733 research outputs found
Spatiotemporal symmetries in the disynaptic canal-neck projection
The vestibular system in almost all vertebrates, and in particular in humans, controls
balance by employing a set of six semicircular canals, three in each inner ear, to detect angular
accelerations of the head in three mutually orthogonal coordinate planes. Signals from the canals are
transmitted to eight (groups of) neck motoneurons, which activate the eight corresponding muscle
groups. These signals may be either excitatory or inhibitory, depending on the direction of head
acceleration. McCollum and Boyle have observed that in the cat the relevant network of neurons
possesses octahedral symmetry, a structure that they deduce from the known innervation patterns
(connections) from canals to muscles. We rederive the octahedral symmetry from mathematical
features of the probable network architecture, and model the movement of the head in response to
the activation patterns of the muscles concerned. We assume that connections between neck muscles
can be modeled by a “coupled cell network,” a system of coupled ODEs whose variables correspond
to the eight muscles, and that this network also has octahedral symmetry. The network and its
symmetries imply that these ODEs must be equivariant under a suitable action of the octahedral
group. It is observed that muscle motoneurons form natural “push-pull pairs” in which, for given
movements of the head, one neuron produces an excitatory signal, whereas the other produces an
inhibitory signal. By incorporating this feature into the mathematics in a natural way, we are led
to a model in which the octahedral group acts by signed permutations on muscle motoneurons.
We show that with the appropriate group actions, there are six possible spatiotemporal patterns of
time-periodic states that can arise by Hopf bifurcation from an equilibrium representing an immobile
head. Here we use results of Ashwin and Podvigina. Counting conjugate states, whose physiological
interpretations can have significantly different features, there are 15 patterns of periodic oscillation,
not counting left-right reflections or time-reversals as being different. We interpret these patterns
as motions of the head, and note that all six types of pattern appear to correspond to natural head
motions
Pattern Competition in the Photorefractive Semiconductors
We analytically study the photorefractive Gunn effect in n-GaAs subjected to
two external laser beams which form a moving interference pattern (MIP) in the
semiconductor. When the intensity of the spatially independent part of the MIP,
denoted by , is small, the system has a periodic domain train (PDT),
consistent with the results of linear stability analysis. When is large,
the space-charge field induced by the MIP will compete with the PDT and result
in complex dynamics, including driven chaos via quasiperiodic route
Tunable Kondo effect in a single donor atom
The Kondo effect has been observed in a single gate-tunable atom. The
measurement device consists of a single As dopant incorporated in a Silicon
nanostructure. The atomic orbitals of the dopant are tunable by the gate
electric field. When they are tuned such that the ground state of the atomic
system becomes a (nearly) degenerate superposition of two of the Silicon
valleys, an exotic and hitherto unobserved valley Kondo effect appears.
Together with the regular spin Kondo, the tunable valley Kondo effect allows
for reversible electrical control over the symmetry of the Kondo ground state
from an SU(2)- to an SU(4) -configuration.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure
Finite element model with imposed slip surfaces for earth mass safety evaluation
The study of earth masses requires numerical methods that provide the quantification of the safety factor without requiring detrimental assumptions. For that, equilibrium analysis can perform fast computations but require assumptions that limit its potentiality. Limit analysis does not require detrimental assumptions but are numerically demanding. This work provides a new approach that combines the advantage of both the equilibrium method and the limit analysis. The defined hybrid model allows probabilistic analysis and optimization approaches without the assumption of interslice forces. It is compared with a published case and used to perform probabilistic studies in both a homogeneous and a layered foundation. Analyses show that the shape of the density probability functions is highly relevant when computing the probability of failure, and soil elasticity hardly affects the safety of factor of the earth mass.Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade—COMPETE, and by Portuguese Funds through FCT–Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, within the projects PEst –C/MAT/UI0013/2011 and PEst–OE/ECM/UI4047/2011
On conditional skewness with applications to environmental data
The statistical literature contains many univariate and multivariate skewness measures that allow two datasets to be compared, some of which are defined in terms of quantile values. In most situations, the comparison between two random vectors focuses on univariate comparisons of conditional random variables truncated in quantiles; this kind of comparison is of particular interest in the environmental sciences. In this work, we describe a new approach to comparing skewness in terms of the univariate convex transform ordering proposed by van Zwet (Convex transformations of random variables. Mathematical Centre Tracts, Amsterdam, 1964), associated with skewness as well as concentration. The key to these comparisons is the underlying dependence structure of the random vectors. Below we describe graphical tools and use several examples to illustrate these comparisons.The research of Félix Belzunce, Julio Mulero and José María Ruíz is partially funded by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Spain) under Grant MTM2012-34023-FEDER. Alfonso Suárez-Llorens acknowledges support received from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Spain) under Grant MTM2014-57559-P
Evidence for Factorization in Three-body B --> D(*) K- K0 Decays
Motivated by recent experimental results, we use a factorization approach to
study the three-body B --> D(*) K- K0 decay modes. Two mechanisms are proposed
for kaon pair production: current-produced (from vacuum) and transition (from B
meson). The Bbar0 --> D(*)+ K- K0 decay is governed solely by the
current-produced mechanism. As the kaon pair can be produced only by the vector
current, the matrix element can be extracted from e+ e- --> K Kbar processes
via isospin relations. The decay rates obtained this way are in good agreement
with experiment. Both current-produced and transition processes contribute to
B- --> D(*)0 K- K0 decays. By using QCD counting rules and the measured B- -->
D(*)0 K- K0 decay rates, the measured decay spectra can be understood.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figure
Early‐onset coenzyme Q10 deficiency associated with ataxia and respiratory chain dysfunction due to novel pathogenic COQ8A variants, including a large intragenic deletion
Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) deficiency is a clinically and genetically heterogeneous subtype of mitochondrial disease. We report two girls with ataxia and mitochondrial respiratory chain deficiency who were shown to have primary CoQ10 deficiency. Muscle histochemistry displayed signs of mitochondrial dysfunction—ragged red fibers, mitochondrial paracrystalline inclusions, and lipid deposits while biochemical analyses revealed complex II+III respiratory chain deficiencies. MRI brain demonstrated cerebral and cerebellar atrophy. Targeted molecular analysis identified a homozygous c.1015G>A, p.(Ala339Thr) COQ8A variant in subject 1, while subject 2 was found to harbor a single heterozygous c.1029_1030delinsCA variant predicting a p.Gln343_Val344delinsHisMet amino acid substitution. Subsequent investigations identified a large‐scale COQ8A deletion in trans to the c.1029_1030delinsCA allele. A skin biopsy facilitated cDNA studies that confirmed exon skipping in the fibroblast derived COQ8A mRNA transcript. This report expands the molecular genetic spectrum associated with COQ8A ‐related mitochondrial disease and highlights the importance of thorough investigation of candidate pathogenic variants to establish phase. Rapid diagnosis is of the utmost importance as patients may benefit from therapeutic CoQ10 supplementation
Novel roles of the chemorepellent axon guidance molecule RGMa in cell migration and adhesion
The repulsive guidance molecule A (RGMa) is a contact-mediated axon guidance molecule that has significant roles in central nervous system (CNS) development. Here we have examined whether RGMa has novel roles in cell migration and cell adhesion outside the nervous system. RGMa was found to stimulate cell migration from Xenopus animal cap explants in a neogenin-dependent and BMP-independent manner. RGMa also stimulated the adhesion of Xenopus animal cap cells, and this adhesion was dependent on neogenin and independent of calcium. To begin to functionally characterize the role of specific domains in RGMa, we assessed the migratory and adhesive activities of deletion mutants. RGMa lacking the partial von Willebrand factor type D (vWF) domain preferentially perturbed cell adhesion, while mutants lacking the RGD motif affected cell migration. We also revealed that manipulating the levels of RGMa in vivo caused major migration defects during Xenopus gastrulation. We have revealed here novel roles of RGMa in cell migration and adhesion and demonstrated that perturbations to the homeostasis of RGMa expression can severely disrupt major morphogenetic events. These results have implications for understanding the role of RGMa in both health and disease
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