Genome-wide expression patterns and the genetic architecture of a fundamental social trait.

Explaining how interactions between genes and the environment influence social behavior is a fundamental research goal, yet there is limited relevant information for species exhibiting natural variation in social organization. The fire ant Solenopsis invicta is characterized by a remarkable form of social polymorphism, with the presence of one or several queens per colony and the expression of other phenotypic and behavioral differences being completely associated with allelic variation at a single Mendelian factor marked by the gene Gp-9. Microarray analyses of adult workers revealed that differences in the Gp-9 genotype are associated with the differential expression of an unexpectedly small number of genes, many of which have predicted functions, implying a role in chemical communication relevant to the regulation of colony queen number. Even more surprisingly, worker gene expression profiles are more strongly influenced by indirect effects associated with the Gp-9 genotypic composition within their colony than by the direct effect of their own Gp-9 genotype. This constitutes an unusual example of an "extended phenotype" and suggests a complex genetic architecture with a single Mendelian factor, directly and indirectly influencing the individual behaviors that, in aggregate, produce an emergent colony-level phenotype

Phase Transitions in Higher Derivative Gravity

This paper deals with black holes, bubbles and orbifolds in Gauss-Bonnet theory in five dimensional anti de Sitter space. In particular, we study stable, unstable and metastable phases of black holes from thermodynamical perspective. By comparing bubble and orbifold geometries, we analyse associated instabilities. Assuming AdS/CFT correspondence, we discuss the effects of this higher derivative bulk coupling on a specific matrix model near the critical points of the boundary gauge theory at finite temperature. Finally, we propose another phenomenological model on the boundary which mimics various phases of the bulk space-time.Comment: 33 pages, 12 figures, LaTeX, typos corrected, clarifications in sections 5 and 6, references adde

Threshold criterion for wetting at the triple point

Grand canonical simulations are used to calculate adsorption isotherms of various classical gases on alkali metal and Mg surfaces. Ab initio adsorption potentials and Lennard-Jones gas-gas interactions are used. Depending on the system, the resulting behavior can be nonwetting for all temperatures studied, complete wetting, or (in the intermediate case) exhibit a wetting transition. An unusual variety of wetting transitions at the triple point is found in the case of a specific adsorption potential of intermediate strength. The general threshold for wetting near the triple point is found to be close to that predicted with a heuristic model of Cheng et al. This same conclusion was drawn in a recent experimental and simulation study of Ar on CO_2 by Mistura et al. These results imply that a dimensionless wetting parameter w is useful for predicting whether wetting behavior is present at and above the triple temperature. The nonwetting/wetting crossover value found here is w circa 3.3.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure

Entanglement between a qubit and the environment in the spin-boson model

The quantitative description of the quantum entanglement between a qubit and its environment is considered. Specifically, for the ground state of the spin-boson model, the entropy of entanglement of the spin is calculated as a function of $\alpha$, the strength of the ohmic coupling to the environment, and $\epsilon$, the level asymmetry. This is done by a numerical renormalization group treatment of the related anisotropic Kondo model. For $\epsilon=0$, the entanglement increases monotonically with $\alpha$, until it becomes maximal for $\alpha \lim 1^-$. For fixed $\epsilon>0$, the entanglement is a maximum as a function of $\alpha$ for a value, $\alpha = \alpha_M < 1$.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. Shortened version restricted to groundstate entanglemen

Continuity theorems for the M/M/1/nM/M/1/n queueing system

In this paper continuity theorems are established for the number of losses during a busy period of the $M/M/1/n$ queue. We consider an $M/GI/1/n$ queueing system where the service time probability distribution, slightly different in a certain sense from the exponential distribution, is approximated by that exponential distribution. Continuity theorems are obtained in the form of one or two-sided stochastic inequalities. The paper shows how the bounds of these inequalities are changed if further assumptions, associated with specific properties of the service time distribution (precisely described in the paper), are made. Specifically, some parametric families of service time distributions are discussed, and the paper establishes uniform estimates (given for all possible values of the parameter) and local estimates (where the parameter is fixed and takes only the given value). The analysis of the paper is based on the level crossing approach and some characterization properties of the exponential distribution.Comment: Final revision; will be published as i

Coupled-channel effective field theory and proton-7^7Li scattering

We apply the renormalisation group (RG) to analyse scattering by short-range forces in systems with coupled channels. For two S-wave channels, we find three fixed points, corresponding to systems with zero, one or two bound or virtual states at threshold. We use the RG to determine the power countings for the resulting effective field theories. In the case of a single low-energy state, the resulting theory takes the form of an effective-range expansion in the strongly interacting channel. We also extend the analysis to include the effects of the Coulomb interaction between charged particles. The approach is then applied to the coupled $p+{^7}$Li and $n+{^7}$Be channels which couple to a $J^P=2^-$ state of $^8$Be very close to the $n+{^7}$Be threshold. At next-to-leading order, we are able to get a good description of the $p+{^7}$Li phase shift and the ${^7}$Be(n,p)${^7}$Li cross section using four parameters. Fits at one order higher are similarly good but the available data are not sufficient to determine all five parameters uniquely.Comment: 22 pages, 2 figures, RevTeX4, typos corrected, accepted for publication in European Physical Journal

Choroidal thickness and the retinal ganglion cell complex in chronic Leberʼs hereditary optic neuropathy: a prospective study using swept-source optical coherence tomography

Background/Objectives: Choroidal thinning has been suggested in Leber�s hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON). No study has been conducted of the choroid in relation to the retinal ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer (RGC-IPL). We sought to measure choroidal thickness in chronic LHON and to correlate thickness changes with the RGC-IPL. Subjects/Methods: Chronic LHON, 11778 mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutation, patients (26 eyes; mean age: 35.1 ± 16.1 years) were prospectively recruited at Doheny Eye Center, University of California Los Angeles from March 2016 to July 2017. Age-matched healthy controls (27 eyes; mean age: 32.4 ± 11.1 years) were enroled for comparison. Swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) imaging was performed in chronic LHON patients and compared with age-matched healthy controls. Results: The macular choroid was significantly thinner in chronic LHON (250.5 ± 62.2 μm) compared with controls (313.9 ± 60.2 μm; p &lt; 0.0001). The peripapillary choroid was also significantly thinner in chronic LHON (135.7 ± 51.4 μm) compared with controls (183.0 ± 61.8 μm, p &lt; 0.001). Choroidal thickness strongly correlated with retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) thickness in both the macular (R2 = 0.72; 95 CI, 0.57�0.84) and peripapillary regions (R2 = 0.53; 95 CI, 0.31�0.70). Choroidal thickness was also significantly correlated with macular RGC-IPL thickness (R2 = 0.51; 95 CI, 0.26�0.73). Conclusions: Choroidal thinning in chronic LHON correlated strongly with both RNFL and RGC-IPL thicknesses. These findings may suggest a pathophysiological mechanism involving vascular pathology of the choroid in relation to the retinal ganglion cell complex in LHON. © 2019, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to The Royal College of Ophthalmologists