821 research outputs found
Strong Light-Matter Coupling in Carbon Nanotubes as a Route to Exciton Brightening
We show that strong light-matter coupling can be used to overcome a long
standing problem that has prevented efficient optical emission from carbon
nanotubes. The luminescence from the nominally bright exciton states of carbon
nanotubes is quenched due to the fast nonradiative scattering to the dark
exciton state having a lower energy. We present a theoretical analysis to show
that by placing carbon nanotubes in an optical microcavity the bright exctonic
state may be split into two hybrid exciton-polariton states, while the dark
state remains unaltered. For sufficiently strong coupling between the bright
exciton and the cavity, we show that the energy of the lower polariton may be
pushed below that of the dark exciton. This overturning of the relative
energies of the bright and dark excitons prevents the dark exciton from
quenching the emission. Our resutls pave the way for a new approach to
band-engineering the properties of the nanoscale optoelectronic devices.Comment: 35 pages, 5 figures, 6 pages of supplementary materials, 1
supplementary figur
Characterization of a Heme-Regulated Non-Coding RNA Encoded by the prrF Locus of Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an opportunistic pathogen, requires iron for virulence and can obtain this nutrient via the acquisition of heme, an abundant source of iron in the human body. A surplus of either iron or heme can lead to oxidative stress; thus, the Fur (ferric uptake regulator) protein blocks expression of genes required for iron and heme uptake in iron-replete environments. Fur also represses expression of two nearly identical genes encoding the 116- and 114-nucleotide (nt) long PrrF1 and PrrF2 RNAs, respectively. While other Pseudomonads encode for the two PrrF RNAs at separate genomic loci, PrrF1 and PrrF2 are encoded in tandem in all sequenced strains of P. aeruginosa. In this report we characterize a third longer transcript encoded by the prrF locus, PrrH, which is repressed by heme as well as iron. We mapped the PrrH RNA in PA01 using 5′ rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) and northern analysis, demonstrating the PrrH RNA is 325 nt in length. Accordingly, transcription of PrrH initiates at the 5′ end of prrF1, proceeds through the prrF1 terminator and prrF1-prrF2 intergenic sequence (95 nt), and terminates at the 3′ end of the prrF2 gene. We also present evidence that repression of PrrH by heme causes increased expression of previously identified PrrF-regulated genes, as well as newly identified iron- and heme-activated genes. Thus, the PrrH RNA appears to impart a novel heme regulatory mechanism to P. aeruginosa
A Complex Extracellular Sphingomyelinase of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Inhibits Angiogenesis by Selective Cytotoxicity to Endothelial Cells
The hemolytic phospholipase C (PlcHR) expressed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the original member of a Phosphoesterase Superfamily, which includes phosphorylcholine-specific phospholipases C (PC-PLC) produced by frank and opportunistic pathogens. PlcHR, but not all its family members, is also a potent sphingomyelinase (SMase). Data presented herein indicate that picomolar (pM) concentrations of PlcHR are selectively lethal to endothelial cells (EC). An RGD motif of PlcHR contributes to this selectivity. Peptides containing an RGD motif (i.e., GRGDS), but not control peptides (i.e., GDGRS), block the effects of PlcHR on calcium signaling and cytotoxicity to EC. Moreover, RGD variants of PlcHR (e.g., RGE, KGD) are significantly reduced in their binding and toxicity, but retain the enzymatic activity of the wild type PlcHR. PlcHR also inhibits several EC-dependent in vitro assays (i.e., EC migration, EC invasion, and EC tubule formation), which represent key processes involved in angiogenesis (i.e., formation of new blood vessels from existing vasculature). Finally, the impact of PlcHR in an in vivo model of angiogenesis in transgenic zebrafish, and ones treated with an antisense morpholino to knock down a key blood cell regulator, were evaluated because in vitro assays cannot fully represent the complex processes of angiogenesis. As little as 2 ng/embryo of PlcHR was lethal to ∼50% of EGFP-labeled EC at 6 h after injection of embryos at 48 hpf (hours post-fertilization). An active site mutant of PlcHR (Thr178Ala) exhibited 120-fold reduced inhibitory activity in the EC invasion assay, and 20 ng/embryo elicited no detectable inhibitory activity in the zebrafish model. Taken together, these observations are pertinent to the distinctive vasculitis and poor wound healing associated with P. aeruginosa sepsis and suggest that the potent antiangiogenic properties of PlcHR are worthy of further investigation for the treatment of diseases where angiogenesis contributes pathological conditions (e.g., vascularization of tumors, diabetic retinopathy)
Canted Ferromagnetism in Double Exchange Model with on-site Coulomb Repulsion
The double exchange model with on-site Coulomb repulsion is considered.
Schwinger-bosons representation of the localized spins is used and two
spin-singlet Fermion operators are introduced. In terms of the new Fermi fields
the on-site Hund's interaction is in a diagonal form and the true magnons of
the system are identified. The singlet fermions can be understood as electrons
dressed by a cloud of repeatedly emitted and reabsorbed magnons. Rewritten in
terms of Schwinger-bosons and spin-singlet fermions the theory is U(1) gauge
invariant. We show that spontaneous breakdown of the gauge symmetry leads to
\emph{\textbf{canted ferromagnetism with on-site spins of localized and
delocalized electrons misaligned}}. On-site canted phase emerges in double
exchange model when Coulomb repulsion is large enough. The quantum phase
transition between ferromagnetism and canted phase is studied varying the
Coulomb repulsion for different values of parameters in the theory such as
Hund's coupling and chemical potential.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure
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Double-diffusive magnetic buoyancy instability in a quasi-two-dimensional Cartesian geometry
Magnetic buoyancy, believed to occur in the solar tachocline, is both an important part of large-scale solar dynamo models and the picture of how sunspots are formed. Given that in the tachocline region the ratio of magnetic diffusivity to thermal diffusivity is small it is important, for both the dynamo and sunspot formation pictures, to understand magnetic buoyancy in this regime. Furthermore, the tachocline is a region of strong shear and such investigations must involve structures that become buoyant in the double-diffusive regime which are generated entirely from a shear flow. In a previous study, we have illustrated that shear-generated doublediffusive magnetic buoyancy instability is possible in the tachocline. However, this study was severely limited due to the computational requirements of running three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations over diffusive time-scales. A more comprehensive investigation is required to fully understand the double-diffusive magnetic buoyancy instability and its dependency on a number of key parameters; such an investigation requires the consideration of a reduced model. Here we consider a quasi-two-dimensional model where all gradients in the x direction are set to zero. We show how the instability is sensitive to changes in the thermal diffusivity and also show how different initial configurations of the forced shear flow affect the behaviour of the instability. Finally, we conclude that if the tachocline is thinner than currently stated then the double-diffusive magnetic buoyancy instability can more easily occur
The Polymer Stress Tensor in Turbulent Shear Flows
The interaction of polymers with turbulent shear flows is examined. We focus
on the structure of the elastic stress tensor, which is proportional to the
polymer conformation tensor. We examine this object in turbulent flows of
increasing complexity. First is isotropic turbulence, then anisotropic (but
homogenous) shear turbulence and finally wall bounded turbulence. The main
result of this paper is that for all these flows the polymer stress tensor
attains a universal structure in the limit of large Deborah number \De\gg 1.
We present analytic results for the suppression of the coil-stretch transition
at large Deborah numbers. Above the transition the turbulent velocity
fluctuations are strongly correlated with the polymer's elongation: there
appear high-quality "hydro-elastic" waves in which turbulent kinetic energy
turns into polymer potential energy and vice versa. These waves determine the
trace of the elastic stress tensor but practically do not modify its universal
structure. We demonstrate that the influence of the polymers on the balance of
energy and momentum can be accurately described by an effective polymer
viscosity that is proportional to to the cross-stream component of the elastic
stress tensor. This component is smaller than the stream-wise component by a
factor proportional to \De ^2 . Finally we tie our results to wall bounded
turbulence and clarify some puzzling facts observed in the problem of drag
reduction by polymers.Comment: 11 p., 1 Fig., included, Phys. Rev. E., submitte
Applying discriminant and cluster analysis to separate allergenic from non-allergenic proteins
As a result of increased healthcare requirements and the introduction of genetically modified foods, the problem of allergies is becoming a growing health problem. The concept of allergies has prompted the use of new methods such as genomics and proteomics to uncover the nature of allergies. In the present study, a selection of 1400 food proteins was analysed by PLS-DA (Partial Least Square-based Discriminant Analysis) after suitable transformation of structural parameters into uniform vectors. Then, the resulting strings of different length were converted into vectors with equal length by Auto and Cross-Covariance (ACC) analysis. Hierarchical and non-hierarchical (K-means) Cluster Analysis (CA) was also performed in order to reach a certain level of separation within a small training set of plant proteins (16 allergenic and 16 non-allergenic) using a new three-dimensional descriptor based on surface protein properties in combination with amino acid hydrophobicity scales. The novelty of the approach in protein differentiation into allergenic and non-allergenic classes is described in the article. The general goal of the present study was to show the effectiveness of a traditional chemometric method for classification (PLS-DA) and the options of Cluster Analysis (CA) to separate by multivariate statistical methods allergenic from non-allergenic proteins
Interactions between magnetohydrodynamic shear instabilities and convective flows in the solar interior
Motivated by the interface model for the solar dynamo, this paper explores
the complex magnetohydrodynamic interactions between convective flows and
shear-driven instabilities. Initially, we consider the dynamics of a forced
shear flow across a convectively-stable polytropic layer, in the presence of a
vertical magnetic field. When the imposed magnetic field is weak, the dynamics
are dominated by a shear flow (Kelvin-Helmholtz type) instability. For stronger
fields, a magnetic buoyancy instability is preferred. If this stably stratified
shear layer lies below a convectively unstable region, these two regions can
interact. Once again, when the imposed field is very weak, the dynamical
effects of the magnetic field are negligible and the interactions between the
shear layer and the convective layer are relatively minor. However, if the
magnetic field is strong enough to favour magnetic buoyancy instabilities in
the shear layer, extended magnetic flux concentrations form and rise into the
convective layer. These magnetic structures have a highly disruptive effect
upon the convective motions in the upper layer.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Statistical properties of coronal hole rotation rates: Are they linked to the solar interior?
The present paper discusses results of a statistical study of the
characteristics of coronal hole (CH) rotation in order to find connections to
the internal rotation of the Sun. The goal is to measure CH rotation rates and
study their distribution over latitude and their area sizes. In addition, the
CH rotation rates are compared with the solar photospheric and inner layer
rotational profiles. We study coronal holes observed within latitude
and longitude degrees from the solar disc centre during the time span from the
1 January 2013 to 20 April 2015, which includes the extended peak of solar
cycle 24.We used data created by the Spatial Possibilistic Clustering Algorithm
(SPoCA), which provides the exact location and characterisation of solar
coronal holes using SDO=AIA 193 {\AA} channel images. The CH rotation rates are
measured with four-hour cadence data to track variable positions of the CH
geometric centre. North-south asymmetry was found in the distribution of
coronal holes: about 60 percent were observed in the northern hemisphere and 40
percent were observed in the southern hemisphere. The smallest and largest CHs
were present only at high latitudes. The average sidereal rotation rate for 540
examined CHs is degrees/d. Conclusions. The latitudinal
characteristics of CH rotation do not match any known photospheric rotation
profile. The CH angular velocities exceed the photospheric angular velocities
at latitudes higher than 35-40 degrees. According to our results, the CH
rotation profile perfectly coincides with tachocline and the lower layers of
convection zone at around 0.71 ; this indicates that CHs may be
linked to the solar global magnetic field, which originates in the tachocline
region.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, Accepted for publication in A&
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