1,731 research outputs found
Interplay between shear loading and structural aging in a physical gel
We show that the aging of the mechanical relaxation of a gelatin gel exhibits
the same scaling phenomenology as polymer and colloidal glasses. Besides,
gelatin is known to exhibit logarithmic structural aging (stiffening). We find
that stress accelerates this process. However, this effect is definitely
irreducible to a mere age shift with respect to natural aging. We suggest that
it is interpretable in terms of elastically-aided elementary (coilhelix)
local events whose dynamics gradually slows down as aging increases geometric
frustration
Computational Methods for the Integrative Analysis of Genomics and Pharmacological Data
Since the pioneering NCI-60 panel of the late'80's, several major screenings of genetic profiling and drug testing in cancer cell lines have been conducted to investigate how genetic backgrounds and transcriptional patterns shape cancer's response to therapy and to identify disease-specific genes associated with drug response. Historically, pharmacogenomics screenings have been largely heterogeneous in terms of investigated cell lines, assay technologies, number of compounds, type and quality of genomic data, and methods for their computational analysis. The analysis of this enormous and heterogeneous amount of data required the development of computational methods for the integration of genomic profiles with drug responses across multiple screenings. Here, we will review the computational tools that have been developed to integrate cancer cell lines' genomic profiles and sensitivity to small molecule perturbations obtained from different screenings
Molecular dissection of Phaseolus vulgaris polygalacturonase-inhibiting protein 2 reveals the presence of hold/release domains affecting protein trafficking toward the cell wall
The plant endomembrane system is massively involved in the synthesis, transport and
secretion of cell wall polysaccharides and proteins; however, the molecular mechanisms
underlying trafficking toward the apoplast are largely unknown. Besides constitutive, the
existence of a regulated secretory pathway has been proposed. A polygalacturonase
inhibitor protein (PGIP2), known to move as soluble cargo and reach the cell wall
through a mechanism distinguishable from default, was dissected in its main functional
domains (A, B, C, D), and C sub-fragments (C1–10), to identify signals essential for its
regulated targeting. The secretion patterns of the fluorescent chimeras obtained by fusing
different PGIP2 domains to the green fluorescent protein (GFP) were analyzed. PGIP2
N-terminal and leucine-rich repeat domains (B and C, respectively) seem to operate as
holding/releasing signals, respectively, during PGIP2 transit through the Golgi. The B
domain slows down PGIP2 secretion by transiently interacting with Golgi membranes.
Its depletion leads, in fact, to the secretion via default (Sp2-susceptible) of the ACD-GFP
chimera faster than PGIP2. Depending on its length (at least the first 5 leucine-rich repeats
are required), the C domain modulates B interaction with Golgi membranes allowing the
release of chimeras and their extracellular secretion through a Sp2 independent pathway.
The addition of the vacuolar sorting determinant Chi to PGIP2 diverts the path of the
protein from cell wall to vacuole, suggesting that C domain is a releasing rather than a
cell wall sorting signal
Letter to the Editor: About bovine β-casofensin genetic variants—A comment onBruno et al. (2017)
Toy models of crossed Andreev reflection
We propose toy models of crossed Andreev reflection in multiterminal hybrid
structures containing out-of-equilibrium conductors. We apply the description
to two possible experiments: (i) to a device containing a large quantum dot
inserted in a crossed Andreev reflection circuit. (ii) To a device containing
an Aharonov-Bohm loop inserted in a crossed Andreev reflection circuit.Comment: 5 pages, 9 figures, minor modification
Tunneling limit of heavy-fermion point contacts
We present results for a multichannel tunneling model that describes
point-contact spectra between a metallic tip and a superconducting
heavy-fermion system. We calculate tunneling spectra both in the normal and
superconducting state. In point-contact and scanning tunneling spectroscopy
many heavy-fermion materials, like CeCoIn5, exhibit an asymmetric differential
conductance, dI/dV, combined with a strongly suppressed Andreev reflection
signal in the superconducting state. For Andreev reflection to occur a junction
has to be in the highly transparent limit. Here we focus on the opposite limit,
namely that of low transparency leading to BCS-like dI/dV curves. We discuss
the consequences of a multichannel tunneling model for CeCoIn5 assuming
itinerant electron bands and localized f electrons.Comment: Contribution at SCES-201
Single-electron transport through the vortex core levels in clean superconductors
We develop a microscopic theory of single-electron transport in N-S-N hybrid
structures in the presence of applied magnetic field introducing vortex lines
in a superconductor layer. We show that vortex cores in a thick and clean
superconducting layer are similar to mesoscopic conducting channels where the
bound core states play the role of transverse modes. The transport through not
very thick layers is governed by another mechanism, namely by resonance
tunneling via vortex core levels. We apply our method to calculation of the
thermal conductance along the magnetic field.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur
Numerical and experimental verification of a theoretical model of ripple formation in ice growth under supercooled water film flow
Little is known about morphological instability of a solidification front
during the crystal growth of a thin film of flowing supercooled liquid with a
free surface: for example, the ring-like ripples on the surface of icicles. The
length scale of the ripples is nearly 1 cm. Two theoretical models for the
ripple formation mechanism have been proposed. However, these models lead to
quite different results because of differences in the boundary conditions at
the solid-liquid interface and liquid-air surface. The validity of the
assumption used in the two models is numerically investigated and some of the
theoretical predictions are compared with experiments.Comment: 30 pages, 9 figure
Comment on "Scaling of the quasiparticle spectrum for d-wave superconductors"
In a recent Letter Simon and Lee suggested a scaling law for thermodynamic
and kinetic properties of superconductors with lines of gap nodes. However
their crossover parameter between the bulk dominated regime and the vortex
dominated regime is different from that found in our paper (N.B. Kopnin and
G.E. Volovik, JETP Lett., {\bf 64}, 690 (1996); see also cond-mat/9702093). We
discuss the origin of the disagreement.Comment: submitted to Physical Review Letters as "Comment" to the paper by
S.H. Simon and P.A. Lee, Phys. Rev. Lett., 78 (1997) 1548 (cond-mat/9611133
Nodeless superconductivity in Ca3Ir4Sn13: evidence from quasiparticle heat transport
We report resistivity and thermal conductivity measurements
on CaIrSn single crystals, in which superconductivity with K was claimed to coexist with ferromagnetic spin-fluctuations. Among
three crystals, only one crystal shows a small hump in resistivity near 20 K,
which was previously attributed to the ferromagnetic spin-fluctuations. Other
two crystals show the Fermi-liquid behavior at low temperature.
For both single crystals with and without the resistivity anomaly, the residual
linear term is negligible in zero magnetic field. In low fields,
shows a slow field dependence. These results demonstrate that
the superconducting gap of CaIrSn is nodeless, thus rule out
nodal gap caused by ferromagnetic spin-fluctuations.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
- …