9,640 research outputs found
Association between genetic polymorphisms and carotid atherosclerosis in patients treated with radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma
published_or_final_versio
Predictors of the Extent of Carotid Atherosclerosis in Patients Treated with Radiotherapy for Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma
published_or_final_versio
A Renormalizable Supersymmetric SU(5) Model
In the Supersymmetric SU(5) Model of Unification with the Missing Partner
Mechanism, we present a renormalizable model using the Georgi-Jarlsog mechanism
to describe the fermion masses and mixing. At the meantime the proton decay
rates are also suppressed to satisfy the experimental data
Strained graphene structures: from valleytronics to pressure sensing
Due to its strong bonds graphene can stretch up to 25% of its original size
without breaking. Furthermore, mechanical deformations lead to the generation
of pseudo-magnetic fields (PMF) that can exceed 300 T. The generated PMF has
opposite direction for electrons originating from different valleys. We show
that valley-polarized currents can be generated by local straining of
multi-terminal graphene devices. The pseudo-magnetic field created by a
Gaussian-like deformation allows electrons from only one valley to transmit and
a current of electrons from a single valley is generated at the opposite side
of the locally strained region. Furthermore, applying a pressure difference
between the two sides of a graphene membrane causes it to bend/bulge resulting
in a resistance change. We find that the resistance changes linearly with
pressure for bubbles of small radius while the response becomes non-linear for
bubbles that stretch almost to the edges of the sample. This is explained as
due to the strong interference of propagating electronic modes inside the
bubble. Our calculations show that high gauge factors can be obtained in this
way which makes graphene a good candidate for pressure sensing.Comment: to appear in proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Worksho
Enhanced photocatalytic and antibacterial ability of Cu-doped anatase TiO2 thin films: theory and experiment.
Multifunctional thin films which can display both photocatalytic and antibacterial activity are of great interest industrially. Here, for the first time, we have used aerosol assisted chemical vapour deposition (AACVD) to deposit highly photoactive thin films of Cu-doped anatase TiO2 on glass substrates. The films displayed much enhanced photocatalytic activity relative to pure anatase, and showed excellent antibacterial (vs S.Aureus and E.Coli) ability. Using a combination of transient absorption spectroscopy (TAS), photoluminescence (PL) measurements and hybrid density functional theory calculations, we have gained nanoscopic insights into the improved properties of the Cu-doped TiO2 films. Our analysis has highlighted that the interactions between substitutional and interstitial Cu in the anatase lattice can explain the extended exciton lifetimes observed in the doped samples, and the enhanced UV/visible light photoactivities observed
Ergodic properties of quasi-Markovian generalized Langevin equations with configuration dependent noise and non-conservative force
We discuss the ergodic properties of quasi-Markovian stochastic differential
equations, providing general conditions that ensure existence and uniqueness of
a smooth invariant distribution and exponential convergence of the evolution
operator in suitably weighted spaces, which implies the validity
of central limit theorem for the respective solution processes. The main new
result is an ergodicity condition for the generalized Langevin equation with
configuration-dependent noise and (non-)conservative force
The "Ram Effect": A "Non-Classical" Mechanism for Inducing LH Surges in Sheep
During spring sheep do not normally ovulate but exposure to a ram can induce ovulation. In some ewes an LH surge is induced immediately after exposure to a ram thus raising questions about the control of this precocious LH surge. Our first aim was to determine the plasma concentrations of oestradiol (E2) E2 in anoestrous ewes before and after the "ram effect" in ewes that had a "precocious" LH surge (starting within 6 hours), a "normal" surge (between 6 and 28h) and "late» surge (not detected by 56h). In another experiment we tested if a small increase in circulating E2 could induce an LH surge in anoestrus ewes. The concentration of E2 significantly was not different at the time of ram introduction among ewes with the three types of LH surge. "Precocious" LH surges were not preceded by a large increase in E2 unlike "normal" surges and small elevations of circulating E2 alone were unable to induce LH surges. These results show that the "precocious" LH surge was not the result of E2 positive feedback. Our second aim was to test if noradrenaline (NA) is involved in the LH response to the "ram effect". Using double labelling for Fos and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) we showed that exposure of anoestrous ewes to a ram induced a higher density of cells positive for both in the A1 nucleus and the Locus Coeruleus complex compared to unstimulated controls. Finally, the administration by retrodialysis into the preoptic area, of NA increased the proportion of ewes with an LH response to ram odor whereas treatment with the α1 antagonist Prazosin decreased the LH pulse frequency and amplitude induced by a sexually active ram. Collectively these results suggest that in anoestrous ewes NA is involved in ram-induced LH secretion as observed in other induced ovulators
Export of functional Streptomyces coelicolor alditol oxidase to the periplasm or cell surface of Escherichia coli and its application in whole-cell biocatalysis
Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) alditol oxidase (AldO) is a soluble monomeric flavoprotein in which the flavin cofactor is covalently linked to the polypeptide chain. AldO displays high reactivity towards different polyols such as xylitol and sorbitol. These characteristics make AldO industrially relevant, but full biotechnological exploitation of this enzyme is at present restricted by laborious and costly purification steps. To eliminate the need for enzyme purification, this study describes a whole-cell AldO biocatalyst system. To this end, we have directed AldO to the periplasm or cell surface of Escherichia coli. For periplasmic export, AldO was fused to endogenous E. coli signal sequences known to direct their passenger proteins into the SecB, signal recognition particle (SRP), or Twin-arginine translocation (Tat) pathway. In addition, AldO was fused to an ice nucleation protein (INP)-based anchoring motif for surface display. The results show that Tat-exported AldO and INP-surface-displayed AldO are active. The Tat-based system was successfully employed in converting xylitol by whole cells, whereas the use of the INP-based system was most likely restricted by lipopolysaccharide LPS in wild-type cells. It is anticipated that these whole-cell systems will be a valuable tool for further biological and industrial exploitation of AldO and other cofactor-containing enzymes.
Hybrid simulation of a structure to tsunami loading
A new hybrid simulation technique has been developed to assess the behavior of a structure under hydrodynamic loading. It integrates the computational fluid dynamics and structural hybrid simulation and couples the fluid loading and structure response at each simulation step. The conventional displacement-based and recently developed force-based hybrid simulation approaches are adopted in the structural analysis. The concept, procedure, and required components of the proposed hybrid simulation are introduced in this paper. The proposed hybrid simulation has been numerically and physically tested in case of a coastal building impacted by a tsunami wave. It is demonstrated that the force error in the displacement-based approach is significantly larger than that in the force-based approach. The force-based approach allows for a more realistic and reliable structural assessment under tsunami loading
On Holographic description of the Kerr-Newman-AdS-dS black holes
In this paper, we study the holographic description of the generic
four-dimensional non-extremal Kerr-Newman-AdS-dS black holes. We find that if
focusing on the near-horizon region, for the massless scalar scattering in the
low-frequency limit, there exists hidden conformal symmetry on the solution
space. Similar to the Kerr case, this suggests that the Kerr-Newman-AdS-dS
black hole is dual to a two-dimensional CFT with central charges
and temperatures
. The macroscopic Bekenstein-Hawking
entropy could be recovered from the microscopic counting in dual CFT via the
Cardy formula. Using the Minkowski prescription, we compute the real-time
correlators of the scalar, photon and graviton in near horizon geometry of near
extremal Kerr-AdS-dS black hole. In all these cases, the retarded Green's
function and the corresponding absorption cross section are in perfect match
with CFT prediction. We further discuss the low-frequency scattering of a
charged scalar by a Kerr-Newman-AdS-dS black hole and find the dual CFT
description.Comment: 22 pages; minor corrections, conlusion unchanged, references
added;published versio
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