2,110 research outputs found
Determining physical properties of the cell cortex
Actin and myosin assemble into a thin layer of a highly dynamic network
underneath the membrane of eukaryotic cells. This network generates the forces
that drive cell and tissue-scale morphogenetic processes. The effective
material properties of this active network determine large-scale deformations
and other morphogenetic events. For example,the characteristic time of stress
relaxation (the Maxwell time)in the actomyosin sets the time scale of
large-scale deformation of the cortex. Similarly, the characteristic length of
stress propagation (the hydrodynamic length) sets the length scale of slow
deformations, and a large hydrodynamic length is a prerequisite for long-ranged
cortical flows. Here we introduce a method to determine physical parameters of
the actomyosin cortical layer (in vivo). For this we investigate the relaxation
dynamics of the cortex in response to laser ablation in the one-cell-stage {\it
C. elegans} embryo and in the gastrulating zebrafish embryo. These responses
can be interpreted using a coarse grained physical description of the cortex in
terms of a two dimensional thin film of an active viscoelastic gel. To
determine the Maxwell time, the hydrodynamic length and the ratio of active
stress and per-area friction, we evaluated the response to laser ablation in
two different ways: by quantifying flow and density fields as a function of
space and time, and by determining the time evolution of the shape of the
ablated region. Importantly, both methods provide best fit physical parameters
that are in close agreement with each other and that are similar to previous
estimates in the two systems. We provide an accurate and robust means for
measuring physical parameters of the actomyosin cortical layer.It can be useful
for investigations of actomyosin mechanics at the cellular-scale, but also for
providing insights in the active mechanics processes that govern tissue-scale
morphogenesis.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figure
Thermalisation time and specific heat of neutron stars crust
We discuss the thermalisation process of the neutron stars crust described by
solving the heat transport equation with a microscopic input for the specific
heat of baryonic matter. The heat equation is solved with initial conditions
specific to a rapid cooling of the core. To calculate the specific heat of
inner crust baryonic matter, i.e., nuclear clusters and unbound neutrons, we
use the quasiparticle spectrum provided by the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov approach
at finite temperature. In this framework we analyse the dependence of the crust
thermalisation on pairing properties and on cluster structure of inner crust
matter. It is shown that the pairing correlations reduce the crust
thermalisation time by a very large fraction. The calculations show also that
the nuclear clusters have a non-negligible influence on the time evolution of
the surface temperature of the neutron star.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Fine-Scale Spatial Organization of Face and Object Selectivity in the Temporal Lobe: Do Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Optical Imaging, and Electrophysiology Agree?
The spatial organization of the brain's object and face representations in the temporal lobe is critical for understanding high-level vision and cognition but is poorly understood. Recently, exciting progress has been made using advanced imaging and physiology methods in humans and nonhuman primates, and the combination of such methods may be particularly powerful. Studies applying these methods help us to understand how neuronal activity, optical imaging, and functional magnetic resonance imaging signals are related within the temporal lobe, and to uncover the fine-grained and large-scale spatial organization of object and face representations in the primate brain
Lamellar and «club-shaped» corpuscular nerve endings in human gingival mucosa. A light and electron microscopic study
A study on the presence of corpuscular nerve endings in human gingival mucosa was performed using both light and transmission electron microscopic (TEM) techniques. Both round and oval lamellar corpuscles were detected by light microscopy. They were located either subepithelially, close to the basement membrane, or within the papillae, deeply invaginated into the overlying epithelium. TEM techniques showed convoluted structures with unmyelinated fibre arborizations leading to an afferent fibre supported by the so called lamellar cells. The presence of blood vessels, collagenous fibrils, desmosome-like junctions, cytoplasmic organelles, as well as the similarity with some previously described mechanoreceptors, suggested the role of such corpuscular nerve endings in transmitting a nervous impulse induced by mechanical stimulation. Other simpler structures were also observed and named «club-shaped» corpuscles: they could support the more complex ones in responding to the strengths and the movements directly influencing the gingival mucosa.La prĂ©sence de terminaisons nerveuses corpusculaires dans la muqueuse gingivale humaine a Ă©tĂ© observĂ©e tant en microscopie optique quâen microscopie Ă©lectronique Ă transmission. En microscopie optique on a remarquĂ© des corpuscules lamellaires ronds et ovalaires, qui Ă©taient localisĂ©s tant au dessous de lâĂ©pithĂ©lium, tout prĂšs de la membrane basale, quâau dedans des papilles, profondĂ©ment insĂ©rĂ©s dans lâĂ©pithĂ©lium.En microscopie Ă©lectronique on a observĂ© des structures convolutĂ©es pourvues dâarborisations de fibres nerveuses sans myĂ©line qui vont se rĂ©unir dans une fibre affĂ©rente supportĂ©e par des cellules dites lamellaires. La prĂ©sence de vaisseaux, de fibrilles collagĂšnes, de jonctions telles que desmoses, dâinclusions cytoplasmiques autant que la ressemblance avec quelques mĂ©canorĂ©cepteurs dĂ©crits en littĂ©rature, suggĂ©rait un rĂŽle de ces terminaisons nerveuses corpusculaires en envoyant un impulse nerveux induit par une stimulation mĂ©canique. On a aussi observĂ© des corpuscules plus simples appelĂ©s «club-shaped» qui pourraient supporter les plus complexes dans la rĂ©ponse aux forces et aux mouvements qui influencent directement la muqueuse gingivale
High resolution studies of low-energy electron attachment to SF5Cl: Product anions and absolute cross sections
Low energy electron attachment to SFCl was studied at high energy resolution by mass spectrometric detection of the product anions. Two variants of the laser photoelectron attachment (LPA) technique (Kaiserslautern) were used for determining the threshold behaviour of the yield for SF formation at about 1 meV resolution, and to investigate the relative cross sections for Cl, FCl, and SF formation towards higher energies (up to 1 eV) at about 20 meV resolution. Thermal swarm measurements (Birmingham) were used to place the relative LPA cross sections on an absolute scale. A trochoidal electron monochromator (Innsbruck) was used for survey measurements of the relative cross sections for the different product anions over the energy range of 0-14 eV with a resolution of 0.30 eV. Combined with earlier beam data (taken at Berlin, J. Chem. Phys. 88 (1988) 149), the present experimental results provide a detailed set of partial cross sections for anion formation in low-energy electron collisions with SFCl
Excitonic photoluminescence in symmetric coupled double quantum wells subject to an external electric field
The effect of an external electric field F on the excitonic photoluminescence
(PL) spectra of a symmetric coupled double quantum well (DQW) is investigated
both theoretically and experimentally. We show that the variational method in a
two-particle electron-hole wave function approximation gives a good agreement
with measurements of PL on a narrow DQW in a wide interval of F including
flat-band regime. The experimental data are presented for an MBE-grown DQW
consisting of two 5 nm wide GaAs wells, separated by a 4 monolayers (MLs) wide
pure AlAs central barrier, and sandwiched between Ga_{0.7}Al_{0.3}As layers.
The bias voltage is applied along the growth direction. Spatially direct and
indirect excitonic transitions are identified, and the radius of the exciton
and squeezing of the exciton in the growth direction are evaluated
variationally. The excitonic binding energies, recombination energies,
oscillator strengths, and relative intensities of the transitions as functions
of the applied field are calculated. Our analysis demonstrates that this simple
model is applicable in case of narrow DQWs not just for a qualitative
description of the PL peak positions but also for the estimation of their
individual shapes and intensities.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures (accepted in Phys. Rev. B
Laser-induced transient currents in CdZnTe quasi-hemispherical radiation detector
Laser-induced transient currents were measured after applying pulsed or direct-current bias to a CdZnTe quasi-hemispherical radiation detector with gold contacts. The temporal evolution of current transients was analyzed to evaluate the dynamics of the space charge formation and its spatial distribution. The observed effects were explained by a model involving hole injection from positively biased contacts. Experimental results were complemented by numerical simulations, which supported the model. This paper discusses how the detected phenomena affect the detector performance and proposes an improved detector design
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