855 research outputs found
The Long Noncoding RNA IFNG-AS1 Promotes T Helper Type 1 Cells Response in Patients with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis
published_or_final_versio
Prospects for Improving the Intrinsic and Extrinsic Properties of Magnesium Diboride Superconducting Strands
The magnetic and transport properties of magnesium diboride films represent
performance goals yet to be attained by powder-processed bulk samples and
conductors. Such performance limits are still out of the reach of even the best
magnesium diboride magnet wire. In discussing the present status and prospects
for improving the performance of powder-based wire we focus attention on (1)
the intrinsic (intragrain) superconducting properties of magnesium diboride,
Hc2 and flux pinning, (2) factors that control the efficiency with which
current is transported from grain-to-grain in the conductor, an extrinsic
(intergrain) property. With regard to Item-(1), the role of dopants in Hc2
enhancement is discussed and examples presented. On the other hand their roles
in increasing Jc, both via Hc2 enhancement as well as direct
fluxoid/pining-center interaction, are discussed and a comprehensive survey of
Hc2 dopants and flux-pinning additives is presented. Current transport through
the powder-processed wire (an extrinsic property) is partially blocked by the
inherent granularity of the material itself and the chemical or other
properties of the intergrain surfaces. These and other such results indicate
that in many cases less than 15% of the conductor's cross sectional area is
able to carry transport current. It is pointed out that densification in
association with the elimination of grain-boundary blocking phases would yield
five-to ten-fold increases in Jc in relevant regimes, enabling the performance
of magnesium diboride in selected applications to compete with that of Nb-Sn
Drawing induced texture and the evolution of superconductive properties with heat treatment time in powder-in-tube in-situ processed MgB2 strands
Monocore powder-in-tube MgB2 strands were cold-drawn and heat-treated at 600C
and 700C for times of up to 71 hours and structure-property relationships
examined. Drawing-induced elongation of the Mg particles led, after HT, to a
textured macrostructure consisting of elongated polycrystalline MgB2 fibers
separated by elongated pores. The superconducting Tc, Jc and Fp were correlated
with the macrostructure and grain size. Grain size increased with HT time at
both 600C and 700C. Jc and hence Fp decreased monotonically but not linearly
with grain size. Overall, it was observed that at 700C, the MgB2 reaction was
more or less complete after as little as 30 min; at 600C, full reaction
completion did not occur until 71 h. into the HT. Transport, Jct(B) was
measured in a perpendicular applied field, and the magnetic critical current
densities, Jcm\bot(B) and Jcm{\phi}(B), were measured in perpendicular and
parallel (axial) applied fields, respectively. Particularly noticeable was the
premature dropoff of Jcm\bot(B) at fields well below the irreversibility field
of Jct(B). This effect is attributed to the fibrous macrostructure and its
accompanying anisotropic connectivity. Magnetic measurements with the field
directed along the strand axis yielded a critical density, Jcm\bot(B), for
current flowing transversely to the strand axis that was less than and dropped
off more rapidly than Jct(B). In the conventional magnetic measurement, the
loop currents that support the magnetization are restricted by the lower of
Jct(B) and Jcm{\phi} (B). In the present case the latter, leading to the
premature dropoff of the measured Jcm(B) compared to Jct(B) with increasing
field. This result is supported by Kramer plots of the Jcm{\phi} (B) and Jct(B)
data which lead to an irreversibility field for transverse current that is very
much less than the usual transport-measured longitudinal one, Birr,t.Comment: 41 pages, 14 figure
MOLA: a bootable, self-configuring system for virtual screening using AutoDock4/Vina on computer clusters
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Virtual screening of small molecules using molecular docking has become an important tool in drug discovery. However, large scale virtual screening is time demanding and usually requires dedicated computer clusters. There are a number of software tools that perform virtual screening using AutoDock4 but they require access to dedicated Linux computer clusters. Also no software is available for performing virtual screening with Vina using computer clusters. In this paper we present MOLA, an easy-to-use graphical user interface tool that automates parallel virtual screening using AutoDock4 and/or Vina in bootable non-dedicated computer clusters.</p> <p>Implementation</p> <p>MOLA automates several tasks including: ligand preparation, parallel AutoDock4/Vina jobs distribution and result analysis. When the virtual screening project finishes, an open-office spreadsheet file opens with the ligands ranked by binding energy and distance to the active site. All results files can automatically be recorded on an USB-flash drive or on the hard-disk drive using VirtualBox. MOLA works inside a customized Live CD GNU/Linux operating system, developed by us, that bypass the original operating system installed on the computers used in the cluster. This operating system boots from a CD on the master node and then clusters other computers as slave nodes via ethernet connections.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>MOLA is an ideal virtual screening tool for non-experienced users, with a limited number of multi-platform heterogeneous computers available and no access to dedicated Linux computer clusters. When a virtual screening project finishes, the computers can just be restarted to their original operating system. The originality of MOLA lies on the fact that, any platform-independent computer available can he added to the cluster, without ever using the computer hard-disk drive and without interfering with the installed operating system. With a cluster of 10 processors, and a potential maximum speed-up of 10x, the parallel algorithm of MOLA performed with a speed-up of 8,64× using AutoDock4 and 8,60× using Vina.</p
Spatially resolved Spectro-photometry of M81: Age, Metallicity and Reddening Maps
In this paper, we present a multi-color photometric study of the nearby
spiral galaxy M81, using images obtained with the Beijing Astronomical
Observatory 60/90 cm Schmidt Telescope in 13 intermediate-band filters from
3800 to 10000{\AA}. The observations cover the whole area of M81 with a total
integration of 51 hours from February 1995 to February 1997. This provides a
multi-color map of M81 in pixels of 1\arcsec.7 \times 1\arcsec.7. Using
theoretical stellar population synthesis models, we demonstrate that some BATC
colors and color indices can be used to disentangle the age and metallicity
effect. We compare in detail the observed properties of M81 with the
predictions from population synthesis models and quantify the relative chemical
abundance, age and reddening distributions for different components of M81. We
find that the metallicity of M81 is about with no significant
difference over the whole galaxy. In contrast, an age gradient is found between
stellar populations of the central regions and of the bulge and disk regions of
M81: the stellar population in its central regions is older than 8 Gyr while
the disk stars are considerably younger, Gyr. We also give the
reddening distribution in M81. Some dust lanes are found in the galaxy bulge
region and the reddening in the outer disk is higher than that in the central
regions.Comment: Accepted for publication in AJ (May 2000 issue). 27 pages including 6
figures. Uses AASTeX aasms4 styl
Fermion-boson many-body interplay in a frustrated kagome paramagnet
Kagome-net, appearing in areas of fundamental physics, materials, photonic
and cold-atom systems, hosts frustrated fermionic and bosonic excitations.
However, it is extremely rare to find a system to study both fermionic and
bosonic modes to gain insights into their many-body interplay. Here we use
state-of-the-art scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy to discover
unusual electronic coupling to flat-band phonons in a layered kagome
paramagnet. Our results reveal the kagome structure with unprecedented atomic
resolution and observe the striking bosonic mode interacting with dispersive
kagome electrons near the Fermi surface. At this mode energy, the fermionic
quasi-particle dispersion exhibits a pronounced renormalization, signaling a
giant coupling to bosons. Through a combination of self-energy analysis,
first-principles calculation, and a lattice vibration model, we present
evidence that this mode arises from the geometrically frustrated phonon
flat-band, which is the lattice analog of kagome electron flat-band. Our
findings provide the first example of kagome bosonic mode (flat-band phonon) in
electronic excitations and its strong interaction with fermionic degrees of
freedom in kagome-net materials.Comment: To appear in Nature Communications (2020
Association Analysis of IL-17A and IL-17F Polymorphisms in Chinese Han Women with Breast Cancer
Background: Research into the etiology of breast cancer has recently focused on the role of the immunity and inflammation. The proinflammatory cytokines IL-17A and IL-17F can mediate inflammation and cancer. To evaluate the influences of IL-17A and IL-17F gene polymorphisms on the risk of sporadic breast cancer, a case-control study was conducted in Chinese Han women. Methodology and Principal Findings: We genotyped three single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in IL-17A (rs2275913, rs3819025 and rs3748067) and five SNPs in IL-17F (rs7771511, rs9382084, rs12203582, rs1266828 and rs763780) to determine the haplotypes in 491 women with breast cancer and 502 healthy individuals. The genotypes were determined using the SNaPshot technique. The differences in the genotypic distribution between breast cancer patients and healthy controls were analyzed with the Chi-square test for trends. For rs2275913 in IL-17A, the frequency of the AA genotype was higher in patients than controls (P = 0.0016). The clinical features analysis demonstrated significant associations between IL-17 SNPs and tumor protein 53 (P53), progesterone receptor (PR), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (Her-2) and triple-negative (ER-/PR-/Her-2-) status. In addition, the haplotype analysis indicated that the frequency of the haplotype A rs2275913G rs3819025G rs3748067, located in the IL-17A linkage disequilibrium (LD) block, was higher in patients than in controls (P = 0.0471 after correction for multiple testing)
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