716 research outputs found
Anomalous scaling of conductivity in integrable fermion systems
We analyze the high-temperature conductivity in one-dimensional integrable
models of interacting fermions: the t-V model (anisotropic Heisenberg spin
chain) and the Hubbard model, at half-filling in the regime corresponding to
insulating ground state. A microcanonical Lanczos method study for finite size
systems reveals anomalously large finite-size effects at low frequencies while
a frequency-moment analysis indicates a finite d.c. conductivity. This
phenomenon also appears in a prototype integrable quantum system of
impenetrable particles, representing a strong-coupling limit of both models. In
the thermodynamic limit, the two results could converge to a finite d.c.
conductivity rather than an ideal conductor or insulator scenario.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to PR
A High-Resolution Compton Scattering Study of the Electron Momentum Density in Al
We report high-resolution Compton profiles (CP's) of Al along the three
principal symmetry directions at a photon energy of 59.38 keV, together with
corresponding highly accurate theoretical profiles obtained within the
local-density approximation (LDA) based band-theory framework. A good accord
between theory and experiment is found with respect to the overall shapes of
the CP's, their first and second derivatives, as well as the anisotropies in
the CP's defined as differences between pairs of various CP's. There are
however discrepancies in that, in comparison to the LDA predictions, the
measured profiles are lower at low momenta, show a Fermi cutoff which is
broader, and display a tail which is higher at momenta above the Fermi
momentum. A number of simple model calculations are carried out in order to
gain insight into the nature of the underlying 3D momentum density in Al, and
the role of the Fermi surface in inducing fine structure in the CP's. The
present results when compared with those on Li show clearly that the size of
discrepancies between theoretical and experimental CP's is markedly smaller in
Al than in Li. This indicates that, with increasing electron density, the
conventional picture of the electron gas becomes more representative of the
momentum density and that shortcomings of the LDA framework in describing the
electron correlation effects become less important.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, regular articl
The chemotherapeutic agent DMXAA as a unique IRF3-dependent type-2 vaccine adjuvant
5,6-Dimethylxanthenone-4-acetic acid (DMXAA), a potent type I interferon (IFN) inducer, was evaluated as a chemotherapeutic agent in mouse cancer models and proved to be well tolerated in human cancer clinical trials. Despite its multiple biological functions, DMXAA has not been fully characterized for the potential application as a vaccine adjuvant. In this report, we show that DMXAA does act as an adjuvant due to its unique property as a soluble innate immune activator. Using OVA as a model antigen, DMXAA was demonstrated to improve on the antigen specific immune responses and induce a preferential Th2 (Type-2) response. The adjuvant effect was directly dependent on the IRF3-mediated production of type-I-interferon, but not IL-33. DMXAA could also enhance the immunogenicity of influenza split vaccine which led to significant increase in protective responses against live influenza virus challenge in mice compared to split vaccine alone. We propose that DMXAA can be used as an adjuvant that targets a specific innate immune signaling pathway via IRF3 for potential applications including vaccines against influenza which requires a high safety profile
The Ptk2-Pma1 pathway enhances tolerance to terbinafine in Trichophyton rubrum.
The increasing prevalence of dermatophyte resistance to terbinafine, a key drug in the treatment of dermatophytosis, represents a significant obstacle to treatment. Trichophyton rubrum is the most commonly isolated fungus in dermatophytosis. In T. rubrum, we identified TERG_07844, a gene encoding a previously uncharacterized putative protein kinase, as an ortholog of budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae polyamine transport kinase 2 (Ptk2), and found that T. rubrum Ptk2 (TrPtk2) is involved in terbinafine tolerance. In both T. rubrum and S. cerevisiae, Ptk2 knockout strains were more sensitive to terbinafine compared with the wild types, suggesting that promotion of terbinafine tolerance is a conserved function of fungal Ptk2. Pma1 is activated through phosphorylation by Ptk2 in S. cerevisiae. Overexpression of T. rubrum Pma1 (TrPma1) in T. rubrum Ptk2 knockout strain (ΔTrPtk2) suppressed terbinafine sensitivity, suggesting that the induction of terbinafine tolerance by TrPtk2 is mediated by TrPma1. Furthermore, omeprazole, an inhibitor of plasma membrane proton pump Pma1, increased the terbinafine sensitivity of clinically isolated terbinafine-resistant strains. These findings suggest that, in dermatophytes, the TrPtk2-TrPma1 pathway plays a key role in promoting intrinsic terbinafine tolerance and may serve as a potential target for combinational antifungal therapy against terbinafine-resistant dermatophytes
Optical conductivity of the Hubbard model at finite temperature
The optical conductivity, , of the two dimensional one-band
Hubbard model is calculated at finite temperature using exact diagonalization
techniques on finite clusters. The in-plane d.c. resistivity, , is
also evaluated. We find that at large U/t and temperature T, is
approximately linear with temperature, in reasonable agreement with experiments
on high-T superconductors. Moreover, we note that displays
charge excitations, a mid-infrared (MIR) band and a Drude peak, also as
observed experimentally. The combination of the Drude peak and the MIR
oscillator strengths leads to a conductivity that decays slower than
at energies smaller than the insulator gap near half-filling.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures appended, Revtex version 2.0, preprin
The four-wavelength Photoacoustic Aerosol Absorption Spectrometer (PAAS-4<i>λ</i>)
In this paper, the Photoacoustic Aerosol Absorption Spectrometer (PAAS-4λ) is introduced. PAAS-4λ was specifically developed for long-term monitoring tasks in (unattended) air quality stations. It uses four wavelengths coupled to a single acoustic resonator in a compact and robust set-up. The instrument has been thoroughly characterized and carefully calibrated in the laboratory using NO2/air mixtures and Nigrosin aerosol. It has an ultimate 1σ detection limit below 0.1 Mm−1, at a measurement precision and accuracy of 3 % and 10 %, respectively. In order to demonstrate the PAAS-4λ suitability for long-term monitoring tasks, the instrument is currently validated at the air quality monitoring station Pallas in Finland, about 140 km north of the Arctic circle. A total of 11 months of PAAS-4λ data from this deployment are presented and discussed in terms of instrument performance. Intercomparisons with the filter-based photometers of a continuous soot monitoring system (COSMOS), the Multi-Angle Absorption Photometer (MAAP), and Aethalometer (AE33) demonstrate the capabilities and value of PAAS-4λ, as well as for the validation of the widely used filter-based instruments.</p
System for Contributing and Discovering Derived Mission and Science Data
A system was developed to provide a new mechanism for members of the mission community to create and contribute new science data to the rest of the community. Mission tools have allowed members of the mission community to share first order data (data that is created by the mission s process in command and control of the spacecraft or the data that is captured by the craft itself, like images, science results, etc.). However, second and higher order data (data that is created after the fact by scientists and other members of the mission) was previously not widely disseminated, nor did it make its way into the mission planning process
- …