502 research outputs found
Electric Field Control of Soliton Motion and Stacking in Trilayer Graphene
The crystal structure of a material plays an important role in determining
its electronic properties. Changing from one crystal structure to another
involves a phase transition which is usually controlled by a state variable
such as temperature or pressure. In the case of trilayer graphene, there are
two common stacking configurations (Bernal and rhombohedral) which exhibit very
different electronic properties. In graphene flakes with both stacking
configurations, the region between them consists of a localized strain soliton
where the carbon atoms of one graphene layer shift by the carbon-carbon bond
distance. Here we show the ability to move this strain soliton with a
perpendicular electric field and hence control the stacking configuration of
trilayer graphene with only an external voltage. Moreover, we find that the
free energy difference between the two stacking configurations scales
quadratically with electric field, and thus rhombohedral stacking is favored as
the electric field increases. This ability to control the stacking order in
graphene opens the way to novel devices which combine structural and electrical
properties
Band Structure Mapping of Bilayer Graphene via Quasiparticle Scattering
A perpendicular electric field breaks the layer symmetry of Bernal-stacked
bilayer graphene, resulting in the opening of a band gap and a modification of
the effective mass of the charge carriers. Using scanning tunneling microscopy
and spectroscopy, we examine standing waves in the local density of states of
bilayer graphene formed by scattering from a bilayer/trilayer boundary. The
quasiparticle interference properties are controlled by the bilayer graphene
band structure, allowing a direct local probe of the evolution of the band
structure of bilayer graphene as a function of electric field. We extract the
Slonczewski-Weiss-McClure model tight binding parameters as
eV, eV, and eV.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure
Small Wins - Big Impact: Narratives from Behind the Scenes
All instructors, administrators, and researchers that have engaged in the endeavor to teach, oversee, and/or transform first-year engineering courses have a story to tell about their successes and struggles. In this workshop, we use narrative inquiry to listen to participants’ stories about first-year engineering programs. Based on the analyses of these stories and deduced patterns, a few key struggles will be teased out to guide this interactive workshop. All participants will then further tell their stories of relevant experiences. Our goal is to address struggles and disseminate successes with first-year engineering programs for adoption and adaptation. Our goal is that all attendees will leave this workshop with a better understanding of their own stories and key takeaways that they can apply to first-year engineering programs at their own institutions
The DiskMass Survey. II. Error Budget
We present a performance analysis of the DiskMass Survey. The survey uses
collisionless tracers in the form of disk stars to measure the surface-density
of spiral disks, to provide an absolute calibration of the stellar
mass-to-light ratio, and to yield robust estimates of the dark-matter halo
density profile in the inner regions of galaxies. We find a disk inclination
range of 25-35 degrees is optimal for our measurements, consistent with our
survey design to select nearly face-on galaxies. Uncertainties in disk
scale-heights are significant, but can be estimated from radial scale-lengths
to 25% now, and more precisely in the future. We detail the spectroscopic
analysis used to derive line-of-sight velocity dispersions, precise at low
surface-brightness, and accurate in the presence of composite stellar
populations. Our methods take full advantage of large-grasp integral-field
spectroscopy and an extensive library of observed stars. We show that the
baryon-to-total mass fraction (F_b) is not a well-defined observational
quantity because it is coupled to the halo mass model. This remains true even
when the disk mass is known and spatially-extended rotation curves are
available. In contrast, the fraction of the rotation speed supplied by the disk
at 2.2 scale lengths (disk maximality) is a robust observational indicator of
the baryonic disk contribution to the potential. We construct the error-budget
for the key quantities: dynamical disk mass surface-density, disk stellar
mass-to-light ratio, and disk maximality (V_disk / V_circular). Random and
systematic errors in these quantities for individual galaxies will be ~25%,
while survey precision for sample quartiles are reduced to 10%, largely devoid
of systematic errors outside of distance uncertainties.Comment: To appear in ApJ; 88 pages, 4 tables, 18 figures. High-resolution
version available at
http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~mab/publications/DMS_II_preprint.pd
Thermal Infrared MMTAO Observations of the HR 8799 Planetary System
We present direct imaging observations at wavelengths of 3.3, 3.8 (L',band),
and 4.8 (M band) microns, for the planetary system surrounding HR 8799. All
three planets are detected at L'. The c and d component are detected at 3.3
microns, and upper limits are derived from the M band observations. These
observations provide useful constraints on warm giant planet atmospheres. We
discuss the current age constraints on the HR 8799 system, and show that
several potential co-eval objects can be excluded from being co-moving with the
star. Comparison of the photometry is made to models for giant planet
atmospheres. Models which include non-equilibrium chemistry provide a
reasonable match to the colors of c and d. From the observed colors in the
thermal infrared we estimate T_eff < 960 K for b, and T_eff=1300 and 1170 K for
c and d, respectively. This provides an independent check on the effective
temperatures and thus masses of the objects from the Marois 2008 results.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, accepted to Ap
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Individuals With Scleroderma May Have Increased Risk of Sleep-Disordered Breathing.
STUDY OBJECTIVES:Scleroderma is associated with abnormal skin thickening, interstitial lung disease, pulmonary hypertension, and abnormalities of the upper airway. These changes can cause cardiopulmonary complications, potentially including sleep-disordered breathing. The objective of this study is to examine the risk of sleep-disordered breathing in patients with scleroderma. METHODS:We retrospectively identified patients with documented scleroderma. We abstracted data from their electronic health records, including findings from antibody tests, serial pulmonary function tests, transthoracic echocardiography, high-resolution computed tomography, and overnight forehead oximetry. RESULTS:We identified 171 patients with scleroderma. Mean age at the time of initial consult was 56.5 years (range, 18-96 years), and 150 (86.7%) were women. Scleroderma was categorized as limited disease for 108 (62.4%), diffuse disease for 59 (34.1%), and mixed connective tissue disease for 6 (3.5%). Fifty-four patients (31.2%) had abnormal overnight forehead oximetry results, defined as an oxygen desaturation index greater than 5 or a baseline mean arterial oxygen saturation level less than 90%. CONCLUSIONS:Cardiopulmonary complications are common in patients with scleroderma, one of which may be sleep-disordered breathing. In our cohort, approximately one-third of individuals with scleroderma had evidence of sleep-disordered breathing. Moreover, the rate of sleep-disordered breathing in our population of scleroderma patients was twice the rate of pulmonary hypertension and was approximately the same as the rate of interstitial lung disease. Future prospective studies are needed to further assess the role of sleep-disordered breathing in scleroderma clinical outcomes
Modeling the Effects of Star Formation Histories on Halpha and Ultra-Violet Fluxes in Nearby Dwarf Galaxies
We consider the effects of non-constant star formation histories (SFHs) on
Halpha and GALEX far ultra-violet (FUV) star formation rate (SFR) indicators.
Under the assumption of a fully populated Chabrier IMF, we compare the
distribution of Halpha-to-FUV flux ratios from ~ 1500 simple, periodic model
SFHs with observations of 185 galaxies from the Spitzer Local Volume Legacy
survey. We find a set of SFH models that are well matched to the data, such
that more massive galaxies are best characterized by nearly constant SFHs,
while low mass systems experience bursts amplitudes of ~ 30 (i.e., an increase
in the SFR by a factor of 30 over the SFR during the inter-burst period), burst
durations of tens of Myr, and periods of ~ 250 Myr; these SFHs are broadly
consistent with the increased stochastic star formation expected in systems
with lower SFRs. We analyze the predicted temporal evolution of galaxy stellar
mass, R-band surface brightness, Halpha-derived SFR, and blue luminosity, and
find that they provide a reasonable match to observed flux distributions. We
find that our model SFHs are generally able to reproduce both the observed
systematic decline and increased scatter in Halpha-to-FUV ratios toward low
mass systems, without invoking other physical mechanisms. We also compare our
predictions with those from the Integrated Galactic IMF theory with a constant
SFR. We find that while both predict a systematic decline in the observed
ratios, only the time variable SFH models are capable of producing the observed
population of low mass galaxies ( < 10 Msun) with normal
Halpha-to-FUV ratios. These results demonstrate that a variable IMF alone has
difficulty explaining the observed scatter in the Halpha-to-FUV ratios. We
conclude by considering the limitations of the model SFHs, and discuss the use
of additional empirical constraints to improve future SFH modeling efforts.Comment: 15 pages, 11 Figures. Accepted for publication in Ap
Annotation of two large contiguous regions from the Haemonchus contortus genome using RNA-seq and comparative analysis with Caenorhabditis elegans
The genomes of numerous parasitic nematodes are currently being sequenced, but their complexity and size, together with high levels of intra-specific sequence variation and a lack of reference genomes, makes their assembly and annotation a challenging task. Haemonchus contortus is an economically significant parasite of livestock that is widely used for basic research as well as for vaccine development and drug discovery. It is one of many medically and economically important parasites within the strongylid nematode group. This group of parasites has the closest phylogenetic relationship with the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans, making comparative analysis a potentially powerful tool for genome annotation and functional studies. To investigate this hypothesis, we sequenced two contiguous fragments from the H. contortus genome and undertook detailed annotation and comparative analysis with C. elegans. The adult H. contortus transcriptome was sequenced using an Illumina platform and RNA-seq was used to annotate a 409 kb overlapping BAC tiling path relating to the X chromosome and a 181 kb BAC insert relating to chromosome I. In total, 40 genes and 12 putative transposable elements were identified. 97.5% of the annotated genes had detectable homologues in C. elegans of which 60% had putative orthologues, significantly higher than previous analyses based on EST analysis. Gene density appears to be less in H. contortus than in C. elegans, with annotated H. contortus genes being an average of two-to-three times larger than their putative C. elegans orthologues due to a greater intron number and size. Synteny appears high but gene order is generally poorly conserved, although areas of conserved microsynteny are apparent. C. elegans operons appear to be partially conserved in H. contortus. Our findings suggest that a combination of RNA-seq and comparative analysis with C. elegans is a powerful approach for the annotation and analysis of strongylid nematode genomes
Temperature and Solvent Facilitated Extrusion Based 3D Printing for Pharmaceuticals.
On demand manufacturing of patient-specific oral doses provides significant advantages to patients and healthcare staff. Several 3D printing (3DP) technologies have been proposed as a potential digital alternative to conventional manufacturing of oral tablets. For additive manufacturing approach to be successful for on-demand preparation, a facile process with minimal preparation steps and training requirements is needed. A novel hybrid approach to the 3D printing process is demonstrated here based on combined both a solvent and heating to facilitate extrusion. The system employed a moderate elevated temperature range (65-100 C), a brief drying period, and a simple set-up. In this approach, a compact material cylinder is used as a pharmaceutical ink to be extruded in a temperature-controlled metal syringe. The process proved compatible with hygroscopic polymers [Poly(vinyl alcohol (PVA) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)] and a number of pharmaceutical fillers (lactose, sorbitol and D-mannitol). The fabricated tablets demonstrated compendial acceptable weight and content uniformity as well as mechanical resistance. In vitro drug release of theophylline from 3D printed tablets was dependant on the nature of the polymer and its molecular weight. This reported approach offers significant advantages compared to other 3DP technologies: simplification of pre-product, the use of a moderate temperature range, a minimal drying period, and avoiding the use of mechanically complicated machinery. In the future, we envisage the use of this low-cost and facile approach to fabricate small batches of bespoke tablets. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier B.V.
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