@article{17373, abstract = {Scanning Kelvin probe microscopy (SKPM) is a powerful technique for investigating the electrostatic properties of material surfaces, enabling the imaging of variations in work function, topology, surface charge density, or combinations thereof. Regardless of the underlying signal source, SKPM results in a voltage image, which is spatially distorted due to the finite size of the probe, long-range electrostatic interactions, mechanical and electrical noise, and the finite response time of the electronics. In order to recover the underlying signal, it is necessary to deconvolve the measurement with an appropriate point spread function (PSF) that accounts the aforementioned distortions, but determining this PSF is difficult. Here, we describe how such PSFs can be determined experimentally and show how they can be used to recover the underlying information of interest. We first consider the physical principles that enable SKPM and discuss how these affect the system PSF. We then show how one can experimentally measure PSFs by looking at well-defined features, and that these compare well to simulated PSFs, provided scans are performed extremely slowly and carefully. Next, we work at realistic scan speeds and show that the idealized PSFs fail to capture temporal distortions in the scan direction. While simulating PSFs for these situations would be quite challenging, we show that measuring PSFs with similar scan conditions works well. Our approach clarifies the basic principles and inherent challenges to SKPM measurements and gives practical methods to improve results.}, author = {Lenton, Isaac C and Pertl, Felix and Shafeek, Lubuna B and Waitukaitis, Scott R}, issn = {1089-7550}, journal = {Journal of Applied Physics}, number = {4}, publisher = {AIP Publishing}, title = {{Beyond the blur: Using experimentally determined point spread functions to improve scanning Kelvin probe imaging}}, doi = {10.1063/5.0215151}, volume = {136}, year = {2024}, } @inproceedings{17374, abstract = {Achieving photorealistic 3D view synthesis and relighting of human portraits is pivotal for advancing AR/VR applications. Existing methodologies in portrait relighting demonstrate substantial limitations in terms of generalization and 3D consistency, coupled with inaccuracies in physically realistic lighting and identity preservation. Furthermore, personalization from a single view is difficult to achieve and often requires multiview images during the testing phase or involves slow optimization processes. This paper introduces Lite2Relight , a novel technique that can predict 3D consistent head poses of portraits while performing physically plausible light editing at interactive speed. Our method uniquely extends the generative capabilities and efficient volumetric representation of EG3D, leveraging a lightstage dataset to implicitly disentangle face reflectance and perform relighting under target HDRI environment maps. By utilizing a pre-trained geometry-aware encoder and a feature alignment module, we map input images into a relightable 3D space, enhancing them with a strong face geometry and reflectance prior. Through extensive quantitative and qualitative evaluations, we show that our method outperforms the state-of-the-art methods in terms of efficacy, photorealism, and practical application. This includes producing 3D-consistent results of the full head, including hair, eyes, and expressions. Lite2Relight paves the way for large-scale adoption of photorealistic portrait editing in various domains, offering a robust, interactive solution to a previously constrained problem.}, author = {Rao, Pramod and Fox, Gereon and Meka, Abhimitra and Mallikarjun, B. R. and Zhan, Fangneng and Weyrich, Tim and Bickel, Bernd and Pfister, Hanspeter and Matusik, Wojciech and Elgharib, Mohamed and Theobalt, Christian}, booktitle = {Proceedings - SIGGRAPH 2024 Conference Papers}, isbn = {9798400705250}, location = {Denver, CO, United States}, publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery}, title = {{Lite2Relight: 3D-aware single image portrait relighting}}, doi = {10.1145/3641519.3657470}, year = {2024}, } @article{17375, abstract = {We consider the spectral radius of a large random matrix X with independent, identically distributed entries. We show that its typical size is given by a precise three-term asymptotics with an optimal error term beyond the radius of the celebrated circular law. The coefficients in this asymptotics are universal but they differ from a similar asymptotics recently proved for the rightmost eigenvalue of X in Cipolloni et al., Ann. Probab. 51(6), 2192–2242 (2023). To access the more complicated spectral radius, we need to establish a new decorrelation mechanism for the low-lying singular values of X − z for different complex shift parameters z using the Dyson Brownian Motion.}, author = {Cipolloni, Giorgio and Erdös, László and Xu, Yuanyuan}, issn = {0022-2488}, journal = {Journal of Mathematical Physics}, number = {6}, publisher = {AIP Publishing}, title = {{Precise asymptotics for the spectral radius of a large random matrix}}, doi = {10.1063/5.0209705}, volume = {65}, year = {2024}, } @article{17376, abstract = {The inertia bound and ratio bound (also known as the Cvetković bound and Hoffman bound) are two fundamental inequalities in spectral graph theory, giving upper bounds on the independence number α(G) of a graph G in terms of spectral information about a weighted adjacency matrix of G. For both inequalities, given a graph G, one needs to make a judicious choice of weighted adjacency matrix to obtain as strong a bound as possible. While there is a well-established theory surrounding the ratio bound, the inertia bound is much more mysterious, and its limits are rather unclear. In fact, only recently did Sinkovic find the first example of a graph for which the inertia bound is not tight (for any weighted adjacency matrix), answering a longstanding question of Godsil. We show that the inertia bound can be extremely far from tight, and in fact can significantly underperform the ratio bound: for example, one of our results is that for infinitely many n, there is an n-vertex graph for which even the unweighted ratio bound can prove α(G)≤4n3/4, but the inertia bound is always at least n/4. In particular, these results address questions of Rooney, Sinkovic, and Wocjan--Elphick--Abiad.}, author = {Kwan, Matthew Alan and Wigderson, Yuval}, issn = {1469-2120}, journal = {Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society}, number = {10}, pages = {3196--3208}, publisher = {London Mathematical Society}, title = {{The inertia bound is far from tight}}, doi = {10.1112/blms.13127}, volume = {56}, year = {2024}, } @article{17377, abstract = {Lateral root (LR) formation, that is vital for plant development, is one of many auxin-modulated processes, but the underlying regulatory mechanism is not yet fully known. Recently, González-García et al. discovered the BiAux compound and showed that it is involved in LR development via regulating specific auxin coreceptors.}, author = {Wójcikowska, Barbara and Friml, Jiří and Mazur, Ewa}, issn = {1360-1385}, journal = {Trends in Plant Science}, number = {12}, pages = {1279--1281}, publisher = {Elsevier}, title = {{BiAux, a newly discovered compound triggering auxin signaling}}, doi = {10.1016/j.tplants.2024.07.008}, volume = {29}, year = {2024}, } @article{17389, abstract = {The potential of Si and SiGe-based devices for the scaling of quantum circuits is tainted by device variability. Each device needs to be tuned to operation conditions and each device realisation requires a different tuning protocol. We demonstrate that it is possible to automate the tuning of a 4-gate Si FinFET, a 5-gate GeSi nanowire and a 7-gate Ge/SiGe heterostructure double quantum dot device from scratch with the same algorithm. We achieve tuning times of 30, 10, and 92 min, respectively. The algorithm also provides insight into the parameter space landscape for each of these devices, allowing for the characterization of the regions where double quantum dot regimes are found. These results show that overarching solutions for the tuning of quantum devices are enabled by machine learning.}, author = {Severin, B. and Lennon, D. T. and Camenzind, L. C. and Vigneau, F. and Fedele, F. and Jirovec, Daniel and Ballabio, A. and Chrastina, D. and Isella, G. and de Kruijf, M. and Carballido, M. J. and Svab, S. and Kuhlmann, A. V. and Geyer, S. and Froning, F. N. M. and Moon, H. and Osborne, M. A. and Sejdinovic, D. and Katsaros, Georgios and Zumbühl, D. M. and Briggs, G. A. D. and Ares, N.}, issn = {2045-2322}, journal = {Scientific Reports}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Cross-architecture tuning of silicon and SiGe-based quantum devices using machine learning}}, doi = {10.1038/s41598-024-67787-z}, volume = {14}, year = {2024}, } @article{17396, abstract = {Wildfire intensity and severity have been increasing in the Iberian Peninsula in recent years, particularly in the Galicia region, due to rising temperatures and accumulating drier combustible vegetation in unmanaged lands. This leads to substantial emissions of air pollutants, notably fine particles (PM2.5), posing a risk to public health. This study aims to assess the impact of local and regional wildfires on PM2.5 levels in Galicia's main cities and their implications for air quality and public health. Over a decade (2013–2022), PM2.5 data during wildfire seasons were analyzed using statistical methods and Lagrangian tracking to monitor smoke plume evolution. The results reveal a notable increase in PM2.5 concentration during the wildfire season (June–November) in Galicia, surpassing health guidelines during extreme events and posing a significant health risk to the population. Regional wildfire analyses indicate that smoke plumes from Northern Portugal contribute to pollution in Galician cities, influencing the seasonality of heightened PM2.5 levels. During extensive wildfires, elevated PM2.5 concentration values persisted for several days, potentially exacerbating health concerns in Galicia. These findings underscore the urgency of implementing air pollution prevention and management measures in the region, including developing effective alerts for large-scale events and improved wildfire management strategies to mitigate their impact on air quality in Galician cities.}, author = {Quishpe-Vásquez, César and Oliva, Patricia and López-Barrera, Ellie Anne and Casallas Garcia, Alejandro}, issn = {0301-4797}, journal = {Journal of Environmental Management}, publisher = {Elsevier}, title = {{Wildfires impact on PM2.5 concentration in galicia Spain}}, doi = {10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.122093}, volume = {367}, year = {2024}, } @inproceedings{17402, abstract = {We present version 2.0 of the Partial Exploration Tool (PET), a tool for verification of probabilistic systems. We extend the previous version by adding support for stochastic games, based on a recent unified framework for sound value iteration algorithms. Thereby, PET2 is the first tool implementing a sound and efficient approach for solving stochastic games with objectives of the type reachability/safety and mean payoff. We complement this approach by developing and implementing a partial-exploration based variant for all three objectives. Our experimental evaluation shows that PET2 offers the most efficient partial-exploration based algorithm and is the most viable tool on SGs, even outperforming unsound tools.}, author = {Meggendorfer, Tobias and Weininger, Maximilian}, booktitle = {36th International Conference on Computer Aided Verification}, isbn = {9783031656323}, issn = {1611-3349}, location = {Montreal, Canada}, pages = {359--372}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Playing games with your PET: Extending the Partial Exploration Tool to stochastic games}}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-031-65633-0_16}, volume = {14683}, year = {2024}, } @article{17407, abstract = {The ability to control forces between sub-micron-scale building blocks offers significant potential for designing new materials through self-assembly. Traditionally, this involves identifying a crystal structure with a desired property and then designing building-block interactions so that it assembles spontaneously. However, this paradigm fails for structurally disordered solids, which lack a well-defined structure. Here, we show that disordered solids can still be treated from an inverse self-assembly perspective by bypassing structure and directly targeting material properties. Using the Poisson’s ratio as a primary example, we demonstrate how differentiable programming links interaction parameters with emergent behavior, enabling iterative training to achieve the desired Poisson’s ratio. We also tune other properties, including pressure and local 8-fold structural order, and can even control multiple properties simultaneously. This robust, transferable, and scalable approach can handle a wide variety of systems and properties, demonstrating the utility of disordered solids as a practical avenue for self-assembly platforms.}, author = {Zu, Mengjie and Goodrich, Carl Peter}, issn = {2662-4443}, journal = {Communications Materials}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Designing athermal disordered solids with automatic differentiation}}, doi = {10.1038/s43246-024-00583-4}, volume = {5}, year = {2024}, } @article{17408, abstract = {Background: The remarkable regenerative abilities observed in planarians and cnidarians are closely linked to the active proliferation of adult stem cells and the precise differentiation of their progeny, both of which typically deteriorate during aging in low regenerative animals. While regeneration-specific genes conserved in highly regenerative organisms may confer regenerative abilities and long-term maintenance of tissue homeostasis, it remains unclear whether introducing these regenerative genes into low regenerative animals can improve their regeneration and aging processes. Results: Here, we ectopically express highly regenerative species-specific JmjC domain-encoding genes (HRJDs) in Drosophila, a widely used low regenerative model organism. Surprisingly, HRJD expression impedes tissue regeneration in the developing wing disc but extends organismal lifespan when expressed in the intestinal stem cell lineages of the adult midgut under non-regenerative conditions. Notably, HRJDs enhance the proliferative activity of intestinal stem cells while maintaining their differentiation fidelity, ameliorating age-related decline in gut barrier functions. Conclusions: These findings together suggest that the introduction of highly regenerative species-specific genes can improve stem cell functions and promote a healthy lifespan when expressed in aging animals.}, author = {Nagai, Hiroki and Adachi, Yuya and Nakasugi, Tenki and Takigawa, Ema and Ui, Junichiro and Makino, Takashi and Miura, Masayuki and Nakajima, Yu Ichiro}, issn = {1741-7007}, journal = {BMC Biology}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Highly regenerative species-specific genes improve age-associated features in the adult Drosophila midgut}}, doi = {10.1186/s12915-024-01956-4}, volume = {22}, year = {2024}, } @article{17409, abstract = {Light-driven rotary molecular motors are among the most promising classes of responsive molecular machines and take advantage of their intrinsic chirality which governs unidirectional rotation. As a consequence of their dynamic function, they receive considerable interest in the areas of supramolecular chemistry, asymmetric catalysis and responsive materials. Among the emerging classes of responsive photochromic molecules, multistate first-generation molecular motors driven by benign visible light remain unexplored, which limits the exploitation of the full potential of these mechanical light-powered systems. Herein, we describe a series of all-visible-light-driven first-generation molecular motors based on the salicylidene Schiff base functionality. Remarkable redshifts up to 100 nm in absorption are achieved compared to conventional first-generation motor structures. Taking advantage of all-visible-light-driven multistate motor scaffolds, adaptive behaviour is found as well, and potential application in multistate photoluminescence is demonstrated. These functional visible-light-responsive motors will likely stimulate the design and synthesis of more sophisticated nanomachinery with a myriad of future applications in powering dynamic systems.}, author = {Van Vliet, Sven and Sheng, Jinyu and Stindt, Charlotte N. and Feringa, Ben L.}, issn = {2041-1723}, journal = {Nature Communications}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{All-visible-light-driven salicylidene schiff-base-functionalized artificial molecular motors}}, doi = {10.1038/s41467-024-50587-4}, volume = {15}, year = {2024}, } @article{17410, abstract = {We present a cavity-electromechanical system comprising a superconducting quantum interference device which is embedded in a microwave resonator and coupled via a pickup loop to a 6-μ⁢g magnetically levitated superconducting sphere. The motion of the sphere in the magnetic trap induces a frequency shift in the SQUID-cavity system. We use microwave spectroscopy to characterize the system, and we demonstrate that the electromechanical interaction is tunable. The measured displacement sensitivity of 10−7m/√Hz defines a path towards ground-state cooling of levitated particles with Planck-scale masses at millikelvin environment temperatures.}, author = {Schmidt, Philip and Claessen, Remi and Higgins, Gerard and Hofer, Joachim and Hansen, Jannek J. and Asenbaum, Peter and Zemlicka, Martin and Uhl, Kevin and Kleiner, Reinhold and Gross, Rudolf and Huebl, Hans and Trupke, Michael and Aspelmeyer, Markus}, issn = {2331-7019}, journal = {Physical Review Applied}, publisher = {American Physical Society}, title = {{Remote sensing of a levitated superconductor with a flux-tunable microwave cavity}}, doi = {10.1103/PhysRevApplied.22.014078}, volume = {22}, year = {2024}, } @article{17412, abstract = {The electroreduction of biomass-derived benzaldehyde (BZH) provides a potentially cost-effective route to produce benzyl alcohol (BA). This reaction competes with the electrochemical self-coupling of BZH to hydrobenzoin (HDB), which holds significance as a biofuel. Herein, we demonstrate the selectivity towards one or the other product strongly depends on the surface chemistry of the catalyst, specifically on its ability to adsorb hydrogen, as showcased with Cu2S electrocatalysts. We particularly analyze the effect of surface ligands, oleylamine (OAm), on the selective conversion of BZH to BA or HDB. The effect of the electrode potential, electrolyte pH, and temperature are studied. Results indicate that bare Cu2S exhibits higher selectivity towards BA, while OAm-capped Cu2S promotes HDB formation. This difference is explained by the competing adsorption of protons and BZH. During the BZH electrochemical conversion, electrons first transfer to the C in the C[double bond, length as m-dash]O group to form a ketyl radical. Then the radical either couples with surrounding H+ to form BA or self-couple to produce HDB, depending on the H+ availability that is affected by the electrocatalyst surface properties. The presence of OAm inhibits the H adsorption on the electrode surface therefore reducing the formation of high-energy state Had and its combination with ketyl radicals to form BA. Instead, the presence of OAm promotes the outer sphere reaction for obtaining HDB.}, author = {Gong, Li and Zhao, Shiling and Yu, Jing and Li, Junshan and Arbiol, Jordi and Kallio, Tanja and Calcabrini, Mariano and Martínez-Alanis, Paulina R. and Ibáñez, Maria and Cabot, Andreu}, issn = {2753-1457}, journal = {Energy Advances}, number = {9}, pages = {2287--2294}, publisher = {Royal Society of Chemistry}, title = {{Influence of the catalyst surface chemistry on the electrochemical self-coupling of biomass-derived benzaldehyde into hydrobenzoin}}, doi = {10.1039/d4ya00334a}, volume = {3}, year = {2024}, } @inproceedings{17413, abstract = {Certification helps to increase trust in formal verification of safety-critical systems which require assurance on their correctness. In hardware model checking, a widely used formal verification technique, phase abstraction is considered one of the most commonly used preprocessing techniques. We present an approach to certify an extended form of phase abstraction using a generic certificate format. As in earlier works our approach involves constructing a witness circuit with an inductive invariant property that certifies the correctness of the entire model checking process, which is then validated by an independent certificate checker. We have implemented and evaluated the proposed approach including certification for various preprocessing configurations on hardware model checking competition benchmarks. As an improvement on previous work in this area, the proposed method is able to efficiently complete certification with an overhead of a fraction of model checking time.}, author = {Froleyks, Nils and Yu, Zhengqi and Biere, Armin and Heljanko, Keijo}, booktitle = {Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)}, isbn = {9783031634970}, issn = {1611-3349}, location = {Nancy, France}, pages = {284--303}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Certifying phase abstraction}}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-031-63498-7_17}, volume = {14739}, year = {2024}, } @inproceedings{17423, abstract = {We introduce an algorithm to reconstruct a mesh from discrete samples of a shape’s Signed Distance Function (SDF). A simple geometric reinterpretation of the SDF lets us formulate the problem through a point cloud, from which a surface can be extracted with existing techniques. We extract all possible information from the SDF data, outperforming commonly used algorithms and imposing no topological or geometric restrictions.}, author = {Sellán, Silvia and Ren, Yingying and Batty, Christopher and Stein, Oded}, booktitle = {SIGGRAPH '24: Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques Conference}, isbn = {9798400705250}, location = {Denver, CO, United States}, publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery}, title = {{Reach for the arcs: Reconstructing surfaces from SDFs via tangent points}}, doi = {10.1145/3641519.3657419}, year = {2024}, } @article{17424, abstract = {Surface-based inflatables are composed of two thin layers of nearly inextensible sheet material joined together along carefully selected fusing curves. During inflation, pressure forces separate the two sheets to maximize the enclosed volume. The fusing curves restrict this expansion, leading to a spatially varying in-plane contraction and hence metric frustration. The inflated structure settles into a 3D equilibrium that balances pressure forces with the internal elastic forces of the sheets. We present a computational framework for analyzing and designing surface-based inflatable structures with arbitrary fusing patterns. Our approach employs numerical homogenization to characterize the behavior of parametric families of periodic inflatable patch geometries, which can then be combined to tessellate the sheet with smoothly varying patterns. We propose a novel parametrization of the underlying deformation space that allows accurate, efficient, and systematical analysis of the stretching and bending behavior of inflated patches with potentially open boundaries. We apply our homogenization algorithm to create a database of geometrically diverse fusing patterns spanning a wide range of material properties and deformation characteristics. This database is employed in an inverse design algorithm that solves for fusing curves to best approximate a given input target surface. Local patches are selected and blended to form a global network of curves based on a geometric flattening algorithm. These fusing curves are then further optimized to minimize the distance of the deployed structure to target surface. We show that this approach offers greater flexibility to approximate given target geometries compared to previous work while significantly improving structural performance.}, author = {Ren, Yingying and Panetta, Julian and Suzuki, Seiichi and Kusupati, Uday and Isvoranu, Florin and Pauly, Mark}, issn = {1557-7368}, journal = {ACM Transactions on Graphics}, number = {4}, publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery}, title = {{Computational homogenization for inverse design of surface-based inflatables}}, doi = {10.1145/3658125}, volume = {43}, year = {2024}, } @article{17435, abstract = {The Mediterranean region is experiencing pronounced aridification and in certain areas higher occurrence of intense precipitation. In this work, we analyze the evolution of the precipitation probability distribution in terms of precipitating days (or “wet-days”) and all-days quantile trends, in Europe and the Mediterranean, using the ERA5 reanalysis. Looking at the form of wet-days quantile trends curves, we identify four regimes. Two are predominant: in most of northern Europe the precipitation quantiles all intensify, while in the Mediterranean the low-medium quantiles are mostly decreasing as extremes intensify or decrease. The wet-days distribution is then modeled by a Weibull law with two parameters, whose changes capture the four regimes. Assessing the significance of the parameters' changes over 1950–2020 shows that a signal on wet-days distribution has already emerged in northern Europe (where the distribution shifts to more intense precipitation), but not yet in the Mediterranean, where the natural variability is stronger. We extend the results by describing the all-days distribution change as the wet-days’ change plus a contribution from the dry-days frequency change, and study their relative contribution. In northern Europe, the wet-days distribution change is the dominant driver, and the contribution of dry-days frequency change can be neglected for wet-days percentiles above about 50%. In the Mediterranean, however, the change of precipitation distribution comes from the significant increase of dry-days frequency instead of an intensity change during wet-days. Therefore, in the Mediterranean the increase of dry-days frequency is crucial for all-days trends, even for heavy precipitation.}, author = {André, Julie and D'Andrea, Fabio and Drobinski, Philippe and Muller, Caroline J}, issn = {2169-8996}, journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres}, number = {15}, publisher = {Wiley}, title = {{Regimes of precipitation change over Europe and the Mediterranean}}, doi = {10.1029/2023JD040413}, volume = {129}, year = {2024}, } @article{17436, abstract = {The auxin signaling molecule controls a variety of growth and developmental processes in land plants. Auxin regulates gene expression through a nuclear auxin signaling pathway (NAP) consisting of the ubiquitin ligase auxin receptor TIR1/AFB, its Aux/IAA degradation substrate, and DNA-binding ARF transcription factors. Although extensive qualitative understanding of the pathway and its interactions has been obtained, mostly by studying the flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana, it remains unknown how these translate to quantitative system behavior in vivo, a problem that is confounded by the large NAP gene families in most species. Here, we used the minimal NAP of the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha to quantitatively map NAP protein accumulation and dynamics in vivo through the use of knockin fluorescent fusion proteins. Beyond revealing the dynamic native accumulation profile of the entire NAP protein network, we discovered that the two central ARFs, MpARF1 and MpARF2, are proteasomally degraded. This auxin-independent degradation tunes ARF protein stoichiometry to favor gene activation, thereby reprogramming auxin response during the developmental progression. Thus, quantitative analysis of the entire NAP has enabled us to identify ARF degradation and the stoichiometries of activator and repressor ARFs as a potential mechanism for controlling gemma germination.}, author = {Das, Shubhajit and De Roij, Martijn and Bellows, Simon and Alvarez, Melissa Dipp and Mutte, Sumanth and Kohlen, Wouter and Farcot, Etienne and Weijers, Dolf and Borst, Jan Willem}, issn = {2590-3462}, journal = {Plant Communications}, number = {11}, publisher = {Elsevier}, title = {{Quantitative imaging reveals the role of MpARF proteasomal degradation during gemma germination}}, doi = {10.1016/j.xplc.2024.101039}, volume = {5}, year = {2024}, } @article{17437, abstract = {We prove that the zero-fiber of the moment map of a totally negative quiver has rational singularities. Our proof consists in generalizing dimension bounds on jet spaces of this fiber, which were introduced by Budur. We also transfer the rational singularities property to other moduli spaces of objects in 2-Calabi-Yau categories, based on recent work of Davison. This has interesting arithmetic applications on quiver moment maps and moduli spaces of objects in 2-Calabi-Yau categories. First, we generalize results of Wyss on the asymptotic behaviour of counts of jets of quiver moment maps over finite fields. Moreover, we interpret the limit of counts of jets on a given moduli space as its p-adic volume under a canonical measure analogous to the measure built by Carocci, Orecchia and Wyss on certain moduli spaces of coherent sheaves.}, author = {Vernet, Tanguy}, issn = {1531-586X}, journal = {Transformation Groups}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Rational singularities for moment maps of totally negative quivers}}, doi = {10.1007/s00031-024-09873-0}, year = {2024}, } @article{17442, abstract = {Although eukaryotic Argonautes have a pivotal role in post-transcriptional gene regulation through nucleic acid cleavage, some short prokaryotic Argonaute variants (pAgos) rely on auxiliary nuclease factors for efficient foreign DNA degradation1. Here we reveal the activation pathway of the DNA defence module DdmDE system, which rapidly eliminates small, multicopy plasmids from the Vibrio cholerae seventh pandemic strain (7PET)2. Through a combination of cryo-electron microscopy, biochemistry and in vivo plasmid clearance assays, we demonstrate that DdmE is a catalytically inactive, DNA-guided, DNA-targeting pAgo with a distinctive insertion domain. We observe that the helicase-nuclease DdmD transitions from an autoinhibited, dimeric complex to a monomeric state upon loading of single-stranded DNA targets. Furthermore, the complete structure of the DdmDE–guide–target handover complex provides a comprehensive view into how DNA recognition triggers processive plasmid destruction. Our work establishes a mechanistic foundation for how pAgos utilize ancillary factors to achieve plasmid clearance, and provides insights into anti-plasmid immunity in bacteria. }, author = {Bravo, Jack Peter Kelly and Ramos, Delisa A. and Fregoso Ocampo, Rodrigo and Ingram, Caiden and Taylor, David W.}, issn = {1476-4687}, journal = {Nature}, number = {8018}, pages = {961--967}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Plasmid targeting and destruction by the DdmDE bacterial defence system}}, doi = {10.1038/s41586-024-07515-9}, volume = {630}, year = {2024}, }