@article{14479, abstract = {In animals, parasitic infections impose significant fitness costs.1,2,3,4,5,6 Infected animals can alter their feeding behavior to resist infection,7,8,9,10,11,12 but parasites can manipulate animal foraging behavior to their own benefits.13,14,15,16 How nutrition influences host-parasite interactions is not well understood, as studies have mainly focused on the host and less on the parasite.9,12,17,18,19,20,21,22,23 We used the nutritional geometry framework24 to investigate the role of amino acids (AA) and carbohydrates (C) in a host-parasite system: the Argentine ant, Linepithema humile, and the entomopathogenic fungus, Metarhizium brunneum. First, using 18 diets varying in AA:C composition, we established that the fungus performed best on the high-amino-acid diet 1:4. Second, we found that the fungus reached this optimal diet when given various diet pairings, revealing its ability to cope with nutritional challenges. Third, we showed that the optimal fungal diet reduced the lifespan of healthy ants when compared with a high-carbohydrate diet but had no effect on infected ants. Fourth, we revealed that infected ant colonies, given a choice between the optimal fungal diet and a high-carbohydrate diet, chose the optimal fungal diet, whereas healthy colonies avoided it. Lastly, by disentangling fungal infection from host immune response, we demonstrated that infected ants foraged on the optimal fungal diet in response to immune activation and not as a result of parasite manipulation. Therefore, we revealed that infected ant colonies chose a diet that is costly for survival in the long term but beneficial in the short term—a form of collective self-medication.}, author = {Csata, Eniko and Perez-Escudero, Alfonso and Laury, Emmanuel and Leitner, Hanna and Latil, Gerard and Heinze, Juerge and Simpson, Stephen and Cremer, Sylvia and Dussutour, Audrey}, issn = {1879-0445}, journal = {Current Biology}, number = {4}, pages = {902--909.e6}, publisher = {Elsevier}, title = {{Fungal infection alters collective nutritional intake of ant colonies}}, doi = {10.1016/j.cub.2024.01.017}, volume = {34}, year = {2024}, } @article{14488, abstract = {Portrait viewpoint and illumination editing is an important problem with several applications in VR/AR, movies, and photography. Comprehensive knowledge of geometry and illumination is critical for obtaining photorealistic results. Current methods are unable to explicitly model in 3D while handling both viewpoint and illumination editing from a single image. In this paper, we propose VoRF, a novel approach that can take even a single portrait image as input and relight human heads under novel illuminations that can be viewed from arbitrary viewpoints. VoRF represents a human head as a continuous volumetric field and learns a prior model of human heads using a coordinate-based MLP with individual latent spaces for identity and illumination. The prior model is learned in an auto-decoder manner over a diverse class of head shapes and appearances, allowing VoRF to generalize to novel test identities from a single input image. Additionally, VoRF has a reflectance MLP that uses the intermediate features of the prior model for rendering One-Light-at-A-Time (OLAT) images under novel views. We synthesize novel illuminations by combining these OLAT images with target environment maps. Qualitative and quantitative evaluations demonstrate the effectiveness of VoRF for relighting and novel view synthesis, even when applied to unseen subjects under uncontrolled illumination. This work is an extension of Rao et al. (VoRF: Volumetric Relightable Faces 2022). We provide extensive evaluation and ablative studies of our model and also provide an application, where any face can be relighted using textual input.}, author = {Rao, Pramod and Mallikarjun, B. R. and Fox, Gereon and Weyrich, Tim and Bickel, Bernd and Pfister, Hanspeter and Matusik, Wojciech and Zhan, Fangneng and Tewari, Ayush and Theobalt, Christian and Elgharib, Mohamed}, issn = {1573-1405}, journal = {International Journal of Computer Vision}, pages = {1148--1166}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{A deeper analysis of volumetric relightiable faces}}, doi = {10.1007/s11263-023-01899-3}, volume = {132}, year = {2024}, } @article{14543, abstract = {The acyl-CoA-binding domain-containing protein 6 (ACBD6) is ubiquitously expressed, plays a role in the acylation of lipids and proteins, and regulates the N-myristoylation of proteins via N-myristoyltransferase enzymes (NMTs). However, its precise function in cells is still unclear, as is the consequence of ACBD6 defects on human pathophysiology. Utilizing exome sequencing and extensive international data sharing efforts, we identified 45 affected individuals from 28 unrelated families (consanguinity 93%) with bi-allelic pathogenic, predominantly loss-of-function (18/20) variants in ACBD6. We generated zebrafish and Xenopus tropicalis acbd6 knockouts by CRISPR/Cas9 and characterized the role of ACBD6 on protein N-myristoylation with YnMyr chemical proteomics in the model organisms and human cells, with the latter also being subjected further to ACBD6 peroxisomal localization studies. The affected individuals (23 males and 22 females), with ages ranging from 1 to 50 years old, typically present with a complex and progressive disease involving moderate-to-severe global developmental delay/intellectual disability (100%) with significant expressive language impairment (98%), movement disorders (97%), facial dysmorphism (95%), and mild cerebellar ataxia (85%) associated with gait impairment (94%), limb spasticity/hypertonia (76%), oculomotor (71%) and behavioural abnormalities (65%), overweight (59%), microcephaly (39%) and epilepsy (33%). The most conspicuous and common movement disorder was dystonia (94%), frequently leading to early-onset progressive postural deformities (97%), limb dystonia (55%), and cervical dystonia (31%). A jerky tremor in the upper limbs (63%), a mild head tremor (59%), parkinsonism/hypokinesia developing with advancing age (32%), and simple motor and vocal tics were among other frequent movement disorders. Midline brain malformations including corpus callosum abnormalities (70%), hypoplasia/agenesis of the anterior commissure (66%), short midbrain and small inferior cerebellar vermis (38% each), as well as hypertrophy of the clava (24%) were common neuroimaging findings. acbd6-deficient zebrafish and Xenopus models effectively recapitulated many clinical phenotypes reported in patients including movement disorders, progressive neuromotor impairment, seizures, microcephaly, craniofacial dysmorphism, and midbrain defects accompanied by developmental delay with increased mortality over time. Unlike ACBD5, ACBD6 did not show a peroxisomal localisation and ACBD6-deficiency was not associated with altered peroxisomal parameters in patient fibroblasts. Significant differences in YnMyr-labelling were observed for 68 co- and 18 post-translationally N-myristoylated proteins in patient-derived fibroblasts. N-Myristoylation was similarly affected in acbd6-deficient zebrafish and Xenopus tropicalis models, including Fus, Marcks, and Chchd-related proteins implicated in neurological diseases. The present study provides evidence that bi-allelic pathogenic variants in ACBD6 lead to a distinct neurodevelopmental syndrome accompanied by complex and progressive cognitive and movement disorders.}, author = {Kaiyrzhanov, Rauan and Rad, Aboulfazl and Lin, Sheng-Jia and Bertoli-Avella, Aida and Kallemeijn, Wouter W and Godwin, Annie and Zaki, Maha S and Huang, Kevin and Lau, Tracy and Petree, Cassidy and Efthymiou, Stephanie and Ghayoor Karimiani, Ehsan and Hempel, Maja and Normand, Elizabeth A and Rudnik-Schöneborn, Sabine and Schatz, Ulrich A and Baggelaar, Marc P and Ilyas, Muhammad and Sultan, Tipu and Alvi, Javeria Raza and Ganieva, Manizha and Fowler, Ben and Aanicai, Ruxandra and Akay Tayfun, Gulsen and Al Saman, Abdulaziz and Alswaid, Abdulrahman and Amiri, Nafise and Asilova, Nilufar and Shotelersuk, Vorasuk and Yeetong, Patra and Azam, Matloob and Babaei, Meisam and Bahrami Monajemi, Gholamreza and Mohammadi, Pouria and Samie, Saeed and Banu, Selina Husna and Basto, Jorge Pinto and Kortüm, Fanny and Bauer, Mislen and Bauer, Peter and Beetz, Christian and Garshasbi, Masoud and Hameed Issa, Awatif and Eyaid, Wafaa and Ahmed, Hind and Hashemi, Narges and Hassanpour, Kazem and Herman, Isabella and Ibrohimov, Sherozjon and Abdul-Majeed, Ban A and Imdad, Maria and Isrofilov, Maksudjon and Kaiyal, Qassem and Khan, Suliman and Kirmse, Brian and Koster, Janet and Lourenço, Charles Marques and Mitani, Tadahiro and Moldovan, Oana and Murphy, David and Najafi, Maryam and Pehlivan, Davut and Rocha, Maria Eugenia and Salpietro, Vincenzo and Schmidts, Miriam and Shalata, Adel and Mahroum, Mohammad and Talbeya, Jawabreh Kassem and Taylor, Robert W and Vazquez, Dayana and Vetro, Annalisa and Waterham, Hans R and Zaman, Mashaya and Schrader, Tina A and Chung, Wendy K and Guerrini, Renzo and Lupski, James R and Gleeson, Joseph and Suri, Mohnish and Jamshidi, Yalda and Bhatia, Kailash P and Vona, Barbara and Schrader, Michael and Severino, Mariasavina and Guille, Matthew and Tate, Edward W and Varshney, Gaurav K and Houlden, Henry and Maroofian, Reza}, issn = {1460-2156}, journal = {Brain}, keywords = {Neurology (clinical)}, number = {4}, pages = {1436--1456}, publisher = {Oxford University Press}, title = {{Bi-allelic ACBD6 variants lead to a neurodevelopmental syndrome with progressive and complex movement disorders}}, doi = {10.1093/brain/awad380}, volume = {147}, year = {2024}, } @article{14652, abstract = {In order to demonstrate the stability of newly proposed iridium-based Ir2Cr(In,Sn) and IrRhCr(In,Sn) heusler alloys, we present ab-initio analysis of these alloys by examining various properties to prove their stability. The stability of these alloys can be inferred from different cohesive and formation energies as well as positive phonon frequencies. Their electronic structure results indicate that they are semi-metals in nature. The magnetic moments are computed using the Slater-Pauling formula and exhibit a high value, with the Cr atom contributing the most in all alloys. Mulliken’s charge analysis results show that our alloys contain a range of linkages, mainly ionic and covalent ones. The ductility and mechanical stability of these alloys are confirmed by elastic constants viz. Poisson’s ratio, Pugh’s ratio, and many different types of elastic moduli.}, author = {Gupta, Shyam Lal and Singh, Saurabh and Kumar, Sumit and Anupam, Unknown and Thakur, Samjeet Singh and Kumar, Ashish and Panwar, Sanjay and Diwaker, D.}, issn = {0921-4526}, journal = {Physica B: Condensed Matter}, number = {2}, publisher = {Elsevier}, title = {{Ab-initio stability of Iridium based newly proposed full and quaternary heusler alloys}}, doi = {10.1016/j.physb.2023.415539}, volume = {674}, year = {2024}, } @article{14653, abstract = {Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is a powerful analytical technique for the two-dimensional (2D) localization of chemicals on surfaces. Conventional MSI experiments require to predefine the surface of interest based on photographic or microscopic images. Typically, these boundaries can no longer be changed or adjusted once the experiment has been started. In terms of a more interactive approach we recently developed a pen-like ionization interface which is directly connected to the mass spectrometer. The device allows the user to ionize chemicals by desorption electrospray ionization (DESI) and to freely move the interface over a surface of interest. A mini camera, which is mounted on the tip of the pen, magnifies the desorption area and enables a simple positioning of the pen. The combination of optical data from the camera module and chemical data obtained by mass analysis facilitates a novel type of imaging experiment: interactive mass spectrometry imaging (IMSI). For this application, we present a novel approach for a robust, optical flow-based motion detection. While the live video stream from the camera is used to track the pen's motion across the surface a post-acquisition algorithm correlates the coordinates of the pen trajectory with respective mass spectra obtained from a simultaneous mass spectrometric data acquisition. This algorithm is no longer dependent on a single, manually applied optical marker on the sample surface, which has to be visible on all video frames throughout the analysis. The advanced DESI-IMSI method was successfully tested on inkjet-printed letters as well as mouse brain tissue samples. Validation of the results was done by comparing DESI-IMSI with standard DESI-MSI data.}, author = {Kluibenschedl, Florian and Ploner, Anna and Meisenbichler, Christina and Konrat, Robert and Müller, Thomas}, issn = {1387-3806}, journal = {International Journal of Mass Spectrometry}, publisher = {Elsevier}, title = {{Advanced motion tracking for interactive mass spectrometry imaging (IMSI)}}, doi = {10.1016/j.ijms.2023.117168}, volume = {495}, year = {2024}, } @article{14660, abstract = {The classical Steinitz theorem states that if the origin belongs to the interior of the convex hull of a set 𝑆⊂ℝ𝑑, then there are at most 2𝑑 points of 𝑆 whose convex hull contains the origin in the interior. Bárány, Katchalski,and Pach proved the following quantitative version of Steinitz’s theorem. Let 𝑄 be a convex polytope in ℝ𝑑 containing the standard Euclidean unit ball 𝐁𝑑. Then there exist at most 2𝑑 vertices of 𝑄 whose convex hull 𝑄′ satisfies 𝑟𝐁𝑑⊂𝑄′ with 𝑟⩾𝑑−2𝑑. They conjectured that 𝑟⩾𝑐𝑑−1∕2 holds with a universal constant 𝑐>0. We prove 𝑟⩾15𝑑2, the first polynomial lower bound on 𝑟. Furthermore, we show that 𝑟 is not greater than 2/√𝑑.}, author = {Ivanov, Grigory and Naszódi, Márton}, issn = {1469-2120}, journal = {Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society}, number = {2}, pages = {796--802}, publisher = {London Mathematical Society}, title = {{Quantitative Steinitz theorem: A polynomial bound}}, doi = {10.1112/blms.12965}, volume = {56}, year = {2024}, } @article{14665, abstract = {We derive lower bounds on the maximal rates for multiple packings in high-dimensional Euclidean spaces. For any N > 0 and L ∈ Z ≥2 , a multiple packing is a set C of points in R n such that any point in R n lies in the intersection of at most L - 1 balls of radius √ nN around points in C . This is a natural generalization of the sphere packing problem. We study the multiple packing problem for both bounded point sets whose points have norm at most √ nP for some constant P > 0, and unbounded point sets whose points are allowed to be anywhere in R n . Given a well-known connection with coding theory, multiple packings can be viewed as the Euclidean analog of list-decodable codes, which are well-studied over finite fields. We derive the best known lower bounds on the optimal multiple packing density. This is accomplished by establishing an inequality which relates the list-decoding error exponent for additive white Gaussian noise channels, a quantity of average-case nature, to the list-decoding radius, a quantity of worst-case nature. We also derive novel bounds on the list-decoding error exponent for infinite constellations and closed-form expressions for the list-decoding error exponents for the power-constrained AWGN channel, which may be of independent interest beyond multiple packing.}, author = {Zhang, Yihan and Vatedka, Shashank}, issn = {1557-9654}, journal = {IEEE Transactions on Information Theory}, number = {2}, pages = {1008--1039}, publisher = {IEEE}, title = {{Multiple packing: Lower bounds via error exponents}}, doi = {10.1109/TIT.2023.3334032}, volume = {70}, year = {2024}, } @article{14701, author = {Archer, Lynden A. and Bruce, Peter G. and Calvo, Ernesto J. and Dewar, Daniel and Ellison, James H. J. and Freunberger, Stefan Alexander and Gao, Xiangwen and Hardwick, Laurence J. and Horwitz, Gabriela and Janek, Jürgen and Johnson, Lee R. and Jordan, Jack W. and Matsuda, Shoichi and Menkin, Svetlana and Mondal, Soumyadip and Qiu, Qianyuan and Samarakoon, Thukshan and Temprano, Israel and Uosaki, Kohei and Vailaya, Ganesh and Wachsman, Eric D. and Wu, Yiying and Ye, Shen}, issn = {1364-5498}, journal = {Faraday Discussions}, keywords = {Physical and Theoretical Chemistry}, pages = {392--411}, publisher = {Royal Society of Chemistry}, title = {{Towards practical metal–oxygen batteries: General discussion}}, doi = {10.1039/d3fd90062b}, volume = {248}, year = {2024}, } @article{14702, author = {Attard, Gary A. and Calvo, Ernesto J. and Curtiss, Larry A. and Dewar, Daniel and Ellison, James H. J. and Gao, Xiangwen and Grey, Clare P. and Hardwick, Laurence J. and Horwitz, Gabriela and Janek, Juergen and Johnson, Lee R. and Jordan, Jack W. and Matsuda, Shoichi and Mondal, Soumyadip and Neale, Alex R. and Ortiz-Vitoriano, Nagore and Temprano, Israel and Vailaya, Ganesh and Wachsman, Eric D. and Wang, Hsien-Hau and Wu, Yiying and Ye, Shen}, issn = {1364-5498}, journal = {Faraday Discussions}, keywords = {Physical and Theoretical Chemistry}, pages = {75--88}, publisher = {Royal Society of Chemistry}, title = {{Materials for stable metal–oxygen battery cathodes: general discussion}}, doi = {10.1039/d3fd90059b}, volume = {248}, year = {2024}, } @article{14703, abstract = {We present a discretization of the dynamic optimal transport problem for which we can obtain the convergence rate for the value of the transport cost to its continuous value when the temporal and spatial stepsize vanish. This convergence result does not require any regularity assumption on the measures, though experiments suggest that the rate is not sharp. Via an analysis of the duality gap we also obtain the convergence rates for the gradient of the optimal potentials and the velocity field under mild regularity assumptions. To obtain such rates we discretize the dual formulation of the dynamic optimal transport problem and use the mature literature related to the error due to discretizing the Hamilton-Jacobi equation.}, author = {Ishida, Sadashige and Lavenant, Hugo}, issn = {1615-3383}, journal = {Foundations of Computational Mathematics}, keywords = {Optimal transport, Hamilton-Jacobi equation, convex optimization}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Quantitative convergence of a discretization of dynamic optimal transport using the dual formulation}}, doi = {10.1007/s10208-024-09686-3}, year = {2024}, } @misc{14705, abstract = {Since the commercialization of brine shrimp (genus Artemia) in the 1950s, this lineage, and in particular the model species Artemia franciscana, has been the subject of extensive research. However, our understanding of the genetic mechanisms underlying various aspects of their reproductive biology, including sex determination, are still lacking. This is partly due to the scarcity of genomic resources for Artemia species and crustaceans in general. Here, we present a chromosome-level genome assembly of Artemia franciscana (Kellogg 1906), from the Great Salt Lake, USA. The genome is 1GB, and the majority of the genome (81%) is scaffolded into 21 linkage groups using a previously published high-density linkage map. We performed coverage and FST analyses using male and female genomic and transcriptomic reads to quantify the extent of differentiation between the Z and W chromosomes. Additionally, we quantified the expression levels in male and female heads and gonads and found further evidence for dosage compensation in this species.}, author = {Elkrewi, Marwan N}, keywords = {sex chromosome evolution, genome assembly, dosage compensation}, publisher = {Institute of Science and Technology Austria}, title = {{Data from "Chromosome-level assembly of Artemia franciscana sheds light on sex-chromosome differentiation"}}, doi = {10.15479/AT:ISTA:14705}, year = {2024}, } @article{14733, abstract = {Redox flow batteries (RFBs) rely on the development of cheap, highly soluble, and high-energy-density electrolytes. Several candidate quinones have already been investigated in the literature as two-electron anolytes or catholytes, benefiting from fast kinetics, high tunability, and low cost. Here, an investigation of nitrogen-rich fused heteroaromatic quinones was carried out to explore avenues for electrolyte development. These quinones were synthesized and screened by using electrochemical techniques. The most promising candidate, 4,8-dioxo-4,8-dihydrobenzo[1,2-d:4,5-d′]bis([1,2,3]triazole)-1,5-diide (−0.68 V(SHE)), was tested in both an asymmetric and symmetric full-cell setup resulting in capacity fade rates of 0.35% per cycle and 0.0124% per cycle, respectively. In situ ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV–Vis), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopies were used to investigate the electrochemical stability of the charged species during operation. UV–Vis spectroscopy, supported by density functional theory (DFT) modeling, reaffirmed that the two-step charging mechanism observed during battery operation consisted of two, single-electron transfers. The radical concentration during battery operation and the degree of delocalization of the unpaired electron were quantified with NMR and EPR spectroscopy.}, author = {Jethwa, Rajesh B and Hey, Dominic and Kerber, Rachel N. and Bond, Andrew D. and Wright, Dominic S. and Grey, Clare P.}, issn = {2574-0962}, journal = {ACS Applied Energy Materials}, keywords = {Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Materials Chemistry, Electrochemistry, Energy Engineering and Power Technology, Chemical Engineering (miscellaneous)}, number = {2}, pages = {414--426}, publisher = {American Chemical Society}, title = {{Exploring the landscape of heterocyclic quinones for redox flow batteries}}, doi = {10.1021/acsaem.3c02223}, volume = {7}, year = {2024}, } @article{14734, abstract = {Developing cost-effective and high-performance thermoelectric (TE) materials to assemble efficient TE devices presents a multitude of challenges and opportunities. Cu3SbSe4 is a promising p-type TE material based on relatively earth abundant elements. However, the challenge lies in its poor electrical conductivity. Herein, an efficient and scalable solution-based approach is developed to synthesize high-quality Cu3SbSe4 nanocrystals doped with Pb at the Sb site. After ligand displacement and annealing treatments, the dried powders are consolidated into dense pellets, and their TE properties are investigated. Pb doping effectively increases the charge carrier concentration, resulting in a significant increase in electrical conductivity, while the Seebeck coefficients remain consistently high. The calculated band structure shows that Pb doping induces band convergence, thereby increasing the effective mass. Furthermore, the large ionic radius of Pb2+ results in the generation of additional point and plane defects and interphases, dramatically enhancing phonon scattering, which significantly decreases the lattice thermal conductivity at high temperatures. Overall, a maximum figure of merit (zTmax) ≈ 0.85 at 653 K is obtained in Cu3Sb0.97Pb0.03Se4. This represents a 1.6-fold increase compared to the undoped sample and exceeds most doped Cu3SbSe4-based materials produced by solid-state, demonstrating advantages of versatility and cost-effectiveness using a solution-based technology.}, author = {Wan, Shanhong and Xiao, Shanshan and Li, Mingquan and Wang, Xin and Lim, Khak Ho and Hong, Min and Ibáñez, Maria and Cabot, Andreu and Liu, Yu}, issn = {2366-9608}, journal = {Small Methods}, number = {8}, publisher = {Wiley}, title = {{Band engineering through Pb-doping of nanocrystal building blocks to enhance thermoelectric performance in Cu3SbSe4}}, doi = {10.1002/smtd.202301377}, volume = {8}, year = {2024}, } @article{17885, abstract = {The formation of new ribosomes is tightly coordinated with cell growth and proliferation. In eukaryotes, the correct assembly of all ribosomal proteins and RNAs follows an intricate scheme of maturation and rearrangement steps across three cellular compartments: the nucleolus, nucleoplasm, and cytoplasm. We demonstrate that usnic acid, a lichen secondary metabolite, inhibits the maturation of the large ribosomal subunit in yeast. We combine biochemical characterization of pre-ribosomal particles with a quantitative single-particle cryo-EM approach to monitor changes in nucleolar particle populations upon drug treatment. Usnic acid rapidly blocks the transition from nucleolar state B to C of Nsa1-associated pre-ribosomes, depleting key maturation factors such as Dbp10 and hindering pre-rRNA processing. This primary nucleolar block rapidly rebounds on earlier stages of the pathway which highlights the regulatory linkages between different steps. In summary, we provide an in-depth characterization of the effect of usnic acid on ribosome biogenesis, which may have implications for its reported anti-cancer activities.}, author = {Kofler, Lisa and Grundmann, Lorenz and Gerhalter, Magdalena and Prattes, Michael and Merl-Pham, Juliane and Zisser, Gertrude and Grishkovskaya, Irina and Hodirnau, Victor-Valentin and Vareka, Martin and Breinbauer, Rolf and Hauck, Stefanie M. and Haselbach, David and Bergler, Helmut}, issn = {2041-1723}, journal = {Nature Communications}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{The novel ribosome biogenesis inhibitor usnic acid blocks nucleolar pre-60S maturation}}, doi = {10.1038/s41467-024-51754-3}, volume = {15}, year = {2024}, } @article{17886, abstract = {Thin pancake-like neuronal networks cultured on top of a planar microelectrode array have been extensively tried out in neuroengineering, as a substrate for the mobile robot’s control unit, i.e., as a cyborg’s brain. Most of these attempts failed due to intricate self-organizing dynamics in the neuronal systems. In particular, the networks may exhibit an emergent spatial map of steady nucleation sites (“n-sites”) of spontaneous population spikes. Being unpredictable and independent of the surface electrode locations, the n-sites drastically change local ability of the network to generate spikes. Here, using a spiking neuronal network model with generative spatially-embedded connectome, we systematically show in simulations that the number, location, and relative activity of spontaneously formed n-sites (“the vitals”) crucially depend on the samplings of three distributions: (1) the network distribution of neuronal excitability, (2) the distribution of connections between neurons of the network, and (3) the distribution of maximal amplitudes of a single synaptic current pulse. Moreover, blocking the dynamics of a small fraction (about 4%) of non-pacemaker neurons having the highest excitability was enough to completely suppress the occurrence of population spikes and their n-sites. This key result is explained theoretically. Remarkably, the n-sites occur taking into account only short-term synaptic plasticity, i.e., without a Hebbian-type plasticity. As the spiking network model used in this study is strictly deterministic, all simulation results can be accurately reproduced. The model, which has already demonstrated a very high richness-to-complexity ratio, can also be directly extended into the three-dimensional case, e.g., for targeting peculiarities of spiking dynamics in cerebral (or brain) organoids. We recommend the model as an excellent illustrative tool for teaching network-level computational neuroscience, complementing a few benchmark models.}, author = {Zendrikov, Dmitrii and Paraskevov, Alexander}, issn = {1879-2782}, journal = {Neural Networks}, publisher = {Elsevier}, title = {{The vitals for steady nucleation maps of spontaneous spiking coherence in autonomous two-dimensional neuronal networks}}, doi = {10.1016/j.neunet.2024.106589}, volume = {180}, year = {2024}, } @article{17887, abstract = {We show convergence of the Navier-Stokes/Allen-Cahn system to a classical sharp interface model for the two-phase flow of two viscous incompressible fluids with same viscosities in a smooth bounded domain in two and three space dimensions as long as a smooth solution of the limit system exists. Moreover, we obtain error estimates with the aid of a relative entropy method. Our results hold provided that the mobility mε>0 in the Allen-Cahn equation tends to zero in a subcritical way, i.e., mε=m0εβ for some β∈(0,2) and m0>0 . The proof proceeds by showing via a relative entropy argument that the solution to the Navier-Stokes/Allen-Cahn system remains close to the solution of a perturbed version of the two-phase flow problem, augmented by an extra mean curvature flow term mεHΓt in the interface motion. In a second step, it is easy to see that the solution to the perturbed problem is close to the original two-phase flow.}, author = {Abels, Helmut and Fischer, Julian L and Moser, Maximilian}, issn = {1432-0673}, journal = {Archive for Rational Mechanics and Analysis}, number = {5}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Approximation of classical two-phase flows of viscous incompressible fluids by a Navier–Stokes/Allen–Cahn system}}, doi = {10.1007/s00205-024-02020-9}, volume = {248}, year = {2024}, } @article{17888, abstract = {Context: Biotic resource exploitation is a critical determinant of species’ distributions. However, quantifying resource exploitation patterns through space and time can be difficult, complicating their incorporation in spatial ecology studies. Therefore, understanding the local drivers of spatial patterns of resource exploitation may contribute to better large-scale species distribution models. Objectives: We investigated (1) how the resource exploitation patterns of two trophic interactions (plant–insect) are explained by insect behaviour, resource aggregation, and potential insect-insect interactions. We also analyzed how (2) resource patch size and (3) resource accessibility in a heterogeneous landscape affected host exploitation patterns. Methods: We quantified nectar robbing by insects in the genus Bombus (bumblebees) and seed predation by Brachypterolus vestitus larvae (Antirrhinum beetle) on Antirrhinum majus L. (wild snapdragons) in the Pyrenees Mountains, Catalonia, Spain. We tested hypotheses about resource exploitation by integrating spatial analyses at multiple scales. Results: Both trophic interactions were aggregated, explained by the aggregation of their resource. At some scales, nectar robbing is more aggregated than the resource. Trophic interaction abundance is proportional to resource patch size, following the ideal free distribution model. Landscape features do not explain the locations exploited. Nectar robbing and seed predation occur together more often than expected. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that multiple biotic and ecological spatial factors may simultaneously affect resource exploitation at a local scale. These findings should be considered when developing agricultural projects, management plans and conservation policies.}, author = {Pocull Belles, Guillem and Baskett, Carina and Barton, Nicholas H}, issn = {1572-9761}, journal = {Landscape Ecology}, number = {9}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Multiscale spatial analysis of two plant–insect interactions: Effects of landscape, resource distribution, and other insects}}, doi = {10.1007/s10980-024-01899-9}, volume = {39}, year = {2024}, } @article{17889, abstract = {The increasingly neutral intergalactic gas at z > 6 impacts the Lyman-α (Lyα) flux observed from galaxies. One luminous galaxy, COLA1, stands out because of its unique double-peaked Lyα line at z = 6.6, unseen in any simulation of reionization. Here, we present JWST/NIRCam wide-field slitless spectroscopy in a 21 arcmin2 field centered on COLA1. We find 141 galaxies spectroscopically selected through the [O III] doublet at 5.35 < z < 6.95, with 40 of these sources showing Hβ. For COLA1, we additionally detect [O III]4363 as well as Hγ. We measure a systemic redshift of z = 6.5917 for COLA1, confirming the classical double-peak nature of the Lyα profile. This implies that it resides in a highly ionized bubble and that it is leaking ionizing photons with a high escape fraction of fesc(LyC) = 20–50%, making it a prime laboratory to study Lyman continuum escape in the Epoch of Reionization. COLA1 shows all the signs of a prolific ionizer with a Lyα escape fraction of 81 ± 5%, Balmer decrement indicating no dust, a steep UV slope (βUV = −3.2 ± 0.4), and a star-formation surface density ≳10× that of typical galaxies at similar redshift. We detect five galaxies in COLA1’s close environment (Δz < 0.02). Exploiting the high spectroscopic completeness inherent to grism surveys, and using mock simulations that fully mimic the selection function, we show that the number of detected companions is very typical for a normal similarly UV-bright (MUV ∼ −21.3) galaxy – that is, the ionized bubble around COLA1 is unlikely to be due to an excessively large over-density. Instead, the measured ionizing properties suggest that COLA1 by itself might be powering the bubble required to explain its double-peaked Lyα profile (Rion ≈ 0.7 pMpc), with only minor contributions from detected neighbors (−19.5 ≲ MUV ≲ −17.5).}, author = {Torralba-Torregrosa, Alberto and Matthee, Jorryt J and Naidu, Rohan P. and Mackenzie, Ruari and Pezzulli, Gabriele and Hutter, Anne and Arnalte-Mur, Pablo and Gurung-López, Siddhartha and Tacchella, Sandro and Oesch, Pascal and Kashino, Daichi and Conroy, Charlie and Sobral, David}, issn = {1432-0746}, journal = {Astronomy and Astrophysics}, publisher = {EDP Sciences}, title = {{Anatomy of an ionized bubble: NIRCam grism spectroscopy of the z = 6.6 double-peaked Lyman- α emitter COLA1 and its environment}}, doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/202450318}, volume = {689}, year = {2024}, } @article{17891, abstract = {Abstract Methods used in topological data analysis naturally capture higher-order interactions in point cloud data embedded in a metric space. This methodology was recently extended to data living in an information space, by which we mean a space measured with an information theoretical distance. One such setting is a finite collection of discrete probability distributions embedded in the probability simplex measured with the relative entropy (Kullback–Leibler divergence). More generally, one can work with a Bregman divergence parameterized by a different notion of entropy. While theoretical algorithms exist for this setup, there is a paucity of implementations for exploring and comparing geometric-topological properties of various information spaces. The interest of this work is therefore twofold. First, we propose the first robust algorithms and software for geometric and topological data analysis in information space. Perhaps surprisingly, despite working with Bregman divergences, our design reuses robust libraries for the Euclidean case. Second, using the new software, we take the first steps towards understanding the geometric-topological structure of these spaces. In particular, we compare them with the more familiar spaces equipped with the Euclidean and Fisher metrics.}, author = {Edelsbrunner, Herbert and Ölsböck, Katharina and Wagner, Hubert}, issn = {1099-4300}, journal = {Entropy}, number = {8}, publisher = {MDPI}, title = {{Understanding higher-order interactions in information space}}, doi = {10.3390/e26080637}, volume = {26}, year = {2024}, } @article{17892, abstract = {Enzyme-substrate kinetics form the basis of many biomolecular processes. The interplay between substrate binding and substrate geometry can give rise to long-range interactions between enzyme binding events. Here we study a general model of enzyme-substrate kinetics with restricted long-range interactions described by an exponent −𝛾. We employ a coherent-state path integral and renormalization group approach to calculate the first moment and two-point correlation function of the enzyme-binding profile. We show that starting from an empty substrate the average occupancy follows a power law with an exponent 1/(1−𝛾) over time. The correlation function decays algebraically with two distinct spatial regimes characterized by exponents −𝛾 on short distances and −(2/3)⁢(2−𝛾) on long distances. The crossover between both regimes scales inversely with the average substrate occupancy. Our work allows associating experimental measurements of bound enzyme locations with their binding kinetics and the spatial conformation of the substrate.}, author = {Olmeda, Fabrizio and Rulands, Steffen}, issn = {2470-0053}, journal = {Physical Review E}, number = {2}, publisher = {American Physical Society}, title = {{Field theory of enzyme-substrate systems with restricted long-range interactions}}, doi = {10.1103/PhysRevE.110.024404}, volume = {110}, year = {2024}, }