Many promoters in eukaryotes have nucleosome-depleted regions (NDRs) containing transcription factor binding sites. However, the functional significance of NDRs is not well understood. Here, we examine NDR function in two cell cycle-regulated promoters, CLN2pr and HOpr, by varying nucleosomal coverage of the binding sites of their activator, Swi4/Swi6 cell-cycle box (SCB)-binding factor (SBF), and probing the corresponding transcriptional activity in individual cells with time-lapse microscopy. Nucleosome-embedded SCBs do not significantly alter peak expression levels.

We study the three-fermion problem within a 1D model of a Feshbach resonance in order to gain insight into how the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO)-like state at small negative scattering lengths evolves into a Bose-Fermi mixture at small positive scattering lengths. The FFLO state possesses an oscillating superfluid correlation function, while in a Bose-Fermi mixture correlations are monotonic. We find that this behavior is already present at the three-body level.

We probe electromechanical properties of InAs nanowire (diameter ∼100nm) resonators where the suspended nanowire is also the active channel of a field-effect transistor. We observe and explain the nonmonotonic dispersion of the resonant frequency with dc gate voltage (Vgdc). The effect of electronic screening on the properties of the resonator can be seen in the amplitude. We observe the mixing of mechanical modes with V gdc. We also experimentally probe and quantitatively explain the hysteretic nonlinear properties, as a function of Vg dc, of the resonator using the Duffing equation.

Just as the Wright brothers implemented controls to achieve stable airplane flight, flying insects have evolved behavioral strategies that ensure recovery from flight disturbances. Pioneering studies performed on tethered and dissected insects demonstrate that the sensory, neurological, and musculoskeletal systems play important roles in flight control. Such studies, however, cannot produce an integrative model of insect flight stability because they do not incorporate the interaction of these systems with free-flight aerodynamics.

La-doped and Y-doped Bi2 Sr2 CaCu2 O 8+δ compounds Bi2Sr2-xLax(Ca,Y )Cu2 O8+δ, which range from the insulator to the deeply underdoped superconductor, have been studied by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. We have observed that the lower Hubbard band (LHB) of the parent insulator is gradually shifted upward with doping without significantly changing the band dispersions, which implies a downward shift of the chemical potential with hole doping.

We study the interplay between charge and spin ordering in electronic liquid crystalline states with a particular emphasis on fluctuating spin stripe phenomena observed in recent neutron scattering experiments. Based on a phenomenological model, we propose that charge nematic ordering is indeed behind the formation of temperature dependent incommensurate inelastic peaks near wave vector (π, π) in the dynamic structure factor of YBa2Cu3O6+y. We strengthen this claim by providing a compelling fit to the experimental data. © 2010 The American Physical Society.

We calculate the radio-frequency spectrum of a trapped cloud of cold bosonic atoms in an optical lattice. By using random phase and local-density approximations we produce both trap-averaged and spatially resolved spectra, identifying simple features in the spectra that reveal information about both superfluidity and correlations. Our approach is exact in the deep Mott limit and in the dilute superfluid when the hopping rates for the two internal spin states are equal.

Molecular calculations in quantum Monte Carlo frequently employ a mixed basis consisting of contracted and primitive Gaussian functions. While standard basis sets of varying size and accuracy are available in the literature, we demonstrate that reoptimizing the primitive function exponents within quantum Monte Carlo yields more compact basis sets for a given accuracy. Particularly large gains are achieved for highly excited states.

We extend the standard Bose-Hubbard model to capture arbitrarily strong on-site correlations. In addition to being important for quantitatively modeling experiments, for example, with rubidium atoms, these correlations must be included to describe more exotic situations. Two such examples are when the interactions are made large via a Feshbach resonance and when each site rotates rapidly, making a coupled array of quantum Hall puddles. Remarkably, even the mean field approximation to our model includes all on-site correlations.

Structural properties of articular cartilage such as proteoglycan content, collagen content and collagen alignment are known to vary over length scales as small as a few microns (Bullough and Goodfellow, 1968; Bi et al., 2006). Characterizing the resulting variation in mechanical properties is critical for understanding how the inhomogeneous architecture of this tissue gives rise to its function.