199 research outputs found
Noncommutative gravity coupled to fermions: second order expansion via Seiberg-Witten map
We use the Seiberg-Witten map (SW map) to expand noncommutative gravity
coupled to fermions in terms of ordinary commuting fields. The action is
invariant under general coordinate transformations and local Lorentz rotations,
and has the same degrees of freedom as the commutative gravity action. The
expansion is given up to second order in the noncommutativity parameter
{\theta}. A geometric reformulation and generalization of the SW map is
presented that applies to any abelian twist. Compatibility of the map with
hermiticity and charge conjugation conditions is proven. The action is shown to
be real and invariant under charge conjugation at all orders in {\theta}. This
implies the bosonic part of the action to be even in {\theta}, while the
fermionic part is even in {\theta} for Majorana fermions.Comment: 27 pages, LaTeX. Revised version with proof of charge conjugation
symmetry of the NC action and its parity under theta --> - theta (see new
sect. 2.6, sect. 6 and app. B). References added. arXiv admin note:
substantial text overlap with arXiv:0902.381
N=2 SYM Action as a BRST Exact Term, Topological Yang Mills and Instantons
By constructing a nilpotent extended BRST operator \bs that involves the
N=2 global supersymmetry transformations of one chirality, we show that the
standard N=2 off-shell Super Yang Mills Action can be represented as an exact
BRST term \bs \Psi, if the gauge fermion is allowed to depend on the
inverse powers of supersymmetry ghosts. By using this nonanalytical structure
of the gauge fermion (via inverse powers of supersymmetry ghosts), we give
field redefinitions in terms of composite fields of supersymmetry ghosts and
N=2 fields and we show that Witten's topological Yang Mills theory can be
obtained from the ordinary Euclidean N=2 Super Yang Mills theory directly by
using such field redefinitions. In other words, TYM theory is obtained as a
change of variables (without twisting). As a consequence it is found that
physical and topological interpretations of N=2 SYM are intertwined together
due to the requirement of analyticity of global SUSY ghosts. Moreover, when
after an instanton inspired truncation of the model is used, we show that the
given field redefinitions yield the Baulieu-Singer formulation of Topological
Yang Mills.Comment: Latex, 1+15 pages. Published versio
The maximally entangled symmetric state in terms of the geometric measure
The geometric measure of entanglement is investigated for permutation
symmetric pure states of multipartite qubit systems, in particular the question
of maximum entanglement. This is done with the help of the Majorana
representation, which maps an n qubit symmetric state to n points on the unit
sphere. It is shown how symmetries of the point distribution can be exploited
to simplify the calculation of entanglement and also help find the maximally
entangled symmetric state. Using a combination of analytical and numerical
results, the most entangled symmetric states for up to 12 qubits are explored
and discussed. The optimization problem on the sphere presented here is then
compared with two classical optimization problems on the S^2 sphere, namely
Toth's problem and Thomson's problem, and it is observed that, in general, they
are different problems.Comment: 18 pages, 15 figures, small corrections and additions to contents and
reference
Energy utilization and growth performance of chickens fed novel wheat inbred lines selected for different pentosan levels with and without xylanase supplementation
Different F5 recombinant inbred lines
from the cross Yumai 34 × Ukrainka were grown in
replicated trials on a single site in one harvest year at
Rothamsted Research. A total of 10 samples from those
lines were harvested and used in a broiler experiment.
Twenty nutritionally complete meal-form diets that had
630 g/kg of wheat with different amounts of pentosan,
with and without exogenous xylanase supplementation,
were used to compare broiler growth performance and
determine apparent metabolizable energy corrected for
N retention (AMEn). We examined the relationship between the nutritive value of the wheat samples and their
chemical compositions and results of quality tests. The
amounts of total and water soluble pentosans in wheat
samples ranged from 36.7 to 48.0 g/kg DM, and 6.7 to
11.6 g/kg DM, respectively. The mean crude oil and
protein contents of the wheat samples were 10.5 and
143.9 g/kg DM, respectively. The average determined
value for the kinematic viscosity was 0.0018 mPa.s, and
2.1 mPa.s for the dynamic viscosity. The AMEn of the
wheat-based diets had a maximum range of 0.47 MJ/kg
DM within the ten wheat samples that were tested. Xylanase supplementation improved (P < 0.05) dietary
AMEn, dry matter, and fat digestibility coefficients.
There was a positive (P < 0.05) relationship between in
vitro kinematic viscosity of the wheat samples and the
total pentosan content. There was a negative relationship between the total pentosan content in the wheat
and broiler growth performance. An increase by 10 g of
pentosan per kg of wheat reduced (P < 0.001) daily feed
intake and weight gain by 2.9 g and 3.5 g, respectively.
The study shows that the feeding quality of wheat samples can be predicted by their total pentosan content.
Supplementary xylanase improved energy and nutrient
availability of all wheat samples that was independent
of differences in pentosan content
Investigating Agrobacterium-Mediated Transformation of Verticillium albo-atrum on Plant Surfaces
Background: Agrobacterium tumefaciens has long been known to transform plant tissue in nature as part of its infection process. This natural mechanism has been utilised over the last few decades in laboratories world wide to genetically manipulate many species of plants. More recently this technology has been successfully applied to non-plant organisms in the laboratory, including fungi, where the plant wound hormone acetosyringone, an inducer of transformation, is supplied exogenously. In the natural environment it is possible that Agrobacterium and fungi may encounter each other at plant wound sites, where acetosyringone would be present, raising the possibility of natural gene transfer from bacterium to fungus. Methodology/Principal Findings: We investigate this hypothesis through the development of experiments designed to replicate such a situation at a plant wound site. A. tumefaciens harbouring the plasmid pCAMDsRed was co-cultivated with the common plant pathogenic fungus Verticillium albo-atrum on a range of wounded plant tissues. Fungal transformants were obtained from co-cultivation on a range of plant tissue types, demonstrating that plant tissue provides sufficient vir gene inducers to allow A. tumefaciens to transform fungi in planta. Conclusions/Significance: This work raises interesting questions about whether A. tumefaciens may be able to transform organisms other than plants in nature, or indeed should be considered during GM risk assessments, with furthe
PtrWRKY19, a novel WRKY transcription factor, contributes to the regulation of pith secondary wall formation in Populus trichocarpa
WRKY proteins are one of the largest transcription factor families in higher plants and play diverse roles in various biological processes. Previous studies have shown that some WRKY members act as negative regulators of secondary cell wall formation in pith parenchyma cells. However, the regulatory mechanism of pith secondary wall formation in tree species remains largely unknown. In this study, PtrWRKY19 encoding a homolog of Arabidopsis WRKY12 was isolated from Populus trichocarpa. PtrWRKY19 was expressed in all tissues tested, with highest expression in stems, especially in pith. PtrWRKY19 was located in the nucleus and functioned as a transcriptional repressor. Ectopic expression of PtrWRKY19 in an atwrky12 mutant successfully rescued the phenotype in pith cell walls caused by the defect of AtWRKY12, suggesting that PtrWRKY19 had conserved functions for homologous AtWRKY12. Overexpression of PtrWRKY19 in poplar plants led to a significant increase in the number of pith parenchyma cells. qRT-PCR analysis showed that lignin biosynthesis-related genes were repressed in transgenic plants. In transcient reporter assays, PtrWRKY19 was identified to repress transcription from the PtoC4H2 promoter containing the conserved W-box elements. These results indicated that PtrWRKY19 may function as a negative regulator of pith secondary wall formation in poplar
Growth Performance and Root Transcriptome Remodeling of Arabidopsis in Response to Mars-Like Levels of Magnesium Sulfate
Martian regolith (unconsolidated surface material) is a potential medium for plant growth in bioregenerative life support systems during manned missions on Mars. However, hydrated magnesium sulfate mineral levels in the regolith of Mars can reach as high as 10 wt%, and would be expected to be highly inhibitory to plant growth. at 180 min. after initiation of treatment. mutants exhibit partial tolerance to magnesium sulfate, and by elucidating a small subset (500 vs. >10,000) of candidate genes for mutation or metabolic engineering that will enhance tolerance to magnesium sulfate soils
Contemporary contestations over working time: time for health to weigh in
Non-communicable disease (NCD) incidence and prevalence is of central concern to most nations, along with international agencies such as the UN, OECD, IMF and World Bank. As a result, the search has begun for ‘causes of the cause’ behind health risks and behaviours responsible for the major NCDs. As part of this effort, researchers are turning their attention to charting the temporal nature of societal changes that might be associated with the rapid rise in NCDs. From this, the experience of time and its allocation are increasingly understood to be key individual and societal resources for health (7–9). The interdisciplinary study outlined in this paper will produce a systematic analysis of the behavioural health dimensions, or ‘health time economies’ (quantity and quality of time necessary for the practice of health behaviours), that have accompanied labour market transitions of the last 30 years - the period in which so many NCDs have risen sharply
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