5,555 research outputs found
Anisotropic sub-Doppler laser cooling in dysprosium magneto-optical traps
Magneto-optical traps (MOTs) of Er and Dy have recently been shown to exhibit
population-wide sub-Doppler cooling due to their near degeneracy of excited and
ground state Lande g factors. We discuss here an additional, unusual intra-MOT
sub-Doppler cooling mechanism that appears when the total Dy MOT cooling laser
intensity and magnetic quadrupole gradient increase beyond critical values.
Specifically, anisotropically sub-Doppler-cooled cores appear, and their
orientation with respect to the quadrupole axis flips at a critical ratio of
the MOT laser intensity along the quadrupole axis versus that in the plane of
symmetry. This phenomenon can be traced to a loss of the velocity-selective
resonance at zero velocity in the cooling force along directions in which the
atomic polarization is oriented by the quadrupole field. We present data
characterizing this anisotropic laser cooling phenomenon and discuss a
qualitative model for its origin based on the extraordinarily large Dy magnetic
moment and Dy's near degenerate g factors.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Overexpression of Both Human Sodium Iodide Symporter (NIS) and BRG1-Bromodomain Synergistically Enhances Radioiodine Sensitivity by Stabilizing p53 through NPM1 Expression.
Improved therapeutic strategies are required to minimize side effects associated with radioiodine gene therapy to avoid unnecessary damage to normal cells and radiation-induced secondary malignancies. We previously reported that codon-optimized sodium iodide symporter (oNIS) enhances absorption of I-131 and that the brahma-associated gene 1 bromodomain (BRG1-BRD) causes inefficient DNA damage repair after high-energy X-ray therapy. To increase the therapeutic effect without applying excessive radiation, we considered the combination of oNIS and BRG1-BRD as gene therapy for the most effective radioiodine treatment. The antitumor effect of I-131 with oNIS or oNIS+BRD expression was examined by tumor xenograft models along with functional assays at the cellular level. The synergistic effect of both BRG1-BRD and oNIS gene overexpression resulted in more DNA double-strand breaks and led to reduced cell proliferation/survival rates after I-131 treatment, which was mediated by the p53/p21 pathway. We found increased p53, p21, and nucleophosmin 1 (NPM1) in oNIS- and BRD-expressing cells following I-131 treatment, even though the remaining levels of citrulline and protein arginine deiminase 4 (PAD4) were unchanged at the protein level
Spectroscopy of a narrow-line laser cooling transition in atomic dysprosium
The laser cooling and trapping of ultracold neutral dysprosium has been
recently demonstrated using the broad, open 421-nm cycling transition.
Narrow-line magneto-optical trapping of Dy on longer wavelength transitions
would enable the preparation of ultracold Dy samples suitable for loading
optical dipole traps and subsequent evaporative cooling. We have identified the
closed 741-nm cycling transition as a candidate for the narrow-line cooling of
Dy. We present experimental data on the isotope shifts, the hyperfine constants
A and B, and the decay rate of the 741-nm transition. In addition, we report a
measurement of the 421-nm transition's linewidth, which agrees with previous
measurements. We summarize the laser cooling characteristics of these
transitions as well as other narrow cycling transitions that may prove useful
for cooling Dy.Comment: 6+ pages, 5 figures, 5 table
Refinement of primary Si in hypereutectic Al-Si alloys by intensive melt shearing
Hypereutectic Al-Si based alloys are gaining popularity for applications where a combination of light weight and high wear resistance is required. The high wear resistance arising from the hard primary Si particles comes at the price of extremely poor machine tool life. To minimize machining problems while exploiting outstanding wear resistance, the primary Si particles must be controlled to a uniform small size and uniform spatial distribution. The current industrial means of refining primary Si chemically by the addition of phosphorous suffers from a number of problems. In the present paper an alternative, physical means of refining primary Si by intensive shearing of the melt prior to casting is investigated. Al-15wt%Si alloy has been solidified under varying casting conditions (cooling rate) and the resulting microstructures have been studied using microscopy and quantitative image analysis. Primary Si particles were finer, more compact in shape and more numerous with increasing cooling rate. Intensive melt shearing led to greater refinement and more enhanced nucleation of primary Si than was achieved by adding phosphorous. The mechanism of enhanced nucleation is discussed.EPSRC (grant EP/H026177/1)
The falling chain of Hopkins, Tait, Steele and Cayley
A uniform, flexible and frictionless chain falling link by link from a heap
by the edge of a table falls with an acceleration if the motion is
nonconservative, but if the motion is conservative, being the
acceleration due to gravity. Unable to construct such a falling chain, we use
instead higher-dimensional versions of it. A home camcorder is used to measure
the fall of a three-dimensional version called an -slider. After
frictional effects are corrected for, its vertical falling acceleration is
found to be . This result agrees with the theoretical
value of for an ideal energy-conserving -slider.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figure
Magic structures and quantum conductance of [110] silver nanowires
We investigate the pathway of thinning process for transient [110] nanowires (NWs) of Ag. The result is in good agreement with experimental observations. An unambiguous identification of the structure of a NW requires at least two views along different directions. In the cases where two views of different NW structures are practically the same for very thin NWs which pose experimental difficulty due to small signal-to-noise ratio, our theoretical analysis helps distinguish these structures. On the basis of conductance (G) calculations vis-a-vis the structure of transient NWs, the puzzling experimental observation of fractionally quantized G values is explained by considering the existence of mixed structures for thin wires.open353
CXCR2 deficient mice display macrophage-dependent exaggerated acute inflammatory responses
CXCR2 is an essential regulator of neutrophil recruitment to inflamed and damaged sites and plays prominent roles in inflammatory pathologies and cancer. It has therefore been highlighted as an important therapeutic target. However the success of the therapeutic targeting of CXCR2 is threatened by our relative lack of knowledge of its precise in vivo mode of action. Here we demonstrate that CXCR2-deficient mice display a counterintuitive transient exaggerated inflammatory response to cutaneous and peritoneal inflammatory stimuli. In both situations, this is associated with reduced expression of cytokines associated with the resolution of the inflammatory response and an increase in macrophage accumulation at inflamed sites. Analysis using neutrophil depletion strategies indicates that this is a consequence of impaired recruitment of a non-neutrophilic CXCR2 positive leukocyte population. We suggest that these cells may be myeloid derived suppressor cells. Our data therefore reveal novel and previously unanticipated roles for CXCR2 in the orchestration of the inflammatory response
Modelling stochastic bivariate mortality
Stochastic mortality, i.e. modelling death arrival via a jump process with stochastic intensity, is gaining increasing reputation as a way to represent mortality risk. This paper represents a first attempt to model the mortality risk of couples of individuals, according to the stochastic intensity approach.
On the theoretical side, we extend to couples the Cox processes set up, i.e. the idea that mortality is driven by a jump process whose intensity is itself a stochastic process, proper of a particular generation within each gender. Dependence between the survival times of the members of a couple is captured by an Archimedean copula.
On the calibration side, we fit the joint survival function by calibrating separately the (analytical) copula and the (analytical) margins. First, we select the best fit copula according to the methodology of Wang and Wells (2000) for censored data. Then, we provide a sample-based calibration for the intensity, using a time-homogeneous, non mean-reverting, affine process: this gives the analytical marginal survival functions. Coupling the best fit copula with the calibrated margins we obtain, on a sample generation, a joint survival function which incorporates the stochastic nature of mortality improvements and is far from representing independency.On the contrary, since the best fit copula turns out to be a Nelsen one, dependency is increasing with age and long-term dependence exists
The Price of Anarchy in Transportation Networks: Efficiency and Optimality Control
Uncoordinated individuals in human society pursuing their personally optimal
strategies do not always achieve the social optimum, the most beneficial state
to the society as a whole. Instead, strategies form Nash equilibria which are
often socially suboptimal. Society, therefore, has to pay a price of anarchy
for the lack of coordination among its members. Here we assess this price of
anarchy by analyzing the travel times in road networks of several major cities.
Our simulation shows that uncoordinated drivers possibly waste a considerable
amount of their travel time. Counterintuitively,simply blocking certain streets
can partially improve the traffic conditions. We analyze various complex
networks and discuss the possibility of similar paradoxes in physics.Comment: major revisions with multicommodity; Phys. Rev. Lett., accepte
Upper critical fields and thermally-activated transport of Nd(O_0.7F_0.3)FeAs single crystal
We present measurements of the resistivity and the upper critical field H_c2
of Nd(O_0.7F_0.3)FeAs single crystals in strong DC and pulsed magnetic fields
up to 45 T and 60 T, respectively. We found that the field scale of H_c2 is
comparable to ~100 T of high T_c cuprates. H_c2(T) parallel to the c-axis
exhibits a pronounced upward curvature similar to what was extracted from
earlier measurements on polycrystalline samples. Thus this behavior is indeed
an intrinsic feature of oxypnictides, rather than manifestation of vortex
lattice melting or granularity. The orientational dependence of H_c2 shows
deviations from the one-band Ginzburg-Landau scaling. The mass anisotropy
decreases as T decreases, from 9.2 at 44K to 5 at 34K. Spin dependent
magnetoresistance and nonlinearities in the Hall coefficient suggest
contribution to the conductivity from electron-electron interactions modified
by disorder reminiscent that of diluted magnetic semiconductors. The Ohmic
resistivity measured below T_c but above the irreversibility field exhibits a
clear Arrhenius thermally activated behavior over 4-5 decades. The activation
energy has very different field dependencies for H||ab and H\perp ab. We
discuss to what extent different pairing scenarios can manifest themselves in
the observed behavior of H_{c2}, using the two-band model of superconductivity.
The results indicate the importance of paramagnetic effects on H_c2(T),which
may significantly reduce H_c2(0) as compared toH_c2(0)~200-300 T based on
extrapolations of H_c2(T) near T_c down to low temperatures.Comment: 11 pages, 16 figure
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