291 research outputs found
A Dissipative-Particle-Dynamics Model for Simulating Dynamics of Charged Colloid
A mesoscopic colloid model is developed in which a spherical colloid is
represented by many interacting sites on its surface. The hydrodynamic
interactions with thermal fluctuations are taken accounts in full using
Dissipative Particle Dynamics, and the electrostatic interactions are simulated
using Particle-Particle-Particle Mesh method. This new model is applied to
investigate the electrophoretic mobility of a charged colloid under an external
electric field, and the influence of salt concentration and colloid charge are
systematically studied. The simulation results show good agreement with
predictions from the electrokinetic theory.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, submitted to the proceedings of High Performance
Computing in Science & Engineering '1
Gamma-ray Observations Under Bright Moonlight with VERITAS
Imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs) are equipped with sensitive
photomultiplier tube (PMT) cameras. Exposure to high levels of background
illumination degrades the efficiency of and potentially destroys these
photo-detectors over time, so IACTs cannot be operated in the same
configuration in the presence of bright moonlight as under dark skies. Since
September 2012, observations have been carried out with the VERITAS IACTs under
bright moonlight (defined as about three times the night-sky-background (NSB)
of a dark extragalactic field, typically occurring when Moon illumination >
35%) in two observing modes, firstly by reducing the voltage applied to the
PMTs and, secondly, with the addition of ultra-violet (UV) bandpass filters to
the cameras. This has allowed observations at up to about 30 times previous NSB
levels (around 80% Moon illumination), resulting in 30% more observing time
between the two modes over the course of a year. These additional observations
have already allowed for the detection of a flare from the 1ES 1727+502 and for
an observing program targeting a measurement of the cosmic-ray positron
fraction. We provide details of these new observing modes and their performance
relative to the standard VERITAS observations
Combined Atomic Force Microscope and Volumetric Light Sheet System for Correlative Force and Fluorescence Mechanobiology Studies
The central goals of mechanobiology are to understand how cells generate force and how they respond to environmental mechanical stimuli. A full picture of these processes requires high-resolution, volumetric imaging with time-correlated force measurements. Here we present an instrument that combines an open-top, single-objective light sheet fluorescence microscope with an atomic force microscope (AFM), providing simultaneous volumetric imaging with high spatiotemporal resolution and high dynamic range force capability (10 pN – 100 nN). With this system we have captured lysosome trafficking, vimentin nuclear caging, and actin dynamics on the order of one second per single-cell volume. To showcase the unique advantages of combining Line Bessel light sheet imaging with AFM, we measured the forces exerted by a macrophage during FcɣR-mediated phagocytosis while performing both sequential two-color, fixed plane and volumetric imaging of F-actin. This unique instrument allows for a myriad of novel studies investigating the coupling of cellular dynamics and mechanical forces
The <i>Castalia</i> mission to Main Belt Comet 133P/Elst-Pizarro
We describe Castalia, a proposed mission to rendezvous with a Main Belt Comet (MBC), 133P/Elst-Pizarro. MBCs are a recently discovered population of apparently icy bodies within the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, which may represent the remnants of the population which supplied the early Earth with water. Castalia will perform the first exploration of this population by characterising 133P in detail, solving the puzzle of the MBC’s activity, and making the first in situ measurements of water in the asteroid belt. In many ways a successor to ESA’s highly successful Rosetta mission, Castalia will allow direct comparison between very different classes of comet, including measuring critical isotope ratios, plasma and dust properties. It will also feature the first radar system to visit a minor body, mapping the ice in the interior. Castalia was proposed, in slightly different versions, to the ESA M4 and M5 calls within the Cosmic Vision programme. We describe the science motivation for the mission, the measurements required to achieve the scientific goals, and the proposed instrument payload and spacecraft to achieve these
Anthropogenic Space Weather
Anthropogenic effects on the space environment started in the late 19th
century and reached their peak in the 1960s when high-altitude nuclear
explosions were carried out by the USA and the Soviet Union. These explosions
created artificial radiation belts near Earth that resulted in major damages to
several satellites. Another, unexpected impact of the high-altitude nuclear
tests was the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that can have devastating effects
over a large geographic area (as large as the continental United States). Other
anthropogenic impacts on the space environment include chemical release ex-
periments, high-frequency wave heating of the ionosphere and the interaction of
VLF waves with the radiation belts. This paper reviews the fundamental physical
process behind these phenomena and discusses the observations of their impacts.Comment: 71 pages, 35 figure
A Novel murine model identifies cooperating mutations and therapeutic targets critical for chronic myeloid leukemia progression
The introduction of highly selective ABL-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) has revolutionized therapy for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). However, TKIs are only efficacious in the chronic phase of the disease and effective therapies for TKI-refractory CML, or after progression to blast crisis (BC), are lacking. Whereas the chronic phase of CML is dependent on BCR-ABL, additional mutations are required for progression to BC. However, the identity of these mutations and the pathways they affect are poorly understood, hampering our ability to identify therapeutic targets and improve outcomes. Here, we describe a novel mouse model that allows identification of mechanisms of BC progression in an unbiased and tractable manner, using transposon-based insertional mutagenesis on the background of chronic phase CML. Our BC model is the first to faithfully recapitulate the phenotype, cellular and molecular biology of human CML progression. We report a heterogeneous and unique pattern of insertions identifying known and novel candidate genes and demonstrate that these pathways drive disease progression and provide potential targets for novel therapeutic strategies. Our model greatly informs the biology of CML progression and provides a potent resource for the development of candidate therapies to improve the dismal outcomes in this highly aggressive disease.Work in the Huntly laboratory is funded by CRUK, The European Research Council (ERC), Leukaemia Lymphoma Research, the Kay Kendall Leukaemia Fund, Wellcome Trust, the Medical Research Council (UK), the Leukemia Lymphoma Society America and the Cambridge NIHR Biomedical Research centre. David Adams is funded by Cancer Research UK and Wellcome Trust. Steffen Koschmieder has received funding from Deutsche José Carreras Leukämie-Stiftung (DJCLS; grant 10/23).This is the final published version. It first appeared at http://dx.doi.org/10.1084/jem.2014166
Interfacial Reactions in Model NiTi Shape Memory Alloy Fiber-Reinforced Sn Matrix “Smart” Composites
Measurements of differential production cross sections for a Z boson in association with jets in pp collisions at root s=8 TeV
Peer reviewe
Measurement of event-shape observables in Z→ℓ+ℓ− events in pp collisions at √ s=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC
Event-shape observables measured using charged particles in inclusive
-boson events are presented, using the electron and muon decay modes of the
bosons. The measurements are based on an integrated luminosity of of proton--proton collisions recorded by the ATLAS detector at the
LHC at a centre-of-mass energy TeV. Charged-particle
distributions, excluding the lepton--antilepton pair from the -boson decay,
are measured in different ranges of transverse momentum of the boson.
Distributions include multiplicity, scalar sum of transverse momenta, beam
thrust, transverse thrust, spherocity, and -parameter, which are
in particular sensitive to properties of the underlying event at small values
of the -boson transverse momentum. The Sherpa event generator shows larger
deviations from the measured observables than Pythia8 and Herwig7. Typically,
all three Monte Carlo generators provide predictions that are in better
agreement with the data at high -boson transverse momenta than at low
-boson transverse momenta and for the observables that are less sensitive to
the number of charged particles in the event.Comment: 36 pages plus author list + cover page (54 pages total), 14 figures,
4 tables, submitted to EPJC, All figures including auxiliary figures are
available at
http://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2014-0
Meta-analysis of type 2 Diabetes in African Americans Consortium
Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is more prevalent in African Americans than in Europeans. However, little is known about the genetic risk in African Americans despite the recent identification of more than 70 T2D loci primarily by genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in individuals of European ancestry. In order to investigate the genetic architecture of T2D in African Americans, the MEta-analysis of type 2 DIabetes in African Americans (MEDIA) Consortium examined 17 GWAS on T2D comprising 8,284 cases and 15,543 controls in African Americans in stage 1 analysis. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) association analysis was conducted in each study under the additive model after adjustment for age, sex, study site, and principal components. Meta-analysis of approximately 2.6 million genotyped and imputed SNPs in all studies was conducted using an inverse variance-weighted fixed effect model. Replications were performed to follow up 21 loci in up to 6,061 cases and 5,483 controls in African Americans, and 8,130 cases and 38,987 controls of European ancestry. We identified three known loci (TCF7L2, HMGA2 and KCNQ1) and two novel loci (HLA-B and INS-IGF2) at genome-wide significance (4.15 × 10(-94)<P<5 × 10(-8), odds ratio (OR) = 1.09 to 1.36). Fine-mapping revealed that 88 of 158 previously identified T2D or glucose homeostasis loci demonstrated nominal to highly significant association (2.2 × 10(-23) < locus-wide P<0.05). These novel and previously identified loci yielded a sibling relative risk of 1.19, explaining 17.5% of the phenotypic variance of T2D on the liability scale in African Americans. Overall, this study identified two novel susceptibility loci for T2D in African Americans. A substantial number of previously reported loci are transferable to African Americans after accounting for linkage disequilibrium, enabling fine mapping of causal variants in trans-ethnic meta-analysis studies.Peer reviewe
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