2,538 research outputs found
Mixing with the radiofrequency single-electron transistor
By configuring a radio-frequency single-electron transistor as a mixer, we
demonstrate a unique implementation of this device, that achieves good charge
sensitivity with large bandwidth about a tunable center frequency. In our
implementation we achieve a measurement bandwidth of 16 MHz, with a tunable
center frequency from 0 to 1.2 GHz, demonstrated with the transistor operating
at 300 mK. Ultimately this device is limited in center frequency by the RC time
of the transistor's center island, which for our device is ~ 1.6 GHz, close to
the measured value. The measurement bandwidth is determined by the quality
factor of the readout tank circuit.Comment: Submitted to APL september 200
A Titan exploration study: Science, technology, and mission planning options, volume 2
For abstract, see Vol.
A Titan exploration study: Science, technology and mission planning options, volume 1
Mission concepts and technology advancements that can be used in the exploration of the outer planet satellites were examined. Titan, the seventh satellite of Saturn was selected as the target of interest. Science objectives for Titan exploration were identified, and recommended science payloads for four basic mission modes were developed (orbiter, atmospheric probe, surface penetrator and lander). Trial spacecraft and mission designs were produced for the various mission modes. Using these trial designs as a base, technology excursions were then made to find solutions to the problems resulting from these conventional approaches and to uncover new science, technology and mission planning options. Several mission modes were developed that take advantage of the unique conditions expected at Titan. They include a combined orbiter, atmosphere probe and lander vehicle, a combined probe and surface penetrator configuration and concepts for advanced remote sensing orbiters
Characterization of Immune Ontogeny of Young Swine to Porcine Circovirus Type 2 Infection
A longitudinal study was conducted to characterize the humoral immune response of pigs to porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2), the postulated causative agent for postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS). Eight-week-old cesarean-derived, colostrumdeprived (CD/CD) pigs were inoculated with a purified isolate of PCV2 and kept for 35 days post-inoculation (PI). Serum samples were collected from all pigs on day 0 and, thereafter, every 7 days until termination of the study. Naïve young pigs were shown to be susceptible to PCV2. PCV2-specific antibodies were detected by an indirect fluorescent antibody test at day 7 PI and after, whereas neutralizing antibodies were not detected until day 28 PI. Western immunoblot analysis of the sera demonstrated three virus-specific proteins with molecular mass of 28, 28.5 and 35 kD. By comparing the appearance of antibody with protein specificity of antibody response, the 28-kD protein was highly immunogenic and specific for PCV2, suggesting that the 28-kD protein may provide the antigenic basis for the development of diagnostic tests for the detection of PCV2-specific antibody. Other two proteins may be associated with virus neutralization
Analysis of the 23 June 2001 M w = 8.4 Peru underthrusting earthquake and its aftershocks
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95298/1/grl16079.pd
Development of Lumped Element Kinetic Inductance Detectors for NIKA
Lumped-element kinetic inductance detectors(LEKIDs) have recently shown
considerable promise as direct absorption mm-wavelength detectors for
astronomical applications. One major research thrust within the N\'eel Iram
Kids Array (NIKA) collaboration has been to investigate the suitability of
these detectors for deployment at the 30-meter IRAM telescope located on Pico
Veleta in Spain. Compared to microwave kinetic inductance detectors (MKID),
using quarter wavelength resonators, the resonant circuit of a LEKID consists
of a discrete inductance and capacitance coupled to a feedline. A high and
constant current density distribution in the inductive part of these resonators
makes them very sensitive. Due to only one metal layer on a silicon substrate,
the fabrication is relatively easy. In order to optimize the LEKIDs for this
application, we have recently probed a wide variety of individual resonator and
array parameters through simulation and physical testing. This included
determining the optimal feed-line coupling, pixel geometry, resonator
distribution within an array (in order to minimize pixel cross-talk), and
resonator frequency spacing. Based on these results, a 144-pixel Aluminum array
was fabricated and tested in a dilution fridge with optical access, yielding an
average optical NEP of ~2E-16 W/Hz^1/2 (best pixels showed NEP = 6E-17 W/Hz^1/2
under 4-8 pW loading per pixel). In October 2010 the second prototype of LEKIDs
has been tested at the IRAM 30 m telescope. A new LEKID geometry for 2
polarizations will be presented. Also first optical measurements of a titanium
nitride array will be discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 12 figures; ISSTT 2011 Worksho
The hetZ Gene Regulates Heterocyst Formation in Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120
To form a complex multicellular organism, stem cells must differentiate into each cell/tissue type along proper spatiotemporal scales. The study of differentiation and organismal development has historically been conducted in prokaryotes due to their genetic and morphological simplicity. Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120 is a multicellular filamentous cyanobacterium that differentiates a morphologically distinct secondary cell type, the heterocyst, in response to a lack of combined environmental nitrogen. Heterocysts are regularly spaced along filaments and fix atmospheric dinitrogen to maintain organismal viability in its absence. Previous work suggested that the hetZ gene is involved in heterocyst differentiation, but the insertional mutants created produced inconsistent phenotypes, so a specific role was not assigned. In this work, a clean hetZ mutant incapable of heterocyst differentiation was generated and the mutation was complemented with the reintroduction of hetZ alone. Overexpression of hetZ bypassed a mutation of hetR, the master regulator of heterocyst differentiation that controls biological pattern formation, but not a mutation of hetP, a regulator of commitment to a differentiated cell fate, which places hetZ roughly between these processes. A protein-protein interaction study showed that HetZ interacts with both HetR and itself. Assessment of transcriptional fusions between the hetZ, hetR, hetP, and patS (an inhibitor of HetR) promoter regions and GFP, and overexpression of HetR in a hetZ mutant resulted in the differentiation of heterocyst-like cells, together indicated that HetZ may act in concert with HetR as an early regulator of development. Taken together, these data describe a non-linear pathway of regulation leading to heterocyst development governed by both HetR and HetZ
Development of a Luminex Immunoassay for the serological diagnosis of Vesicular Stomatitis (VS) and Comparison with the Virus Neutralization Test (VNT)
Approximating Weighted Duo-Preservation in Comparative Genomics
Motivated by comparative genomics, Chen et al. [9] introduced the Maximum
Duo-preservation String Mapping (MDSM) problem in which we are given two
strings and from the same alphabet and the goal is to find a
mapping between them so as to maximize the number of duos preserved. A
duo is any two consecutive characters in a string and it is preserved in the
mapping if its two consecutive characters in are mapped to same two
consecutive characters in . The MDSM problem is known to be NP-hard and
there are approximation algorithms for this problem [3, 5, 13], but all of them
consider only the "unweighted" version of the problem in the sense that a duo
from is preserved by mapping to any same duo in regardless of their
positions in the respective strings. However, it is well-desired in comparative
genomics to find mappings that consider preserving duos that are "closer" to
each other under some distance measure [19]. In this paper, we introduce a
generalized version of the problem, called the Maximum-Weight Duo-preservation
String Mapping (MWDSM) problem that captures both duos-preservation and
duos-distance measures in the sense that mapping a duo from to each
preserved duo in has a weight, indicating the "closeness" of the two
duos. The objective of the MWDSM problem is to find a mapping so as to maximize
the total weight of preserved duos. In this paper, we give a polynomial-time
6-approximation algorithm for this problem.Comment: Appeared in proceedings of the 23rd International Computing and
Combinatorics Conference (COCOON 2017
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