291 research outputs found
Phase Transition in a Stochastic Forest Fire Model and Effects of the Definition of Neighbourhood
We present results on a stochastic forest fire model, where the influence of
the neighbour trees is treated in a more realistic way than usual and the
definition of neighbourhood can be tuned by an additional parameter.
This model exhibits a surprisingly sharp phase transition which can be
shifted by redefinition of neighbourhood. The results can also be interpreted
in terms of disease-spreading and are quite unsettling from the epidemologist's
point of view, since variation of one crucial parameter only by a few percent
can result in the change from endemic to epidemic behaviour.Comment: 23 pages, 13 figure
Blood DCs activated with R848 and poly(I:C) induce antigen-specific immune responses against viral and tumor-associated antigens
Monocyte-derived Dendritic cells (DCs) have successfully been employed to induce immune responses against tumor-associated antigens in patients with various cancer entities. However, objective clinical responses have only been achieved in a minority of patients. Additionally, generation of GMP-compliant DCs requires time- and labor-intensive cell differentiation. In contrast, Blood DCs (BDCs) require only minimal ex vivo handling, as differentiation occurs in vivo resulting in potentially better functional capacities and survival. We aimed to identify a protocol for optimal in vitro activation of BDCs including the three subsets pDCs, cDC1s, and cDC2s. We evaluated several TLR ligand combinations and demonstrated that polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid poly(I:C) and R848, ligands for TLR3 and TLR7/8, respectively, constituted the optimal combination for inducing a positive co-stimulatory profile in all BDC subsets. In addition, TLR3 and TLR7/8 activation led to high secretion of IFN-α and IL-12p70. Simultaneous as opposed to separate tailored activation of pDCs and cDCs increased immunostimulatory capacities, suggesting that BDC subsets engage in synergistic cross-talk during activation. Stimulation of BDCs with this protocol resulted in enhanced migration, high NK-cell activation, and potent antigen-specific T-cell induction.We conclude that simultaneous activation of all BDC subsets with a combination of R848 + poly(I:C) generates highly immunostimulatory DCs. These results support further investigation and clinical testing, as standalone or in conjunction with other immunotherapeutic strategies including adoptive T-cell transfer and checkpoint inhibition
Nonperturbative contributions to the QCD pressure
We summarize the most important arguments why a perturbative description of
finite-temperature QCD is unlikely to be possible and review various
well-established approaches to deal with this problem. Then, using a recently
proposed method, we investigate nonperturbative contributions to the QCD
pressure and other observables (like energy, anomaly and bulk viscosity)
obtained by imposing a functional cutoff at the Gribov horizon. Finally, we
discuss how such contributions fit into the picture of consecutive effective
theories, as proposed by Braaten and Nieto, and give an outline of the next
steps necessary to improve this type of calculation.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures, uses xcolor.sty; in v2 quality of some figures
has been improved, discussion of other approaches has been extende
Observation of Fragile-to-Strong Dynamic Crossover in Protein Hydration Water
At low temperatures proteins exist in a glassy state, a state which has no
conformational flexibility and shows no biological functions. In a hydrated
protein, at and above 220 K, this flexibility is restored and the protein is
able to sample more conformational sub-states, thus becomes biologically
functional. This 'dynamical' transition of protein is believed to be triggered
by its strong coupling with the hydration water, which also shows a similar
dynamic transition. Here we demonstrate experimentally that this sudden switch
in dynamic behavior of the hydration water on lysozyme occurs precisely at 220
K and can be described as a Fragile-to-Strong dynamic crossover (FSC). At FSC,
the structure of hydration water makes a transition from predominantly
high-density (more fluid state) to low-density (less fluid state) forms derived
from existence of the second critical point at an elevated pressure.Comment: 6 pages (Latex), 4 figures (Postscript
On the Possibility of Measuring the Gravitomagnetic Clock Effect in an Earth Space-Based Experiment
In this paper the effect of the post-Newtonian gravitomagnetic force on the
mean longitudes of a pair of counter-rotating Earth artificial satellites
following almost identical circular equatorial orbits is investigated. The
possibility of measuring it is examined. The observable is the difference of
the times required to in passing from 0 to 2 for both senses of
motion. Such gravitomagnetic time shift, which is independent of the orbital
parameters of the satellites, amounts to 5 s for Earth; it is
cumulative and should be measured after a sufficiently high number of
revolutions. The major limiting factors are the unavoidable imperfect
cancellation of the Keplerian periods, which yields a constraint of 10
cm in knowing the difference between the semimajor axes of the satellites,
and the difference of the inclinations of the orbital planes which, for
, should be less than . A pair of spacecrafts
endowed with a sophisticated intersatellite tracking apparatus and drag-free
control down to 10 cm s Hz level might allow to meet
the stringent requirements posed by such a mission.Comment: LaTex2e, 22 pages, no tables, 1 figure, 38 references. Final version
accepted for publication in Classical and Quantum Gravit
The Hydrogen Exospheric Density Profile Measured with ASPERA-3/NPD
We have evaluated the Lyman-α limb emission from the exospheric hydrogen of Mars measured by the neutral particle detector of the ASPERA-3 instrument on Mars Express in 2004 at low solar activity (solar activity index = 42, F10.7=100). We derive estimates for the hydrogen exobase density, n H = 1010 mâ3, and for the apparent temperature, T > 600 K. We conclude that the limb emission measurement is dominated by a hydrogen component that is considerably hotter than the bulk temperature at the exobase. The derived values for the exosphere density and temperature are compared with similar measurements done by the Mariner space probes in the 1969. The values found with Mars Express and Mariner data are brought in a broader context of exosphere models including the possibility of having two hydrogen components in the Martian exosphere. The present observation of the Martian hydrogen exosphere is the first one at high altitudes during low solar activity, and shows that for low solar activity exospheric densities are not higher than for high solar activit
HighâPerformance Monolayer MoS 2 FieldâEffect Transistors on Cyclic Olefin CopolymerâPassivated SiO 2 Gate Dielectric
Abstract Trap states of the semiconductor/gate dielectric interface give rise to a pronounced subthreshold behavior in fieldâeffect transistors (FETs) diminishing and masking intrinsic properties of 2D materials. To reduce the wellâknown detrimental effect of SiO 2 surface traps, this work spinâcoated an ultrathin (â5 nm) cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) layer onto the oxide and this hydrophobic layer acts as a surface passivator. The chemical resistance of COC allows to fabricate monolayer MoS 2 FETs on SiO 2 by standard cleanroom processes. This way, the interface trap density is lowered and stabilized almost fivefold, to around 5 Ă 10 11 cm â2 eV â1 , which enables lowâvoltage FETs even on 300 nm thick SiO 2 . In addition to this superior electrical performance, the photoresponsivity of the MoS 2 devices on passivated oxide is also enhanced by four orders of magnitude compared to nonpassivated MoS 2 FETs. Under these conditions, negative photoconductivity and a photoresponsivity of 3 Ă 10 7 A W â1 is observed which is a new highest value for MoS 2 . These findings indicate that the ultrathin COC passivation of the gate dielectric enables to probe exciting properties of the atomically thin 2D semiconductor, rather than interface trap dominated effects.Highâperformance monolayer MoS 2 âbased electronic and optoelectronic devices are fabricated on SiO 2 gate dielectric passivated with cyclic olefin copolymer. The passivation eliminates the interaction with interface trap states which are detrimental for the electronic and optoelectronic performance of the devices. imag
An Overview of the 13:8 Mean Motion Resonance between Venus and Earth
It is known since the seminal study of Laskar (1989) that the inner planetary
system is chaotic with respect to its orbits and even escapes are not
impossible, although in time scales of billions of years. The aim of this
investigation is to locate the orbits of Venus and Earth in phase space,
respectively to see how close their orbits are to chaotic motion which would
lead to unstable orbits for the inner planets on much shorter time scales.
Therefore we did numerical experiments in different dynamical models with
different initial conditions -- on one hand the couple Venus-Earth was set
close to different mean motion resonances (MMR), and on the other hand Venus'
orbital eccentricity (or inclination) was set to values as large as e = 0.36 (i
= 40deg). The couple Venus-Earth is almost exactly in the 13:8 mean motion
resonance. The stronger acting 8:5 MMR inside, and the 5:3 MMR outside the 13:8
resonance are within a small shift in the Earth's semimajor axis (only 1.5
percent). Especially Mercury is strongly affected by relatively small changes
in eccentricity and/or inclination of Venus in these resonances. Even escapes
for the innermost planet are possible which may happen quite rapidly.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures, submitted to CMD
Solar cycle variability of Mars dayside exospheric temperatures: Model evaluation of underlying thermal balances
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95086/1/grl25450.pd
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