1,550 research outputs found
Terahertz photoconductivity and plasmon modes in double-quantum-well field-effect transistors
Double-quantum-well field-effect transistors with a grating gate exhibit a sharply resonant, voltage tuned terahertz photoconductivity. The voltage tuned resonance is determined by the plasma oscillations of the composite structure. The resonant photoconductivity requires a double-quantum well but the mechanism whereby plasma oscillations produce changes in device conductance is not understood. The phenomenon is potentially important for fast, tunable terahertz detectors
Nonequilibrium Green's function theory for transport and gain properties of quantum cascade structures
The transport and gain properties of quantum cascade (QC) structures are
investigated using a nonequilibrium Green's function (NGF) theory which
includes quantum effects beyond a Boltzmann transport description. In the NGF
theory, we include interface roughness, impurity, and electron-phonon
scattering processes within a self-consistent Born approximation, and
electron-electron scattering in a mean-field approximation. With this theory we
obtain a description of the nonequilibrium stationary state of QC structures
under an applied bias, and hence we determine transport properties, such as the
current-voltage characteristic of these structures. We define two contributions
to the current, one contribution driven by the scattering-free part of the
Hamiltonian, and the other driven by the scattering Hamiltonian. We find that
the dominant part of the current in these structures, in contrast to simple
superlattice structures, is governed mainly by the scattering Hamiltonian. In
addition, by considering the linear response of the stationary state of the
structure to an applied optical field, we determine the linear susceptibility,
and hence the gain or absorption spectra of the structure. A comparison of the
spectra obtained from the more rigorous NGF theory with simpler models shows
that the spectra tend to be offset to higher values in the simpler theories.Comment: 44 pages, 16 figures, appearing in Physical Review B Dec 200
Light Meson Dynamics Workshop. Mini proceedings
The mini-proceedings of the Light Meson Dynamics Workshop held in Mainz from
February 10th to 12th, 2014, are presented. The web page of the conference,
which contains all talks, can be found at
https://indico.cern.ch/event/287442/overview .Comment: 46 pages, 17 contributions. Editors: W. Gradl, P. Masjuan, M.
Ostrick, and S. Schere
Urinary eicosanoid metabolites in HIV-infected women with central obesity switching to raltegravir: an analysis from the women, integrase, and fat accumulation trial.
Chronic inflammation is a hallmark of HIV infection. Eicosanoids reflect inflammation, oxidant stress, and vascular health and vary by sex and metabolic parameters. Raltegravir (RAL) is an HIV-1 integrase inhibitor that may have limited metabolic effects. We assessed urinary F2-isoprostanes (F2-IsoPs), prostaglandin E2 (PGE-M), prostacyclin (PGI-M), and thromboxane B2 (TxB2) in HIV-infected women switching to RAL-containing antiretroviral therapy (ART). Thirty-seven women (RAL = 17; PI/NNRTI = 20) with a median age of 43 years and BMI 32 kg/m(2) completed week 24. TxB2 increased in the RAL versus PI/NNRTI arm (+0.09 versus -0.02; P = 0.06). Baseline PGI-M was lower in the RAL arm (P = 0.005); no other between-arm cross-sectional differences were observed. In the PI/NNRTI arm, 24-week visceral adipose tissue change correlated with PGI-M (rho = 0.45; P = 0.04) and TxB2 (rho = 0.44; P = 0.005) changes, with a trend seen for PGE-M (rho = 0.41; P = 0.07). In an adjusted model, age ≥ 50 years (N = 8) was associated with increased PGE-M (P = 0.04). In this randomized trial, a switch to RAL did not significantly affect urinary eicosanoids over 24 weeks. In women continuing PI/NNRTI, increased visceral adipose tissue correlated with increased PGI-M and PGE-M. Older age (≥ 50) was associated with increased PGE-M. Relationships between aging, adiposity, ART, and eicosanoids during HIV-infection require further study
Dating the Cryptococcus gattii Dispersal to the North American Pacific Northwest.
The emergence of Cryptococcus gattii, previously regarded as a predominantly tropical pathogen, in the temperate climate of the North American Pacific Northwest (PNW) in 1999 prompted several questions. The most prevalent among these was the timing of the introduction of this pathogen to this novel environment. Here, we infer tip-dated timing estimates for the three clonal C. gattii populations observed in the PNW, VGIIa, VGIIb, and VGIIc, based on whole-genome sequencing of 134 C. gattii isolates and using Bayesian evolutionary analysis by sampling trees (BEAST). We estimated the nucleotide substitution rate for each lineage (1.59 × 10-8, 1.59 × 10-8, and 2.70 × 10-8, respectively) to be an order of magnitude higher than common neutral fungal mutation rates (2.0 × 10-9), indicating a microevolutionary rate (e.g., successive clonal generations in a laboratory) in comparison to a species' slower, macroevolutionary rate (e.g., when using fossil records). The clonal nature of the PNW C. gattii emergence over a narrow number of years would therefore possibly explain our higher mutation rates. Our results suggest that the mean time to most recent common ancestor for all three sublineages occurred within the last 60 to 100 years. While the cause of C. gattii dispersal to the PNW is still unclear, our research estimates that the arrival is neither ancient nor very recent (i.e., <25 years ago), making a strong case for an anthropogenic introduction. IMPORTANCE The recent emergence of the pathogenic fungus Cryptococcus gattii in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) resulted in numerous investigations into the epidemiological and enzootic impacts, as well as multiple genomic explorations of the three primary molecular subtypes of the fungus that were discovered. These studies lead to the general conclusion that the subtypes identified likely emerged out of Brazil. Here, we conducted genomic dating analyses to determine the ages of the various lineages seen in the PNW and propose hypothetical causes for the dispersal events. Bayesian evolutionary analysis strongly suggests that these independent fungal populations in the PNW are all 60 to 100 years old, providing a timing that is subsequent to the opening of the Panama Canal, which allowed for more direct shipping between Brazil and the western North American coastline, a possible driving event for these fungal translocation events
Synthesis and Coordination Chemistry of a New N-4-Polydentate Class of Pyridyl-Functionalized Scorpionate Ligands: Complexes of Fe-II, Zn-II, V-IV, Pd-II and Use for Heterobimetallic Systems
The new potentially N-4-multidentate pyridyl-functionalized scorpionates 4-((tris-2,2,2-(pyrazol-1-ypethoxy)methyl)pyridine (TpmPy, (1)) and 4-((tris-2,2,2-(3-phenylpyrazol-1-yl)ethoxy)methyl)pyridine (TpmPy(Ph), (2)) have been synthesized and their coordination behavior toward Fe-II, Ni-II, Zn-II, Cu-II, Pd-II, and V-III centers has been studied. Reaction of (1) with Fe(BF4)(2)center dot 6H(2)O yields [Fe(TpmPy)(2)](BF4)(2) (3), that, in the solid state, shows the sandwich structure with trihapto ligand coordination via the pyrazolyl arms, and is completely low spin (LS) until 400 K. Reactions of 2 equiv of (1) or (2) with Zn-II or Ni-II chlorides give the corresponding metal complexes with general formula [MCl2(TpmPy*)(2)] (M = Zn, Ni; TpmPy* = TpmPy, TpmPy(Ph)) (4-7) where the ligand is able to coordinate through either the pyrazolyl rings (in case of [Ni(TpmPy)(2)Cl-2 (5)) or the pyridyl-side (for [ZnCl2(TpmPy)(2)] (4), [ZnCl2(TpmPy(Ph))(2)] (6) and [NiCl2(TpmPy(Ph))(2)] (7)). The reaction of (1) with VCl3 gives [VOCl2(TpmPy)] (8) that shows the N-3-pyrazolyl coordination-mode. Moreover, (1) and react with cis-[PdCl2(CH3CN)(2)] to give the disubstituted complexes [PdCl2(TprnPy)(2)] (9) and [PdCl2(TpmPy(Ph))(2)] (10), respectively, bearing the scorpionate coordinated via the pyridyl group. Compounds (9) and (10) react with Fe(BF4)(2) to give the heterobimetallic Pd/Fe systems [PdCl2(mu-TpmPy)(2)-Fe](BF4)(2) (11) and [PdCl2(mu-TpmPy(Ph))(2)Fe-2(H2O)(6)]BF4)(4) (13), respectively. Compound (11) can also be formed from reaction of (3) with cis-[PdCl2(CH3CN)(2)], while reaction of (3) with Cu(NO3)(2).2.5H(2)O generates [Fe(mu-TpmPy)(2)-Cu(NO3)(2)](BF4)(2) (12), confirming the multidentate ability of the new chelating ligands. The X-ray diffraction analyses of compounds (1), (3), (4), (5), and (9) are also reported
The evolution of the Aristolochia pallida complex (Aristolochiaceae) challenges traditional taxonomy and reflects large-scale glacial refugia in the Mediterranean
The taxonomy of the Mediterranean Aristolochia pallida complex has been under debate since several decades with the following species currently recognized: A. pallida, A. lutea, A. nardiana, A. microstoma, A. merxmuelleri, A. croatica, and A. castellana. These taxa are distributed from Iberia to Turkey. To reconstruct phylogenetic and biogeographic patterns, we employed cpDNA sequence variation using both noncoding (intron and spacer) and protein-coding regions (i.e., trnK intron, matK gene, and trnK-psbA spacer). Our results show that the morphology-based traditional taxonomy was not corroborated by our phylogenetic analyses. Aristolochia pallida, A. lutea, A. nardiana, and A. microstoma were not monophyletic. Instead, strong geographic signals were detected. Two major clades, one exclusively occurring in Greece and a second one of pan-Mediterranean distribution, were found. Several subclades distributed in Greece, NW Turkey, Italy, as well as amphi-Adriatic subclades, and a subgroup of southern France and Spain, were revealed. The distribution areas of these groups are in close vicinity to hypothesized glacial refugia areas in the Mediterranean. According to molecular clock analyses the diversification of this complex started around 3–3.3 my, before the onset of glaciation cycles, and the further evolution of and within major lineages falls into the Pleistocene. Based on these data, we conclude that the Aristolochia pallida alliance survived in different Mediterranean refugia rarely with low, but often with a high potential for range extension, and a high degree of morphological diversity.Turkish Science Foundatio
First Observation and Measurement of the Decay K+- -> pi+- e+ e- gamma
Using the full data set of the NA48/2 experiment, the decay K+- -> pi+- e+ e-
gamma is observed for the first time, selecting 120 candidates with 7.3 +- 1.7
estimated background events. With K+- -> pi+- pi0D as normalisation channel,
the branching ratio is determined in a model-independent way to be Br(K+- ->
pi+- e+ e- gamma, m_eegamma > 260 MeV/c^2) = (1.19 +- 0.12_stat +- 0.04_syst) x
10^-8. This measured value and the spectrum of the e+ e- gamma invariant mass
allow a comparison with predictions of Chiral Perturbation Theory.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys.Lett.
Measurement of the branching ratio of the decay
From the 2002 data taking with a neutral kaon beam extracted from the
CERN-SPS, the NA48/1 experiment observed 97 candidates with a background contamination of events.
From this sample, the BR() is measured to be
Empirical parameterization of the K+- -> pi+- pi0 pi0 decay Dalitz plot
As first observed by the NA48/2 experiment at the CERN SPS, the \p0p0
invariant mass (M00) distribution from \kcnn decay shows a cusp-like anomaly
at M00=2m+, where m+ is the charged pion mass. An analysis to extract the pi pi
scattering lengths in the isospin I=0 and I=2 states, a0 and a2, respectively,
has been recently reported. In the present work the Dalitz plot of this decay
is fitted to a new empirical parameterization suitable for practical purposes,
such as Monte Carlo simulations of K+- -> pi+- pi0 pi0 decays.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures
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