2,440 research outputs found
Photoelectric Emission from Dust Grains Exposed to Extreme Ultraviolet and X-ray Radiation
Photoelectric emission from dust plays an important role in grain charging
and gas heating. To date, detailed models of these processes have focused
primarily on grains exposed to soft radiation fields. We provide new estimates
of the photoelectric yield for neutral and charged carbonaceous and silicate
grains, for photon energies exceeding 20 eV. We include the ejection of
electrons from both the band structure of the material and the inner shells of
the constituent atoms, as well as Auger and secondary electron emission. We
apply the model to estimate gas heating rates in planetary nebulae and grain
charges in the outflows of broad absorption line quasars. For these
applications, secondary emission can be neglected; the combined effect of inner
shell and Auger emission is small, though not always negligible. Finally, we
investigate the survivability of dust entrained in quasar outflows. The lack of
nuclear reddening in broad absorption line quasars may be explained by
sputtering of grains in the outflows.Comment: 29 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Ap
Drosophila hedgehog signaling and engrailed - runt mutual repression direct midline glia to alternative ensheathing and non-ensheathing fates
The Drosophila CNS contains a variety of glia, including highly specialized glia that reside at the CNS midline and functionally resemble the midline floor plate glia of the vertebrate spinal cord. Both insect and vertebrate midline glia play important roles in ensheathing axons that cross the midline and secreting signals that control a variety of developmental processes. The Drosophila midline glia consist of two spatially and functionally distinct populations. The anterior midline glia (AMG) are ensheathing glia that migrate, surround and send processes into the axon commissures. By contrast, the posterior midline glia (PMG) are non-ensheathing glia. Together, the Notch and hedgehog signaling pathways generate AMG and PMG from midline neural precursors. Notch signaling is required for midline glial formation and for transcription of a core set of midline glial-expressed genes. The Hedgehog morphogen is secreted from ectodermal cells adjacent to the CNS midline and directs a subset of midline glia to become PMG. Two transcription factor genes, runt and engrailed, play important roles in AMG and PMG development. The runt gene is expressed in AMG, represses engrailed and maintains AMG gene expression. The engrailed gene is expressed in PMG, represses runt and maintains PMG gene expression. In addition, engrailed can direct midline glia to a PMG-like non-ensheathing fate. Thus, two signaling pathways and runt-engrailed mutual repression initiate and maintain two distinct populations of midline glia that differ functionally in gene expression, glial migration, axon ensheathment, process extension and patterns of apoptosis
Four-wave-mixing microscopy reveals non-colocalisation between gold nanoparticles and fluorophore conjugates inside cells
Gold nanoparticles have been researched for many biomedical applications in diagnostics, theranostics, and as drug delivery systems. When conjugated to fluorophores, their interaction with biological cells can be studied in situ and real time using fluorescence microscopy. However, an important question that has remained elusive to answer is whether the fluorophore is a faithful reporter of the nanoparticle location. Here, our recently developed four-wave-mixing optical microscopy is applied to image individual gold nanoparticles and in turn investigate their co-localisation with fluorophores inside cells. Nanoparticles from 10 nm to 40 nm diameter were conjugated to fluorescently-labeled transferrin, for internalisation via clathrin-mediated endocytosis, or to non-targeting fluorescently-labelled antibodies. Human (HeLa) and murine (3T3-L1) cells were imaged at different time points after incubation with these conjugates. Our technique identified that, in most cases, fluorescence originated from unbound fluorophores rather than from fluorophores attached to nanoparticles. Fluorescence detection was also severely limited by photobleaching, quenching and autofluorescence background. Notably, correlative extinction/fluorescence microscopy of individual particles on a glass surface indicated that commercial constructs contain large amounts of unbound fluorophores. These findings highlight the potential problems of data interpretation when reliance is solely placed on the detection of fluorescence within the cell, and are of significant importance in the context of correlative light electron microscopy
Design of Experiments for Screening
The aim of this paper is to review methods of designing screening
experiments, ranging from designs originally developed for physical experiments
to those especially tailored to experiments on numerical models. The strengths
and weaknesses of the various designs for screening variables in numerical
models are discussed. First, classes of factorial designs for experiments to
estimate main effects and interactions through a linear statistical model are
described, specifically regular and nonregular fractional factorial designs,
supersaturated designs and systematic fractional replicate designs. Generic
issues of aliasing, bias and cancellation of factorial effects are discussed.
Second, group screening experiments are considered including factorial group
screening and sequential bifurcation. Third, random sampling plans are
discussed including Latin hypercube sampling and sampling plans to estimate
elementary effects. Fourth, a variety of modelling methods commonly employed
with screening designs are briefly described. Finally, a novel study
demonstrates six screening methods on two frequently-used exemplars, and their
performances are compared
Christianity as Public Religion::A Justification for using a Christian Sociological Approach for Studying the Social Scientific Aspects of Sport
The vast majority of social scientific studies of sport have been secular in nature and/or have tended to ignore the importance of studying the religious aspects of sport. In light of this, Shilling and Mellor (2014) have sought to encourage sociologists of sport not to divorce the ‘religious’ and the ‘sacred’ from their studies. In response to this call, the goal of the current essay is to explore how the conception of Christianity as ‘public religion’ can be utilised to help justify the use of a Christian sociological approach for studying the social scientific aspects of sport. After making a case for Christianity as public religion, we conclude that many of the sociological issues inherent in modern sport are an indirect result of its increasing secularisation and argue that this justifies the need for a Christian sociological approach. We encourage researchers to use the Bible, the tools of Christian theology and sociological concepts together, so to inform analyses of modern sport from a Christian perspective
A proposal for a coordinated effort for the determination of brainwide neuroanatomical connectivity in model organisms at a mesoscopic scale
In this era of complete genomes, our knowledge of neuroanatomical circuitry
remains surprisingly sparse. Such knowledge is however critical both for basic
and clinical research into brain function. Here we advocate for a concerted
effort to fill this gap, through systematic, experimental mapping of neural
circuits at a mesoscopic scale of resolution suitable for comprehensive,
brain-wide coverage, using injections of tracers or viral vectors. We detail
the scientific and medical rationale and briefly review existing knowledge and
experimental techniques. We define a set of desiderata, including brain-wide
coverage; validated and extensible experimental techniques suitable for
standardization and automation; centralized, open access data repository;
compatibility with existing resources, and tractability with current
informatics technology. We discuss a hypothetical but tractable plan for mouse,
additional efforts for the macaque, and technique development for human. We
estimate that the mouse connectivity project could be completed within five
years with a comparatively modest budget.Comment: 41 page
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Lens Search. III. Constraints on Dark Energy from the Third Data Release Quasar Lens Catalog
We present cosmological results from the statistics of lensed quasars in the
Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Quasar Lens Search. By taking proper account of
the selection function, we compute the expected number of quasars lensed by
early-type galaxies and their image separation distribution assuming a flat
universe, which is then compared with 7 lenses found in the SDSS Data Release 3
to derive constraints on dark energy under strictly controlled criteria. For a
cosmological constant model (w=-1) we obtain
\Omega_\Lambda=0.74^{+0.11}_{-0.15}(stat.)^{+0.13}_{-0.06}(syst.). Allowing w
to be a free parameter we find
\Omega_M=0.26^{+0.07}_{-0.06}(stat.)^{+0.03}_{-0.05}(syst.) and
w=-1.1\pm0.6(stat.)^{+0.3}_{-0.5}(syst.) when combined with the constraint from
the measurement of baryon acoustic oscillations in the SDSS luminous red galaxy
sample. Our results are in good agreement with earlier lensing constraints
obtained using radio lenses, and provide additional confirmation of the
presence of dark energy consistent with a cosmological constant, derived
independently of type Ia supernovae.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in A
Belimumab in kidney transplantation:an experimental medicine, randomised, placebo-controlled phase 2 trial
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