Positive Vibrational Entropy of Chemical Ordering in FeV

Inelastic neutron scattering and nuclear resonant inelastic x-ray scattering were used to measure phonon spectra of FeV as a B2 ordered compound and as a bcc solid solution. The two data sets were combined to give an accurate phonon density of states, and the phonon partial densities of states for V and Fe atoms. Contrary to the behavior of ordering alloys studied to date, the phonons in the B2 ordered phase are softer than in the solid solution. Ordering increases the vibrational entropy by +0.22±0.03k_B/atom, which stabilizes the ordered phase to higher temperatures. First-principles calculations show that the number of electronic states at the Fermi level increases upon ordering, enhancing the screening between ions, and reducing the interatomic force constants. The effect of screening is larger at the V atomic sites than at the Fe atomic sites

Effects of chemical composition and B2 order on phonons in bcc Fe–Co alloys

The phonon density of states (DOS) gives insight into interatomic forces and provides the vibrational entropy, making it a key thermodynamic function for understanding alloy phase transformations. Nuclear resonant inelastic x-ray scattering and inelastic neutron scattering were used to measure the chemical dependence of the DOS of bcc Fe–Co alloys. For the equiatomic alloy, the A2→B2 (chemically disordered→chemically ordered) phase transformation caused measurable changes in the phonon spectrum. The measured change in vibrational entropy upon ordering was −0.02±0.02 k_B/atom, suggesting that vibrational entropy results in a reduction in the order–disorder transition temperature by 60±60 K. The Connolly–Williams cluster inversion method was used to obtain interaction DOS (IDOS) curves that show how point and pair variables altered the phonon DOS of disordered bcc Fe–Co alloys. These IDOS curves accurately captured the change in the phonon DOS and vibrational entropy of the B2 ordering transition

WDHA syndrome caused by pheochromocytoma: report of a case.

A case in which a pheochromocytoma secreted vasoactive intestinal peptide, causing WDHA syndrome, is reported. The patient, a 43-year-old woman, was seen because of intractable watery diarrhea, hypokalemia and weight loss. She was found to have a mass in the right adrenal area. Preoperatively, vasoactive intestinal peptide levels were elevated, and the diagnosis of WDHA syndrome was entertained. Exploratory laparotomy revealed a tumor of the right adrenal gland, measuring 15 x 15 cm, which was resected. Histologic examination revealed it to be a pheochromocytoma. Postoperatively, vasoactive intestinal peptide returned to normal. The patient had complete remission of symptoms, and has remained well since

Jitsu: Just-in-time summoning of unikernel

Network latency is a problem for all cloud services. It can be mitigated by moving computation out of remote datacenters by rapidly instantiating local services near the user. This requires an embedded cloud platform on which to deploy multiple applications securely and quickly. We present Jitsu, a new Xen toolstack that satisfies the demands of secure multi-tenant isolation on resource-constrained embedded ARM devices. It does this by using unikernels: lightweight, compact, single address space, memory-safe virtual machines (VMs) written in a high-level language. Using fast shared memory channels, Jitsu provides a directory service that launches unikernels in response to network traffic and masks boot latency. Our evaluation shows Jitsu to be a power-efficient and responsive platform for hosting cloud services in the edge network while preserving the strong isolation guarantees of a type-1 hypervisor.The research leading to these results received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007–2013 under the Trilogy 2 project (grant agreement no. 317756), and the User Centric Networking project, (grant agreement no. 611001), and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), under contract FA8750-11-C-0249.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from USENIX via https://www.usenix.org/conference/nsdi15/technical-sessions/presentation/madhavapedd

Empathy, engagement, entrainment: the interaction dynamics of aesthetic experience

A recent version of the view that aesthetic experience is based in empathy as inner imitation explains aesthetic experience as the automatic simulation of actions, emotions, and bodily sensations depicted in an artwork by motor neurons in the brain. Criticizing the simulation theory for committing to an erroneous concept of empathy and failing to distinguish regular from aesthetic experiences of art, I advance an alternative, dynamic approach and claim that aesthetic experience is enacted and skillful, based in the recognition of others’ experiences as distinct from one’s own. In combining insights from mainly psychology, phenomenology, and cognitive science, the dynamic approach aims to explain the emergence of aesthetic experience in terms of the reciprocal interaction between viewer and artwork. I argue that aesthetic experience emerges by participatory sense-making and revolves around movement as a means for creating meaning. While entrainment merely plays a preparatory part in this, aesthetic engagement constitutes the phenomenological side of coupling to an artwork and provides the context for exploration, and eventually for moving, seeing, and feeling with art. I submit that aesthetic experience emerges from bodily and emotional engagement with works of art via the complementary processes of the perception–action and motion–emotion loops. The former involves the embodied visual exploration of an artwork in physical space, and progressively structures and organizes visual experience by way of perceptual feedback from body movements made in response to the artwork. The latter concerns the movement qualities and shapes of implicit and explicit bodily responses to an artwork that cue emotion and thereby modulate over-all affect and attitude. The two processes cause the viewer to bodily and emotionally move with and be moved by individual works of art, and consequently to recognize another psychological orientation than her own, which explains how art can cause feelings of insight or awe and disclose aspects of life that are unfamiliar or novel to the viewer

The role of TcdB and TccC subunits in secretion of the photorhabdus Tcd toxin complex

The Toxin Complex (TC) is a large multi-subunit toxin encoded by a range of bacterial pathogens. The best-characterized examples are from the insect pathogens Photorhabdus, Xenorhabdus and Yersinia. They consist of three large protein subunits, designated A, B and C that assemble in a 5:1:1 stoichiometry. Oral toxicity to a range of insects means that some have the potential to be developed as pest control technology. The three subunit proteins do not encode any recognisable export sequences and as such little progress has been made in understanding their secretion. We have developed heterologous TC production and secretion models in E. coli and used them to ascribe functions to different domains of the crucial B+C sub-complex. We have determined that the B and C subunits use a secretion mechanism that is either encoded by the proteins themselves or employ an as yet undefined system common to laboratory strains of E. coli. We demonstrate that both the N-terminal domains of the B and C subunits are required for secretion of the whole complex. We propose a model whereby the N-terminus of the C-subunit toxin exports the B+C sub-complex across the inner membrane while that of the B-subunit allows passage across the outer membrane. We also demonstrate that even in the absence of the B-subunit, that the C-subunit can also facilitate secretion of the larger A-subunit. The recognition of this novel export system is likely to be of importance to future protein secretion studies. Finally, the identification of homologues of B and C subunits in diverse bacterial pathogens, including Burkholderia and Pseudomonas, suggests that these toxins are likely to be important in a range of different hosts, including man