1,148 research outputs found
Field-effect mobility enhanced by tuning the Fermi level into the band gap of Bi2Se3
By eliminating normal fabrication processes, we preserve the bulk insulating
state of calcium-doped Bi2Se3 single crystals in suspended nanodevices, as
indicated by the activated temperature dependence of the resistivity at low
temperatures. We perform low-energy electron beam irradiation (<16 keV) and
electrostatic gating to control the carrier density and therefore the Fermi
level position in the nanodevices. In slightly p-doped Bi2-xCaxSe3 devices,
continuous tuning of the Fermi level from the bulk valence band to the band-gap
reveals dramatic enhancement (> a factor of 10) in the field-effect mobility,
which suggests suppressed backscattering expected for the Dirac fermion surface
states in the gap of topological insulators
Isolation of mRNA from specific tissues of Drosophila by mRNA tagging
To study the function of specific cells or tissues using genomic tools like microarray analyses, it is highly desirable to obtain mRNA from a homogeneous source. However, this is particularly challenging for small organisms, like Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila melanogaster. We have optimized and applied a new technique, mRNA tagging, to isolate mRNA from specific tissues of D.melanogaster. A FLAG-tagged poly(A)-binding protein (PABP) is expressed in a specific tissue and mRNA from that tissue is thus tagged by the recombinant PABP and separated from mRNA in other tissues by co-immunoprecipitation with a FLAG-tag specific antibody. The fractionated mRNA is then amplified and used as probe in microarray experiments. As a test system, we employed the procedures to identify genes expressed in Drosophila photoreceptor cells. We found that most known photoreceptor cell-specific mRNAs were identified by mRNA tagging. Furthermore, at least 11 novel genes have been identified as enriched in photoreceptor cells. mRNA tagging is a powerful general method for profiling gene expression in specific tissues and for identifying tissue-specific genes
Adaptive Algorithm for Sparse Signal Recovery
Spike and slab priors play a key role in inducing sparsity for sparse signal
recovery. The use of such priors results in hard non-convex and mixed integer
programming problems. Most of the existing algorithms to solve the optimization
problems involve either simplifying assumptions, relaxations or high
computational expenses. We propose a new adaptive alternating direction method
of multipliers (AADMM) algorithm to directly solve the presented optimization
problem. The algorithm is based on the one-to-one mapping property of the
support and non-zero element of the signal. At each step of the algorithm, we
update the support by either adding an index to it or removing an index from it
and use the alternating direction method of multipliers to recover the signal
corresponding to the updated support. Experiments on synthetic data and
real-world images show that the proposed AADMM algorithm provides superior
performance and is computationally cheaper, compared to the recently developed
iterative convex refinement (ICR) algorithm
Genome-wide analysis of the interaction between the endosymbiotic bacterium Wolbachia and its Drosophila host
BACKGROUND: Intracellular Wolbachia bacteria are obligate, maternally-inherited, endosymbionts found frequently in insects and other invertebrates. The success of Wolbachia can be attributed in part to an ability to alter host reproduction via mechanisms including cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), parthenogenesis, feminization and male killing. Despite substantial scientific effort, the molecular mechanisms underlying the Wolbachia/host interaction are unknown.
RESULTS: Here, an in vitro Wolbachia infection was generated in the Drosophila S2 cell line, and transcription profiles of infected and uninfected cells were compared by microarray. Differentially-expressed patterns related to reproduction, immune response and heat stress response are observed, including multiple genes that have been previously reported to be involved in the Wolbachia/host interaction. Subsequent in vivo characterization of differentially-expressed products in gonads demonstrates that Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (Ance) varies between Wolbachia infected and uninfected flies and that the variation occurs in a sex-specific manner. Consistent with expectations for the conserved CI mechanism, the observed Ance expression pattern is repeatable in different Drosophila species and with different Wolbachia types. To examine Ance involvement in the CI phenotype, compatible and incompatible crosses of Ance mutant flies were conducted. Significant differences are observed in the egg hatch rate resulting from incompatible crosses, providing support for additional experiments examining for an interaction of Ance with the CI mechanism.
CONCLUSION: Wolbachia infection is shown to affect the expression of multiple host genes, including Ance. Evidence for potential Ance involvement in the CI mechanism is described, including the prior report of Ance in spermatid differentiation, Wolbachia-induced sex-specific effects on Ance expression and an Ance mutation effect on CI levels. The results support the use of Wolbachia infected cell cultures as an appropriate model for predicting in vivo host/Wolbachia interactions
A Selected Ribozyme Catalyzing Diverse Dipeptide Synthesis
AbstractThe sequence of events by which protein, RNA, and DNA emerged during early biological evolution is one of the most profound questions regarding the origin of life. The contemporary role of aminoacyl-adenylates as intermediates in both ribosomal and nonribosomal peptide synthesis suggests that they may have served as substrates for uncoded peptide synthesis during early evolution. We report a highly active peptidyl transferase ribozyme family, isolated by in vitro selection, that efficiently catalyzes dipeptide synthesis by using an aminoacyl-adenylate substrate. It was characterized by sequence and structural analysis and kinetic studies. Remarkably, the ribozyme catalyzed the formation of 30 different dipeptides, the majority of rates being within 5-fold that of the Met-Phe dipeptide required by the selection. The isolation of this synthetic ribozyme fosters speculation that ribozyme-mediated uncoded peptide synthesis may have preceded coded peptide synthesis
Direct observation of phase transition dynamics in suspensions of soft colloidal hydrogel particles
Due to the tunability of their softness and volume as a function of temperature, poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (pNIPAm) hydrogel particles have emerged as a model system for soft colloidal spheres. By introducing AAc as comonomer, one can also tune the particle volume via pH. We report on the phase behavior of these stimuli-responsive colloids as measured with a microdialysis cell. This device, which integrates microfluidics with Particle Tracking Video-microscopy allows for simple and quick investigation of the phase behavior of suspensions the soft colloidal hydrogel as a function of pH as well as its packing density. In particular, we demonstrate the existence of an unusually broad liquid/crystal coexistence region as a function of effective particle volume fraction. Additionally, we reveal that nonequilibrium jammed states can be created in the coexistence region upon sudden large changes of pH. The phase diagram is indicative of complex interparticle interactions with weakly attractive components.https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/sees_books/1002/thumbnail.jp
Convergence of quantum random walks with decoherence
In this paper, we study the discrete-time quantum random walks on a line
subject to decoherence. The convergence of the rescaled position probability
distribution depends mainly on the spectrum of the superoperator
. We show that if 1 is an eigenvalue of the superoperator
with multiplicity one and there is no other eigenvalue whose modulus equals to
1, then converges to a convex combination of
normal distributions. In terms of position space, the rescaled probability mass
function , , converges in
distribution to a continuous convex combination of normal distributions. We
give an necessary and sufficient condition for a U(2) decoherent quantum walk
that satisfies the eigenvalue conditions.
We also give a complete description of the behavior of quantum walks whose
eigenvalues do not satisfy these assumptions. Specific examples such as the
Hadamard walk, walks under real and complex rotations are illustrated. For the
O(2) quantum random walks, an explicit formula is provided for the scaling
limit of and their moments. We also obtain exact critical exponents
for their moments at the critical point and show universality classes with
respect to these critical exponents
Suspension and Measurement of Graphene and Bi2Se3 Atomic Membranes
Coupling high quality, suspended atomic membranes to specialized electrodes
enables investigation of many novel phenomena, such as spin or Cooper pair
transport in these two dimensional systems. However, many electrode materials
are not stable in acids that are used to dissolve underlying substrates. Here
we present a versatile and powerful multi-level lithographical technique to
suspend atomic membranes, which can be applied to the vast majority of
substrate, membrane and electrode materials. Using this technique, we
fabricated suspended graphene devices with Al electrodes and mobility of 5500
cm^2/Vs. We also demonstrate, for the first time, fabrication and measurement
of a free-standing thin Bi2Se3 membrane, which has low contact resistance to
electrodes and a mobility of >~500 cm^2/Vs
Modulational instability and nonlocality management in coupled NLS system
The modulational instability of two interacting waves in a nonlocal Kerr-type
medium is considered analytically and numerically. For a generic choice of wave
amplitudes, we give a complete description of stable/unstable regimes for zero
group-velocity mismatch. It is shown that nonlocality suppresses considerably
the growth rate and bandwidth of instability. For nonzero group-velocity
mismatch we perform a geometrical analysis of a nonlocality management which
can provide stability of waves otherwise unstable in a local medium.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures, to be published in Physica Script
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