Visualization of Au Nanoparticles Buried in a Polymer Matrix by Scanning Thermal Noise Microscopy

We demonstrated visualization of Au nanoparticles buried 300 nm into a polymer matrix by measurement of the thermal noise spectrum of a microcantilever with a tip in contact to the polymer surface. The subsurface Au nanoparticles were detected as the variation in the contact stiffness and damping reflecting the viscoelastic properties of the polymer surface. The variation in the contact stiffness well agreed with the effective stiffness of a simple one-dimensional model, which is consistent with the fact that the maximum depth range of the technique is far beyond the extent of the contact stress field.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures in main text; 7 pages, 5 figures in supplementary informatio

Induction of uteroglobin-related protein 2 (Ugrp2) expression by EGF and TGFα

AbstractUteroglobin-related protein 2 (UGRP2) is thought to play a role in inflammation and/or epithelial cell differentiation in the lung. Induction of Ugrp2 mRNA expression by epidermal growth factor (EGF) and transforming growth factor α was examined using mouse transformed lung Clara cell-derived mtCC cells. The EGF-induced increase of Ugrp2 occurred at the transcriptional level that required the EGF receptor and the activation of the ERK-MAPK and phosphoinositide-3 kinase pathways

OPTICAL QPSK SIGNAL QUALITY DEGRADATION DUE TO PHASE ERROR OF PUMP LIGHT

The influence of pump phase error on phase-sensitive optical amplifier (PSA) repeaters and the waveform degradation due to chromatic dispersion and fiber nonlinearities in the optical multi-relay transmission of quadrature phase-shift keying phase-conjugated twin waves are considered theoretically. First, the influence of noise from the pump phase error, optical local oscillator, receiver, and the amplified spontaneous-emission (ASE) in PSA repeaters is investigated with the assumption that transmission fibers are linear lossy channels. The bit-error rate (BER) is estimated as a function of the signal-to-noise ratio, and the relationship between the number of transmission relays and the fiber launch power is clarified. Waveform degradation due to chromatic dispersion and the optical fiber nonlinearities in transmission fibers are investigated with the noiseless condition, and the maximum repeatable number as a function of the fiber launch power is calculated. Finally, we show the relationship among the maximum repeatable number, standard deviation of pump phase error in PSA repeaters, and the fiber launch power to clarify the optimum transmission condition with consideration of the noise and the waveform degradation