1,146 research outputs found
Stability of Negative Image Equilibria in Spike-Timing Dependent Plasticity
We investigate the stability of negative image equilibria in mean synaptic
weight dynamics governed by spike-timing dependent plasticity (STDP). The
neural architecture of the model is based on the electrosensory lateral line
lobe (ELL) of mormyrid electric fish, which forms a negative image of the
reafferent signal from the fish's own electric discharge to optimize detection
of external electric fields. We derive a necessary and sufficient condition for
stability, for arbitrary postsynaptic potential functions and arbitrary
learning rules. We then apply the general result to several examples of
biological interest.Comment: 13 pages, revtex4; uses packages: graphicx, subfigure; 9 figures, 16
subfigure
Researching trust in the police and trust in justice: a UK perspective
This paper describes the immediate and more distant origins of a programme of comparative research that is examining cross-national variations in public trust in justice and in the police. The programme is built around a module of the fifth European Social Survey, and evolved from a study funded by the European Commission. The paper describes the conceptual framework within which we are operating – developed in large measure from theories of procedural justice. It reviews some of the methodological issues raised by the use of sample surveys to research issues of public trust in the police, public perceptions of institutional legitimacy and compliance with the law. Finally it gives a flavour of some of the early findings emerging from the programme
Ecological criteria for evaluation candidate sites for marine reserves
Several schemes have been developed to help select the locations of marine reserves. All of them combine social, economic, and biological criteria, and few offer any guidance as to how to prioritize among the criteria identified. This can imply that the relative weights given to different criteria are unimportant. Where two sites are of equal value ecologically, then socioeconomic criteria should dominate the choice of which should be protected. However, in many cases, socioeconomic criteria are given equal or greater weight than ecological considerations in the choice of sites. This can lead to selection of reserves with little biological value that fail to meet many of the desired objectives. To avoid such a possibility, we develop a series of criteria that allow preliminary evaluation of candidate sites according to their relative biological values in advance of the application of socioeconomic criteria. We include criteria that, while not strictly biological, have a strong influence on the species present or ecological processes. Our scheme enables sites to be assessed according to their biodiversity, the processes which underpin that diversity, and the processes that support fisheries and provide a spectrum of other services important to people. Criteria that capture biodiversity values include biogeographic representation, habitat representation and heterogeneity, and presence of species or populations of special interest (e.g., threatened species). Criteria that capture sustainability of biodiversity and fishery values include the size of reserves necessary to protect viable habitats, presence of exploitable species, vulnerable life stages, connectivity among reserves, links among ecosystems, and provision of ecosystem services to people. Criteria measuring human and natural threats enable candidate sites to be eliminated from consideration if risks are too great, but also help prioritize among sites where threats can be mitigated by protection. While our criteria can be applied to the design of reserve networks, they also enable choice of single reserves to be made in the context of the attributes of existing protected areas. The overall goal of our scheme is to promote the development of reserve networks that will maintain biodiversity and ecosystem functioning at large scales. The values of ecosystem goods and services for people ultimately depend on meeting this objective
Filling historical data gaps to foster solutions in marine conservation
Ecological data sets rarely extend back more than a few decades, limiting our understanding of environmental change and its drivers. Marine historical ecology has played a critical role in filling these data gaps by illuminating the magnitude and rate of ongoing changes in marine ecosystems. Yet despite a growing body of knowledge, historical insights are rarely explicitly incorporated in mainstream conservation and management efforts. Failing to consider historical change can have major implications for conservation, such as the ratcheting down of expectations of ecosystem quality over time, leading to less ambitious targets for recovery or restoration. We discuss several unconventional sources used by historical ecologists to fill data gaps - including menus, newspaper articles, cookbooks, museum collections, artwork, benthic sediment cores - and novel techniques for their analysis. We specify opportunities for the integration of historical data into conservation and management, and highlight the important role that these data can play in filling conservation data gaps and motivating conservation actions. As historical marine ecology research continues to grow as a multidisciplinary enterprise, great opportunities remain to foster direct linkages to conservation and improve the outlook for marine ecosystems
Retraction Notice of the Article: The DYRK-family kinase Pom1 phosphorylates the F-BAR protein Cdc15 to prevent division at cell poles
Division site positioning is critical for both symmetric and asymmetric cell divisions. In many organisms, positive and negative signals cooperate to position the contractile actin ring for cytokinesis. In rod-shaped fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe cells, division at midcell is achieved through positive Mid1/anillin-dependent signaling emanating from the central nucleus and negative signals from the dual-specificity tyrosine phosphorylation-regulated kinase family kinase Pom1 at the cell poles. In this study, we show that Pom1 directly phosphorylates the F-BAR protein Cdc15, a central component of the cytokinetic ring. Pom1-dependent phosphorylation blocks Cdc15 binding to paxillin Pxl1 and C2 domain protein Fic1 and enhances Cdc15 dynamics. This promotes ring sliding from cell poles, which prevents septum assembly at the ends of cells with a displaced nucleus or lacking Mid1. Pom1 also slows down ring constriction. These results indicate that a strong negative signal from the Pom1 kinase at cell poles converts Cdc15 to its closed state, destabilizes the actomyosin ring, and thus promotes medial septation
Microscopic theory of atom-molecule oscillations in a Bose-Einstein condensate
In a recent experiment at JILA [E.A. Donley et al., Nature (London) 417, 529
(2002)] an initially pure condensate of Rb-85 atoms was exposed to a specially
designed time dependent magnetic field pulse in the vicinity of a Feshbach
resonance. The production of new components of the gas as well as their
oscillatory behavior have been reported. We apply a microscopic theory of the
gas to identify these components and determine their physical properties. Our
time dependent studies allow us to explain the observed dynamic evolution of
all fractions, and to identify the physical relevance of the pulse shape. Based
on ab initio predictions, our theory strongly supports the view that the
experiments have produced a molecular condensate.Comment: 18 pages, 20 figure
Towards a Simple Model of Compressible Alfvenic Turbulence
A simple model collisionless, dissipative, compressible MHD (Alfvenic)
turbulence in a magnetized system is investigated. In contrast to more familiar
paradigms of turbulence, dissipation arises from Landau damping, enters via
nonlinearity, and is distributed over all scales. The theory predicts that two
different regimes or phases of turbulence are possible, depending on the ratio
of steepening to damping coefficient (m_1/m_2). For strong damping
(|m_1/m_2|<1), a regime of smooth, hydrodynamic turbulence is predicted. For
|m_1/m_2|>1, steady state turbulence does not exist in the hydrodynamic limit.
Rather, spikey, small scale structure is predicted.Comment: 6 pages, one figure, REVTeX; this version to be published in PRE. For
related papers, see http://sdphpd.ucsd.edu/~medvedev/papers.htm
Hyperons analogous to the \Lambda(1405)
The low mass of the hyperon with , which is
higher than the ground state mass by 290 MeV, is difficult to
understand in quark models. We analyze the hyperon spectrum in the bound state
approach of the Skyrme model that successfully describes both the
and the . This model predicts that several
hyperon resonances of the same spin but with opposite parity form parity
doublets that have a mass difference of around 300 MeV, which is indeed
realized in the observed hyperon spectrum. Furthermore, the existence of the
and the of is predicted by this model.
Comments on the baryons and heavy quark baryons are made as well.Comment: 4 pages, talk presented at the Fifth Asia-Pacific Conference on
Few-Body Problems in Physics 2011 (APFB2011), Aug. 22-26, 2011, Seoul, Kore
Properties of a Dilute Bose Gas near a Feshbach Resonance
In this paper, properties of a homogeneous Bose gas with a Feshbach resonance
are studied in the dilute region at zero temperature. The stationary state
contains condensations of atoms and molecules. The ratio of the molecule
density to the atom density is . There are two types of excitations,
molecular excitations and atomic excitations. Atomic excitations are gapless,
consistent with the traditional theory of a dilute Bose gas. The molecular
excitation energy is finite in the long wavelength limit as observed in recent
experiments on Rb. In addition, the decay process of the condensate is
studied. The coefficient of the three-body recombination rate is about 140
times larger than that of a Bose gas without a Feshbach resonance, in
reasonably good agreement with the experiment on Na.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure, comparison between the calculated three-body
recombination rate and the experimental data for Na system has been adde
On static spherically symmetric solutions of the vacuum Brans-Dicke theory
It is shown that among the four classes of the static spherically symmetric
solution of the vacuum Brans-Dicke theory of gravity only two are really
independent. Further by matching exterior and interior (due to physically
reasonable spherically symmetric matter source) scalar fields it is found that
only Brans class I solution with certain restriction on solution parameters may
represent exterior metric for a nonsingular massive object. The physical
viability of the black hole nature of the solution is investigated. It is
concluded that no physical black hole solution different from the Schwarzschild
black hole is available in the Brans-Dicke theory.Comment: 15 pages, To be published in Gen. Rel. and Grav, typos in references
correcte
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