Rupture of multiple parallel molecular bonds under dynamic loading

Biological adhesion often involves several pairs of specific receptor-ligand molecules. Using rate equations, we study theoretically the rupture of such multiple parallel bonds under dynamic loading assisted by thermal activation. For a simple generic type of cooperativity, both the rupture time and force exhibit several different scaling regimes. The dependence of the rupture force on the number of bonds is predicted to be either linear, like a square root or logarithmic.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figure

A homological interpretation of the transverse quiver Grassmannians

In recent articles, the investigation of atomic bases in cluster algebras associated to affine quivers led the second-named author to introduce a variety called transverse quiver Grassmannian and the first-named and third-named authors to consider the smooth loci of quiver Grassmannians. In this paper, we prove that, for any affine quiver Q, the transverse quiver Grassmannian of an indecomposable representation M is the set of points N in the quiver Grassmannian of M such that Ext^1(N,M/N)=0. As a corollary we prove that the transverse quiver Grassmannian coincides with the smooth locus of the irreducible components of minimal dimension in the quiver Grassmannian.Comment: final version, 7 pages, corollary 1.2 has been modifie

Cycle-finite module categories

We describe the structure of module categories of finite dimensional algebras over an algebraically closed field for which the cycles of nonzero nonisomorphisms between indecomposable finite dimensional modules are finite (do not belong to the infinite Jacobson radical of the module category). Moreover, geometric and homological properties of these module categories are exhibited

Descriptions of membrane mechanics from microscopic and effective two-dimensional perspectives

Mechanics of fluid membranes may be described in terms of the concepts of mechanical deformations and stresses, or in terms of mechanical free-energy functions. In this paper, each of the two descriptions is developed by viewing a membrane from two perspectives: a microscopic perspective, in which the membrane appears as a thin layer of finite thickness and with highly inhomogeneous material and force distributions in its transverse direction, and an effective, two-dimensional perspective, in which the membrane is treated as an infinitely thin surface, with effective material and mechanical properties. A connection between these two perspectives is then established. Moreover, the functional dependence of the variation in the mechanical free energy of the membrane on its mechanical deformations is first studied in the microscopic perspective. The result is then used to examine to what extent different, effective mechanical stresses and forces can be derived from a given, effective functional of the mechanical free energy.Comment: 37 pages, 3 figures, minor change

Gorenstein homological algebra and universal coefficient theorems

We study criteria for a ring—or more generally, for a small category—to be Gorenstein and for a module over it to be of finite projective dimension. The goal is to unify the universal coefficient theorems found in the literature and to develop machinery for proving new ones. Among the universal coefficient theorems covered by our methods we find, besides all the classic examples, several exotic examples arising from the KK-theory of C*-algebras and also Neeman’s Brown–Adams representability theorem for compactly generated categories

On Arnold's 14 `exceptional' N=2 superconformal gauge theories

We study the four-dimensional superconformal N=2 gauge theories engineered by the Type IIB superstring on Arnold's 14 exceptional unimodal singularities (a.k.a. Arnold's strange duality list), thus extending the methods of 1006.3435 to singularities which are not the direct sum of minimal ones. In particular, we compute their BPS spectra in several `strongly coupled' chambers. From the TBA side, we construct ten new periodic Y-systems, providing additional evidence for the existence of a periodic Y-system for each isolated quasi-homogeneous singularity with $\hat c<2$ (more generally, for each N=2 superconformal theory with a finite BPS chamber whose chiral primaries have dimensions of the form N/l).Comment: 73 pages, 7 figure

Organizational innovation in the multinational enterprise: internalization theory and business history

This article engages in a methodological experiment by using historical evidence to challenge a common misperception about internalization theory. The theory has often been criticized for maintaining that it assumes a hierarchically organized MNE based on knowledge flowing from the home country. This is not an accurate description of how global firms operate in recent decades, but this article shows it has never been true historically. Using longitudinal data on individual firms from the nineteenth century onwards, it reveals evidence of how entrepreneurs and firms with multinational activity faced with market imperfections changed the design of their headquarters and their organizational structures

Dynamic force spectroscopy on multiple bonds: experiments and model

We probe the dynamic strength of multiple biotin-streptavidin adhesion bonds under linear loading using the biomembrane force probe setup for dynamic force spectroscopy. Measured rupture force histograms are compared to results from a master equation model for the stochastic dynamics of bond rupture under load. This allows us to extract the distribution of the number of initially closed bonds. We also extract the molecular parameters of the adhesion bonds, in good agreement with earlier results from single bond experiments. Our analysis shows that the peaks in the measured histograms are not simple multiples of the single bond values, but follow from a superposition procedure which generates different peak positions.Comment: to appear in Europhysics Letter