Pd deposition on TiO2(110) and nanoparticle encapsulation

The effect of sputtering, annealing and oxidation on the surface properties of TiO2(110), and on the same surfaces with nanoparticles present, has been investigated. Sputtering the crystal clean gives a much reduced surface with Ti2+ as the dominant species. This,surface is mainly Ti3+,4+ after annealing in vacuum. Oxidation reduces the surface Ti3+ considerably. When Pd nanoparticles are annealed on any of the investigated titania surfaces the particles become encapsulated by a film of titanium oxide. This is particularly noticeable in ISS (ion scattering spectroscopy) where the Pd:Ti ratio drops by a factor of 300 after annealing to 750 K, indicating complete coverage of the Pd nanoparticles by the oxide film. This happens most easily for the nanoparticles deposited on the reduced surfaces (beginning at ~673K) but also occurs for the very oxidized surface at~773K. Thus reduced Ti from the subsurface region can migrate onto the Pd surface to form the sub-oxide, the sub-oxide being a thin TiO-like layer

Connecting the Quenched and Unquenched Worlds via the Large N_c World

In the large N_c(number of colors) limit, quenched QCD and QCD are identical. This implies that, in the effective field theory framework, some of the low energy constants in (N_c=3) quenched QCD and QCD are the same up to higher-order corrections in the 1/N_c expansion. Thus the calculation of the nonleptonic kaon decays relevant for the Delta I=1/2 rule in the quenched approximation is expected to differ from the unquenched one by an O(1/N_c) correction. However, the calculation relevant to the CP-violation parameter epsilon'/epsilon would have a relatively big higher-order correction due to the large cancellation in the leading order. Some important weak matrix elements are poorly known that even constraints with 100% errors are interesting. In those cases, quenched calculations will be very useful.Comment: 8 pages, one figure; minor typos correcte

Surface science studies of Pd and Au on TiO2(110) single crystals

In this thesis, the structure and reactivity of Pd, Au and Au-Pd structures on TiO2(110) single crystals has been investigated with surface science techniques, including X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), low energy ion scattering (LEIS), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and temperature programmed desorption (TPD). Sputtering a clean titania single crystal resulted in reduction of the surface. The surface was partially re-oxidised by annealing in UHV and further oxidised by annealing in O2. Pd growth on TiO2(110) was found to be Volmer Weber (3D island growth) regardless of the preparation and condition of the titania – whether it was heavily sputtered, sputtered then annealed or annealed in oxygen. On annealing the Pd/TiO2(110) to temperatures above 723K, an SMSI effect was observed between the Pd nanoparticles and the TiO2 support – the Pd is encapsulated by the reduced titania support. This was found to be affected by the oxidation state of the titania – SMSI occurred at a higher temperature for an oxidised surface than for a reduced surface. Au did not show an SMSI effect and is not encapsulated by the titania support, even when annealing to temperatures of 873K. The Au film only sinters and forms nanoparticles. Pd and Au were deposited sequentially on to TiO2(110). They are proposed to form bimetallic Au-Pd core-shell structures on annealing. After continued annealing to higher temperatures an SMSI effect is once again seen. This appears to be diminished with a greater amount of Au present in the bimetallic structure. The reactivity of TiO2(110) towards several small organic molecules was studied with TPD when clean and when deposited with Pd and Au, both separately and combined. Titania showed similar reactivity to that found in the literature – ethanol decomposed primarily to ethene and acetaldehyde, formic acid gave both CO and H2O, and CO2 and H2, and acetic acid gave ketene, CO and CO2. Au was found to be unreactive. Pd was found to reduce the reactivity of the titania. Pd-Au were, in most cases, found to be more reactive than their component metals

Long distance chiral corrections in B meson amplitudes

We discuss the chiral corrections to f_B and B_B with particular emphasis on determining the portion of the correction that arises from long distance physics. For very small pion and kaon masses all of the usual corrections are truly long distance, while for larger masses the long distance portion decreases. These chiral corrections have been used to extrapolate lattice calculations towards the physical region of lighter masses. We show in particular that the chiral extrapolation is better behaved if only the long distance portion of the correction is used.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure

Remark on the Theoretical Uncertainty in B0B^0-Bˉ0\bar{B}^0 Mixing

We re-examine the theoretical uncertainty in the Standard Model expression for $B^0$-$\bar{B}^0$ mixing. We focus on lattice calculations of the ratio $\xi$, needed to relate the oscillation frequency of $B^0_s$-$\bar{B}^0_s$ mixing to $V_{td}$. We replace the usual linear chiral extrapolation with one that includes the logarithm that appears in chiral perturbation theory. We find a significant shift in the ratio $\xi$, from the conventional $1.15\pm0.05$ to $\xi=1.32\pm0.10$.Comment: Lattice2002(heavyquark), 3 pages, 3 figure

Pd segregation to the surface of Au on Pd(111) and on Pd/TiO2(110)

The interaction of Au and Pd in bimetallic systems is important in a number of areas of technology, especially catalysis. In order to investigate the segregation behaviour in such systems, the interaction of Pd and Au was investigated by surface science methods. In two separate sets of experiments, Au was deposited onto a Pd(111) single crystal, and Pd and Au were sequentially deposited onto TiO2(110), all in ultra-high vacuum using metal vapour deposition. Heating Au on Pd/TiO2(110) to 773 K resulted in the loss of the Au signal in the LEIS, whilst still remaining present in the XPS, due to segregation of Pd to the surface and the formation of a Au-Pd coreshell structure. It is likely that this is due to alloying of Au with the Pd and surface dominance of that alloy by Pd. The Au:Pd XPS peak area ratio is found to substantially decrease on annealing Au/Pd(111) above 773 K, corresponding with a large increase in the CO sticking probability to that for clean Pd(111). This further indicates that Au diffuses into the bulk of Pd on annealing to temperatures above 773 K. It therefore appears that Au prefers to be in the bulk in these systems, reflecting the exothermicity of alloy formation

Expression profiles for macrophage alternative activation genes in AD and in mouse models of AD.

BACKGROUND: Microglia are associated with neuritic plaques in Alzheimer disease (AD) and serve as a primary component of the innate immune response in the brain. Neuritic plaques are fibrous deposits composed of the amyloid beta-peptide fragments (Abeta) of the amyloid precursor protein (APP). Numerous studies have shown that the immune cells in the vicinity of amyloid deposits in AD express mRNA and proteins for pro-inflammatory cytokines, leading to the hypothesis that microglia demonstrate classical (Th-1) immune activation in AD. Nonetheless, the complex role of microglial activation has yet to be fully explored since recent studies show that peripheral macrophages enter an "alternative" activation state. METHODS: To study alternative activation of microglia, we used quantitative RT-PCR to identify genes associated with alternative activation in microglia, including arginase I (AGI), mannose receptor (MRC1), found in inflammatory zone 1 (FIZZ1), and chitinase 3-like 3 (YM1). RESULTS: Our findings confirmed that treatment of microglia with anti-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-4 and IL-13 induces a gene profile typical of alternative activation similar to that previously observed in peripheral macrophages. We then used this gene expression profile to examine two mouse models of AD, the APPsw (Tg-2576) and Tg-SwDI, models for amyloid deposition and for cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) respectively. AGI, MRC1 and YM1 mRNA levels were significantly increased in the Tg-2576 mouse brains compared to age-matched controls while TNFalpha and NOS2 mRNA levels, genes commonly associated with classical activation, increased or did not change, respectively. Only TNFalpha mRNA increased in the Tg-SwDI mouse brain. Alternative activation genes were also identified in brain samples from individuals with AD and were compared to age-matched control individuals. In AD brain, mRNAs for TNFalpha, AGI, MRC1 and the chitinase-3 like 1 and 2 genes (CHI3L1; CHI3L2) were significantly increased while NOS2 and IL-1beta mRNAs were unchanged. CONCLUSION: Immune cells within the brain display gene profiles that suggest heterogeneous, functional phenotypes that range from a pro-inflammatory, classical activation state to an alternative activation state involved in repair and extracellular matrix remodeling. Our data suggest that innate immune cells in AD may exhibit a hybrid activation state that includes characteristics of classical and alternative activation

Reflective Coating for Lightweight X-Ray Optics

X-ray reflective coating for next generation's lightweight, high resolution, optics for astronomy requires thin-film deposition that is precisely fine-tuned so that it will not distort the thin sub-mm substrates. Film of very low stress is required. Alternatively, mirror distortion can be cancelled by precisely balancing the deformation from multiple films. We will present results on metallic film deposition for the lightweight optics under development. These efforts include: low-stress deposition by magnetron sputtering and atomic layer deposition of the metals, balancing of gross deformation with two-layer depositions of opposite stresses and with depositions on both sides of the thin mirrors

Co-expression of C9orf72 related dipeptide-repeats over 1000 repeat units reveals age-A nd combination-specific phenotypic profiles in Drosophila

A large intronic hexanucleotide repeat expansion (GGGGCC) within the C9orf72 (C9orf72-SMCR8 Complex Subunit) locus is the most prevalent genetic cause of both Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) and Motor Neuron Disease (MND). In patients this expansion is typically hundreds to thousands of repeat units in length. Repeat associated non-AUG translation of the expansion leads to the formation of toxic, pathological Dipeptide-Repeat Proteins (DPRs). To date there remains a lack of in vivo models expressing C9orf72 related DPRs with a repeat length of more than a few hundred repeats. As such our understanding of how physiologically relevant repeat length DPRs effect the nervous system in an ageing in vivo system remains limited. In this study we generated Drosophila models expressing DPRs over 1000 repeat units in length, a known pathological length in humans. Using these models, we demonstrate each DPR exhibits a unique, age-dependent, phenotypic and pathological profile. Furthermore, we show co-expression of specific DPR combinations leads to distinct, age-dependent, phenotypes not observed through expression of single DPRs. We propose these models represent a unique, in vivo, tool for dissecting the molecular mechanisms implicated in disease pathology, opening up new avenues in the study of both MND and FTD