1,071 research outputs found
Preparation and characterization of interpenetrating networks based on polyacrylates and poly(lactic acid)
Three different, multifunctional acrylic monomers were photopolymerized in a matrix of poly(lactic acid), PLA, using 2-hydroxy-2-methyl-1-phenyl-propan-1-one as a photoinitiator. The kinetics of the photopolymerization of monomers in PLA, studied with Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, has been compared to analogous processes of pure monomers under the same conditions (room temperature, air atmosphere). Additionally, poly(ethylene glycol) was added to acrylate/PLA blends as plasticizer.The highly crosslinked networks obtained were characterized by FTIR and optical microscopy. The amount of insoluble gel has been estimated gravimetrically. It was found that the studied systems are characterized by very high polymerization rate, moreover, efficient grafting of polyacrylates on PLA takes place. The observed morphology indicates the heterogeneity of formed networks. The glass transition temperature of PLA in studied blends has been determined by differential scanning calorimetry
Lattice calculation of medium effects at short and long distances
We investigate medium effects in QCD like chromoelectric screening and
quasi-particle mass generation by calculating the heavy quark potential as well
as the temporal quark and gluon Coulomb gauge propagators in quenched
approximation.Comment: To appear in proceedings of Quark Matter 2001, 4 pages LaTeX, uses
espcrc1.st
Magnetic component of Yang-Mills plasma
Confinement in non-Abelian gauge theories is commonly ascribed to percolation
of magnetic monopoles, or strings in the vacuum. At the deconfinement phase
transition the condensed magnetic degrees of freedom are released into gluon
plasma as thermal magnetic monopoles. We point out that within the percolation
picture lattice simulations can be used to estimate the monopole content of the
gluon plasma. We show that right above the critical temperature the monopole
density remains a constant function of temperature, as for a liquid, and then
grows, like for a gas.Comment: 4 pages, no figures; replaced to match published versio
Magnetoelectricity at room temperature in Bi0.9-xTbxLa0.1FeO3 system
Magnetoelectric compounds with the general formula, Bi0.9-xRxLa0.1FeO3 (R
=Gd, Tb, Dy, etc.), have been synthesized. These show the coexistence of
ferroelectricity and magnetism, possess high dielectric constant and exhibit
magnetoelectric coupling at room temperature. Such materials may be of great
significance in basic as well as applied research.Comment: 11 pages of text and figure
Evaluating the feasibility of Cas9 overexpression in 3T3-L1 cells for generation of genetic knock-out adipocyte cell lines
Cell lines recapitulating physiological processes can represent alternatives to animal or human studies. The 3T3-L1 cell line is used to mimic adipocyte function and differentiation. Since transfection of 3T3-L1 cells is difficult, we used a modified 3T3-L1 cell line overexpressing Cas9 for a straightforward generation of gene knock-outs. As an example, we intended to generate 3T3-L1 cell lines deficient for adhesion G protein-coupled receptors Gpr64/Adgr2 and Gpr126/Adgr6 using the CRISPR/Cas approach. Surprisingly, all the generated knock-out as well as scramble control cell lines were unresponsive to isoprenaline in respect to adiponectin secretion and lipolysis in contrast to the wild type 3T3-L1 cells. We, therefore, analysed the properties of these stable Cas9-overexpressing 3T3-L1 cells. We demonstrate that this commercially available cell line exhibits dysfunction in cAMP signalling pathways as well as reduced insulin sensitivity independent of gRNA transfection. We tried transient transfection of plasmids harbouring Cas9 as well as direct introduction of the Cas9 protein as alternate approaches to the stable expression of this enzyme. We find that transfection of the Cas9 protein is not only feasible but also does not impair adipogenesis and, therefore, represents a preferable alternative to achieve genetic knock-out
Anharmonicity of BaTiO_3 single crystals
By analyzing the dielectric non-linearity with the Landau thermodynamic
expansion, we find a simple and direct way to assess the importance of the
eighth order term. Following this approach, it is demonstrated that the eighth
order term is essential for the adequate description of the para/ferroelectric
phase transition of BaTiO_3. The temperature dependence of the quartic
coefficient \beta is accordingly reconsidered and is strongly evidenced by the
change of its sign above 165 C. All these findings attest to the strong
polarization anharmonicity of this material, which is unexpected for classical
displacive ferroelectrics.Comment: 4 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.
Fluoride alters type I collagen expression in the early stages of odontogenesis
Fluoride alters the expression and post-translational modifications of extracellular
matrix proteins in dentin. The aim of our study was to determine the effects
of fluoride on type I collagen expression during the early stages of tooth germ
development in rats. Pregnant dams were divided into three groups and fed
a standard diet. From the fifth day of pregnancy the three groups received tap
water with, respectively, trace amounts of fluoride (C), a low fluoride concentration
(FL) or and a high fluoride concentration (FH). Changes in type I collagen
expression and distribution were evaluated. The expression of type I collagen
was restricted to the extracellular spaces of cells of mesenchymal origin. In the
youngest animals the most intense immunoreactivity for type I collagen was
detected in predentin of the FL group. Although the intensity of immunostaining
increased in proportion to the age of the animals, the largest increase in the
groups investigated was detected in the FL group. We concluded that a low
concentration of fluoride can act as a stimulator of type I collagen deposition in
the extracellular matrix of dentin, while high concentrations of fluoride have an
opposite effect, acting as an inhibitor of type I collagen formation in dentin
Charmonium properties in hot quenched lattice QCD
We study the properties of charmonium states at finite temperature in
quenched QCD on large and fine isotropic lattices. We perform a detailed
analysis of charmonium correlation and spectral functions both below and above
. Our analysis suggests that both S wave states ( and )
and P wave states ( and ) disappear already at about . The charm diffusion coefficient is estimated through the Kubo formula and
found to be compatible with zero below and approximately at
.Comment: 32 pages, 19 figures, typo corrected, discussions on isotropic vs
anisotropic lattices expanded, published versio
Interfacing GHz-bandwidth heralded single photons with a room-temperature Raman quantum memory
Photonics is a promising platform for quantum technologies. However, photon
sources and two-photon gates currently only operate probabilistically.
Large-scale photonic processing will therefore be impossible without a
multiplexing strategy to actively select successful events. High
time-bandwidth-product quantum memories - devices that store and retrieve
single photons on-demand - provide an efficient remedy via active
synchronisation. Here we interface a GHz-bandwidth heralded single-photon
source and a room-temperature Raman memory with a time-bandwidth product
exceeding 1000. We store heralded single photons and observe a clear influence
of the input photon statistics on the retrieved light, which agrees with our
theoretical model. The preservation of the stored field's statistics is limited
by four-wave-mixing noise, which we identify as the key remaining challenge in
the development of practical memories for scalable photonic information
processing
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