512 research outputs found
Ultrasensitive investigations of biological systems by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy
Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) extracts information about molecular dynamics from the tiny fluctuations that can be observed in the emission of small ensembles of fluorescent molecules in thermodynamic equilibrium. Employing a confocal setup in conjunction with highly dilute samples, the average number of fluorescent particles simultaneously within the measurement volume (similar to1 fl) is minimized. Among the multitude of chemical and physical parameters accessible by FCS are local concentrations, mobility coefficients, rate constants for association and dissociation processes, and even enzyme kinetics. As any reaction causing an alteration of the primary measurement parameters such as fluorescence brightness or mobility can be monitored, the application of this noninvasive method to unravel processes in living cells is straightforward. Due to the high spatial resolution of less than 0.5 mum, selective measurements in cellular compartments, e.g., to probe receptor-ligand interactions on cell membranes, are feasible. Moreover, the observation of local molecular dynamics provides access to environmental parameters such as local oxygen concentrations, pH, or viscosity. Thus, this versatile technique is of particular attractiveness for researchers striving for quantitative assessment of interactions and dynamics of small molecular quantities in biologically relevant systems. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved
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BEARS: Radioactive ion beams at LBNL
BEARS (Berkeley Experiments with Accelerated Radioactive Species) is an initiative to develop a radioactive ion-beam capability at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The aim is to produce isotopes at an existing medical cyclotron and to accelerate them at the 88 inch Cyclotron. To overcome the 300-meter physical separation of these two accelerators, a carrier-gas transport system will be used. At the terminus of the capillary, the carrier gas will be separated and the isotopes will be injected into the 88 inch Cyclotron`s Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) ion source. The first radioactive beams to be developed will include 20-min {sup 11}C and 70-sec {sup 14}O, produced by (p,n) and (p,{alpha}) reactions on low-Z targets. A test program is currently being conducted at the 88 inch Cyclotron to develop the parts of the BEARS system. Preliminary results of these tests lead to projections of initial {sup 11}C beams of up to 2.5 {times} 10{sup 7} ions/sec and {sup 14}O beams of 3 {times} 10{sup 5} ions/sec
COVID-19 publications: Database coverage, citations, readers, tweets, news, Facebook walls, Reddit posts
© 2020 The Authors. Published by MIT Press. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence.
The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisherâs website: https://doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00066The COVID-19 pandemic requires a fast response from researchers to help address biological,
medical and public health issues to minimize its impact. In this rapidly evolving context,
scholars, professionals and the public may need to quickly identify important new studies. In
response, this paper assesses the coverage of scholarly databases and impact indicators
during 21 March to 18 April 2020. The rapidly increasing volume of research, is particularly
accessible through Dimensions, and less through Scopus, the Web of Science, and PubMed.
Google Scholarâs results included many false matches. A few COVID-19 papers from the
21,395 in Dimensions were already highly cited, with substantial news and social media
attention. For this topic, in contrast to previous studies, there seems to be a high degree of
convergence between articles shared in the social web and citation counts, at least in the
short term. In particular, articles that are extensively tweeted on the day first indexed are
likely to be highly read and relatively highly cited three weeks later. Researchers needing wide
scope literature searches (rather than health focused PubMed or medRxiv searches) should
start with Dimensions (or Google Scholar) and can use tweet and Mendeley reader counts as
indicators of likely importance
On the discovery of doubly-magic Ni
The paper reports on the first observation of doubly-magic Nickel-48 in an
experimental at the SISSI/LISE3 facility of GANIL. Four Nickel-48 isotopes were
identified. In addition, roughly 100 Nickel-49, 50 Iron-45, and 290 Chromium-42
isotopes were observed. This opens the possibility to search for two-proton
emission from these nuclei.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let
Equation of state of asymmetric nuclear matter and collisions of neutron-rich nuclei
The ratio of pre-equilibrium neutrons to protons from collisions of
neutron-rich nuclei is studied as a function of their kinetic energies. This
ratio is found to be sensitive to the density dependence of the nuclear
symmetry energy, but is independent of the compressibility of symmetric nuclear
matter and the in-medium nucleon-nucleon cross sections. The experimental
measurement of this ratio thus provides a novel means for determining the
nuclear equation of state of asymmetric nuclear matter.Comment: 11 pages + 3 postscript figures, Phys. Rev. Lett. (1997) in pres
Social media metrics for new research evaluation
This chapter approaches, both from a theoretical and practical perspective,
the most important principles and conceptual frameworks that can be considered
in the application of social media metrics for scientific evaluation. We
propose conceptually valid uses for social media metrics in research
evaluation. The chapter discusses frameworks and uses of these metrics as well
as principles and recommendations for the consideration and application of
current (and potentially new) metrics in research evaluation.Comment: Forthcoming in Glanzel, W., Moed, H.F., Schmoch U., Thelwall, M.
(2018). Springer Handbook of Science and Technology Indicators. Springe
Mean-field description of ground-state properties of drip-line nuclei. (I) Shell-correction method
A shell-correction method is applied to nuclei far from the beta stability
line and its suitability to describe effects of the particle continuum is
discussed. The sensitivity of predicted locations of one- and two-particle drip
lines to details of the macroscopic-microscopic model is analyzed.Comment: 22 REVTeX pages, 13 uuencoded postscript figures available upon
reques
Rapid reduction versus abrupt quitting for smokers who want to stop soon: a randomised controlled non-inferiority trial
Background: The standard way to stop smoking is to stop abruptly on a quit day with no prior reduction in consumption of cigarettes. Many smokers feel that reduction is natural and if reduction programmes were offered, many more might take up treatment. Few trials of reduction versus abrupt cessation have been completed. Most are small, do not use pharmacotherapy, and do not meet the standards necessary to obtain a marketing authorisation for a pharmacotherapy.\ud
Design/Methods: We will conduct a non-inferiority andomised trial of rapid reduction versus standard abrupt cessation among smokers who want to stop smoking. In the reduction arm,participants will be advised to reduce smoking consumption by half in the first week and to 25% of baseline in the second, leading up to a quit day at which participants will stop smoking completely.This will be assisted by nicotine patches and an acute form of nicotine replacement therapy. In the abrupt arm participants will use nicotine patches only, whilst smoking as normal, for two weeks prior to a quit day, at which they will also stop smoking completely. Smokers in either arm will have standard withdrawal orientated behavioural support programme with a combination of nicotine patches and acute nicotine replacement therapy post-cessation.\ud
Outcomes/Follow-up: The primary outcome of interest will be prolonged abstinence from smoking, with secondary trial outcomes of point prevalence, urges to smoke and withdrawal\ud
symptoms. Follow up will take place at 4 weeks, 8 weeks and 6 months post-quit day
Neutron-Proton Differential Flow as a Probe of Isospin-Dependence of Nuclear Equation of State
The neutron-proton differential flow is shown to be a very useful probe of
the isospin-dependence of the nuclear equation of state (EOS). This novel
approach utilizes constructively both the isospin fractionation and the nuclear
collective flow as well as their sensitivities to the isospin-dependence of the
nuclear EOS. It also avoids effectively uncertainties associated with other
dynamical ingredients of heavy-ion reactions at intermediate energies.Comment: 10 pages + 3 figures. Phys. Rev. Lett. (2000) in pres
Early Mendeley readers correlate with later citation counts
This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Springer in Scientometrics on 26/03/2018, available online: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-018-2715-9
The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.Counts of the number of readers registered in the social reference manager Mendeley have been proposed as an early impact indicator for journal articles. Although previous research has shown that Mendeley reader counts for articles tend to have a strong positive correlation with synchronous citation counts after a few years, no previous studies have compared early Mendeley reader counts with later citation counts. In response, this first diachronic analysis compares reader counts within a month of publication with citation counts after 20 months for ten fields. There were moderate or strong correlations in eight out of ten fields, with the two exceptions being the smallest categories (n=18, 36) with wide confidence intervals. The correlations are higher than the correlations between later citations and early citations, showing that Mendeley reader counts are more useful early impact indicators than citation counts
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