TY - JOUR AB - We investigate the dynamics of ferrofluidic wavy vortex flows in the counter-rotating Taylor-Couette system, with a focus on wavy flows with a mixture of the dominant azimuthal modes. Without external magnetic field flows are stable and pro-grade with respect to the rotation of the inner cylinder. More complex behaviors can arise when an axial or a transverse magnetic field is applied. Depending on the direction and strength of the field, multi-stable wavy states and bifurcations can occur. We uncover the phenomenon of flow pattern reversal as the strength of the magnetic field is increased through a critical value. In between the regimes of pro-grade and retrograde flow rotations, standing waves with zero angular velocities can emerge. A striking finding is that, under a transverse magnetic field, a second reversal in the flow pattern direction can occur, where the flow pattern evolves into pro-grade rotation again from a retrograde state. Flow reversal is relevant to intriguing phenomena in nature such as geomagnetic reversal. Our results suggest that, in ferrofluids, flow pattern reversal can be induced by varying a magnetic field in a controlled manner, which can be realized in laboratory experiments with potential applications in the development of modern fluid devices. AU - Altmeyer, Sebastian AU - Do, Younghae AU - Lai, Ying ID - 1589 JF - Scientific Reports TI - Magnetic field induced flow pattern reversal in a ferrofluidic Taylor-Couette system VL - 5 ER - TY - JOUR AB - We investigate weighted straight skeletons from a geometric, graph-theoretical, and combinatorial point of view. We start with a thorough definition and shed light on some ambiguity issues in the procedural definition. We investigate the geometry, combinatorics, and topology of faces and the roof model, and we discuss in which cases a weighted straight skeleton is connected. Finally, we show that the weighted straight skeleton of even a simple polygon may be non-planar and may contain cycles, and we discuss under which restrictions on the weights and/or the input polygon the weighted straight skeleton still behaves similar to its unweighted counterpart. In particular, we obtain a non-procedural description and a linear-time construction algorithm for the straight skeleton of strictly convex polygons with arbitrary weights. AU - Biedl, Therese AU - Held, Martin AU - Huber, Stefan AU - Kaaser, Dominik AU - Palfrader, Peter ID - 1584 IS - 5 JF - Computational Geometry: Theory and Applications TI - Reprint of: Weighted straight skeletons in the plane VL - 48 ER - TY - JOUR AB - We investigate weighted straight skeletons from a geometric, graph-theoretical, and combinatorial point of view. We start with a thorough definition and shed light on some ambiguity issues in the procedural definition. We investigate the geometry, combinatorics, and topology of faces and the roof model, and we discuss in which cases a weighted straight skeleton is connected. Finally, we show that the weighted straight skeleton of even a simple polygon may be non-planar and may contain cycles, and we discuss under which restrictions on the weights and/or the input polygon the weighted straight skeleton still behaves similar to its unweighted counterpart. In particular, we obtain a non-procedural description and a linear-time construction algorithm for the straight skeleton of strictly convex polygons with arbitrary weights. AU - Biedl, Therese AU - Held, Martin AU - Huber, Stefan AU - Kaaser, Dominik AU - Palfrader, Peter ID - 1582 IS - 2 JF - Computational Geometry: Theory and Applications TI - Weighted straight skeletons in the plane VL - 48 ER - TY - JOUR AB - We study the characteristics of straight skeletons of monotone polygonal chains and use them to devise an algorithm for computing positively weighted straight skeletons of monotone polygons. Our algorithm runs in O(nlogn) time and O(n) space, where n denotes the number of vertices of the polygon. AU - Biedl, Therese AU - Held, Martin AU - Huber, Stefan AU - Kaaser, Dominik AU - Palfrader, Peter ID - 1583 IS - 2 JF - Information Processing Letters TI - A simple algorithm for computing positively weighted straight skeletons of monotone polygons VL - 115 ER - TY - JOUR AB - We investigate the quantum interference shifts between energetically close states, where the state structure is observed by laser spectroscopy. We report a compact and analytical expression that models the quantum interference induced shift for any admixture of circular polarization of the incident laser and angle of observation. An experimental scenario free of quantum interference can thus be predicted with this formula. Although this study is exemplified here for muonic deuterium, it can be applied to any other laser spectroscopy measurement of ns-n′p frequencies of a nonrelativistic atomic system, via an ns→n′p→n′′s scheme. AU - Amaro, Pedro AU - Fratini, Filippo AU - Safari, Laleh AU - Antognini, Aldo AU - Indelicato, Paul AU - Pohl, Randolf AU - Santos, José ID - 1587 IS - 6 JF - Physical Review A - Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics TI - Quantum interference shifts in laser spectroscopy with elliptical polarization VL - 92 ER - TY - JOUR AB - We investigate the Taylor-Couette system where the radius ratio is close to unity. Systematically increasing the Reynolds number, we observe a number of previously known transitions, such as one from the classical Taylor vortex flow (TVF) to wavy vortex flow (WVF) and the transition to fully developed turbulence. Prior to the onset of turbulence, we observe intermittent bursting patterns of localized turbulent patches, confirming the experimentally observed pattern of very short wavelength bursts (VSWBs). A striking finding is that, for a Reynolds number larger than that for the onset of VSWBs, a new type of intermittently bursting behavior emerges: patterns of azimuthally closed rings of various orders. We call them ring-bursting patterns, which surround the cylinder completely but remain localized and separated in the axial direction through nonturbulent wavy structures. We employ a number of quantitative measures including the cross-flow energy to characterize the ring-bursting patterns and to distinguish them from the background flow. These patterns are interesting because they do not occur in the wide-gap Taylor-Couette flow systems. The narrow-gap regime is less studied but certainly deserves further attention to gain deeper insights into complex flow dynamics in fluids. AU - Altmeyer, Sebastian AU - Do, Younghae AU - Lai, Ying ID - 1588 IS - 5 JF - Physical Review E TI - Ring-bursting behavior en route to turbulence in narrow-gap Taylor-Couette flows VL - 92 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Through metabolic engineering cyanobacteria can be employed in biotechnology. Combining the capacity for oxygenic photosynthesis and carbon fixation with an engineered metabolic pathway allows carbon-based product formation from CO2, light, and water directly. Such cyanobacterial 'cell factories' are constructed to produce biofuels, bioplastics, and commodity chemicals. Efforts of metabolic engineers and synthetic biologists allow the modification of the intermediary metabolism at various branching points, expanding the product range. The new biosynthesis routes 'tap' the metabolism ever more efficiently, particularly through the engineering of driving forces and utilization of cofactors generated during the light reactions of photosynthesis, resulting in higher product titers. High rates of carbon rechanneling ultimately allow an almost-complete allocation of fixed carbon to product above biomass. AU - Angermayr, Andreas AU - Gorchs, Aleix AU - Hellingwerf, Klaas ID - 1586 IS - 6 JF - Trends in Biotechnology TI - Metabolic engineering of cyanobacteria for the synthesis of commodity products VL - 33 ER - TY - JOUR AB - In this paper, we consider the fluctuation of mutual information statistics of a multiple input multiple output channel communication systems without assuming that the entries of the channel matrix have zero pseudovariance. To this end, we also establish a central limit theorem of the linear spectral statistics for sample covariance matrices under general moment conditions by removing the restrictions imposed on the second moment and fourth moment on the matrix entries in Bai and Silverstein (2004). AU - Bao, Zhigang AU - Pan, Guangming AU - Zhou, Wang ID - 1585 IS - 6 JF - IEEE Transactions on Information Theory TI - Asymptotic mutual information statistics of MIMO channels and CLT of sample covariance matrices VL - 61 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Plants are sessile organisms that are permanently restricted to their site of germination. To compensate for their lack of mobility, plants evolved unique mechanisms enabling them to rapidly react to ever changing environmental conditions and flexibly adapt their postembryonic developmental program. A prominent demonstration of this developmental plasticity is their ability to bend organs in order to reach the position most optimal for growth and utilization of light, nutrients, and other resources. Shortly after germination, dicotyledonous seedlings form a bended structure, the so-called apical hook, to protect the delicate shoot meristem and cotyledons from damage when penetrating through the soil. Upon perception of a light stimulus, the apical hook rapidly opens and the photomorphogenic developmental program is activated. After germination, plant organs are able to align their growth with the light source and adopt the most favorable orientation through bending, in a process named phototropism. On the other hand, when roots and shoots are diverted from their upright orientation, they immediately detect a change in the gravity vector and bend to maintain a vertical growth direction. Noteworthy, despite the diversity of external stimuli perceived by different plant organs, all plant tropic movements share a common mechanistic basis: differential cell growth. In our review, we will discuss the molecular principles underlying various tropic responses with the focus on mechanisms mediating the perception of external signals, transduction cascades and downstream responses that regulate differential cell growth and consequently, organ bending. In particular, we highlight common and specific features of regulatory pathways in control of the bending of organs and a role for the plant hormone auxin as a key regulatory component. AU - Žádníková, Petra AU - Smet, Dajo AU - Zhu, Qiang AU - Van Der Straeten, Dominique AU - Benková, Eva ID - 1593 IS - 4 JF - Frontiers in Plant Science TI - Strategies of seedlings to overcome their sessile nature: Auxin in mobility control VL - 6 ER - TY - CONF AB - A drawing of a graph G is radial if the vertices of G are placed on concentric circles C1, . . . , Ck with common center c, and edges are drawn radially: every edge intersects every circle centered at c at most once. G is radial planar if it has a radial embedding, that is, a crossing- free radial drawing. If the vertices of G are ordered or partitioned into ordered levels (as they are for leveled graphs), we require that the assignment of vertices to circles corresponds to the given ordering or leveling. We show that a graph G is radial planar if G has a radial drawing in which every two edges cross an even number of times; the radial embedding has the same leveling as the radial drawing. In other words, we establish the weak variant of the Hanani-Tutte theorem for radial planarity. This generalizes a result by Pach and Tóth. AU - Fulek, Radoslav AU - Pelsmajer, Michael AU - Schaefer, Marcus ID - 1595 TI - Hanani-Tutte for radial planarity VL - 9411 ER - TY - CHAP AB - The straight skeleton of a polygon is the geometric graph obtained by tracing the vertices during a mitered offsetting process. It is known that the straight skeleton of a simple polygon is a tree, and one can naturally derive directions on the edges of the tree from the propagation of the shrinking process. In this paper, we ask the reverse question: Given a tree with directed edges, can it be the straight skeleton of a polygon? And if so, can we find a suitable simple polygon? We answer these questions for all directed trees where the order of edges around each node is fixed. AU - Aichholzer, Oswin AU - Biedl, Therese AU - Hackl, Thomas AU - Held, Martin AU - Huber, Stefan AU - Palfrader, Peter AU - Vogtenhuber, Birgit ID - 1590 SN - 978-3-319-27260-3 T2 - Graph Drawing and Network Visualization TI - Representing directed trees as straight skeletons VL - 9411 ER - TY - CONF AB - Quantitative extensions of temporal logics have recently attracted significant attention. In this work, we study frequency LTL (fLTL), an extension of LTL which allows to speak about frequencies of events along an execution. Such an extension is particularly useful for probabilistic systems that often cannot fulfil strict qualitative guarantees on the behaviour. It has been recently shown that controller synthesis for Markov decision processes and fLTL is decidable when all the bounds on frequencies are 1. As a step towards a complete quantitative solution, we show that the problem is decidable for the fragment fLTL\GU, where U does not occur in the scope of G (but still F can). Our solution is based on a novel translation of such quantitative formulae into equivalent deterministic automata. AU - Forejt, Vojtěch AU - Krčál, Jan AU - Kretinsky, Jan ID - 1594 TI - Controller synthesis for MDPs and frequency LTL\GU VL - 9450 ER - TY - CHAP AB - Let C={C1,...,Cn} denote a collection of translates of a regular convex k-gon in the plane with the stacking order. The collection C forms a visibility clique if for everyi < j the intersection Ci and (Ci ∩ Cj)\⋃i<l<jCl =∅.elements that are stacked between them, i.e., We show that if C forms a visibility clique its size is bounded from above by O(k4) thereby improving the upper bound of 22k from the aforementioned paper. We also obtain an upper bound of 22(k/2)+2 on the size of a visibility clique for homothetes of a convex (not necessarily regular) k-gon. AU - Fulek, Radoslav AU - Radoičić, Radoš ID - 1596 SN - 978-3-319-27260-3 T2 - Graph Drawing and Network Visualization TI - Vertical visibility among parallel polygons in three dimensions VL - 9411 ER - TY - CONF AB - We propose a flexible exchange format for ω-automata, as typically used in formal verification, and implement support for it in a range of established tools. Our aim is to simplify the interaction of tools, helping the research community to build upon other people’s work. A key feature of the format is the use of very generic acceptance conditions, specified by Boolean combinations of acceptance primitives, rather than being limited to common cases such as Büchi, Streett, or Rabin. Such flexibility in the choice of acceptance conditions can be exploited in applications, for example in probabilistic model checking, and furthermore encourages the development of acceptance-agnostic tools for automata manipulations. The format allows acceptance conditions that are either state-based or transition-based, and also supports alternating automata. AU - Babiak, Tomáš AU - Blahoudek, František AU - Duret Lutz, Alexandre AU - Klein, Joachim AU - Kretinsky, Jan AU - Mueller, Daniel AU - Parker, David AU - Strejček, Jan ID - 1601 TI - The Hanoi omega-automata format VL - 9206 ER - TY - CONF AB - Multiaffine hybrid automata (MHA) represent a powerful formalism to model complex dynamical systems. This formalism is particularly suited for the representation of biological systems which often exhibit highly non-linear behavior. In this paper, we consider the problem of parameter identification for MHA. We present an abstraction of MHA based on linear hybrid automata, which can be analyzed by the SpaceEx model checker. This abstraction enables a precise handling of time-dependent properties. We demonstrate the potential of our approach on a model of a genetic regulatory network and a myocyte model. AU - Bogomolov, Sergiy AU - Schilling, Christian AU - Bartocci, Ezio AU - Batt, Grégory AU - Kong, Hui AU - Grosu, Radu ID - 1605 TI - Abstraction-based parameter synthesis for multiaffine systems VL - 9434 ER - TY - CONF AB - In this paper, we present the first steps toward a runtime verification framework for monitoring hybrid and cyber-physical systems (CPS) development tools based on randomized differential testing. The development tools include hybrid systems reachability analysis tools, model-based development environments like Simulink/Stateflow (SLSF), etc. First, hybrid automaton models are randomly generated. Next, these hybrid automaton models are translated to a number of different tools (currently, SpaceEx, dReach, Flow*, HyCreate, and the MathWorks’ Simulink/Stateflow) using the HyST source transformation and translation tool. Then, the hybrid automaton models are executed in the different tools and their outputs are parsed. The final step is the differential comparison: the outputs of the different tools are compared. If the results do not agree (in the sense that an analysis or verification result from one tool does not match that of another tool, ignoring timeouts, etc.), a candidate bug is flagged and the model is saved for future analysis by the user. The process then repeats and the monitoring continues until the user terminates the process. We present preliminary results that have been useful in identifying a few bugs in the analysis methods of different development tools, and in an earlier version of HyST. AU - Nguyen, Luan AU - Schilling, Christian AU - Bogomolov, Sergiy AU - Johnson, Taylor ID - 1606 SN - 978-3-319-23819-7 T2 - 6th International Conference TI - Runtime verification for hybrid analysis tools VL - 9333 ER - TY - CONF AB - The synthesis problem asks for the automatic construction of a system from its specification. In the traditional setting, the system is “constructed from scratch” rather than composed from reusable components. However, this is rare in practice, and almost every non-trivial software system relies heavily on the use of libraries of reusable components. Recently, Lustig and Vardi introduced dataflow and controlflow synthesis from libraries of reusable components. They proved that dataflow synthesis is undecidable, while controlflow synthesis is decidable. The problem of controlflow synthesis from libraries of probabilistic components was considered by Nain, Lustig and Vardi, and was shown to be decidable for qualitative analysis (that asks that the specification be satisfied with probability 1). Our main contribution for controlflow synthesis from probabilistic components is to establish better complexity bounds for the qualitative analysis problem, and to show that the more general quantitative problem is undecidable. For the qualitative analysis, we show that the problem (i) is EXPTIME-complete when the specification is given as a deterministic parity word automaton, improving the previously known 2EXPTIME upper bound; and (ii) belongs to UP ∩ coUP and is parity-games hard, when the specification is given directly as a parity condition on the components, improving the previously known EXPTIME upper bound. AU - Chatterjee, Krishnendu AU - Doyen, Laurent AU - Vardi, Moshe ID - 1609 SN - 978-3-662-47665-9 T2 - 42nd International Colloquium TI - The complexity of synthesis from probabilistic components VL - 9135 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Loss-of-function mutations in the synaptic adhesion protein Neuroligin-4 are among the most common genetic abnormalities associated with autism spectrum disorders, but little is known about the function of Neuroligin-4 and the consequences of its loss. We assessed synaptic and network characteristics in Neuroligin-4 knockout mice, focusing on the hippocampus as a model brain region with a critical role in cognition and memory, and found that Neuroligin-4 deletion causes subtle defects of the protein composition and function of GABAergic synapses in the hippocampal CA3 region. Interestingly, these subtle synaptic changes are accompanied by pronounced perturbations of γ-oscillatory network activity, which has been implicated in cognitive function and is altered in multiple psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders. Our data provide important insights into the mechanisms by which Neuroligin-4-dependent GABAergic synapses may contribute to autism phenotypes and indicate new strategies for therapeutic approaches. AU - Hammer, Matthieu AU - Krueger Burg, Dilja AU - Tuffy, Liam AU - Cooper, Benjamin AU - Taschenberger, Holger AU - Goswami, Sarit AU - Ehrenreich, Hannelore AU - Jonas, Peter M AU - Varoqueaux, Frederique AU - Rhee, Jeong AU - Brose, Nils ID - 1615 IS - 3 JF - Cell Reports TI - Perturbed hippocampal synaptic inhibition and γ-oscillations in a neuroligin-4 knockout mouse model of autism VL - 13 ER - TY - JOUR AB - GABAergic perisoma-inhibiting fast-spiking interneurons (PIIs) effectively control the activity of large neuron populations by their wide axonal arborizations. It is generally assumed that the output of one PII to its target cells is strong and rapid. Here, we show that, unexpectedly, both strength and time course of PII-mediated perisomatic inhibition change with distance between synaptically connected partners in the rodent hippocampus. Synaptic signals become weaker due to lower contact numbers and decay more slowly with distance, very likely resulting from changes in GABAA receptor subunit composition. When distance-dependent synaptic inhibition is introduced to a rhythmically active neuronal network model, randomly driven principal cell assemblies are strongly synchronized by the PIIs, leading to higher precision in principal cell spike times than in a network with uniform synaptic inhibition. AU - Strüber, Michael AU - Jonas, Peter M AU - Bartos, Marlene ID - 1614 IS - 4 JF - PNAS TI - Strength and duration of perisomatic GABAergic inhibition depend on distance between synaptically connected cells VL - 112 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Biosensors for signaling molecules allow the study of physiological processes by bringing together the fields of protein engineering, fluorescence imaging, and cell biology. Construction of genetically encoded biosensors generally relies on the availability of a binding "core" that is both specific and stable, which can then be combined with fluorescent molecules to create a sensor. However, binding proteins with the desired properties are often not available in nature and substantial improvement to sensors can be required, particularly with regard to their durability. Ancestral protein reconstruction is a powerful protein-engineering tool able to generate highly stable and functional proteins. In this work, we sought to establish the utility of ancestral protein reconstruction to biosensor development, beginning with the construction of an l-arginine biosensor. l-arginine, as the immediate precursor to nitric oxide, is an important molecule in many physiological contexts including brain function. Using a combination of ancestral reconstruction and circular permutation, we constructed a Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) biosensor for l-arginine (cpFLIPR). cpFLIPR displays high sensitivity and specificity, with a Kd of ∼14 μM and a maximal dynamic range of 35%. Importantly, cpFLIPR was highly robust, enabling accurate l-arginine measurement at physiological temperatures. We established that cpFLIPR is compatible with two-photon excitation fluorescence microscopy and report l-arginine concentrations in brain tissue. AU - Whitfield, Jason AU - Zhang, William AU - Herde, Michel AU - Clifton, Ben AU - Radziejewski, Johanna AU - Janovjak, Harald L AU - Henneberger, Christian AU - Jackson, Colin ID - 1611 IS - 9 JF - Protein Science TI - Construction of a robust and sensitive arginine biosensor through ancestral protein reconstruction VL - 24 ER -