920 research outputs found
Three-dimensional in situ observations of compressive damage mechanisms in syntactic foam using X-ray microcomputed tomography
Royal Society Grant number RG140680 Lloyd's Register Foundation (GB) Oil and Gas Academy of Scotland Open access via Springer Compact AgreementPeer reviewedPublisher PD
An Anomalous Phase in the Relaxor Ferroelectric Pb(ZnNb)O
X-ray diffraction studies on a Pb(ZnNb)O (PZN) single
crystal sample show the presence of two different structures. An outer-layer
exists in the outer most 10 to 50~m of the crystal, and undergoes a
structural phase transition at the Curie temperature K. The
inside phase is however, very different. The lattice inside the crystal
maintains a cubic unit cell, while ferroelectric polarization develops below
. The lattice parameter of the cubic unit cell remains virtually a
constant, i.e., much less variations compared to that of a typical relaxor
ferroelectric, in a wide temperature range of 15 K to 750 K. On the other hand,
broadening of Bragg peaks and change of Bragg profile line-shapes in both
longitudinal and transverse directions at clearly indicate a structural
phase transition occurring.Comment: to be submitted for PR
Exact solution of a linear molecular motor model driven by two-step fluctuations and subject to protein friction
We investigate by analytical means the stochastic equations of motion of a
linear molecular motor model based on the concept of protein friction. Solving
the coupled Langevin equations originally proposed by Mogilner et al. (A.
Mogilner et al., Phys. Lett. {\bf 237}, 297 (1998)), and averaging over both
the two-step internal conformational fluctuations and the thermal noise, we
present explicit, analytical expressions for the average motion and the
velocity-force relationship. Our results allow for a direct interpretation of
details of this motor model which are not readily accessible from numerical
solutions. In particular, we find that the model is able to predict
physiologically reasonable values for the load-free motor velocity and the
motor mobility.Comment: 12 pages revtex, 6 eps-figure
Symmetry of high-piezoelectric Pb-based complex perovskites at the morphotropic phase boundary I. Neutron diffraction study on Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3 -9%PbTiO3
The symmetry was examined using neutron diffraction method on
Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3 -9%PbTiO3 (PZN/9PT) which has a composition at the
morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) between Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3 and PbTiO3. The
results were compared with those of other specimens with same composition but
with different prehistory. The equilibrium state of all examined specimens is
not the mixture of rhombohedral and tetragonal phases of the end members but
exists in a new polarization rotation line Mc# (orthorhombic-monoclinic line).
Among examined specimens, one exhibited tetragonal symmetry at room temperature
but recovered monoclinic phase after a cooling and heating cycle
Diffuse Neutron Scattering Study of a Disordered Complex Perovskite Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3 Crystal
Diffuse scattering around the (110) reciprocal lattice point has been
investigated by elastic neutron scattering in the paraelectric and the relaxor
phases of the disordered complex perovskite crystal-Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3(PZN). The
appearance of a diffuse intensity peak indicates the formation of polar
nanoregions at temperature T*, approximately 40K above Tc=413K. The analysis of
this diffuse scattering indicates that these regions are in the shape of
ellipsoids, more extended in the direction than in the direction.
The quantitative analysis provides an estimate of the correlation length, \xi,
or size of the regions and shows that \xi ~1.2\xi , consistent with
the primary or dominant displacement of Pb leading to the low temperature
rhombohedral phase. Both the appearance of the polar regions at T*and the
structural transition at Tc are marked by kinks in the \xi curve but not
in the \xi one, also indicating that the primary changes take place in a
direction at both temperatures.Comment: REVTeX file. 4 pages, 3 figures embedded, New version after referee
cond-mat/010605
Neutron Diffraction Study of Field Cooling Effects on Relaxor Ferroelectrics Pb[(Zn_{1/3} Nb_{2/3})_{0.92} Ti_{0.08}] O_{3}
High-temperature (T) and high-electric-field (E) effects on Pb[(Zn_{1/3}
Nb_{2/3})_{0.92} Ti_{0.08}]O_3 (PZN-8%PT) were studied comprehensively by
neutron diffraction in the ranges 300 <= T <= 550 K and 0 <= E <= 15 kV/cm. We
have focused on how phase transitions depend on preceding thermal and
electrical sequences. In the field cooling process (FC, E parallel [001] >= 0.5
kV/cm), a successive cubic (C) --> tetragonal (T) --> monoclinic (M_C)
transition was observed. In the zero field cooling process (ZFC), however, we
have found that the system does not transform to the rhombohedral (R) phase as
widely believed, but to a new, unidentified phase, which we call X. X gives a
Bragg peak profile similar to that expected for R, but the c-axis is always
slightly shorter than the a-axis. As for field effects on the X phase, we found
an irreversible X --> M_C transition via another monoclinic phase (M_A) as
expected from a previous report [Noheda et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 3891
(2001)]. At a higher electric field, we confirmed a c-axis jump associated with
the field-induced M_C --> T transition, which was observed by strain and x-ray
diffraction measurements.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, revise
From interfaces to infrastructure:extending ecological interface design to re-design rail level crossings
RBPJ Mutations Identified in Two Families Affected by Adams-Oliver Syndrome
Through exome resequencing, we identified two unique mutations in recombination signal binding protein for immunoglobulin kappa J (RBPJ) in two independent families affected by Adams-Oliver syndrome (AOS), a rare multiple-malformation disorder consisting primarily of aplasia cutis congenita of the vertex scalp and transverse terminal limb defects. These identified mutations link RBPJ, the primary transcriptional regulator for the Notch pathway, with AOS, a human genetic disorder. Functional assays confirmed impaired DNA binding of mutated RBPJ, placing it among other notch-pathway proteins altered in human genetic syndromes
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