180 research outputs found
Driving forces for Ag-induced periodic faceting of vicinal Cu(111)
Adsorption of submonolayer amounts of Ag on vicinal Cu(111) induces periodic
faceting. The equilibrium structure is characterized by Ag-covered facets that
alternate with clean Cu stripes. In the atomic scale, the driving force is the
matching of Ag(111)-like packed rows with Cu(111) terraces underneath. This
determines the preference for the facet orientation and the evolution of
different phases as a function of coverage. Both Cu and Ag stripe widths can be
varied smoothly in the 3-30 nm range by tuning Ag coverage, allowing to test
theoretical predictions of elastic theories.Comment: 1 text, 4 figure
Gating a single-molecule transistor with individual atoms
Transistors, regardless of their size, rely on electrical gates to control the
conductance between source and drain contacts. In atomic-scale transistors,
this conductance is sensitive to single electrons hopping via individual
orbitals1, 2. Single-electron transport in molecular transistors has been
previously studied using top-down approaches to gating, such as lithography
and break junctions1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. But atomically precise
control of the gate—which is crucial to transistor action at the smallest size
scales—is not possible with these approaches. Here, we used individual charged
atoms, manipulated by a scanning tunnelling microscope12, to create the
electrical gates for a single-molecule transistor. This degree of control
allowed us to tune the molecule into the regime of sequential single-electron
tunnelling, albeit with a conductance gap more than one order of magnitude
larger than observed previously8, 11, 13, 14. This unexpected behaviour arises
from the existence of two different orientational conformations of the
molecule, depending on its charge state. Our results show that strong coupling
between these charge and conformational degrees of freedom leads to new
behaviour beyond the established picture of single-electron transport in
atomic-scale transistors
The Role of Bile in the Regulation of Exocrine Pancreatic Secretion
As early as 1926 Mellanby (1) was able to show that introduction of bile into the duodenum of anesthetized cats produces a copious flow of pancreatic juice. In conscious dogs, Ivy & Lueth (2) reported, bile is only a weak stimulant of pancreatic secretion. Diversion of bile from the duodenum, however, did not influence pancreatic volume secretion stimulated by a meal (3,4). Moreover, Thomas & Crider (5) observed that bile not only failed to stimulate the secretion of pancreatic juice but also abolished the pancreatic response to intraduodenally administered peptone or soap
Using Quantum Confinement to Uniquely Identify Devices
Modern technology unintentionally provides resources that enable the trust of
everyday interactions to be undermined. Some authentication schemes address
this issue using devices that give unique outputs in response to a challenge.
These signatures are generated by hard-to-predict physical responses derived
from structural characteristics, which lend themselves to two different
architectures, known as unique objects (UNOs) and physically unclonable
functions (PUFs). The classical design of UNOs and PUFs limits their size and,
in some cases, their security. Here we show that quantum confinement lends
itself to the provision of unique identities at the nanoscale, by using
fluctuations in tunnelling measurements through quantum wells in resonant
tunnelling diodes (RTDs). This provides an uncomplicated measurement of
identity without conventional resource limitations whilst providing robust
security. The confined energy levels are highly sensitive to the specific
nanostructure within each RTD, resulting in a distinct tunnelling spectrum for
every device, as they contain a unique and unpredictable structure that is
presently impossible to clone. This new class of authentication device operates
with few resources in simple electronic structures above room temperature.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figure
Mitochondria of the Yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Kluyveromyces lactis Contain Nuclear rDNA-Encoded Proteins
In eukaryotes, the nuclear ribosomal DNA (rDNA) is the source of the structural 18S, 5.8S and 25S rRNAs. In hemiascomycetous yeasts, the 25S rDNA sequence was described to lodge an antisense open reading frame (ORF) named TAR1 for Transcript Antisense to Ribosomal RNA. Here, we present the first immuno-detection and sub-cellular localization of the authentic product of this atypical yeast gene. Using specific antibodies against the predicted amino-acid sequence of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae TAR1 product, we detected the endogenous Tar1p polypeptides in S. cerevisiae (Sc) and Kluyveromyces lactis (Kl) species and found that both proteins localize to mitochondria. Protease and carbonate treatments of purified mitochondria further revealed that endogenous Sc Tar1p protein sub-localizes in the inner membrane in a Nin-Cout topology. Plasmid-versions of 5′ end or 3′ end truncated TAR1 ORF were used to demonstrate that neither the N-terminus nor the C-terminus of Sc Tar1p were required for its localization. Also, Tar1p is a presequence-less protein. Endogenous Sc Tar1p was found to be a low abundant protein, which is expressed in fermentable and non-fermentable growth conditions. Endogenous Sc TAR1 transcripts were also found low abundant and consistently 5′ flanking regions of TAR1 ORF exhibit modest promoter activity when assayed in a luciferase-reporter system. Using rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) PCR, we also determined that endogenous Sc TAR1 transcripts possess heterogeneous 5′ and 3′ ends probably reflecting the complex expression of a gene embedded in actively transcribed rDNA sequence. Altogether, our results definitively ascertain that the antisense yeast gene TAR1 constitutes a functional transcription unit within the nuclear rDNA repeats
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