2,584 research outputs found
Selective advantage for multicellular replicative strategies: A two-cell example
This paper develops a quasispecies model where cells can adopt a two-cell
survival strategy. Within this strategy, pairs of cells join together, at which
point one of the cells sacrifices its own replicative ability for the sake of
the other cell. We develop a simplified model for the evolutionary dynamics of
this process, allowing us to solve for the steady-state using standard
approaches from quasispecies theory. We find that our model exhibits two
distinct regimes of behavior: At low concentrations of limiting resource, the
two-cell strategy outcompetes the single-cell survival strategy, while at high
concentrations of limiting resource, the single-cell survival strategy
dominates. Associated with the two solution regimes of our model is a
localization to delocalization transition over the portion of the genome coding
for the multicell strategy, analogous to the error catastrophe in standard
quasispecies models. The existence of such a transition indicates that
multicellularity can emerge because natural selection does not act on specific
cells, but rather on replicative strategies. Within this framework, individual
cells become the means by which replicative strategies are propagated. Such a
framework is therefore consistent with the concept that natural selection does
not act on individuals, but rather on populations.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, to be submitted to Physical Review Letter
A fundamental test of the Higgs Yukawa coupling at RHIC in A+A collisions
Searches for the intermediate boson, , the heavy quantum of the Weak
Interaction, via its semi-leptonic decay, , in the 1970's instead
discovered unexpectedly large hadron production at high , notably ,
which provided a huge background of from internal and external
conversions. Methods developed at the CERN ISR which led to the discovery of
direct-single- in 1974, later determined to be from the semi-leptonic
decay of charm which had not yet been discovered, were used by PHENIX at RHIC
to make precision measurements of heavy quark production in p-p and Au+Au
collisions, leading to the puzzle of apparent equal suppression of light and
heavy quarks in the QGP. If the Higgs mechanism gives mass to gauge bosons but
not to fermions, then a proposal that all 6 quarks are nearly massless in a
QGP, which would resolve the puzzle, can not be excluded. This proposal can be
tested with future measurements of heavy quark correlations in A+A collisionsComment: 12 pages, 16 figures, 26th Winter Workshop on Nuclear Dynamics, Ocho
Rios, Jamaica WI, January 2-9, 2010. Corrected citation of 1974 direct single
lepton discover
Deciphering the properties of the medium produced in heavy ion collisions at RHIC by a pQCD analysis of quenched large spectra
We discuss the question of the relevance of perturbative QCD calculations for
analyzing the properties of the dense medium produced in heavy ion collisions.
Up to now leading order perturbative estimates have been worked out and
confronted with data for quenched large hadron spectra. Some of
them are giving paradoxical results, contradicting the perturbative framework
and leading to speculations such as the formation of a strongly interacting
quark-gluon plasma. Trying to bypass some drawbacks of these leading order
analysis and without performing detailed numerical investigations, we collect
evidence in favour of a consistent description of quenching and of the
characteristics of the produced medium within the pQCD framework.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure
Hadronic centrality dependence in nuclear collisions
The kaon number density in nucleus+nucleus and p+p reactions is investigated
for the first time as a function of the initial energy density and
is found to exhibit a discontinuity around =1.3 GeV/fm. This
suggests a higher degree of chemical equilibrium for
1.3 GeV/fm. It can also be interpreted as reflection of the same
discontinuity, appearing in the chemical freeze out temperature (T) as a
function of . The dependence of (u,d,s) hadrons,
whith N the number of participating nucleons, also indicates a high degree of
chemical equilibrium and T saturation, reached at 1.3 GeV/fm.
Assuming that the intermediate mass region (IMR) dimuon enhancement seen by
NA50 is due to open charm (), the following observation can be made:
a) Charm is not equilibrated. b) suppression -unlike
- appears also in S+A collisions, above 1
GeV/fm. c) Both charm and strangeness show a discontinuity near the same
. d) could be formed mainly through coalescence.
e) The enhancement factors of hadrons with u,d,s,c quarks may be connected in a
simple way to the mass gain of these particles if they are produced out of a
quark gluon plasma (QGP). We discuss these results as possible evidence for the
QCD phase transition occuring near 1.3 GeV/fm.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, proceedings of Vth International Conference on
Strangeness in Quark Matter, 20-25 July 2000, Berkeley, California. To appear
in Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physic
Serum Metabolomics in a Helicobacter hepaticus Mouse Model of Inflammatory Bowel Disease Reveal Important Changes in the Microbiome, Serum Peptides, and Intermediary Metabolism
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic relapsing inflammatory disorder of the bowel. The etiology remains unknown, but IBD is immune-driven and multiple factors including genetic, environmental, and microbiological components play a role. Recombinase-activating gene-2-deficient (Rag2–/–) mice infected with Helicobacter hepaticus (H. hepaticus) have been developed as an animal model to imitate naturally occurring inflammatory events and associated key features of chronic inflammatory responses in humans. In this study, we have combined mass spectrometry-based metabolomics and peptidomics to analyze serum samples of Rag2–/– mice infected with H. hepaticus. Metabolomics profiling revealed that H. hepaticus infection dramatically changed numerous metabolite pathways, including tryptophan metabolism, glycerophospholipids, methionine-homocysteine cycle, citrate cycle, fatty acid metabolism and purine metabolism, with the majority of metabolites being down-regulated. In particular, there were notable effects of gut microflora on the blood metabolites in infected animals. In addition, the peptidomics approach identified a number of peptides, originating from proteins, including fibrinogen, complement C4, and alpha-2-macroglobulin, with diverse biological functions with potentially important implications for the progress of IBD. In summary, the strategy of integrating a relevant animal model and sensitive mass spectrometry-based profiling may offer a new perspective to explore biomarkers and provide mechanistic insights into IBD.National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (MIT Center for Environmental Health Sciences, NIEHS grant (Grant No. ES002109))Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT-Merck Fellowship
Transverse momentum fluctuations and percolation of strings
The behaviour of the transverse momentum fluctuations with the centrality of
the collision shown by the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider data is naturally
explained by the clustering of color sources. In this framework, elementary
color sources --strings-- overlap forming clusters, so the number of effective
sources is modified. These clusters decay into particles with mean transverse
momentum that depends on the number of elementary sources that conform each
cluster, and the area occupied by the cluster. The transverse momentum
fluctuations in this approach correspond to the fluctuations of the transverse
momentum of these clusters, and they behave essentially as the number of
effective sources.Comment: 16 pages, RevTex, 4 postscript figures. Enhanced version. New figure
Offenders' Crime Narratives across Different Types of Crimes
The current study explores the roles offenders see themselves playing during an offence and their relationship to different crime types. One hundred and twenty incarcerated offenders indicated the narrative roles they acted out whilst committing a specific crime they remembered well. The data were subjected to Smallest Space Analysis (SSA) and four
themes were identified: Hero, Professional, Revenger and Victim in line with the recent theoretical framework posited for Narrative Offence Roles (Youngs & Canter, 2012). Further analysis showed that different subsets of crimes were more like to be associated with different narrative offence roles. Hero and Professional were found to be associated with property offences (theft, burglary and shoplifting), drug offences and robbery and Revenger
and Victim were found to be associated with violence, sexual offences and murder. The theoretical implications for understanding crime on the basis of offenders' narrative roles as well as practical implications are discussed
- …