1,390 research outputs found
Complex Line Bundles over Simplicial Complexes and their Applications
Discrete vector bundles are important in Physics and recently found
remarkable applications in Computer Graphics. This article approaches discrete
bundles from the viewpoint of Discrete Differential Geometry, including a
complete classification of discrete vector bundles over finite simplicial
complexes. In particular, we obtain a discrete analogue of a theorem of Andr\'e
Weil on the classification of hermitian line bundles. Moreover, we associate to
each discrete hermitian line bundle with curvature a unique piecewise-smooth
hermitian line bundle of piecewise constant curvature. This is then used to
define a discrete Dirichlet energy which generalizes the well-known cotangent
Laplace operator to discrete hermitian line bundles over Euclidean simplicial
manifolds of arbitrary dimension
Crucial role of sidewalls in velocity distributions in quasi-2D granular gases
Our experiments and three-dimensional molecular dynamics simulations of
particles confined to a vertical monolayer by closely spaced frictional walls
(sidewalls) yield velocity distributions with non-Gaussian tails and a peak
near zero velocity. Simulations with frictionless sidewalls are not peaked.
Thus interactions between particles and their container are an important
determinant of the shape of the distribution and should be considered when
evaluating experiments on a tightly constrained monolayer of particles.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, Added reference, model explanation charified,
other minor change
Thermal diffusion by Brownian motion induced fluid stress
The Ludwig-Soret effect, the migration of a species due to a temperature
gradient, has been extensively studied without a complete picture of its cause
emerging. Here we investigate the dynamics of DNA and spherical particles sub
jected to a thermal gradient using a combination of Brownian dynamics and the
lattice Boltzmann method. We observe that the DNA molecules will migrate to
colder regions of the channel, an observation also made in the experiments of
Duhr, et al[1]. In fact, the thermal diffusion coefficient found agrees
quantitatively with the experimental value. We also observe that the thermal
diffusion coefficient decreases as the radius of the studied spherical
particles increases. Furthermore, we observe that the thermal
fluctuations-fluid momentum flux coupling induces a gradient in the stress
which leads to thermal migration in both systems.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figue
Altitudinalbewegungen von Vögeln in den Anden:mit einer Feldstudie im Nationalpark Carrasco (Bolivien)
Diese Schrift widmet sich den Bewegungen der Vögel der Anden entlang des Höhengradienten (Altitudinalwanderungen) und ihrer öko-ethologischen Steuerung. Daneben leistet sie einen Beitrag zum Naturschutz tropischer Bergwald-Ăkosysteme. Umfassende Literaturauswertungen zeigen Forschungs- und Wissensdefizite auf. Eigene ornithologische Felderhebungen im Nationalpark Carrasco und seinem Umland in Bolivien erfolgten in den Jahren 2000-2003 entlang eines Höhentransekts durch tropischen Feuchtwald vom Tiefland zur Waldgrenze. Es wurde unterschieden zwischen altitudinalen jahreszeitlichen Zugvögeln, Vögeln mit kĂŒrzerfristigen Pendelbewegungen und dem isolierten Auftreten von Individuen auĂerhalb des Areals (Vagranten). Altitudinalwanderungen von Vögeln erweisen sich als artspezifisch, orts- und zeitspezifisch. Diese Studie ist ein Beitrag zum VerstĂ€ndnis der Idiosynkrasien und KomplexitĂ€t der Altitudinalwanderungen von Vögeln in den Anden â und damit des artenreichsten Vogelzugsystems der Erde.The present study investigates the movements of Andean birds along the altitudinal gradient and the eco-ethological control of these movements. In addition, it aims at increasing the effectiveness of conservation of tropical forest ecosystems. A comprehensive literature review reveals considerable gaps in research and knowledge. An ornithological field study was carried out in Carrasco National Park and its surroundings in Bolivia from 2000 to 2003, covering a humid tropical forest transect from the lowlands to timberline. It differentiates between seasonal altitudinal migrant birds, relatively short-term commuters and isolated appearances of individuals outside their range (vagrants). Altitudinal bird movements are shown to be species-specific, but also specific to the spatio-temporal situation. This study contributes to the understanding of the idiosyncracies and complexities of altitudinal movements of Andean birds â and thus of the most bird species-rich migratory system on Earth
Freeze-Fracture Replica Immunolabelling Reveals Urothelial Plaques in Cultured Urothelial Cells
The primary function of the urothelium is to provide the tightest and most impermeable barrier in the body, i.e. the blood-urine barrier. Urothelial plaques are formed and inserted into the apical plasma membrane during advanced stages of urothelial cell differentiation. Currently, it is supposed that differentiation with the final formation of urothelial plaques is hindered in cultured urothelial cells. With the aid of the high-resolution imaging technique of freeze-fracture replica immunolabelling, we here provide evidence that urothelial cells in vitro form uroplakin-positive urothelial plaques, localized in fusiform-shaped vesicles and apical plasma membranes. With the establishment of such an in vitro model of urothelial cells with fully developed urothelial plaques and functional properties equivalent to normal bladder urothelium, new perspectives have emerged which challenge prevailing concepts of apical plasma membrane biogenesis and blood-urine barrier development. This may hopefully provide a timely impulse for many ongoing studies and open up new questions for future research
Employment insecurity and life satisfaction: The moderating influence of labour market policies across Europe
This article tests whether the link between employment insecurity and life satisfaction is moderated by the generosity of labour market policies across Europe. Employment insecurity provokes anxieties about (a) the difficulties of finding a new job and (b) alternative sources of non-work income. These components can be related to active and passive labour market policies, respectively. Generous policy support is thus expected to buffer the negative consequences of employment insecurity by lowering the perceived difficulty of finding a similar job or providing income maintenance during unemployment. Based on data for 22 countries from the 2010 European Social Survey, initial support for this hypothesis is found. Perceived employment insecurity is negatively associated with life satisfaction but the strength of the relationship is inversely related to the generosity of labour market policies. Employment insecurity, in other words, is more harmful in countries where labour market policies are less generous
The impact of resource dependence of the mechanisms of life on the spatial population dynamics of an in silico microbial community
Biodiversity has a critical impact on ecosystem functionality and stability, and thus the current biodiversity crisis has motivated many studies of the mechanisms that sustain biodiversity, a notable example being non-transitive or cyclic competition. We therefore extend existing microscopic models of communities with cyclic competition by incorporating resource dependence in demographic processes, characteristics of natural systems often oversimplified or overlooked by modellers. The spatially explicit nature of our individual-based model of three interacting species results in the formation of stable spatial structures, which have significant effects on community functioning, in agreement with experimental observations of pattern formation in microbial communities. Published by AIP Publishing
Composite repetition-aware data structures
In highly repetitive strings, like collections of genomes from the same
species, distinct measures of repetition all grow sublinearly in the length of
the text, and indexes targeted to such strings typically depend only on one of
these measures. We describe two data structures whose size depends on multiple
measures of repetition at once, and that provide competitive tradeoffs between
the time for counting and reporting all the exact occurrences of a pattern, and
the space taken by the structure. The key component of our constructions is the
run-length encoded BWT (RLBWT), which takes space proportional to the number of
BWT runs: rather than augmenting RLBWT with suffix array samples, we combine it
with data structures from LZ77 indexes, which take space proportional to the
number of LZ77 factors, and with the compact directed acyclic word graph
(CDAWG), which takes space proportional to the number of extensions of maximal
repeats. The combination of CDAWG and RLBWT enables also a new representation
of the suffix tree, whose size depends again on the number of extensions of
maximal repeats, and that is powerful enough to support matching statistics and
constant-space traversal.Comment: (the name of the third co-author was inadvertently omitted from
previous version
Onset of Patterns in an Ocillated Granular Layer: Continuum and Molecular Dynamics Simulations
We study the onset of patterns in vertically oscillated layers of
frictionless dissipative particles. Using both numerical solutions of continuum
equations to Navier-Stokes order and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, we
find that standing waves form stripe patterns above a critical acceleration of
the cell. Changing the frequency of oscillation of the cell changes the
wavelength of the resulting pattern; MD and continuum simulations both yield
wavelengths in accord with previous experimental results. The value of the
critical acceleration for ordered standing waves is approximately 10% higher in
molecular dynamics simulations than in the continuum simulations, and the
amplitude of the waves differs significantly between the models. The delay in
the onset of order in molecular dynamics simulations and the amplitude of noise
below this onset are consistent with the presence of fluctuations which are
absent in the continuum theory. The strength of the noise obtained by fit to
Swift-Hohenberg theory is orders of magnitude larger than the thermal noise in
fluid convection experiments, and is comparable to the noise found in
experiments with oscillated granular layers and in recent fluid experiments on
fluids near the critical point. Good agreement is found between the mean field
value of onset from the Swift-Hohenberg fit and the onset in continuum
simulations. Patterns are compared in cells oscillated at two different
frequencies in MD; the layer with larger wavelength patterns has less noise
than the layer with smaller wavelength patterns.Comment: Published in Physical Review
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