
related to singularities apparent in optical experiments in one dimensional
systems. The orthogonality catastrophe for the case of an infinite particle
mass survives in the limit of equal masses. We find that the exponent
of the quasiparticle weight, is different for the two
cases, and proportional to their respective phaseshifts at the Fermi surface;
we present a simple physical argument for this difference. We also show that
these exponents describe the low energy behavior of the spectral function, for
repulsive as well as attractive interaction.Comment: 22 pages + 1 postscript figure, REVTE
Effect of Finite Impurity Mass on the Anderson Orthogonality Catastrophe in One Dimension
A one-dimensional tight-binding Hamiltonian describes the evolution of a
single impurity interacting locally with electrons. The impurity spectral
function has a power-law singularity
with the same exponent
that characterizes the logarithmic decay of the quasiparticle weight
with the number of electrons , . The exponent
is computed by (1) perturbation theory in the interaction strength and
(2) numerical evaluations with exact results for small systems and variational
results for larger systems. A nonanalytical behavior of is observed in
the limit of infinite impurity mass. For large interaction strength, the
exponent depends strongly on the mass of the impurity in contrast to the
perturbative result.Comment: 26 pages, RevTeX, 7 figures included, to be published in Phys. Rev.
Characterizing early drug resistance-related events using geometric ensembles from HIV protease dynamics:
The use of antiretrovirals (ARVs) has drastically improved the life quality and expectancy of HIV patients since their introduction in health care. Several millions are still afflicted worldwide by HIV and ARV resistance is a constant concern for both healthcare practitioners and patients, as while treatment options are finite, the virus constantly adapts via complex mutation patterns to select for resistant strains under the pressure of drug treatment. The HIV protease is a crucial enzyme for viral maturation and has been a game changing drug target since the first application. Due to similarities in protease inhibitor designs, drug cross-resistance is not uncommon across ARVs of the same class
Roles of the DYRK Kinase Pom2 in Cytokinesis, Mitochondrial Morphology, and Sporulation in Fission Yeast
Pom2 is predicted to be a dual-specificity tyrosine-phosphorylation regulated kinase (DYRK) related to Pom1 in Schizosaccharomyces pombe. DYRKs share a kinase domain capable of catalyzing autophosphorylation on tyrosine and exogenous phosphorylation on serine/threonine residues. Here we show that Pom2 is functionally different from the well-characterized Pom1, although they share 55% identity in the kinase domain and the Pom2 kinase domain functionally complements that of Pom1. Pom2 localizes to mitochondria throughout the cell cycle and to the contractile ring during late stages of cytokinesis. Overexpression but not deletion of pom2 results in severe defects in cytokinesis, indicating that Pom2 might share an overlapping function with other proteins in regulating cytokinesis. Gain and loss of function analyses reveal that Pom2 is required for maintaining mitochondrial morphology independently of microtubules. Intriguingly, most meiotic pom2Δ cells form aberrant asci with meiotic and/or forespore membrane formation defects. Taken together, Pom2 is a novel DYRK kinase involved in regulating cytokinesis, mitochondrial morphology, meiosis, and sporulation in fission yeast
Competition and parasitism in the native White Clawed Crayfish Austropotamobius pallipes and the invasive Signal Crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus in the UK
Many crayfish species have been introduced to novel habitats worldwide, often threatening
extinction of native species. Here we investigate competitive interactions and parasite infections in the
native Austropotamobius pallipes and the invasive Pacifastacus leniusculus from single and mixed species
populations in theUK. We found A. pallipes individuals to be significantly smaller in mixed compared to single
species populations; conversely P. leniusculus individuals were larger in mixed than in single species
populations. Our data provide no support for reproductive interference as a mechanism of competitive
displacement and instead suggest competitive exclusion of A. pallipes from refuges by P. leniusculus leading to
differential predation. We screened 52 P. leniusculus and 12 A. pallipes for microsporidian infection using
PCR. We present the first molecular confirmation of Thelohania contejeani in the native A. pallipes; in
addition, we provide the first evidence for T. contejeani in the invasive P. leniusculus. Three novel parasite
sequenceswere also isolated fromP. leniusculus with an overall prevalence of microsporidian infection of 38%
within this species; we discuss the identity of and the similarity between these three novel sequences. We also screened a subset of fifteen P. leniusculus and three A. pallipes for Aphanomyces astaci, the causative agent
of crayfish plague and for the protistan crayfish parasite Psorospermium haeckeli. We found no evidence for
infection by either agent in any of the crayfish screened. The high prevalence of microsporidian parasites and occurrence of shared T. contejeani infection lead us to propose that future studies should consider the impact of
these parasites on native and invasive host fitness and their potential effects upon the dynamics of native-invader
systems
MIP/Aquaporin 0 Represents a Direct Transcriptional Target of PITX3 in the Developing Lens
The PITX3 bicoid-type homeodomain transcription factor plays an important role in lens development in vertebrates. PITX3 deficiency results in a spectrum of phenotypes from isolated cataracts to microphthalmia in humans, and lens degeneration in mice and zebrafish. While identification of downstream targets of PITX3 is vital for understanding the mechanisms of normal ocular development and human disease, these targets remain largely unknown. To isolate genes that are directly regulated by PITX3, we performed a search for genomic sequences that contain evolutionarily conserved bicoid/PITX3 binding sites and are located in the proximity of known genes. Two bicoid sites that are conserved from zebrafish to human were identified within the human promoter of the major intrinsic protein of lens fiber, MIP/AQP0. MIP/AQP0 deficiency was previously shown to be associated with lens defects in humans and mice. We demonstrate by both chromatin immunoprecipitation and electrophoretic mobility shift assay that PITX3 binds to MIP/AQP0 promoter region in vivo and is able to interact with both bicoid sites in vitro. In addition, we show that wild-type PITX3 is able to activate the MIP/AQP0 promoter via interaction with the proximal bicoid site in cotransfection experiments and that the introduction of mutations disrupting binding to this site abolishes this activation. Furthermore, mutant forms of PITX3 fail to produce the same levels of transactivation as wild-type when cotransfected with the MIP/AQP0 reporter. Finally, knockdown of pitx3 in zebrafish affects formation of a DNA-protein complex associated with mip1 promoter sequences; and examination of expression in pitx3 morphant and control zebrafish revealed a delay in and reduction of mip1 expression in pitx3-deficient embryos. Therefore, our data suggest that PITX3 is involved in direct regulation of MIP/AQP0 expression and that the alteration of MIP/AQP0 expression is likely to contribute to the lens phenotype in cataract patients with PITX3 mutations
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