Superconductivity below 20 K in heavily electron-doped surface layer of FeSe bulk crystal

A superconducting transition temperature (T-c) as high as 100 K was recently discovered in one monolayer FeSe grown on SrTiO3. The discovery ignited efforts to identify the mechanism for the markedly enhanced T-c from its bulk value of 8 K. There are two main views about the origin of the T-c enhancement: interfacial effects and/or excess electrons with strong electron correlation. Here, we report the observation of superconductivity below 20 K in surface electron-doped bulk FeSe. The doped surface layer possesses all the key spectroscopic aspects of the monolayer FeSe on SrTiO3. Without interfacial effects, the surface layer state has a moderate T-c of 20 K with a smaller gap opening of 4.2 meV. Our results show that excess electrons with strong correlation cannot induce the maximum T-c, which in turn reveals the need for interfacial effects to achieve the highest T-c in one monolayer FeSe on SrTiO3.1116Ysciescopu

Impact of product name and seasonal context on the sensory evaluation of a seasonally themed beverage

Information can have a powerful impact on liking, however, little is known about the effect of product name on consumer perception. Moreover, the influence of season, as a sensory relevant context, has never been investigated. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of naming products with season evoking names and to compare responses between seasons. One hundred and fifty three consumers took part in either a summer (n=71) or winter (n=82) tasting of a drink named 'Winter Spice' or 'Refreshing Summer Berries'. Within each campaign, a cross-over design was applied and participants rated the drink for liking and sensory characteristics (check-all-that-apply). Neither the name nor the season had an impact on liking; however, both factors affected attribute description. The drink was described significantly more often as "spice", "Christmassy" and "mulled wine" when named 'Winter Spice', it was described more often as "blackcurrant" and "cherry" during the winter months. Practical applications: It appears possible to use product names to deliver different sensorial experiences without impacting negatively on liking providing that the names reflect adequately the product intrinsic qualities. Seasons appear to be a sensory relevant context, developing a greater understanding of the underpinning mechanisms is critical product development and marketing

Phenotype MicroArray Profiling of Zymomonas mobilis ZM4

In this study, we developed a Phenotype MicroArray™ (PM) protocol to profile cellular phenotypes in Zymomonas mobilis, which included a standard set of nearly 2,000 assays for carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur source utilization, nutrient stimulation, pH and osmotic stresses, and chemical sensitivities with 240 inhibitory chemicals. We observed two positive assays for C-source utilization (fructose and glucose) using the PM screen, which uses redox chemistry and cell respiration as a universal reporter to profile growth phenotypes in a high-throughput 96-well plate-based format. For nitrogen metabolism, the bacterium showed a positive test results for ammonia, aspartate, asparagine, glutamate, glutamine, and peptides. Z. mobilis appeared to use a diverse array of P-sources with two exceptions being pyrophosphate and tripolyphosphate. The assays suggested that Z. mobilis uses both inorganic and organic compounds as S-sources. No stimulation by nutrients was detected; however, there was evidence of partial inhibition by purines and pyrimidines, NAD, and deferoxamine. Z. mobilis was relatively resistant to acid pH, tolerating a pH down to about 4.0. It also tolerated phosphate, sulfate, and nitrate, but was rather sensitive to chloride and nitrite. Z. mobilis showed resistance to a large number of diverse chemicals that inhibit most bacteria. The information from PM analysis provides an overview of Z. mobilis physiology and a foundation for future comparisons of other wild-type and mutant Z. mobilis strains

Propagation of the Madden–Julian Oscillation and scale interaction with the diurnal cycle in a high-resolution GCM

The Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO) is the chief source of tropical intra-seasonal variability, but is simulated poorly by most state-of-the-art GCMs. Common errors include a lack of eastward propagation at the correct frequency and zonal extent, and too small a ratio of eastward- to westward-propagating variability. Here it is shown that HiGEM, a high-resolution GCM, simulates a very realistic MJO with approximately the correct spatial and temporal scale. Many MJO studies in GCMs are limited to diagnostics which average over a latitude band around the equator, allowing an analysis of the MJO’s structure in time and longitude only. In this study a wider range of diagnostics is applied. It is argued that such an approach is necessary for a comprehensive analysis of a model’s MJO. The standard analysis of Wheeler and Hendon (Mon Wea Rev 132(8):1917–1932, 2004; WH04) is applied to produce composites, which show a realistic spatial structure in the MJO envelopes but for the timing of the peak precipitation in the inter-tropical convergence zone, which bifurcates the MJO signal. Further diagnostics are developed to analyse the MJO’s episodic nature and the “MJO inertia” (the tendency to remain in the same WH04 phase from one day to the next). HiGEM favours phases 2, 3, 6 and 7; has too much MJO inertia; and dies out too frequently in phase 3. Recent research has shown that a key feature of the MJO is its interaction with the diurnal cycle over the Maritime Continent. This interaction is present in HiGEM but is unrealistically weak

Effect of the addition of different waste carbonaceous materials on coal gasification in CO2 atmosphere

YesIn order to evaluate the feasibility of using CO2 as a gasifying agent in the conversion of carbonaceous materials to syngas, gasification characteristics of coal, a suite of waste carbonaceous materials, and their blends were studied by using a thermogravimetric analyser (TGA). The results showed that CO2 gasification of polystyrene completed at 470 °C, which was lower than those of other carbonaceous materials. This behaviour was attributed to the high volatile content coupled with its unique thermal degradation properties. It was found that the initial decomposition temperature of blends decreased with the increasing amount of waste carbonaceous materials in the blends. In this study, results demonstrated that CO2 co-gasification process was enhanced as a direct consequence of interactions between coal and carbonaceous materials in the blends. The intensity and temperature of occurrence of these interactions were influenced by the chemical properties and composition of the carbonaceous materials in the blends. The strongest interactions were observed in coal/polystyrene blend at the devolatilisation stage as indicated by the highest value of Root Mean Square Interaction Index (RMSII), which was due to the highly reactive nature of polystyrene. On the other hand, coal/oat straw blend showed the highest interactions at char gasification stage. The catalytic effect of alkali metals and other minerals in oat straw, such as CaO, K2O, and Fe2O3, contributed to these strong interactions. The overall CO2 gasification of coal was enhanced via the addition of polystyrene and oat straw

Correlation between Discharged Worms and Fecal Egg Counts in Human Clonorchiasis

Clonorchiasis is a major neglected disease in East Asia. Worm data in infected humans are very limited, and only egg counts roughly estimate infection burden of the worms. In endemic areas, we recruited infected cases and tried to collect the adult worms from them. They were treated with 3 doses of praziquantel, and purged next day under fasting. Adult worms of C. sinensis were recovered from their diarrheal feces. The worms discharged from humans after treatment are minimum confirmed numbers. The worm recovery rate noticeably increased in subjects with higher egg counts. The number of collected worms was well-correlated with the egg counts. Worm collection by praziquantel medication and purgation is a safe non-invasive method to get worm information from human. The present study confirms that at least 110 worms are infected in a human body with egg counts per gram of feces around 3,000, and egg productivity of a worm per day is around 4,000

Two-pion Bose-Einstein correlations in central Pb-Pb collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76 TeV

The first measurement of two-pion Bose-Einstein correlations in central Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76$ TeV at the Large Hadron Collider is presented. We observe a growing trend with energy now not only for the longitudinal and the outward but also for the sideward pion source radius. The pion homogeneity volume and the decoupling time are significantly larger than those measured at RHIC.Comment: 17 pages, 5 captioned figures, 1 table, authors from page 12, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/388

Identification of Novel Avian Influenza Virus Derived CD8+ T-Cell Epitopes

Avian influenza virus (AIV) infection is a continuing threat to both humans and poultry. Influenza virus specific CD8+ T cells are associated with protection against homologous and heterologous influenza strains. In contrast to what has been described for humans and mice, knowledge on epitope-specific CD8+ T cells in chickens is limited. Therefore, we set out to identify AIV-specific CD8+ T-cell epitopes. Epitope predictions based on anchor residues resulted in 33 candidate epitopes. MHC I inbred chickens were infected with a low pathogenic AIV strain and sacrificed at 5, 7, 10 and 14 days post infection (dpi). Lymphocytes isolated from lung, spleen and blood were stimulated ex vivo with AIV-specific pooled or individual peptides and the production of IFNγ was determined by ELIspot. This resulted in the identification of 12 MHC B12-restricted, 3 B4-restricted and 1 B19-restricted AIV- specific CD8+ T-cell epitopes. In conclusion, we have identified novel AIV-derived CD8+ T-cell epitopes for several inbred chicken strains. This knowledge can be used to study the role of CD8+ T cells against AIV infection in a natural host for influenza, and may be important for vaccine development

Interaction of TGFβ and BMP Signaling Pathways during Chondrogenesis

TGFβ and BMP signaling pathways exhibit antagonistic activities during the development of many tissues. Although the crosstalk between BMP and TGFβ signaling pathways is well established in bone development, the relationship between these two pathways is less well defined during cartilage development and postnatal homeostasis. We generated hypomorphic mouse models of cartilage-specific loss of BMP and TGFβ signaling to assess the interaction of these pathways in postnatal growth plate homeostasis. We further used the chondrogenic ATDC5 cell line to test effects of BMP and TGFβ signaling on each other's downstream targets. We found that conditional deletion of Smad1 in chondrocytes resulted in a shortening of the growth plate. The addition of Smad5 haploinsufficiency led to a more severe phenotype with shorter prehypertrophic and hypertrophic zones and decreased chondrocyte proliferation. The opposite growth plate phenotype was observed in a transgenic mouse model of decreased chondrocytic TGFβ signaling that was generated by expressing a dominant negative form of the TGFβ receptor I (ΔTβRI) in cartilage. Histological analysis demonstrated elongated growth plates with enhanced Ihh expression, as well as an increased proliferation rate with altered production of extracellular matrix components. In contrast, in chondrogenic ATDC5 cells, TGFβ was able to enhance BMP signaling, while BMP2 significantly reduces levels of TGF signaling. In summary, our data demonstrate that during endochondral ossification, BMP and TGFβ signaling can have antagonistic effects on chondrocyte proliferation and differentiation in vivo. We also found evidence of direct interaction between the two signaling pathways in a cell model of chondrogenesis in vitro