Superconductor Insulator Transition in Long MoGe Nanowires

Properties of one-dimensional superconducting wires depend on physical processes with different characteristic lengths. To identify the process dominant in the critical regime we have studied trans- port properties of very narrow (9-20 nm) MoGe wires fabricated by advanced electron-beam lithography in wide range of lengths, 1-25 microns. We observed that the wires undergo a superconductor -insulator transition that is controlled by cross sectional area of a wire and possibly also by the thickness-to-width ratio. Mean-field critical temperature decreases exponentially with the inverse of the wire cross section. We observed that qualitatively similar superconductor{insulator transition can be induced by external magnetic field. Some of our long superconducting MoGe nanowires can be identified as localized superconductors, namely in these wires one-electron localization length is much shorter than the length of a wire

Controlled Tactile Exploration and Haptic Object Recognition

In this paper we propose a novel method for in-hand object recognition. The method is composed of a grasp stabilization controller and two exploratory behaviours to capture the shape and the softness of an object. Grasp stabilization plays an important role in recognizing objects. First, it prevents the object from slipping and facilitates the exploration of the object. Second, reaching a stable and repeatable position adds robustness to the learning algorithm and increases invariance with respect to the way in which the robot grasps the object. The stable poses are estimated using a Gaussian mixture model (GMM). We present experimental results showing that using our method the classifier can successfully distinguish 30 objects.We also compare our method with a benchmark experiment, in which the grasp stabilization is disabled. We show, with statistical significance, that our method outperforms the benchmark method

A log analysis study of 10 years of ebook consumption in academic library collections

Even though libraries have been offering eBooks for more than a decade, very little is known about eBook access and consumption in academic library collections. This paper addresses this gap with a log analysis study of eBook access at the library of the University of Waikato. This in-depth analysis covers a period spanning 10 years of eBook use at this university. We draw conclusions about the use of eBooks at this institution and compare the results with other published studies of eBook usage at tertiary institutes

Land use change and the impact on greenhouse gas exchange in north Australian savanna soils

Savanna ecosystems are subjected to accelerating land use change as human demand for food and forest products increases. Land use change has been shown to both increase and decrease greenhouse gas fluxes from savannas and considerable uncertainty exists about the non-CO₂ fluxes from the soil. We measured methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) over a complete wet-dry seasonal cycle at three replicate sites of each of three land uses: savanna, young pasture and old pasture (converted from savanna 5–7 and 25–30 yr ago, respectively) in the Douglas Daly region of Northern Australia. The effect of break of season rains at the end of the dry season was investigated with two irrigation experiments. Land use change from savanna to pasture increased net greenhouse gas fluxes from the soil. Pasture sites were a weaker sink for CH₄ than savanna sites and, under wet conditions, old pastures turned from being sinks to a significant source of CH₄. Nitrous oxide emissions were generally very low, in the range of 0 to 5 μg N₂O-N m⁻² h⁻¹, and under dry conditions soil uptake of N₂O was apparent. Break of season rains produced a small, short lived pulse of N₂O up to 20 μg N₂O-N m⁻² h⁻¹, most evident in pasture soil. Annual cumulative soil CO₂ fluxes increased after clearing, with savanna (14.6 t CO₂-C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) having the lowest fluxes compared to old pasture (18.5 t CO₂-C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) and young pasture (20.0 t CO₂-C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹). Clearing savanna increased soil-based greenhouse gas emissions from 53 to ∼ 70 t CO₂-equivalents, a 30% increase dominated by an increase in soil CO₂ emissions and shift from soil CH₄ sink to source. Seasonal variation was clearly driven by soil water content, supporting the emerging view that soil water content is a more important driver of soil gas fluxes than soil temperature in tropical ecosystems where temperature varies little among seasons

Comparison of efflux pump involvement in antibiotic resistance among pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates of burn and non-burn patients

Background: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an important cause of hospital-acquired infections that can create serious problem for patients and physicians. Many factors are associated with the antibiotic resistance of P. aeruginosa, such as efflux pumps. Objectives: The aim of this study was the phenotypic and molecular detection of efflux pumps in our clinical P. aeruginosa isolates in a comparison between burn and non-burn specimens. Materials and Methods: In this study, clinical strains of P. aeruginosa were collected from burn and non-burn specimens from April-July 2013. Antibiotic susceptibility testing of the isolates was performed after biochemical and molecular identification. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of imipenem, cefepime, gentamycin, and ciprofloxacin, with and without carbonyl cyanide 3-chlorophenylhydrazone (CCCP), was determined for phenotypic detection of efflux pumps. Results: Our results confirmed 203 and 60 P. aeruginosa isolates from burn and non-burn specimens, respectively. The most antibiotic resistance was observed against tobramycin in both group of specimens, and no resistance was seen to colistin. Phenotypic detection of efflux pumps was determined to correlate to a > 4-fold decrease in the MICs of the tested antibiotics with CCCP compared to without CCCP in 57 strains. Conclusions: High-level antibiotic resistance can occur as a result of multidrug efflux pumps combined with other mechanisms of resistance. However, the association between over-expression of these genes and highly resistant clinical isolates cannot be ignored. � 2016, Pediartric Infections Research Center

Use of Evidence-Based Practice Among Athletic Training Educators, Clinicians, and Students, Part 1: Perceived Importance, Knowledge, and Confidence

Context: Although evidence-based practice (EBP) has become more prevalent, athletic trainers\u27 perceptions of importance and knowledge of these concepts and their confidence in EBP are largely unknown. Objective: To assess perceived importance and knowledge of and confidence in EBP concepts in athletic trainers in various roles and with different degree levels. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Online survey instrument. Patients or Other Participants: The survey was sent to 6702 athletic training educators, clinicians, and postprofessional students. A total of 1209 completed the survey, for a response rate of 18.04%. Main Outcome Measure(s): Demographic information and perceived importance and knowledge of and confidence in the steps of EBP were obtained. One-way analysis of variance, a Kruskal-Wallis test, and an independent-samples t test were used to determine differences in scores among the demographic variables. Results: Athletic trainers demonstrated low knowledge scores (64.2% ± 1.29%) and mild to moderate confidence (2.71 ± 0.55 out of 4.0). They valued EBP as moderately to extremely important (3.49 ± 0.41 out of 4.0). Perceived importance scores differed among roles (clinicians unaffiliated with an education program scored lower than postprofessional educators, P = .001) and highest educational degree attained (athletic trainers with terminal degrees scored higher than those with bachelor\u27s or master\u27s degrees, P \u3c .001). Postprofessional athletic training students demonstrated the highest total EBP knowledge scores (4.65 ± 0.91), whereas clinicians demonstrated the lowest scores (3.62 ± 1.35). Individuals with terminal degrees had higher (P \u3c .001) total knowledge scores (4.31 ± 1.24) than those with bachelor\u27s (3.78 ± 1.2) or master\u27s degrees (3.76 ± 1.35). Postprofessional educators demonstrated greater confidence in knowledge scores (3.36 ± 0.40 out of 4.0) than did those in all other athletic training roles (P \u3c .001). Conclusions: Overall knowledge of the basic EBP steps remained low across the various athletic trainers\u27 roles. The higher level of importance indicated that athletic trainers valued EBP, but this value was not reflected in the knowledge of EBP concepts. Individuals with a terminal degree possessed higher knowledge scores than those with other educational preparations; however, EBP knowledge needs to increase across all demographics of the profession

Highly Efficient and Selective CAR-Gene Transfer Using CD4- and CD8-Targeted Lentiviral Vectors

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-modified T cells have revealed promising results in the treatment of cancer, but they still need to overcome various hurdles, including a complicated manufacturing process. Receptor-targeted lentiviral vectors (LVs) delivering genes selectively to T cell subtypes may facilitate and improve CAR T cell generation, but so far they have resulted in lower gene delivery rates than conventional LVs (vesicular stomatitis virus VSV-LV). To overcome this limitation, we studied the effect of the transduction enhancer Vectofusin-1 on gene delivery to human T cells with CD4- and CD8-targeted LVs, respectively, encoding a second-generation CD19-CAR in conjunction with a truncated version of the low-affinity nerve growth factor receptor (�LNGFR) as reporter. Vectofusin-1 significantly enhanced the gene delivery of CD4- and CD8-LVs without a loss in target cell selectivity and killing capability of the generated CAR T cells. Notably, delivery rates mediated by VSV-LV were substantially reduced by Vectofusin-1. Interestingly, a transient off-target signal in samples treated with Vectofusin-1 was observed early after transduction. However, this effect was not caused by uptake and expression of the transgene in off-target cells, but rather it resulted from cell-bound LV particles having �LNGFR incorporated into their surface. The data demonstrate that gene transfer rates in the range of those mediated by VSV-LVs can be achieved with receptor-targeted LVs. © 2019 The Author(s

Efect of magnetic Gd impurities on superconductivity in MoGe films with different thickness and morphology

We studied the effect of magnetic doping with Gd atoms on the superconducting properties of amorphous Mo70Ge30 films. We observed that in uniform films deposited on amorphous Ge, the pair-breaking strength per impurity strongly decreases with film thickness initially and saturates at a finite value in films with thickness below the spin-orbit scattering length. The variation is likely caused by surface induced magnetic anisotropy and is consistent with the fermionic mechanism of superconductivity suppression. In thin films deposited on SiN the pair-breaking strength becomes zero. Possible reasons for this anomalous response are discussed. The morphological distinctions between the films of the two types were identified using atomic force microscopy with a carbon nanotube tip