Uptake of branched-chain alpha-keto acids in \u3ci\u3eBacillus subtilis\u3c/i\u3e

Bacillus subtilis has a constitutive system for the uptake of alpha-keto-beta-methylvalerate, alpha-ketoisovalerate, and (probably) alpha-ketoisocaproate. A mutation, kauA1, which blocks the uptake of alpha-keto-beta-methylvalerate and alpha-ketoisovalerate, is located between metB and citK on the B. subtilis chromosome

Duration discrimination in younger and older adults

Ten normal hearing young adults and ten older adults were asked to identify the longer of two sequentially presented tones. The duration of the standard tones ranged from 1.5 ms to 1000 ms across blocks. Duration discrimination was not related to audiometric thresholds. These results show that older adults are much more disadvantaged than young adults when discriminating very short durations (i.e., below 40 ms) that are characteristic of speech sounds, and that this disadvantage cannot be accounted for by hearing levels

Antichain cutsets of strongly connected posets

Rival and Zaguia showed that the antichain cutsets of a finite Boolean lattice are exactly the level sets. We show that a similar characterization of antichain cutsets holds for any strongly connected poset of locally finite height. As a corollary, we get such a characterization for semimodular lattices, supersolvable lattices, Bruhat orders, locally shellable lattices, and many more. We also consider a generalization to strongly connected hypergraphs having finite edges.Comment: 12 pages; v2 contains minor fixes for publicatio

Nondestructive evaluation of sintered ceramics

Radiography and several acoustic and thermoacoustic microscopy techniques are investigated for application to structural ceramics for advanced heat engines. A comparison is made of the results obtained from the use of scanning acoustic microscopy (SAM), scanning laser acoustic microscopy (SLAM), and thermoacoustic microscopy (TAM). These techniques are evaluated on research samples of green and sintered monolithic silicon nitrides and silicon carbides in the form of modulus-of-rupture (MOR) bars containing deliberately introduced flaws. Strengths and limitations of the techniques are described, with the emphasis being on statistics of detectability of flaws that constitute potential fracture origins. Further, it is shown that radiographic evaluation and guidance helped develop uniform high-density Si3N4 MOR bars with improved four-point flexural strength (875, 544, and 462 MPa at room temperature, 1200 C, 1370 C, respectively) and reduced scatter in bend strength

Non-Perturbative U(1) Gauge Theory at Finite Temperature

For compact U(1) lattice gauge theory (LGT) we have performed a finite size scaling analysis on $N_{\tau} N_s^3$ lattices for $N_{\tau}$ fixed by extrapolating spatial volumes of size $N_s\le 18$ to $N_s\to\infty$. Within the numerical accuracy of the thus obtained fits we find for $N_{\tau}=4$, 5 and~6 second order critical exponents, which exhibit no obvious $N_{\tau}$ dependence. The exponents are consistent with 3d Gaussian values, but not with either first order transitions or the universality class of the 3d XY model. As the 3d Gaussian fixed point is known to be unstable, the scenario of a yet unidentified non-trivial fixed point close to the 3d Gaussian emerges as one of the possible explanations.Comment: Extended version after referee reports. 6 pages, 6 figure

Local Two-Photon Couplings and the J=0 Fixed Pole in Real and Virtual Compton Scattering

The local coupling of two photons to the fundamental quark currents of a hadron gives an energy-independent contribution to the Compton amplitude proportional to the charge squared of the struck quark, a contribution which has no analog in hadron scattering reactions. We show that this local contribution has a real phase and is universal, giving the same contribution for real or virtual Compton scattering for any photon virtuality and skewness at fixed momentum transfer squared t. The t-dependence of this J=0 fixed Regge pole is parameterized by a yet unmeasured even charge-conjugation form factor of the target nucleon. The t=0 limit gives an important constraint on the dependence of the nucleon mass on the quark mass through the Weisberger relation. We discuss how this 1/x form factor can be extracted from high energy deeply virtual Compton scattering and examine predictions given by models of the H generalized parton distribution.Comment: 20 pages, 15 figure

Hadron Spin Dynamics

Spin effects in exclusive and inclusive reactions provide an essential new dimension for testing QCD and unraveling hadron structure. Remarkable new experiments from SLAC, HERMES (DESY), and the Jefferson Laboratory present many challenges to theory, including measurements at HERMES and SMC of the single spin asymmetries in pion electroproduction, where the proton is polarized normal to the scattering plane. This type of single spin asymmetry may be due to the effects of rescattering of the outgoing quark on the spectators of the target proton, an effect usually neglected in conventional QCD analyses. Many aspects of spin, such as single-spin asymmetries and baryon magnetic moments are sensitive to the dynamics of hadrons at the amplitude level, rather than probability distributions. I illustrate the novel features of spin dynamics for relativistic systems by examining the explicit form of the light-front wavefunctions for the two-particle Fock state of the electron in QED, thus connecting the Schwinger anomalous magnetic moment to the spin and orbital momentum carried by its Fock state constituents and providing a transparent basis for understanding the structure of relativistic composite systems and their matrix elements in hadronic physics. I also present a survey of outstanding spin puzzles in QCD, particularly the double transverse spin asymmetry A_{NN} in elastic proton-proton scattering, the J/psi to rho-pi puzzle, and J/psi polarization at the Tevatron.Comment: Concluding theory talk presented at SPIN2001, the Third Circum-Pan-Pacific Symposium on High Energy Physics, October, 2001, Beijin

Four generated, squarefree, monomial ideals

Let $I\supsetneq J$ be two squarefree monomial ideals of a polynomial algebra over a field generated in degree $\geq d$, resp. $\geq d+1$ . Suppose that $I$ is either generated by three monomials of degrees $d$ and a set of monomials of degrees $\geq d+1$, or by four special monomials of degrees $d$. If the Stanley depth of $I/J$ is $\leq d+1$ then the usual depth of $I/J$ is $\leq d+1$ too.Comment: to appear in "Bridging Algebra, Geometry, and Topology", Editors Denis Ibadula, Willem Veys, Springer Proceed. in Math. and Statistics, 96, 201

Hadronic Spectra and Light-Front Wavefunctions in Holographic QCD

We show how the string amplitude $\Phi(z)$ defined on the fifth dimension in AdS$_5$ space can be precisely mapped to the light-front wavefunctions of hadrons in physical spacetime. We find an exact correspondence between the holographic variable $z$ and an impact variable $\zeta$, which represents the measure of transverse separation of the constituents within the hadrons. In addition, we derive effective four dimensional Schr\"odinger equations for the bound states of massless quarks and gluons which exactly reproduce the AdS/CFT results and give a realistic description of the light-quark meson and baryon spectrum as well as the form factors for spacelike $Q^2$. Only one parameter which sets the mass scale, $\Lambda_{QCD}$, is introduced.Comment: 4 pages, REVTex4, 2 figures. References added. To appear in Phys. Rev. Let