127 research outputs found
13C NMR study of superconductivity near charge instability realized in beta"-(BEDT-TTF)4[(H3O)Ga(C2O4)3]C6H5NO2
To investigate the superconducting (SC) state near a charge instability, we
performed ^{13}C NMR experiments on the molecular superconductor
beta"-(BEDT-TTF)_{4}[(H_{3}O)Ga(C_{2}O_{4})_{3}]C_{6}H_{5}NO_{2}, which
exhibits a charge anomaly at 100 K. The Knight shift which we measured in the
SC state down to 1.5 K demonstrates that Cooper pairs are in spin-singlet
state. Measurements of the nuclear spin-lattice relaxation time reveal strong
electron-electron correlations in the normal state. The resistivity increase
observed below 10 K indicates that the enhanced fluctuation has an electric
origin. We discuss the possibility of charge-fluctuation-induced
superconductivity.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Distortion Estimation Through Explicit Modeling of the Refractive Surface
Precise calibration is a must for high reliance 3D computer vision
algorithms. A challenging case is when the camera is behind a protective glass
or transparent object: due to refraction, the image is heavily distorted; the
pinhole camera model alone can not be used and a distortion correction step is
required. By directly modeling the geometry of the refractive media, we build
the image generation process by tracing individual light rays from the camera
to a target. Comparing the generated images to their distorted - observed -
counterparts, we estimate the geometry parameters of the refractive surface via
model inversion by employing an RBF neural network. We present an image
collection methodology that produces data suited for finding the distortion
parameters and test our algorithm on synthetic and real-world data. We analyze
the results of the algorithm.Comment: Accepted to ICANN 201
Finite-Temperature Properties across the Charge Ordering Transition -- Combined Bosonization, Renormalization Group, and Numerical Methods
We theoretically describe the charge ordering (CO) metal-insulator transition
based on a quasi-one-dimensional extended Hubbard model, and investigate the
finite temperature () properties across the transition temperature, . In order to calculate dependence of physical quantities such as the
spin susceptibility and the electrical resistivity, both above and below
, a theoretical scheme is developed which combines analytical
methods with numerical calculations. We take advantage of the renormalization
group equations derived from the effective bosonized Hamiltonian, where Lanczos
exact diagonalization data are chosen as initial parameters, while the CO order
parameter at finite- is determined by quantum Monte Carlo simulations. The
results show that the spin susceptibility does not show a steep singularity at
, and it slightly increases compared to the case without CO because
of the suppression of the spin velocity. In contrast, the resistivity exhibits
a sudden increase at , below which a characteristic dependence
is observed. We also compare our results with experiments on molecular
conductors as well as transition metal oxides showing CO.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure
The dipolar endofullerene HF@C60
The cavity inside fullerenes provides a unique environment for the study of isolated atoms and molecules. We report encapsulation of hydrogen fluoride inside C60 using molecular surgery to give the endohedral fullerene HF@C60. The key synthetic step is the closure of the open fullerene cage while minimizing escape of HF. The encapsulated HF molecule moves freely inside the cage and exhibits quantization of its translational and rotational degrees of freedom, as revealed by inelastic neutron scattering and infrared spectroscopy. The rotational and vibrational constants of the encapsulated HF molecules were found to be redshifted relative to free HF. The NMR spectra display a large 1H-19F J coupling typical of an isolated species. The dipole moment of HF@C60 was estimated from the temperature-dependence of the dielectric constant at cryogenic temperatures and showed that the cage shields around 75% of the HF dipole
OsLIC, a Novel CCCH-Type Zinc Finger Protein with Transcription Activation, Mediates Rice Architecture via Brassinosteroids Signaling
Rice architecture is an important agronomic trait and a major limiting factor for its high productivity. Here we describe a novel CCCH-type zinc finger gene, OsLIC (Oraza sativa leaf and tiller angle increased controller), which is involved in the regulation of rice plant architecture. OsLIC encoded an ancestral and unique CCCH type zinc finge protein. It has many orthologous in other organisms, ranging from yeast to humane. Suppression of endogenous OsLIC expression resulted in drastically increased leaf and tiller angles, shortened shoot height, and consequently reduced grain production in rice. OsLIC is predominantly expressed in rice collar and tiller bud. Genetic analysis suggested that OsLIC is epistatic to d2-1, whereas d61-1 is epistatic to OsLIC. Interestingly, sterols were significantly higher in level in transgenic shoots than in the wild type. Genome-wide expression analysis indicated that brassinosteroids (BRs) signal transduction was activated in transgenic lines. Moreover, transcription of OsLIC was induced by 24-epibrassinolide. OsLIC, with a single CCCH motif, displayed binding activity to double-stranded DNA and single-stranded polyrA, polyrU and polyrG but not polyrC. It contains a novel conserved EELR domain among eukaryotes and displays transcriptional activation activity in yeast. OsLIC may be a transcription activator to control rice plant architecture
MICALs in control of the cytoskeleton, exocytosis, and cell death
MICALs form an evolutionary conserved family of multidomain signal transduction proteins characterized by a flavoprotein monooxygenase domain. MICALs are being implicated in the regulation of an increasing number of molecular and cellular processes including cytoskeletal dynamics and intracellular trafficking. Intriguingly, some of these effects are dependent on the MICAL monooxygenase enzyme and redox signaling, while other functions rely on other parts of the MICAL protein. Recent breakthroughs in our understanding of MICAL signaling identify the ability of MICALs to bind and directly modify the actin cytoskeleton, link MICALs to the docking and fusion of exocytotic vesicles, and uncover MICALs as anti-apoptotic proteins. These discoveries could lead to therapeutic advances in neural regeneration, cancer, and other diseases
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