66 research outputs found
Photon Diffusion in Microscale Solids
This paper presents a theoretical and experimental investigation of photon
diffusion in highly absorbing microscale graphite. An Nd:YAG continuous wave
(CW) laser is used to heat the graphite samples with thicknesses of 40 microns
and 100 microns. Optical intensities of 10 kW/cm^2 and 20 kW/cm^2 are used in
laser heating. The graphite samples are heated to temperatures of thousands of
kelvins within milliseconds, which are recorded by a 2-color, high-speed
pyrometer. To compare the observed temperatures, the differential equation of
heat conduction is solved across the samples with proper initial and boundary
conditions. In addition to lattice vibrations, photon diffusion is incorporated
into the analytical model of thermal conductivity for solving the heat
equation. The numerical simulations showed close matching between experiment
and theory only when including the photon diffusion equations and existing
material properties data found in the previously published works with no
fitting constants. The results indicate that the commonly-overlooked mechanism
of photon diffusion dominates the heat transfer of many microscale structures
near their evaporation temperatures. In addition, the treatment explains the
discrepancies between thermal conductivity measurements and theory that were
previously described in the scientific literature.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, (N.B. there is a typo and minor correction in
Table 1 and References in the online version of the journal, corrected and
highlighted in this PDF
Self Interacting Dark Matter in the Solar System
Weakly coupled, almost massless, spin 0 particles have been predicted by many
extensions of the standard model of particle physics. Recently, the PVLAS group
observed a rotation of polarization of electromagnetic waves in vacuum in the
presence of transverse magnetic field. This phenomenon is best explained by the
existence of a weakly coupled light pseudoscalar particle. However, the
coupling required by this experiment is much larger than the conventional
astrophysical limits. Here we consider a hypothetical self-interacting
pseudoscalar particle which couples weakly with visible matter.
Assuming that these pseudoscalars pervade the galaxy, we show that the solar
limits on the pseudoscalar-photon coupling can be evaded.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figure
Photon & Axion Oscillation In a Magnetized Medium: A Covariant Treatment
Pseudoscalar particles, with almost zero mass and very weak coupling to the
visible matter, arise in many extensions of the standard model of particle
physics. Their mixing with photons in the presence of an external magnetic
field leads to many interesting astrophysical and cosmological consequences.
This mixing depends on the medium properties, the momentum of the photon and
the background magnetic field. Here we give a general treatment of
pseudoscalar-photon oscillations in a background magnetic field, taking the
Faraday term into account. We give predictions valid in all regimes, under the
assumption that the frequency of the wave is much higher than the plasma
frequency of the medium. At sufficiently high frequencies, the Faraday effect
is negligible and we reproduce the standard pseudoscalar-photon mixing
phenomenon. However at low frequencies, where Faraday effect is important, the
mixing formulae are considerably modified. We explicitly compute the
contribution due to the longitudinal mode of the photon and show that it is
negligible.Comment: 16 pages, no figure
Malabaricone-A Induces A Redox Imbalance That Mediates Apoptosis in U937 Cell Line
BACKGROUND: The 'two-faced' character of reactive oxygen species (ROS) plays an important role in cancer biology by acting both as secondary messengers in intracellular signaling cascades and sustaining the oncogenic phenotype of cancer cells, while on the other hand, it triggers an oxidative assault that causes a redox imbalance translating into an apoptotic cell death. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using a tetrazolium [{3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl}-2H-tetrazolium] based cell viability assay, we evaluated the cytotoxicity of a plant derived diarylnonanoid, malabaricone-A on leukemic cell lines U937 and MOLT-3. This cytotoxicity hinged on its ability to cause a redox imbalance via its ability to increase ROS, measured by flow cytometry using 5-(and-6)-chloromethyl-2',7'-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate and by decreasing glutathione peroxidase activity. This redox imbalance mediated apoptosis was evident by an increase in cytosolic [Ca(2+)], externalization of phosphatidyl serine as also depolarization of the mitochondrial membrane potential as measured by flow cytometry. There was concomitant peroxidation of cardiolipin, release of free cytochrome c to cytosol along with activation of caspases 9, 8 and 3. This led to cleavage of the DNA repair enzyme, poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase that caused DNA damage as proved by labeling with 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI); furthermore, terminal deoxy ribonucleotide transferase catalysed incorporation of deoxy uridine triphosphate confirmed DNA nicking and was accompanied by arrest of cell cycle progression. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, compounds like MAL-A having pro-oxidant activity mediate their cytotoxicity in leukemic cells via induction of oxidative stress triggering a caspase dependent apoptosis
Development of SSR markers and construction of a linkage map in jute
Jute is an important natural fibre crop, which is only second to cotton in its importance at the global level. It is mostly grown in Indian subcontinent and has been recently used for the development of genomics resources. We recently initiated a programme to develop simple sequence repeat markers and reported a set of 2469 SSR that were developed using four SSR-enriched libraries (Mir et al. 2009). In this communication, we report an additional set of 607 novel SSR in 393 SSR containing sequences. However, primers could be designed for only 417 potentially useful SSR. Polymorphism survey was carried out for 374 primer pairs using two parental genotypes (JRO 524 and PPO4) of a mapping population developed for fibre fineness; only 66 SSR were polymorphic. Owing to a low level of polymorphism between the parental genotypes and a high degree of segregation distortion in recombinant inbred lines, genotypic data of only 53 polymorphic SSR on the mapping population consisting of 120 RIL could be used for the construction of a linkage map; 36 SSR loci were mapped on six linkage groups that covered a total genetic distance of 784.3 cM. Hopefully, this map will be enriched with more SSR loci in future and will prove useful for identification of quantitative trait loci/genes for molecular breeding involving improvement of fibre fineness and other related traits in jute
Absorption of Electro-magnetic Waves in a Magnetized Medium
In continuation to our earlier work, in which the structure of the vacuum
polarisation tensor in a medium was analysed in presence of a background
electro-magnetic field, we discuss the absorptive part of the vacuum
polarization tensor. Using the real time formalism of finite temperature field
theory we calculate the absorptive part of 1-loop vacuum polarisation tensor in
the weak field limit (). Estimates of the absorption probability are
also made for different physical conditions of the background medium.Comment: 9 Pages. One figure. LaTe
Long-term adoption of bed planted conservation agriculture based maize/cotton-wheat system enhances soil organic carbon stabilization within aggregates in the indo-gangetic plains
Sustainability of contemporary crop establishment and management practices is questioned due to soil degradation, higher carbon emission and declining soil productivity. Hence, this study was conducted to address the impacts of conservation agriculture (CA) practices like permanent broad beds (PBB), permanent narrow beds (PNB) and zero tilled flat beds (ZT) with residue retention on soil organic carbon (SOC) protection within aggregates in the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP). Compared to conventionally tilled (CT) plots, the total SOC content was ∼27%–33% higher in the CA plots on equivalent mass basis. The soil physical properties, such as soil aggregation and mean weight diameter were considerably improved under the CA practices. The macroaggregates were ∼41, 37% and 27% higher in the PBB with residue (PBB + R), PNB with residue (PNB + R) and ZT with residue (ZT + R) plots (CA plots), respectively, than the CT plots in the surface soil (0–15 cm). The plots under PBB + R had ∼31% higher microaggregates within macroaggregates than the CT plots (24.4 g 100 g−1) soil. An increase in SOC content by ∼72, 55% and 69% was observed in the PBB + R, PNB + R and ZT + R plots over the CT plots in microaggregates within macroaggregates (3.02 Mg ha−1). However, plots under PBB + R, PNB + R and ZT + R had only ∼11, 3% and 23% more SOC within silt + clay fraction, respectively, than CT plots (5.85 Mg ha−1). Thus, SOC stabilization within microaggregates inside macroaggregates was the major mechanism, and not the chemical stabilization within silt + clay, of C sequestration under CA. As aggregate-associated carbon is an ecosystem property that strongly affects organic carbon stabilization, water holding capacity and resistance to erosion, growing maize/cotton–wheat system under PBB + R practice is a viable option for carbon sequestration in the IGP and similar agro-ecologies
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