@article{1710, abstract = {We consider the hollow on the half-plane {(x, y) : y ≤ 0} ⊂ ℝ2 defined by a function u : (-1, 1) → ℝ, u(x) < 0, and a vertical flow of point particles incident on the hollow. It is assumed that u satisfies the so-called single impact condition (SIC): each incident particle is elastically reflected by graph(u) and goes away without hitting the graph of u anymore. We solve the problem: find the function u minimizing the force of resistance created by the flow. We show that the graph of the minimizer is formed by two arcs of parabolas symmetric to each other with respect to the y-axis. Assuming that the resistance of u ≡ 0 equals 1, we show that the minimal resistance equals π/2 - 2arctan(1/2) ≈ 0.6435. This result completes the previously obtained result [SIAM J. Math. Anal., 46 (2014), pp. 2730-2742] stating in particular that the minimal resistance of a hollow in higher dimensions equals 0.5. We additionally consider a similar problem of minimal resistance, where the hollow in the half-space {(x1,...,xd,y) : y ≤ 0} ⊂ ℝd+1 is defined by a radial function U satisfying the SIC, U(x) = u(|x|), with x = (x1,...,xd), u(ξ) < 0 for 0 ≤ ξ < 1, and u(ξ) = 0 for ξ ≥ 1, and the flow is parallel to the y-axis. The minimal resistance is greater than 0.5 (and coincides with 0.6435 when d = 1) and converges to 0.5 as d → ∞.}, author = {Akopyan, Arseniy and Plakhov, Alexander}, journal = {Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics}, number = {4}, pages = {2754 -- 2769}, publisher = {SIAM}, title = {{Minimal resistance of curves under the single impact assumption}}, doi = {10.1137/140993843}, volume = {47}, year = {2015}, } @article{1712, abstract = {The majority of immune cells in Drosophila melanogaster are plasmatocytes; they carry out similar functions to vertebrate macrophages, influencing development as well as protecting against infection and cancer. Plasmatocytes, sometimes referred to with the broader term of hemocytes, migrate widely during embryonic development and cycle in the larvae between sessile and circulating positions. Here we discuss the similarities of plasmatocyte developmental migration and its functions to that of vertebrate macrophages, considering the recent controversy regarding the functions of Drosophila PDGF/VEGF related ligands. We also examine recent findings on the significance of adhesion for plasmatocyte migration in the embryo, as well as proliferation, trans-differentiation, and tumor responses in the larva. We spotlight parallels throughout to vertebrate immune responses.}, author = {Ratheesh, Aparna and Belyaeva, Vera and Siekhaus, Daria E}, journal = {Current Opinion in Cell Biology}, number = {10}, pages = {71 -- 79}, publisher = {Elsevier}, title = {{Drosophila immune cell migration and adhesion during embryonic development and larval immune responses}}, doi = {10.1016/j.ceb.2015.07.003}, volume = {36}, year = {2015}, } @article{1728, abstract = {In the vertebrate neural tube, the morphogen Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) establishes a characteristic pattern of gene expression. Here we quantify the Shh gradient in the developing mouse neural tube and show that while the amplitude of the gradient increases over time, the activity of the pathway transcriptional effectors, Gli proteins, initially increases but later decreases. Computational analysis of the pathway suggests three mechanisms that could contribute to this adaptation: transcriptional upregulation of the inhibitory receptor Ptch1, transcriptional downregulation of Gli and the differential stability of active and inactive Gli isoforms. Consistent with this, Gli2 protein expression is downregulated during neural tube patterning and adaptation continues when the pathway is stimulated downstream of Ptch1. Moreover, the Shh-induced upregulation of Gli2 transcription prevents Gli activity levels from adapting in a different cell type, NIH3T3 fibroblasts, despite the upregulation of Ptch1. Multiple mechanisms therefore contribute to the intracellular dynamics of Shh signalling, resulting in different signalling dynamics in different cell types.}, author = {Cohen, Michael H and Anna Kicheva and Ribeiro, Ana C and Blassberg, Robert A and Page, Karen M and Barnes, Chris P and Briscoe, James}, journal = {Nature Communications}, publisher = {Nature Publishing Group}, title = {{Ptch1 and Gli regulate Shh signalling dynamics via multiple mechanisms}}, doi = {10.1038/ncomms7709}, volume = {6}, year = {2015}, } @article{1730, abstract = {How much cutting is needed to simplify the topology of a surface? We provide bounds for several instances of this question, for the minimum length of topologically non-trivial closed curves, pants decompositions, and cut graphs with a given combinatorial map in triangulated combinatorial surfaces (or their dual cross-metric counterpart). Our work builds upon Riemannian systolic inequalities, which bound the minimum length of non-trivial closed curves in terms of the genus and the area of the surface. We first describe a systematic way to translate Riemannian systolic inequalities to a discrete setting, and vice-versa. This implies a conjecture by Przytycka and Przytycki (Graph structure theory. Contemporary Mathematics, vol. 147, 1993), a number of new systolic inequalities in the discrete setting, and the fact that a theorem of Hutchinson on the edge-width of triangulated surfaces and Gromov’s systolic inequality for surfaces are essentially equivalent. We also discuss how these proofs generalize to higher dimensions. Then we focus on topological decompositions of surfaces. Relying on ideas of Buser, we prove the existence of pants decompositions of length O(g^(3/2)n^(1/2)) for any triangulated combinatorial surface of genus g with n triangles, and describe an O(gn)-time algorithm to compute such a decomposition. Finally, we consider the problem of embedding a cut graph (or more generally a cellular graph) with a given combinatorial map on a given surface. Using random triangulations, we prove (essentially) that, for any choice of a combinatorial map, there are some surfaces on which any cellular embedding with that combinatorial map has length superlinear in the number of triangles of the triangulated combinatorial surface. There is also a similar result for graphs embedded on polyhedral triangulations.}, author = {Colin De Verdière, Éric and Hubard, Alfredo and De Mesmay, Arnaud N}, journal = {Discrete & Computational Geometry}, number = {3}, pages = {587 -- 620}, publisher = {Springer}, title = {{Discrete systolic inequalities and decompositions of triangulated surfaces}}, doi = {10.1007/s00454-015-9679-9}, volume = {53}, year = {2015}, } @article{1731, abstract = {We consider two-player zero-sum games on graphs. These games can be classified on the basis of the information of the players and on the mode of interaction between them. On the basis of information the classification is as follows: (a) partial-observation (both players have partial view of the game); (b) one-sided complete-observation (one player has complete observation); and (c) complete-observation (both players have complete view of the game). On the basis of mode of interaction we have the following classification: (a) concurrent (both players interact simultaneously); and (b) turn-based (both players interact in turn). The two sources of randomness in these games are randomness in transition function and randomness in strategies. In general, randomized strategies are more powerful than deterministic strategies, and randomness in transitions gives more general classes of games. In this work we present a complete characterization for the classes of games where randomness is not helpful in: (a) the transition function probabilistic transition can be simulated by deterministic transition); and (b) strategies (pure strategies are as powerful as randomized strategies). As consequence of our characterization we obtain new undecidability results for these games. }, author = {Chatterjee, Krishnendu and Doyen, Laurent and Gimbert, Hugo and Henzinger, Thomas A}, journal = {Information and Computation}, number = {12}, pages = {3 -- 16}, publisher = {Elsevier}, title = {{Randomness for free}}, doi = {10.1016/j.ic.2015.06.003}, volume = {245}, year = {2015}, } @inproceedings{1732, abstract = {We consider partially observable Markov decision processes (POMDPs), that are a standard framework for robotics applications to model uncertainties present in the real world, with temporal logic specifications. All temporal logic specifications in linear-time temporal logic (LTL) can be expressed as parity objectives. We study the qualitative analysis problem for POMDPs with parity objectives that asks whether there is a controller (policy) to ensure that the objective holds with probability 1 (almost-surely). While the qualitative analysis of POMDPs with parity objectives is undecidable, recent results show that when restricted to finite-memory policies the problem is EXPTIME-complete. While the problem is intractable in theory, we present a practical approach to solve the qualitative analysis problem. We designed several heuristics to deal with the exponential complexity, and have used our implementation on a number of well-known POMDP examples for robotics applications. Our results provide the first practical approach to solve the qualitative analysis of robot motion planning with LTL properties in the presence of uncertainty.}, author = {Chatterjee, Krishnendu and Chmelik, Martin and Gupta, Raghav and Kanodia, Ayush}, location = {Seattle, WA, United States}, pages = {325 -- 330}, publisher = {IEEE}, title = {{Qualitative analysis of POMDPs with temporal logic specifications for robotics applications}}, doi = {10.1109/ICRA.2015.7139019}, year = {2015}, } @article{1734, abstract = {Facial appearance capture is now firmly established within academic research and used extensively across various application domains, perhaps most prominently in the entertainment industry through the design of virtual characters in video games and films. While significant progress has occurred over the last two decades, no single survey currently exists that discusses the similarities, differences, and practical considerations of the available appearance capture techniques as applied to human faces. A central difficulty of facial appearance capture is the way light interacts with skin-which has a complex multi-layered structure-and the interactions that occur below the skin surface can, by definition, only be observed indirectly. In this report, we distinguish between two broad strategies for dealing with this complexity. "Image-based methods" try to exhaustively capture the exact face appearance under different lighting and viewing conditions, and then render the face through weighted image combinations. "Parametric methods" instead fit the captured reflectance data to some parametric appearance model used during rendering, allowing for a more lightweight and flexible representation but at the cost of potentially increased rendering complexity or inexact reproduction. The goal of this report is to provide an overview that can guide practitioners and researchers in assessing the tradeoffs between current approaches and identifying directions for future advances in facial appearance capture.}, author = {Klehm, Oliver and Rousselle, Fabrice and Papas, Marios and Bradley, Derek and Hery, Christophe and Bickel, Bernd and Jarosz, Wojciech and Beeler, Thabo}, journal = {Computer Graphics Forum}, number = {2}, pages = {709 -- 733}, publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell}, title = {{Recent advances in facial appearance capture}}, doi = {10.1111/cgf.12594}, volume = {34}, year = {2015}, } @article{1735, abstract = {This work presents a method for efficiently simplifying the pressure projection step in a liquid simulation. We first devise a straightforward dimension reduction technique that dramatically reduces the cost of solving the pressure projection. Next, we introduce a novel change of basis that satisfies free-surface boundary conditions exactly, regardless of the accuracy of the pressure solve. When combined, these ideas greatly reduce the computational complexity of the pressure solve without compromising free surface boundary conditions at the highest level of detail. Our techniques are easy to parallelize, and they effectively eliminate the computational bottleneck for large liquid simulations.}, author = {Ando, Ryoichi and Thürey, Nils and Wojtan, Christopher J}, journal = {Computer Graphics Forum}, number = {2}, pages = {473 -- 480}, publisher = {Wiley}, title = {{A dimension-reduced pressure solver for liquid simulations}}, doi = {10.1111/cgf.12576}, volume = {34}, year = {2015}, } @article{17615, abstract = {Graham et al. have detected a 5.2 yr periodic optical variability of the quasar PG 1302-102 at redshift z = 0.3, which they interpret as the redshifted orbital period (1 + z)tbin of a putative supermassive black hole binary (SMBHB). Here, we consider the implications of a 3–8 times shorter orbital period, suggested by hydrodynamical simulations of circumbinary discs (CBDs) with nearly equal-mass SMBHBs (q ≡ M2/M1 ≳ 0.3). With the corresponding 2–4 times tighter binary separation, PG 1302 would be undergoing gravitational wave dominated inspiral, and serve as a proof that the BHs can be fuelled and produce bright emission even in this late stage of the merger. The expected fraction of binaries with the shorter tbin, among bright quasars, would be reduced by one to two orders of magnitude, compared to the 5.2 yr period, in better agreement with the rarity of candidates reported by Graham et al. Finally, shorter periods would imply higher binary speeds, possibly imprinting periodicity on the light curves from relativistic beaming, as well as measurable relativistic effects on the Fe K α line. The CBD model predicts additional periodic variability on time-scales of tbin and ≈0.5tbin, as well as periodic variation of broad line widths and offsets relative to the narrow lines, which are consistent with the observations. Future observations will be able to test these predictions and hence the binary+CBD hypothesis for PG 1302.}, author = {D'Orazio, D. J. and Haiman, Zoltán and Duffell, P. and Farris, B. D. and MacFadyen, A. I.}, issn = {0035-8711}, journal = {Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society}, number = {3}, pages = {2540--2545}, publisher = {Oxford University Press}, title = {{A reduced orbital period for the supermassive black hole binary candidate in the quasar PG 1302-102?}}, doi = {10.1093/mnras/stv1457}, volume = {452}, year = {2015}, } @article{17622, abstract = {Graham et al. discovered a supermassive black hole binary (SMBHB) candidate and identified the detected 5.2 yr period of the optical variability as the orbital period of the binary. Hydrodynamical simulations predict multiple periodic components for the variability of SMBHBs, thus raising the possibility that the true period of the binary is different from 5.2 yr. We analyse the periodogram of PG1302 and find no compelling evidence for additional peaks. We also point out that, despite the 5.2 yr peak being significant if a single source is considered, further analysis is required to account for the fact that PG1302 was selected among a large sample of 247 000 quasars. We derive upper limits on any additional periodic modulations in the available data, by modelling the light curve as the sum of stochastic noise and the known 5.2 yr periodic component, and injecting additional sinusoidal signals. We find that, with the current data, we would be able to detect with high significance (false alarm probability <1 per cent) secondary periodic terms, with periods in the range predicted by the simulations, if the amplitude of the variability was at least ∼0.06 mag (compared to 0.14 mag for the main sinusoid). A three-year follow-up monitoring campaign with weekly observations can increase the sensitivity for detecting secondary peaks by ≈50 per cent, and would allow a more robust test of predictions from hydrodynamical simulations.}, author = {Charisi, M. and Bartos, I. and Haiman, Zoltán and Price-Whelan, A. M. and Márka, S.}, issn = {1745-3933}, journal = {Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters}, number = {1}, pages = {L21--L25}, publisher = {Oxford University Press}, title = {{Multiple periods in the variability of the supermassive black hole binary candidate quasar PG1302-102?}}, doi = {10.1093/mnrasl/slv111}, volume = {454}, year = {2015}, } @article{17641, abstract = {In order to elucidate the origin of spin in both dark matter and baryons in galaxies, we have performed hydrodynamical simulations from cosmological initial conditions. We study atomic cooling haloes in the redshift range 100>z>9 with masses of order 109M⊙ at redshift z=10. We assume that the gas has primordial composition and that H2-cooling and prior star-formation in the haloes have been suppressed. We present a comprehensive analysis of the gas and dark matter properties of four halos with very low (λ≈0.01), low (λ≈0.04), high (λ≈0.06) and very high (λ≈0.1) spin parameter. Our main conclusion is that the spin orientation and magnitude is initially well described by tidal torque linear theory, but later on is determined by the merging and accretion history of each halo. We provide evidence that the topology of the merging region, i.e. the number of colliding filaments, gives an accurate prediction for the spin of dark matter and gas: halos at the center of knots will have low spin while those in the center of filaments will have high spin. The spin of a halo is given by λ≈0.05×(7.6/numberoffilaments)^5.1}, author = {Prieto, Joaquin and Jimenez, Raul and Haiman, Zoltán and González, Roberto E.}, issn = {0035-8711}, journal = {Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society}, number = {1}, pages = {784--802}, publisher = {Oxford University Press}, title = {{The origin of spin in galaxies: Clues from simulations of atomic cooling haloes}}, doi = {10.1093/mnras/stv1234}, volume = {452}, year = {2015}, } @article{17652, abstract = {Because most large galaxies contain a central black hole, and galaxies often merge, black-hole binaries are expected to be common in galactic nuclei. Although they cannot be imaged, periodicities in the light curves of quasars have been interpreted as evidence for binaries, most recently in PG~1302-102, with a short rest-frame optical period of 4 years. If the orbital period matches this value, then for the range of estimated black hole masses the components would be separated by 0.007-0.017 pc, implying relativistic orbital speeds. There has been much debate over whether black hole orbits could be smaller than 1 pc. Here we show that the amplitude and the sinusoid-like shape of the variability of PG~1302-102 can be fit by relativistic Doppler boosting of emission from a compact, steadily accreting, unequal-mass binary. We predict that brightness variations in the ultraviolet light curve track those in the optical, but with a 2-3 times larger amplitude. This prediction is relatively insensitive to the details of the emission process, and is consistent with archival UV data. Follow-up UV and optical observations in the next few years can test this prediction and confirm the existence of a binary black hole in the relativistic regime.}, author = {D'Orazio, Daniel J. and Haiman, Zoltán and Schiminovich, David}, issn = {0028-0836}, journal = {Nature}, number = {7569}, pages = {351--353}, publisher = {Springer Science and Business Media LLC}, title = {{Relativistic boost as the cause of periodicity in a massive black-hole binary candidate}}, doi = {10.1038/nature15262}, volume = {525}, year = {2015}, } @article{17663, abstract = {Recently, Planck measured a value of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) optical depth due to electron scattering of τ=0.066±0.016. Here we show that this low value leaves essentially no room for an early partial reionisation of the intergalactic medium (IGM) by high-redshift Population III (Pop III) stars, expected to have formed in low-mass minihaloes. We perform semi-analytic calculations of reionisation which include the contribution from Pop II stars in atomic cooling haloes, calibrated with high-redshift galaxy observations, and Pop III stars in minihaloes with feedback due to Lyman-Werner (LW) radiation and metal enrichment. We find that without LW feedback or prompt metal enrichment (and assuming a minihalo escape fraction of 0.5) the Pop III star formation efficiency cannot exceed ∼a few×10−4, without violating the constraints set by Planck data. This excludes massive Pop III star formation in typical 106M⊙ minihaloes. Including LW feedback and metal enrichment alleviates this tension, allowing large Pop III stars to form early on before they are quenched by feedback. We find that the total density of Pop III stars formed across cosmic time is ≲104−5 M⊙ Mpc−3 and does not depend strongly on the feedback prescription adopted. Additionally, we perform a simple estimate of the possible impact on reionisation of X-rays produced by accretion onto black hole remnants of Pop III stars. We find that unless the accretion duty cycle is very low (≲0.01), this could lead to an optical depth inconsistent with Planck.}, author = {Visbal, Eli and Haiman, Zoltán and Bryan, Greg L.}, issn = {0035-8711}, journal = {Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society}, number = {4}, pages = {4457--4467}, publisher = {Oxford University Press}, title = {{Limits on population III star formation in minihaloes implied by Planck}}, doi = {10.1093/mnras/stv1941}, volume = {453}, year = {2015}, } @article{17685, abstract = {We propose an observational test for gravitationally recoiling supermassive black holes (BHs) in active galactic nuclei, based on a correlation between the velocities of BHs relative to their host galaxies, |\Delta v|, and their obscuring dust column densities, \Sigma_{dust} (both measured along the line of sight). We use toy models for the distribution of recoil velocities, BH trajectories, and the geometry of obscuring dust tori in galactic centres, to simulate 2.5x10^5 random observations of recoiling quasars. BHs with recoil velocities comparable to the escape velocity from the galactic centre remain bound to the nucleus, and do not fully settle back to the centre of the torus due to dynamical friction in a typical quasar lifetime. We find that |\Delta v| and \Sigma_ {dust} for these BHs are positively correlated. For obscured (\Sigma_{dust}>0) and for partially obscured (0<\Sigma_{dust}<~2.3 g/m^2) quasars with |\Delta v|>=45 km/s, the sample correlation coefficient between log10(|\Delta v|) and \Sigma_{dust} is r_{45} = 0.28+/-0.02 and r_{45} = 0.13+/-0.02, respectively. Allowing for random +/-100 km/s errors in |\Delta v| unrelated to the recoil dilutes the correlation for the partially obscured quasars to r_{45} = 0.026+/-0.004 measured between |\Delta v| and \Sigma_{dust}. A random sample of >~3,500 obscured quasars with |\Delta v|>=45 km/s would allow rejection of the no-correlation hypothesis with 3 sigma significance 95% of the time. Finally, we find that the fraction of obscured quasars, F_{obs}(|\Delta v|), decreases with |\Delta v| from F_{obs}(<10 km/s)>~0.8 to F_{obs}(>10^3 km/s)<~0.4. This predicted trend can be compared to the observed fraction of type II quasars, and can further test combinations of recoil, trajectory, and dust torus models.}, author = {Raffai, P. and Haiman, Zoltán and Frei, Z.}, issn = {0035-8711}, journal = {Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society}, number = {1}, pages = {484--492}, publisher = {Oxford University Press}, title = {{A statistical method to search for recoiling supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei}}, doi = {10.1093/mnras/stv2371}, volume = {455}, year = {2015}, } @article{17694, abstract = {Constraining the properties of Population III (Pop III) stars will be very challenging because they reside in small galaxies at high redshift which will be difficult to directly detect. In this paper, we suggest that intensity mapping may be a promising method to study Pop III stars. Intensity mapping is a technique proposed to measure large-scale fluctuations of galaxy line emission in three dimensions without resolving individual sources. This technique is well suited for observing many faint galaxies because it can measure their cumulative emission even if they cannot be directly detected. We focus on intensity mapping of He ii recombination lines. These lines are much stronger in Pop III stars than Pop II stars because the harder spectra of Pop III stars are expected to produce many He ii ionizing photons. Measuring the He ii 1640 Å intensity mapping signal, along with the signals from other lines such as Lyα, Hα, and metal lines, could give constraints on the initial mass function (IMF) and star formation rate density of Pop III stars as a function of redshift. To demonstrate the feasibility of these observations, we estimate the strength of the Pop III He ii 1640 Å intensity mapping signal from z = 10–20. We show that at z ≈ 10, the signal could be measured accurately by two different hypothetical future instruments, one which cross-correlates He ii 1640 Å with CO(1–0) line emission from galaxies and the other with 21 cm emission from the intergalactic medium.}, author = {Visbal, Eli and Haiman, Zoltán and Bryan, Greg L.}, issn = {0035-8711}, journal = {Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society}, number = {3}, pages = {2506--2513}, publisher = {Oxford University Press}, title = {{Looking for Population III stars with He ii line intensity mapping}}, doi = {10.1093/mnras/stv785}, volume = {450}, year = {2015}, } @article{17702, abstract = {Weak gravitational lensing is a powerful cosmological probe, with non--Gaussian features potentially containing the majority of the information. We examine constraints on the parameter triplet (Ωm,w,σ8) from non-Gaussian features of the weak lensing convergence field, including a set of moments (up to 4th order) and Minkowski functionals, using publicly available data from the 154deg2 CFHTLenS survey. We utilize a suite of ray--tracing N-body simulations spanning 91 points in (Ωm,w,σ8) parameter space, replicating the galaxy sky positions, redshifts and shape noise in the CFHTLenS catalogs. We then build an emulator that interpolates the simulated descriptors as a function of (Ωm,w,σ8), and use it to compute the likelihood function and parameter constraints. We employ a principal component analysis to reduce dimensionality and to help stabilize the constraints with respect to the number of bins used to construct each statistic. Using the full set of statistics, we find Σ8≡σ8(Ωm/0.27)^0.55=0.75±0.04 (68% C.L.), in agreement with previous values. We find that constraints on the (Ωm,σ8) doublet from the Minkowski functionals suffer a strong bias. However, high-order moments break the (Ωm,σ8) degeneracy and provide a tight constraint on these parameters with no apparent bias. The main contribution comes from quartic moments of derivatives.}, author = {Petri, Andrea and Liu, Jia and Haiman, Zoltán and May, Morgan and Hui, Lam and Kratochvil, Jan M.}, issn = {1550-7998}, journal = {Physical Review D}, number = {10}, publisher = {American Physical Society}, title = {{Emulating the CFHTLenS weak lensing data: Cosmological constraints from moments and Minkowski functionals}}, doi = {10.1103/physrevd.91.103511}, volume = {91}, year = {2015}, } @article{17710, abstract = {Lensing peaks have been proposed as a useful statistic, containing cosmological information from non-Gaussianities that is inaccessible from traditional two-point statistics such as the power spectrum or two-point correlation functions. Here we examine constraints on cosmological parameters from weak lensing peak counts, using the publicly available data from the 154 deg^2 CFHTLenS survey. We utilize a new suite of ray-tracing N-body simulations on a grid of 91 cosmological models, covering broad ranges of the three parameters Ωm, σ8, and w, and replicating the Galaxy sky positions, redshifts, and shape noise in the CFHTLenS observations. We then build an emulator that interpolates the power spectrum and the peak counts to an accuracy of ≤5%, and compute the likelihood in the three-dimensional parameter space (Ωm, σ8, w) from both observables. We find that constraints from peak counts are comparable to those from the power spectrum, and somewhat tighter when different smoothing scales are combined. Neither observable can constrain w without external data. When the power spectrum and peak counts are combined, the area of the error "banana'' in the (Ωm, σ8) plane reduces by a factor of ≈2, compared to using the power spectrum alone. For a flat Λ cold dark matter model, combining both statistics, we obtain the constraint σ8(Ωm/0.27)^0.63=0.85+0.03−0.03.}, author = {Liu, Jia and Petri, Andrea and Haiman, Zoltán and Hui, Lam and Kratochvil, Jan M. and May, Morgan}, issn = {1550-7998}, journal = {Physical Review D}, number = {6}, publisher = {American Physical Society}, title = {{Cosmology constraints from the weak lensing peak counts and the power spectrum in CFHTLenS data}}, doi = {10.1103/physrevd.91.063507}, volume = {91}, year = {2015}, } @article{7739, abstract = {Currently, there is much debate on the genetic architecture of quantitative traits in wild populations. Is trait variation influenced by many genes of small effect or by a few genes of major effect? Where is additive genetic variation located in the genome? Do the same loci cause similar phenotypic variation in different populations? Great tits (Parus major) have been studied extensively in long‐term studies across Europe and consequently are considered an ecological ‘model organism’. Recently, genomic resources have been developed for the great tit, including a custom SNP chip and genetic linkage map. In this study, we used a suite of approaches to investigate the genetic architecture of eight quantitative traits in two long‐term study populations of great tits—one in the Netherlands and the other in the United Kingdom. Overall, we found little evidence for the presence of genes of large effects in either population. Instead, traits appeared to be influenced by many genes of small effect, with conservative estimates of the number of contributing loci ranging from 31 to 310. Despite concordance between population‐specific heritabilities, we found no evidence for the presence of loci having similar effects in both populations. While population‐specific genetic architectures are possible, an undetected shared architecture cannot be rejected because of limited power to map loci of small and moderate effects. This study is one of few examples of genetic architecture analysis in replicated wild populations and highlights some of the challenges and limitations researchers will face when attempting similar molecular quantitative genetic studies in free‐living populations.}, author = {Santure, Anna W. and Poissant, Jocelyn and De Cauwer, Isabelle and van Oers, Kees and Robinson, Matthew Richard and Quinn, John L. and Groenen, Martien A. M. and Visser, Marcel E. and Sheldon, Ben C. and Slate, Jon}, issn = {0962-1083}, journal = {Molecular Ecology}, pages = {6148--6162}, publisher = {Wiley}, title = {{Replicated analysis of the genetic architecture of quantitative traits in two wild great tit populations}}, doi = {10.1111/mec.13452}, volume = {24}, year = {2015}, } @article{7741, abstract = {Phenotypes expressed in a social context are not only a function of the individual, but can also be shaped by the phenotypes of social partners. These social effects may play a major role in the evolution of cooperative breeding if social partners differ in the quality of care they provide and if individual carers adjust their effort in relation to that of other carers. When applying social effects models to wild study systems, it is also important to explore sources of individual plasticity that could masquerade as social effects. We studied offspring provisioning rates of parents and helpers in a wild population of long-tailed tits Aegithalos caudatus using a quantitative genetic framework to identify these social effects and partition them into genetic, permanent environment and current environment components. Controlling for other effects, individuals were consistent in their provisioning effort at a given nest, but adjusted their effort based on who was in their social group, indicating the presence of social effects. However, these social effects differed between years and social contexts, indicating a current environment effect, rather than indicating a genetic or permanent environment effect. While this study reveals the importance of examining environmental and genetic sources of social effects, the framework we present is entirely general, enabling a greater understanding of potentially important social effects within any ecological population.}, author = {Adams, Mark James and Robinson, Matthew Richard and Mannarelli, Maria-Elena and Hatchwell, Ben J.}, issn = {0962-8452}, journal = {Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences}, number = {1810}, publisher = {The Royal Society}, title = {{Social genetic and social environment effects on parental and helper care in a cooperatively breeding bird}}, doi = {10.1098/rspb.2015.0689}, volume = {282}, year = {2015}, } @article{7742, abstract = {Across-nation differences in the mean values for complex traits are common1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8, but the reasons for these differences are unknown. Here we find that many independent loci contribute to population genetic differences in height and body mass index (BMI) in 9,416 individuals across 14 European countries. Using discovery data on over 250,000 individuals and unbiased effect size estimates from 17,500 sibling pairs, we estimate that 24% (95% credible interval (CI) = 9%, 41%) and 8% (95% CI = 4%, 16%) of the captured additive genetic variance for height and BMI, respectively, reflect population genetic differences. Population genetic divergence differed significantly from that in a null model (height, P < 3.94 × 10−8; BMI, P < 5.95 × 10−4), and we find an among-population genetic correlation for tall and slender individuals (r = −0.80, 95% CI = −0.95, −0.60), consistent with correlated selection for both phenotypes. Observed differences in height among populations reflected the predicted genetic means (r = 0.51; P < 0.001), but environmental differences across Europe masked genetic differentiation for BMI (P < 0.58).}, author = {Robinson, Matthew Richard and Hemani, Gibran and Medina-Gomez, Carolina and Mezzavilla, Massimo and Esko, Tonu and Shakhbazov, Konstantin and Powell, Joseph E and Vinkhuyzen, Anna and Berndt, Sonja I and Gustafsson, Stefan and Justice, Anne E and Kahali, Bratati and Locke, Adam E and Pers, Tune H and Vedantam, Sailaja and Wood, Andrew R and van Rheenen, Wouter and Andreassen, Ole A and Gasparini, Paolo and Metspalu, Andres and Berg, Leonard H van den and Veldink, Jan H and Rivadeneira, Fernando and Werge, Thomas M and Abecasis, Goncalo R and Boomsma, Dorret I and Chasman, Daniel I and de Geus, Eco J C and Frayling, Timothy M and Hirschhorn, Joel N and Hottenga, Jouke Jan and Ingelsson, Erik and Loos, Ruth J F and Magnusson, Patrik K E and Martin, Nicholas G and Montgomery, Grant W and North, Kari E and Pedersen, Nancy L and Spector, Timothy D and Speliotes, Elizabeth K and Goddard, Michael E and Yang, Jian and Visscher, Peter M}, issn = {1061-4036}, journal = {Nature Genetics}, number = {11}, pages = {1357--1362}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Population genetic differentiation of height and body mass index across Europe}}, doi = {10.1038/ng.3401}, volume = {47}, year = {2015}, }