3,037 research outputs found
Propagation of Exchange Bias in CoFe/FeMn/CoFe Trilayers
CoFe/FeMn, FeMn/CoFe bilayers and CoFe/FeMn/CoFe trilayers were grown in
magnetic field and at room temperature. The exchange bias field
depends strongly on the order of depositions and is much higher at CoFe/FeMn
than at FeMn/CoFe interfaces. By combining the two bilayer structures into
symmetric CoFe/FeMn()/CoFe trilayers, and
of the top and bottom CoFe layers, respectively, are both enhanced.
Reducing of the trilayers also results in enhancements of
both and . These results evidence the propagation of
exchange bias between the two CoFe/FeMn and FeMn/CoFe interfaces mediated by
the FeMn antiferromagnetic order
Dynamics of Diblock Copolymers in Dilute Solutions
We consider the dynamics of freely translating and rotating diblock (A-B),
Gaussian copolymers, in dilute solutions. Using the multiple scattering
technique, we have computed the diffusion and the friction coefficients D_AB
and Zeta_AB, and the change Eta_AB in the viscosity of the solution as
functions of x = N_A/N and t = l_B/l_A, where N_A, N are the number of segments
of the A block and of the whole copolymer, respectively, and l_A, l_B are the
Kuhn lengths of the A and B blocks. Specific regimes that maximize the
efficiency of separation of copolymers with distinct "t" values, have been
identified.Comment: 20 pages Revtex, 7 eps figures, needs epsf.tex and amssymb.sty,
submitted to Macromolecule
Mechanisms of MR/N024524/1Scarless Repair at Time of Menstruation: Insights From Mouse Models
The human endometrium is a remarkable tissue which may experience up to 400 cycles of hormone-driven proliferation, differentiation and breakdown during a woman's reproductive lifetime. During menstruation, when the luminal portion of tissue breaks down, it resembles a bloody wound with piecemeal shedding, exposure of underlying stroma and a strong inflammatory reaction. In the absence of pathology within a few days the integrity of the tissue is restored without formation of a scar and the endometrium is able to respond appropriately to subsequent endocrine signals in preparation for establishment of pregnancy if fertilization occurs. Understanding mechanisms regulating scarless repair of the endometrium is important both for design of therapies which can treat conditions where this is aberrant (heavy menstrual bleeding, fibroids, endometriosis, Asherman's syndrome) as well as to provide new information that might allow us to reduce fibrosis and scar formation in other tissues. Menstruation only occurs naturally in species that exhibit spontaneous stromal cell decidualization during the fertile cycle such as primates (including women) and the Spiny mouse. To take advantage of genetic models and detailed time course analysis, mouse models of endometrial shedding/repair involving hormonal manipulation, artificial induction of decidualization and hormone withdrawal have been developed and refined. These models are useful in modeling dynamic changes across the time course of repair and have recapitulated key features of endometrial repair in women including local hypoxia and immune cell recruitment. In this review we will consider the evidence that scarless repair of endometrial tissue involves changes in stromal cell function including mesenchyme to epithelial transition, epithelial cell proliferation and multiple populations of immune cells. Processes contributing to endometrial fibrosis (Asherman's syndrome) as well as scarless repair of other tissues including skin and oral mucosa are compared to that of menstrual repair
Hydrogen atom in phase space. The Kirkwood-Rihaczek representation
We present a phase-space representation of the hydrogen atom using the
Kirkwood-Rikaczek distribution function. This distribution allows us to obtain
analytical results, which is quite unique because an exact analytical form of
the Wigner functions corresponding to the atom states is not known. We show how
the Kirkwood-Rihaczek distribution reflects properties of the hydrogen atom
wave functions in position and momentum representations.Comment: 5 pages (and 5 figures
Long-range forces between two excited mercury atoms and associative ionization
The long-range quadrupole-quadrupole () and leading dispersion
() interactions between all pairs of excited Hg() ,
, , and atoms are determined. The quadrupole moments are
calculated using the {\it ab initio} relativistic configuration-interaction
method coupled with many-body perturbation theory. The van der Waals
coefficients are approximated using previously calculated static
polarizabilities and expressions for the dispersion energy that are validated
with similar systems. The long-range interactions are critical for associative
ionization in thermal and cold collisions, and are found to be quite different
for different pairs of interacting states. Based on this knowledge and the
short-range parts of previously calculated potential curves, improved estimates
of the chemi-ionization cross sections are obtained.Comment: accepted in Phys Rev
The intermittent behavior and hierarchical clustering of the cosmic mass field
The hierarchical clustering model of the cosmic mass field is examined in the
context of intermittency. We show that the mass field satisfying the
correlation hierarchy is intermittent if , where is the dimension of the field, and is the power-law
index of the non-linear power spectrum in the discrete wavelet transform (DWT)
representation. We also find that a field with singular clustering can be
described by hierarchical clustering models with scale-dependent coefficients
and that this scale-dependence is completely determined by the
intermittent exponent and . Moreover, the singular exponents of a field
can be calculated by the asymptotic behavior of when is large.
Applying this result to the transmitted flux of HS1700 Ly forests, we
find that the underlying mass field of the Ly forests is significantly
intermittent. On physical scales less than about 2.0 h Mpc, the observed
intermittent behavior is qualitatively different from the prediction of the
hierarchical clustering with constant . The observations, however, do show
the existence of an asymptotic value for the singular exponents. Therefore, the
mass field can be described by the hierarchical clustering model with
scale-dependent . The singular exponent indicates that the cosmic mass
field at redshift is weakly singular at least on physical scales as
small as 10 h kpc.Comment: AAS Latex file, 33 pages,5 figures included, accepted for publication
in Ap
Superoxide dismutase downregulation in osteoarthritis progression and end-stage disease
Oxidative stress is proposed as an important factor in osteoarthritis (OA). To investigate the expression of the three superoxide dismutase (SOD) antioxidant enzymes in OA. SOD expression was determined by real-time PCR and immunohistochemistry using human femoral head cartilage. SOD2 expression in Dunkin–Hartley guinea pig knee articular cartilage was determined by immunohistochemistry. The DNA methylation status of the SOD2 promoter was determined using bisulphite sequencing. RNA interference was used to determine the consequence of SOD2 depletion on the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) using MitoSOX and collagenases, matrix metalloproteinase 1 (MMP-1) and MMP-13, gene expression. All three SOD were abundantly expressed in human cartilage but were markedly downregulated in end-stage OA cartilage, especially SOD2. In the Dunkin–Hartley guinea pig spontaneous OA model, SOD2 expression was decreased in the medial tibial condyle cartilage before, and after, the development of OA-like lesions. The SOD2 promoter had significant DNA methylation alterations in OA cartilage. Depletion of SOD2 in chondrocytes increased ROS but decreased collagenase expression. This is the first comprehensive expression profile of all SOD genes in cartilage and, importantly, using an animal model, it has been shown that a reduction in SOD2 is associated with the earliest stages of OA. A decrease in SOD2 was found to be associated with an increase in ROS but a reduction of collagenase gene expression, demonstrating the complexities of ROS function
Why do ultrasoft repulsive particles cluster and crystallize? Analytical results from density functional theory
We demonstrate the accuracy of the hypernetted chain closure and of the
mean-field approximation for the calculation of the fluid-state properties of
systems interacting by means of bounded and positive-definite pair potentials
with oscillating Fourier transforms. Subsequently, we prove the validity of a
bilinear, random-phase density functional for arbitrary inhomogeneous phases of
the same systems. On the basis of this functional, we calculate analytically
the freezing parameters of the latter. We demonstrate explicitly that the
stable crystals feature a lattice constant that is independent of density and
whose value is dictated by the position of the negative minimum of the Fourier
transform of the pair potential. This property is equivalent with the existence
of clusters, whose population scales proportionally to the density. We
establish that regardless of the form of the interaction potential and of the
location on the freezing line, all cluster crystals have a universal Lindemann
ratio L = 0.189 at freezing. We further make an explicit link between the
aforementioned density functional and the harmonic theory of crystals. This
allows us to establish an equivalence between the emergence of clusters and the
existence of negative Fourier components of the interaction potential. Finally,
we make a connection between the class of models at hand and the system of
infinite-dimensional hard spheres, when the limits of interaction steepness and
space dimension are both taken to infinity in a particularly described fashion.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures, submitted to J. Chem. Phys; new version: minor
changes in structure of pape
The role of marine reserves in achieving sustainable fisheries (One contribution of 15 to a Theme Issue 'Fisheries: a Future?')
Many fishery management tools currently in use have conservation value. They are designed to maintain stocks of commercially important species above target levels. However, their limitations are evident from continuing declines in fish stocks throughout the world. We make the case that to reverse fishery declines, safeguard marine life and sustain ecosystem processes, extensive marine reserves that are off limits to fishing must become part of the management strategy. Marine reserves should be incorporated into modern fishery management because they can achieve many things that conventional tools cannot. Only complete and permanent protection from fishing can protect the most sensitive habitats and vulnerable species. Only reserves will allow the development of natural, extended age structures of target species, maintain their genetic variability and prevent deleterious evolutionary change from the effects of fishing. Species with natural age structures will sustain higher rates of reproduction and will be more resilient to environmental variability. Higher stock levels maintained by reserves will provide insurance against management failure, including risk-prone quota setting, provided the broader conservation role of reserves is firmly established and legislatively protected. Fishery management measures outside protected areas are necessary to complement the protection offered by marine reserves, but cannot substitute for it
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