8,832 research outputs found
Mechanical Response of He- Implanted Amorphous SiOC/ Crystalline Fe Nanolaminates
This study investigates the microstructural evolution and mechanical response of sputter-deposited amorphous silicon oxycarbide (SiOC)/crystalline Fe nanolaminates, a single layer SiOC film, and a single layer Fe film subjected to ion implantation at room temperature to obtain a maximum He concentration of 5 at. %. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy indicated no evidence of implantation-induced phase transformation or layer breakdown in the nanolaminates. Implantation resulted in the formation of He bubbles and an increase in the average size of the Fe grains in the individual Fe layers of the nanolaminates and the single layer Fe film, but the bubble density and grain size were found to be smaller in the former. By reducing the thicknesses of individual layers in the nanolaminates, bubble density and grain size were further decreased. No He bubbles were observed in the SiOC layers of the nanolaminates and the single layer SiOC film. Nanoindentation and scanning probe microscopy revealed an increase in the hardness of both single layer SiOC and Fe films after implantation. For the nanolaminates, changes in hardness were found to depend on the thicknesses of the individual layers, where reducing the layer thickness to 14 nm resulted in mitigation of implantation-induced hardening
Perceptually Motivated Wavelet Packet Transform for Bioacoustic Signal Enhancement
A significant and often unavoidable problem in bioacoustic signal processing is the presence of background noise due to an adverse recording environment. This paper proposes a new bioacoustic signal enhancement technique which can be used on a wide range of species. The technique is based on a perceptually scaled wavelet packet decomposition using a species-specific Greenwood scale function. Spectral estimation techniques, similar to those used for human speech enhancement, are used for estimation of clean signal wavelet coefficients under an additive noise model. The new approach is compared to several other techniques, including basic bandpass filtering as well as classical speech enhancement methods such as spectral subtraction, Wiener filtering, and Ephraim–Malah filtering. Vocalizations recorded from several species are used for evaluation, including the ortolan bunting (Emberiza hortulana), rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta), and humpback whale (Megaptera novaeanglia), with both additive white Gaussian noise and environment recording noise added across a range of signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs). Results, measured by both SNR and segmental SNR of the enhanced wave forms, indicate that the proposed method outperforms other approaches for a wide range of noise conditions
Role of heat shock Proteins in atrial fibrillation: From molecular mechanisms to diagnostic and therapeutic opportunities
Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are endogenous protective proteins and biomarkers of cell stress response, of which examples are HSP70, HSP60, HSP90, and small HSPs (HSPB). HSPs protect cells and organs, especially the cardiovascular system, against harmful and cytotoxic conditions. More recent attention has focused on the roles of HSPs in the irreversible remodeling of atrial fibrillation (AF), which is the most common arrhythmia in clinical practice and a significant contributor to mortality. In this review, we investigated the relationship between HSPs and atrial remodeling mechanisms in AF. PubMed was searched for studies using the terms "Heat Shock Proteins" and "Atrial Fibrillation" and their relevant abbreviations up to 10 July 2022. The results showed that HSPs have cytoprotective roles in atrial cardiomyocytes during AF by promoting reverse electrical and structural remodeling. Heat shock response (HSR) exhaustion, followed by low levels of HSPs, causes proteostasis derailment in cardiomyocytes, which is the basis of AF. Furthermore, potential implications of HSPs in the management of AF are discussed in detail. HSPs represent reliable biomarkers for predicting and staging AF. HSP inducers may serve as novel therapeutic modalities in postoperative AF. HSP induction, either by geranylgeranylacetone (GGA) or by other compounds presently in development, may therefore be an interesting new approach for upstream therapy for AF, a strategy that aims to prevent AF whilst minimizing the ventricular proarrhythmic risks of traditional anti-arrhythmic agents
The influence of net-quarks on the yields and rapidity spectra of identified hadrons
Within a quark combination model, we study systematically the yields and
rapidity spectra of various hadrons in central Au+Au collisions at
GeV. We find that considering the difference in rapidity
between net-quarks and newborn quarks, the data of multiplicities, rapidity
distributions for , , and, in particular the
ratios of charged antihadron to hadron as a function of rapidity, can be well
described. The effect of net-quarks on various hadrons is analysed, and the
rapidity distributions for , ,
, ()
and are predicted. We discuss
the rapidity distribution of net-baryon, and find that it reflects exactly the
energy loss of colliding nuclei.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure
Gut microbiota targeted approach in the management of chronic liver diseases
The liver is directly connected to the intestines through the portal vein, which enables the gut microbiota and gut-derived products to influence liver health. There is accumulating evidence of decreased gut flora diversity and alcohol sensitivity in patients with various chronic liver diseases, including non-alcoholic/alcoholic liver disease, chronic hepatitis virus infection, primary sclerosing cholangitis and liver cirrhosis. Increased intestinal mucosal permeability and decline in barrier function were also found in these patients. Followed by bacteria translocation and endotoxin uptake, these will lead to systemic inflammation. Specific microbiota and microbiota-derived metabolites are altered in various chronic liver diseases studies, but the complex interaction between the gut microbiota and liver is missing. This review article discussed the bidirectional relationship between the gut and the liver, and explained the mechanisms of how the gut microbiota ecosystem alteration affects the pathogenesis of chronic liver diseases. We presented gut-microbiota targeted interventions that could be the new promising method to manage chronic liver diseases
Study of color connections in annihilation
We replace in the event generator JETSET the color singlet chain connection
with the color separate state one as the interface between the hard and soft
sectors of hadronic processes. The modified generator is applied to produce the
hadronic events in annihilation. It describes the experimental data
at the same level as the original JETSET with default parameters. This should
be understood as a demonstration that color singlet chain is not the unique
color connection. We also search for the difference in special sets of
three-jet events arising from different color connections, which could subject
to further experimental test.Comment: 23 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables, Revtex
Centrality dependence of spectra for identified hadrons in Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions at GeV
The centrality dependence of transverse momentum spectra for identified
hadrons at midrapidity in Au+Au collisions at GeV is
systematically studied in a quark combination model. The
spectra of , , and in
different centrality bins and the nuclear modification factors () for
these hadrons are calculated. The centrality dependence of the average
collective transverse velocity for the hot and dense quark matter
is obtained in Au+Au collisions, and it is applied to a relative smaller Cu+Cu
collision system. The centrality dependence of spectra and
the for , and in Cu+Cu collisions at
GeV are well described. The results show that is only a function of the number of participants and it is
independent of the collision system.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure
Effects of cultivation years on effective constituent content of Fritillaria pallidiflora Schernk
Fritillaria pallidiflora Schrenk has been treasured in traditional classic medicine as an antitussive, antiasthmatic and expectorant for hundreds of years. With gradually decreasing wild F. pallidiflora resources, the herb can no longer satisfy the demand. Artificial cultivation is one of the most effective ways to solve the contradiction between supply and demand in the medicinal material market. During the growth of Rhizomes medicinal plants, root biomass and active ingredient content showed dynamic accumulated variation with increasing cultivation years. Up to now, hardly any attempts have been made to investigate the relationship between quality and cultivation years of F. pallidiflora. Therefore, in this paper, we determined the optimum harvesting time by comparing biomass and biological characteristics of F. pallidiflora at different cultivation times. High-performance liquid chromatography with evaporative light scattering detection and phenol-sulfuric acid visible spectrophotometry was performed to determine imperialine and polysaccharide content of F. pallidiflora bulbs. From year 1 to 6 of cultivation, we observed an upward trend in plant height, diameter and dry weight of F. pallidiflora, while water content decreased. Plant height and dry weight increased remarkably during the fourth year of cultivation. The content of imperialine and polysaccharide of F. pallidiflora bulbs, on the other hand, showed an upward trend from year 1 to 3, after which it decreased from year 3 to 6. By comparing plant growth, biomass development and the accumulation of imperialine and polysaccharide, the best harvesting time of F. pallidiflora was determined to be after 4 years of cultivation. Our results showed that it is possible to establish a safe, effective, stable and controllable production process, which could play an important role in achieving sustainable utilization of F. pallidiflora resources.Fritillaria pallidiflora Schrenk has been treasured in traditional classic medicine as an antitussive, antiasthmatic and expectorant for hundreds of years. With gradually decreasing wild F. pallidiflora resources, the herb can no longer satisfy the demand. Artificial cultivation is one of the most effective ways to solve the contradiction between supply and demand in the medicinal material market. During the growth of Rhizomes medicinal plants, root biomass and active ingredient content showed dynamic accumulated variation with increasing cultivation years. Up to now, hardly any attempts have been made to investigate the relationship between quality and cultivation years of F. pallidiflora. Therefore, in this paper, we determined the optimum harvesting time by comparing biomass and biological characteristics of F. pallidiflora at different cultivation times. High-performance liquid chromatography with evaporative light scattering detection and phenol-sulfuric acid visible spectrophotometry was performed to determine imperialine and polysaccharide content of F. pallidiflora bulbs. From year 1 to 6 of cultivation, we observed an upward trend in plant height, diameter and dry weight of F. pallidiflora, while water content decreased. Plant height and dry weight increased remarkably during the fourth year of cultivation. The content of imperialine and polysaccharide of F. pallidiflora bulbs, on the other hand, showed an upward trend from year 1 to 3, after which it decreased from year 3 to 6. By comparing plant growth, biomass development and the accumulation of imperialine and polysaccharide, the best harvesting time of F. pallidiflora was determined to be after 4 years of cultivation. Our results showed that it is possible to establish a safe, effective, stable and controllable production process, which could play an important role in achieving sustainable utilization of F. pallidiflora resources
and production at hadron colliders in nonrelativistic QCD
and (n=1,2,3) production at the LHC is studied at
next-to-leading order in in nonrelativistic QCD. Feeddown
contributions from higher and states are all considered for
lower cross sections and polarizations. The long distance matrix
elements (LDMEs) are extracted from the yield data, and then used to make
predictions for the polarizations, which are found to be
consistent with the measured polarization data within errors. In particular,
the polarization puzzle can be understood by a large feeddown
contribution from states. Our results may provide a good
description for both cross sections and polarizations of prompt
and production at the LHC.Comment: The text and abstract are substantially changed due to the change in
the fitting procedure: we now extract LDMEs of and
by fitting the yield data of the LHC (including cross sections
measured by ATLAS, CMS, and LHCb), and then make predictions for the
polarizations of $\Upsilon(nS)
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