751 research outputs found
Thermal switch of oscillation frequency in belousov- zhabotinsky liquid marbles
© 2019 The Authors. External control of oscillation dynamics in the Belousov- Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction is important for many applications including encoding computing schemes. When considering the BZ reaction, there are limited studies dealing with thermal cycling, particularly cooling, for external control. Recently, liquid marbles (LMs) have been demonstrated as a means of confining the BZ reaction in a system containing a solid-liquid interface. BZ LMs were prepared by rolling 50 ml droplets in polyethylene (PE) powder. Oscillations of electrical potential differences within the marble were recorded by inserting a pair of electrodes through the LM powder coating into the BZ solution core. Electrical potential differences of up to 100mV were observed with an average period of oscillation ca 44 s. BZ LMs were subsequently frozen to 218C to observe changes in the frequency of electrical potential oscillations. The frequency of oscillations reduced upon freezing to 11mHz cf. 23 mHz at ambient temperature. The oscillation frequency of the frozen BZ LM returned to 23 mHz upon warming to ambient temperature. Several cycles of frequency fluctuations were able to be achieved
From error bounds to the complexity of first-order descent methods for convex functions
This paper shows that error bounds can be used as effective tools for
deriving complexity results for first-order descent methods in convex
minimization. In a first stage, this objective led us to revisit the interplay
between error bounds and the Kurdyka-\L ojasiewicz (KL) inequality. One can
show the equivalence between the two concepts for convex functions having a
moderately flat profile near the set of minimizers (as those of functions with
H\"olderian growth). A counterexample shows that the equivalence is no longer
true for extremely flat functions. This fact reveals the relevance of an
approach based on KL inequality. In a second stage, we show how KL inequalities
can in turn be employed to compute new complexity bounds for a wealth of
descent methods for convex problems. Our approach is completely original and
makes use of a one-dimensional worst-case proximal sequence in the spirit of
the famous majorant method of Kantorovich. Our result applies to a very simple
abstract scheme that covers a wide class of descent methods. As a byproduct of
our study, we also provide new results for the globalization of KL inequalities
in the convex framework.
Our main results inaugurate a simple methodology: derive an error bound,
compute the desingularizing function whenever possible, identify essential
constants in the descent method and finally compute the complexity using the
one-dimensional worst case proximal sequence. Our method is illustrated through
projection methods for feasibility problems, and through the famous iterative
shrinkage thresholding algorithm (ISTA), for which we show that the complexity
bound is of the form where the constituents of the bound only depend
on error bound constants obtained for an arbitrary least squares objective with
regularization
TESTOSTERONE AS A TOOL OF METABOLIC CONTROL OF MEN’S HEALTH (REVIEW)
Nowadays late-onset hypogonadism in men is considered as one of the risk factors of cardiovascular diseases as well as obesity and type 2 diabetes. The pathogenetic mechanisms of testosterone metabolic effects on carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, the current data about the role of the imbalance of proinflammatory cytokines - interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα), C-reactive protein (CRP) in the pathogenesis of metabolic disorders and late-onset hypogonadism in men considered in this review
Correlation functions near Modulated and Rough Surfaces
In a system with long-ranged correlations, the behavior of correlation
functions is sensitive to the presence of a boundary. We show that surface
deformations strongly modify this behavior as compared to a flat surface. The
modified near surface correlations can be measured by scattering probes. To
determine these correlations, we develop a perturbative calculation in the
deformations in height from a flat surface. Detailed results are given for a
regularly patterned surface, as well as for a self-affinely rough surface with
roughness exponent . By combining this perturbative calculation in
height deformations with the field-theoretic renormalization group approach, we
also estimate the values of critical exponents governing the behavior of the
decay of correlation functions near a self-affinely rough surface. We find that
for the interacting theory, a large enough can lead to novel surface
critical behavior. We also provide scaling relations between roughness induced
critical exponents for thermodynamic surface quantities.Comment: 31 pages, 2 figure
Vimentin is a novel AKT1 target mediating motility and invasion.
The PI3K/AKT signaling pathway is aberrant in a wide variety of cancers. Downstream effectors of AKT are involved in survival, growth and metabolic-related pathways. In contrast, contradictory data relating to AKT effects on cell motility and invasion, crucial prometastatic processes, have been reported pointing to a potential cell type and isoform type-specific AKT-driven function. By implication, study of AKT signaling should optimally be conducted in an appropriate intracellular environment. Prognosis in soft-tissue sarcoma (STS), the aggressive malignancies of mesenchymal origin, is poor, reflecting our modest ability to control metastasis, an effort hampered by lack of insight into molecular mechanisms driving STS progression and dissemination. We examined the impact of the cancer progression-relevant AKT pathway on the mesenchymal tumor cell internal milieu. We demonstrate that AKT1 activation induces STS cell motility and invasiveness at least partially through a novel interaction with the intermediate filament vimentin (Vim). The binding of AKT (tail region) to Vim (head region) results in Vim Ser39 phosphorylation enhancing the ability of Vim to induce motility and invasion while protecting Vim from caspase-induced proteolysis. Moreover, vimentin phosphorylation was shown to enhance tumor and metastasis growth in vivo. Insights into this mesenchymal-related molecular mechanism may facilitate the development of critically lacking therapeutic options for these devastating malignancies
Vortex lattice disorder in YBCO probed using Beta-NMR
Beta-NMR has been used to study vortex lattice disorder near the surface of
the high-Tc superconductor YBCO. The magnetic field distribution from the
vortex lattice was detected by implanting a low energy beam of highly polarized
8Li into a thin overlayer of silver on optimally doped, twinned and detwinned
YBCO samples. The resonance in Ag broadens significantly below the transition
temperature Tc as expected from the emerging field lines of the vortex lattice
in YBCO. However, the lineshape is more symmetric and the dependence on the
applied magnetic field is much weaker than expected from an ideal vortex
lattice, indicating that the vortex density varies across the face of the
sample, likely due to pinning at twin boundaries. At low temperatures the
broadening from such disorder does not scale with the superfluid density.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure
Condensed Matter Theory of Dipolar Quantum Gases
Recent experimental breakthroughs in trapping, cooling and controlling
ultracold gases of polar molecules, magnetic and Rydberg atoms have paved the
way toward the investigation of highly tunable quantum systems, where
anisotropic, long-range dipolar interactions play a prominent role at the
many-body level. In this article we review recent theoretical studies
concerning the physics of such systems. Starting from a general discussion on
interaction design techniques and microscopic Hamiltonians, we provide a
summary of recent work focused on many-body properties of dipolar systems,
including: weakly interacting Bose gases, weakly interacting Fermi gases,
multilayer systems, strongly interacting dipolar gases and dipolar gases in 1D
and quasi-1D geometries. Within each of these topics, purely dipolar effects
and connections with experimental realizations are emphasized.Comment: Review article; submitted 09/06/2011. 158 pages, 52 figures. This
document is the unedited author's version of a Submitted Work that was
subsequently accepted for publication in Chemical Reviews, copyright American
Chemical Society after peer review. To access the final edited and published
work, a link will be provided soo
Muon-Spin Rotation Spectra in the Mixed Phase of High-T_c Superconductors : Thermal Fluctuations and Disorder Effects
We study muon-spin rotation (muSR) spectra in the mixed phase of highly
anisotropic layered superconductors, specifically Bi_2+xSr_2-xCaCu_2O_8+delta
(BSCCO), by modeling the fluid and solid phases of pancake vortices using
liquid-state and density functional methods. The role of thermal fluctuations
in causing motional narrowing of muSR lineshapes is quantified in terms of a
first-principles theory of the flux-lattice melting transition. The effects of
random point pinning are investigated using a replica treatment of liquid state
correlations and a replicated density functional theory. Our results indicate
that motional narrowing in the pure system, although substantial, cannot
account for the remarkably small linewidths obtained experimentally at
relatively high fields and low temperatures. We find that satisfactory
agreement with the muSR data for BSCCO in this regime can be obtained through
the ansatz that this ``phase'' is characterized by frozen short-range
positional correlations reflecting the structure of the liquid just above the
melting transition. This proposal is consistent with recent suggestions of a
``pinned liquid'' or ``glassy'' state of pancake vortices in the presence of
pinning disorder. Our results for the high-temperature liquid phase indicate
that measurable linewidths may be obtained in this phase as a consequence of
density inhomogeneities induced by the pinning disorder. The results presented
here comprise a unified, first-principles theoretical treatment of muSR spectra
in highly anisotropic layered superconductors in terms of a controlled set of
approximations.Comment: 50 pages Latex file, including 10 postscript figure
Activation of TRPC6 channels is essential for lung ischaemia–reperfusion induced oedema in mice
Lung ischaemia–reperfusion-induced oedema (LIRE) is a life-threatening condition that causes pulmonary oedema induced by endothelial dysfunction. Here we show that lungs from mice lacking nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase (Nox2y/−) or the classical transient receptor potential channel 6 (TRPC6−/−) are protected from LIR-induced oedema (LIRE). Generation of chimeric mice by bone marrow cell transplantation and endothelial-specific Nox2 deletion showed that endothelial Nox2, but not leukocytic Nox2 or TRPC6, are responsible for LIRE. Lung endothelial cells from Nox2- or TRPC6-deficient mice showed attenuated ischaemia-induced Ca2+ influx, cellular shape changes and impaired barrier function. Production of reactive oxygen species was completely abolished in Nox2y/− cells. A novel mechanistic model comprising endothelial Nox2-derived production of superoxide, activation of phospholipase C-γ, inhibition of diacylglycerol (DAG) kinase, DAG-mediated activation of TRPC6 and ensuing LIRE is supported by pharmacological and molecular evidence. This mechanism highlights novel pharmacological targets for the treatment of LIRE
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