707 research outputs found
Draft Genome Sequence of the Biocontrol Strain Serratia plymuthica A30, Isolated from Rotting Potato Tuber Tissue
Serratia plymuthica A30 is a Gram-negative bacterium expressing antagonistic activity toward blackleg- and soft rot-causing Dickeya sp. biovar 3 (“Dickeya solani”). Here, we present the draft genome sequence of strain A30, which has been isolated from rotten potato tuber tissu
A new type of reconstruction on the InSb() surface determined by grazing incidence X-ray diffraction
The (3Ă—3) reconstruction of the InSb( ) surface has been investigated by grazing incidence X-ray diffraction and scanning tunneling microscopy. The structure is characterized by 6-atom rings on top of a slightly buckled InSb top double layer. Two types of rings have been found, an elliptic ring consisting of 4 In and 2 Sb atoms and a trigonal ring with 3 In and 3 Sb atoms. The bond angles and lengths are consistent with the concept of rehybridization and depolarization which explains the reconstructions of the (111) and (110) surfaces
Mounding Instability and Incoherent Surface Kinetics
Mounding instability in a conserved growth from vapor is analysed within the
framework of adatom kinetics on the growing surface. The analysis shows that
depending on the local structure on the surface, kinetics of adatoms may vary,
leading to disjoint regions in the sense of a continuum description. This is
manifested particularly under the conditions of instability. Mounds grow on
these disjoint regions and their lateral growth is governed by the flux of
adatoms hopping across the steps in the downward direction. Asymptotically
ln(t) dependence is expected in 1+1- dimensions. Simulation results confirm the
prediction. Growth in 2+1- dimensions is also discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Surface Kinetics and Generation of Different Terms in a Conservative Growth Equation
A method based on the kinetics of adatoms on a growing surface under
epitaxial growth at low temperature in (1+1) dimensions is proposed to obtain a
closed form of local growth equation. It can be generalized to any growth
problem as long as diffusion of adatoms govern the surface morphology. The
method can be easily extended to higher dimensions. The kinetic processes
contributing to various terms in the growth equation (GE) are identified from
the analysis of in-plane and downward hops. In particular, processes
corresponding to the (h -> -h) symmetry breaking term and curvature dependent
term are discussed. Consequence of these terms on the stable and unstable
transition in (1+1) dimensions is analyzed. In (2+1) dimensions it is shown
that an additional (h -> -h) symmetry breaking term is generated due to the
in-plane curvature associated with the mound like structures. This term is
independent of any diffusion barrier differences between in-plane and out
of-plane migration. It is argued that terms generated in the presence of
downward hops are the relevant terms in a GE. Growth equation in the closed
form is obtained for various growth models introduced to capture most of the
processes in experimental Molecular Beam Epitaxial growth. Effect of
dissociation is also considered and is seen to have stabilizing effect on the
growth. It is shown that for uphill current the GE approach fails to describe
the growth since a given GE is not valid over the entire substrate.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure
Strategic investment explains patterns of cooperation and cheating in a microbe
Contributing to cooperation is typically costly, while its rewards are often available to all members of a social group. So why should individuals be willing to pay these costs, especially if they could cheat by exploiting the investments of others? Kin selection theory broadly predicts that individuals should invest more into cooperation if their relatedness to group members is high (assuming they can discriminate kin from nonkin). To better understand how relatedness affects cooperation, we derived the ‟Collective Investment" game, which provides quantitative predictions for patterns of strategic investment depending on the level of relatedness. We then tested these predictions by experimentally manipulating relatedness (genotype frequencies) in mixed cooperative aggregations of the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum, which builds a stalk to facilitate spore dispersal. Measurements of stalk investment by natural strains correspond to the predicted patterns of relatedness-dependent strategic investment, wherein investment by a strain increases with its relatedness to the group. Furthermore, if overall group relatedness is relatively low (i.e., no strain is at high frequency in a group) strains face a scenario akin to the "Prisoner's Dilemma" and suffer from insufficient collective investment. We find that strains employ relatedness-dependent segregation to avoid these pernicious conditions. These findings demonstrate that simple organisms like D. discoideum are not restricted to being ‟cheaters" or ‟cooperators" but instead measure their relatedness to their group and strategically modulate their investment into cooperation accordingly. Consequently, all individuals will sometimes appear to cooperate and sometimes cheat due to the dynamics of strategic investing
M-theory on `toric' G_2 cones and its type II reduction
We analyze a class of conical G_2 metrics admitting two commuting isometries,
together with a certain one-parameter family of G_2 deformations which
preserves these symmetries. Upon using recent results of Calderbank and
Pedersen, we write down the explicit G_2 metric for the most general member of
this family and extract the IIA reduction of M-theory on such backgrounds, as
well as its type IIB dual. By studying the asymptotics of type II fields around
the relevant loci, we confirm the interpretation of such backgrounds in terms
of localized IIA 6-branes and delocalized IIB 5-branes. In particular, we find
explicit, general expressions for the string coupling and R-R/NS-NS forms in
the vicinity of these objects. Our solutions contain and generalize the field
configurations relevant for certain models considered in recent work of Acharya
and Witten.Comment: 45 pages, references adde
Unconventional MBE Strategies from Computer Simulations for Optimized Growth Conditions
We investigate the influence of step edge diffusion (SED) and desorption on
Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) using kinetic Monte-Carlo simulations of the
solid-on-solid (SOS) model. Based on these investigations we propose two
strategies to optimize MBE growth. The strategies are applicable in different
growth regimes: During layer-by-layer growth one can exploit the presence of
desorption in order to achieve smooth surfaces. By additional short high flux
pulses of particles one can increase the growth rate and assist layer-by-layer
growth. If, however, mounds are formed (non-layer-by-layer growth) the SED can
be used to control size and shape of the three-dimensional structures. By
controlled reduction of the flux with time we achieve a fast coarsening
together with smooth step edges.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Intersecting 6-branes from new 7-manifolds with G_2 holonomy
We discuss a new family of metrics of 7-manifolds with G_2 holonomy, which
are R^3 bundles over a quaternionic space. The metrics depend on five
parameters and have two Abelian isometries. Certain singularities of the G_2
manifolds are related to fixed points of these isometries; there are two
combinations of Killing vectors that possess co-dimension four fixed points
which yield upon compactification only intersecting D6-branes if one also
identifies two parameters. Two of the remaining parameters are quantized and we
argue that they are related to the number of D6-branes, which appear in three
stacks. We perform explicitly the reduction to the type IIA model.Comment: 25 pages, 1 figure, Latex, small changes and add refs, version
appeared in JHE
Probing the close environment of young stellar objects with interferometry
The study of Young Stellar Objects (YSOs) is one of the most exciting topics
that can be undertaken by long baseline optical interferometry. The magnitudes
of these objects are at the edge of capabilities of current optical
interferometers, limiting the studies to a few dozen, but are well within the
capability of coming large aperture interferometers like the VLT
Interferometer, the Keck Interferometer, the Large Binocular Telescope or
'OHANA. The milli-arcsecond spatial resolution reached by interferometry probes
the very close environment of young stars, down to a tenth of an astronomical
unit. In this paper, I review the different aspects of star formation that can
be tackled by interferometry: circumstellar disks, multiplicity, jets. I
present recent observations performed with operational infrared
interferometers, IOTA, PTI and ISI, and I show why in the next future one will
extend these studies with large aperture interferometers.Comment: Review to be published in JENAM'2002 proceedings "The Very Large
Telescope Interferometer Challenges for the future
A probabilistic model for gene content evolution with duplication, loss, and horizontal transfer
We introduce a Markov model for the evolution of a gene family along a
phylogeny. The model includes parameters for the rates of horizontal gene
transfer, gene duplication, and gene loss, in addition to branch lengths in the
phylogeny. The likelihood for the changes in the size of a gene family across
different organisms can be calculated in O(N+hM^2) time and O(N+M^2) space,
where N is the number of organisms, is the height of the phylogeny, and M
is the sum of family sizes. We apply the model to the evolution of gene content
in Preoteobacteria using the gene families in the COG (Clusters of Orthologous
Groups) database
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