237 research outputs found
Requirements for contractility in disordered cytoskeletal bundles
Actomyosin contractility is essential for biological force generation, and is
well understood in highly organized structures such as striated muscle.
Additionally, actomyosin bundles devoid of this organization are known to
contract both in vivo and in vitro, which cannot be described by standard
muscle models. To narrow down the search for possible contraction mechanisms in
these systems, we investigate their microscopic symmetries. We show that
contractile behavior requires non-identical motors that generate large enough
forces to probe the nonlinear elastic behavior of F-actin. This suggests a role
for filament buckling in the contraction of these bundles, consistent with
recent experimental results on reconstituted actomyosin bundles.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures; text shortene
Depairing critical current achieved in superconducting thin films with through-thickness arrays of artificial pinning centers
Large area arrays of through-thickness nanoscale pores have been milled into
superconducting Nb thin films via a process utilizing anodized aluminum oxide
thin film templates. These pores act as artificial flux pinning centers,
increasing the superconducting critical current, Jc, of the Nb films. By
optimizing the process conditions including anodization time, pore size and
milling time, Jc values approaching and in some cases matching the
Ginzburg-Landau depairing current of 30 MA/cm^2 at 5 K have been achieved - a
Jc enhancement over as-deposited films of more than 50 times. In the field
dependence of Jc, a matching field corresponding to the areal pore density has
also been clearly observed. The effect of back-filling the pores with magnetic
material has then been investigated. While back-filling with Co has been
successfully achieved, the effect of the magnetic material on Jc has been found
to be largely detrimental compared to voids, although a distinct influence of
the magnetic material in producing a hysteretic Jc versus applied field
behavior has been observed. This behavior has been tested for compatibility
with currently proposed models of magnetic pinning and found to be most closely
explained by a model describing the magnetic attraction between the flux
vortices and the magnetic inclusions.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figure
Folding of small proteins: A matter of geometry?
We review some of our recent results obtained within the scope of simple
lattice models and Monte Carlo simulations that illustrate the role of native
geometry in the folding kinetics of two state folders.Comment: To appear in Molecular Physic
Cochlear Implants in the Workplace: A Nationwide Survey
A nation wide survey of cochlear implant recipients was conducted to study how implants may impact people at work. Using a self-reporting questionnaire, recipients using four cochlear implant designs were surveyed about spoken communication on the job, overall job performance, job satisfaction, confidence in job retention and in seeking new employment, job promotion, and income. Of the implant recipients using their implants at work (106 people), the majority used their implants during all work hours and reported positive changes in their job situations. The survey results suggest that cochlear implants may help in mitigating functional limitations in the workplace resulting from profound hearing loss
Unfolding Rates for the Diffusion-Collision Model
In the diffusion-collision model, the unfolding rates are given by the
likelihood of secondary structural cluster dissociation. In this work, we
introduce an unfolding rate calculation for proteins whose secondary structural
elements are -helices, modeled from thermal escape over a barrier which
arises from the free energy in buried hydrophobic residues. Our results are in
good agreement with currently accepted values for the attempt rate.Comment: Shorter version of cond-mat/0011024 accepted for publication in PR
Superconductor-ferromagnet nanocomposites created by co-deposition of niobium and dysprosium
We have created superconductor-ferromagnet composite films in order to test
the enhancement of critical current density, Jc, due to magnetic pinning. We
co-sputter the type-II superconductor niobium (Nb) and the low-temperature
ferromagnet dysprosium (Dy) onto a heated substrate; the immiscibility of the
two materials leads to a phase-separated composite of magnetic regions within a
superconducting matrix. Over a range of compositions and substrate
temperatures, we achieve phase separation on scales from 5 nm to 1 micron. The
composite films exhibit simultaneous superconductivity and ferromagnetism.
Transport measurements show that while the self-field Jc is reduced in the
composites, the in-field Jc is greatly enhanced up to the 3 T saturation field
of Dy. In one instance, the phase separation orders into stripes, leading to
in-plane anisotropy in Jc.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures. Matches the version published in SUST: Added one
reference and some discussion in Section
Ground States of Two-Dimensional Polyampholytes
We perform an exact enumeration study of polymers formed from a (quenched)
random sequence of charged monomers , restricted to a 2-dimensional
square lattice. Monomers interact via a logarithmic (Coulomb) interaction. We
study the ground state properties of the polymers as a function of their excess
charge for all possible charge sequences up to a polymer length N=18. We
find that the ground state of the neutral ensemble is compact and its energy
extensive and self-averaging. The addition of small excess charge causes an
expansion of the ground state with the monomer density depending only on .
In an annealed ensemble the ground state is fully stretched for any excess
charge .Comment: 6 pages, 6 eps figures, RevTex, Submitted to Phys. Rev.
The Cause of ‘Weak-Link’ Grain Boundary Behaviour in Polycrystalline Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 and Bi2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10 Superconductors
The detrimental effects of grain boundaries have long been considered responsible for the low critical current densities (J_c) in high temperature superconductors. In this paper, we apply the quantitative approach used to identify the cause of the 'weak-link' grain boundary behaviour in YBa2Cu3O7 [1], to the Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 and Bi2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10 materials that we have fabricated. Magnetic and transport measurements are used to characterise the grain and grain boundary properties of micro- and nanocrystalline material. Magnetisation measurements on all nanocrystalline materials show non-Bean-like behaviour and are consistent with surface pinning. Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8: Our microcrystalline material has very low grain boundary resistivity (ρ_GB), which is similar to that of the grains (ρ_G) such that ρ_GB≈ρ_G=2×〖10〗^(-5) Ωm (assuming a grain boundary thickness (d) of 1 nm) equivalent to an areal resistivity of ρ_G=2×〖10〗^(-14) Ωm^2. The transport J_c values are consistent with well-connected grains and very weak grain boundary pinning. However, unlike low temperature superconductors in which decreasing grain size increases the pinning along the grain boundary channels, any increase in pinning produced by making the grains in our Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 materials nanocrystalline was completely offset by a decrease in the depairing current density of the grain boundaries caused by their high resistivity. We suggest a different approach to increasing J_c from that used in LTS materials, namely incorporating additional strong grain and grain boundary pinning sites in microcrystalline materials to produce high J_c values. Bi2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10: Both our micro- and nanocrystalline samples have ρ_GB/ρ_G of at least 10^3. This causes strong suppression of J_c across the grain boundaries, which explains the low transport J_c values we find experimentally. Our calculations show that low J_c in untextured polycrystalline Bi2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10 material is to be expected and the significant effort in the community in texturing samples and removing grain boundaries altogether is well-founded
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