1,416 research outputs found
Deep Neural Networks - A Brief History
Introduction to deep neural networks and their history.Comment: 14 pages, 14 figure
Less Minimal Flavour Violation
We consider the approximate U(2)^3 flavour symmetry exhibited by the quark
sector of the Standard Model and all its possible breaking terms appearing in
the quark Yukawa couplings. Taking an Effective Field Theory point of view, we
determine the current bounds on these parameters, assumed to control the
breaking of flavour in a generic extension of the Standard Model at a reference
scale Lambda. In particular, a significant bound from epsilon'/epsilon is
derived, which is relevant to Minimal Flavour Violation as well. In the
up-quark sector, the recently observed CP violation in D -> pi+ pi-, K+ K-
decays might be accounted for in this generic framework, consistently with any
other constraint.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figur
CeRuSn: a strongly correlated material with nontrivial topology
Topological insulators form a novel state of matter that provides new
opportunities to create unique quantum phenomena. While the materials used so
far are based on semiconductors, recent theoretical studies predict that also
strongly correlated systems can show non-trivial topological properties,
thereby allowing even the emergence of surface phenomena that are not possible
with topological band insulators. From a practical point of view, it is also
expected that strong correlations will reduce the disturbing impact of defects
or impurities, and at the same increase the Fermi velocities of the topological
surface states. The challenge is now to discover such correlated materials.
Here, using advanced x-ray spectroscopies in combination with band structure
calculations, we infer that CeRuSn is a strongly correlated material
with non-trivial topology.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Scientific Report
Effects of UV-B radiation on the structural and physiological diversity of bacterioneuston and bacterioplankton
The effects of UV radiation (UVR) on estuarine bacterioneuston and bacterioplankton were assessed in microcosm experiments. Bacterial abundance and DNA synthesis were more affected in bacterioplankton. Protein synthesis was more inhibited in bacterioneuston. Community analysis indicated that UVR has the potential to select resistant bacteria (e.g., Gammaproteobacteria), particularly abundant in bacterioneuston
New smart functional fluorophores based on stable spirocyclic zwitterionic Meisenheimer compounds
Altres ajuts: Universitat AutĂČnoma de Barcelona predoctoral PIF fellowshipMolecules and materials showing stimulus-induced modulation of their optical properties are of interest in a large variety of areas. In this paper, we focus on fluorescent switches based on stable spirocyclic zwitterionic Meisenheimer compounds (SZMC), which are composed of a 2,4,6-trisubstituted cyclohexadienyl anion chromophore fused with a triazene ring via a spiro carbon atom. By exploiting a facile one-pot synthetic strategy, new SZMC switches have been prepared with halo-, electro- and thermochromic properties. These properties can be controlled by modifying the substituents on their two constituting units. In particular, the optical properties, the sensitivity to different chemical stimuli, and the range of thermal response of these systems can be tailored by varying (a) the nature of the electron-withdrawing groups in their 2,4,6-trisubstituted cyclohexadienyl anion chromophore, and (b) the bulkiness of the pending chains in their triazene ring. In combination with their versatile optical switching behavior, this synthetic tunability makes SZMC switches very promising functional molecules for applications in chemistry, materials science, and biosciences
MicroRNA-24 targets Notch and other vascular morphogens to regulates post-ischemic microvascular responses in limb muscles
MicroRNAs (miRs) regulate complex processes, including angiogenesis, by targeting multiple mRNAs. miR-24-3p-3p directly represses eNOS, GATA2, and PAK4 in endothelial cells (ECs), thus inhibiting angiogenesis during development and in the infarcted heart. miR-24-3p is widely expressed in cardiovascular cells, suggesting that it could additionally regulate angiogenesis by acting on vascular mural cells. Here, we have investigated: (1) new miR-24-3p targets; (2) the expression and the function of miR-24-3p in human vascular ECs; (3) the impact of miR-24-3p inhibition in the angiogenesis reparative response to limb ischemia in mice. Using bioinformatics target prediction platforms and 3′-UTR luciferase assays, we newly identified Notch1 and its Delta-like ligand 1 (Dll1) to be directly targeted by miR-24-3p. miR-24-3p was expressed in human ECs and pericytes cultured under normal conditions. Exposure to hypoxia increased miR-24-3p in ECs but not in pericytes. Transfection with a miR-24-3p precursor (pre-miR-24-3p) increased miR-24-3p expression in ECs, reducing the cell survival, proliferation, and angiogenic capacity. Opposite effects were caused by miR-24-3p inhibition. The anti-angiogenic action of miR-24-3p overexpression could be prevented by simultaneous adenovirus (Ad)-mediated delivery of constitutively active Notch intracellular domain (NICD) into cultured ECs. We next demonstrated that reduced Notch signalling contributes to the anti-angiogenic effect of miR-24-3p in vitro. In a mouse unilateral limb ischemia model, local miR-24-3p inhibition (by adenovirus-mediated miR-24-3p decoy delivery) restored endothelial Notch signalling and increased capillary density. However, the new vessels appeared disorganised and twisted, worsening post-ischemic blood perfusion recovery. To better understand the underpinning mechanisms, we widened the search for miR-24-3p target genes, identifying several contributors to vascular morphogenesis, such as several members of the Wingless (Wnt) signalling pathway, β-catenin signalling components, and VE-cadherin, which synergise to regulate angiogenesis, pericytes recruitment to neoformed capillaries, maturation, and stabilization of newly formed vessels. Among those, we next focussed on β-catenin to demonstrate that miR-24-3p inhibition reduces β-catenin expression in hypoxic ECs, which is accompanied by reduced adhesion of pericytes to ECs. In summary, miR-24-3p differentially targets several angiogenesis modulators and contributes to autonomous and non-autonomous EC crosstalk. In ischemic limbs, miR-24-3p inhibition increases the production of dysfunctional microvessels, impairing perfusion. Caution should be observed in therapeutic targeting of miR-24-3p
Dense matrix computations on NUMA architectures with distance-aware work stealing
We employ the dynamic runtime system OmpSs to decrease the overhead of data motion in the now ubiquitous non-uniform memory access (NUMA) high concurrency environment of multicore processors. The dense numerical linear algebra algorithms of Cholesky factorization and symmetric matrix inversion are employed as representative benchmarks. Work stealing occurs within an innovative NUMA-aware scheduling policy to reduce data movement between NUMA nodes. The overall approach achieves separation of concerns by abstracting the complexity of the hardware from the end users so that high productivity can be achieved. Performance results on a large NUMA system outperform the state-of-the-art existing implementations up to a two fold speedup for the Cholesky factorization, as well as the symmetric matrix inversion, while the OmpSs-enabled code maintains strong similarity to its original sequential version.The authors would like to thank the National Institute for Computational Sciences for granting us access on the Nautilus system. The KAUST authors acknowledge support of the Extreme Computing Research Center. The BSC-affiliated authors thankfully acknowledges the support of the European Commission through the HiPEAC-3 Network of Excellence (FP7-ICT 287759), Intel-BSC Exascale Lab and IBM/BSC Exascale Initiative collaboration, Spanish Ministry of Education (FPU), ComputaciĂłn de Altas Prestaciones VI (TIN2012-34557), Generalitat de Catalunya (2014-SGR-1051) and the grant SEV-2011-00067 of the Severo Ochoa Program.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version
Exact Kohn-Sham exchange kernel for insulators and its long-wavelength behavior
We present an exact expression for the frequency-dependent Kohn-Sham
exact-exchange (EXX) kernel for periodic insulators, which can be employed for
the calculation of electronic response properties within time-dependent (TD)
density-functional theory. It is shown that the EXX kernel has a
long-wavelength divergence behavior of the exact full exchange-correlation
kernel and thus rectifies one serious shortcoming of the adiabatic
local-density approximation and generalized-gradient approximations kernels. A
comparison between the TDEXX and the GW-approximation-Bethe-Salpeter-equation
approach is also made.Comment: two column format 6 pages + 1 figure, to be publisehd in Physical
Review
A large-solid-angle X-ray Raman scattering spectrometer at ID20 of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility
An end-station for X-ray Raman scattering spectroscopy at beamline ID20 of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility is described. This end-station is dedicated to the study of shallow core electronic excitations using non-resonant inelastic X-ray scattering. The spectrometer has 72 spherically bent analyzer crystals arranged in six modular groups of 12 analyzer crystals each for a combined maximum flexibility and large solid angle of detection. Each of the six analyzer modules houses one pixelated area detector allowing for X-ray Raman scattering based imaging and efficient separation of the desired signal from the sample and spurious scattering from the often used complicated sample environments. This new end-station provides an unprecedented instrument for X-ray Raman scattering, which is a spectroscopic tool of great interest for the study of low-energy X-ray absorption spectra in materials under insitu conditions, such as inoperando batteries and fuel cells, insitu catalytic reactions, and extreme pressure and temperature conditions.Peer reviewe
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Fragments of an Early Islamic Arabic Papyrus from Khirbat Hamra Ifdan
Excavations in 2013 at the site of Khirbet HamrÄ IfdÄn in the FaynÄn revealed several pieces of an Arabic papyrus, the first ever found in Jordan. Although the papyrus is poorly preserved, a detailed analysis of the fragments based on parallels have suggested that it dates to the late seventh/earlyâmid-eighth century AD. This article discusses the papyrus fragments and places them within their papyrological and archaeological contexts
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