2,098 research outputs found
Difference frequency generation by quasi-phase matching in periodically intermixed semiconductor superlattice waveguides
Wavelength conversion by difference frequency generation is demonstrated in domain-disordered quasi-phase-matched waveguides. The waveguide structure consisted of a GaAs/AlGaAs superlattice core that was periodically intermixed by ion implantation. For quasi-phase-matching periods of 3.0–3.8 μm, degeneracy pump wavelengths were found by second-harmonic generation experiments for fundamental wavelengths between 1520 and 1620 nm in both type-I and type-II configurations. In the difference frequency generation experiments, output powers up to 8.7 nW were generated for the type-I phase matching interaction and 1.9 nW for the type-II interaction. The conversion bandwidth was measured to be over 100 nm covering the C, L, and U optical communications bands, which agrees with predictions
QSO hosts and environments at z=0.9 to 4.2: JHK images with adaptive optics
We have observed nine QSOs with redshifts 0.85 to 4.16 at near-IR wavelengths
with the adaptive optics bonnette of the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope.
Exposure times ranged from 1500 to 24000s (mostly near 7000s) in J, H, or K
bands, with pixels 0.035 arcsec on the sky. The FWHM of the co-added images at
the location of the quasars are typically 0.16 arcsec. Including another QSO
published previously, we find associated QSO structure in at least eight of ten
objects, including the QSO at z = 4.16. The structures seen in all cases
include long faint features which appear to be tidal tails. In four cases we
have also resolved the QSO host galaxy, but find them to be smooth and
symmetrical: future PSF removal may expand this result. Including one object
previously reported, of the nine objects with more extended structure, five are
radio-loud, and all but one of these appear to be in a dense small group of
compact galaxy companions. The radio-quiet objects do not occupy the same dense
environments, as seen in the NIR. In this small sample we do not find any
apparent trends of these properties with redshift, over the range 0.8 < z <
2.4. The colors of the host galaxies and companions are consistent with young
stellar populations at the QSO redshift. Our observations suggest that adaptive
optic observations in the visible region will exhibit luminous signatures of
the substantial star-formation activity that must be occurring.Comment: 22 pages including 10 tables, plus 11 figures. To appear in A
Measurement properties of the UK-English version of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory™ 4.0 (PedsQL™) generic core scales
Background
Health related quality of life (HRQL) has been recognised as an important paediatric outcome measurement. One of the more promising measures to emerge in recent years is the Pediatric Quality Of Life Inventory (PedsQL™), developed in the US. Advantages of the PedsQL™ include brevity, availability of age appropriate versions and parallel forms for child and parent. This study developed a UK-English version of PedsQL™ generic module and assessed its performance in a group of UK children and their parents.
Methods
PedsQL™ was translated to UK-English. The psychometric properties of the UK version were then tested following administration to 1399 children and 970 of their parents. The sample included healthy children, children diagnosed with asthma, diabetes or inflammatory bowel disease and children in remission from cancer.
Results
Psychometric properties were similar to those reported for the original PedsQL™. Internal reliability exceeded 0.70 for all proxy and self-report sub-scales. Discriminant validity was established for proxy and self-report with higher HRQL being reported for healthy children than those with health problems. Sex differences were noted on the emotional functioning subscale, with females reporting lower HRQL than males. Proxy and self-report correlation was higher for children with health problems than for healthy children.
Conclusion
The UK-English version of PedsQL™ performed as well as the original PedsQL™ and is recommended for assessment of paediatric HRQL in the UK
A single Streptomyces symbiont makes multiple antifungals to support the fungus farming ant Acromyrmex octospinosus
Attine ants are dependent on a cultivated fungus for food and use antibiotics produced by symbiotic Actinobacteria as weedkillers in their fungus gardens. Actinobacterial species belonging to the genera Pseudonocardia, Streptomyces and Amycolatopsis have been isolated from attine ant nests and shown to confer protection against a range of microfungal weeds. In previous work on the higher attine Acromyrmex octospinosus we isolated a Streptomyces strain that produces candicidin, consistent with another report that attine ants use Streptomyces-produced candicidin in their fungiculture. Here we report the genome analysis of this Streptomyces strain and identify multiple antibiotic biosynthetic pathways. We demonstrate, using gene disruptions and mass spectrometry, that this single strain has the capacity to make candicidin and multiple antimycin compounds. Although antimycins have been known for > 60 years we report the sequence of the biosynthetic gene cluster for the first time. Crucially, disrupting the candicidin and antimycin gene clusters in the same strain had no effect on bioactivity against a co-evolved nest pathogen called Escovopsis that has been identified in similar to 30% of attine ant nests. Since the Streptomyces strain has strong bioactivity against Escovopsis we conclude that it must make additional antifungal(s) to inhibit Escovopsis. However, candicidin and antimycins likely offer protection against other microfungal weeds that infect the attine fungal gardens. Thus, we propose that the selection of this biosynthetically prolific strain from the natural environment provides A. octospinosus with broad spectrum activity against Escovopsis and other microfungal weeds.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
Chemical warfare between fungus-growing ants and their pathogens
Fungus-growing attine ants are under constant threat from fungal pathogens such as the specialized mycoparasite Escovopsis, which uses combined physical and chemical attack strategies to prey on the fungal gardens of the ants. In defence, some species assemble protective microbiomes on their exoskeletons that contain antimicrobial-producing Actinobacteria. Underlying this network of mutualistic and antagonistic interactions are an array of chemical signals. Escovopsis weberi produces the shearinine terpene-indole alkaloids, which affect ant behaviour, diketopiperazines to combat defensive bacteria, and other small molecules that inhibit the fungal cultivar. Pseudonocardia and Streptomyces mutualist bacteria produce depsipeptide and polyene macrolide antifungals active against Escovopsis spp. The ant nest metabolome is further complicated by competition between defensive bacteria, which produce antibacterials active against even closely related species
Low temperature specific heat and possible gap to magnetic excitations in the Heisenberg pyrochlore antiferromagnet Gd2Sn207
The Gd2Sn2O7 pyrochlore Heisenberg antiferromagnet displays a phase
transition to a four sublattice Neel ordered state at a temperature near 1 K.
Despite the seemingly conventional nature of the ordered state, the specific
heat has been found to be described in the temperature range 350-800 mK by an
anomalous T-squared power law. A similar temperature dependence has also been
reported for Gd2Ti2O7, another pyrochlore Heisenberg material. Such anomalous
T-squared behavior in Cv has been argued to be correlated to an unusual
energy-dependence of the density of states which also seemingly manifests
itself in low-temperature spin fluctuations found in muon spin relaxation
experiments. In this paper, we report calculations of Cv that consider spin
wave like excitations out of the Neel order observed in Gd2Sn2O7 and argue that
the parametric T-squared behavior does not reflect the true low-energy
excitations of Gd2Sn2O7. Rather, we find that the low-energy excitations of
this material are antiferromagnetic magnons gapped by single-ion and dipolar
anisotropy effects, and that the lowest temperature of 350 mK considered in
previous specific heat measurements accidentally happens to coincide with a
crossover temperature below which magnons become thermally activated and Cv
takes an exponential form. We argue that further specific heat measurements
that extend down to at least 100 mK are required in order to ascribe an
unconventional description of magnetic excitations out of the ground state of
Gd2Sn2O7 or to invalidate the standard picture of gapped excitations proposed
herein.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figures; shortened introduction and added 1 figur
Dissolution of the Disparate:Co-ordinate Regulation in Antibiotic Biosynthesis
Discovering new antibiotics is vital to combat the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance. Most currently used antibiotics originate from the natural products of actinomycete bacteria, particularly Streptomyces species, that were discovered over 60 years ago. However, genome sequencing has revealed that most antibiotic-producing microorganisms encode many more natural products than previously thought. Biosynthesis of these natural products is tightly regulated by global and cluster situated regulators (CSRs), most of which respond to unknown environmental stimuli, and this likely explains why many biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) are not expressed under laboratory conditions. One approach towards novel natural product discovery is to awaken these cryptic BGCs by re-wiring the regulatory control mechanism(s). Most CSRs bind intergenic regions of DNA in their own BGC to control compound biosynthesis, but some CSRs can control the biosynthesis of multiple natural products by binding to several different BGCs. These cross-cluster regulators present an opportunity for natural product discovery, as the expression of multiple BGCs can be affected through the manipulation of a single regulator. This review describes examples of these different mechanisms, including specific examples of cross-cluster regulation, and assesses the impact that this knowledge may have on the discovery of novel natural products
Tuning Low Temperature Physical Properties of CeNiGe by Magnetic Field
We have studied the thermal, magnetic, and electrical properties of the
ternary intermetallic system CeNiGe by means of specific heat,
magnetization, and resistivity measurements. The specific heat data, together
with the anisotropic magnetic susceptibility, was analyzed on the basis of the
point charge model of crystalline electric field. The \,=\,5/2 multiplet of
the Ce is split by the crystalline electric field (CEF) into three
Kramers doublets, where the second and third doublet are separated from the
first (ground state) doublet by 100\,K and
170\,K, respectively. In zero field CeNiGe exhibits an
antiferromangeic order below = 5.0\,K. For
\textbf{H}\,\,\textbf{a} two metamagnetic transitions are clearly
evidenced between 2\,\,4\,K from the magnetization isotherm and extended
down to 0.4\,K from the magnetoresistance measurements. For
\textbf{H}\,\,\textbf{a}, shifts to lower temperature as
magnetic field increases, and ultimately disappears at
32.5\,kOe. For , the electrical resistivity shows the quadratic
temperature dependence (). For , an
unconventional -dependence of with emerges, the
exponent becomes larger as magnetic field increases. Although the
antiferromagnetic phase transition temperature in CeNiGe can be
continuously suppressed to zero, it provides an example of field tuning that
does not match current simple models of Quantum criticality.Comment: accepted PR
Spin-order-dependent magneto-elastic coupling in two dimensional antiferromagnetic MnPSe observed through Raman spectroscopy
Layered antiferromagnetic materials have emerged as a novel subset of the
two-dimensional family providing a highly accessible regime with prospects for
layer-number-dependent magnetism. Furthermore, transition metal phosphorous
trichalcogenides, MPX3 (M = transition metal; X = chalcogen) provide a platform
for investigating fundamental interactions between magnetic and lattice degrees
of freedom providing new insights for developing fields of spintronics and
magnonics. Here, we use a combination of temperature dependent Raman
spectroscopy and density functional theory to explore
magnetic-ordering-dependent interactions between the manganese spin degree of
freedom and lattice vibrations of the non-magnetic sub-lattice via a
Kramers-Anderson super-exchange pathway in both bulk, and few-layer, manganese
phosphorous triselenide (MnPSe). We observe a nonlinear temperature
dependent shift of phonon modes predominantly associated with the non-magnetic
sub-lattice, revealing their non-trivial spin-phonon coupling below the
N{\'e}el temperature at 74 K, allowing us to extract mode-specific spin-phonon
coupling constants.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures, Submitted to ACS Nano Letter
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