Process mapping of laser surface modification of AISI 316L stainless steel for biomedical applications

A 1.5-kW CO2 laser in pulsed mode at 3 kHz was used to investigate the effects of varied laser process parameters and resulting morphology of AISI 316L stainless steel. Irradiance and residence time were varied between 7.9 to 23.6 MW/cm2 and 50 to 167 µs respectively. A strong correlation between irradiance, residence time, depth of processing and roughness of processed steel was established. The high depth of altered microstructure and increased roughness were linked to higher levels of both irradiance and residence times. Energy fluence and surface temperature models were used to predict levels of melting occurring on the surface through the analysis of roughness and depth of the region processed. Microstructural images captured by the SEM revealed significant grain structure changes at higher irradiances, but due to increased residence times, limited to the laser in use, the hardness values were not improved

Conformational studies of the tetramerization site of human erythroid spectrin by cysteine-scanning spin-labeling EPR methods

We used cysteine-scanning and spin-labeling methods to prepare singly spin labeled recombinant peptides for electron paramagnetic resonance studies of the partial domain regions at the tetramerization site (N-terminal end of α and C-terminal end of β) of erythroid spectrin. The values of the inverse line width parameter (ΔH0-1) from a family of SpoI-1-368Δ peptides scanning residues 21-30 exhibited a periodicity of ∼3.5-4. We used molecular dynamics calculations to show that the asymmetric mobility of this helix is not necessarily due to tertiary contacts, but is likely due to intrinsic properties of helix C′, a helix with a heptad pattern sequence. The residues with low ΔH0-1 values (residues at positions 21, 25, and 28/29) were those on the hydrophobic side of this amphipathic helix. Native gel electrophoresis results showed that these residues were functionally important and are involved in the tetramerization process. Thus, EPR results readily identified functionally important residues in the α spectrin partial domain region. Mutations at these positions may lead to clinical symptoms. Similarly, the ΔH0-1 values from a family of spin-labeled SpβI-1898-2083Δ peptides also exhibited a periodicity of ∼3.5-4, indicating a helical conformation in the two scanned regions (residues 2008-2018 and residues 2060-2070). However, the region consisting of residues 2071-2076 was in a disordered conformation. Both helical regions include a hydrophilic side with high ΔH0-1 values and a hydrophobic side with low ΔH0-1 values, demonstrating the amphipathic nature of the helical regions. Residues 2008, 2011, 2014, and 2018 in the first scanned region and residues 2061, 2065, and 2068 in the second scanned region were on the hydrophobic side. These residues were critical in αβ spectrin association at the tetramerization site. Mutations at some of these positions have been reported to be detrimental in clinical studies. © 2005 American Chemical Society

A nondiagrammatic calculation of the Rho parameter from heavy fermions

A simple nondiagrammatic evaluation of the nondecoupling effect of heavy fermions on the Veltman's Rho parameter is presented in detail. This calculation is based on the path integral approach, the electroweak chiral Lagrangian formalism, and the Schwinger proper time method.Comment: 11 page

Gravitational Coupling and Dynamical Reduction of The Cosmological Constant

We introduce a dynamical model to reduce a large cosmological constant to a sufficiently small value. The basic ingredient in this model is a distinction which has been made between the two unit systems used in cosmology and particle physics. We have used a conformal invariant gravitational model to define a particular conformal frame in terms of large scale properties of the universe. It is then argued that the contributions of mass scales in particle physics to the vacuum energy density should be considered in a different conformal frame. In this manner, a decaying mechanism is presented in which the conformal factor appears as a dynamical field and plays a key role to relax a large effective cosmological constant. Moreover, we argue that this model also provides a possible explanation for the coincidence problem.Comment: To appear in GR

Interacting Agegraphic Dark Energy

A new dark energy model, named "agegraphic dark energy", has been proposed recently, based on the so-called K\'{a}rolyh\'{a}zy uncertainty relation, which arises from quantum mechanics together with general relativity. In this note, we extend the original agegraphic dark energy model by including the interaction between agegraphic dark energy and pressureless (dark) matter. In the interacting agegraphic dark energy model, there are many interesting features different from the original agegraphic dark energy model and holographic dark energy model. The similarity and difference between agegraphic dark energy and holographic dark energy are also discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, revtex4; v2: references added; v3: accepted by Eur. Phys. J. C; v4: published versio

The transition form factors for semi-leptonic weak decays of J/ψJ/\psi in QCD sum rules

Within the Standard Model, we investigate the semi-leptonic weak decays of $J/\psi$. The various form factors of $J/\psi$ transiting to a single charmed meson ($D^{(*)}_{(d,s)}$) are studied in the framework of the QCD sum rules. These form factors fully determine the rates of the weak semi-leptonic decays of $J/\psi$ and provide valuable information about the non-perturbative QCD effects. Our results indicate that the decay rate of the semi-leptonic weak decay mode $J/\psi \to D^{(*)-}_{s}+e^{+}+\nu_{e}$ is at order of $10^{-10}$.Comment: 28 pages, 6 figures, revised version to be published in Eur.Phys.J.

Weak decays of J/ψJ/\psi: the non-leptonic case

In our previous study, we calculated the transition from factors of $J/\psi\to D^{(*)}_{(s)}$ using the QCD sum rules. Based on the factorization approximation, the obtained form factors can be applied to evaluate the weak non-leptonic decay rates of $J/\psi\to D^{(*)}_{(s)}+M$, where $M$ stands for a light pseudoscalar or vector meson. We predict that the branching ratio for inclusive non-leptonic two-body weak decays of $J/\psi$ which are realized via the spectator mechanism, can be as large as $1.3 \times 10^{-8}$, in particular, the branching ratio of $J/\psi\to D^{*\pm}_s+\rho^\mp$ can reach $5.3 \times 10^{-9}$. Such values will be marginally accessed by the ability of BESIII which will begin running very soon.Comment: 16 pages, revTex4, 1 figur