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Further tests on liquid-nitrogen-cooled, thin silicon-crystal monochcromators using a focused wiggler synchrotron beam
A newly designed, cryogenically cooled, thin Si crystal monochromator was tested at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) beamline BL3. It exhibited less than 1 arcsec of thermal strain up to a maximum incident power of 186 W and average power density of 521 W/mm{sup 2}. Data were collected for the thin (0.7 mm) portion of the crystal and for the thick (>25 mm) part. Rocking curves were measured as a function of incident power. With a low power beam, the Si(333) rocking curve at 30 keV for the thin and thick sections was < 1 arcsec FWHM at room temperature. The rocking curve of the thin section increased to 2.0 arcsec when cooled to 78 K, while the thick part was unaffected by the reduction in temperature. The rocking curve of the thin section broadened to 2.5 arcsec FWHM and that of the thick section broadened to 1.7 arcsec at the highest incident power. The proven range of performance for this monochromator has been extended to the power density, but not the absorbed power, expected for the Advanced Photon Source (APS) undulator A in closed-gap operation (first harmonic at 3.27 keV) at a storage-ring current of 300 mA
Oxalate formation under the hyperarid conditions of the Atacama desert as a mineral marker to provide clues to the source of organic carbon on Mars
In this study, we report the detection and characterization of the organic minerals weddellite
(CaC2O4 ¡ 2H2O) and whewellite (CaC2O4 ¡ H2O) in the hyperarid, Mars-like conditions of the Salar Grande,
Atacama desert, Chile. Weddellite and whewellite are commonly of biological origin on Earth and have great
potential for preserving records of carbon geochemistry and possible biological activity on Mars if they
are present there. Weddellite and whewellite have been found as secondary minerals occurring inside the
lower detrital unit that fills the Salar Grande basin. The extremely low solubility of most oxalate minerals
inhibits detection of oxalate by ion chromatography (IC). Crystalline oxalates, including weddellite and
whewellite, were detected by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The association of weddellite with surface biota and its
presence among subsurface detrital materials suggest the potential of a biological origin for Salar Grande
weddellite and whewellite. In this regard, biological activity is uniquely capable of concentrating oxalates
at levels detectable by XRD. The complementary detection of oxalate-bearing phases through IC in the upper
halite-rich unit suggests the presence of a soluble oxalate phase in the basin that is not detected by XRD.
The formation, transport, and concentration of oxalate in the Salar Grande may provide a geochemical
analogue for oxalate-bearing minerals recently suggested to exist on Mars
Multilevel Contracts for Trusted Components
This article contributes to the design and the verification of trusted
components and services. The contracts are declined at several levels to cover
then different facets, such as component consistency, compatibility or
correctness. The article introduces multilevel contracts and a
design+verification process for handling and analysing these contracts in
component models. The approach is implemented with the COSTO platform that
supports the Kmelia component model. A case study illustrates the overall
approach.Comment: In Proceedings WCSI 2010, arXiv:1010.233
Interleukin-15-stimulated natural killer cells clear HIV-1-infected cells following latency reversal ex vivo
Current efforts toward human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) eradication include approaches to augment immune recognition and elimination of persistently infected cells following latency reversal. Natural killer (NK) cells, the main effectors of the innate immune system, recognize and clear targets using different mechanisms than CD8+ T cells, offering an alternative or complementary approach for HIV clearance strategies. We assessed the impact of interleukin 15 (IL-15) treatment on NK cell function and the potential for stimulated NK cells to clear the HIV reservoir. We measured NK cell receptor expression, antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC), cytotoxicity, interferon gamma (IFN-Îł) production, and antiviral activity in autologous HIV replication systems. All NK cell functions were uniformly improved by IL-15, and, more importantly, IL-15-treated NK cells were able to clear latently HIV-infected cells after exposure to vorinostat, a clinically relevant latency-reversing agent. We also demonstrate that NK cells from HIV-infected individuals aviremic on antiretroviral therapy can be efficiently stimulated with IL-15. Our work opens a promising line of investigation leading to future immunotherapies to clear persistent HIV infection using NK cells
Quark exchange model for charmonium dissociation in hot hadronic matter
A diagrammatic approach to quark exchange processes in meson-meson scattering
is applied to the case of inelastic reactions of the type
(Q\barQ)+(q\barq)\rightarrow (Q\barq) + (q\barQ), where and refer to
heavy and light quarks, respectively. This string-flip process is discussed as
a microscopic mechanism for charmonium dissociation (absorption) in hadronic
matter. The cross section for the reaction is
calculated using a potential model, which is fitted to the meson mass spectrum.
The temperature dependence of the relaxation time for the \J/Psi distribution
in a homogeneous thermal pion gas is obtained. The use of charmonium for the
diagnostics of the state of hot hadronic matter produced in ultrarelativistic
nucleus-nucleus collisions is discussed.Comment: 24 pages, 3 tables, 7 figure
Molecular phenotyping of multiple mouse strains under metabolic challenge uncovers a role for <i>Elovl2</i> in glucose-induced insulin secretion.
In type 2 diabetes (T2D), pancreatic β cells become progressively dysfunctional, leading to a decline in insulin secretion over time. In this study, we aimed to identify key genes involved in pancreatic beta cell dysfunction by analyzing multiple mouse strains in parallel under metabolic stress.
Male mice from six commonly used non-diabetic mouse strains were fed a high fat or regular chow diet for three months. Pancreatic islets were extracted and phenotypic measurements were recorded at 2 days, 10 days, 30 days, and 90 days to assess diabetes progression. RNA-Seq was performed on islet tissue at each time-point and integrated with the phenotypic data in a network-based analysis.
A module of co-expressed genes was selected for further investigation as it showed the strongest correlation to insulin secretion and oral glucose tolerance phenotypes. One of the predicted network hub genes was <i>Elovl2</i> , encoding Elongase of very long chain fatty acids 2. <i>Elovl2</i> silencing decreased glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in mouse and human β cell lines.
Our results suggest a role for <i>Elovl2</i> in ensuring normal insulin secretory responses to glucose. Moreover, the large comprehensive dataset and integrative network-based approach provides a new resource to dissect the molecular etiology of β cell failure under metabolic stress
Search for the glueball candidates f0(1500) and fJ(1710) in gamma gamma collisions
Data taken with the ALEPH detector at LEP1 have been used to search for gamma
gamma production of the glueball candidates f0(1500) and fJ(1710) via their
decay to pi+pi-. No signal is observed and upper limits to the product of gamma
gamma width and pi+pi- branching ratio of the f0(1500) and the fJ(1710) have
been measured to be Gamma_(gamma gamma -> f0(1500)). BR(f0(1500)->pi+pi-) <
0.31 keV and Gamma_(gamma gamma -> fJ(1710)). BR(fJ(1710)->pi+pi-) < 0.55 keV
at 95% confidence level.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure
Search for supersymmetry with a dominant R-parity violating LQDbar couplings in e+e- collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 130GeV to 172 GeV
A search for pair-production of supersymmetric particles under the assumption
that R-parity is violated via a dominant LQDbar coupling has been performed
using the data collected by ALEPH at centre-of-mass energies of 130-172 GeV.
The observed candidate events in the data are in agreement with the Standard
Model expectation. This result is translated into lower limits on the masses of
charginos, neutralinos, sleptons, sneutrinos and squarks. For instance, for
m_0=500 GeV/c^2 and tan(beta)=sqrt(2) charginos with masses smaller than 81
GeV/c^2 and neutralinos with masses smaller than 29 GeV/c^2 are excluded at the
95% confidence level for any generation structure of the LQDbar coupling.Comment: 32 pages, 30 figure
Search for a W' boson decaying to a bottom quark and a top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV
Results are presented from a search for a W' boson using a dataset
corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected
during 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV.
The W' boson is modeled as a heavy W boson, but different scenarios for the
couplings to fermions are considered, involving both left-handed and
right-handed chiral projections of the fermions, as well as an arbitrary
mixture of the two. The search is performed in the decay channel W' to t b,
leading to a final state signature with a single lepton (e, mu), missing
transverse energy, and jets, at least one of which is tagged as a b-jet. A W'
boson that couples to fermions with the same coupling constant as the W, but to
the right-handed rather than left-handed chiral projections, is excluded for
masses below 1.85 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the first time using LHC
data, constraints on the W' gauge coupling for a set of left- and right-handed
coupling combinations have been placed. These results represent a significant
improvement over previously published limits.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B. Replaced with version publishe
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