1,380 research outputs found
Ground state cooling, quantum state engineering and study of decoherence of ions in Paul traps
We investigate single ions of in Paul traps for quantum
information processing. Superpositions of the S electronic ground state
and the metastable D state are used to implement a qubit. Laser light
on the S D transition is used for the
manipulation of the ion's quantum state. We apply sideband cooling to the ion
and reach the ground state of vibration with up to 99.9% probability. Starting
from this Fock state , we demonstrate coherent quantum state
manipulation. A large number of Rabi oscillations and a ms-coherence time is
observed. Motional heating is measured to be as low as one vibrational quantum
in 190 ms. We also report on ground state cooling of two ions.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures. submitted to Journal of Modern Optics, Special
Issue on Quantum Optics: Kuehtai 200
Studies of Vibrational Properties in Ga Stabilized d-Pu by Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure
Temperature dependent extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS)
spectra were measured for a 3.3 at% Ga stabilized Pu alloy over the range T= 20
- 300 K at both the Ga K-edge and the Pu L_III-edge. The temperature dependence
of the pair-distance distribution widths, \sigma(T) was accurately modeled
using a correlated-Debye model for the lattice vibrational properties,
suggesting Debye-like behavior in this material. We obtain pair- specific
correlated-Debye temperatures, \Theta_cD, of 110.7 +/- 1.7 K and 202.6 +/- 3.7
K, for the Pu-Pu and Ga-Pu pairs, respectively. These results represent the
first unambiguous determination of Ga-specific vibrational properties in PuGa
alloys, and indicate the Ga-Pu bonds are significantly stronger than the Pu-Pu
bonds. This effect has important implications for lattice stabilization
mechanisms in these alloys.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, Phys. Rev. B in pres
A white-light trap for Bose-Einstein condensates
We propose a novel method for trapping Bose-condensed atoms using a
white-light interference fringe. Confinement frequencies of tens of kHz can be
achieved in conjunction with trap depths of only a few micro-K. We estimate
that lifetimes on the order of 10 s can be achieved for small numbers of atoms.
The tight confinement and shallow depth permit tunneling processes to be used
for studying interaction effects and for applications in quantum information.Comment: 10 pages with 3 figure
Vision and Foraging in Cormorants: More like Herons than Hawks?
Background
Great cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo L.) show the highest known foraging yield for a marine predator and they are often perceived to be in conflict with human economic interests. They are generally regarded as visually-guided, pursuit-dive foragers, so it would be expected that cormorants have excellent vision much like aerial predators, such as hawks which detect and pursue prey from a distance. Indeed cormorant eyes appear to show some specific adaptations to the amphibious life style. They are reported to have a highly pliable lens and powerful intraocular muscles which are thought to accommodate for the loss of corneal refractive power that accompanies immersion and ensures a well focussed image on the retina. However, nothing is known of the visual performance of these birds and how this might influence their prey capture technique.
Methodology/Principal Findings
We measured the aquatic visual acuity of great cormorants under a range of viewing conditions (illuminance, target contrast, viewing distance) and found it to be unexpectedly poor. Cormorant visual acuity under a range of viewing conditions is in fact comparable to unaided humans under water, and very inferior to that of aerial predators. We present a prey detectability model based upon the known acuity of cormorants at different illuminances, target contrasts and viewing distances. This shows that cormorants are able to detect individual prey only at close range (less than 1 m).
Conclusions/Significance
We conclude that cormorants are not the aquatic equivalent of hawks. Their efficient hunting involves the use of specialised foraging techniques which employ brief short-distance pursuit and/or rapid neck extension to capture prey that is visually detected or flushed only at short range. This technique appears to be driven proximately by the cormorant's limited visual capacities, and is analogous to the foraging techniques employed by herons
Normal-superconducting transition induced by high current densities in YBa2Cu3O7-d melt-textured samples and thin films: Similarities and differences
Current-voltage characteristics of top seeded melt-textured YBa2Cu3O7-d are
presented. The samples were cut out of centimetric monoliths. Films
characteristics were also measured on microbridges patterned on thin films
grown by dc sputtering. For both types of samples, a quasi-discontinuity or
quenching was observed for a current density J* several times the critical
current density Jc. Though films and bulks much differ in their magnitude of
both Jc and J*, a proposal is made as to a common intrinsic origin of the
quenching phenomenon. The unique temperature dependence observed for the ratio
J*/Jc, as well as the explanation of the pre-quenching regime in terms of a
single dissipation model lend support to our proposal.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, submitted to Physical Review
Characterization of the Trans Watson-Crick GU Base Pair Located in the Catalytic Core of the Antigenomic HDV Ribozyme
The HDV ribozyme’s folding pathway is, by far, the most complex folding
pathway elucidated to date for a small ribozyme. It includes 6 different steps
that have been shown to occur before the chemical cleavage. It is likely that
other steps remain to be discovered. One of the most critical of these unknown
steps is the formation of the trans Watson-Crick GU base
pair within loop III. The U23 and G28 nucleotides that
form this base pair are perfectly conserved in all natural variants of the
HDV ribozyme, and therefore are considered as being part of the signature
of HDV-like ribozymes. Both the formation and the transformation of this base
pair have been studied mainly by crystal structure and by molecular dynamic
simulations. In order to obtain physical support for the formation of this
base pair in solution, a set of experiments, including direct mutagenesis,
the site-specific substitution of chemical groups, kinetic studies, chemical
probing and magnesium-induced cleavage, were performed with the specific goal
of characterizing this trans Watson-Crick GU base pair in
an antigenomic HDV ribozyme. Both U23 and G28 can be
substituted for nucleotides that likely preserve some of the H-bond interactions
present before and after the cleavage step. The formation of the more stable trans
Watson-Crick base pair is shown to be a post-cleavage event, while a possibly
weaker trans Watson-Crick/Hoogsteen interaction seems to
form before the cleavage step. The formation of this unusually stable post-cleavage
base pair may act as a driving force on the chemical cleavage by favouring
the formation of a more stable ground state of the product-ribozyme complex.
To our knowledge, this represents the first demonstration of a potential stabilising
role of a post-cleavage conformational switch event in a ribozyme-catalyzed
reaction
A ligand-based system for receptor-specific delivery of proteins
Gene delivery using vector or viral-based methods is often limited by technical and safety barriers. A promising alternative that circumvents these shortcomings is the direct delivery of proteins into cells. Here we introduce a non-viral, ligand-mediated protein delivery system capable of selectively targeting primary skin cells in-vivo. Using orthologous self-labelling tags and chemical cross-linkers, we conjugate large proteins to ligands that bind their natural receptors on the surface of keratinocytes. Targeted CRE-mediated recombination was achieved by delivery of ligand cross-linked CRE protein to the skin of transgenic reporter mice, but was absent in mice lacking the ligand\u2019s cell surface receptor. We further show that ligands mediate the intracellular delivery of Cas9 allowing for CRISPR-mediated gene editing in the skin more efficiently than adeno-associated viral gene delivery. Thus, a ligand-based system enables the effective and receptor-specific delivery of large proteins and may be applied to the treatment of skin-related genetic diseases
Trim17, novel E3 ubiquitin-ligase, initiates neuronal apoptosis
Accumulating data indicate that the ubiquitin-proteasome system controls apoptosis by regulating the level and the function of key regulatory proteins. In this study, we identified Trim17, a member of the TRIM/RBCC protein family, as one of the critical E3 ubiquitin ligases involved in the control of neuronal apoptosis upstream of mitochondria. We show that expression of Trim17 is increased both at the mRNA and protein level in several in vitro models of transcription-dependent neuronal apoptosis. Expression of Trim17 is controlled by the PI3K/Akt/GSK3 pathway in cerebellar granule neurons (CGN). Moreover, the Trim17 protein is expressed in vivo, in apoptotic neurons that naturally die during post-natal cerebellar development. Overexpression of active Trim17 in primary CGN was sufficient to induce the intrinsic pathway of apoptosis in survival conditions. This pro-apoptotic effect was abolished in Bax(-/-) neurons and depended on the E3 activity of Trim17 conferred by its RING domain. Furthermore, knock-down of endogenous Trim17 and overexpression of dominant-negative mutants of Trim17 blocked trophic factor withdrawal-induced apoptosis both in CGN and in sympathetic neurons. Collectively, our data are the first to assign a cellular function to Trim17 by showing that its E3 activity is both necessary and sufficient for the initiation of neuronal apoptosis. Cell Death and Differentiation (2010) 17, 1928-1941; doi: 10.1038/cdd.2010.73; published online 18 June 201
Mitochondrial targeting adaptation of the hominoid-specific glutamate dehydrogenase driven by positive Darwinian selection
Many new gene copies emerged by gene duplication in hominoids, but little is known with respect to their functional evolution. Glutamate dehydrogenase (GLUD) is an enzyme central to the glutamate and energy metabolism of the cell. In addition to the single, GLUD-encoding gene present in all mammals (GLUD1), humans and apes acquired a second GLUD gene (GLUD2) through retroduplication of GLUD1, which codes for an enzyme with unique, potentially brain-adapted properties. Here we show that whereas the GLUD1 parental protein localizes to mitochondria and the cytoplasm, GLUD2 is specifically targeted to mitochondria. Using evolutionary analysis and resurrected ancestral protein variants, we demonstrate that the enhanced mitochondrial targeting specificity of GLUD2 is due to a single positively selected glutamic acid-to-lysine substitution, which was fixed in the N-terminal mitochondrial targeting sequence (MTS) of GLUD2 soon after the duplication event in the hominoid ancestor ~18–25 million years ago. This MTS substitution arose in parallel with two crucial adaptive amino acid changes in the enzyme and likely contributed to the functional adaptation of GLUD2 to the glutamate metabolism of the hominoid brain and other tissues. We suggest that rapid, selectively driven subcellular adaptation, as exemplified by GLUD2, represents a common route underlying the emergence of new gene functions
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