54 research outputs found
General boundary conditions for the envelope function in multiband k.p model
We have derived general boundary conditions (BC) for the multiband envelope
functions (which do not contain spurious solutions) in semiconductor
heterostructures with abrupt heterointerfaces. These BC require the
conservation of the probability flux density normal to the interface and
guarantee that the multiband Hamiltonian be self--adjoint. The BC are energy
independent and are characteristic properties of the interface. Calculations
have been performed of the effect of the general BC on the electron energy
levels in a potential well with infinite potential barriers using a coupled two
band model. The connection with other approaches to determining BC for the
envelope function and to the spurious solution problem in the multiband k.p
model are discussed.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures; to be published in Phys. Rev. B 65, March 15
issue 200
Towards the effective potential of the Littlest Higgs model
We compute the relevant parameters of the combined Higgs and \phi scalar
effective potential in the Littlest Higgs (LH) model. These parameters are
obtained as the sum of two kind of contributions. The first one is the one-loop
radiative corrections coming from fermions and gauge bosons. The second one is
obtained at the tree level from the higher order effective operators needed for
the ultraviolet completion of the model. Finally we analyze the restrictions
that the requirement of reproducing the standard electroweak symmetry breaking
of the SM set on the LH model parameters.Comment: 23 pages, 3 figures. Version accepted in EPJ
Evolutionary origins of the estrogen signaling system : insights from amphioxus
Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2011. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 127 (2011): 176â188, doi:10.1016/j.jsbmb.2011.03.022.Classically, the estrogen signaling system has two core components: cytochrome P450
aromatase (CYP19), the enzyme complex that catalyzes the rate limiting step in estrogen
biosynthesis; and estrogen receptors (ERs), ligand activated transcription factors that interact
with the regulatory region of target genes to mediate the biological effects of estrogen. While the
importance of estrogens for regulation of reproduction, development and physiology has been
well-documented in gnathostome vertebrates, the evolutionary origins of estrogen as a hormone
are still unclear. As invertebrates within the phylum Chordata, cephalochordates (e.g. the
amphioxus of the genus Branchiostoma) are among the closest invertebrate relatives of the
vertebrates and can provide critical insight into the evolution of vertebrate-specific molecules
and pathways. To address this question, this paper briefly reviews relevant earlier studies that
help to illuminate the history of the aromatase and ER genes, with a particular emphasis on
insights from amphioxus and other invertebrates. We then present new analyses of amphioxus
aromatase and ER sequence and function, including an in silico model of the amphioxus
aromatase protein, and CYP19 gene analysis. CYP19 shares a conserved gene structure with
vertebrates (9 coding exons) and moderate sequence conservation (40% amino acid identity with
human CYP19). Modeling of the amphioxus aromatase substrate binding site and simulated
docking of androstenedione in comparison to the human aromatase shows that the substrate
binding site is conserved and predicts that androstenedione could be a substrate for amphioxus
CYP19. The amphioxus ER is structurally similar to vertebrate ERs, but differs in sequence and
key residues of the ligand binding domain. Consistent with results from other laboratories,
amphioxus ER did not bind radiolabeled estradiol, nor did it modulate gene expression on an estrogen-responsive element (ERE) in the presence 59 of estradiol, 4-hydroxytamoxifen,
diethylstilbestrol, bisphenol A or genistein. Interestingly, it has been shown that a related gene,
the amphioxus âsteroid receptorâ (SR), can be activated by estrogens and that amphioxus ER can
repress this activation. CYP19, ER and SR are all primarily expressed in gonadal tissue,
suggesting an ancient paracrine/autocrinesignaling role, but it is not yet known how their
expression is regulated and, if estrogen is actually synthesized in amphioxus, whether it has a
role in mediating any biological effects . Functional studies are clearly needed to link emerging
bioinformatics and in vitro molecular biology results with organismal physiology to develop an
understanding of the evolution of estrogen signaling.Supported by grants from the NIEHS P42 ES07381 (GVC, SV) and EPA (STAR-RD831301)
(GVC), a Ruth L Kirschstein National Research Service Award (AT, F32 ES013092-01), an NIH
traineeship (SS, SG), a NATO Fellowship (AN) and the Boston University Undergraduate
Research Program (LC)
Long-Term Changes in Water Quality and Productivity in the Patuxent River Estuary: 1985 to 2003
Highly-parallelized simulation of a pixelated LArTPC on a GPU
The rapid development of general-purpose computing on graphics processing units (GPGPU) is allowing the implementation of highly-parallelized Monte Carlo simulation chains for particle physics experiments. This technique is particularly suitable for the simulation of a pixelated charge readout for time projection chambers, given the large number of channels that this technology employs. Here we present the first implementation of a full microphysical simulator of a liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) equipped with light readout and pixelated charge readout, developed for the DUNE Near Detector. The software is implemented with an end-to-end set of GPU-optimized algorithms. The algorithms have been written in Python and translated into CUDA kernels using Numba, a just-in-time compiler for a subset of Python and NumPy instructions. The GPU implementation achieves a speed up of four orders of magnitude compared with the equivalent CPU version. The simulation of the current induced on 10^3 pixels takes around 1 ms on the GPU, compared with approximately 10 s on the CPU. The results of the simulation are compared against data from a pixel-readout LArTPC prototype
Total Synthesis of Brevetoxin-B .1. First Generation Strategies and New Approaches to Oxepane Systems
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26294.PDF (publisher's version ) (Open Access
HerMES: a search for high-redshift dusty galaxies in the HerMES Large Mode Survey â catalogue, number counts and early results
Selecting sources with rising flux densities towards longer wavelengths from Herschel/Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver (SPIRE) maps is an efficient way to produce a catalogue rich in high-redshift (z > 4) dusty star-forming galaxies. The effectiveness of this approach has already been confirmed by spectroscopic follow-up observations, but the previously available catalogues made this way are limited by small survey areas. Here we apply a map-based search method to 274 deg2 of the Herschel Multi-tiered Extragalactic Survey (HerMES) Large Mode Survey and create a catalogue of 477 objects with SPIRE flux densities S500 > S350 > S250 and a 5Ï cut-off S500 > 52 mJy. From this catalogue we determine that the total number of these âredâ sources is at least an order of magnitude higher than predicted by galaxy evolution models. These results are in agreement with previous findings in smaller HerMES fields; however, due to our significantly larger sample size we are also able to investigate the shape of the red source counts for the first time. We have obtained spectroscopic redshift measurements for two of our sources using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. The redshifts z = 5.1 and 3.8 confirm that with our selection method we can indeed find high-redshift dusty star-forming galaxies
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