Element-specific probe of quantum criticality in CeCoIn5\mathrm{CeCoIn_{5}}

Employing the elemental sensitivity of x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD), we study the valence and magnetic order in the heavy fermion superconductor CeCoIn$_5$. We probe spin population of the f-electrons in Ce and d-electrons in Co as a function of temperature (down to 0.1 K) and magnetic field (up to 6 T). From the XAS we find a pronounced contribution of Ce$^{4+}$ component at low temperature and a clear temperature dependence of the Ce valence below 5 K, suggesting enhanced valence fluctuations, an indication for the presence of a nearby quantum critical point (QCP). We observe no significant corresponding change with magnetic field. The XMCD displays a weak signal for Ce becoming clear only at 6 T. This splitting of the Kramers doublet ground state of Ce$^{3+}$ is significantly smaller than expected for independent but screened ions, indicating strong antiferromagnetic pair interactions. The unconventional character of superconductivity in CeCoIn$_5$ is evident in the extremely large specific heat step at the superconducting transition.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures. Supplementary information (4 pages, 5 figures

Особенности распространения подповерхностных и поверхностных волн в объектах со слоистой структурой. Ч. 1. Влияние геометрических параметров объекта

Application of surface and subsurface waves for control of objects with a double-layer structure allows to extend possibilities of diagnostics of their physico-mechanical properties. The purpose of work was to determine conditions and offer recommendations providing measuring of ultrasonic velocity and amplitude of the former modes in protective layers and in basis of object at one-sided access to its surface.The analysis of an acoustic path of a measuring system in relation to ultrasonic evaluation of the objects having the restricted sizes and the protective coating according to velocity data of the surface and subsurface waves propagation is made. On the basis of representations of beam acoustics the dependences connecting a wavelength of the excited surface and subsurface modes, thickness and width of a controlled object, acoustic base of a sounding are defined. There are to provide a condition leveling of the influence of an acoustical noise created by the reflected and accompanying waves on parameters of acoustic signal with the given quantity of oscillations in an impulse.The principle opportunity is shown and conditions for determination of velocity of subsurface body waves in the base material which is under a protective coating layer are established. For these purposes on the basis of use of the block of ultrasonic probes the optimum scheme of a sounding is offered and the analytical expression for calculation of required velocity considering varying of thickness of a covering is received.The method of acoustical measuring realized by a direct and reverse sounding of the objects with small aperture and angle probes was analysed and formulas for determination of speed of subsurface wave under protective layer of the wedge form have been got. An ultrasonic device is suggested for the excitationreception of subsurface waves with different speed in objects (on 20–35 %) using for the acoustic concordance of environments of metallic sound duct as a wedge. Possibility of leveling of interference in a protective layer to control efects in basis of material by a volume wave by creation of supporting echo-signal of longitudinal wave of the set frequency and entered normally to the surface of object was studied.Применение поверхностных и подповерхностных волн для контроля изделий с двухслойной структурой позволяет расширить возможности диагностирования физико-механических свойств объектов. Цель работы состояла в установлении условий и выдаче рекомендаций, обеспечивающих измерение скорости и амплитуды упругих мод в защитном покрытии и в основе объекта при одностороннем доступе к его поверхности.На основе представлений лучевой акустики проанализирован акустический тракт и получены соотношения между геометрическими параметрами объектов, акустической базой прозвучивания, длиной волны упругих мод, количеством осцилляций в импульсе, необходимые для нивелирования акустического шума при акустических измерениях.Проведено сопоставление данных расчетной модели с опытными данными, предложенными для использования в качестве опорных для определения оптимальных условий измерения скорости упругих мод, амплитуды, спектра сигнала и др. Изучены условия устранения паразитного влияния вращающихся мод на измерения при осевом прозвучивании поверхностной волной цилиндрического объекта.Проанализирован способ измерений, реализуемый путем прямого и обратного прозвучивания объекта малоапертурными и наклонными преобразователями, и получены выражения для определения скорости подповерхностной волны под защитным покрытием в виде клина. Предложено ультразвуковое устройство для возбуждения-приема поверхностных волн с разной скоростью распространения в объектах (изменяющейся на 20–35 %), использующее для акустического согласования сред металлического звукопровода в виде клина. Изучена возможность нивелирования влияния интерференции в защитном слое на выявляемость дефектов в основе материала объемной волной путем создания опорного эхо-сигнала продольной волны заданной частоты и вводимой нормально к поверхности объекта

Relating gene expression data on two-component systems to functional annotations in Escherichia coli

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Obtaining physiological insights from microarray experiments requires computational techniques that relate gene expression data to functional information. Traditionally, this has been done in two consecutive steps. The first step identifies important genes through clustering or statistical techniques, while the second step assigns biological functions to the identified groups. Recently, techniques have been developed that identify such relationships in a single step.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We have developed an algorithm that relates patterns of gene expression in a set of microarray experiments to functional groups in one step. Our only assumption is that patterns co-occur frequently. The effectiveness of the algorithm is demonstrated as part of a study of regulation by two-component systems in <it>Escherichia coli</it>. The significance of the relationships between expression data and functional annotations is evaluated based on density histograms that are constructed using product similarity among expression vectors. We present a biological analysis of three of the resulting functional groups of proteins, develop hypotheses for further biological studies, and test one of these hypotheses experimentally. A comparison with other algorithms and a different data set is presented.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our new algorithm is able to find interesting and biologically meaningful relationships, not found by other algorithms, in previously analyzed data sets. Scaling of the algorithm to large data sets can be achieved based on a theoretical model.</p

Destination development in Western Siberia:Tourism governance and evolutionary economic geography

Tourism development has often been identified as a tool for balancing negative effects of economic restructuring, especially in peripheral regions. Tourism-based activities often utilize the availability of abundant nature, but although most English language studies of destination development are presented from western contexts, examples from post-Soviet Russia are rare. Western Siberia is a periphery with access to natural resources and heavy industrialization but remotely located from domestic (Russian) and international markets, where tourism is often considered a saviour, especially for the regional economies. Stakeholders in this Russian resource periphery face challenges in managing governance and cooperation in destinations development due to frequent institutional, economic and social changes. Using evolutionary economic geography and based on primary sources and interview data, tourism development and stakeholder relations are assessed in three Western Siberia regions: Tomsk, Kemerovo and Altai Krai. Findings show that for tourism to make a significant contribution, it must be more central to the economic development agenda in all three regions. However, it is currently only achieving a permanent high-profile in one of them, being crowded out by other (mostly primary) industries in the other two. Although the specific tourism governance set-up varies between the three regions, it is clear that public tourism governance still sits somewhat uneasily between state control and the market economy. Tourism receives substantial public subsidies, especially in large-scale investment projects, which depend on federal support within a governance system where decentralization seems to be somewhat limited and unstable. As a result, the tourism path development in the Siberian periphery is highly dependent on state intervention and success in other sectors.</p

ТРАНСФОРМАЦИЯ И РАССЕЯНИЕ ПОВЕРХНОСТНЫХ ВОЛН НА АКУСТИЧЕСКОЙ НАГРУЗКЕ ДЛЯ УЛЬТРАЗВУКОВОГО КОНТРОЛЯ И ИЗМЕРЕНИЙ. Ч. 1. Скользящая граница акустического контакта

for the enhancement and improvement of ultrasonic methods evaluation and measurements. The purpose of this work is to determine the influence of the geometric parameters of the acoustic load body and its position on the coefficients of reflection and propagation of the Stoneley and Rayleigh waves and to identify the possibility of using the results of the study for practical applications.Based on the analysis of the acoustic path and the experimental data, the relationship between the measured amplitude parameters and the coefficients of the propagation and reflection of surface waves, as well as the reflectivity of the contact region of the load body in the form of a prism through the sliding boundary, which reaches up to ≈ 32–34 дБ, is established. For the first time, the dependence of these coefficients on the inclination angle of one of the prism lateral faces in the range of 0 ± 45°, dimensionless thickness of the contact layer (0–0,05) and its orientation relative to the acoustic axis.It is established that these coefficients are mainly maximal when the prism is rectangular. The coefficient of reflectivity in the hard contact of bodies is more than an order of magnitude less, and the coefficients of wave propagation – comparable in magnitude. The prospects of using the results of the study to evaluate the quality of adhesion of materials during welding, soldering, gluing, detection of defects in hardto-reach places, as well as to determine the physical and mechanical properties of metals by the proposed method of creating a reference signal are shown.Эффекты трансформации и распространения волн Рэлея и Стоунли представляют значительный интерес для расширения возможностей и совершенствования методов ультразвукового контроля и измерений. Цель данной работы заключалась в установлении влияния геометрических параметров тела акустической нагрузки и его положения на коэффициенты отражения и прохождения волны Стоунли и Рэлея и выявлении возможности использования результатов исследования для практических приложений.На основе анализа акустического тракта и данных эксперимента установлена связь между измеряемыми амплитудными параметрами и коэффициентами прохождения и отражения поверхностных волн, а также отражательной способностью области контакта тела нагрузки в виде призмы через скользящую границу, которая достигает ≈ 32–34 дБ. Впервые определены зависимости указанных коэффициентов от угла наклона одной из боковых граней призмы в диапазоне 0 ± 45°, безразмерной толщины контактной прослойки (0–0,05) и ее ориентации относительно акустической оси.Установлено, что эти коэффициенты преимущественно максимальны, когда призма прямоугольная. Коэффициент же отражательной способности при жестком контакте тел более чем на порядок меньше, а коэффициенты прохождения сравнимы по величине. Показана перспективность использования результатов исследования для контроля качества сцепления материалов при сварке, пайке, склейке, выявления дефектов в труднодоступных местах, а также для определения физико-механических свойств металлов с помощью предложенного способа создания опорного сигнала.

Electronic quantum coherence in glycine molecules probed with ultrashort x ray pulses in real time

Here, we use x rays to create and probe quantum coherence in the photoionized amino acid glycine. The outgoing photoelectron leaves behind the cation in a coherent superposition of quantum mechanical eigenstates. Delayed x ray pulses track the induced coherence through resonant x ray absorption that induces Auger decay and by photoelectron emission from sequential double photoionization. Sinusoidal temporal modulation of the detected signal at early times 0 to 25 fs is observed in both measurements. Advanced ab initio many electron simulations allow us to explain the first 25 fs of the detected coherent quantum evolution in terms of the electronic coherence. In the kinematically complete x ray absorption measurement, we monitor its dynamics for a period of 175 fs and observe an evolving modulation that may implicate the coupling of electronic to vibronic coherence at longer time scales. Our experiment provides a direct support for the existence of long lived electronic coherence in photoionized biomolecule

The Antimicrobial Peptide Histatin-5 Causes a Spatially Restricted Disruption on the Candida albicans Surface, Allowing Rapid Entry of the Peptide into the Cytoplasm

Antimicrobial peptides play an important role in host defense against microbial pathogens. Their high cationic charge and strong amphipathic structure allow them to bind to the anionic microbial cell membrane and disrupt the membrane bilayer by forming pores or channels. In contrast to the classical pore-forming peptides, studies on histatin-5 (Hst-5) have suggested that the peptide is transported into the cytoplasm of Candida albicans in a non-lytic manner, and cytoplasmic Hst-5 exerts its candicidal activities on various intracellular targets, consistent with its weak amphipathic structure. To understand how Hst-5 is internalized, we investigated the localization of FITC-conjugated Hst-5. We find that Hst-5 is internalized into the vacuole through receptor-mediated endocytosis at low extracellular Hst-5 concentrations, whereas under higher physiological concentrations, Hst-5 is translocated into the cytoplasm through a mechanism that requires a high cationic charge on Hst-5. At intermediate concentrations, two cell populations with distinct Hst-5 localizations were observed. By cell sorting, we show that cells with vacuolar localization of Hst-5 survived, while none of the cells with cytoplasmic Hst-5 formed colonies. Surprisingly, extracellular Hst-5, upon cell surface binding, induces a perturbation on the cell surface, as visualized by an immediate and rapid internalization of Hst-5 and propidium iodide or rhodamine B into the cytoplasm from the site using time-lapse microscopy, and a concurrent rapid expansion of the vacuole. Thus, the formation of a spatially restricted site in the plasma membrane causes the initial injury to C. albicans and offers a mechanism for its internalization into the cytoplasm. Our study suggests that, unlike classical channel-forming antimicrobial peptides, action of Hst-5 requires an energized membrane and causes localized disruptions on the plasma membrane of the yeast. This mechanism of cell membrane disruption may provide species-specific killing with minimal damage to microflora and the host and may be used by many other antimicrobial peptides

Horizontal Branch Stars: The Interplay between Observations and Theory, and Insights into the Formation of the Galaxy

We review HB stars in a broad astrophysical context, including both variable and non-variable stars. A reassessment of the Oosterhoff dichotomy is presented, which provides unprecedented detail regarding its origin and systematics. We show that the Oosterhoff dichotomy and the distribution of globular clusters (GCs) in the HB morphology-metallicity plane both exclude, with high statistical significance, the possibility that the Galactic halo may have formed from the accretion of dwarf galaxies resembling present-day Milky Way satellites such as Fornax, Sagittarius, and the LMC. A rediscussion of the second-parameter problem is presented. A technique is proposed to estimate the HB types of extragalactic GCs on the basis of integrated far-UV photometry. The relationship between the absolute V magnitude of the HB at the RR Lyrae level and metallicity, as obtained on the basis of trigonometric parallax measurements for the star RR Lyrae, is also revisited, giving a distance modulus to the LMC of (m-M)_0 = 18.44+/-0.11. RR Lyrae period change rates are studied. Finally, the conductive opacities used in evolutionary calculations of low-mass stars are investigated. [ABRIDGED]Comment: 56 pages, 22 figures. Invited review, to appear in Astrophysics and Space Scienc

Spleen-Resident CD4+ and CD4− CD8α− Dendritic Cell Subsets Differ in Their Ability to Prime Invariant Natural Killer T Lymphocytes

One important function of conventional dendritic cells (cDC) is their high capacity to capture, process and present Ag to T lymphocytes. Mouse splenic cDC subtypes, including CD8α+ and CD8α− cDC, are not identical in their Ag presenting and T cell priming functions. Surprisingly, few studies have reported functional differences between CD4− and CD4+ CD8α− cDC subsets. We show that, when loaded in vitro with OVA peptide or whole protein, and in steady-state conditions, splenic CD4− and CD4+ cDC are equivalent in their capacity to prime and direct CD4+ and CD8+ T cell differentiation. In contrast, in response to α-galactosylceramide (α-GalCer), CD4− and CD4+ cDC differentially activate invariant Natural Killer T (iNKT) cells, a population of lipid-reactive non-conventional T lymphocytes. Both cDC subsets equally take up α-GalCer in vitro and in vivo to stimulate the iNKT hybridoma DN32.D3, the activation of which depends solely on TCR triggering. On the other hand, and relative to their CD4+ counterparts, CD4− cDC more efficiently stimulate primary iNKT cells, a phenomenon likely due to differential production of co-factors (including IL-12) by cDC. Our data reveal a novel functional difference between splenic CD4+ and CD4− cDC subsets that may be important in immune responses