TY - JOUR AB - Eukaryotic cell function depends on the physical separation of nucleoplasmic and cytoplasmic components by the nuclear envelope (NE). Molecular communication between the two compartments involves active, signal-mediated trafficking, a function that is exclusively performed by nuclear pore complexes (NPCs). The individual NPC components and the mechanisms that are involved in nuclear trafficking are well documented and have become textbook knowledge. However, in addition to their roles as nuclear gatekeepers, NPC components-nucleoporins-have been shown to have critical roles in chromatin organization and gene regulation. These findings have sparked new enthusiasm to study the roles of this multiprotein complex in nuclear organization and explore novel functions that in some cases appear to go beyond a role in transport. Here, we discuss our present view of NPC biogenesis, which is tightly linked to proper cell cycle progression and cell differentiation. In addition, we summarize new data suggesting that NPCs represent dynamic hubs for the integration of gene regulation and nuclear transport processes. AU - Capelson, M. AU - Doucet, C. AU - HETZER, Martin W ID - 11100 JF - Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology KW - Genetics KW - Molecular Biology KW - Biochemistry SN - 0091-7451 TI - Nuclear pore complexes: Guardians of the nuclear genome VL - 75 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Particle beams are important tools for probing atomic and molecular interactions. Here we demonstrate that particle beams also offer a unique opportunity to investigate interactions in macroscopic systems, such as granular media. Motivated by recent experiments on streams of grains that exhibit liquid-like breakup into droplets, we use molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the evolution of a dense stream of macroscopic spheres accelerating out of an opening at the bottom of a reservoir. We show how nanoscale details associated with energy dissipation during collisions modify the stream\'s macroscopic behavior. We find that inelastic collisions collimate the stream, while the presence of short-range attractive interactions drives structure formation. Parameterizing the collision dynamics by the coefficient of restitution (i.e., the ratio of relative velocities before and after impact) and the strength of the cohesive interaction, we map out a spectrum of behaviors that ranges from gaslike jets in which all grains drift apart to liquid-like streams that break into large droplets containing hundreds of grains. We also find a new, intermediate regime in which small aggregates form by capture from the gas phase, similar to what can be observed in molecular beams. Our results show that nearly all aspects of stream behavior are closely related to the velocity gradient associated with vertical free fall. Led by this observation, we propose a simple energy balance model to explain the droplet formation process. The qualitative as well as many quantitative features of the simulations and the model compare well with available experimental data and provide a first quantitative measure of the role of attractions in freely cooling granular streams. AU - Waitukaitis, Scott R AU - Grütjen, Helge AU - Royer, John AU - Jaeger, Heinrich ID - 112 IS - 5 JF - Physical Review E TI - Droplet and cluster formation in freely falling granular streams VL - 83 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Given only the URL of a Web page, can we identify its topic? We study this problem in detail by exploring a large number of different feature sets and algorithms on several datasets. We also show that the inherent overlap between topics and the sparsity of the information in URLs makes this a very challenging problem. Web page classification without a page’s content is desirable when the content is not available at all, when a classification is needed before obtaining the content, or when classification speed is of utmost importance. For our experiments we used five different corpora comprising a total of about 3 million (URL, classification) pairs. We evaluated several techniques for feature generation and classification algorithms. The individual binary classifiers were then combined via boosting into metabinary classifiers. We achieve typical F-measure values between 80 and 85, and a typical precision of around 86. The precision can be pushed further over 90 while maintaining a typical level of recall between 30 and 40. AU - Baykan, Eda AU - Henzinger, Monika H AU - Marian, Ludmila AU - Weber, Ingmar ID - 11673 IS - 3 JF - ACM Transactions on the Web KW - Topic classification KW - URL KW - ODP SN - 1559-1131 TI - A comprehensive study of features and algorithms for URL-based topic classification VL - 5 ER - TY - JOUR AB - We study a novel load balancing problem that arises in web search engines. The problem is a combination of an offline assignment problem, where files need to be (copied and) assigned to machines, and an online load balancing problem, where requests ask for specific files and need to be assigned to a corresponding machine, whose load is increased by this. We present simple deterministic algorithms for this problem and exhibit an interesting trade-off between the available space to make file copies and the obtainable makespan. We also give non-trivial lower bounds for a large class of deterministic algorithms and present a randomized algorithm that beats these bounds with high probability. AU - Dütting, Paul AU - Henzinger, Monika H AU - Weber, Ingmar ID - 11760 IS - 4 JF - Information Processing Letters SN - 0020-0190 TI - Offline file assignments for online load balancing VL - 111 ER - TY - CONF AB - The design of truthful auctions that approximate the optimal expected revenue is a central problem in algorithmic mechanism design. 30 years after Myerson’s characterization of Bayesian optimal auctions in single-parameter domains [8], characterizing but also providing efficient mechanisms for multi-parameter domains still remains a very important unsolved problem. Our work improves upon recent results in this area, introducing new techniques for tackling the problem, while also combining and extending recently introduced tools. In particular we give the first approximation algorithms for Bayesian auctions with multiple heterogeneous items when bidders have additive valuations, budget constraints and general matroid feasibility constraints. AU - Henzinger, Monika H AU - Vidali, Angelina ID - 11796 SN - 1611-3349 T2 - 19th Annual European Symposium on Algorithms TI - Multi-parameter mechanism design under budget and matroid constraints VL - 6942 ER - TY - CONF AB - Auctions are widely used on the Web. Applications range from internet advertising to platforms such as eBay. In most of these applications the auctions in use are single/multi-item auctions with unit demand. The main drawback of standard mechanisms for this type of auctions, such as VCG and GSP, is the limited expressiveness that they offer to the bidders. The General Auction Mechanism (GAM) of [1] is taking a first step towards addressing the problem of limited expressiveness by computing a bidder optimal, envy free outcome for linear utility functions with identical slopes and a single discontinuity per bidder-item pair. We show that in many practical situations this does not suffice to adequately model the preferences of the bidders, and we overcome this problem by presenting the first mechanism for piece-wise linear utility functions with non-identical slopes and multiple discontinuities. Our mechanism runs in polynomial time. Like GAM it is incentive compatible for inputs that fulfill a certain non-degeneracy requirement, but our requirement is more general than the requirement of GAM. For discontinuous utility functions that are non-degenerate as well as for continuous utility functions the outcome of our mechanism is a competitive equilibrium. We also show how our mechanism can be used to compute approximately bidder optimal, envy free outcomes for a general class of continuous utility functions via piece-wise linear approximation. Finally, we prove hardness results for even more expressive settings. AU - Dütting, Paul AU - Henzinger, Monika H AU - Weber, Ingmar ID - 11864 SN - 978-145030632-4 T2 - Proceedings of the 20th international conference on World wide web TI - An expressive mechanism for auctions on the web ER - TY - JOUR AB - Temperature data from three Automatic Weather Stations and twelve Temperature Loggers are used to investigate the spatiotemporal variability of temperature over a glacier, its main atmospheric controls, the suitability of extrapolation techniques and their effect on melt modeling. We use data collected on Juncal Norte Glacier, central Chile, during one ablation season. We examine temporal and spatial variability in lapse rates (LRs), together with alternative statistical interpolation methods. The main control over the glacier thermal regime is the development of a katabatic boundary layer (KBL). Katabatic wind occurs at night and in the morning and is eroded in the afternoon. LRs reveal strong diurnal variability, with steeper LRs during the day when the katabatic wind weakens and shallower LRs during the night and morning. We suggest that temporally variable LRs should be used to account for the observed change. They tend to be steeper than equivalent constant LRs, and therefore result in a reduction in simulated melt compared to use of constant LRs when extrapolating from lower to higher elevations. In addition to the temporal variability, the temperature-elevation relationship varies also in space. Differences are evident between local LRs and including such variability in melt modeling affects melt simulations. Extrapolation methods based on the spatial variability of the observations after removal of the elevation trend, such as Inverse Distance Weighting or Kriging, do not seem necessary for simulations of gridded temperature data over a glacier. AU - Petersen, L. AU - Pellicciotti, Francesca ID - 12651 IS - D23 JF - Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres KW - Paleontology KW - Space and Planetary Science KW - Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) KW - Atmospheric Science KW - Earth-Surface Processes KW - Geochemistry and Petrology KW - Soil Science KW - Water Science and Technology KW - Ecology KW - Aquatic Science KW - Forestry KW - Oceanography KW - Geophysics SN - 0148-0227 TI - Spatial and temporal variability of air temperature on a melting glacier: Atmospheric controls, extrapolation methods and their effect on melt modeling, Juncal Norte Glacier, Chile VL - 116 ER - TY - JOUR AB - Physically based hydrological models describe natural processes more accurately than conceptual models but require extensive data sets to produce accurate results. To identify the value of different data sets for improving the performance of the distributed hydrological model TOPKAPI we combine a multivariable validation technique with Monte Carlo simulations. The study is carried out in the snow and ice-dominated Rhonegletscher basin, as these types of mountainous basins are generally the most critical with respect to data availability and sensitivity to climate fluctuations. Each observational data set is used individually and in combination with the other data sets to determine a subset of best parameter combinations out of 10,000 Monte Carlos runs performed with randomly generated parameter sets. We validate model results against discharge, glacier mass balance, and satellite snow cover images for a 14 year time period (1994–2007). While the use of all data sets combined provides the best overall model performance (defined by the concurrent best agreement of simulated discharge, snow cover and mass balance with their respective measurements), the use of one or two variables for constraining the model results in poorer performance. Using only one data set for constraining the model glacier mass balance proved to be the most efficient observation leading to the best overall model performance. Our main result is that a combination of discharge and satellite snow cover images is best for improving model performance, since the volumetric information of discharge data and the spatial information of snow cover images are complementary. AU - Finger, David AU - Pellicciotti, Francesca AU - Konz, Markus AU - Rimkus, Stefan AU - Burlando, Paolo ID - 12649 IS - 7 JF - Water Resources Research SN - 0043-1397 TI - The value of glacier mass balance, satellite snow cover images, and hourly discharge for improving the performance of a physically based distributed hydrological model VL - 47 ER - TY - JOUR AB - We explore the robustness and transferability of parameterizations of cloud radiative forcing used in glacier melt models at two sites in the Swiss Alps. We also look at the rationale behind some of the most commonly used approaches, and explore the relationship between cloud transmittance and several standard meteorological variables. The 2 m air-temperature diurnal range is the best predictor of variations in cloud transmittance. However, linear and exponential parameterizations can only explain 30–50% of the observed variance in computed cloud transmittance factors. We examine the impact of modelled cloud transmittance factors on both solar radiation and ablation rates computed with an enhanced temperature-index model. The melt model performance decreases when modelled radiation is used, the reduction being due to an underestimation of incoming solar radiation on clear-sky days. The model works well under overcast conditions. We also seek alternatives to the use of in situ ground data. However, outputs from an atmospheric model (2.2 km horizontal resolution) do not seem to provide an alternative to the parameterizations of cloud radiative forcing based on observations of air temperature at glacier automatic weather stations. Conversely, the correct definition of overcast conditions is important. AU - Pellicciotti, Francesca AU - Raschle, Thomas AU - Huerlimann, Thomas AU - Carenzo, Marco AU - Burlando, Paolo ID - 12652 IS - 202 JF - Journal of Glaciology SN - 0022-1430 TI - Transmission of solar radiation through clouds on melting glaciers: A comparison of parameterizations and their impact on melt modelling VL - 57 ER - TY - CHAP AB - Streamflow is a hydrological variable measured at a defined river cross-section; it spatially integrates the runoff generating processes in the contributing watershed, including precipitation and air temperature. Trends in streamflow are progressive changes in the time series of streamflow that can be detected with statistical methods and their statistical significance can be assessed. Mountainous regions are particularly vulnerable to streamflow change because of their high specific runoff and the sensitivity to the distribution of precipitation and air temperature, and the processes of snow accumulation and melt. AU - Molnar, Peter AU - Burlando, Paolo AU - Pellicciotti, Francesca ED - Singh, Vijay ED - Singh, Pratap ED - Haritashya, Umesh ID - 12650 SN - 1388-4360 T2 - Encyclopedia of Snow, Ice and Glaciers TI - Streamflow Trends in Mountainous Regions ER -