Domain wall pinning and potential landscapes created by constrictions and protrusions in ferromagnetic nanowires

The potential experienced by transverse domain walls (TDWs) in the vicinity of asymmetric constrictions or protrusions in thin Permalloy nanowires is probed using spatially resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect measurements. Both types of traps are found to act as pinning centers for DWs. The strength of pinning is found to depend on the trap type as well as on the chirality of the incoming DW; both types of traps are seen to act either as potential wells or potential barriers, also depending on the chirality of the DW. Micromagnetic simulations have been performed that are in good qualitative agreement with the experimental results.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figure

Understanding teen UX: Building a Bridge to the future

UX is a widely explored topic within HCI and has a large practitioners' community. However, the users considered in research and practice, are most often adults - since adults represent the largest technology market share. However teenagers represent a growing market of unique users, and more needs to be understood about this population, from a UX perspective. The theme of this workshop is Building a Bridge to the Future and the aim is to gather together academics and UX practitioners, interested in teen users specifically, in order to discuss experiences, understandings, insights and methods that we can use to comprehend teen UX now and explore how this may lead to the creation of better interactive products in the future. The workshop will also foster new collaborations, and define new research agendas to grow the research and literature in this area

Weak antilocalization in quasi-two-dimensional electronic states of epitaxial LuSb thin films

Observation of large non-saturating magnetoresistance in rare-earth monopnictides has raised enormous interest in understanding the role of its electronic structure. Here, by a combination of molecular-beam epitaxy, low-temperature transport, angle-resolved photoemssion spectroscopy, and hybrid density functional theory we have unveiled the bandstructure of LuSb, where electron-hole compensation is identified as a mechanism responsible for large magnetoresistance in this topologically trivial compound. In contrast to bulk single crystal analogues, quasi-two-dimensional behavior is observed in our thin films for both electron and holelike carriers, indicative of dimensional confinement of the electronic states. Introduction of defects through growth parameter tuning results in the appearance of quantum interference effects at low temperatures, which has allowed us to identify the dominant inelastic scattering processes and elucidate the role of spin-orbit coupling. Our findings open up new possibilities of band structure engineering and control of transport properties in rare-earth monopnictides via epitaxial synthesis.Comment: 20 pages, 12 figures; includes supplementary informatio

Decitabine, a DNA-demethylating agent, promotes differentiation via NOTCH1 signaling and alters immune-related pathways in muscle-invasive bladder cancer

Aberrant DNA methylation observed in cancer can provide survival benefits to cells by silencing genes essential for anti-tumor activity. DNA-demethylating agents such as Decitabine (DAC)/Azacitidine (AZA) activate otherwise silenced tumor suppressor genes, alter immune response and epigenetically reprogram tumor cells. In this study, we show that non-cytotoxic nanomolar DAC concentrations modify the bladder cancer transcriptome to activate NOTCH1 at the mRNA and protein level, increase double-stranded RNA sensors and CK5-dependent differentiation. Importantly, DAC treatment increases ICN1 expression (the active intracellular domain of NOTCH1) significantly inhibiting cell proliferation and causing changes in cell size inducing morphological alterations reminiscent of senescence. These changes were not associated with β-galactosidase activity or increased p16 levels, but instead were associated with substantial IL-6 release. Increased IL-6 release was observed in both DAC-treated and ICN1 overexpressing cells as compared to control cells. Exogenous IL-6 expression was associated with a similar enlarged cell morphology that was rescued by the addition of a monoclonal antibody against IL-6. Treatment with DAC, overexpression with ICN1 or addition of exogenous IL-6 showed CK5 reduction, a surrogate marker of differentiation. Overall this study suggests that in MIBC cells, DNA hypomethylation increases NOTCH1 expression and IL-6 release to induce CK5-related differentiation.Fil: Ramakrishnan, Swathi. Roswell Park Cancer Institute; Estados UnidosFil: Hu, Qiang. Roswell Park Cancer Institute; Estados UnidosFil: Krishnan, Nithya. Roswell Park Cancer Institute; Estados UnidosFil: Wang, Dan. Roswell Park Cancer Institute; Estados UnidosFil: Smit, Evelyn. Roswell Park Cancer Institute; Estados UnidosFil: Granger, Victoria. Roswell Park Cancer Institute; Estados UnidosFil: Rak, Monika. Jagiellonian University; PoloniaFil: Attwood, Kristopher. Roswell Park Cancer Institute; Estados UnidosFil: Johnson, Candace. Roswell Park Cancer Institute; Estados UnidosFil: Morrison, Carl. Roswell Park Cancer Institute; Estados UnidosFil: Pili, Roberto. Indiana University; Estados UnidosFil: Chatta, Gurkamal. Roswell Park Cancer Institute; Estados UnidosFil: Guru, Khurshid. Roswell Park Cancer Institute; Estados UnidosFil: Gueron, Geraldine. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Química Biológica de la Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: McNally, Lacey. University of Louisville; Estados UnidosFil: Wang, Jianmin. Roswell Park Cancer Institute; Estados UnidosFil: Woloszynska-Read, Anna. Roswell Park Cancer Institute; Estados Unido

The pH-responsive PacC transcription factor of Aspergillus fumigatus governs epithelial entry and tissue invasion during pulmonary aspergillosis

Data Availability: The authors confirm that all data underlying the findings are fully available without restriction. Raw data have been deposited in the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/) under accession number GSE54810. Funding: This work was supported in part by grants to EMB from the MRC (G0501164) and BBSRC (BB/G009619/1), to EMB and NDR from the Wellcome Trust (WT093596MA), to MB from Imperial College London (Division of Investigative Sciences PhD Studentship), to HH from the ERA-NET PathoGenoMics project TRANSPAT, Austrian Science Foundation (FWF I282-B09), to SGF from the National Institutes of Health, USA (R01AI073829). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The DisHuman child

In this paper we consider the relationship between the human and disability; with specific focus on the lives of disabled children and young people. We begin with an analysis of the close relationship between ‘the disabled’ and ‘the freak’. We demonstrate that the historical markings of disability as object of curiosity and register of fear serve to render disabled children as non-human and monstrous. We then consider how the human has been constituted, particularly in the periods of modernity and the rise of capitalism, reliant upon the naming of disability as antithetical to all that counts as human. In order to find a place for disabled children in a social and cultural context that has historically denied their humanity and cast them as monstrous others, we develop the theoretical notion of the DisHuman: a bifurcated complex that allows us recognise their humanity whilst also celebrating the ways in which disabled children reframe what it means to be human. We suggest that the lives of disabled children and young people demand us to think in ways that affirm the inherent humanness in their lives but also allow us to consider their disruptive potential: this is our DisHuman child. We draw on our research projects to explore three sites where the DisHuman child emerges in moments where sameness and difference, monstrosity/disability and humanity are invoked simultaneously. We explore three locations – (i) DisDevelopment; (ii) DisFamily and (iii) DisSexuality – illuminating the ways in which the DisHuman child seeks nuanced, politicized and complicating forms of humanity

Two-photon Lithography for 3D Magnetic Nanostructure Fabrication

Ferromagnetic materials have been utilised as recording media within data storage devices for many decades. Confinement of the material to a two dimensional plane is a significant bottleneck in achieving ultra-high recording densities and this has led to the proposition of three dimensional (3D) racetrack memories that utilise domain wall propagation along nanowires. However, the fabrication of 3D magnetic nanostructures of complex geometry is highly challenging and not easily achievable with standard lithography techniques. Here, by using a combination of two-photon lithography and electrochemical deposition, we show a new approach to construct 3D magnetic nanostructures of complex geometry. The magnetic properties are found to be intimately related to the 3D geometry of the structure and magnetic imaging experiments provide evidence of domain wall pinning at a 3D nanostructured junction

Existence and stability of skyrmion bags in thin magnetic films

Skyrmion bags are spin textures of any integer topological degree, realized in micromagnetic simulations and experimentally in liquid crystals. They have been proposed as a promising new form of magnetic data storage due to their stability with respect to perturbations and the possibility of encoding different values in topologically distinct magnetization configurations. We simulate skyrmion bags in magnetic thin films having a range of physically realistic material parameters. The results give a range over which stable skyrmion bags may be found in experiment, and we extract a relationship to help guide the production of these potentially useful quasiparticles. Individual magnetic skyrmions are stable, particle-like, spin configurations in the magnetization of chiral magnets.1 Their stability is derived from the skyrmion's topological nature. A single skyrmion in the continuous model is a perfect cover of the two-sphere, illustrated in Fig. 1(c), and hence impossible to unwind. This stability, coupled with the low currents required to move them, makes them seem to be attractive as candidates for future forms of magnetic data storage with read-write capabilities

Tracking pathways for pathogen contamination in urban groundwater supplies in Africa: novel application of qPCR techniques

Low income urban communities across Africa depend on local shallow, often highly contaminated, groundwater sources for drinking and domestic use as well as larger municipal supplies extracting groundwater from deeper within the aquifer system where these are available and affordable. Rapid lateral and vertical pathways in the subsurface, often only active for limited periods e.g. during high water table conditions, can lead to rapid deterioration of groundwater quality. Sanitary risk assessments and quantification of basic water quality indicators such thermotolerant coliforms are often used as part of water point vulnerability assessments in urban and peri-urban water supplies in Africa. While there have been huge advances in the development of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques in recent years for amplifying microbial DNA, these techniques have not been used to date for quantifying specific pathogenic strains of bacteria in groundwaters in Africa. In this paper we present results from a pilot study using qPCR techniques for the first time to quantify the occurrence of 26 specific pathogenic strains in water supplies in Kabwe, Zambia. Pathogen occurrence is assessed in both shallow and deep groundwater points during both the wet and dry season in a vulnerable dolomite aquifer system. Multiple pathogens were revealed within the groundwater system including Vibrio cholera and Salmonella enterica. This technique shows great potential for tracking specific pathogens, fingerprinting sources of pathogens in groundwater sources and assessing rapid shallow pathways in widespread vulnerable settings in Africa, and elsewhere, such as those found in lateritic or karstic terrains

Towards a Framework for Designing Connected Toys

Smart and Internet-connected toys (IoToys) offer new and exciting possibilities to enhance play experiences analogous to Mark Weiser’s visions of ubiquitous and calm technology. Within this work, we sought to create a set of principles for evaluating and designing calm internet-connected toys and trial them through the evaluation of a set of popular (‘off the shelf’) IoToys. This work is the first of its kind to apply calm principles to IoToys and use them to evaluate current off-the-shelf connected toys. This work highlights the challenges inherent in adults evaluating toys designed for children. We contribute an approach to understanding calm in the context of IoToys through our principles and a method for evaluating calm within IoToys. We found while that our IoT calm principles have some limitations our work provides key insights into how we might understand calm in IoToys. We hope this work will help inform practitioners and academics interested in designing future IoToys