Handel's fixed point theorem revisited

Michael Handel proved in [7] the existence of a fixed point for an orientation preserving homeomorphism of the open unit disk that can be extended to the closed disk, provided that it has points whose orbits form an oriented cycle of links at infinity. Later, Patrice Le Calvez gave a different proof of this theorem based only on Brouwer theory and plane topology arguments [9]. These methods permitted to improve the result by proving the existence of a simple closed curve of index 1. We give a new, simpler proof of this improved version of the theorem and generalize it to non-oriented cycles of links at infinityComment: Ergodic Theory and Dynamical Systems, Available on CJO 201

Lack of increased availability of root-derived C may explain the low N2O emission from low N-urine patches

Urine deposition on grassland causes significant N2O losses, which in some cases may result from increased denitrification stimulated by labile compounds released from scorched plant roots. Two 12-day experiments were conducted in 13C-labelled grassland monoliths to investigate the link between N2O production and carbon mineralization following application of low rates of urine-N. Measurements of N2O and CO2 emissions from the monoliths as well as δ13C signal of evolved CO2 were done on day -4, -1, 0, 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7 after application of urine corresponding to 3.1 and 5.5 g N m-2 in the first and second experiment, respectively. The δ13C signal was also determined for soil organic matter, dissolved organic C and CO2 evolved by microbial respiration. In addition, denitrifying enzyme activity (DEA) and nitrifying enzyme activity (NEA) were measured on day -1, 2 and 7 after the first urine application event. Urine did not affect DEA, whereas NEA was enhanced 2 days after urine application. In the first experiment, urine had no significant effect on the N2O flux, which was generally low (-8 to 14 μg N2O-N m-2 h-1). After the second application event, the N2O emission increased significantly to 87 μg N2O-N m-2 h-1 and the N2O emission factor for the added urine-N was 0.18 %. However, the associated 13C signal of soil respiration was unaffected by urine. Consequently, the increased N2O emission from the simulated low N-urine patches was not caused by enhanced denitrification stimulated by labile compounds released from scorched plant roots

New implementations for the Simultaneous‐FETI method

International audienceIn this work, we present alternative implementations for the Simultaneous‐FETI (S‐FETI) method. Developed in recent years, this method has shown to be very robust for highly heterogeneous problems. However, the memory cost in S‐FETI is greatly increased and can be a limitation to its use. Our main objective is to reduce this memory usage without losing significant time performance. The algorithm is based on the exploitation of the sparsity patterns found on the block of search directions, allowing to store less vectors per iteration in comparison to a full storage scheme. In addition, different variations for the S‐FETI method are also proposed, including a new treatment for the possible dependencies between directions and the use of the Lumped preconditioner. Several tests are performed in order to establish the impact of the modifications presented in this work compared to the original S‐FETI algorithm.Cet article présente une nouvelle mise en œuvre de la méthode S-FETI qui permet de l'appliquer à des problèmes industriels de plus grande taille. La méthode S-FETI permet de traiter de manière robuste des problèmes fortement hétérogènes. Cependant elle présente un coût de stockage élevé susceptible de limiter son application.La nouvelle méthode utilise le caractère creux des blocs de directions de descente construits à chaque itération pour limiter le stockage. De plus une nouvelle façon de traiter les dépendances entre directions de descente ou d'utiliser le préconditionneur "lumped" pour S-FETI est présentée.Des tests numériques comparent les nouvelles méthodes développées dans cet article avec la méthode S-FETI initiale

Recent and Ancient Signature of Balancing Selection around the S-Locus in Arabidopsis halleri and A. lyrata

Balancing selection can maintain different alleles over long evolutionary times. Beyond this direct effect on the molecular targets of selection, balancing selection is also expected to increase neutral polymorphism in linked genome regions, in inverse proportion to their genetic map distances from the selected sites. The genes controlling plant self-incompatibility are subject to one of the strongest forms of balancing selection, and they show clear signatures of balancing selection. The genome region containing those genes (the S-locus) is generally described as nonrecombining, and the physical size of the region with low recombination has recently been established in a few species. However, the size of the region showing the indirect footprints of selection due to linkage to the S-locus is only roughly known. Here, we improved estimates of this region by surveying synonymous polymorphism and estimating recombination rates at 12 flanking region loci at known physical distances from the S-locus region boundary, in two closely related self-incompatible plants Arabidopsis halleri and A. lyrata. In addition to studying more loci than previous studies and using known physical distances, we simulated an explicit demographic scenario for the divergence between the two species, to evaluate the extent of the genomic region whose diversity departs significantly from neutral expectations. At the closest flanking loci, we detected signatures of both recent and ancient indirect effects of selection on the S-locus flanking genes, finding ancestral polymorphisms shared by both species, as well as an excess of derived mutations private to either species. However, these effects are detected only in a physically small region, suggesting that recombination in the flanking regions is sufficient to quickly break up linkage disequilibrium with the S-locus. Our approach may be useful for distinguishing cases of ancient versus recently evolved balancing selection in other systems

Mise en œuvre d'un solveur direct parallèle pour l'inversion des problèmes locaux au sein d'une méthode de décomposition de domaine

National audienceLe but de ce papier est de mettre au point un algorithme parallèle pour la résolution directe de grands systèmes linéaires creux et l’intégrer dans les méthodes de décomposition de domaine. Ces systèmes linéaires, souvent rencontrés lor de la simulation numérique de problèmes de mécanique des structures par des codes de calcul par éléments finis, sont résolus avec des coûts très importants en temps ce calcul et en espace mémoire. Dans ce papier, un parallélisme à deux niveaux a été exploité. L’exploitation du niveau inférieur de parallélisme a d’abord consisté à réaliser un solveur direct parallèle basé sur une technique de dissection emboitée et l’intégrer ensuite dans les méthodes FETI. Ce solveur direct a l’avantage de traiter automatiquement et proprement les modes à énergie nulle dans des structures flottantes. L’exploitation du niveau supérieur a consisté à améliorer la phase itérative de la méthode FETI classique. Des tests ont été effectués pour évaluer les performances du solveur mis en place

Light Emission in Silicon from Carbon Nanotubes

The use of optics in microelectronic circuits to overcome the limitation of metallic interconnects is more and more considered as a viable solution. Among future silicon compatible materials, carbon nanotubes are promising candidates thanks to their ability to emit, modulate and detect light in the wavelength range of silicon transparency. We report the first integration of carbon nanotubes with silicon waveguides, successfully coupling their emission and absorption properties. A complete study of this coupling between carbon nanotubes and silicon waveguides was carried out, which led to the demonstration of the temperature-independent emission from carbon nanotubes in silicon at a wavelength of 1.3 {\mu}m. This represents the first milestone in the development of photonics based on carbon nanotubes on silicon