4,961 research outputs found
Evaluation of thermally stable phosphor screens for application in laser diode excited high brightness white light modules
A study on the preparation of thermally stable phosphor targets based on yttrium aluminum garnet doped with cerium (YAG:Ce) when excited by a high power laser diode is described. The luminous flux, chromaticity and radial spectral flux of the targets along with their thermal stability have been determined when exposed to laser powers of up to 5000 mW. This report presents successful high brightness light sources with adjustable emission properties achieved by utilizing thermally stable phosphor targets excited by high power laser diodes.Brunel University London, No. EP/K504208/
Higgs Messengers
We explore the consequences of the Higgs fields acting as messengers of
supersymmetry breaking. The hidden-sector paradigm in the gauge mediation
framework is relaxed by allowing two types of gauge-invariant, renormalizable
operators that are typically discarded: direct coupling between the Higgses and
supersymmetry breaking singlets, and Higgs-messenger mixing terms. The most
important phenomenological consequence is a flavor-dependent shift in sfermion
masses. This is from a one-loop contribution, which we compute for a general
set of weak doublet messengers. We also study a couple of explicit models in
detail, finding that precision electroweak constraints can be satisfied with a
spectrum significantly different from that of gauge mediation.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figure
Molecular gas in nearby powerful radio galaxies
We report the detection of CO(1-0) and CO(2-1) emission from the central
region of nearby 3CR radio galaxies (z 0.03). Out of 21 galaxies, 8 have
been detected in, at least, one of the two CO transitions. The total molecular
gas content is below 10 \msun. Their individual CO emission exhibit, for 5
cases, a double-horned line profile that is characteristic of an inclined
rotating disk with a central depression at the rising part of its rotation
curve. The inferred disk or ring distributions of the molecular gas is
consistent with the observed presence of dust disks or rings detected optically
in the cores of the galaxies. We reason that if their gas originates from the
mergers of two gas-rich disk galaxies, as has been invoked to explain the
molecular gas in other radio galaxies, then these galaxies must have merged a
long time ago (few Gyr or more) but their remnant elliptical galaxies only
recently (last 10 years or less) become active radio galaxies. Instead, we
argue the the cannibalism of gas-rich galaxies provide a simpler explanation
for the origin of molecular gas in the elliptical hosts of radio galaxies (Lim
et al. 2000). Given the transient nature of their observed disturbances, these
galaxies probably become active in radio soon after the accretion event when
sufficient molecular gas agglomerates in their nuclei.Comment: 6 pages, including 2 figures,in "QSO Hosts and Their Environments",
ed. I. Marquez, in pres
Efficacy of species-specific protein antibiotics in a murine model of acute Pseudomonas aeruginosa lung infection
Protein antibiotics, known as bacteriocins, are widely produced by bacteria for intraspecies competition. The potency and targeted action of bacteriocins suggests that they could be developed into clinically useful antibiotics against highly drug resistant Gram-negative pathogens for which there are few therapeutic options. Here we show that Pseudomonas aeruginosa specific bacteriocins, known as pyocins, show strong efficacy in a murine model of P. aeruginosa lung infection, with the concentration of pyocin S5 required to afford protection from a lethal infection at least 100-fold lower than the most commonly used inhaled antibiotic tobramycin. Additionally, pyocins are stable in the lung, poorly immunogenic at high concentrations and efficacy is maintained in the presence of pyocin specific antibodies after repeated pyocin administration. Bacteriocin encoding genes are frequently found in microbial genomes and could therefore offer a ready supply of highly targeted and potent antibiotics active against problematic Gram-negative pathogens
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Clubroot (Plasmodiophora brassicae Woronin): an agricultural and biological challenge worldwide
Clubroot disease and the causal microbe Plasmodiophora brassicae offer abundant challenges to agriculturists and biological scientists. This microbe is well fitted for the environments which it inhabits. Plasmodiophora brassicae exists in soil as microscopic well protected resting spores and then grows actively and reproduces while shielded inside the roots of host plants. The pathogen is active outside the host for only short periods. Consequently, scientific studies are made challenging by the biological context of the host and pathogen and the technology required to investigate and understand that relationship. Controlling clubroot disease is a challenge for farmers, crop consultants and plant pathology practitioners because of the limited options which are available. Full symptom expression happens solely in members of the Brassicaceae family. Currently, only a few genes expressing strong resistance to P. brassicae are known and readily available. Agrochemical control is similarly limited by difficulties in molecule formulation which combines efficacy with environmental acceptability. Manipulation of husbandry encouraging improvements in soil structure, texture, nutrient composition and moisture content can reduce populations of P. brassicae. Integrating such strategies with rotation and crop management will reduce but not eliminate this disease. There are indications that forms of biological competition may be mobilised as additions to integrated control strategies. The aim of this review is to chart key themes in the development of scientific biological understanding of this host-pathogen relationship by offering signposts to grapple with clubroot disease which devastates crops and their profitability. Particular attention is given to the link between soil and nutrient chemistry and activity of this microbe
Shape-based peak identification for ChIP-Seq
We present a new algorithm for the identification of bound regions from
ChIP-seq experiments. Our method for identifying statistically significant
peaks from read coverage is inspired by the notion of persistence in
topological data analysis and provides a non-parametric approach that is robust
to noise in experiments. Specifically, our method reduces the peak calling
problem to the study of tree-based statistics derived from the data. We
demonstrate the accuracy of our method on existing datasets, and we show that
it can discover previously missed regions and can more clearly discriminate
between multiple binding events. The software T-PIC (Tree shape Peak
Identification for ChIP-Seq) is available at
http://math.berkeley.edu/~vhower/tpic.htmlComment: 12 pages, 6 figure
Hydroxy double salts loaded with bioactive ions: Synthesis, intercalation mechanisms, and functional performance
The intercalation of the anions of diclofenac (Dic), naproxen (Nap), and valproic acid (Val) into three hydroxy double salts (HDSs) has been explored in this work. Experiments were performed with [Co1.2Zn3.8(OH)8](NO3)2·2H2O (CoZn-NO3), [Ni2Zn3(OH)8](NO3)2·2H2O (NiZn-NO3) and [Zn5(OH)8](NO3)2·2H2O (Zn-NO3). It proved possible to intercalate diclofenac and naproxen into all three HDSs. In contrast, Val could be intercalated into CoZn-NO3 but when it was reacted with Zn-NO3 the HDS structure was destroyed, and the product comprised ZnO. Successful intercalation was verified by X-ray diffraction, IR spectroscopy, and elemental microanalysis. Molecular dynamics simulations showed the Dic and Nap ions to arrange themselves in an “X” shape in the interlayer space, forming a bilayer. Val was found to adopt a position with its aliphatic groups parallel to the HDS layer, again in a bilayer. In situ time resolved X-ray diffraction experiments revealed that intercalation of Dic and Nap into CoZn-NO3 and Zn-NO3 is mechanistically complex, with a number of intermediate phases observed. In contrast, the intercalation of all three guests into NiZn-NO3 and of Val into CoZn-NO3 are simple one step reactions proceeding directly from the starting material to the product. The HDS-drug composites were found to have sustained release profiles
Accounting for skew when post-processing MOGREPS-UK temperature forecast fields
This is the final version. Available from the American Meteorological Society via the DOI in this recordWhen statistically post-processing temperature forecasts, it is almost always assumed that
the future temperature follows a Gaussian distribution conditional on the output of an ensemble
prediction system. Recent studies, however, have demonstrated that it can at times be beneficial to employ alternative parametric families when post-processing temperature forecasts, that
are either asymmetric or heavier-tailed than the normal distribution. In this article, we compare choices of the parametric distribution used within the Ensemble Model Output Statistics
(EMOS) framework to statistically post-process 2m temperature forecast fields generated by
the Met Office’s regional, convection-permitting ensemble prediction system, MOGREPS-UK.
Specifically, we study the normal, logistic and skew-logistic distributions. A flexible alternative
is also introduced that first applies a Yeo-Johnson transformation to the temperature forecasts
prior to post-processing, so that they more readily conform to the assumptions made by established post-processing methods. It is found that accounting for the skewness of temperature
when post-processing can enhance the performance of the resulting forecast field, particularly
during summer and winter and in mountainous regions
New poly(amino acid methacrylate) brush supports the formation of well-defined lipid membranes
A novel poly(amino acid methacrylate) brush comprising zwitterionic cysteine groups (PCysMA) was utilized as a support for lipid bilayers. The polymer brush provides a 12-nm-thick cushion between the underlying hard support and the aqueous phase. At neutral pH, the zeta potential of the PCysMA brush was ∼-10 mV. Cationic vesicles containing >25% DOTAP were found to form a homogeneous lipid bilayer, as determined by a combination of surface analytical techniques. The lipid mobility as measured by FRAP (fluorescence recovery after photobleaching) gave diffusion coefficients of ∼1.5 μm2 s-1, which are comparable to those observed for lipid bilayers on glass substrates
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