We develop and apply a Hessian-based filament detection algorithm to submillimetre continuum observations of Orion A North. The resultant filament radial density profiles are fitted with ...beam-convolved line-of-sight Plummer-profiles using Markov chain Monte Carlo techniques. The posterior distribution of the radial decay parameter demonstrates that the majority of filaments exhibit p = 1.5–3, with a mode at p = 2.2, suggesting deviation from the Ostriker p = 4 isothermal, equilibrium, self-gravitating cylinder. The spatial distribution of young stellar objects relative to the high column density filaments is investigated, yielding a lower limit on the star-forming age of the integral-shaped filament ∼1.4 Myr. Additionally, inferred lifetimes of filaments are examined which suggest long-term filament accretion, varying rates of star formation, or both. Theoretical filament stability measures are determined with the aid of HARP C18O J = 3–2 observations and indicate that the majority of filaments are gravitationally subcritical, despite the presence of young protostars. The results from this investigation are consistent with the one-dimensional accretion flow filament model recently observed in numerical simulations.
ABSTRACT The dust emissivity spectral index, β, is a critical parameter for deriving the mass and temperature of star-forming structures and, consequently, their gravitational stability. The β value ...is dependent on various dust grain properties, such as size, porosity, and surface composition, and is expected to vary as dust grains evolve. Here we present β, dust temperature, and optical depth maps of the star-forming clumps in the Perseus Molecular Cloud determined from fitting spectral energy distributions to combined Herschel and JCMT observations in the 160, 250, 350, 500, and 850 m bands. Most of the derived β and dust temperature values fall within the ranges of 1.0-2.7 and 8-20 K, respectively. In Perseus, we find the β distribution differs significantly from clump to clump, indicative of grain growth. Furthermore, we also see significant localized β variations within individual clumps and find low-β regions correlate with local temperature peaks, hinting at the possible origins of low-β grains. Throughout Perseus, we also see indications of heating from B stars and embedded protostars, as well evidence of outflows shaping the local landscape.
Determining the mechanisms by which genes are switched on and off during development is a key aim of current biomedical research. Gene transcription has been widely observed to occur in a ...discontinuous fashion, with short bursts of activity interspersed with periods of inactivity. It is currently not known if or how this dynamic behaviour changes as mammalian cells differentiate. To investigate this, using an on-microscope analysis, we monitored mouse α-globin transcription in live cells throughout erythropoiesis. We find that changes in the overall levels of α-globin transcription are most closely associated with changes in the fraction of time a gene spends in the active transcriptional state. We identify differences in the patterns of transcriptional bursting throughout differentiation, with maximal transcriptional activity occurring in the mid-phase of differentiation. Early in differentiation, we observe increased fluctuation in transcriptional activity whereas at the peak of gene expression, in early erythroblasts, transcription is relatively stable. Later during differentiation as α-globin expression declines, we again observe more variability in transcription within individual cells. We propose that the observed changes in transcriptional behaviour may reflect changes in the stability of active transcriptional compartments as gene expression is regulated during differentiation.
Mammalian gene expression patterns are controlled by regulatory elements, which interact within topologically associating domains (TADs). The relationship between activation of regulatory elements, ...formation of structural chromatin interactions and gene expression during development is unclear. Here, we present Tiled-C, a low-input chromosome conformation capture (3C) technique. We use this approach to study chromatin architecture at high spatial and temporal resolution through in vivo mouse erythroid differentiation. Integrated analysis of chromatin accessibility and single-cell expression data shows that regulatory elements gradually become accessible within pre-existing TADs during early differentiation. This is followed by structural re-organization within the TAD and formation of specific contacts between enhancers and promoters. Our high-resolution data show that these enhancer-promoter interactions are not established prior to gene expression, but formed gradually during differentiation, concomitant with progressive upregulation of gene activity. Together, these results provide new insight into the close, interdependent relationship between chromatin architecture and gene regulation during development.
A substantial amount of organismal complexity is thought to be encoded by enhancers which specify the location, timing, and levels of gene expression. In mammals there are more enhancers than ...promoters which are distributed both between and within genes. Here we show that activated, intragenic enhancers frequently act as alternative tissue-specific promoters producing a class of abundant, spliced, multiexonic poly(A)+ RNAs (meRNAs) which reflect the host gene's structure. meRNAs make a substantial and unanticipated contribution to the complexity of the transcriptome, appearing as alternative isoforms of the host gene. The low protein-coding potential of meRNAs suggests that many meRNAs may be byproducts of enhancer activation or underlie as-yet-unidentified RNA-encoded functions. Distinguishing between meRNAs and mRNAs will transform our interpretation of dynamic changes in transcription both at the level of individual genes and of the genome as a whole.
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► Intragenic enhancers act as unidirectional, cell-specific, alternative promoters ► Activated intragenic enhancers produce a class of multiexonic poly(A)+ RNAs, meRNAs ► meRNAs appear as isoforms of the host gene ► meRNAs add significantly to transcriptome complexity
How chromosome organization is related to genome function remains poorly understood. Cohesin, loop extrusion, and CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) have been proposed to create topologically associating ...domains (TADs) to regulate gene expression. Here, we examine chromosome conformation in embryonic stem cells lacking cohesin and find, as in other cell types, that cohesin is required to create TADs and regulate A/B compartmentalization. However, in the absence of cohesin, we identify a series of long-range chromosomal interactions that persist. These correspond to regions of the genome occupied by the polycomb repressive system and are dependent on PRC1. Importantly, we discover that cohesin counteracts these polycomb-dependent interactions, but not interactions between super-enhancers. This disruptive activity is independent of CTCF and insulation and appears to modulate gene repression by the polycomb system. Therefore, we discover that cohesin disrupts polycomb-dependent chromosome interactions to modulate gene expression in embryonic stem cells.
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•Interaction between polycomb target genes in ESCs occurs independently of cohesin•Loop extrusion by cohesin disrupts interactions between polycomb target genes•Cohesin removal enhances repression at polycomb target genes with increased interactions
Using Hi-C, Capture-C, and DNA-FISH, Rhodes et al. discover that interactions between polycomb target genes occur independently of cohesin in embryonic stem cells. This relies on PRC1, and these interactions are disrupted by cohesin-mediated loop extrusion. Upon removal of cohesin, gene repression is enhanced at polycomb-occupied genes with increased interactions.
Performing ground-based submillimetre observations is a difficult task as the measurements are subject to absorption and emission from water vapour in the Earth's atmosphere and time variation in ...weather and instrument stability. Removing these features and other artefacts from the data is a vital process which affects the characteristics of the recovered astronomical structure we seek to study. In this paper, we explore two data reduction methods for data taken with the Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array-2 (SCUBA-2) at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). The JCMT Legacy Reduction 1 (JCMT LR1) and The Gould Belt Legacy Survey Legacy Release 1 (GBS LR1) reduction both use the same software (starlink) but differ in their choice of data reduction parameters. We find that the JCMT LR1 reduction is suitable for determining whether or not compact emission is present in a given region and the GBS LR1 reduction is tuned in a robust way to uncover more extended emission, which better serves more in-depth physical analyses of star-forming regions. Using the GBS LR1 method, we find that compact sources are recovered well, even at a peak brightness of only three times the noise, whereas the reconstruction of larger objects requires much care when drawing boundaries around the expected astronomical signal in the data reduction process. Incorrect boundaries can lead to false structure identification or it can cause structure to be missed. In the JCMT LR1 reduction, the extent of the true structure of objects larger than a point source is never fully recovered.
Thermoelectric devices are semiconductor devices which are capable of either generating a voltage when placed in between a temperature gradient, exploiting the Seebeck effect, or producing a ...temperature gradient when powered by electricity, exploiting the Peltier effect. The devices are usually employed in environments with time-varying temperature differences and input/output powers. Therefore it becomes important to understand the behaviour of thermoelectric devices during thermal and electrical transients in order to properly simulate and design complex thermoelectric systems which also include power electronics and control systems.
The purpose of this paper is to provide the transient solution to the one-dimensional heat conduction equation with internal heat generation that describes the transfer and generation of heat throughout a thermoelectric device. The solution proposed can be included in a model in which the Peltier effect, the thermal masses and the electrical behaviour of the system are considered too; this would be of great benefit because it would allow accurate simulations of thermoelectric systems.
While the previous literature does not focus on the study of thermal transients in thermoelectric applications and usually considers constant the temperatures at the hot and cold sides, this paper proposes a dynamic exchange of heat through the hot and cold side, both in steady-state and transients. This paper also presents an analytical solution which is then computed by Matlab to simulate a physical experiment. Simulation results show excellent correlation with experimentally determined values, thus validating the solution.
▸ We solve the one-dimensional heat conduction equation for thermoelectric devices. ▸ Both the steady-state and transient solutions are provided. ▸ This solution can be used to accurately simulate thermoelectric systems. ▸ Simulations and experimental results are provided.
ABSTRACT We present a first look at the SCUBA-2 observations of three sub-regions of the Orion B molecular cloud: LDN 1622, NGC 2023/2024, and NGC 2068/2071, from the JCMT Gould Belt Legacy Survey. ...We identify 29, 564, and 322 dense cores in L1622, NGC 2023/2024, and NGC 2068/2071 respectively, using the SCUBA-2 850 m map, and present their basic properties, including their peak fluxes, total fluxes, and sizes, and an estimate of the corresponding 450 m peak fluxes and total fluxes, using the FellWalker source extraction algorithm. Assuming a constant temperature of 20 K, the starless dense cores have a mass function similar to that found in previous dense core analyses, with a Salpeter-like slope at the high-mass end. The majority of cores appear stable to gravitational collapse when considering only thermal pressure; indeed, most of the cores which have masses above the thermal Jeans mass are already associated with at least one protostar. At higher cloud column densities, above 1-2 × 1023 cm−2, most of the mass is found within dense cores, while at lower cloud column densities, below 1 × 1023 cm−2, this fraction drops to 10% or lower. Overall, the fraction of dense cores associated with a protostar is quite small (<8%), but becomes larger for the densest and most centrally concentrated cores. NGC 2023/2024 and NGC 2068/2071 appear to be on the path to forming a significant number of stars in the future, while L1622 has little additional mass in dense cores to form many new stars.
Chromosome conformation capture (3C) provides an adaptable tool for studying diverse biological questions. Current 3C methods generally provide either low-resolution interaction profiles across the ...entire genome, or high-resolution interaction profiles at limited numbers of loci. Due to technical limitations, generation of reproducible high-resolution interaction profiles has not been achieved at genome-wide scale. Here, to overcome this barrier, we systematically test each step of 3C and report two improvements over current methods. We show that up to 30% of reporter events generated using the popular in situ 3C method arise from ligations between two individual nuclei, but this noise can be almost entirely eliminated by isolating intact nuclei after ligation. Using Nuclear-Titrated Capture-C, we generate reproducible high-resolution genome-wide 3C interaction profiles by targeting 8055 gene promoters in erythroid cells. By pairing high-resolution 3C interaction calls with nascent gene expression we interrogate the role of promoter hubs and super-enhancers in gene regulation.
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