Medium effects of magnetic moments of baryons on neutron stars under strong magnetic fields

We investigate medium effects due to density-dependent magnetic moments of baryons on neutron stars under strong magnetic fields. If we allow the variation of anomalous magnetic moments (AMMs) of baryons in dense matter under strong magnetic fields, AMMs of nucleons are enhanced to be larger than those of hyperons. The enhancement naturally affects the chemical potentials of baryons to be large and leads to the increase of a proton fraction. Consequently, it causes the suppression of hyperons, resulting in the stiffness of the equation of state. Under the presumed strong magnetic fields, we evaluate relevant particles' population, the equation of state and the maximum masses of neutron stars by including density-dependent AMMs and compare them with those obtained from AMMs in free space

BSP-fields: An Exact Representation of Polygonal Objects by Differentiable Scalar Fields Based on Binary Space Partitioning

The problem considered in this work is to find a dimension independent algorithm for the generation of signed scalar fields exactly representing polygonal objects and satisfying the following requirements: the defining real function takes zero value exactly at the polygonal object boundary; no extra zero-value isosurfaces should be generated; C1 continuity of the function in the entire domain. The proposed algorithms are based on the binary space partitioning (BSP) of the object by the planes passing through the polygonal faces and are independent of the object genus, the number of disjoint components, and holes in the initial polygonal mesh. Several extensions to the basic algorithm are proposed to satisfy the selected optimization criteria. The generated BSP-fields allow for applying techniques of the function-based modeling to already existing legacy objects from CAD and computer animation areas, which is illustrated by several examples

Bottom-up Photonic Crystal Lasers

The directed growth of III–V nanopillars is used to demonstrate bottom-up photonic crystal lasers. Simultaneous formation of both the photonic band gap and active gain region is achieved via catalyst-free selective-area metal–organic chemical vapor deposition on masked GaAs substrates. The nanopillars implement a GaAs/InGaAs/GaAs axial double heterostructure for accurate, arbitrary placement of gain within the cavity and lateral InGaP shells to reduce surface recombination. The lasers operate single-mode at room temperature with low threshold peak power density of ~625 W/cm^2. Cavity resonance and lasing wavelength is lithographically defined by controlling pillar pitch and diameter to vary from 960 to 989 nm. We envision this bottom-up approach to pillar-based devices as a new platform for photonic systems integration

Hemoglobin-Mediated Nitric Oxide Signaling

The rate that hemoglobin reacts with nitric oxide (NO) is limited by how fast NO can diffuse into the heme pocket. The reaction is as fast as any ligand/protein reaction can be and the result, when hemoglobin is in its oxygenated form, is formation of nitrate in what is known as the dioxygenation reaction. As nitrate, at the concentrations made through the deoxygenation reaction, is biologically inert, the only role hemoglobin was once thought to play in NO signaling was to inhibit it. However, there are now several mechanisms that have been discovered by which hemoglobin may preserve, control, and even create NO activity. These mechanisms involve compartmentalization of reacting species and conversion of NO from or into other species such as nitros othiols or nitrite which could transport NO activity. Despite the tremendous amount of work devoted to this field, major questions concerning precise mechanisms of NO activity preservation as well as if and how Hb creates NO activity remain unanswered

No evidence for a common self-bias across cognitive domains

It is generally acknowledged that humans have an egocentric bias; processing self-related stimuli in a specialised, preferential manner. The self-bias has been studied within cognitive domains such as memory, attention and perception; but never across cognitive domains in order to assess whether self-biases are a product of a common bias, or independent. This has relevance for conditions such as Autism Spectrum Disorder: certain self-biases are reduced in those with autism, but the pattern of results is not consistent across different cognitive domains. Self-bias was measured across the attentional and perceptual domains on two well-established tasks: the attentional blink (attention) and shape-label matching (perception) tasks. Processing of each participant's own name was compared to processing of the name of another individual very familiar to the participant (to control for familiarity), and the name of an unfamiliar other. In the attentional domain, the attentional blink for the participant's own name was reduced compared to that for the name of a familiar or unfamiliar other. In the perceptual domain, participants showed stronger associations between their own name and a geometric shape than between the other classes of names and associated shapes. Thus, strong evidence of a self-bias, independent of familiarity, was found on both tasks. However, across two experiments, the magnitude of the self-bias on the attentional blink and shape-label matching tasks was not correlated, supporting the idea that self-biases across cognitive domains are distinct. Furthermore, in contrast with extant models, neither type of self-bias was predicted by autistic traits

Recent Insights Into Nitrite Signaling Processes in Blood

Nitrite was once thought to be inert in human physiology. However, research over the past few decades has established a link between nitrite and the production of nitric oxide (NO) that is potentiated under hypoxic and acidic conditions. Under this new role nitrite acts as a storage pool for bioavailable NO. The NO so produced is likely to play important roles in decreasing platelet activation, contributing to hypoxic vasodilation and minimizing blood-cell adhesion to endothelial cells. Researchers have proposed multiple mechanisms for nitrite reduction in the blood. However, NO production in blood must somehow overcome rapid scavenging by hemoglobin in order to be effective. Here we review the role of red blood cell hemoglobin in the reduction of nitrite and present recent research into mechanisms that may allow nitric oxide and other reactive nitrogen signaling species to escape the red blood cell