30,518 research outputs found
Electrically detected magnetic resonance of carbon dangling bonds at the Si-face 4H-SiC/SiO interface
SiC based metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) have
gained a significant importance in power electronics applications. However,
electrically active defects at the SiC/SiO interface degrade the ideal
behavior of the devices. The relevant microscopic defects can be identified by
electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) or electrically detected magnetic
resonance (EDMR). This helps to decide which changes to the fabrication process
will likely lead to further increases of device performance and reliability.
EDMR measurements have shown very similar dominant hyperfine (HF) spectra in
differently processed MOSFETs although some discrepancies were observed in the
measured -factors. Here, the HF spectra measured of different SiC MOSFETs
are compared and it is argued that the same dominant defect is present in all
devices. A comparison of the data with simulated spectra of the C dangling bond
(P) center and the silicon vacancy (V) demonstrates
that the P center is a more suitable candidate to explain the
observed HF spectra.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Journal of Applied Physic
A Functional Genomics Approach to Tanshinone Biosynthesis Provides Stereochemical Insights
Tanshinones are abietane-type norditerpenoid quinone natural products that are the bioactive components of the Chinese medicinal herb Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge. The initial results from a functional genomics-based investigation of tanshinone biosynthesis, specifically the functional identification of the relevant diterpene synthases from S. miltiorrhiza, are reported. The cyclohexa-1,4-diene arrangement of the distal ring poises the resulting miltiradiene for the ensuing aromatization and hydroxylation to ferruginol suggested for tanshinone biosynthesis
Universality of rain event size distributions
We compare rain event size distributions derived from measurements in
climatically different regions, which we find to be well approximated by power
laws of similar exponents over broad ranges. Differences can be seen in the
large-scale cutoffs of the distributions. Event duration distributions suggest
that the scale-free aspects are related to the absence of characteristic scales
in the meteorological mesoscale.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figure
The lesson of causal discovery algorithms for quantum correlations: Causal explanations of Bell-inequality violations require fine-tuning
An active area of research in the fields of machine learning and statistics
is the development of causal discovery algorithms, the purpose of which is to
infer the causal relations that hold among a set of variables from the
correlations that these exhibit. We apply some of these algorithms to the
correlations that arise for entangled quantum systems. We show that they cannot
distinguish correlations that satisfy Bell inequalities from correlations that
violate Bell inequalities, and consequently that they cannot do justice to the
challenges of explaining certain quantum correlations causally. Nonetheless, by
adapting the conceptual tools of causal inference, we can show that any attempt
to provide a causal explanation of nonsignalling correlations that violate a
Bell inequality must contradict a core principle of these algorithms, namely,
that an observed statistical independence between variables should not be
explained by fine-tuning of the causal parameters. In particular, we
demonstrate the need for such fine-tuning for most of the causal mechanisms
that have been proposed to underlie Bell correlations, including superluminal
causal influences, superdeterminism (that is, a denial of freedom of choice of
settings), and retrocausal influences which do not introduce causal cycles.Comment: 29 pages, 28 figs. New in v2: a section presenting in detail our
characterization of Bell's theorem as a contradiction arising from (i) the
framework of causal models, (ii) the principle of no fine-tuning, and (iii)
certain operational features of quantum theory; a section explaining why a
denial of hidden variables affords even fewer opportunities for causal
explanations of quantum correlation
Quantum Aspects of Semantic Analysis and Symbolic Artificial Intelligence
Modern approaches to semanic analysis if reformulated as Hilbert-space
problems reveal formal structures known from quantum mechanics. Similar
situation is found in distributed representations of cognitive structures
developed for the purposes of neural networks. We take a closer look at
similarites and differences between the above two fields and quantum
information theory.Comment: version accepted in J. Phys. A (Letter to the Editor
Flickering of 1.3 cm Sources in Sgr B2: Towards a Solution to the Ultracompact HII Region Lifetime Problem
Accretion flows onto massive stars must transfer mass so quickly that they
are themselves gravitationally unstable, forming dense clumps and filaments.
These density perturbations interact with young massive stars, emitting
ionizing radiation, alternately exposing and confining their HII regions. As a
result, the HII regions are predicted to flicker in flux density over periods
of decades to centuries rather than increasing monotonically in size as
predicted by simple Spitzer solutions. We have recently observed the Sgr B2
region at 1.3 cm with the VLA in its three hybrid configurations (DnC, CnB and
BnA) at a resolution of 0.25''. These observations were made to compare in
detail with matched continuum observations from 1989. At 0.25'' resolution, Sgr
B2 contains 41 UC HII regions, 6 of which are hypercompact. The new
observations of Sgr B2 allow comparison of relative peak flux densites for the
HII regions in Sgr B2 over a 23 year time baseline (1989-2012) in one of the
most source-rich massive star forming regions in the Milky Way. The new 1.3 cm
continuum images indicate that four of the 41 UC HII regions exhibit
significant changes in their peak flux density, with one source (K3) dropping
in peak flux density, and the other 3 sources (F10.303, F1 and F3) increasing
in peak flux density. The results are consistent with statistical predictions
from simulations of high mass star formation, suggesting that they offer a
solution to the lifetime problem for ultracompact HII regions.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journal Letter
Three-Dimensional Human Bronchial-Tracheal Epithelial Tissue-Like Assemblies (TLAs) as Hosts for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)-CoV Infection
A three-dimensional (3-D) tissue-like assembly (TLA) of human bronchial-tracheal mesenchymal (HBTC) cells with an overlay of human bronchial epithelial (BEAS-2B) cells was constructed using a NASA Bioreactor to survey the infectivity of SARS-CoV. This TLA was inoculated with a low passage number Urbani strain of SARS-CoV. At selected intervals over a 10-day period, media and cell aliquots of the 3-D TLA were harvested for viral titer assay and for light and electron microscopy examination. All viral titer assays were negative in both BEAS-2B two-dimensional monolayer and TLA. Light microscopy immunohistochemistry demonstrated antigen-antibody reactivity with anti-SARS-CoV polyclonal antibody to spike and nuclear proteins on cell membranes and cytoplasm. Coronavirus Group 2 cross-reactivity was demonstrated by positive reaction to anti-FIPV 1 and anti-FIPV 1 and 2 antibodies. TLA examination by transmission electron microscopy indicated increasing cytoplasmic vacuolation with numerous electron-dense bodies measuring 45 to 270 nm from days 4 through 10. There was no evidence of membrane blebbing, membrane duplication, or fragmentation of organelles in the TLAs. However, progressive disruption of endoplasmic reticulum was observed throughout the cells. Antibody response to SARS-CoV specific spike and nucleocapsid glycoproteins, cross-reactivity with FIPV antibodies, and the cytoplasmic pathology suggests this HBTE TLA model is permissive to SARS-CoV infection
Electrical conductivity of dispersions: from dry foams to dilute suspensions
We present new data for the electrical conductivity of foams in which the
liquid fraction ranges from two to eighty percent. We compare with a
comprehensive collection of prior data, and we model all results with simple
empirical formul\ae. We achieve a unified description that applies equally to
dry foams and emulsions, where the droplets are highly compressed, as well as
to dilute suspensions of spherical particles, where the particle separation is
large. In the former limit, Lemlich's result is recovered; in the latter limit,
Maxwell's result is recovered
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