504 research outputs found
On "the complete basis set limit" and plane-wave methods in first-principles simulations of water
Water structure, measured by the height of the first peak in oxygen-oxygen
radial distributions, is converged with respect to plane-wave basis energy
cutoffs for ab initio molecular dynamics simulations, confirming the
reliability of plane-wave methods.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure
Effects of metallic spacer in layered superconducting Sr2(MgTi)O3FeAs
The highly two-dimensional superconducting system
Sr2(MgTi)O3FeAs, recently synthesized in the range of 0.2 < y <
0.5, shows an Mg concentration-dependent . Reducing the Mg concentration
from y=0.5 leads to a sudden increase in , with a maximum ~40 K at
y=0.2. Using first principles calculations, the unsynthesized stoichiometric
y=0 and the substoichiometric y=0.5 compounds have been investigated. For the
50% Mg-doped phase (y=0.5), Sr2(MgTi)O3 layers are completely
insulating spacers between FeAs layers, leading to the fermiology such as that
found for other Fe pnictides. At y=0, representing a phase with metallic
Sr2TiO3 layers, the -centered Fe-derived Fermi surfaces (FSs)
considerably shrink or disappear. Instead, three -centered Ti FSs
appear, and in particular two of them have similar size, like in MgB2.
Interestingly, FSs have very low Fermi velocity in large fractions: the lowest
being 0.6 cm/s. Furthermore, our fixed spin moment calculations
suggest the possibility of magnetic ordering, with magnetic Ti and nearly
nonmagnetic Fe ions. These results indicate a crucial role of
Sr2(MgTi)O3 layers in this superconductivity.Comment: 7 pages; Proceedings of ICSM-201
Persistence of Covalent Bonding in Liquid Silicon Probed by Inelastic X-ray Scattering
Metallic liquid silicon at 1787K is investigated using x-ray Compton
scattering. An excellent agreement is found between the measurements and the
corresponding Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics simulations. Our results show
persistence of covalent bonding in liquid silicon and provide support for the
occurrence of theoretically predicted liquid-liquid phase transition in
supercooled liquid states. The population of covalent bond pairs in liquid
silicon is estimated to be 17% via a maximally-localized Wannier function
analysis. Compton scattering is shown to be a sensitive probe of bonding
effects in the liquid state.Comment: 5pages, 3 postscript figure
Thin-Film Metamaterials called Sculptured Thin Films
Morphology and performance are conjointed attributes of metamaterials, of
which sculptured thin films (STFs) are examples. STFs are assemblies of
nanowires that can be fabricated from many different materials, typically via
physical vapor deposition onto rotating substrates. The curvilinear--nanowire
morphology of STFs is determined by the substrate motions during fabrication.
The optical properties, especially, can be tailored by varying the morphology
of STFs. In many cases prototype devices have been fabricated for various
optical, thermal, chemical, and biological applications.Comment: to be published in Proc. ICTP School on Metamaterials (Augsut 2009,
Sibiu, Romania
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Pan-viral serology implicates enteroviruses in acute flaccid myelitis.
Since 2012, the United States of America has experienced a biennial spike in pediatric acute flaccid myelitis (AFM)1-6. Epidemiologic evidence suggests non-polio enteroviruses (EVs) are a potential etiology, yet EV RNA is rarely detected in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)2. CSF from children with AFM (n = 42) and other pediatric neurologic disease controls (n = 58) were investigated for intrathecal antiviral antibodies, using a phage display library expressing 481,966 overlapping peptides derived from all known vertebrate and arboviruses (VirScan). Metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) of AFM CSF RNA (n = 20 cases) was also performed, both unbiased sequencing and with targeted enrichment for EVs. Using VirScan, the viral family significantly enriched by the CSF of AFM cases relative to controls was Picornaviridae, with the most enriched Picornaviridae peptides belonging to the genus Enterovirus (n = 29/42 cases versus 4/58 controls). EV VP1 ELISA confirmed this finding (n = 22/26 cases versus 7/50 controls). mNGS did not detect additional EV RNA. Despite rare detection of EV RNA, pan-viral serology frequently identified high levels of CSF EV-specific antibodies in AFM compared with controls, providing further evidence for a causal role of non-polio EVs in AFM
A hop-count based positioning algorithm for wireless ad-hoc networks
We propose a range-free localization algorithm for a wireless ad-hoc network utilizing the hop-count metric’s ability to indicate proximity to anchors (i.e., nodes with known positions). In traditional sense, hop-count generally means the number of intermediate routers a datagram has to go through between its source and the destination node. We analytically show that hop-count could be used to indicate proximity relative to an anchor node. Our proposed algorithm is computationally feasible for resource constrained wireless ad-hoc nodes, and gives reasonable accuracy. We perform both real experiments and simulations to evaluate the algorithm’s performance. Experimental results show that our algorithm outperforms similar proximity based algorithms utilizing received signal strength and expected transmission count. We also analyze the impact of various parameters like the number of anchor nodes, placements of anchor nodes and varying transmission powers of the nodes on the hop-count based localization algorithm’s performance through simulation
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CRISPR Screen Reveals that EHEC’s T3SS and Shiga Toxin Rely on Shared Host Factors for Infection
ABSTRACT Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) has two critical virulence factors—a type III secretion system (T3SS) and Shiga toxins (Stxs)—that are required for the pathogen to colonize the intestine and cause diarrheal disease. Here, we carried out a genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats with Cas9) loss-of-function screen to identify host loci that facilitate EHEC infection of intestinal epithelial cells. Many of the guide RNAs identified targeted loci known to be associated with sphingolipid biosynthesis, particularly for production of globotriaosylceramide (Gb3), the Stx receptor. Two loci (TM9SF2 and LAPTM4A) with largely unknown functions were also targeted. Mutations in these loci not only rescued cells from Stx-mediated cell death, but also prevented cytotoxicity associated with the EHEC T3SS. These mutations interfered with early events associated with T3SS and Stx pathogenicity, markedly reducing entry of T3SS effectors into host cells and binding of Stx. The convergence of Stx and T3SS onto overlapping host targets provides guidance for design of new host-directed therapeutic agents to counter EHEC infection
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