N=1 domain wall solutions of massive type II supergravity as generalized geometries

We study N=1 domain wall solutions of type IIB supergravity compactified on a Calabi-Yau manifold in the presence of RR and NS electric and magnetic fluxes. We show that the dynamics of the scalar fields along the direction transverse to the domain wall is described by gradient flow equations controlled by a superpotential W. We then provide a geometrical interpretation of the gradient flow equations in terms of the mirror symmetric compactification of type IIA. They correspond to a set of generalized Hitchin flow equations of a manifold with SU(3)xSU(3)structure which is fibered over the direction transverse to the domain wall.Comment: 28 pages, LaTe

The state of the Martian climate

60°N was +2.0°C, relative to the 1981–2010 average value (Fig. 5.1). This marks a new high for the record. The average annual surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly for 2016 for land stations north of starting in 1900, and is a significant increase over the previous highest value of +1.2°C, which was observed in 2007, 2011, and 2015. Average global annual temperatures also showed record values in 2015 and 2016. Currently, the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of lower latitudes

Sequence Composition and Gene Content of the Short Arm of Rye (Secale cereale) Chromosome 1

BACKGROUND: The purpose of the study is to elucidate the sequence composition of the short arm of rye chromosome 1 (Secale cereale) with special focus on its gene content, because this portion of the rye genome is an integrated part of several hundreds of bread wheat varieties worldwide. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Multiple Displacement Amplification of 1RS DNA, obtained from flow sorted 1RS chromosomes, using 1RS ditelosomic wheat-rye addition line, and subsequent Roche 454FLX sequencing of this DNA yielded 195,313,589 bp sequence information. This quantity of sequence information resulted in 0.43× sequence coverage of the 1RS chromosome arm, permitting the identification of genes with estimated probability of 95%. A detailed analysis revealed that more than 5% of the 1RS sequence consisted of gene space, identifying at least 3,121 gene loci representing 1,882 different gene functions. Repetitive elements comprised about 72% of the 1RS sequence, Gypsy/Sabrina (13.3%) being the most abundant. More than four thousand simple sequence repeat (SSR) sites mostly located in gene related sequence reads were identified for possible marker development. The existence of chloroplast insertions in 1RS has been verified by identifying chimeric chloroplast-genomic sequence reads. Synteny analysis of 1RS to the full genomes of Oryza sativa and Brachypodium distachyon revealed that about half of the genes of 1RS correspond to the distal end of the short arm of rice chromosome 5 and the proximal region of the long arm of Brachypodium distachyon chromosome 2. Comparison of the gene content of 1RS to 1HS barley chromosome arm revealed high conservation of genes related to chromosome 5 of rice. CONCLUSIONS: The present study revealed the gene content and potential gene functions on this chromosome arm and demonstrated numerous sequence elements like SSRs and gene-related sequences, which can be utilised for future research as well as in breeding of wheat and rye

Rough Fibrils Provide a Toughening Mechanism in Biological Fibers

Spider silk is a fascinating natural composite material. Its combination of strength and toughness is unrivalled in nature, and as a result, it has gained considerable interest from the medical, physics, and materials communities. Most of this attention has focused on the one to tens of nanometer scale: predominantly the primary (peptide sequences) and secondary (β sheets, helices, and amorphous domains) structure, with some insights into tertiary structure (the arrangement of these secondary structures) to describe the origins of the mechanical and biological performance. Starting with spider silk, and relating our findings to collagen fibrils, we describe toughening mechanisms at the hundreds of nanometer scale, namely, the fibril morphology and its consequences for mechanical behavior and the dissipation of energy. Under normal conditions, this morphology creates a nonslip fibril kinematics, restricting shearing between fibrils, yet allowing controlled local slipping under high shear stress, dissipating energy without bulk fracturing. This mechanism provides a relatively simple target for biomimicry and, thus, can potentially be used to increase fracture resistance in synthetic materials

Measuring collective action intention toward gender equality across cultures

Collective action is a powerful tool for social change and is fundamental to women and girls’ empowerment on a societal level. Collective action towards gender equality could be understood as intentional and conscious civic behaviors focused on social transformation, questioning power relations, and promoting gender equality through collective efforts. Various instruments to measure collective action intentions have been developed, but to our knowledge none of the published measures were subject to invariance testing. We introduce the gender equality collective action intention (GECAI) scale and examine its psychometric isomorphism and measurement invariance, using data from 60 countries (N = 31,686). Our findings indicate that partial scalar measurement invariance of the GECAI scale permits conditional comparisons of latent mean GECAI scores across countries. Moreover, this metric psychometric isomorphism of the GECAI means we can interpret scores at the country-level (i.e., as a group attribute) conceptually similar to individual attributes. Therefore, our findings add to the growing body of literature on gender based collective action by introducing a methodologically sound tool to measure collective action intentions towards gender equality across cultures

Measuring collective action intention toward gender equality across cultures

Collective action is a powerful tool for social change and is fundamental to women and girls’ empowerment on a societal level. Collective action towards gender equality could be understood as intentional and conscious civic behaviors focused on social transformation, questioning power relations, and promoting gender equality through collective efforts. Various instruments to measure collective action intentions have been developed, but to our knowledge none of the published measures were subject to invariance testing. We introduce the gender equality collective action intention (GECAI) scale and examine its psychometric isomorphism and measurement invariance, using data from 60 countries (N = 31,686). Our findings indicate that partial scalar measurement invariance of the GECAI scale permits conditional comparisons of latent mean GECAI scores across countries. Moreover, this metric psychometric isomorphism of the GECAI means we can interpret scores at the country-level (i.e., as a group attribute) conceptually similar to individual attributes. Therefore, our findings add to the growing body of literature on gender based collective action by introducing a methodologically sound tool to measure collective action intentions towards gender equality across cultures.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Supplement: "Localization and broadband follow-up of the gravitational-wave transient GW150914" (2016, ApJL, 826, L13)

This Supplement provides supporting material for Abbott et al. (2016a). We briefly summarize past electromagnetic (EM) follow-up efforts as well as the organization and policy of the current EM follow-up program. We compare the four probability sky maps produced for the gravitational-wave transient GW150914, and provide additional details of the EM follow-up observations that were performed in the different bands

Effect of the relative shift between the electron density and temperature pedestal position on the pedestal stability in JET-ILW and comparison with JET-C

The electron temperature and density pedestals tend to vary in their relative radial positions, as observed in DIII-D (Beurskens et al 2011 Phys. Plasmas 18 056120) and ASDEX Upgrade (Dunne et al 2017 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 59 14017). This so-called relative shift has an impact on the pedestal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) stability and hence on the pedestal height (Osborne et al 2015 Nucl. Fusion 55 063018). The present work studies the effect of the relative shift on pedestal stability of JET ITER-like wall (JET-ILW) baseline low triangularity (\u3b4) unseeded plasmas, and similar JET-C discharges. As shown in this paper, the increase of the pedestal relative shift is correlated with the reduction of the normalized pressure gradient, therefore playing a strong role in pedestal stability. Furthermore, JET-ILW tends to have a larger relative shift compared to JET carbon wall (JET-C), suggesting a possible role of the plasma facing materials in affecting the density profile location. Experimental results are then compared with stability analysis performed in terms of the peeling-ballooning model and with pedestal predictive model EUROPED (Saarelma et al 2017 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion). Stability analysis is consistent with the experimental findings, showing an improvement of the pedestal stability, when the relative shift is reduced. This has been ascribed mainly to the increase of the edge bootstrap current, and to minor effects related to the increase of the pedestal pressure gradient and narrowing of the pedestal pressure width. Pedestal predictive model EUROPED shows a qualitative agreement with experiment, especially for low values of the relative shift

Common, low-frequency, rare, and ultra-rare coding variants contribute to COVID-19 severity

The combined impact of common and rare exonic variants in COVID-19 host genetics is currently insufficiently understood. Here, common and rare variants from whole-exome sequencing data of about 4000 SARS-CoV-2-positive individuals were used to define an interpretable machine-learning model for predicting COVID-19 severity. First, variants were converted into separate sets of Boolean features, depending on the absence or the presence of variants in each gene. An ensemble of LASSO logistic regression models was used to identify the most informative Boolean features with respect to the genetic bases of severity. The Boolean features selected by these logistic models were combined into an Integrated PolyGenic Score that offers a synthetic and interpretable index for describing the contribution of host genetics in COVID-19 severity, as demonstrated through testing in several independent cohorts. Selected features belong to ultra-rare, rare, low-frequency, and common variants, including those in linkage disequilibrium with known GWAS loci. Noteworthily, around one quarter of the selected genes are sex-specific. Pathway analysis of the selected genes associated with COVID-19 severity reflected the multi-organ nature of the disease. The proposed model might provide useful information for developing diagnostics and therapeutics, while also being able to guide bedside disease management. © 2021, The Author(s)