Specific heat of the simple-cubic Ising model

We provide an expression quantitatively describing the specific heat of the Ising model on the simple-cubic lattice in the critical region. This expression is based on finite-size scaling of numerical results obtained by means of a Monte Carlo method. It agrees satisfactorily with series expansions and with a set of experimental results. Our results include a determination of the universal amplitude ratio of the specific-heat divergences at both sides of the critical point.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figure

Effectiveness of Surface Treatment Techniques for Composite Bonding with Different Contamination Levels

Various surface treatment techniques have been developed to promote adhesive bond performance for composite structural components in aerospace applications. The condition of the pre-bond surface is critical to achieving desirable bond quality. Contamination on bonding surfaces is well recognized as a major threat to ultimate bond performance. Variation in contamination level has brought additional challenges into manufacturing process control. High fidelity surface treatment techniques are required for effective removal of contaminants over a wide range of contamination levels. In this study, a common contaminant, i.e. silicone mold release, was introduced to pre-bond composite surfaces with different concentrations. Plasma and laser surface treatment techniques were performed and their effectiveness in restoring and enhancing desirable bond quality was investigated. Surface characterization techniques, including water contact angle goniometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, were conducted to assess the condition of contaminated surfaces and the improvement induced by plasma and laser surface treatments. Failure modes from a customized double cantilever beam test were investigated before and after surface treatments. Fundamental mechanisms of plasma and laser surface treatments on the composite bonding surfaces were also investigated

The spread of Mandarin in a Malaysian Hakka community: Focus on religious domain

This paper investigates the spread of Mandarin in a Hakka community in Balik Pulau, Penang, focusing on religious domain. Data on language usage in Catholic families and at church were collected through interviews and observations. In total, ten Catholic Hakka families (one parent and one child from each family) were interviewed at their homes. Four senior church members and the priest from the Church ofthe Holy Name of Jesus, Balik Pulau were also interviewed with regard to language practices in the church in the past and at present. The data indicates that the Hakka dialect is undergoing decline in these Catholic families as well as in the church. Mandarin is spreading its usage in religious domain in this Catholic community. The change of language use in religious domain is echoing the spread of Mandarin in the Chinese community in Malaysia, which may also be an impact of China on the Chinese overseas

Mechanism of Oral Tolerance Induction to Therapeutic Proteins

Oral tolerance is defined as the specific suppression of humoral and / or cellular immune responses to an antigen by administration of the same antigen through the oral route. Due to its absence of toxicity, easy administration, and antigen specificity, oral tolerance is a very attractive approach to prevent unwanted immune responses that cause a variety of diseases or that complicate treatment of a disease. Many researchers have induced oral tolerance to efficiently treat autoimmune and inflammatory diseases in different animal models. However, clinical trials yielded limited success. Thus, understanding the mechanisms of oral tolerance induction to therapeutic proteins is critical for paving the way for clinical development of oral tolerance protocols. This review will summarize progress on understanding the major underlying tolerance mechanisms and contributors, including antigen presenting cells, regulatory T cells, cytokines, and signaling pathways. Potential applications, examples for therapeutic proteins and disease targets, and recent developments in delivery methods are discussed

Improved Quantification of Small Objects in Near-Infrared Diffuse Optical Tomography

Diffuse optical tomography allows quantification of hemoglobin, oxygen saturation, and water in tissue, and the fidelity in this quantification is dependent on the accuracy of optical properties determined during image reconstruction. In this study, a three-step algorithm is proposed and validated that uses the standard Newton minimization with Levenberg-Marquardt regularization as the first step. The second step is a modification to the existing algorithm using a two-parameter regularization to allow lower damping in a region of interest as compared to background. This second stage allows the recovery of the actual size of an inclusion. A region-based reconstruction is the final third step, which uses the estimated size and position information from step 2 to yield quantitatively accurate average values for the optical parameters. The algorithm is tested on simulated and experimental data and is found to be insensitive to object contrast and position. The percentage error between the true and the average recovered value for the absorption coefficient in test images is reduced from 47 to 27% for a 10-mm inclusion, from 38 to 13% for a 15-mm anomaly, and from 28 to 5.5% for a 20-mm heterogeneity. Simulated data with absorbing and scattering heterogeneities of 15 mm diam located in different positions show recovery with less than 15% error in absorption and 6% error in reduced scattering coefficients. The algorithm is successfully applied to clinical data from a subject with a breast abnormality to yield quantitatively increased absorption coefficients, which enhances the contrast to 3.8 compared to 1.23 previously

Receiver Operating Characteristic and Location Analysis of Simulated Near-Infrared Tomography Images

Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed on simulated near-infrared tomography images, using both human observer and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) computational assessment, for application in breast cancer imaging. In the analysis, a nonparametric approach was applied for estimating the ROC curves. Human observer detection of objects had superior capability to localize the presence of heterogeneities when the objects were small with high contrast, with a minimum detectable threshold of CNR near 3.0 to 3.3 in the images. Human observers were able to detect heterogeneities in the images below a size limit of 4 mm, yet could not accurately find the location of these objects when they were below 10 mm diameter. For large objects, the lower limit of a detectable contrast limit was near 10% increase relative to the background. The results also indicate that iterations of the nonlinear reconstruction algorithm beyond 4 did not significantly improve the human detection ability, and degraded the overall localization ability for the objects in the image, predominantly by increasing the noise in the background. Interobserver variance performance in detecting objects in these images was low, suggesting that because of the low spatial resolution, detection tasks with NIR tomography is likely consistent between human observers

Charge ordering and chemical potential shift in La2−x_{2-x}Srx_xNiO4_4 studied by photoemission spectroscopy

We have studied the chemical potential shift in La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$NiO$_4$ and the charge ordering transition in La$_{1.67}$Sr$_{0.33}$NiO$_4$ by photoemission spectroscopy. The result shows a large ($\sim$ 1 eV/hole) downward shift of the chemical potential with hole doping in the high-doping regime ($\delta \gtrsim$ 0.33) while the shift is suppressed in the low-doping regime ($\delta \lesssim$ 0.33). This suppression is attributed to a segregation of doped holes on a microscopic scale when the hole concentration is lower than $\delta \simeq 1/3$. In the $\delta = 1/3$ sample, the photoemission intensity at the chemical potential vanishes below the charge ordering transition temperature $T_{\rm CO}=$ 240 K.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Low Cost Industrial Production of Coagulation Factor IX Bioencapsulated in Lettuce Cells for Oral Tolerance Induction in Hemophilia B

Antibodies (inhibitors) developed by hemophilia B patients against coagulation factor IX (FIX) are challenging to eliminate because of anaphylaxis or nephrotic syndrome after continued infusion. To address this urgent unmet medical need, FIX fused with a transmucosal carrier (CTB) was produced in a commercial lettuce (Simpson Elite) cultivar using species specific chloroplast vectors regulated by endogenous psbA sequences. CTB-FIX (~1mg/g) in lyophilized cells was stable with proper folding, disulfide bonds and pentamer assembly when stored ~2 years at ambient temperature. Feeding lettuce cells to hemophilia B mice delivered CTB-FIX efficiently to the gut immune system, induced LAP+ regulatory T cells and suppressed inhibitor/IgE formation and anaphylaxis against FIX. Lyophilized cells enabled 10-fold dose escalation studies and successful induction of oral tolerance was observed in all tested doses. Induction of tolerance in such a broad dose range should enable oral delivery to patients of different age groups and diverse genetic background. Using Fraunhofer cGMP hydroponic system, ~870 kg fresh or 43.5 kg dry weight can be harvested per 1000 ft2 per annum yielding 24,000–36,000 doses for 20-kg pediatric patients, enabling first commercial development of an oral drug, addressing prohibitively expensive purification, cold storage/transportation and short shelf life of current protein drugs