2,123 research outputs found
The Search for Higher in Houston
It is a great pleasure to be invited to join the chorus on this auspicious
occasion to celebrate Professor K. Alex Mueller's 90th birthday by Professors
Annette Bussman-Holder, Hugo Keller, and Antonio Bianconi. As a student in high
temperature superconductivity, I am forever grateful to Professor Alex Mueller
and Dr. Georg Bednorz "for their important breakthrough in the discovery of
superconductivity in the ceramic materials" in 1986 as described in the
citation of their 1987 Nobel Prize in Physics. It is this breakthrough
discovery that has ushered in the explosion of research activities in high
temperature superconductivity (HTS) and has provided immense excitement in HTS
science and technology in the ensuing decades till now. Alex has not been
resting on his laurels and has continued to search for the origin of the
unusual high temperature superconductivity in cuprates.Comment: Dedicated to Alex Mueller, whose "important breakthrough in the
discovery of superconductivity in ceramic materials" in 1986 has changed the
world of superconductivit
Demagnetization of Quantum Dot Nuclear Spins: Breakdown of the Nuclear Spin Temperature Approach
The physics of interacting nuclear spins arranged in a crystalline lattice is
typically described using a thermodynamic framework: a variety of experimental
studies in bulk solid-state systems have proven the concept of a spin
temperature to be not only correct but also vital for the understanding of
experimental observations. Using demagnetization experiments we demonstrate
that the mesoscopic nuclear spin ensemble of a quantum dot (QD) can in general
not be described by a spin temperature. We associate the observed deviations
from a thermal spin state with the presence of strong quadrupolar interactions
within the QD that cause significant anharmonicity in the spectrum of the
nuclear spins. Strain-induced, inhomogeneous quadrupolar shifts also lead to a
complete suppression of angular momentum exchange between the nuclear spin
ensemble and its environment, resulting in nuclear spin relaxation times
exceeding an hour. Remarkably, the position dependent axes of quadrupolar
interactions render magnetic field sweeps inherently non-adiabatic, thereby
causing an irreversible loss of nuclear spin polarization.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figure
Forecasting Player Behavioral Data and Simulating in-Game Events
Understanding player behavior is fundamental in game data science. Video
games evolve as players interact with the game, so being able to foresee player
experience would help to ensure a successful game development. In particular,
game developers need to evaluate beforehand the impact of in-game events.
Simulation optimization of these events is crucial to increase player
engagement and maximize monetization. We present an experimental analysis of
several methods to forecast game-related variables, with two main aims: to
obtain accurate predictions of in-app purchases and playtime in an operational
production environment, and to perform simulations of in-game events in order
to maximize sales and playtime. Our ultimate purpose is to take a step towards
the data-driven development of games. The results suggest that, even though the
performance of traditional approaches such as ARIMA is still better, the
outcomes of state-of-the-art techniques like deep learning are promising. Deep
learning comes up as a well-suited general model that could be used to forecast
a variety of time series with different dynamic behaviors
Experimental observation of topological Fermi arcs in type-II Weyl semimetal MoTe2
Weyl semimetal is a new quantum state of matter [1-12] hosting the condensed
matter physics counterpart of relativisticWeyl fermion [13] originally
introduced in high energy physics. The Weyl semimetal realized in the TaAs
class features multiple Fermi arcs arising from topological surface states [10,
11, 14-16] and exhibits novel quantum phenomena, e.g., chiral anomaly induced
negative mag-netoresistance [17-19] and possibly emergent supersymmetry [20].
Recently it was proposed theoretically that a new type (type-II) of Weyl
fermion [21], which does not have counterpart in high energy physics due to the
breaking of Lorentz invariance, can emerge as topologically-protected touching
between electron and hole pockets. Here, we report direct spectroscopic
evidence of topological Fermi arcs in the predicted type-II Weyl semimetal
MoTe2 [22-24]. The topological surface states are confirmed by directly
observing the surface states using bulk-and surface-sensitive angle-resolved
photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), and the quasi-particle interference (QPI)
pattern between the two putative Fermi arcs in scanning tunneling microscopy
(STM). Our work establishes MoTe2 as the first experimental realization of
type-II Weyl semimetal, and opens up new opportunities for probing novel
phenomena such as exotic magneto-transport [21] in type-II Weyl semimetals.Comment: submitted on 01/29/2016. Nature Physics, in press. Spectroscopic
evidence of the Fermi arcs from two complementary surface sensitive probes -
ARPES and STS. A comparison of the calculated band structure for T_d and 1T'
phase to identify the topological Fermi arcs in the T_d phase is also
included in the supplementary informatio
Phylogeny of Prokaryotes and Chloroplasts Revealed by a Simple Composition Approach on All Protein Sequences from Complete Genomes Without Sequence Alignment
The complete genomes of living organisms have provided much information on their phylogenetic relationships. Similarly, the complete genomes of chloroplasts have helped to resolve the evolution of this organelle in photosynthetic eukaryotes. In this paper we propose an alternative method of phylogenetic analysis using compositional statistics for all protein sequences from complete genomes. This new method is conceptually simpler than and computationally as fast as the one proposed by Qi et al. (2004b) and Chu et al. (2004). The same data sets used in Qi et al. (2004b) and Chu et al. (2004) are analyzed using the new method. Our distance-based phylogenic tree of the 109 prokaryotes and eukaryotes agrees with the biologists tree of life based on 16S rRNA comparison in a predominant majority of basic branching and most lower taxa. Our phylogenetic analysis also shows that the chloroplast genomes are separated to two major clades corresponding to chlorophytes s.l. and rhodophytes s.l. The interrelationships among the chloroplasts are largely in agreement with the current understanding on chloroplast evolution
The N-Terminal Region of the PA Subunit of the RNA Polymerase of Influenza A/HongKong/156/97 (H5N1) Influences Promoter Binding
BACKGROUND: The RNA polymerase of influenza virus is a heterotrimeric complex of PB1, PB2 and PA subunits which cooperate in the transcription and replication of the viral genome. Previous research has shown that the N-terminal region of the PA subunit of influenza A/WSN/33 (H1N1) virus is involved in promoter binding. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here we extend our studies of the influenza RNA polymerase to that of influenza strains A/HongKong/156/97 (H5N1) and A/Vietnam/1194/04 (H5N1). Both H5N1 strains, originally isolated from patients in 1997 and 2004, showed significantly higher polymerase activity compared with two classical human strains, A/WSN/33 (H1N1) and A/NT/60/68 (H3N2) in vitro. This increased polymerase activity correlated with enhanced promoter binding. The N-terminal region of the PA subunit was the major determinant of this enhanced promoter activity. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Overall we suggest that the N-terminal region of the PA subunit of two recent H5N1 strains can influence promoter binding and we speculate this may be a factor in their virulence
The Functional DRD3 Ser9Gly Polymorphism (rs6280) Is Pleiotropic, Affecting Reward as Well as Movement
Abnormalities of motivation and behavior in the context of reward are a fundamental component of addiction and mood disorders. Here we test the effect of a functional missense mutation in the dopamine 3 receptor (DRD3) gene (ser9gly, rs6280) on reward-associated dopamine (DA) release in the striatum. Twenty-six healthy controls (HCs) and 10 unmedicated subjects with major depressive disorder (MDD) completed two positron emission tomography (PET) scans with [11C]raclopride using the bolus plus constant infusion method. On one occasion subjects completed a sensorimotor task (control condition) and on another occasion subjects completed a gambling task (reward condition). A linear regression analysis controlling for age, sex, diagnosis, and self-reported anhedonia indicated that during receipt of unpredictable monetary reward the glycine allele was associated with a greater reduction in D2/3 receptor binding (i.e., increased reward-related DA release) in the middle (anterior) caudate (p<0.01) and the ventral striatum (p<0.05). The possible functional effect of the ser9gly polymorphism on DA release is consistent with previous work demonstrating that the glycine allele yields D3 autoreceptors that have a higher affinity for DA and display more robust intracellular signaling. Preclinical evidence indicates that chronic stress and aversive stimulation induce activation of the DA system, raising the possibility that the glycine allele, by virtue of its facilitatory effect on striatal DA release, increases susceptibility to hyperdopaminergic responses that have previously been associated with stress, addiction, and psychosis
High Density Microarray Analysis Reveals New Insights into Genetic Footprints of Listeria monocytogenes Strains Involved in Listeriosis Outbreaks
Listeria monocytogenes, a foodborne bacterial pathogen, causes invasive and febrile gastroenteritis forms of listeriosis in humans. Both invasive and febrile gastroenteritis listeriosis is caused mostly by serotypes 1/2a, 1/2b and 4b strains. The outbreak strains of serotype 1/2a and 4b could be further classified into several epidemic clones but the genetic bases for the diverse pathophysiology have been unsuccessful. DNA microarray provides an important tool to scan the entire genome for genetic signatures that may distinguish the L. monocytogenes strains belonging to different outbreaks. We have designed a pan-genomic microarray chip (Listeria GeneChip) containing sequences from 24 L. monocytogenes strains. The chip was designed to identify the presence/absence of genomic sequences, analyze transcription profiles and identify SNPs. Analysis of the genomic profiles of 38 outbreak strains representing 1/2a, 1/2b and 4b serotypes, revealed that the strains formed distinct genetic clusters adhering to their serotypes and epidemic clone types. Although serologically 1/2a and 1/b strains share common antigenic markers microarray analysis revealed that 1/2a strains are further apart from the closely related 1/2b and 4b strains. Within any given serotype and epidemic clone type the febrile gastroenteritis and invasive strains can be further distinguished based on several genetic markers including large numbers of phage genome, and intergenic sequences. Our results showed that the microarray-based data can be an important tool in characterization of L. monocytogenes strains involved in both invasive and gastroenteritis outbreaks. The results for the first time showed that the serotypes and epidemic clones are based on extensive pan-genomic variability and the 1/2b and 4bstrains are more closely related to each other than the 1/2a strains. The data also supported the hypothesis that the strains causing these two diverse outbreaks are genotypically different and this finding might be important in understanding the pathophysiology of this organism
Local therapy with CpG motifs in a murine model of allergic airway inflammation in IFN-β knock-out mice
BACKGROUND: CpG oligodeoxynucleotides (CpG-ODN) are capable of inducing high amounts of type I IFNs with many immunomodulatory properties. Furthermore, type-I IFNs have been proposed to play a key role in mediating effects of CpG-ODN. The precise role of IFN-β in the immunomodulatory effects of CpG-ODN is not known. OBJECTIVE: Here, we aimed to elucidate the role of IFN-β in the anti-allergic effect of CpG motifs. METHODS: We assessed the immune response in OVA-primed/OVA-challenged IFN-β knockout (-/-) mice compared to wild type (WT) control, after intranasal and systemic treatment with synthetic CpG motifs. RESULTS: Vaccination with CpG-ODN reduced the number of cells in airways of OVA-sensitized WT but not IFN-β-/- mice. Although airway eosinophilia was reduced in both treated groups, they were significantly higher in IFN-β(-)/- mice. Other inflammatory cells, such as lymphocytes and macrophages were enhanced in airways by CpG treatment in IFN-β-/- mice. The ratio of IFN-γ/IL-4 cytokines in airways was significantly skewed to a Th1 response in WT compared to IFN-β(-)/- group. In contrast, IL-4 and IgE were reduced with no differences between groups. Ag-specific T-cell proliferation, Th1-cytokines such as IFN-γ, IL-2 and also IL-12 were significantly lower in IFN-β-/- mice. Surprisingly, we discovered that intranasal treatment of mice with CpG-ODN results in mild synovitis particularly in IFN-β-/- mice. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that induction of Th1 response by therapy with CpG-ODN is only slightly and partially dependent on IFN-β, while IFN-β is not an absolute requirement for suppression of airway eosinophilia and IgE. Furthermore, our finding of mild synovitis is a warning for possible negative effects of CpG-ODN vaccination
Fine-scale population structure of Malays in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore and implications for association studies
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