563 research outputs found
Attractive instability of oppositely charged membranes induced by charge density fluctuations
We predict the conditions under which two oppositely charged membranes show a
dynamic, attractive instability. Two layers with unequal charges of opposite
sign can repel or be stable when in close proximity. However, dynamic charge
density fluctuations can induce an attractive instability and thus facilitate
fusion. We predict the dominant instability modes and timescales and show how
these are controlled by the relative charge and membrane viscosities. These
dynamic instabilities may be the precursors of membrane fusion in systems where
artificial vesicles are engulfed by biological cells of opposite charge
A Molecular Line Survey of the Highly Evolved Carbon Star CIT 6
We present a spectral line survey of the C-rich envelope CIT 6 in the 2mm and
1.3mm bands carried out with the Arizona Radio Observatory (ARO) 12m telescope
and the Heinrich Hertz Submillimeter Telescope (SMT). The observations cover
the frequency ranges of 131--160 GHz, 219--244 GHz, and 252--268 GHz with
typical sensitivity limit of T_R<10 mK. A total of 74 individual emission
features are detected, of which 69 are identified to arise from 21 molecular
species and isotopologues, with 5 faint lines remaining unidentified. Two new
molecules (C4H and CH3CN) and seven new isotopologues (C17O, 29SiC2, 29SiO,
30SiO, 13CS, C33S, and CS) are detected in this object for the first time. The
column densities, excitation temperatures, and fractional abundances of the
detected molecules are determined using rotation diagram analysis. Comparison
of the spectra of CIT 6 to that of IRC+10216 suggests that the spectral
properties of CIT 6 are generally consistent with those of IRC+10216. For most
of the molecular species, the intensity ratios of the lines detected in the two
objects are in good agreement with each other. Nevertheless, there is evidence
suggesting enhanced emission from CN and HC3N and depleted emission from HCN,
SiS, and C4H in CIT 6. Based on their far-IR spectra, we find that CIT 6
probably has a lower dust-to-molecular gas ratio than IRC+10216. To investigate
the chemical evolution of evolved stars, we compare the molecular abundances in
the AGB envelopes CIT 6 and IRC+10216 and those in the bright proto-planetary
nebula CRL 618. The implication on the circumstellar chemistry is discussed.Comment: 39 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Our Sun. IV. The Standard Model and Helioseismology: Consequences of Uncertainties in Input Physics and in Observed Solar Parameters
Helioseismology provides a powerful tool to explore the deep interior of the
Sun: for example, the adiabatic sound speed can be inferred with an accuracy of
a few parts in 10,000. This has become a serious challenge to theoretical
models of the Sun. Therefore, we have undertaken a self-consistent, systematic
study of sources of uncertainties in the standard solar model, which must be
understood before the helioseismic observations can be used as constraints on
theory. We find that the largest uncertainty in the sound speed in the solar
interior, namely, 3 parts in 1000, arises from uncertainties in the observed
photospheric abundances of the elements; uncertainties of 1 part in 1000 arise
from (1) the 4% uncertainty in the OPAL opacities, (2) the 5% uncertainty in
the basic pp nuclear reaction rate, (3) the 15% uncertainty in the diffusion
constants for the gravitational settling of helium, and (4) the 50%
uncertainties in diffusion constants for the heavier elements. (Other
investigators have shown that similar uncertainties arise from uncertainties in
the interior equation of state and in rotation-induced turbulent mixing.) The
predicted pre-main-sequence solar lithium depletion is a factor of order 20 (an
order of magnitude larger than that predicted by earlier models that neglected
gravitational settling and used older opacities), and is uncertain by a factor
of 2. The predicted neutrino capture rate is uncertain by 30% for the Cl-37
experiment and by 3% for the Ga-71 experiments (not including uncertainties in
the capture cross sections), while the B-8 neutrino flux is uncertain by 30%.Comment: LaTeX, 38 pages (including 8 figures); ApJ, in press. Added
figures/color figurea available at
http://www.cita.utoronto.ca/~boothroy/sun4.htm
EXACT2: the semantics of biomedical protocols
© 2014 Soldatova et al.; licensee BioMed Central. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Background: The reliability and reproducibility of experimental procedures is a cornerstone of scientific practice. There is a pressing technological need for the better representation of biomedical protocols to enable other agents (human or machine) to better reproduce results. A framework that ensures that all information required for the replication of experimental protocols is essential to achieve reproducibility. Methods: We have developed the ontology EXACT2 (EXperimental ACTions) that is designed to capture the full semantics of biomedical protocols required for their reproducibility. To construct EXACT2 we manually inspected hundreds of published and commercial biomedical protocols from several areas of biomedicine. After establishing a clear pattern for extracting the required information we utilized text-mining tools to translate the protocols into a machine amenable format. We have verified the utility of EXACT2 through the successful processing of previously âunseenâ (not used for the construction of EXACT2) protocols. Results: The paper reports on a fundamentally new version EXACT2 that supports the semantically-defined representation of biomedical protocols. The ability of EXACT2 to capture the semantics of biomedical procedures was verified through a text mining use case. In this EXACT2 is used as a reference model for text mining tools to identify terms pertinent to experimental actions, and their properties, in biomedical protocols expressed in natural language. An EXACT2-based framework for the translation of biomedical protocols to a machine amenable format is proposed. Conclusions: The EXACT2 ontology is sufficient to record, in a machine processable form, the essential information about biomedical protocols. EXACT2 defines explicit semantics of experimental actions, and can be used by various computer applications. It can serve as a reference model for for the translation of biomedical protocols in natural language into a semantically-defined format.This work has been partially funded by the Brunel University BRIEF award and a grant from Occams Resources
Environmental Determinants of the Distribution and Abundance of the Ants, Lasiophanes picinus and L. valdiviensis, in Argentina
The distribution and abundance variation of the terrestrial ants, Lasiophanes picinus and Lasiophanes valdiviensis Emery (Formicinae: Lasiini), which are endemic in Patagonia (Argentina and Chile), are described and a set of environmental factors are examined to explain the observed patterns. Ants were collected using 450 pitfall traps arranged in 50, 100 m2 grid plots each with nine traps within a roughly 150 Ă 150 km area representative of the subantartic-patagonian transition of Argentina. Five sampling periods each 8-days long were carried out between November 2004 and March 2006. To understand the distributional patterns and their link to environmental variables discriminant analysis was used. Path analysis was performed to test for direct and indirect effects of a set of environmental variables on species abundance variation. L. picinus was more frequently captured and attained higher abundance in the forests, while L. valdiviensis was more frequently captured and more abundant in the scrubs. The maximum daily temperature and mean annual precipitation explained L. picinus distribution (i.e. presence or absence) with an accuracy of 90%. L. valdiviensis distribution was predicted with almost 70% accuracy, taking into account herbal richness. The maximum daily temperature was the only climatic variable that affected ant abundance directly; an increase in temperature led to an increase of L. picinus abundance and a decrease of L. valdiviensis abundance. The amount of resources, as indicated by the percent plant cover, explained the variation of the abundance of both species better than the variety of resources as indicated by plant richness (i.e. models including plant richness had low fit or no fit at all). A direct effect of habitat use by cattle was found, as indicated by the amount of feces in the plots, only when variables related to the amount of resources were replaced by variables with less explanatory power related to the variety of resources. This study provides new data on the ecology of Lasiophanes species in relation to existing hypotheses proposed to explain patterns of abundance variation. Evidence is provided that changes in temperature (i.e. global climate change) may have important consequences on populations of these species
The Central Temperature of the Sun can be Measured via the Be Solar Neutrino Line
A precise test of the theory of stellar evolution can be performed by
measuring the difference in average energy between the neutrino line produced
by electron capture in the solar interior and the corresponding
neutrino line produced in a terrestrial laboratory. The high temperatures in
the center of the sun broaden the line asymmetrically, FWHM = 1.6~keV, and
cause an average energy shift of 1.3~keV. The width of the Be neutrino line
should be taken into account in calculations of vacuum neutrino oscillations.Comment: RevTeX file, 9 pages. For hardcopy with figure, send to
[email protected]. Institute for Advanced Study number AST 93/4
The O-Na and Mg-Al Anticorrelations in Turn-Off and early Subgiants in Globular Clusters
High dispersion spectra (R>40,000) for a quite large number of stars at the
main sequence turn-off and at the base of the subgiant branch in NGC6397 and
NGC6752 were obtained with the UVES on Kueyen (VLT UT2). The [Fe/H] values we
found are -2.03+/-0.02+/-0.04 and -1.42+/-0.02+/-0.04 for NGC6397 and NGC6752
respectively, where the first error bars refer to internal errors and the
second ones to systematic errors. In both clusters the [Fe/H] obtained for
TO-stars agree perfectly (within a few per cents) with that obtained for stars
at the base of the RGB. The [O/Fe]=0.21+/-0.05 value we obtain for NGC6397 is
quite low, but it agrees with previous results obtained for giants in this
cluster; also, the star-to-star scatter in both O and Fe is very small,
indicating that this small mass cluster is chemically very homogenous. On the
other side, our results show clearly and for the first time that the O-Na
anticorrelation (up to now seen only for stars on the red giant branches of
globular clusters) is present among unevolved stars in the globular cluster
NGC6752, a more massive cluster than NGC6397. A similar anticorrelation is
present also for Mg and Al, and C and N. It is very difficult to explain the
observed Na-O, and Mg-Al anticorrelation in NGC6752 stars by a deep mixing
scenario; we think it requires some non internal mechanism.Comment: 20 pages, A&A Latex, including 7 .ps figures, tex-macro aa.cls, uses
psfig.tex. submitted to Astronomy & Astrophysic
Observable Signatures of Planet Accretion in Red Giant Stars I: Rapid Rotation and Light Element Replenishment
The orbital angular momentum of a close-orbiting giant planet can be
sufficiently large that, if transferred to the envelope of the host star during
the red giant branch (RGB) evolution, it can spin-up the star's rotation to
unusually large speeds. This spin-up mechanism is one possible explanation for
the rapid rotators detected among the population of generally slow-rotating red
giant stars. These rapid rotators thus comprise a unique stellar sample
suitable for searching for signatures of planet accretion in the form of
unusual stellar abundances due to the dissemination of the accreted planet in
the stellar envelope. In this study, we look for signatures of replenishment in
the Li abundances and (to a lesser extent) 12C/13C, which are both normally
lowered during RGB evolution. Accurate abundances were measured from high
signal-to-noise echelle spectra for samples of both slow and rapid rotator red
giant stars. We find that the rapid rotators are on average enriched in lithium
compared to the slow rotators, but both groups of stars have identical
distributions of 12C/13C within our measurement precision. Both of these
abundance results are consistent with the accretion of planets of only a few
Jupiter masses. We also explore alternative scenarios for understanding the
most Li-rich stars in our sample---particularly Li regeneration during various
stages of stellar evolution. Finally, we find that our stellar samples show
non-standard abundances even at early RGB stages, suggesting that initial
protostellar Li abundances and 12C/13C may be more variable than originally
thought.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. 29 pages in
emulateapj format, including 16 figures and 12 tables. Tables 4 and 8 are
provided in their entirety as plain text ancillary files (and will also be
available in the electronic edition of ApJ
Theory of Cylindrical Tubules and Helical Ribbons of Chiral Lipid Membranes
We present a general theory for the equilibrium structure of cylindrical
tubules and helical ribbons of chiral lipid membranes. This theory is based on
a continuum elastic free energy that permits variations in the direction of
molecular tilt and in the curvature of the membrane. The theory shows that the
formation of tubules and helical ribbons is driven by the chirality of the
membrane. Tubules have a first-order transition from a uniform state to a
helically modulated state, with periodic stripes in the tilt direction and
ripples in the curvature. Helical ribbons can be stable structures, or they can
be unstable intermediate states in the formation of tubules.Comment: 43 pages, including 12 postscript figures, uses REVTeX 3.0 and
epsf.st
See-saw Enhancement of Lepton Mixing
The see-saw mechanism of neutrino mass generation may enhance lepton mixing
up to maximal even if the Dirac mass matrices of leptons have structure similar
to that in the quark sector. Two sets of conditions for such an enhancement are
found. The first one includes the see-saw generation of heavy Majorana masses
for right-handed neutrinos and a universality of
Yukawa couplings which can follow from the unification of neutrinos with new
superheavy neutral leptons. The second set is related to lepton number symmetry
of the Yukawa interactions in the Dirac basis of neutrinos. Models which
realize these conditions have strong hierarchy or strong degeneration of
Majorana masses of the right-handed neutrinos.Comment: 16 pages, plain TeX document, Institute for Advanced Study number AST
93/1
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