900 research outputs found
Impeded Growth of Magnetic Flux Bubbles in the Intermediate State Pattern of Type I Superconductors
Normal state bubble patterns in Type I superconducting Indium and Lead slabs
are studied by the high resolution magneto-optical imaging technique. The size
of bubbles is found to be almost independent of the long-range interaction
between the normal state domains. Under bubble diameter and slab thickness
proper scaling, the results gather onto a single master curve. On this basis,
in the framework of the "current-loop" model [R.E. Goldstein, D.P. Jackson and
A.T. Dorsey, Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 3818 (1996)], we calculate the equilibrium
diameter of an isolated bubble resulting from the competition between the
Biot-and-Savart interaction of the Meissner current encircling the bubble and
the superconductor-normal interface energy. A good quantitative agreement with
the master curve is found over two decades of the magnetic Bond number. The
isolation of each bubble in the superconducting matrix and the existence of a
positive interface energy are shown to preclude any continuous size variation
of the bubbles after their formation, contrary to the prediction of mean-field
models.Comment: \'{e}quipe Nanostructures Quantique
Hopf's last hope: spatiotemporal chaos in terms of unstable recurrent patterns
Spatiotemporally chaotic dynamics of a Kuramoto-Sivashinsky system is
described by means of an infinite hierarchy of its unstable spatiotemporally
periodic solutions. An intrinsic parametrization of the corresponding invariant
set serves as accurate guide to the high-dimensional dynamics, and the periodic
orbit theory yields several global averages characterizing the chaotic
dynamics.Comment: Latex, ioplppt.sty and iopl10.sty, 18 pages, 11 PS-figures,
compressed and encoded with uufiles, 170 k
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The Histone Deacetylase SIRT6 Restrains Transcription Elongation via Promoter-Proximal Pausing.
Transcriptional regulation in eukaryotes occurs at promoter-proximal regions wherein transcriptionally engaged RNA polymerase II (Pol II) pauses before proceeding toward productive elongation. The role of chromatin in pausing remains poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that the histone deacetylase SIRT6 binds to Pol II and prevents the release of the negative elongation factor (NELF), thus stabilizing Pol II promoter-proximal pausing. Genetic depletion of SIRT6 or its chromatin deficiency upon glucose deprivation causes intragenic enrichment of acetylated histone H3 at lysines 9 (H3K9ac) and 56 (H3K56ac), activation of cyclin-dependent kinase 9 (CDK9)-that phosphorylates NELF and the carboxyl terminal domain of Pol II-and enrichment of the positive transcription elongation factors MYC, BRD4, PAF1, and the super elongation factors AFF4 and ELL2. These events lead to increased expression of genes involved in metabolism, protein synthesis, and embryonic development. Our results identified SIRT6 as a Pol II promoter-proximal pausing-dedicated histone deacetylase
The Shapes of Flux Domains in the Intermediate State of Type-I Superconductors
In the intermediate state of a thin type-I superconductor magnetic flux
penetrates in a disordered set of highly branched and fingered macroscopic
domains. To understand these shapes, we study in detail a recently proposed
"current-loop" (CL) model that models the intermediate state as a collection of
tense current ribbons flowing along the superconducting-normal interfaces and
subject to the constraint of global flux conservation. The validity of this
model is tested through a detailed reanalysis of Landau's original conformal
mapping treatment of the laminar state, in which the superconductor-normal
interfaces are flared within the slab, and of a closely-related straight-lamina
model. A simplified dynamical model is described that elucidates the nature of
possible shape instabilities of flux stripes and stripe arrays, and numerical
studies of the highly nonlinear regime of those instabilities demonstrate
patterns like those seen experimentally. Of particular interest is the buckling
instability commonly seen in the intermediate state. The free-boundary approach
further allows for a calculation of the elastic properties of the laminar
state, which closely resembles that of smectic liquid crystals. We suggest
several new experiments to explore of flux domain shape instabilities,
including an Eckhaus instability induced by changing the out-of-plane magnetic
field, and an analog of the Helfrich-Hurault instability of smectics induced by
an in-plane field.Comment: 23 pages, 22 bitmapped postscript figures, RevTex 3.0, submitted to
Phys. Rev. B. Higher resolution figures may be obtained by contacting the
author
Uneven integration for perception and action cues in children’s working memory
We examined the development of visual cue integration in a desktop working-memory task using boxes with different visual action cues (opening actions) and perceptual surface cues (colours, monochromatic textures, or images of faces). Children had to recall which box held a hidden toy, based on (a) the action cue, (b) the surface cue, or (c) a conjunction of the two. Results from three experiments show a set of asymmetries in children's integration of action and surface cues. The 18–24-month-olds disregarded colour in conjunction judgements with action; 30–36-month-olds used colour but disregarded texture. Images of faces were not disregarded at either age. We suggest that 18–24-month-olds' disregard of colour, seen previously in reorientation tasks (Hermer & Spelke, 1994), may represent a general phenomenon, likened to uneven integration between the dorsal and ventral streams in early development
Characteristics of transposable element exonization within human and mouse
Insertion of transposed elements within mammalian genes is thought to be an
important contributor to mammalian evolution and speciation. Insertion of
transposed elements into introns can lead to their activation as alternatively
spliced cassette exons, an event called exonization. Elucidation of the
evolutionary constraints that have shaped fixation of transposed elements
within human and mouse protein coding genes and subsequent exonization is
important for understanding of how the exonization process has affected
transcriptome and proteome complexities. Here we show that exonization of
transposed elements is biased towards the beginning of the coding sequence in
both human and mouse genes. Analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)
revealed that exonization of transposed elements can be population-specific,
implying that exonizations may enhance divergence and lead to speciation. SNP
density analysis revealed differences between Alu and other transposed
elements. Finally, we identified cases of primate-specific Alu elements that
depend on RNA editing for their exonization. These results shed light on TE
fixation and the exonization process within human and mouse genes.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure
First GIS analysis of modern stone tools used by wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in Bossou, Guinea, West Africa
Stone tool use by wild chimpanzees of West Africa offers a unique opportunity to explore the evolutionary roots of technology during human evolution. However, detailed analyses of chimpanzee stone artifacts are still lacking, thus precluding a comparison with the earliest archaeological record. This paper presents the first systematic study of stone tools used by wild chimpanzees to crack open nuts in Bossou (Guinea-Conakry), and applies pioneering analytical techniques to such artifacts. Automatic morphometric GIS classification enabled to create maps of use wear over the stone tools (anvils, hammers, and hammers/anvils), which were blind tested with GIS spatial analysis of damage patterns identified visually. Our analysis shows that chimpanzee stone tool use wear can be systematized and specific damage patterns discerned, allowing to discriminate between active and passive pounders in lithic assemblages. In summary, our results demonstrate the heuristic potential of combined suites of GIS techniques for the analysis of battered artifacts, and have enabled creating a referential framework of analysis in which wild chimpanzee battered tools can for the first time be directly compared to the early archaeological record.Leverhulme Trust [IN-052]; MEXT [20002001, 24000001]; JSPS-U04-PWS; FCT-Portugal [SFRH/BD/36169/2007]; Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Researc
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Cultic resilience and inter-city engagement at the dawn of urban history: protohistoric Mesopotamia and the ‘city seals’, 3200-2750 BC
Within the context of early urbanism, elite groups developed the world’s earliest writing in Mesopotamia, 3200-2750 BC, comprising administrative documents in the form of inscribed clay tablets. How did these proto-literate urban communities engage with each other and what strategies did they employ to address major challenges to their survival? The ‘city seal’ evidence survives as seal impressions on clay bureaucratic artefacts, both inscribed tablets and impressed sealings. These impressions feature signs representing the names of Mesopotamian cities, many of them identifiable with known sites. The documents stand at the threshold of history, as the earliest evidence for inter-city engagement. Using an innovative methodology and interpretive framework of cultic resilience, we integrate archaeometric, iconographic, and functional analyses of the earliest stages of writing and sealing, to argue that the city seal evidence provides unique insights into inter-city cooperation by Mesopotamian cities during a critical episode of early urban development
How Biology Became Social and What It Means for Social Theory
In this paper I first offer a systematic outline of a series of conceptual novelties in
the life-sciences that have favoured, over the last three decades, the emergence of a
more social view of biology. I focus in particular on three areas of investigation: (1)
technical changes in evolutionary literature that have provoked a rethinking of the
possibility of altruism, morality and prosocial behaviours in evolution; (2) changes
in neuroscience, from an understanding of the brain as an isolated data processor to
the ultrasocial and multiply connected social brain of contemporary neuroscience;
and (3) changes in molecular biology, from the view of the gene as an autonomous
master of development to the ‘reactive genome’ of the new emerging field of
molecular epigenetics. In the second section I reflect on the possible implications for
the social sciences of this novel biosocial terrain and argue that the postgenomic
language of extended epigenetic inheritance and blurring of the nature/nurture
boundaries will be as provocative for neo-Darwinism as it is for the social sciences
as we have known them. Signs of a new biosocial language are emerging in several
social-science disciplines and this may represent an exciting theoretical novelty for
twenty-first social theory
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