Interpolation of the Josephson interaction in highly anisotropic superconductors from a solution of the two dimensional sine-Gordon equation

In this paper we solve numerically the two dimensional elliptic sine-Gordon equation with appropriate boundary conditions. These boundary conditions are chosen to correspond to the Josephson interaction between two adjacent pancakes belonging to the same flux-line in a highly anisotropic superconductor. An extrapolation is obtained between the regimes of low and high separation of the pancakes. The resulting formula is a better candidate for use in numerical simulations than previously derived formulas.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figure

A tale of three kingdoms: Members of the Phylum Nematoda independently acquired the detoxifying enzyme cyanase through horizontal gene transfer from plants and bacteria

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) has played an important role in the evolution of nematodes. Among candidate genes, cyanase, which is typically found only in plants, bacteria and fungi, is present in more than 35 members of the Phylum Nematoda, but absent from free-living and clade V organisms. Phylogenetic analyses showed that the cyanases of clade I organisms Trichinella spp., Trichuris spp. and Soboliphyme baturini (Subclass: Dorylaimia) represent a well-supported monophyletic clade with plant cyanases. In contrast, all cyanases found within the Subclass Chromadoria which encompasses filarioids, ascaridoids and strongyloids are homologous to those of bacteria. Western blots exhibited typical multimeric forms of the native molecule in protein extracts of Trichinella spiralis muscle larvae, where immunohisto- chemical staining localized the protein to the worm hypodermis and underlying muscle. Recombinant Trichinella cyanase was bioactive where gene transcription profiles support functional activity in vivo. Results suggest that: (1) independent HGT in parasitic nematodes originated from different Kingdoms; (2) cyanase acquired an active role in the biology of extant Trichinella; (3) acquisition occurred more than 400 million years ago (MYA), prior to the divergence of the Trichinellida and Dioctophymatida, and (4) early, free-living ances- tors of the genus Trichinella had an association with terrestrial plants

Flux melting in BSCCO: Incorporating both electromagnetic and Josephson couplings

Multilevel Monte Carlo simulations of a BSCCO system are carried out including both Josephson as well as electromagnetic couplings for a range of anisotropies. A first order melting transition of the flux lattice is seen on increasing the temperature and/or the magnetic field. The phase diagram for BSCCO is obtained for different values of the anisotropy parameter $\gamma$. The best fit to the experimental results of D. Majer {\it et al.} [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 75}, 1166 (1995)] is obtained for $\gamma\approx 250$ provided one assumes a temperature dependence $\lambda^2(0)/\lambda^2(T)=1-t$ of the penetration depth with $t=T/T_c$. Assuming a dependence $\lambda^2(0)/\lambda^2(T)=1-t^2$ the best fit is obtained for $\gamma\approx 450$. For finite anisotropy the data is shown to collapse on a straight line when plotted in dimensionless units which shows that the melting transition can be satisfied with a single Lindemann parameter whose value is about 0.3. A different scaling applies to the $\gamma=\infty$ case. The energy jump is measured across the transition and for large values of $\gamma$ it is found to increase with increasing anisotropy and to decrease with increasing magnetic field. For infinite anisotropy we see a 2D behavior of flux droplets with a transition taking place at a temperature independent of the magnetic field. We also show that for smaller values of anisotropy it is reasonable to replace the electromagnetic coupling with an in-plane interaction represented by a Bessel function of the second kind ($K_0$), thus justifying our claim in a previous paper.Comment: 12 figures, revtex

String Cosmology in Anisotropic Bianchi-II Space-time

The present study deals with a spatially homogeneous and anisotropic Bianchi-II cosmological model representing massive strings. The energy-momentum tensor, as formulated by Letelier (1983), has been used to construct a massive string cosmological model for which the expansion scalar is proportional to one of the components of shear tensor. The Einstein's field equations have been solved by applying a variation law for generalized Hubble's parameter that yields a constant value of deceleration parameter in Bianchi-II space-time. A comparative study of accelerating and decelerating modes of the evolution of universe has been carried out in the presence of string scenario. The study reveals that massive strings dominate the early Universe. The strings eventually disappear from the Universe for sufficiently large times, which is in agreement with the current astronomical observations.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures (To appear in Mod. Phys. Lett. A) In this version, the cosmic string has been directed along z-direction and the resultant field equations have been solved exactl

Molecular Analysis of a Leprosy Immunotherapeutic Bacillus Provides Insights into Mycobacterium Evolution

BACKGROUND: Evolutionary dynamics plays a central role in facilitating the mechanisms of species divergence among pathogenic and saprophytic mycobacteria. The ability of mycobacteria to colonize hosts, to proliferate and to cause diseases has evolved due to its predisposition to various evolutionary forces acting over a period of time. Mycobacterium indicus pranii (MIP), a taxonomically unknown 'generalist' mycobacterium, acts as an immunotherapeutic against leprosy and is approved for use as a vaccine against it. The large-scale field trials of this MIP based leprosy vaccine coupled with its demonstrated immunomodulatory and adjuvant property has led to human clinical evaluations of MIP in interventions against HIV-AIDS, psoriasis and bladder cancer. MIP, commercially available as 'Immuvac', is currently the focus of advanced phase III clinical trials for its antituberculosis efficacy. Thus a comprehensive analysis of MIP vis-à-vis evolutionary path, underpinning its immanent immunomodulating properties is of the highest desiderata. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Genome wide comparisons together with molecular phylogenetic analyses by fluorescent amplified fragment length polymorphism (FAFLP), enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC) based genotyping and candidate orthologues sequencing revealed that MIP has been the predecessor of highly pathogenic Mycobacterium avium intracellulare complex (MAIC) that did not resort to parasitic adaptation by reductional gene evolution and therefore, preferred a free living life-style. Further analysis suggested a shared aquatic phase of MAIC bacilli with the early pathogenic forms of Mycobacterium, well before the latter diverged as 'specialists'. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: This evolutionary paradigm possibly affirms to marshall our understanding about the acquisition and optimization of virulence in mycobacteria and determinants of boundaries therein

Polyphasic Taxonomic Analysis Establishes Mycobacterium indicus pranii as a Distinct Species

that integrate its phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and molecular phylogenetic attributes..

Practical long-distance quantum key distribution system using decoy levels

Quantum key distribution (QKD) has the potential for widespread real-world applications. To date no secure long-distance experiment has demonstrated the truly practical operation needed to move QKD from the laboratory to the real world due largely to limitations in synchronization and poor detector performance. Here we report results obtained using a fully automated, robust QKD system based on the Bennett Brassard 1984 protocol (BB84) with low-noise superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) and decoy levels. Secret key is produced with unconditional security over a record 144.3 km of optical fibre, an increase of more than a factor of five compared to the previous record for unconditionally secure key generation in a practical QKD system.Comment: 9 page

LexMa: Tabular data to knowledge graph matching using lexical techniques

With the fundamentals of lives dependent upon the extensive use of the internet-based searches for common life items, there is an ever-growing demand of the quick and meaningful search query systems. This has given the rise of the concept called Semantic Web. There are many challenges in developing the Semantic Web however one fundamental challenge is to design systems to enable the semantic access to the information in tabular data (e.g., Web tables). In this paper, we discuss one such system which has been developed for the automatic annotation of the tabular data using a knowledge graph. We call this system LexMa. Our system is based on lexical matching techniques. LexMa has participated in the Semantic Web Challenge on Tabular Data to Knowledge Graph Matching (SemTab 2020)