3,205 research outputs found
Evidence of local superconductivity in granular Bi nanowires fabricated by electrodeposition
An unusual enhancement of resistance (i.e., superresistivity) below a certain
characteristic temperature Tsr was observed in granular Bi nanowires. This
superresistive state was found to be dependent on the applied magnetic field
(H) as well as the excitation current (I). The suppression of Tsr by magnetic
field resembles that of a superconductor. The observed superresistivity appears
to be related to the nucleation of local superconductivity inside the granular
nanowire without long-range phase coherence. The phenomenon is reminiscent of
the Bose-insulator observed previously in ultra thin two-dimensional (2D)
superconducting films and 3D percolative superconducting films.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures. submitted to PR
Treatment of Fibromyalgia with Formula Acupuncture: Investigation of Needle Placement, Needle Stimulation, and Treatment Frequency
Objectives: The objective of this study was to investigate whether typical acupuncture methods such as needle placement, needle stimulation, and treatment frequency were important factors in fibromyalgia symptom improvement. Design/settings/subjects: A single-site, single-blind, randomized trial of 114 participants diagnosed with fibromyalgia for at least 1 year was performed. Intervention: Participants were randomized to one of four treatment groups: (1) T/S needles placed in traditional sites with manual needle stimulation (n = 29): (2) T/0 traditional needle location without stimulation (n = 30); (3) N/S needles inserted in nontraditional locations that were not thought to be acupuncture sites, with stimulation (n = 28); and (4) N/0 nontraditional needle location without stimulation (n = 2 7). All groups received treatment once weekly, followed by twice weekly, and finally three times weekly, for a total of 18 treatments. Each increase in frequency was separated by a 2-week washout period. Outcome measures: Pain was assessed by a numerical rating scale, fatigue by the Multi-dimensional Fatigue Inventory, and physical function by the Short Form–36. Results: Overall pain improvement was noted with 25%–35% of subjects having a clinically significant decrease in pain; however this was not dependent upon "correct" needle stimulation (t = 1.03; p = 0.307) or location (t = 0.76; p = 0.450). An overall dose effect of treatment was observed, with three sessions weekly providing more analgesia than sessions once weekly (t = 2.10; p = 0.039). Among treatment responders, improvements in pain, fatigue, and physical function were highly codependent (all p ≤ 0.002). Conclusions: Although needle insertion led to analgesia and improvement in other somatic symptoms, correct needle location and stimulation were not crucial.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/63411/1/acm.2005.11.663.pd
Direct Integration of the Topological String
We present a new method to solve the holomorphic anomaly equations governing
the free energies of type B topological strings. The method is based on direct
integration with respect to the non-holomorphic dependence of the amplitudes,
and relies on the interplay between non-holomorphicity and modularity
properties of the topological string amplitudes. We develop a formalism valid
for any Calabi-Yau manifold and we study in detail two examples, providing
closed expressions for the amplitudes at low genus, as well as a discussion of
the boundary conditions that fix the holomorphic ambiguity. The first example
is the non-compact Calabi-Yau underlying Seiberg-Witten theory and its
gravitational corrections. The second example is the Enriques Calabi-Yau, which
we solve in full generality up to genus six. We discuss various aspects of this
model: we obtain a new method to generate holomorphic automorphic forms on the
Enriques moduli space, we write down a new product formula for the fiber
amplitudes at all genus, and we analyze in detail the field theory limit. This
allows us to uncover the modularity properties of SU(2), N=2 super Yang-Mills
theory with four massless hypermultiplets.Comment: 75 pages, 3 figure
Fandom and Coercive Empowerment: The commissioned production of Chinese online literature
This article examines how the relationship between consumers and producers of cultural products is shaped by the proprietary nature of digital platforms. Drawing on 4 years of online observation and analysis, we examine the relationship between the producers of online Chinese fiction, amateur writers, and their consumers, that is, the fan communities of readers who respond to their work. Enabled by Chinese literary websites, readers act like sponsors who provide emotional and financial incentives for writers to produce online fictions by commenting, voting, and sending money. Readers become actively involved not just because of the content of the stories but because they form strong commitments to stories and their writers, and gain reciprocity and a sense of self-determination during the interactional process. We argue that although writers are freer from state control online, they are still beholden to the whims of their fans because of what we call the commissioned production of fictions. We contribute to fan community studies by analyzing how commercialized website settings structure the strategies available to participants, how these settings affect the content of the cultural products, and how the Chinese historical and cultural contexts impact the dynamics of the online community.postprin
Engineering periplasmic ligand binding proteins as glucose nanosensors
Diabetes affects over 100 million people worldwide. Better methods for monitoring blood glucose levels are needed for improving disease management. Several labs have previously made glucose nanosensors by modifying members of the periplasmic ligand binding protein superfamily. This minireview summarizes recent developments in constructing new versions of these proteins that are responsive within the physiological range of blood glucose levels, employ new reporter groups, and/or are more robust. These experiments are important steps in the development of novel proteins that have the characteristics needed for an implantable glucose nanosensor for diabetes management: specificity for glucose, rapid response, sensitivity within the physiological range of glucose concentrations, reproducibility, and robustness
Using Lymphocyte and Plasma Hsp70 as Biomarkers for Assessing Coke Oven Exposure among Steel Workers
Cold and heterogeneous T cell repertoire is associated with copy number aberrations and loss of immune genes in small-cell lung cancer
Small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) is speculated to harbor complex genomic intratumor heterogeneity (ITH) associated with high recurrence rate and suboptimal response to immunotherapy. Here, using multi-region whole exome/T cell receptor (TCR) sequencing as well as immunohistochemistry, we reveal a rather homogeneous mutational landscape but extremely cold and heterogeneous TCR repertoire in limited-stage SCLC tumors (LS-SCLCs). Compared to localized non-small cell lung cancers, LS-SCLCs have similar predicted neoantigen burden and genomic ITH, but significantly colder and more heterogeneous TCR repertoire associated with higher chromosomal copy number aberration (CNA) burden. Furthermore, copy number loss of IFN-γ pathway genes is frequently observed and positively correlates with CNA burden. Higher mutational burden, higher T cell infiltration and positive PD-L1 expression are associated with longer overall survival (OS), while higher CNA burden is associated with shorter OS in patients with LS-SCLC
Measurements of and Production in + Collisions at = 200 GeV
We report measurements of charmed-hadron (, ) production cross
sections at mid-rapidity in + collisions at a center-of-mass energy of
200 GeV by the STAR experiment. Charmed hadrons were reconstructed via the
hadronic decays , and their charge conjugates,
covering the range of 0.62.0 GeV/ and 2.06.0 GeV/ for
and , respectively. From this analysis, the charm-pair production cross
section at mid-rapidity is = 170 45
(stat.) (sys.) b. The extracted charm-pair cross section is
compared to perturbative QCD calculations. The transverse momentum differential
cross section is found to be consistent with the upper bound of a Fixed-Order
Next-to-Leading Logarithm calculation.Comment: 15 pages, 16 figures. Revised version submitted to Phys. Rev.
Inclusive charged hadron elliptic flow in Au + Au collisions at = 7.7 - 39 GeV
A systematic study is presented for centrality, transverse momentum ()
and pseudorapidity () dependence of the inclusive charged hadron elliptic
flow () at midrapidity() in Au+Au collisions at
= 7.7, 11.5, 19.6, 27 and 39 GeV. The results obtained with
different methods, including correlations with the event plane reconstructed in
a region separated by a large pseudorapidity gap and 4-particle cumulants
(), are presented in order to investigate non-flow correlations and
fluctuations. We observe that the difference between and
is smaller at the lower collision energies. Values of , scaled by
the initial coordinate space eccentricity, , as a function
of are larger in more central collisions, suggesting stronger collective
flow develops in more central collisions, similar to the results at higher
collision energies. These results are compared to measurements at higher
energies at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider ( = 62.4 and 200
GeV) and at the Large Hadron Collider (Pb + Pb collisions at =
2.76 TeV). The values for fixed rise with increasing collision
energy within the range studied (). A comparison to
viscous hydrodynamic simulations is made to potentially help understand the
energy dependence of . We also compare the results to UrQMD
and AMPT transport model calculations, and physics implications on the
dominance of partonic versus hadronic phases in the system created at Beam
Energy Scan (BES) energies are discussed.Comment: 20 pages, 12 figures. Version accepted by PR
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