Ballistic Thermal Transistor of Dielectric Four-terminal Nanostructures

We report a theoretical model for a thermal transistor in dielectric four-terminal nanostructures based on mesoscopic ballistic phonon transport, in which a steady thermal flow condition of system is obtained to set up the temperature field effect of gate. In the environment, thermal flow shows the transisting behaviors at low temperatures: saturation, asymmetry, and rectification. The phenomena can be explained reasonably by the nonlinear variation of the temperature dependence of propagating phonon modes in terminals. The results suggest the possibility of the novel nano-thermal transistor fabrication

Variation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigen-specific IFN-γ and IL-17 responses in healthy tuberculin skin test (TST)-positive human subjects.

ObjectiveTo determine the variation of IFN-γ and IL-17 responses to M. tuberculosis antigens in healthy TST+ humans.MethodsWe isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 21 TST+ healthy adults, stimulated them with phytohemagglutinin (PHA), PPD, Ag85B, ESAT-6, and live M. bovis BCG, and assayed IFN-γ and IL-17 secretion by ELISA in supernatants after 24 or 72 hours of incubation respectively.ResultsAs in other studies, we found a wide range of IFN-γ responses to M. tuberculosis antigens; the variation significantly exceeded that observed in the same donors to the polyclonal T cell stimulus, phytohemagglutinin (PHA). In addition, we assayed IL-17 secretion in response to the same stimuli, and found less subject-to-subject variation. Analysis of the ratio of IFN-γ to IL-17 secretion on a subject-to-subject basis also revealed a wide range, with the majority of results distributed in a narrow range, and a minority with extreme results all of which were greater than that in the majority of subjects. The data suggest that study of exceptional responses to M. tuberculosis antigens may reveal immunologic correlates with specific outcomes of M. tuberculosis infection.ConclusionVariation of IFNγ and IFN-γ/IL-17 responses to mycobacterial antigens exceeds that of responses to the polyclonal stimulus, PHA, in TST positive healthy humans. This indicates a quantitative spectrum of human immune responses to infection with M. tuberculosis. Since the outcome of human infection with M. tuberculosis varies greatly, systematic study of multiple immune responses to multiple antigens is likely to reveal correlations between selected immune responses and the outcomes of infection

Fast primal-dual algorithms via dynamics for linearly constrained convex optimization problems

By time discretization of a primal-dual dynamical system, we propose an inexact primal-dual algorithm, linked to the Nesterov's acceleration scheme, for the linear equality constrained convex optimization problem. We also consider an inexact linearized primal-dual algorithm for the composite problem with linear constrains. Under suitable conditions, we show that these algorithms enjoy fast convergence properties. Finally, we study the convergence properties of the primal-dual dynamical system to better understand the accelerated schemes of the proposed algorithms. We also report numerical experiments to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms

Fast convergence of primal-dual dynamics and algorithms with time scaling for linear equality constrained convex optimization problems

We propose a primal-dual dynamic with time scaling for a linear equality constrained convex optimization problem, which consists of a second-order ODE for the primal variable and a first-order ODE for the dual variable. Without assuming strong convexity, we prove its fast convergence property and show that the obtained fast convergence property is preserved under a small perturbation. We also develop an inexact primal-dual algorithm derived by a time discretization, and derive the fast convergence property matching that of the underlying dynamic. Finally, we give numerical experiments to illustrate the validity of the proposed algorithm

Violations of the weak cosmic censorship conjecture in the higher dimensional f(R)f(R) black holes with pressure

We adopt the energy momentum relation of charged particles to study the thermodynamics laws and weak cosmic censorship conjecture of $D$-dimensional $f(R)$ AdS black holes in different phase spaces by considering charged particle absorption. In the normal phase space, it turns out that the laws of thermodynamic and the weak cosmic censorship conjecture are valid. In the extended phase space, though the first law of thermodynamics is valid, the second law of thermodynamics is invalid. More interestingly, the weak cosmic censorship conjecture is shown to be violated only in higher-dimensional near-extremal $f(R)$ AdS black holes. In addition, the magnitudes of the violations for both the second law and weak cosmic censorship conjecture are dependent on the charge $Q$, constant scalar curvature $f'(R_0)$, AdS radius $l$, dimension parameters $p$, and their variations.Comment: Accepted by Eur. Phys. J.

Cloning and selection of reference genes for gene expression studies in Ananas comosus

Full length mRNA sequences of Ac-β-actin and Ac-gapdh, and partial mRNA sequences of Ac-18SrRNA and Ac-ubiquitin were cloned from pineapple in this study. The four genes were tested as housekeeping genes in three experimental sets. GeNorm and NormFinder analysis revealed that β-actin was the most appropriate reference gene for qPCR analysis of callus under induction conditions and in different tissue types, meanwhile, 18SrRNA was the most stable reference gene during organ development. Gapdh was the most unstable gene in all tested experimental sets. Transcript level analysis result of AcSERK1 in stressed callus normalized by β-actin and 18SrRNA further confirmed that reference genes selected in this study were suitable for transcript level analysis of pineapple. The expression pattern of AcSERK1 during somatic embryogenesis normalized by β-actin coincided with the cytological features of calluses during somatic embryogenesis. These results will enable more accurate and reliable normalization of qPCR results for transcription analysis in pineapple. Keywords: Reference genes, qPCR, pineapple, geNorm, NormFinder African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 11(29), pp. 7424-7433, 10 April, 201

Study of qqqqˉQqqq\bar{q}Q pentaquark system in the Chiral Quark Model

With the discovery of some hidden-charm pentaquark resonances by the LHCb Collaboration, investigations of pentaquark states containing heavy quarks have aroused the interest of theorists. We study herein $qqq\bar{q}Q$ ($q = u$ or $d$, $Q=c$ or $b$) pentaquark system, in the framework of the chiral quark model. In consequence, some charmed and bottomed pentaquarks are considered to exist by five-body dynamical calculations. In the charm sector, $\Sigma_c\pi(IJ^P=0\frac{1}{2}^-)$ and $\Sigma_c^*\pi(IJ^P=0\frac{3}{2}^-)$ are possible candidates of $\Lambda_c(2595)$ and $\Lambda_c(2625)$, respectively. Besides, two high-spin states, $\Sigma_c^*\rho(IJ^P=0\frac{5}{2}^-)$ and $\Delta D^*(IJ^P=1\frac{5}{2}^-)$, are also found in the energy region of $3.2 \sim 3.3$ GeV. In the bottom sector, $\Sigma_b\pi(IJ^P=0\frac{1}{2}^-)$, $\Sigma_b^*\pi(IJ^P=0\frac{3}{2}^-)$ could be candidates of $\Lambda_b(5912)$ and $\Lambda_b(5920)$, respectively. And $\Sigma_b^*\rho(IJ^P=0\frac{5}{2}^-)$ and $\Delta B^*(IJ^P=1\frac{5}{2}^-)$ are found in the energy region of $6.5 \sim 6.6$ GeV. $\Sigma_c^{(*)}\pi$ and $\Sigma_b^{(*)}\pi$ are expected as compact states, while $\Sigma_c^*\rho$, $\Sigma_b^*\rho$, $\Delta D^*$ and $\Delta B^*$ are expected as molecular states.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figur