Optical absorption properties of Ge2–44 and P-doped Ge nanoparticles

The optical absorption properties of non-crystalline and crystalline Ge nanoparticles with the sizes from ∼2.5 to 15 Å have been studied at the B3LYP/6-31G level using time-dependent density functional theory. Hydrogen passivation and phosphorus doping on some selected Ge nanoparticles were also calculated. With the increase of cluster size, the optical absorption spectra of the non-crystalline Ge nanoparticles change from many peaks to a continuous broad band and at the same time exhibit a systematic red-shift. Doping phosphorus also causes the absorption spectra to shift toward the lower energy region for both non-crystalline and crystalline Ge nanoparticles. The non-crystalline Ge nanoparticles are found to have stronger absorption in the visible region in comparison with the crystalline ones, regardless phosphorus doping

Broadband multi-wavelength study of LHAASO detected AGN

Recently, the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) collaboration presents the first catalog of $\gamma$-ray sources using 508 days LHAASO data from March 2021 to September 2022. This catalog contains five active galactic nuclei (AGNs), of which four are blazars and one is a liner-type AGN. In this work, we establish averaged multi-wavelength SEDs by combining data from $Fermi$-Large Area Telescope, $Swift$, $ZTF$, and $WISE$ with the same period as the LHAASO detection. In general, these five AGNs are found in low states at all wavelengths. To study the multi-wavelength properties of these AGNs, several jet emission models, including the one-zone leptonic model, the one-zone leptonic and hadronuclear ($pp$) model, the one-zone proton-synchrotron model, and the spine-layer model are applied to reproduce their averaged SEDs, respectively. We find that the one-zone leptonic model can reproduce most of the SEDs, except for the high-energy tail of LHAASO spectra. To improve the fitting, emission from $pp$ interactions is favoured in the framework of one-zone model. The spine-layer model, which can be treated as a multi-zone scenario, also can provide good spectra fits. The influence of different extragalactic background light models on fitting LHAASO energy spectrum is also discussed.Comment: 22 pages, 10 figures, submitted to ApJS. Suggestions, comments or feedback will be appreciate

1,3,5,7-Tetra­bromo­adamantane

In the pyramidal-shaped mol­ecule of the title compound, C10H12Br4, the four terminal Br—C bond distances are nearly identical, ranging from 1.964 (4) to 1.974 (4) Å. The Br⋯Br distance of 3.6553 (7) Å indicates van der Waals contacts between mol­ecules in the crystal structure

An amine-reactive tetraphenylethylene derivative for protein detection in SDS-PAGE

A new aggregation-induced emission (AIE) compound 1,2-bis[4-(isothiocyanatomethyl)phenyl]-1,2-diphenylethene (2) was synthesized for use in SDS-PAGE. The molecule is practically nonemissive in solution but becomes highly emissive after reacting with the amine groups of the proteins by either the prestaining or poststaining method. The sensitivity of 2 achieved in the prestaining method is the same as that of Coomassie brilliant blue (CBB), while that observed in the poststaining method is higher than that of CBB. Excellent linear responses with the amount of protein were obtained in both cases. The detection of a mixture of proteins with different molecular weights was successfully achieved

Interaction between Thalamus and Hippocampus in Termination of Amygdala-Kindled Seizures in Mice

The thalamus and hippocampus have been found both involved in the initiation, propagation, and termination of temporal lobe epilepsy. However, the interaction of these regions during seizures is not clear. The present study is to explore whether some regular patterns exist in their interaction during the termination of seizures. Multichannel in vivo recording techniques were used to record the neural activities from the cornu ammonis 1 (CA1) of hippocampus and mediodorsal thalamus (MDT) in mice. The mice were kindled by electrically stimulating basolateral amygdala neurons, and Racine’s rank standard was employed to classify the stage of behavioral responses (stage 1~5). The coupling index and directionality index were used to investigate the synchronization and information flow direction between CA1 and MDT. Two main results were found in this study. (1) High levels of synchronization between the thalamus and hippocampus were observed before the termination of seizures at stage 4~5 but after the termination of seizures at stage 1~2. (2) In the end of seizures at stage 4~5, the information tended to flow from MDT to CA1. Those results indicate that the synchronization and information flow direction between the thalamus and the hippocampus may participate in the termination of seizures

LATS kinase-mediated CTCF phosphorylation and selective loss of genomic binding.

Chromatin topological organization is instrumental in gene transcription. Gene-enhancer interactions are accommodated in the same CTCF-mediated insulated neighborhoods. However, it remains poorly understood whether and how the 3D genome architecture is dynamically restructured by external signals. Here, we report that LATS kinases phosphorylated CTCF in the zinc finger (ZF) linkers and disabled its DNA-binding activity. Cellular stress induced LATS nuclear translocation and CTCF ZF linker phosphorylation, and altered the landscape of CTCF genomic binding partly by dissociating it selectively from a small subset of its genomic binding sites. These sites were highly enriched for the boundaries of chromatin domains containing LATS signaling target genes. The stress-induced CTCF phosphorylation and locus-specific dissociation from DNA were LATS-dependent. Loss of CTCF binding disrupted local chromatin domains and down-regulated genes located within them. The study suggests that external signals may rapidly modulate the 3D genome by affecting CTCF genomic binding through ZF linker phosphorylation

Method of determining cosmological parameter ranges with samples of candles with an intrinsic distribution

In this paper, the effect of the intrinsic distribution of cosmological candles is investigated. We find that, in the case of a narrow distribution, the deviation of the observed modulus of sources from the expected central value could be estimated within a ceratin range. We thus introduce a lower and upper limits of $\chi ^{2}$, $\chi_{\min}^{2}$ and $\chi_{\max}^{2}$, to estimate cosmological parameters by applying the conventional minimizing $\chi ^{2}$ method. We apply this method to a gamma-ray burst (GRB) sample as well as to a combined sample including this GRB sample and an SN Ia sample. Our analysis shows that: a) in the case of assuming an intrinsic distribution of candles of the GRB sample, the effect of the distribution is obvious and should not be neglected; b) taking into account this effect would lead to a poorer constraint of the cosmological parameter ranges. The analysis suggests that in the attempt of constraining the cosmological model with current GRB samples, the results tend to be worse than what previously thought if the mentioned intrinsic distribution does exist.Comment: 6 pages,4 figures,1 tables.Data updated. Main conclusion unchange

CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated Vitellogenin Receptor Knockout Leads to Functional Deficiency in the Reproductive Development of Plutella xylostella

The vitellogenin receptor (VgR) belongs to the low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) gene superfamily and plays an indispensable role in Vg transport, yolk deposition, and oocyte development. For this reason, it has become a promising target for pest control. The involvement of VgR in Vg transport and reproductive functions remains unclear in diamondback moths, Plutella xylostella (L.), a destructive pest of cruciferous crops. Here, we cloned and identified the complete cDNA sequence of P. xylostella VgR, which encoded 1805 amino acid residues and contained four conserved domains of LDLR superfamily. PxVgR was mainly expressed in female adults, more specifically in the ovary. PxVgR protein also showed the similar expression profile with the PxVgR transcript. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated PxVgR knockout created a homozygous mutant of P. xylostella with 5-bp-nucleotide deletion in the PxVgR. The expression deficiency of PxVgR protein was detected in the ovaries and eggs of mutant individuals. Vg protein was still detected in the eggs of the mutant individuals, but with a decreased expression level. However, PxVg transcripts were not significantly affected by the PxVgR knockout. Knockout of PxVgR resulted in shorter ovarioles of newly emerged females. No significant difference was detected between wild and mutant individuals in terms of the number of eggs laid in the first 3 days after mating. The loss of PxVgR gene resulted in smaller and whiter eggs and lower egg hatching rate. This study represents the first report on the functions of VgR in Vg transport, ovary development, oviposition, and embryonic development of P. xylostella using CRISPR/Cas9 technology. This study lays the foundation for understanding molecular mechanisms of P. xylostella reproduction, and for making use of VgR as a potential genetic-based molecular target for better control of the P. xylostella

Dynamic Stability of Euler Beams under Axial Unsteady Wind Force

Dynamic instability of beams in complex structures caused by unsteady wind load has occurred more frequently. However, studies on the parametric resonance of beams are generally limited to harmonic loads, while arbitrary dynamic load is rarely involved. The critical frequency equation for simply supported Euler beams with uniform section under arbitrary axial dynamic forces is firstly derived in this paper based on the Mathieu-Hill equation. Dynamic instability regions with high precision are then calculated by a presented eigenvalue method. Further, the dynamically unstable state of beams under the wind force with any mean or fluctuating component is determined by load normalization, and the wind-induced parametric resonant response is computed by the Runge-Kutta approach. Finally, a measured wind load time-history is input into the dynamic system to indicate that the proposed methods are effective. This study presents a new method to determine the wind-induced dynamic stability of Euler beams. The beam would become dynamically unstable provided that the parametric point, denoting the relation between load properties and structural frequency, is located in the instability region, no matter whether the wind load component is large or not