nDsbD: a redox interaction hub in the Escherichia coli periplasm

Abstract.: DsbD is a redox-active protein of the inner Escherichia coli membrane possessing an N-terminal (nDsbD) and a C-terminal (cDsbD) periplasmic domain. nDsbD interacts with four different redox proteins involved in the periplasmic disulfide isomerization and in the cytochrome c maturation systems. We review here the studies that led to the structural characterization of all soluble DsbD domains involved and, most importantly, of trapped disulfide intermediate complexes of nDsbD with three of its four redox partners. These results revealed the structural features enabling nDsbD, a ‘redox hub' with an immunoglobulin-like fold, to interact efficiently with its different thioredoxin-like partner

One loop matching coefficients for a variant overlap action--and some of its simpler relatives

I present one-loop perturbative calculations of matching coefficients between matrix elements in continuum regulated QCD and lattice QCD with overlap fermions, with emphasis a recently-proposed variant discretization of the overlap. These fermions have extended (``fat link'') gauge connections. The scale for evaluation of the running coupling constant (in the context of the Lepage-Mackenzie fixing scheme) is also given. A variety of results (for additive mass renormalization, local currents, and some non-penguin four-fermion operators) for naive, Wilson, clover, and overlap actions are shown.Comment: 17 pages, Revtex, 11 postscript figures. COLO-HEP-48

Nonperturbative improvement and tree-level correction of the quark propagator

We extend an earlier study of the Landau gauge quark propagator in quenched QCD where we used two forms of the O(a)-improved propagator with the Sheikholeslami-Wohlert quark action. In the present study we use the nonperturbative value for the clover coefficient c_sw and mean-field improvement coefficients in our improved quark propagators. We compare this to our earlier results which used the mean-field c_sw and tree-level improvement coefficients for the propagator. We also compare three different implementations of tree-level correction: additive, multiplicative, and hybrid. We show that the hybrid approach is the most robust and reliable and can successfully deal even with strong ultraviolet behavior and zero-crossing of the lattice tree-level expression. We find good agreement between our improved quark propagators when using the appropriate nonperturbative improvement coefficients and hybrid tree-level correction. We also present a simple extrapolation of the quark mass function to the chiral limit.Comment: 12 pages, 18 figures, RevTeX4. Some clarifications and corrections. Final version, to appear in Phys.Rev.

Factors influencing the first thousand days of life

The first 1,000 days is a vulnerable phase in which parents, institutions and health professionals should create early interventions for the proper development and promotion of good health

The Self-Energy of Massive Lattice Fermions

We address the perturbative renormalization of massive lattice fermions. We derive expressions-valid to all orders in perturbation theory and for all values of the bare fermion mass-for the rest mass, the kinetic mass, and the wave-function renormalization factor. We obtain the fermion's self energy at the one-loop level with a mass-dependent, $O(a)$ improved action. Numerical results for two interesting special cases, the Wilson and Sheikholeslami-Wohlert actions, are given. The mass dependence of these results smoothly connects the massless and infinite-mass limits, as expected. Combined with Monte Carlo calculations our results can be employed to determine the quark masses in common renormalization schemes.Comment: 33 pages; 11 figures (included

Data security issues in cloud scenarios

The amount of data created, stored, and processed has enormously increased in the last years. Today, millions of devices are connected to the Internet and generate a huge amount of (personal) data that need to be stored and processed using scalable, efficient, and reliable computing infrastructures. Cloud computing technology can be used to respond to these needs. Although cloud computing brings many benefits to users and companies, security concerns about the cloud still represent the major impediment for its wide adoption. We briefly survey the main challenges related to the storage and processing of data in the cloud. In particular, we focus on the problem of protecting data in storage, supporting fine-grained access, selectively sharing data, protecting query privacy, and verifying the integrity of computations

Flotation Sludges from Precious Metal Recovery Processes: From Waste to Secondary Raw Material in Ceramics

In this study, we investigated flotation muds (FM) deriving from the recovery processes of precious metals contained in e-waste (wastes from electronics) and exhausted catalysts. FM consist of an amorphous phase, corresponding to a Ca- and Al-rich silicatic glass, potentially usable as a secondary raw material (SRM) to obtain a final ceramic product (CFM). A high FM amount was used in our ceramic tests, and suitably mixed with variable percentages of other phases. Chemical analysis, phase composition, microstructure, pore pattern and technological properties of the new ceramic products were determined using different analytical techniques, including bulk XRF, XRD, SEM-EDS and µCT. The CFM product predominantly consists of nepheline, pyroxene and wollastonite as the main crystalline phases, with a minor amorphous phase occurring as a compact interstitial matrix. The ceramic product has a porous interconnected microstructure. Nevertheless, this microstructure does not negatively affect the mechanical properties of the ceramic product, as testified by the geo-mechanical tests, revealing good properties in terms of bending and uniaxial strength. These preliminary results point out that FM recycling is feasible, at least at the laboratory scale

Vibrational spectrum of solid picene (C_22H_14)

Recently, Mitsuhashi et al., have observed superconductivity with transition temperature up to 18 K in potassium doped picene (C22H14), a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon compound [Nature 464 (2010) 76]. Theoretical analysis indicate the importance of electron-phonon coupling in the superconducting mechanisms of these systems, with different emphasis on inter- and intra-molecular vibrations, depending on the approximations used. Here we present a combined experimental and ab-initio study of the Raman and infrared spectrum of undoped solid picene, which allows us to unanbiguously assign the vibrational modes. This combined study enables the identification of the modes which couple strongly to electrons and hence can play an important role in the superconducting properties of the doped samples

Light Quark Masses from Lattice Quark Propagators at Large Momenta

We compute non-perturbatively the average up-down and strange quark masses from the large momentum (short-distance) behaviour of the quark propagator in the Landau gauge. This method, which has never been applied so far, does not require the explicit calculation of the quark mass renormalization constant. Calculations were performed in the quenched approximation, by using O(a)-improved Wilson fermions. The main results of this study are ml^RI(2GeV)=5.8(6)MeV and ms^RI(2GeV)=136(11)MeV. Using the relations between different schemes, obtained from the available four-loop anomalous dimensions, we also find ml^RGI=7.6(8)MeV and ms^RGI=177(14)MeV, and the MSbar-masses, ml^MS(2GeV)=4.8(5)MeV and ms^MS(2GeV)=111(9)MeV.Comment: 19 pages, 2 references added, version to appear in Phys. Rev.