Morphological instabilities of a thin film on a Penrose lattice: a Monte Carlo study

We computed by a Monte Carlo method the thermal relaxation of a polycrystalline thin film deposited on a Penrose lattice. The thin film was modelled by a 2 dimensional array of elementary domains, which have each a given height. During the Monte Carlo process, the height of each of these elementary domains is allowed to change as well as their crystallographic orientation. After equilibrium is reached at a given numerical temperature, all elementary domains have changed their orientation into the same one and small islands appear, preferentially on the domains of the Penrose lattice located in the center of heptagons. This method is a new numerical approach to study the influence of the substrate and its defects on the islanding process of polycrystalline films.Comment: 9 pages,5 figure

Comparative structural and functional analysis of Bunyavirus and Arenavirus cap-snatching Endonucleases

Segmented negative strand RNA viruses of the arena-, bunya- and orthomyxovirus families uniquely carry out viral mRNA transcription by the cap-snatching mechanism. This involves cleavage of host mRNAs close to their capped 5′ end by an endonuclease (EN) domain located in the N-terminal region of the viral polymerase. We present the structure of the cap-snatching EN of Hantaan virus, a bunyavirus belonging to hantavirus genus. Hantaan EN has an active site configuration, including a metal co-ordinating histidine, and nuclease activity similar to the previously reported La Crosse virus and Influenza virus ENs (orthobunyavirus and orthomyxovirus respectively), but is more active in cleaving a double stranded RNA substrate. In contrast, Lassa arenavirus EN has only acidic metal co-ordinating residues. We present three high resolution structures of Lassa virus EN with different bound ion configurations and show in comparative biophysical and biochemical experiments with Hantaan, La Crosse and influenza ENs that the isolated Lassa EN is essentially inactive. The results are discussed in the light of EN activation mechanisms revealed by recent structures of full-length influenza virus polymerase

Identifying the Sources of Ferromagnetism in Sol-Gel Synthesized Zn\u3csub\u3e1-x\u3c/sub\u3eCo\u3csub\u3ex\u3c/sub\u3eO (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.10) Nanoparticles

We have carefully investigated the structural, optical and electronic properties and related them with the magnetism of sol-gel synthesized Zn1-xCoxO (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.10) nanoparticles. Samples with x ≤ 0.05 were pure and free of spurious phases, whereas ZnCo2O4 was identified as the impurity phase for samples with x ≥ 0.08. Samples with x \u3c 0.05 were found to be true solid solutions with only high spin Co2+ ions into ZnO structure, whereas sample with x = 0.05, exhibited the presence of high spin Co2+ and low spin Co3+. For the impurity-free samples we found that as Co concentration increases, a and c lattice parameters and Zn–O bond length parallel to the c-axis decrease, the band gap drastically decreases, and the average grain size and distortion degree increases. In all samples there are isolated Co2+ ions that do not interact magnetically at room temperature, bringing about the observed paramagnetic signal, which increases with increasing Co concentration. M vs T curves suggest that some of these disordered Co2+ ions in Zn1−xCoxO are antiferromagnetically coupled. Moreover, we also found that the intensity of the main EPR peak associated to Co2+ varies with the nominal Co content in a similar manner as the saturation magnetizations and coercive fields do. These results point out that the ferromagnetism in these samples should directly be correlated with the presence of Co2+. Bound magnetic polaron model is insufficient to explain the Room temperature ferromagnetism in these Co doped ZnO samples and the charge transfer model seems not influence considerably the FM properties of Zn1-xCoxO nanoparticles. The FM behavior may be originated from a combination of several factors such as the interaction of high spin Co2+ ions, the formation of defect levels close to the valence band edge and grain boundaries effects

Staphylococcus aureus Keratinocyte Invasion Is Dependent upon Multiple High-Affinity Fibronectin-Binding Repeats within FnBPA

Staphylococcus aureus is a commensal organism and a frequent cause of skin and soft tissue infections, which can progress to serious invasive disease. This bacterium uses its fibronectin binding proteins (FnBPs) to invade host cells and it has been hypothesised that this provides a protected niche from host antimicrobial defences, allows access to deeper tissues and provides a reservoir for persistent or recurring infections. FnBPs contain multiple tandem fibronectin-binding repeats (FnBRs) which bind fibronectin with varying affinity but it is unclear what selects for this configuration. Since both colonisation and skin infection are dependent upon the interaction of S. aureus with keratinocytes we hypothesised that this might select for FnBP function and thus composition of the FnBR region. Initial experiments revealed that S. aureus attachment to keratinocytes is rapid but does not require FnBRs. By contrast, invasion of keratinocytes was dependent upon the FnBR region and occurred via similar cellular processes to those described for endothelial cells. Despite this, keratinocyte invasion was relatively inefficient and appeared to include a lag phase, most likely due to very weak expression of α5β1 integrins. Molecular dissection of the role of the FnBR region revealed that efficient invasion of keratinocytes was dependent on the presence of at least three high-affinity (but not low-affinity) FnBRs. Over-expression of a single high-affinity or three low-affinity repeats promoted invasion but not to the same levels as S. aureus expressing an FnBPA variant containing three high-affinity repeats. In summary, invasion of keratinocytes by S. aureus requires multiple high-affinity FnBRs within FnBPA, and given the importance of the interaction between these cell types and S. aureus for both colonisation and infection, may have provided the selective pressure for the multiple binding repeats within FnBPA

The search campaign to identify and Image the Philae Lander on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

On the 12th of November 2014, the Rosetta Philae Lander descended to make the first soft touchdown on the surface of a comet – comet 67P/Churyumov- Gerasimenko. That soft touchdown did occur but due to the failure in the firing of its two harpoons, Philae bounced and travelled across the comet making contact with the surface twice more before finally landing in a shaded rocky location somewhere on the southern hemisphere of the comet. The search campaign, led by ESA, involved multiple teams across Europe with a wide range of techniques used in support of it. This search campaign would continue through 2015 where a prime candidate on the surface was identified and on into 2016 to end on the 2nd of September 2016 when a definitive and conclusive image was taken of the lander on the surface of the comet, confirming the prime candidate to indeed be Philae

Méthodes d’approches des premières productions céramiques : les Balkans et le Levant Nord

International audienc

Morphological instabilities of thin films during thermal relaxation : a Monte Carlo study

International audienc