Enumerating planar locally finite Cayley graphs

We characterize the set of planar locally finite Cayley graphs, and give a finite representation of these graphs by a special kind of finite state automata called labeling schemes. As a result, we are able to enumerate and describe all planar locally finite Cayley graphs of a given degree. This analysis allows us to solve the problem of decision of the locally finite planarity for a word-problem-decidable presentation. Keywords: vertex-transitive, Cayley graph, planar graph, tiling, labeling schemeComment: 19 pages, 6 PostScript figures, 12 embedded PsTricks figures. An additional file (~ 438ko.) containing the figures in appendix might be found at http://www.labri.fr/Perso/~renault/research/pages.ps.g

Compact convex sets of the plane and probability theory

The Gauss-Minkowski correspondence in $\mathbb{R}^2$ states the existence of a homeomorphism between the probability measures $\mu$ on $[0,2\pi]$ such that $\int_0^{2\pi} e^{ix}d\mu(x)=0$ and the compact convex sets (CCS) of the plane with perimeter~1. In this article, we bring out explicit formulas relating the border of a CCS to its probability measure. As a consequence, we show that some natural operations on CCS -- for example, the Minkowski sum -- have natural translations in terms of probability measure operations, and reciprocally, the convolution of measures translates into a new notion of convolution of CCS. Additionally, we give a proof that a polygonal curve associated with a sample of $n$ random variables (satisfying $\int_0^{2\pi} e^{ix}d\mu(x)=0$) converges to a CCS associated with $\mu$ at speed $\sqrt{n}$, a result much similar to the convergence of the empirical process in statistics. Finally, we employ this correspondence to present models of smooth random CCS and simulations

A construção da imagem de FHC na mídia impressa (1993–1994)

Este texto objetiva refletir sobre o papel da mídia impressa brasileira na construção da imagem de Fernando Henrique Cardoso a partir de sua posse como Ministro da Fazenda, em maio de 1993, em um processo que culminou com a sua eleição para a Presidência da República, em 1994. Essas reflexões levam em conta, entre outras, contribuições teóricas de estudiosos sobre representações sociais e dos valores-notícia do jornalismo

Magnitude bias of microlensed sources towards the Large Magellanic Cloud

There are lines of evidence suggesting that some of the observed microlensing events in the direction of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) are caused by ordinary star lenses as opposed to dark Machos in the Galactic halo. Efficient lensing by ordinary stars generally requires the presence of one or more additional concentrations of stars along the line of sight to the LMC disk. If such a population behind the LMC disk exists, then the source stars (for lensing by LMC disk objects) will be drawn preferentially from the background population and will show systematic differences from LMC field stars. One such difference is that the (lensed) source stars will be farther away than the average LMC field stars, and this should be reflected in their apparent baseline magnitudes. We focus on red clump stars: these should appear in the color-magnitude diagram at a few tenths of a magnitude fainter than the field red clump. Suggestively, one of the two near-clump confirmed events, MACHO-LMC-1, is a few tenths of magnitude fainter than the clump.Comment: To appear in ApJ Letters. Shortened to match the accepted version, 8 pages plus 1 ps figur

Dietary live yeast alters metabolic profiles, protein biosynthesis and thermal stress tolerance of Drosophila melanogaster

International audienceThe impact of nutritional factors on insect's life-history traits such as reproduction and lifespan has been excessively examined; however, nutritional determinant of insect's thermal tolerance has not received a lot of attention. Dietary live yeast represents a prominent source of proteins and amino acids for laboratory-reared drosophilids. In this study, Drosophila melanogaster adults were fed on diets supplemented or not with live yeast. We hypothesized that manipulating nutritional conditions through live yeast supplementation would translate into altered physiology and stress tolerance. We verified how live yeast supplementation affected body mass characteristics, total lipids and proteins, metabolic profiles and cold tolerance (acute and chronic stress). Females fed with live yeast had increased body mass and contained more lipids and proteins. Using GC/MS profiling, we found distinct metabolic fingerprints according to nutritional conditions. Metabolite pathway enrichment analysis corroborated that live yeast supplementation was associated with amino acid and protein biosyntheses. The cold assays revealed that the presence of dietary live yeast greatly promoted cold tolerance. Hence, this study conclusively demonstrates a significant interaction between nutritional conditions and thermal tolerance

Indirect inference : which moments to match?

The standard approach to indirect inference estimation considers that the auxiliary parameters, which carry the identifying information about the structural parameters of interest, are obtained from some recently identified vector of estimating equations. In contrast to this standard interpretation, we demonstrate that the case of overidentified auxiliary parameters is both possible, and, indeed, more commonly encountered than one may initially realize. We then revisit the “moment matching” and “parameter matching” versions of indirect inference in this context and devise efficient estimation strategies in this more general framework. Perhaps surprisingly, we demonstrate that if one were to consider the naive choice of an efficient Generalized Method of Moments (GMM)-based estimator for the auxiliary parameters, the resulting indirect inference estimators would be inefficient. In this general context, we demonstrate that efficient indirect inference estimation actually requires a two-step estimation procedure, whereby the goal of the first step is to obtain an efficient version of the auxiliary model. These two-step estimators are presented both within the context of moment matching and parameter matching. View Full-Tex

Chemical Abundance Constraints on White Dwarfs as Halo Dark Matter

We examine the chemical abundance constraints on a population of white dwarfs in the Halo of our Galaxy. We are motivated by microlensing evidence for massive compact halo objects (Machos) in the Galactic Halo, but our work constrains white dwarfs in the Halo regardless of what the Machos are. We focus on the composition of the material that would be ejected as the white dwarfs are formed; abundance patterns in the ejecta strongly constrain white dwarf production scenarios. Using both analytical and numerical chemical evolution models, we confirm that very strong constraints come from Galactic Pop II and extragalactic carbon abundances. We also point out that depending on the stellar model, significant nitrogen is produced rather than carbon. The combined constraints from C and N give $\Omega_{WD} h < 2 \times 10^{-4}$ from comparison with the low C and N abundances in the Ly$\alpha$ forest. We note, however, that these results are subject to uncertainties regarding the nucleosynthesis of low-metallicity stars. We thus investigate additional constraints from D and $^4$He, finding that these light elements can be kept within observational limits only for \Omega_{WD} \la 0.003 and for a white dwarf progenitor initial mass function sharply peaked at low mass (2$M_\odot$). Finally, we consider a Galactic wind, which is required to remove the ejecta accompanying white dwarf production from the galaxy. We show that such a wind can be driven by Type Ia supernovae arising from the white dwarfs themselves, but these supernovae also lead to unacceptably large abundances of iron. We conclude that abundance constraints exclude white dwarfs as Machos. (abridged)Comment: Written in AASTeX, 26 pages plus 4 ps figure

Magellanic Cloud Gravitational Microlensing Results: What Do They Mean?

I review recent results from gravitational microlensing surveys of the Large Magellanic Cloud. The combined microlensing optical depth of the MACHO and EROS-1 surveys is tau_LMC = 2.1{+1.3/-0.8}* 10^{-7} which is substantially larger than the background of tau < 0.5* 10^{-7} from lensing by known stars but is below the expected microlensing optical depth of tau = 4.7*10^{-7} for a halo composed entirely of Machos. The simplest interpretation of this result is that nearly half of the dark halo is composed of Machos with a typical mass of order 0.5 Msun. These Machos could be old white dwarfs, but it is not obvious that the generation of stars that preceded these white dwarfs could have gone undetected. Perhaps, the Machos could be non-baryonic, but there is no compelling model for the formation of non-baryonic Machos. Therefore, some authors have tried to develop alternative models which attempt to explain the LMC microlensing results with non-halo lenses. Many of these models postulate previously unknown dark stellar populations which contribute significantly to the total mass of the Galaxy and are therefore simply variations of the dark matter solution. However, models which postulate an unknown dwarf galaxy along the line of sight to the LMC or a distortion of the LMC which significantly enhances the LMC self-lensing optical depth can potentially explain the LMC lensing results with only a small amount of mass, so these can be regarded as true non-dark matter solutions to the Macho puzzle. All such models that have been proposed so far have serious problems, so there is as yet no compelling alternative to the dark matter interpretation. However, the problem can be solved observationally with a second generation gravitational microlensing survey that is significantly more sensitive than current microlensing surveys.Comment: 12 pages, to appear in the Proceedings of the 3rd International Symposium on Sources and Detection of Dark Matter in the Universe (DM98), Feb. 1998, ed. D. Clin

Autophagy plays an important role in protecting Pacific oysters from OsHV-1 and Vibrio aestuarianus infections.

Recent mass mortality outbreaks around the world in Pacific oysters, Crassostrea gigas, have seriously affected the aquaculture economy. Although the causes for these mortality outbreaks appear complex, infectious agents are involved. Two pathogens are associated with mass mortality outbreaks, the virus ostreid herpesvirus 1 (OsHV-1) and the bacterium Vibrio aestuarianus. Here we describe the interactions between these 2 pathogens and autophagy, a conserved intracellular pathway playing a key role in innate immunity. We show for the first time that autophagy pathway is present and functional in Pacific oysters and plays an important role to protect animals from infections. This study contributes to better understand the innate immune system of Pacific oysters.This work was partially funded through the EU project Bivalife (FP7 KBBE, contract n 266157), the Poitou Charentes Region and DPMA (Direction des p^eches maritimes et de l’aquaculture, AESTU project). David Rubinsztein is aWellcome Trust Prinicipal Research Fellow.This is the final published version. It first appeared at http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15548627.2015.1017188