Comment on ``Passage Times for Unbiased Polymer Translocation through a Narrow Pore''

One of the most fundamental quantities associated with polymer translocation through a nanopore is the translocation time $\tau$ and its dependence on the chain length $N$. Our simulation results based on both the bond fluctuation Monte Carlo and Molecular Dynamics methods confirm the original prediction $\tau\sim N^{2\nu+1}$, which scales in the same manner as the Rouse relaxation time of the chain except for a larger prefactor, and invalidates other scaling claims.Comment: 1+pages, 1 Figure, Minor change

Purification and characterisation of the yeast plasma membrane ATP binding cassette transporter Pdr11p.

The ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporters Pdr11p and its paralog Aus1p are expressed under anaerobic growth conditions at the plasma membrane of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and are required for sterol uptake. However, the precise mechanism by which these ABC transporters facilitate sterol movement is unknown. In this study, an overexpression and purification procedure was developed with the aim to characterise the Pdr11p transporter. Engineering of Pdr11p variants fused at the C terminus with green fluorescent protein (Pdr11p-GFP) and containing a FLAG tag at the N terminus facilitated expression analysis and one-step purification, respectively. The detergent-solubilised and purified protein displayed a stable ATPase activity with a broad pH optimum near 7.4. Mutagenesis of the conserved lysine to methionine (K788M) in the Walker A motif abolished ATP hydrolysis. Remarkably, and in contrast to Aus1p, ATPase activity of Pdr11p was insensitive to orthovanadate and not specifically stimulated by phosphatidylserine upon reconstitution into liposomes. Our results highlight distinct differences between Pdr11p and Aus1p and create an experimental basis for further biochemical studies of both ABC transporters to elucidate their function

An ultra-thin diamond membrane as a transmission particle detector and vacuum window for external microbeams

Several applications of external microbeam techniques demand a very accurate and controlled dose delivery. To satisfy these requirements when post-sample ion detection is not feasible, we constructed a transmission single-ion detector based on an ultra-thin diamond membrane. The negligible intrinsic noise provides an excellent signal-to-noise ratio and enables a hit-detection efficiency of close to 100%, even for energetic protons, while the small thickness of the membrane limits beam spreading. Moreover, because of the superb mechanical stiffness of diamond, this membrane can simultaneously serve as a vacuum window and allow the extraction of an ion microbeam into the atmosphere

Radiative electron capture in the first forbidden unique decay of 81Kr

The photon spectrum accompanying the orbital K-electron capture in the first forbidden unique decay of 81Kr was measured. The total radiation intensity for the photon energies larger than 50 keV was found to be 1.47(6) x 10^{-4} per K-capture. Both the shape of the spectrum and its intensity relative to the ordinary, non-radiative capture rate, are compared to theoretical predictions. The best agreement is found for the recently developed model which employs the length gauge for the electromagnetic field.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Charge multiplication effect in thin diamond films

Herein, we report on the enhanced sensitivity for the detection of charged particles in single crystal chemical vapour deposition (scCVD) diamond radiation detectors. The experimental results demonstrate charge multiplication in thin planar diamond membrane detectors, upon impact of 18MeV O ions, under high electric field conditions. Avalanche multiplication is widely exploited in devices such as avalanche photo diodes, but has never before been reproducibly observed in intrinsic CVD diamond. Because enhanced sensitivity for charged particle detection is obtained for short charge drift lengths without dark counts, this effect could be further exploited in the development of sensors based on avalanche multiplication and radiation detectors with extreme radiation hardnes

Prescission neutron multiplicity and fission probability from Langevin dynamics of nuclear fission

A theoretical model of one-body nuclear friction which was developed earlier, namely the chaos-weighted wall formula, is applied to a dynamical description of compound nuclear decay in the framework of the Langevin equation coupled with statistical evaporation of light particles and photons. We have used both the usual wall formula friction and its chaos-weighted version in the Langevin equation to calculate the fission probability and prescission neutron multiplicity for the compound nuclei $^{178}$W, $^{188}$Pt, $^{200}$Pb, $^{213}$Fr, $^{224}$Th, and $^{251}$Es. We have also obtained the contributions of the presaddle and postsaddle neutrons to the total prescission multiplicity. A detailed analysis of our results leads us to conclude that the chaos-weighted wall formula friction can adequately describe the fission dynamics in the presaddle region. This friction, however, turns out to be too weak to describe the postsaddle dynamics properly. This points to the need for a suitable explanation for the enhanced neutron emission in the postsaddle stage of nuclear fission.Comment: RevTex, 14 pages including 5 Postscript figures, results improved by using a different potential, conclusions remain unchanged, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Electrochemical capacitance of a leaky nano-capacitor

We report a detailed theoretical investigation on electrochemical capacitance of a nanoscale capacitor where there is a DC coupling between the two conductors. For this ``leaky'' quantum capacitor, we have derived general analytic expressions of the linear and second order nonlinear electrochemical capacitance within a first principles quantum theory in the discrete potential approximation. Linear and nonlinear capacitance coefficients are also derived in a self-consistent manner without the latter approximation and the self-consistent analysis is suitable for numerical calculations. At linear order, the full quantum formula improves the semiclassical analysis in the tunneling regime. At nonlinear order which has not been studied before for leaky capacitors, the nonlinear capacitance and nonlinear nonequilibrium charge show interesting behavior. Our theory allows the investigation of crossover of capacitance from a full quantum to classical regimes as the distance between the two conductors is changed

The evaluation of radiation damage parameter for CVD diamond

There are a few different phenomenological approaches that aim to track the dependence of signal height in irradiated solid state detectors on the fluence of damaging particles. However, none of them are capable to provide a unique radiation hardness parameter that would reflect solely the material capability to withstand high radiation environment. To extract such a parameter for chemical vapor deposited (CVD) diamond, two different diamond detectors were irradiated with proton beams in MeV energy range and subjected afterwards to ion beam induced charge (IBIC) analysis. The change in charge collection efficiency (CCE) due to defects produced was investigated in context of a theoretical model that was developed on the basis of the adjoint method for linearization of the continuity equations of electrons and holes. Detailed modeling of measured data resulted with the first known value of the kr product for diamond, where k represents the number of charge carriers’ traps created per one simulated primary lattice vacancy and r represents the charge carriers’ capture cross section. As discussed in the text, this product could be considered as a true radiation damage parameter