Does tiny-scale atomic structure exist in the interstellar medium ?

We report on preliminary results from the recent multi-epoch neutral hydrogen absorption measurements toward three pulsars, B0823+26, B1133+16 and B2016+28, using the Arecibo telescope. We do not find significant variations in optical depth profiles over periods of 0.3 and 9--10 yr, or on spatial scales of 10--20 and 70--85 AU. The large number of non detections of the tiny scale atomic structure suggests that the AU-sized structure is not ubiquitous in the interstellar medium and could be quite a rare phenomenon.Comment: Accepted by ApJ Letters, 5 pages, 2 figure

A new RNASeq-based reference transcriptome for sugar beet and its application in transcriptome-scale analysis of vernalization and gibberellin responses.

BACKGROUND: Sugar beet (Beta vulgaris sp. vulgaris) crops account for about 30% of world sugar. Sugar yield is compromised by reproductive growth hence crops must remain vegetative until harvest. Prolonged exposure to cold temperature (vernalization) in the range 6 °C to 12 °C induces reproductive growth, leading to bolting (rapid elongation of the main stem) and flowering. Spring cultivation of crops in cool temperate climates makes them vulnerable to vernalization and hence bolting, which is initiated in the apical shoot meristem in processes involving interaction between gibberellin (GA) hormones and vernalization. The underlying mechanisms are unknown and genome scale next generation sequencing approaches now offer comprehensive strategies to investigate them; enabling the identification of novel targets for bolting control in sugar beet crops. In this study, we demonstrate the application of an mRNA-Seq based strategy for this purpose. RESULTS: There is no sugar beet reference genome, or public expression array platforms. We therefore used RNA-Seq to generate the first reference transcriptome. We next performed digital gene expression profiling using shoot apex mRNA from two sugar beet cultivars with and without applied GA, and also a vernalized cultivar with and without applied GA. Subsequent bioinformatics analyses identified transcriptional changes associated with genotypic difference and experimental treatments. Analysis of expression profiles in response to vernalization and GA treatment suggested previously unsuspected roles for a RAV1-like AP2/B3 domain protein in vernalization and efflux transporters in the GA response. CONCLUSIONS: Next generation RNA-Seq enabled the generation of the first reference transcriptome for sugar beet and the study of global transcriptional responses in the shoot apex to vernalization and GA treatment, without the need for a reference genome or established array platforms. Comprehensive bioinformatic analysis identified transcriptional programmes associated with different sugar beet genotypes as well as biological treatments; thus providing important new opportunities for basic scientists and sugar beet breeders. Transcriptome-scale identification of agronomically important traits as used in this study should be widely applicable to all crop plants where genomic resources are limiting.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

Star Formation in the Northern Cloud Complex of NGC 2264

We have made continuum and spectral line observations of several outflow sources in the Mon OB1 dark cloud (NGC 2264) using the Heinrich Hertz Telescope (HHT) and ARO 12m millimeter-wave telescope. This study explores the kinematics and outflow energetics of the young stellar systems observed and assesses the impact star formation is having on the surrounding cloud environment. Our data set incorporates 12CO(3-2), 13CO(3-2), and 12CO(1-0) observations of outflows associated with the sources IRAS 06382+1017 and IRAS 06381+1039, known as IRAS 25 and 27, respectively, in the northern cloud complex. Complementary 870 micron continuum maps were made with the HHT 19 channel bolometer array. Our results indicate that there is a weak (approximately less than 0.5%) coupling between outflow kinetic energy and turbulent energy of the cloud. An analysis of the energy balance in the IRAS 25 and 27 cores suggests they are maintaining their dynamical integrity except where outflowing material directly interacts with the core, such as along the outflow axes.Comment: 28 pages including 6 figures, to be published in ApJ 01 July 2006, v645, 1 issu

Stereotyping and the treatment of missing data for drug and alcohol clinical trials

Stigma and stereotyping of marginalized groups often is insidious and shows up in unlikely places, for instance in how clinical trials consider dropouts in treatment research. A surprising number of studies presume that people who do not complete the study protocol relapse and code their data as if they had been observed. There is no good statistical rationale for this treatment of missing data and numerous and more defensible alternative methods are available. We need to be mindful about our attitudes and preconceptions about the people we are intending to help. There is no good reason to continue to support science built on this scientifically indefensible stereotyping, however unintentional

Khovanov homology is an unknot-detector

We prove that a knot is the unknot if and only if its reduced Khovanov cohomology has rank 1. The proof has two steps. We show first that there is a spectral sequence beginning with the reduced Khovanov cohomology and abutting to a knot homology defined using singular instantons. We then show that the latter homology is isomorphic to the instanton Floer homology of the sutured knot complement: an invariant that is already known to detect the unknot.Comment: 124 pages, 13 figure

The zero-dimensional O(N) vector model as a benchmark for perturbation theory, the large-N expansion and the functional renormalization group

We consider the zero-dimensional O(N) vector model as a simple example to calculate n-point correlation functions using perturbation theory, the large-N expansion, and the functional renormalization group (FRG). Comparing our findings with exact results, we show that perturbation theory breaks down for moderate interactions for all N, as one should expect. While the interaction-induced shift of the free energy and the self-energy are well described by the large-N expansion even for small N, this is not the case for higher-order correlation functions. However, using the FRG in its one-particle irreducible formalism, we see that very few running couplings suffice to get accurate results for arbitrary N in the strong coupling regime, outperforming the large-N expansion for small N. We further remark on how the derivative expansion, a well-known approximation strategy for the FRG, reduces to an exact method for the zero-dimensional O(N) vector model.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figure

A finite-frequency functional RG approach to the single impurity Anderson model

We use the Matsubara functional renormalization group (FRG) to describe electronic correlations within the single impurity Anderson model. In contrast to standard FRG calculations, we account for the frequency-dependence of the two-particle vertex in order to address finite-energy properties (e.g, spectral functions). By comparing with data obtained from the numerical renormalization group (NRG) framework, the FRG approximation is shown to work well for arbitrary parameters (particularly finite temperatures) provided that the electron-electron interaction U is not too large. We demonstrate that aspects of (large U) Kondo physics which are described well by a simpler frequency-independent truncation scheme are no longer captured by the 'higher-order' frequency-dependent approximation. In contrast, at small to intermediate U the results obtained by the more elaborate scheme agree better with NRG data. We suggest to parametrize the two-particle vertex not by three independent energy variables but by introducing three functions each of a single frequency. This considerably reduces the numerical effort to integrate the FRG flow equations.Comment: accepted by J. Phys.: Condensed Matte