346 research outputs found
Solid domains in lipid vesicles and scars
The free energy of a crystalline domain coexisting with a liquid phase on a
spherical vesicle may be approximated by an elastic or stretching energy and a
line tension term. The stretching energy generally grows as the area of the
domain, while the line tension term grows with its perimeter. We show that if
the crystalline domain contains defect arrays consisting of finite length grain
boundaries of dislocations (scars) the stretching energy grows linearly with a
characteristic length of the crystalline domain. We show that this result is
critical to understand the existence of solid domains in lipid-bilayers in the
strongly segregated two phase region even for small relative area coverages.
The domains evolve from caps to stripes that become thinner as the line tension
is decreased. We also discuss the implications of the results for other
experimental systems and for the general problem that consists in finding the
ground state of a very large number of particles constrained to move on a fixed
geometry and interacting with an isotropic potential.Comment: 7 pages, 6 eps figure
A common rule for decision-making in animal collectives across species
A diversity of decision-making systems has been observed in animal
collectives. In some species, choices depend on the differences of the numbers
of animals that have chosen each of the available options, while in other
species on the relative differences (a behavior known as Weber's law) or follow
more complex rules. We here show that this diversity of decision systems
corresponds to a single rule of decision-making in collectives. We first
obtained a decision rule based on Bayesian estimation that uses the information
provided by the behaviors of the other individuals to improve the estimation of
the structure of the world. We then tested this rule in decision experiments
using zebrafish (Danio rerio), and in existing rich datasets of argentine ants
(Linepithema humile) and sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus), showing that a
unified model across species can quantitatively explain the diversity of
decision systems. Further, these results show that the different counting
systems used by animals, including humans, can emerge from the common principle
of using social information to make good decisions
Lateral phase separation in mixtures of lipids and cholesterol
In an effort to understand "rafts" in biological membranes, we propose phenomenological models for saturated and unsaturated lipid mixtures, and lipid-cholesterol mixtures. We consider simple couplings between the local composition and internal membrane structure, and their influence on transitions between liquid and gel membrane phases. Assuming that the gel transition temperature of the saturated lipid is shifted by the presence of the unsaturated lipid, and that cholesterol acts as an external field on the chain melting transition, a variety of phase diagrams are obtained. The phase diagrams for binary mixtures of saturated/unsaturated lipids and lipid/cholesterol are in semi-quantitative agreement with the experiments. Our results also apply to regions in the ternary phase diagram of lipid/lipid/cholesterol systems
Angular dependence of domain wall resistivity in SrRuO films
is a 4d itinerant ferromagnet (T 150 K) with
stripe domain structure. Using high-quality thin films of SrRuO we study
the resistivity induced by its very narrow ( nm) Bloch domain walls,
(DWR), at temperatures between 2 K and T as a function of the
angle, , between the electric current and the ferromagnetic domains
walls. We find that which provides the first experimental
indication that the angular dependence of spin accumulation contribution to DWR
is . We expect magnetic multilayers to exhibit a similar
behavior.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
Subitizing with Variational Autoencoders
Numerosity, the number of objects in a set, is a basic property of a given
visual scene. Many animals develop the perceptual ability to subitize: the
near-instantaneous identification of the numerosity in small sets of visual
items. In computer vision, it has been shown that numerosity emerges as a
statistical property in neural networks during unsupervised learning from
simple synthetic images. In this work, we focus on more complex natural images
using unsupervised hierarchical neural networks. Specifically, we show that
variational autoencoders are able to spontaneously perform subitizing after
training without supervision on a large amount images from the Salient Object
Subitizing dataset. While our method is unable to outperform supervised
convolutional networks for subitizing, we observe that the networks learn to
encode numerosity as basic visual property. Moreover, we find that the learned
representations are likely invariant to object area; an observation in
alignment with studies on biological neural networks in cognitive neuroscience
Nanoporous Silicified Phospholipids and Application to Controlled Glycolic Acid Release
This work demonstrates the synthesis and characterization of novel nanoporous silicified phospholipid bilayers assembled inorganic powders. The materials are obtained by silicification process with silica precursor at the hydrophilic region of phospholipid bilayers. This process involves the co-assembly of a chemically active phospholipids bilayer within the ordered porosity of a silica matrix and holds promise as a novel application for controlled drug release or drug containers with a high level of specificity and throughput. The controlled release application of the synthesized materials was achieved to glycolic acid, and obtained a zero-order release pattern due to the nanoporosity
Modified Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR)-Bearing Liposomes (MRBLs) Are Sensitive to EGF in Solution
Cancers often overexpress EGF and other growth factors to promote cell replication and migration. Previous work has not produced targeted drug carriers sensitive to abnormal amounts of growth factors. This work demonstrates that liposomes bearing EGF receptors covalently crosslinked to p-toluic acid or methyl-PEO4-NHS ester (or, in short, MRBLs) exhibit an increased rate of release of encapsulated drug compounds when EGF is present in solution. Furthermore, the modified EGF receptors retain the abilities to form dimers in the presence of EGF and bind specifically to EGF. These results demonstrate that MRBLs are sensitive to EGF in solution and indicate that MRBL-reconstituted modified EGF receptors, in the presence of EGF in solution, form dimers which increase MRBL permeability to encapsulated compounds
Hand gesture-based interactive puppetry system to assist storytelling for children
© 2016 The Author(s)Digital techniques have been used to assist narrative and storytelling, especially in many pedagogical practices. With the rapid development of HCI techniques, saturated with digital media in their daily lives, young children, demands more interactive learning methods and meaningful immersive learning experiences. In this paper, we propose a novel hand gesture-based puppetry storytelling system which provides a more intuitive and natural human computer interaction method for young children to develop narrative ability in virtual story world. Depth motion sensing and hand gestures control technology is utilized in the implementation of user-friendly interaction. Young players could intuitively use hand gestures to manipulate virtual puppet to perform story and interact with different items in virtual environment to assist narration. Based on the result of the evaluation, this novel digital storytelling system shows positive pedagogical functions on children’s narrating ability as well as the competencies of cognitive and motor coordination. The usability of the system is preliminary examined in our test, and the results which showed that young children can benefit from playing with Puppet Narrator
Amicus Brief, Lebron v. Gottlieb Memorial Hospital
Illinois Public Act 82-280, § 2-1706.5, as amended by P.A. 94-677, § 330 (eff. Aug. 25, 2005), and as codified as 735 ILCS 5/2-1706.5(a), imposes a 1 million “cap” on the noneconomic damages that may be awarded against a hospital, its affiliates, or their employees.
This brief will address two of the questions presented for review by the parties:
1. Does the cap violate the Illinois Constitution’s prohibition on “special legislation,” Art. IV, § 3, because it unnecessarily, arbitrarily, and irrationally grants exceptional benefits and privileges exclusively to certain classes of tort defendants.
2. Does the cap violate the Illinois Constitution’s guarantee of “equal protection,” Art. I, § 2, because it unnecessarily, arbitrarily, and irrationally imposes extraordinary burdens uniquely upon certain classes and sub-classes of tort plaintiffs
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