Growth of (110) Diamond using pure Dicarbon

We use a density-functional based tight-binding method to study diamond growth steps by depositing dicarbon species onto a hydrogen-free diamond (110) surface. Subsequent C_2 molecules are deposited on an initially clean surface, in the vicinity of a growing adsorbate cluster, and finally, near vacancies just before completion of a full new monolayer. The preferred growth stages arise from C_2n clusters in near ideal lattice positions forming zigzag chains running along the [-110] direction parallel to the surface. The adsorption energies are consistently exothermic by 8--10 eV per C_2, depending on the size of the cluster. The deposition barriers for these processes are in the range of 0.0--0.6 eV. For deposition sites above C_2n clusters the adsorption energies are smaller by 3 eV, but diffusion to more stable positions is feasible. We also perform simulations of the diffusion of C_2 molecules on the surface in the vicinity of existing adsorbate clusters using an augmented Lagrangian penalty method. We find migration barriers in excess of 3 eV on the clean surface, and 0.6--1.0 eV on top of graphene-like adsorbates. The barrier heights and pathways indicate that the growth from gaseous dicarbons proceeds either by direct adsorption onto clean sites or after migration on top of the existing C_2n chains.Comment: 8 Pages, 7 figure

Performance of one-dimensional hydrodynamic lake models during short-term extreme weather events

Numerical lake models are useful tools to study hydrodynamics in lakes, and are increasingly applied to extreme weather events. However, little is known about the accuracy of such models during these short-term events. We used high-frequency data from three lakes to test the performance of three one-dimensional (1D) hydrodynamic models (Simstrat, GOTM, GLM) during storms and heatwaves. Models reproduced the overall direction and magnitude of changes during the extreme events, with accurate timing and little bias. Changes in volume-averaged and surface temperatures and Schmidt stability were simulated more accurately than changes in bottom temperature, maximum buoyancy frequency, or mixed layer depth. However, in most cases the model error was higher (30-100%) during extreme events compared to reference periods. As a consequence, while 1D lake models can be used to study effects of extreme weather events, the increased uncertainty in the simulations should be taken into account when interpreting results

A Fast Scan Submillimeter Spectroscopic Technique

A new fast scan submillimeter spectroscopic technique (FASSST) has been developed which uses a voltage tunable backward wave oscillator (BWO) as a primary source of radiation, but which uses fast scan (~105 Doppler limited resolution elements/s) and optical calibration methods rather than the more traditional phase or frequency lock techniques. Among its attributes are (1) absolute frequency calibration to ~1/10 of a Doppler limited gaseous absorption linewidth (\u3c0.1 MHz, 0.000 003 cm-1), (2) high sensitivity, and (3) the ability to measure many thousands of lines/s. Key elements which make this system possible include the excellent short term spectral purity of the broadly (~100 GHz) tunable BWO; a very low noise, rapidly scannable high voltage power supply; fast data acquisition; and software capable of automated calibration and spectral line measurement. In addition to the unique spectroscopic power of the FASSST system, its implementation is simple enough that it has the prospect of impacting a wide range of scientific problems

Ulcerative colitis-risk loci on chromosomes 1p36 and 12q15 found by genome-wide association study.

Ulcerative colitis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the colon that presents as diarrhea and gastrointestinal bleeding. We performed a genome-wide association study using DNA samples from 1,052 individuals with ulcerative colitis and preexisting data from 2,571 controls, all of European ancestry. In an analysis that controlled for gender and population structure, ulcerative colitis loci attaining genome-wide significance and subsequent replication in two independent populations were identified on chromosomes 1p36 (rs6426833, combined P = 5.1 x 10(-13), combined odds ratio OR = 0.73) and 12q15 (rs1558744, combined P = 2.5 x 10(-12), combined OR = 1.35). In addition, combined genome-wide significant evidence for association was found in a region spanning BTNL2 to HLA-DQB1 on chromosome 6p21 (rs2395185, combined P = 1.0 x 10(-16), combined OR = 0.66) and at the IL23R locus on chromosome 1p31 (rs11209026, combined P = 1.3 x 10(-8), combined OR = 0.56; rs10889677, combined P = 1.3 x 10(-8), combined OR = 1.29)

Defining the role of the MHC in autoimmunity: a review and pooled analysis

Abstract: The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is one of the most extensively studied regions in the human genome because of the association of variants at this locus with autoimmune, infectious, and inflammatory diseases. However, identification of causal variants within the MHC for the majority of these diseases has remained difficult due to the great variability and extensive linkage disequilibrium (LD) that exists among alleles throughout this locus, coupled with inadequate study design whereby only a limited subset of about 20 from a total of approximately 250 genes have been studied in small cohorts of predominantly European origin. We have performed a review and pooled analysis of the past 30 years of research on the role of the MHC in six genetically complex disease traits -multiple sclerosis (MS), type 1 diabetes (T1D), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), ulcerative colitis (UC), Crohn's disease (CD), and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) -in order to consolidate and evaluate the current literature regarding MHC genetics in these common autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. We corroborate established MHC disease associations and identify predisposing variants that previously have not been appreciated. Furthermore, we find a number of interesting commonalities and differences across diseases that implicate both general and disease-specific pathogenetic mechanisms in autoimmunity

The prognostic significance of genetic polymorphisms (Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase C677T, Methionine Synthase A2756G, Thymidilate Synthase tandem repeat polymorphism) in multimodally treated oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma

The present study retrospectively examined the correlation between the outcome of patients with locally advanced oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (cT3-4 cN0-1 cM0) after multimodal treatment (radiochemotherapy±surgical resection), and the presence of genetic polymorphisms in genes involved in folate metabolism. In total, 68 patients who took part in a prospective multicentric trial received 5-fluorouracil (FU)-based radiochemotherapy, optionally followed by surgery. DNA was extracted from pretherapeutic tumour biopsies and was subsequently genotyped for common genetic polymorphisms of three genes (MTHFR C677T, MTR A2756G, TS tandem repeat polymorphism) involved in folate metabolism and potentially in sensitivity to 5-FU-based chemotherapy. The genotypes were correlated with tumour response to polychemotherapy, radiochemotherapy and with overall survival. Tumours with the MTR wild-type genotype (2756AA) showed a median survival time of 16 months, whereas tumours with an MTR variant genotype (2756AG/2756GG) showed a median survival time of 42 months (P=0.0463). No prognostic impact could be verified for the genotypes of the MTHFR genes and the TS gene. Among tumours treated with radiochemotherapy and subsequent resection, MTR variant genotype showed higher histopathological response rate than tumours with MTR wild-type genotype (P=0.0442). In contrast, no significant relationship between clinically determined tumour regression after polychemotherapy and polymorphisms of the three genes under analysis was observed. In conclusion, pretherapeutic determination of the MTR A2756G polymorphism may predict survival of multimodally treated oesophageal squamous cell carcinomas. Determination of MTHFR C677T and TS tandem repeat polymorphism has no predictive value

A review of silhouette extraction algorithms for use within visual hull pipelines

© 2020, © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Markerless motion capture would permit the study of human biomechanics in environments where marker-based systems are impractical, e.g. outdoors or underwater. The visual hull tool may enable such data to be recorded, but it requires the accurate detection of the silhouette of the object in multiple camera views. This paper reviews the top-performing algorithms available to date for silhouette extraction, with the visual hull in mind as the downstream application; the rationale is that higher-quality silhouettes would lead to higher-quality visual hulls, and consequently better measurement of movement. This paper is the first attempt in the literature to compare silhouette extraction algorithms that belong to different fields of Computer Vision, namely background subtraction, semantic segmentation, and multi-view segmentation. It was found that several algorithms exist that would be substantial improvements over the silhouette extraction algorithms traditionally used in visual hull pipelines. In particular, FgSegNet v2 (a background subtraction algorithm), DeepLabv3+ JFT (a semantic segmentation algorithm), and Djelouah 2013 (a multi-view segmentation algorithm) are the most accurate and promising methods for the extraction of silhouettes from 2D images to date, and could seamlessly be integrated within a visual hull pipeline for studies of human movement or biomechanics