Synthesis, vacuum ultraviolet and near ultraviolet-excited luminescent properties of GdCaAl3O7: RE3+ (RE=Eu, Tb)

Vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) excitation and photoluminescent (PL) properties of Eu3+ and Tb3+ ion-doped aluminate phosphors, GdCaAl 3O7:Eu3+ and GdCaAl3O 7:Tb3+ have been investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns indicate that the phosphor GdCaAl3O7 forms without impurity phase at 900 °C. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) images show that the particle size of the phosphor is less than 3 μm. Upon excitation with VUV irradiation, the phosphors show a strong emission at around 619 nm corresponding to the forced electric dipole 5D0→7F2 transition of Eu 3+, and at around 545 nm corresponding to the 5D 4→7F5 transition of Tb3+. The results reveal that both GdCaAl3O7:RE3+ (RE=Eu, Tb) are potential candidates as red and green phosphors, respectively, for use in plasma display panel (PDP). © 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.postprin

The Dichotomy between Nodal and Antinodal Quasiparticles in Underdoped (La2−x_{2-x}Srx_x)CuO4_4 Superconductors

High resolution angle-resolved photoemission measurements on underdoped (La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$)CuO$_4$ system show that, at energies below 70 meV, the quasiparticle peak is well defined around the ($\pi$/2,$\pi$/2) nodal region and disappears rather abruptly when the momentum is changed from the nodal point to the ($\pi$,0) antinodal point along the underlying ``Fermi surface''. It indicates that there is an extra low energy scattering mechanism acting upon the antinodal quasiparticles. We propose that this mechanism is the scattering of quasiparticles across the nearly parallel segments of the Fermi surface near the antinodes.Comment: to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Pseudogap, Superconducting Energy Scale, and Fermi Arcs in Underdoped Cuprate Superconductors

Through the measurements of magnetic field dependence of specific heat in $La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4$ in zero temperature limit, we determined the nodal slope $v_\Delta$ of the quasiparticle gap. It is found that $v_\Delta$ has a very similar doping dependence of the pseudogap temperature $T^*$ or value $\Delta_p$. Meanwhile the virtual maximum gap at ($\pi,0$) derived from $v_\Delta$ is found to follow the simple relation $\Delta_q=0.46k_BT^*$ upon changing the doping concentration. This strongly suggests a close relationship between the pseudogap and superconductivity. It is further found that the superconducting transition temperature is determined by both the residual density of states of the pseudogap phase and the nodal gap slope in the zero temperature limit, namely, $T_c \approx \beta v_\Delta \gamma_n(0)$, where $\gamma_n(0)$ is the extracted zero temperature value of the normal state specific heat coefficient which is proportional to the size of the residual Fermi arc $k_{arc}$. This manifests that the superconductivity may be formed by forming a new gap on the Fermi arcs near nodes below $T_c$. These observations mimic the key predictions of the SU(2) slave boson theory based on the general resonating-valence-bond (RVB) picture.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.

Efficient Anonymous Authenticated Key Agreement Scheme for Wireless Body Area Networks

Wireless body area networks (WBANs) are widely used in telemedicine, which can be utilized for real-time patients monitoring and home health-care. The sensor nodes in WBANs collect the client’s physiological data and transmit it to the medical center. However, the clients’ personal information is sensitive and there are many security threats in the extra-body communication. Therefore, the security and privacy of client’s physiological data need to be ensured. Many authentication protocols for WBANs have been proposed in recent years. However, the existing protocols fail to consider the key update phase. In this paper, we propose an efficient authenticated key agreement scheme for WBANs and add the key update phase to enhance the security of the proposed scheme. In addition, session keys are generated during the registration phase and kept secretly, thus reducing computation cost in the authentication phase. The performance analysis demonstrates that our scheme is more efficient than the currently popular related schemes

Effects of DNMT1 silencing on malignant phenotype and methylated gene expression in cervical cancer cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>DNA methylation has been widely used in classification, early diagnosis, therapy and prediction of metastasis as well as recurrence of cervical cancer. DNMT methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1), which plays a significant role in maintaining DNA methylation status and regulating the expression of tumor suppressor genes. The aim of this research was to investigate the relationship between DNMT1 and abnormal methylation of tumor suppressor genes and malignant phenotype in cervical cancer.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Levels of DNMT1 mRNA and protein were detected using qPCR and Western blot, respectively. Cell proliferation was analyzed by MTT and apoptosis was performed by Annexin V-FITC/PI double staining flow cytometry, respectively. MeDIP-qPCR and qPCR were performed to measure demethylation status and mRNA re-expression level of 7 tumor-suppressor genes (CCNA1, CHFR, FHIT, PAX1, PTEN, SFRP4, TSLC1) in Hela and Siha cells after silencing DNMT1.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The average expression levels of DNMT1 mRNA and protein in Hela and Siha cells were decreased significantly compared with control group. The flow cytometry and MTT results showed that Hela and Siha cells apoptosis rates and cell viabilities were 19.4 ± 2.90%, 25.7 ± 3.92% as well as 86.7 ± 3.12%, 84.16 ± 2.67% respectively 48 h after transfection (<it>P </it>< 0.01). Furthermore, the promoter methylation of five tumor suppressor genes was decreased with the increased mRNA expression after silencing DNMT1, whereas there were no significant changes in PTEN and FHIT genes in Hela cells, and CHFR and FHIT genes in Siha cells.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our experimental results demonstrate that methylation status of DNMT1 can influence several important tumor suppressor genes activity in cervical tumorigenesis and may have the potential to become an effective target for treatment of cervical cancer.</p