615 research outputs found
Millimeter and submillimeter wave technology developments for the next generation of fusion devices
There is increasing demand for compact watt-level coherent sources in the millimeter and submillimeter wave region. The approach that we have taken to satisfy this need is to fabricate two-dimensional grids loaded with oscillators, electronic beam steerers, and frequency multipliers for quasioptical coherent spatial combining of the outputs of a large number of low-power devices
GPU Concurrency: Weak Behaviours and Programming Assumptions
Concurrency is pervasive and perplexing, particularly on graphics processing units (GPUs). Current specifications of languages and hardware are inconclusive; thus programmers often rely on folklore assumptions when writing software.
To remedy this state of affairs, we conducted a large empirical study of the concurrent behaviour of deployed GPUs. Armed with litmus tests (i.e. short concurrent programs), we questioned the assumptions in programming guides and vendor documentation about the guarantees provided by hardware. We developed a tool to generate thousands of litmus tests and run them under stressful workloads. We observed a litany of previously elusive weak behaviours, and exposed folklore beliefs about GPU programming---often supported by official tutorials---as false.
As a way forward, we propose a model of Nvidia GPU hardware, which correctly models every behaviour witnessed in our experiments. The model is a variant of SPARC Relaxed Memory Order (RMO), structured following the GPU concurrency hierarchy
Synchrotron radiography and x-ray topography studies of hexagonal habitus SiC bulk crystals
Phase-sensitive synchrotron radiation (SR) radiography was combined with x-ray diffraction topography to study structural defects of SiC crystals. The particular bulk SiC crystals examined had a low micropipe density and a hexagonal habitus composed of prismatic, pyramidal, and basal faces well developed. X-ray diffraction topography images of the sliced (0001) wafers, which were formed due to the complex lattice distortions associated with defective boundaries, demonstrated the existence of two-dimensional defective boundaries in the radial direction, normal to the (0001) planes. In particular, those parallel to the 〈1120〉 directions extended rather far from the seed. On the other hand, by phase-sensitive SR radiography the effect of micropipe collection was detected. Micropipes grouped mostly in the vicinities of the defective boundaries but rarely appeared between groups. Some general remarks about possible reasons for the development of such peculiar defect structures were mad
No Far-Infrared-Spectroscopic Gap in Clean and Dirty High-T Superconductors
We report far infrared transmission measurements on single crystal samples
derived from BiSrCaCuO. The impurity scattering rate of
the samples was varied by electron-beam irradiation, 50MeV O ion
irradiation, heat treatment in vacuum, and Y doping. Although substantial
changes in the infrared spectra were produced, in no case was a feature
observed that could be associated with the superconducting energy gap. These
results all but rule out ``clean limit'' explanations for the absence of the
spectroscopic gap in this material, and provide evidence that the
superconductivity in BiSrCaCuO is gapless.Comment: 4 pages and 3 postscript figures attached. REVTEX v3.0. Accepted for
publication in Phys. Rev. Lett. IRDIRT
Microscopic theory of the pseudogap and Peierls transition in quasi-one-dimensional materials
The problem of deriving from microscopic theory a Ginzburg-Landau free energy
functional to describe the Peierls or charge-density-wave transition in
quasi-one-dimensional materials is considered. Particular attention is given to
how the thermal lattice motion affects the electronic states. Near the
transition temperature the thermal lattice motion produces a pseudogap in the
density of states at the Fermi level. Perturbation theory diverges and the
traditional quasi-particle or Fermi liquid picture breaks down. The pseudogap
causes a significant modification of the coefficients in the Ginzburg-Landau
functional from their values in the rigid lattice approximation, which neglects
the effect of the thermal lattice motion. To appear in Physical Review B.Comment: 21 pages, RevTeX, 5 figures in uuencoded compressed tar fil
Properties of a Luttinger Liquid with Boundaries at Finite Temperature and Size
We use bosonization methods to calculate the exact finite-temperature
single-electron Green's function of a spinful Luttinger liquid confined by open
boundaries. The corresponding local spectral density is constructed and
analyzed in detail. The interplay between boundary, finite-size and thermal
effects are shown to dramatically influence the low-energy properties of the
system. In particular, the well-known zero-temperature critical behavior in the
bulk always crosses over to a boundary dominated regime in the vicinity of the
Fermi level. Thermal fluctuations cause an enhanced depletion of spectral
weight for small energies E, with the spectral density scaling as E^2 for E
much less than the temperature. Consequences for photoemission experiments are
discussed.Comment: 18 pages in revtex format including 5 embedded figures (using epsf).
The latest complete postscript file is available from
http://fy.chalmers.se/~eggert/papers/longlutt.ps or by request from
[email protected]. To appear in Phys. Rev. B (Dec. 1997
Critical Josephson Current in a Model Pb/YBa_2Cu_3O_7 Junction
In this article we consider a simple model for a c--axis
Pb/YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-\delta} Josephson junction. The observation of a nonzero
current in such a junction by Sun et al. [A. G. Sun, D. A. Gajewski, M. B.
Maple, R. C. Dynes, Phys. Rev. Lett. 72, 2267 (1994)] has been taken as
evidence against d--wave superconductivity in YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-\delta}. We
suggest, however, that the pairing interaction in the CuO_2 planes may well be
d--wave but that the CuO chains destroy the tetragonal symmetry of the system.
We examine two ways in which this happens. In a simple model of an incoherent
junction, the chains distort the superconducting condensate away from
d_{x^2-y^2} symmetry. In a specular junction the chains destroy the tetragonal
symmetry of the tunneling matrix element. In either case, the loss of
tetragonal symmetry results in a finite Josephson current. Our calculated
values of the critical current for specular junctions are in good agreement
with the results of Sun and co-workers.Comment: Latex File, 21 pages, 6 figures in uuencoded postscript, In Press
(Phys. Rev. B
Synchrotron radiography and x-ray topography studies of hexagonal habitus SiC bulk crystals
Phase-sensitive synchrotron radiation (SR) radiography was combined with x-ray diffraction topography to study structural defects of SiC crystals. The particular bulk SiC crystals examined had a low micropipe density and a hexagonal habitus composed of prismatic, pyramidal, and basal faces well developed. X-ray diffraction topography images of the sliced (0001) wafers, which were formed due to the complex lattice distortions associated with defective boundaries, demonstrated the existence of two-dimensional defective boundaries in the radial direction, normal to the (0001) planes. In particular, those parallel to the directions extended rather far from the seed. On the other hand, by phase-sensitive SR radiography the effect of micropipe collection was detected. Micropipes grouped mostly in the vicinities of the defective boundaries but rarely appeared between groups. Some general remarks about possible reasons for the development of such peculiar defect structures were made
Multifaceted role of BTLA in the control of CD8+ T cell fate after antigen encounter
Purpose: Adoptive T-cell therapy using autologous tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) has shown an overall clinical response rate 40%–50% in metastatic melanoma patients. BTLA (B-and-T lymphocyte associated) expression on transferred CD8+ TILs was associated with better clinical outcome. The suppressive function of the ITIM and ITSM motifs of BTLA is well described. Here, we sought to determine the functional characteristics of the CD8+BTLA+TIL subset and define the contribution of the Grb2 motif of BTLA in T-cell costimulation. Experimental Design: We determined the functional role and downstream signal of BTLA in both human CD8+ TILs and mouse CD8+ T cells. Functional assays were used including single-cell analysis, reverse-phase protein array (RPPA), antigen-specific vaccination models with adoptively transferred TCR-transgenic T cells as well as patient-derived xenograft (PDX) model using immunodeficient NOD-scid IL2Rgammanull (NSG) tumor-bearing mice treated with autologous TILs. Results: CD8+BTLA? TILs could not control tumor growth in vivo as well as their BTLA+ counterpart and antigen-specific CD8+BTLA? T cells had impaired recall response to a vaccine. However, CD8+BTLA+ TILs displayed improved survival following the killing of a tumor target and heightened “serial killing” capacity. Using mutants of BTLA signaling motifs, we uncovered a costimulatory function mediated by Grb2 through enhancing the secretion of IL-2 and the activation of Src after TCR stimulation. Conclusions: Our data portrays BTLA as a molecule with the singular ability to provide both costimulatory and coinhibitory signals to activated CD8+ T cells, resulting in extended survival, improved tumor control, and the development of a functional recall response. Clin Cancer Res; 23(20); 6151–64. ©2017 AACR
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