1,340 research outputs found
Ground State Entropy of the Potts Antiferromagnet on Cyclic Strip Graphs
We present exact calculations of the zero-temperature partition function
(chromatic polynomial) and the (exponent of the) ground-state entropy for
the -state Potts antiferromagnet on families of cyclic and twisted cyclic
(M\"obius) strip graphs composed of -sided polygons. Our results suggest a
general rule concerning the maximal region in the complex plane to which
one can analytically continue from the physical interval where . The
chromatic zeros and their accumulation set exhibit the rather
unusual property of including support for and provide further
evidence for a relevant conjecture.Comment: 7 pages, Latex, 4 figs., J. Phys. A Lett., in pres
Ground State Entropy of Potts Antiferromagnets on Cyclic Polygon Chain Graphs
We present exact calculations of chromatic polynomials for families of cyclic
graphs consisting of linked polygons, where the polygons may be adjacent or
separated by a given number of bonds. From these we calculate the (exponential
of the) ground state entropy, , for the q-state Potts model on these graphs
in the limit of infinitely many vertices. A number of properties are proved
concerning the continuous locus, , of nonanalyticities in . Our
results provide further evidence for a general rule concerning the maximal
region in the complex q plane to which one can analytically continue from the
physical interval where .Comment: 27 pages, Latex, 17 figs. J. Phys. A, in pres
The density factor in the synthesis of carbon nanotube forest by injection chemical vapor deposition
Beneath the seeming straight-forwardness of growing carbon nanotube(CNT) forests by the injection chemical vapor deposition(CVD) method, control of the forest morphology on various substrates is yet to be achieved. Using ferrocene dissolved in xylene as the precursor, we demonstrate that the concentration of ferrocene and the injection rate of the precursor dictate the CNT density of these forests. However, CNT density will also be affected by the substrates and the growth temperature which determine the diffusion of the catalyst adatoms. The CNT growth rate is controlled by the temperature and chemical composition of the gases in the CVD reactor. We show that the final height of the forest is diffusion limited, at least in the conditions of our experiments. Because of the proximity and entanglement of the CNTs in a forest, the growing CNTs can lift-up the inactive CNTs resulting in reduced density toward the base of the forest unless the nucleation rate of the new catalyst particles is sufficiently high to replenish the inactive catalyst particles. Significant loss of CNT attachment by the lift-up effect reduces the adhesion of the forest to the substrate. Optimizing the ferrocene concentration in the precursor, precursor injection rate, gas mixture, substrate, and temperature is necessary to achieve desired forest morphology for specific applications
Families of Graphs With Chromatic Zeros Lying on Circles
We define an infinite set of families of graphs, which we call -wheels and
denote , that generalize the wheel () and biwheel ()
graphs. The chromatic polynomial for is calculated, and
remarkably simple properties of the chromatic zeros are found: (i) the real
zeros occur at for even and for odd;
and (ii) the complex zeros all lie, equally spaced, on the unit circle
in the complex plane. In the limit, the zeros
on this circle merge to form a boundary curve separating two regions where the
limiting function is analytic, viz., the exterior and
interior of the above circle. Connections with statistical mechanics are noted.Comment: 8 pages, Late
NsrR: a key regulator circumventing Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium oxidative and nitrosative stress in vitro and in IFN-γ-stimulated J774.2 macrophages
Over the past decade, the flavohaemoglobin Hmp has emerged as the most significant nitric oxide (NO)-detoxifying protein in many diverse micro-organisms, particularly pathogenic bacteria. Its expression in enterobacteria is dramatically increased on exposure to NO and other agents of nitrosative stress as a result of transcriptional regulation of hmp gene expression, mediated by (at least) four regulators. One such regulator, NsrR, has recently been shown to be responsible for repression of hmp transcription in the absence of NO in Escherichia coli and Salmonella, but the roles of other members of this regulon in Salmonella, particularly in surviving nitrosative stresses in vitro and in vivo, have not been elucidated. This paper demonstrates that an nsrR mutant of Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium expresses high levels of Hmp both aerobically and anaerobically, exceeding those that can be elicited in vitro by supplementing media with S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO). Elevated transcription of ytfE, ygbA, hcp and hcp is also observed, but no evidence was obtained for tehAB upregulation. The hyper-resistance to GSNO of an nsrR mutant is attributable solely to Hmp, since an nsrR hmp double mutant has a wild-type phenotype. However, overexpression of NsrR-regulated genes other than hmp confers some resistance of respiratory oxygen consumption to NO. The ability to enhance, by mutating NsrR, Hmp levels without recourse to exposure to nitrosative stress was used to test the hypothesis that control of Hmp levels is required to avoid oxidative stress, Hmp being a potent generator of superoxide. Within IFN-γ-stimulated J774.2 macrophages, in which high levels of nitrite accumulated (indicative of NO production) an hmp mutant was severely compromised in survival. Surprisingly, under these conditions, an nsrR mutant (as well as an nsrR hmp double mutant) was also disadvantaged relative to the wild-type bacteria, attributable to the combined oxidative effect of the macrophage oxidative burst and Hmp-generated superoxide. This explanation is supported by the sensitivity in vitro of an nsrR mutant to superoxide and peroxide. Fur has recently been confirmed as a weak repressor of hmp transcription, and a fur mutant was also compromised for survival within macrophages even in the absence of elevated NO levels in non-stimulated macrophages. The results indicate the critical role of Hmp in protection of Salmonella from nitrosative stress within and outside macrophages, but also the key role of transcriptional regulation in tuning Hmp levels to prevent exacerbation of the oxidative stress encountered in macrophages
Working Ethically in Participatory Research with Children
In this paper we present the ABCD framework for working ethically with children and young people in participatory design studies. This framework covers A – Agreement and consent made between all participants and interested parties; B – Behaviour of the research team towards the activities, requiring them to examine their motivations and to be honest in their interactions with children; C – Classroom experience in participatory sessions during which children are encouraged to discuss the nature of their participation, and D – Dissemination of the work and planning appropriate follow on activities to ensure that children are informed about the outputs from their contributions. We discuss the process by which we developed the framework, the challenges raised by working in this way with children and the role of values in participatory research
Disruption of the GDP-mannose synthesis pathway in Streptomyces coelicolor results in antibiotic hyper-susceptible phenotypes
Actinomycete bacteria use polyprenol phosphate mannose as a lipid linked sugar donor for extra-cytoplasmic glycosyl transferases that transfer mannose to cell envelope polymers, including glycoproteins and glycolipids. We showed recently that strains of Streptomyces coelicolor with mutations in the gene ppm1 encoding polyprenol phosphate mannose synthase were both resistant to phage φC31 and have greatly increased susceptibility to antibiotics that mostly act on cell wall biogenesis. Here we show that mutations in the genes encoding enzymes that act upstream of Ppm1 in the polyprenol phosphate mannose synthesis pathway can also confer phage resistance and antibiotic hyper-susceptibility. GDP-mannose is a substrate for Ppm1 and is synthesised by GDP-mannose pyrophosphorylase (GMP; ManC) which uses GTP and mannose-1-phosphate as substrates. Phosphomannomutase (PMM; ManB) converts mannose-6-phosphate to mannose-1-phosphate. S. coelicolor strains with knocked down GMP activity or with a mutation in sco3028 encoding PMM acquire phenotypes that resemble those of the ppm1-mutants i.e. φC31 resistant and susceptible to antibiotics. Differences in the phenotypes of the strains were observed, however. While the ppm1-strains have a small colony phenotype, the sco3028 :: Tn5062 mutants had an extremely small colony phenotype indicative of an even greater growth defect. Moreover we were unable to generate a strain in which GMP activity encoded by sco3039 and sco4238 is completely knocked out, indicating that GMP is also an important enzyme for growth. Possibly GDP-mannose is at a metabolic branch point that supplies alternative nucleotide sugar donors
Association of Body Mass Index of HIV-1-Infected Pregnant Women and Infant Weight, Body Mass Index, Length, and Head Circumference: The NISDI Perinatal Study.
This study assessed the relationship between the body mass index (BMI) of HIV-1-infected women and their infants' perinatal outcomes. The study population consisted of women enrolled in the NICHD International Site Development Initiative (NISDI) Perinatal Study with data allowing calculation of the BMI adjusted for length of gestation (adjBMI), who delivered singleton infants. Outcome variables included infant growth parameters at birth (weight, BMI, length and head circumference) and gestational age. Of 697 women from Argentina, the Bahamas, Brazil and Mexico who were included in the analysis, the adjBMI was classified as underweight for 109 (15.6%), normal for 418 (60.0%), overweight for 88 (12.6%) and obese for 82 (11.8%). Median infant birth weight, BMI, birth length and head circumference differed significantly according to maternal adjBMI (P</=0.0002). Underweight mothers gave birth to infants with lower weight, lower BMI, shorter length and smaller head circumference, while infants born to normal, overweight and obese mothers were of similar size
The VISTA Science Archive
We describe the VISTA Science Archive (VSA) and its first public release of
data from five of the six VISTA Public Surveys. The VSA exists to support the
VISTA Surveys through their lifecycle: the VISTA Public Survey consortia can
use it during their quality control assessment of survey data products before
submission to the ESO Science Archive Facility (ESO SAF); it supports their
exploitation of survey data prior to its publication through the ESO SAF; and,
subsequently, it provides the wider community with survey science exploitation
tools that complement the data product repository functionality of the ESO SAF.
This paper has been written in conjunction with the first public release of
public survey data through the VSA and is designed to help its users understand
the data products available and how the functionality of the VSA supports their
varied science goals. We describe the design of the database and outline the
database-driven curation processes that take data from nightly
pipeline-processed and calibrated FITS files to create science-ready survey
datasets. Much of this design, and the codebase implementing it, derives from
our earlier WFCAM Science Archive (WSA), so this paper concentrates on the
VISTA-specific aspects and on improvements made to the system in the light of
experience gained in operating the WSA.Comment: 22 pages, 16 figures. Minor edits to fonts and typos after
sub-editting. Published in A&
Families of Graphs with W_r({G},q) Functions That Are Nonanalytic at 1/q=0
Denoting as the chromatic polynomial for coloring an -vertex
graph with colors, and considering the limiting function , a fundamental question in graph theory is the
following: is analytic or not at the origin
of the plane? (where the complex generalization of is assumed). This
question is also relevant in statistical mechanics because
, where is the ground state entropy of the
-state Potts antiferromagnet on the lattice graph , and the
analyticity of at is necessary for the large- series
expansions of . Although is analytic at for many
, there are some for which it is not; for these, has no
large- series expansion. It is important to understand the reason for this
nonanalyticity. Here we give a general condition that determines whether or not
a particular is analytic at and explains the
nonanalyticity where it occurs. We also construct infinite families of graphs
with functions that are non-analytic at and investigate the
properties of these functions. Our results are consistent with the conjecture
that a sufficient condition for to be analytic at is
that is a regular lattice graph . (This is known not to be a
necessary condition).Comment: 22 pages, Revtex, 4 encapsulated postscript figures, to appear in
Phys. Rev.
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