811 research outputs found
Terahertz Atmospheric Windows for High Angular Resolution Terahertz Astronomy from Dome A
Atmospheric transmission from Dome A, Antarctica, presents new possibilities
in the field of terahertz astronomy, where space telescopes have been the only
observational tools until now. Using atmospheric transmission measurements from
Dome A with a Fourier transform spectrometer, transmission spectra and
long-term stabilities have been analyzed at 1.461 THz, 3.393 THz, 5.786 THz and
7.1 THz, which show that important atmospheric windows for terahertz astronomy
open for a reasonable length of time in the winter season. With large aperture
terahertz telescopes and interferometers at Dome A, high angular resolution
terahertz observations are foreseen of atomic fine-structure lines from ionized
gas and a water ice feature from protoplanetary disks.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Advances in Polar Scienc
Multi-epoch, multi-frequency VLBI study of the parsec-scale jet in the blazar 3C 66A
We present the observational results of the Gamma-ray blazar, 3C 66A, at 2.3,
8.4, and 22 GHz at 4 epochs during 2004-05 with the VLBA. The resulting images
show an overall core-jet structure extending roughly to the south with two
intermediate breaks occurring in the region near the core. By model-fitting to
the visibility data, the northmost component, which is also the brightest, is
identified as the core according to its relatively flat spectrum and its
compactness. As combined with some previous results to investigate the proper
motions of the jet components, it is found the kinematics of 3C 66A is quite
complicated with components of inward and outward, subluminal and superluminal
motions all detected in the radio structure. The superluminal motions indicate
strong Doppler boosting exists in the jet. The apparent inward motions of the
innermost components last for at least 10 years and could not be caused by
new-born components. The possible reason could be non-stationarity of the core
due to opacity change.Comment: 24 pages, 4 figure
Weight and volume changing device with liquid metal transfer
This paper presents a weight-changing device based on the transfer of mass. We chose liquid metal (Ga-In-Tin eutectic) and a bi-directional pump to control the mass that is injected into or removed from a target object. The liquid metal has a density of 6.44g/cm3, which is about six times heavier than water, and is thus suitable for effective mass transfer. We also combine the device with a dynamic volume-changing function to achieve programmable mass and volume at the same time. We explore three potential applications enabled by weight-changing devices: density simulation of different materials, miniature representation of planets with scaled size and mass, and motion control by changing gravity force. This technique opens up a new design space in human-computer interactions
FocalSpace: Multimodal Activity Tracking, Synthetic Blur and Adapative Presentation for Video Conferencing
We introduce FocalSpace, a video conferencing system that dynamically recognizes relevant activities and objects through depth sensing and hybrid tracking of multimodal cues, such as voice, gesture, and proximity to surfaces. FocalSpace uses this information to enhance users' focus by diminishing the background through synthetic blur effects. We present scenarios that support the suppression of visual distraction, provide contextual augmentation, and enable privacy in dynamic mobile environments. Our user evaluation indicates increased memory accuracy and user preference for FocalSpace techniques compared to traditional video conferencing
Antioxidant properties of lutein contribute to the protection against lipopolysaccharide-induced uveitis in mice
The Energy Crisis in CPT II Variant Fibroblasts
Carnitine palmitoyltransferase II (CPT II) deficiency is one of the most common causes of fatty acid oxidation metabolism disorders. However, the molecular mechanism between CPT2 gene polymorphisms and metabolic stress has not been fully clarified. We previously reported that a number of patients show a thermal instable phenotype of compound hetero/homozygous variants of CPT II. To understand the mechanism of the metabolic disorder resulting from CPT II deficiency, the present study investigated CPT II variants in patient fibroblasts, [c.1102 G>A (p.V368I)] (heterozygous), [c.1102 G>A (p.V368I)] (homozygous), and [c.1055 T>G (p.F352C)] (heterozygous) + [c.1102 G>A (p.V368I)] (homozygous) compared with fibroblasts from healthy controls. CPT II variants exerted an effect of dominant negative on the homotetrameric proteins that showed thermal instability, reduced residual enzyme activities and a short half-life. Moreover, CPT II variant fibroblasts showed a significant decrease in fatty acid β-oxidation and adenosine triphosphate generation, combined with a reduced mitochondrial membrane potential, resulting in cellular apoptosis. Collectively, our data indicate that the CPT II deficiency induces an energy crisis of the fatty acid metabolic pathway. These findings may contribute to the elucidation of the genetic factors involved in metabolic disorder encephalopathy caused by the CPT II deficiency
Effects of Welding Residual Stresses and Initial Deflection on Rigidity and Strength of Square Plates Subjected to Compression (Report II)
Effects of Welding Residual Stresses and Initial Deflection on Rigidity and Strength of Square Plates Subjected to Compression
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