287 research outputs found
Cube law, condition factor and weight-length relationships: history, meta-analysis and recommendations
This study presents a historical review, a meta-analysis, and recommendations for users about weight–length relationships, condition factors and relative weight equations. The historical review traces the developments of the respective concepts. The meta-analysis explores 3929 weight–length relationships of the type W = aLb for 1773 species of fishes. It shows that 82% of the variance in a plot of log a over b can be explained by allometric versus isometric growth patterns and by different body shapes of the respective species. Across species median b = 3.03 is significantly larger than 3.0, thus indicating a tendency towards slightly positive-allometric growth (increase in relative body thickness or plumpness) in most fishes. The expected range of 2.5 < b < 3.5 is confirmed. Mean estimates of b outside this range are often based on only one or two weight–length relationships per species. However, true cases of strong allometric growth do exist and three examples are given. Within species, a plot of log a vs b can be used to detect outliers in weight–length relationships. An equation to calculate mean condition factors from weight–length relationships is given as Kmean = 100aLb−3. Relative weight Wrm = 100W/(amLbm) can be used for comparing the condition of individuals across populations, where am is the geometric mean of a and bm is the mean of b across all available weight–length relationships for a given species. Twelve recommendations for proper use and presentation of weight–length relationships, condition factors and relative weight are given
Entangled Dilaton Dyons
Einstein-Maxwell theory coupled to a dilaton is known to give rise to
extremal solutions with hyperscaling violation. We study the behaviour of these
solutions in the presence of a small magnetic field. We find that in a region
of parameter space the magnetic field is relevant in the infra-red and
completely changes the behaviour of the solution which now flows to an
attractor. As a result there is an extensive ground state
entropy and the entanglement entropy of a sufficiently big region on the
boundary grows like the volume. In particular, this happens for values of
parameters at which the purely electric theory has an entanglement entropy
growing with the area, , like which is believed to be a
characteristic feature of a Fermi surface. Some other thermodynamic properties
are also analysed and a more detailed characterisation of the entanglement
entropy is also carried out in the presence of a magnetic field. Other regions
of parameter space not described by the end point are also
discussed.Comment: Some comments regarding comparison with weakly coupled Fermi liquid
changed, typos corrected and caption of a figure modifie
String theory duals of Lifshitz-Chern-Simons gauge theories
We propose candidate gravity duals for a class of non-Abelian z=2 Lifshitz
Chern-Simons (LCS) gauge theories studied by Mulligan, Kachru and Nayak. These
are nonrelativistic gauge theories in 2+1 dimensions in which parity and
time-reversal symmetries are explicitly broken by the presence of a
Chern-Simons term. We show that these field theories can be realized as
deformations of DLCQ N=4 super Yang-Mills theory. Using the holographic
dictionary, we identify the bulk fields that are dual to these deformations.
The geometries describing the groundstates of the non-Abelian LCS gauge
theories realized here exhibit a mass gap.Comment: 25+14 pages, 3 figures; v2: significant corrections regarding IR
geometry, resulting in new section 5; journal versio
Large-density field theory, viscosity, and "" singularities from string duals
We analyze systems where an effective large-N expansion arises naturally in
gauge theories without a large number of colors: a sufficiently large charge
density alone can produce a perturbative string ('tHooft) expansion. One
example is simply the well-known NS5/F1 system dual to , here viewed as a 5+1 dimensional theory at finite density. This model is
completely stable, and we find that the existing string-theoretic solution of
this model yields two interesting results. First, it indicates that the shear
viscosity is not corrected by effects in this system. For flow
perpendicular to the F1 strings the viscosity to entropy ratio take the usual
value , but for flow parallel to the F1's it vanishes as at low
temperature. Secondly, it encodes singularities in correlation functions coming
from low-frequency modes at a finite value of the momentum along the
directions. This may provide a strong coupling analogue of finite density
condensed matter systems for which fermionic constituents of larger operators
contribute so-called "" singularities. In the NS5/F1 example, stretched
strings on the gravity side play the role of these composite operators. We
explore the analogue for our system of the Luttinger relation between charge
density and the volume bounded by these singular surfaces. This model provides
a clean example where the string-theoretic UV completion of the gravity dual to
a finite density field theory plays a significant and calculable role.Comment: 28 pages. v2: added reference
Breakdown of a perturbed Z_N topological phase
We study the robustness of a generalized Kitaev's toric code with Z_N degrees
of freedom in the presence of local perturbations. For N=2, this model reduces
to the conventional toric code in a uniform magnetic field. A quantitative
analysis is performed for the perturbed Z_3 toric code by applying a
combination of high-order series expansions and variational techniques. We
provide strong evidences for first- and second-order phase transitions between
topologically-ordered and polarized phases. Most interestingly, our results
also indicate the existence of topological multi-critical points in the phase
diagram.Comment: 27 pages, 10 figure
COMPUTER-CONTROLLED GAS CHROMATOGRAPH CAPABLE OF ''REAL-TIME'' READOUT OF HIGH-PRECISION DATA.
A gas chromatograph has been assembled which provides computer control of sample injection, column temperature, and flow rate, plus direct computer readout of inlet pressure, mass flow rate, and detector response. Data processing yields, in real-time, a standard deviation of less than 0.05% in retention time, which is comparable to previous results obtained using an off-line computer. However, corrected retention volumes determined in real-time had a standard deviation of about 0.4% which reflected primarily the uncertainty in flow measurement
Conserved and Distinct Modes of CREB/ATF Transcription Factor Regulation by PP2A/B56γ and Genotoxic Stress
Activating transcription factor 1 (ATF1) and the closely related proteins CREB (cyclic AMP resonse element binding protein) and CREM (cyclic AMP response element modulator) constitute a subfamily of bZIP transcription factors that play critical roles in the regulation of cellular growth, metabolism, and survival. Previous studies demonstrated that CREB is phosphorylated on a cluster of conserved Ser residues, including Ser-111 and Ser-121, in response to DNA damage through the coordinated actions of the ataxia-telangiectasia-mutated (ATM) protein kinase and casein kinases 1 and 2 (CK1/2). Here, we show that DNA damage-induced phosphorylation by ATM is a general feature of CREB and ATF1. ATF1 harbors a conserved ATM/CK cluster that is constitutively and stoichiometrically phosphorylated by CK1 and CK2 in asynchronously growing cells. Exposure to DNA damage further induced ATF1 phosphorylation on Ser-51 by ATM in a manner that required prior phosphorylation of the upstream CK residues. Hyperphosphorylated ATF1 showed a 4-fold reduced affinity for CREB-binding protein. We further show that PP2A, in conjunction with its targeting subunit B56γ, antagonized ATM and CK1/2-dependent phosphorylation of CREB and ATF1 in cellulo. Finally, we show that CK sites in CREB are phosphorylated during cellular growth and that phosphorylation of these residues reduces the threshold of DNA damage required for ATM-dependent phosphorylation of the inhibitory Ser-121 residue. These studies define overlapping and distinct modes of CREB and ATF1 regulation by phosphorylation that may ensure concerted changes in gene expression mediated by these factors
Luttinger's theorem, superfluid vortices, and holography
Strongly coupled field theories with gravity duals can be placed at finite
density in two ways: electric field flux emanating from behind a horizon, or
bulk charged fields outside of the horizon that explicitly source the density.
We discuss field-theoretical observables that are sensitive to this
distinction. If the charged fields are fermionic, we discuss a modified
Luttinger's theorem that holds for holographic systems, in which the sum of
boundary theory Fermi surfaces counts only the charge outside of the horizon.
If the charged fields are bosonic, we show that the the resulting superfluid
phase may be characterized by the coefficient of the transverse Magnus force on
a moving superfluid vortex, which again is sensitive only to the charge outside
of the horizon. For holographic systems these observables provide a
field-theoretical way to distinguish how much charge is held by a dual horizon,
but they may be useful in more general contexts as measures of deconfined (i.e.
"fractionalized") charge degrees of freedom.Comment: 21 pages; version 2: minor changes, version to be published in CQG;
version 3: minor change
Synergistic Apoptosis Induction in Leukemic Cells by the Phosphatase Inhibitor Salubrinal and Proteasome Inhibitors
Cells adapt to endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-stress by arresting global protein synthesis while simultaneously activating specific transcription factors and their downstream targets. These processes are mediated in part by the phosphorylation-dependent inactivation of the translation initiation factor eIF2alpha. Following restoration of homeostasis protein synthesis is resumed when the serine/threonine-protein phosphatase PP1 dephosphorylates and reactivates eIF2alpha. Proteasome inhibitors, used to treat multiple myeloma patients evoke ER-stress and apoptosis by blocking the ER-associated degradation of misfolded proteins (ERAD), however, the role of eIF2alpha phosphorylation in leukemic cells under conditions of proteasome inhibitor-mediated ER stress is currently unclear.Bcr-Abl-positive and negative leukemic cell lines were used to investigate the functional implications of PP1-related phosphatase activities on eIF2alpha phosphorylation in proteasome inhibitor-mediated ER stress and apoptosis. Rather unexpectedly, salubrinal, a recently identified PP1 inhibitor capable to protect against ER stress in various model systems, strongly synergized with proteasome inhibitors to augment apoptotic death of different leukemic cell lines. Salubrinal treatment did not affect the phosphorlyation status of eIF2alpha. Furthermore, the proapoptotic effect of salubrinal occurred independently from the chemical nature of the proteasome inhibitor, was recapitulated by a second unrelated phosphatase inhibitor and was unaffected by overexpression of a dominant negative eIF2alpha S51A variant that can not be phosphorylated. Salubrinal further aggravated ER-stress and proteotoxicity inflicted by the proteasome inhibitors on the leukemic cells since characteristic ER stress responses, such as ATF4 and CHOP synthesis, XBP1 splicing, activation of MAP kinases and eventually apoptosis were efficiently abrogated by the translational inhibitor cycloheximide.Although PP1 activity does not play a major role in regulating the ER stress response in leukemic cells, phosphatase signaling nevertheless significantly limits proteasome inhibitor-mediated ER-stress and apoptosis. Inclusion of specific phosphatase inhibitors might therefore represent an option to improve current proteasome inhibitor-based treatment modalities for hematological cancers
What phylogeny and gene genealogy analyses reveal about homoplasy in citrus microsatellite alleles
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