13,486 research outputs found
Highly sensitive and selective biosensor based on graphene oxide coated long period grating
We propose an optical fiber immunosensor based on graphene oxide coated dual-peak long period grating (GO-dLPG), in which GO-IgG linking layer is used for rapid immunoassays. The binding interaction between antibody and antigen produced a detectable optical signal in terms of grating resonant wavelength shift, which was proportional to the analyte concentration. By deposition of GO overlay, the bulk RI sensitivity of dLPG was enhanced around 150%. The GO-coated dLPG was biofunctionalized by the immobilization of IgG to generate the biosensor. The IgG-bound GO-dLPG was used to detect the anti-IgG and anti-PSA, respectively, demonstrating high sensitivity and selectivity. The GO-dLPG biosensor can be further developed as a biosensing platform with advantages of label-free, real-time and low limit of detection
Cleaning behaviors in four scorpion species
Scorpions rely predominantly on mechanosensory and chemosensory organs to guide their orientation behaviors. Once sensory organs are affected by the presence of dirt such as clay or prey bodily fluid, scorpions may display a cleaning behavior to reduce or eliminate its influence on their sensory capabilities. In the laboratory, cleaning behaviors of two buthid species, Mesobuthus eupeus (Koch, 1839) and Mesobuthus caucasicus (Nordmann, 1840), and one euscorpiid species, Scorpiops luridus Zhu Lourenço & Qi, 2005 from China, were observed before and after feeding. Moreover, two distinct cleaning behaviors in Scorpiops luridus and three in Heterometrus petersii (Thorell, 1876) (Scorpionidae) were noted for several times during daily activities. Based on these observations, we were able to conclude that different tools and the same tool with diverse applications are used for cleaning the same object in numerous scorpion species
Extra-hepatic fascioliasis with peritoneal malignancy tumor feature
Fascioliasis is a zoonose parasitic disease
caused by Fasciola hepatica and Fasciola gigantica and is
widespread in most regions of the world. Ectopic fascioliasis
usually caused by juvenile Fasciola spp., but in
recent years a few cases of tissue-embedded ova have been
reported from different endemic areas. A 79-year-old Iranian
man resident in Eird-e-Mousa village from Ardabil
Province, north-west of Iran, complained with abdominal
pain, nausea, and intestinal obstruction symptoms referred
to Ardabil Fatemi hospital. In laparotomy multiple intestinal
masses with peritoneal seeding resembling of a
malignant lesion were seen. After appendectomy and peritoneal
mass biopsy with numerous intraperitoneal adenopathy,
paraffin embedded blocks were prepared from
each tissues. A blood sample was taken from the patient
5 months later for serological diagnosis. Histopathological
examination of sections showed fibrofatty stroma with
dense mixed inflammatory cells infiltration and fibrosis in
peritoneal masses. Large numbers of ova of Fasciola spp.
were noted with typical circumscribed granulomas. Despite
of anti-fasciola treatment, IHA test for detecting anti F.
hepatica antibodies was positive 5 months after surgery
with a titer of 1/128. Due to multiple clinical manifestation
of extra-hepatic fascioliasis, its differential diagnosis from
intraperitoneal tumors or other similar diseases should be
considered
Multi-Layer Cyber-Physical Security and Resilience for Smart Grid
The smart grid is a large-scale complex system that integrates communication
technologies with the physical layer operation of the energy systems. Security
and resilience mechanisms by design are important to provide guarantee
operations for the system. This chapter provides a layered perspective of the
smart grid security and discusses game and decision theory as a tool to model
the interactions among system components and the interaction between attackers
and the system. We discuss game-theoretic applications and challenges in the
design of cross-layer robust and resilient controller, secure network routing
protocol at the data communication and networking layers, and the challenges of
the information security at the management layer of the grid. The chapter will
discuss the future directions of using game-theoretic tools in addressing
multi-layer security issues in the smart grid.Comment: 16 page
Likelihood inference for exponential-trawl processes
Integer-valued trawl processes are a class of serially correlated, stationary
and infinitely divisible processes that Ole E. Barndorff-Nielsen has been
working on in recent years. In this Chapter, we provide the first analysis of
likelihood inference for trawl processes by focusing on the so-called
exponential-trawl process, which is also a continuous time hidden Markov
process with countable state space. The core ideas include prediction
decomposition, filtering and smoothing, complete-data analysis and EM
algorithm. These can be easily scaled up to adapt to more general trawl
processes but with increasing computation efforts.Comment: 29 pages, 6 figures, forthcoming in: "A Fascinating Journey through
Probability, Statistics and Applications: In Honour of Ole E.
Barndorff-Nielsen's 80th Birthday", Springer, New Yor
Emergent quantum confinement at topological insulator surfaces
Bismuth-chalchogenides are model examples of three-dimensional topological
insulators. Their ideal bulk-truncated surface hosts a single spin-helical
surface state, which is the simplest possible surface electronic structure
allowed by their non-trivial topology. They are therefore widely
regarded ideal templates to realize the predicted exotic phenomena and
applications of this topological surface state. However, real surfaces of such
compounds, even if kept in ultra-high vacuum, rapidly develop a much more
complex electronic structure whose origin and properties have proved
controversial. Here, we demonstrate that a conceptually simple model,
implementing a semiconductor-like band bending in a parameter-free
tight-binding supercell calculation, can quantitatively explain the entire
measured hierarchy of electronic states. In combination with circular dichroism
in angle-resolved photoemission (ARPES) experiments, we further uncover a rich
three-dimensional spin texture of this surface electronic system, resulting
from the non-trivial topology of the bulk band structure. Moreover, our study
reveals how the full surface-bulk connectivity in topological insulators is
modified by quantum confinement.Comment: 9 pages, including supplementary information, 4+4 figures. A high
resolution version is available at
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~pdk6/pub_files/TI_quant_conf_high_res.pd
Testing supersymmetry at the LHC through gluon-fusion production of a slepton pair
Renormalizable quartic couplings among new particles are typical of
supersymmetric models. Their detection could provide a test for supersymmetry,
discriminating it from other extensions of the Standard Model. Quartic
couplings among squarks and sleptons, together with the SU(3) gauge couplings
for squarks, allow a new realization of the gluon-fusion mechanism for
pair-production of sleptons at the one-loop level. The corresponding production
cross section, however, is at most of fb for slepton and squark
masses of GeV. We then extend our investigation to the
gluon-fusion production of sleptons through the exchange of Higgs bosons. The
cross section is even smaller, of fb, if the exchanged Higgs
boson is considerably below the slepton-pair threshold, but it is enhanced when
it is resonant. It can reach fb for the production of sleptons
of same-chirality, exceeding these values for 's of
opposite-chirality, even when chirality-mixing terms in the squark sector are
vanishing. The cross section can be further enhanced if these mixing terms are
nonnegligible, providing a potentially interesting probe of the Higgs sector,
in particular of parameters such as , , and .Comment: 28 pages, 11 figure
Lipidomics Reveals Early Metabolic Changes in Subjects with Schizophrenia: Effects of Atypical Antipsychotics
There is a critical need for mapping early metabolic changes in schizophrenia to capture failures in regulation of biochemical pathways and networks. This information could provide valuable insights about disease mechanisms, trajectory of disease progression, and diagnostic biomarkers. We used a lipidomics platform to measure individual lipid species in 20 drug-naïve patients with a first episode of schizophrenia (FE group), 20 patients with chronic schizophrenia that had not adhered to prescribed medications (RE group), and 29 race-matched control subjects without schizophrenia. Lipid metabolic profiles were evaluated and compared between study groups and within groups before and after treatment with atypical antipsychotics, risperidone and aripiprazole. Finally, we mapped lipid profiles to n3 and n6 fatty acid synthesis pathways to elucidate which enzymes might be affected by disease and treatment. Compared to controls, the FE group showed significant down-regulation of several n3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), including 20:5n3, 22:5n3, and 22:6n3 within the phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine lipid classes. Differences between FE and controls were only observed in the n3 class PUFAs; no differences where noted in n6 class PUFAs. The RE group was not significantly different from controls, although some compositional differences within PUFAs were noted. Drug treatment was able to correct the aberrant PUFA levels noted in FE patients, but changes in re patients were not corrective. Treatment caused increases in both n3 and n6 class lipids. These results supported the hypothesis that phospholipid n3 fatty acid deficits are present early in the course of schizophrenia and tend not to persist throughout its course. These changes in lipid metabolism could indicate a metabolic vulnerability in patients with schizophrenia that occurs early in development of the disease. © 2013 McEvoy et al
Quasi-static stop band with flexural metamaterial having zero rotational stiffness
Metamaterials realizing stop bands have attracted much attentions recently since they can break-through the well-known mass law. However, achieving the stop band at extremely low frequency has been still a big challenge in the fields of elastic metamaterials. In this paper, we propose a new metamaterial based on the idea of the zero rotational stiffness, to achieve extremely low frequency stop band for flexural elastic waves. Unlike the previous ways to achieve the stop band, we found that the zero rotational stiffness can provide a broad stop band at extremely low frequency, which starts from even almost zero frequency. To achieve the zero rotational stiffness, we propose a new elastic metamaterial consisting of blocks and links with the hinge connection. Analytic developments as well as numerical simulations evidence that this new metamaterial can exhibit extremely low and broad stop band, even at the quasi-static ranges. In addition, the metamaterial is shown to exhibit the negative group velocity at extremely low frequency ranges, as well as the quasi-static stop band, if it is properly designed.ope
A QM/MM approach for the study of monolayer-protected gold clusters
We report the development and implementation of hybrid methods that combine
quantum mechanics (QM) with molecular mechanics (MM) to theoretically
characterize thiolated gold clusters. We use, as training systems, structures
such as Au25(SCH2-R)18 and Au38(SCH2-R)24, which can be readily compared with
recent crystallographic data. We envision that such an approach will lead to an
accurate description of key structural and electronic signatures at a fraction
of the cost of a full quantum chemical treatment. As an example, we demonstrate
that calculations of the 1H and 13C NMR shielding constants with our proposed
QM/MM model maintain the qualitative features of a full DFT calculation, with
an order-of-magnitude increase in computational efficiency.Comment: Journal of Materials Science, 201
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