599 research outputs found
Separation of phosphorylated from non-phosphorylated LHCP polypeptides by two-dimensional electrophoresis
Abstract‘In vitro’ phosphorylated thylakoid polypeptides were studied by means of different electrophoretic techniques. A highly resolving two-dimensional electrophoresis method, recently developed in the laboratory using CHAPS and SDS as detergent for electrofocusing, allows the separation of each of the LHCP apoproteins into several molecular species. Those having more acidic isoelectric points correspond to the phosphorylated forms
Autocorrelation analysis for the unbiased determination of power-law exponents in single-quantum-dot blinking
We present an unbiased and robust analysis method for power-law blinking
statistics in the photoluminescence of single nano-emitters, allowing us to
extract both the bright- and dark-state power-law exponents from the emitters'
intensity autocorrelation functions. As opposed to the widely-used threshold
method, our technique therefore does not require discriminating the emission
levels of bright and dark states in the experimental intensity timetraces. We
rely on the simultaneous recording of 450 emission timetraces of single
CdSe/CdS core/shell quantum dots at a frame rate of 250 Hz with single photon
sensitivity. Under these conditions, our approach can determine ON and OFF
power-law exponents with a precision of 3% from a comparison to numerical
simulations, even for shot-noise-dominated emission signals with an average
intensity below 1 photon per frame and per quantum dot. These capabilities pave
the way for the unbiased, threshold-free determination of blinking power-law
exponents at the micro-second timescale
Electron and hole g-factors and spin dynamics of negatively charged excitons in CdSe/CdS colloidal nanoplatelets with thick shells
We address spin properties and spin dynamics of carriers and charged excitons
in CdSe/CdS colloidal nanoplatelets with thick shells. Magneto-optical studies
are performed by time-resolved and polarization-resolved photoluminescence,
spin-flip Raman scattering and picosecond pump-probe Faraday rotation in
magnetic fields up to 30 T. We show that at low temperatures the nanoplatelets
are negatively charged so that their photoluminescence is dominated by
radiative recombination of negatively charged excitons (trions). Electron
g-factor of 1.68 is measured and heavy-hole g-factor varying with increasing
magnetic field from -0.4 to -0.7 is evaluated. Hole g-factors for
two-dimensional structures are calculated for various hole confining potentials
for cubic- and wurtzite lattice in CdSe core. These calculations are extended
for various quantum dots and nanoplatelets based on II-VI semiconductors. We
developed a magneto-optical technique for the quantitative evaluation of the
nanoplatelets orientation in ensemble
Hindered Coulomb explosion of embedded Na clusters -- stopping, shape dynamics and energy transport
We investigate the dynamical evolution of a Na cluster embedded in Ar
matrices of various sizes from N=30 to 1048. The system is excited by an
intense short laser pulse leading to high ionization stages. We analyze the
subsequent highly non-linear motion of cluster and Ar environment in terms of
trajectories, shapes, and energy flow. The most prominent effects are:
temporary stabilization of high charge states for several ps, sudden stopping
of the Coulomb explosion of the embedded Na clusters associated with an
extremely fast energy transfer to the Ar matrix, fast distribution of energy
throughout the Ar layers by a sound wave. Other ionic-atomic transfer and
relaxation processes proceed at slower scale of few ps. The electron cloud is
almost thermally decoupled from ions and thermalizes far beyond the ps scale.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures, accepted in Euro. Phys. J.
Addressing the exciton fine structure in colloidal nanocrystals: the case of CdSe nanoplatelets
We study the band-edge exciton fine structure and in particular its
bright-dark splitting in colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals by four different
optical methods based on fluorescence line narrowing and time-resolved
measurements at various temperatures down to 2 K. We demonstrate that all these
methods provide consistent splitting values and discuss their advances and
limitations. Colloidal CdSe nanoplatelets with thicknesses of 3, 4 and 5
monolayers are chosen for experimental demonstrations. The bright-dark
splitting of excitons varies from 3.2 to 6.0 meV and is inversely proportional
to the nanoplatelet thickness. Good agreement between experimental and
theoretically calculated size dependence of the bright-dark exciton slitting is
achieved. The recombination rates of the bright and dark excitons and the
bright to dark relaxation rate are measured by time-resolved techniques
Optical alignment and orientation of excitons in ensemble of core/shell CdSe/CdS colloidal nanoplatelets
We report on the experimental and theoretical studies of optical alignment
and optical orientation effects in an ensemble of core/shell CdSe/CdS colloidal
nanoplatelets. The dependences of three Stokes parameters on the magnetic field
applied in the Faraday geometry are measured under continuous wave resonant
excitation of the exciton photoluminescence. Theoretical model is developed to
take into account both bright and dark exciton states in the case of strong
electron and hole exchange interaction and random in-plane orientation of the
nanoplatelets in ensemble. The data analysis allows us to estimate the time and
energy parameters of the bright and dark excitons. The optical alignment effect
enables identification of the exciton and trion contributions to the
photoluminescence spectrum even in the absence of a clear spectral line
resolution.Comment: main paper (17 pages) and SI (6 pages
The statistical analysis of a clinical trial when a protocol amendment changed the inclusion criteria
Abstract Background Sometimes, protocol amendments that change the inclusion and exclusion criteria are required in clinical trials. Then, the patient populations before and after the amendment may differ. Methods We propose to perform separate statistical tests for the different phases, i.e. for the patients recruited before and after the amendment, and to combine the tests using Fisher's combination test. After a significant combination test a multiple testing procedure can be applied to identify the phase(s) to which a proof of efficacy refers. We assume that the amendment(s) are not based on any type of unblinded data. The proposed method is investigated within a simulation study. Results The proposed combination approach is superior to the 'naïve' strategy to ignore the differences between the phases and pooling the data to perform just one statistical test. This superiority disappears when there are hardly any differences between the two phases. Conclusion When one or more protocol amendments change the inclusion and exclusion criteria, one should realize that the populations may differ. In this case, separate tests for the different phases together with a combination test are a powerful method that can be applied in a variety of settings. The (first) amendment should specify the combination test to be applied in order to combine the different phases.</p
Quasi-stationary regime of a branching random walk in presence of an absorbing wall
A branching random walk in presence of an absorbing wall moving at a constant
velocity undergoes a phase transition as the velocity of the wall
varies. Below the critical velocity , the population has a non-zero
survival probability and when the population survives its size grows
exponentially. We investigate the histories of the population conditioned on
having a single survivor at some final time . We study the quasi-stationary
regime for when is large. To do so, one can construct a modified
stochastic process which is equivalent to the original process conditioned on
having a single survivor at final time . We then use this construction to
show that the properties of the quasi-stationary regime are universal when
. We also solve exactly a simple version of the problem, the
exponential model, for which the study of the quasi-stationary regime can be
reduced to the analysis of a single one-dimensional map.Comment: 2 figures, minor corrections, one reference adde
PEG Branched Polymer for Functionalization of Nanomaterials with Ultralong Blood Circulation
Nanomaterials have been actively pursued for biological and medical
applications in recent years. Here, we report the synthesis of several new
poly(ethylene glycol) grafted branched-polymers for functionalization of
various nanomaterials including carbon nanotubes, gold nanoparticles (NP) and
gold nanorods (NRs), affording high aqueous solubility and stability for these
materials. We synthesize different surfactant polymers based upon
poly-(g-glutamic acid) (gPGA) and poly(maleic anhydride-alt-1-octadecene)
(PMHC18). We use the abundant free carboxylic acid groups of gPGA for attaching
lipophilic species such as pyrene or phospholipid, which bind to nanomaterials
via robust physisorption. Additionally, the remaining carboxylic acids on gPGA
or the amine-reactive anhydrides of PMHC18 are then PEGylated, providing
extended hydrophilic groups, affording polymeric amphiphiles. We show that
single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs), Au NPs and NRs functionalized by the
polymers exhibit high stability in aqueous solutions at different pHs, at
elevated temperatures and in serum. Morever, the polymer-coated SWNTs exhibit
remarkably long blood circulation (t1/2 22.1 h) upon intravenous injection into
mice, far exceeding the previous record of 5.4 h. The ultra-long blood
circulation time suggests greatly delayed clearance of nanomaterials by the
reticuloendothelial system (RES) of mice, a highly desired property for in vivo
applications of nanomaterials, including imaging and drug delivery
Avalanches of popping bubbles in collapsing foams
We report acoustic experiments on foam systems. We have recorded the sound
emitted by crackling cells during the collapsing of foams. The sound pattern is
then analyzed using classical methods of statistical physics. Fundamental
processes at the surface of the collapsing foam are found. In particular, size
is not a relevant parameter for exploding bubbles.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, submitted for publicatio
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