Aging vs crystallisation dynamics in hyperquenched glasses and a resolution of the water Tg controversy

The possibility of observing a glass transition in water before crystallisation occurs has been debated vigorously but inconclusively over five decades [1,2]. For two decades a glass transition at 136K [2,3] was accepted but this transition has perplexing qualities [4]. Recently it has been argued[2,5],that this assignment must be wrong. The re-assignment of Tg to temperatures above the 150K crystallisation was vigorously contested [6]. Here we use detailed anneal-and-scan studies of a hyperquenched inorganic glass, which does not crystallize on heating, to interpret the perplexing aspects of the 136K water phenomenon. We show that it is indeed linked to a glass transition, though only via a cross-over phenomenon. The thermal history that gives the same behaviour ("shadow" glass transition) in the inorganic glass is linked by crossover to a "normal" glass transition 23% higher in temperature. Thus a Tg is indeed unobservable for water, while the vitreous nature of hyperquenched glassy water is strongly supported. The shadow Tg is reproducible in the inorganic glass as it is in H2O. The observed aging dynamics are very relevant to current glass theory, particularly to dynamical heterogeneity which is seen to have an energy manifestation.Comment: 23 pages, 4 figure

Refinement and growth enhancement of Al2Cu phase during magnetic field assisting directional solidification of hypereutectic Al-Cu alloy.

International audienceUnderstanding how the magnetic fields affect the formation of reinforced phase during solidification is crucial to tailor the structure and therefor the performance of metal matrix in situ composites. In this study, a hypereutectic Al-40 wt.% Cu alloy has been directionally solidified under various axial magnetic fields and the morphology of Al2Cu phase was quantified in 3D by means of high resolution synchrotron X-ray tomography. With rising magnetic fields, both increase of Al2Cu phase's total volume and decrease of each column's transverse section area were found. These results respectively indicate the growth enhancement and refinement of the primary Al2Cu phase in the magnetic field assisting directional solidification. The thermoelectric magnetic forces (TEMF) causing torque and dislocation multiplication in the faceted primary phases were thought dedicate to respectively the refinement and growth enhancement. To verify this, a real structure based 3D simulation of TEMF in Al2Cu column was carried out, and the dislocations in the Al2Cu phase obtained without and with a 10T high magnetic field were analysed by the transmission electron microscope

A pilot histomorphology and hemodynamic of vasculogenic mimicry in gallbladder carcinomas in vivo and in vitro

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Vasculogenic mimicry (VM), as a new blood supply for tumor growth and hematogenous metastases, has been recently described in highly aggressive human melanoma cells, etc. We previously reported VM in human gallbladder carcinomas and its clinical significance. In this study, we further studied histomorphology and hemodynamic of VM in gallbladder carcinomas <it>in vivo </it>and <it>in vitro</it>.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The invasive potential of human gallbladder carcinoma cell lines GBC-SD and SGC-996 were identified by Transwell membrane. The vasculogenic-like network structures and the signal intensities i.e. hemodynamic in gallbladder carcinomas stimulated via the three-dimensional matrix of GBC-SD or SGC-996 cells <it>in vitro</it>, the nude mouse xenografts of GBC-SD or SGC-996 cells <it>in vivo </it>were observed by immunohistochemistry (H&E staining and CD₃₁-PAS double staining), electron microscopy and micro-MRA with HAS-Gd-DTPA, respectively.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Highly aggressive GBC-SD or poorly aggressive SGC-996 cells preconditioned by highly aggressive GBC-SD cells could form patterned networks containing hollow matrix channels. 85.7% (6/7) of GBC-SD nude mouse xenografts existed the evidence of VM, 5.7% (17/300) channels contained red blood cells among these tumor cell-lined vasculatures. GBC-SD xenografts showed multiple high-intensity spots similar with the intensity observed at tumor marginal, a result consistent with pathological VM.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>VM existed in gallbladder carcinomas by both three-dimensional matrix of highly aggressive GBC-SD or poorly aggressive SGC-996 cells preconditioned by highly aggressive GBC-SD cells <it>in vitro </it>and GBC-SD nude mouse xenografts <it>in vivo</it>.</p

Multiuser Multihop MIMO Relay System Design Based on Mutual Information Maximization

In this paper, we consider multiuser multihop relay communication systems, where the users, relays, and the destination node may have multiple antennas. We address the issue of source and relay precoding matrices design to maximize the system mutual information (MI). By exploiting the linkbetween the maximal MI and the weighted minimal mean-squared error (WMMSE) objective functions, we show that the intractable maximal MI-based source and relay optimization problem can be solved via the WMMSE-based source and relay design through an iterative approach which is guaranteed toconverge to at least a stationary point. For the WMMSE problem, we derive the optimal structure of the relay precoding matrices and show that the WMMSE matrix at the destination node can be decomposed into the sum of WMMSE matrices at all hops. Under a (moderately) high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) condition, this WMMSE matrix decomposition significantly simplifies the solution to the WMMSE problem. Numerical simulations are performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm

Charmless decays B->pipi, piK and KK in broken SU(3)symmetry

Charmless B decay modes $B \to \pi \pi, \pi K$ and $KK$ aresystematically investigated with and without flavor SU(3) symmetry. Independent analyses on $\pi \pi$ and $\pi K$ modes both favor a large ratio between color-suppressed tree ($C$) and tree ($T)$ diagram, which suggests that they are more likely to originate from long distance effects. The sizes of QCD penguin diagrams extracted individually from $\pi\pi$, $\pi K$ and $KK$ modes are found to follow a pattern of SU(3) breaking in agreement with the naive factorization estimates. Global fits to these modes are done under various scenarios of SU(3)relations. The results show good determinations of weak phase $\gamma$ in consistency with the Standard Model (SM), but a large electro-weak penguin (P_{\tmop{EW}}) relative to $T + C$ with a large relative strong phase are favored, which requires an big enhancement of color suppressed electro-weak penguin (P_{\tmop{EW}}^C) compatible in size but destructively interfering with P_{\tmop{EW}} within the SM, or implies new physics. Possibility of sizable contributions from nonfactorizable diagrams such as $W$-exchange ($E$), annihilation($A$) and penguin-annihilation diagrams($P_A$) are investigated. The implications to the branching ratios and CP violations in $K K$modes are discussed.Comment: 27 pages, 9 figures, reference added, to appear in Phy.Rev.

Two novel transcriptional regulators are essential for infection-related morphogenesis and pathogenicity of the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae.

This is the final version of the article. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.The cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase A signaling pathway plays a major role in regulating plant infection by the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae. Here, we report the identification of two novel genes, MoSOM1 and MoCDTF1, which were discovered in an insertional mutagenesis screen for non-pathogenic mutants of M. oryzae. MoSOM1 or MoCDTF1 are both necessary for development of spores and appressoria by M. oryzae and play roles in cell wall differentiation, regulating melanin pigmentation and cell surface hydrophobicity during spore formation. MoSom1 strongly interacts with MoStu1 (Mstu1), an APSES transcription factor protein, and with MoCdtf1, while also interacting more weakly with the catalytic subunit of protein kinase A (CpkA) in yeast two hybrid assays. Furthermore, the expression levels of MoSOM1 and MoCDTF1 were significantly reduced in both Δmac1 and ΔcpkA mutants, consistent with regulation by the cAMP/PKA signaling pathway. MoSom1-GFP and MoCdtf1-GFP fusion proteins localized to the nucleus of fungal cells. Site-directed mutagenesis confirmed that nuclear localization signal sequences in MoSom1 and MoCdtf1 are essential for their sub-cellular localization and biological functions. Transcriptional profiling revealed major changes in gene expression associated with loss of MoSOM1 during infection-related development. We conclude that MoSom1 and MoCdtf1 functions downstream of the cAMP/PKA signaling pathway and are novel transcriptional regulators associated with cellular differentiation during plant infection by the rice blast fungus.Funding: This work was supported by National Key Basic Research and Development Program of China (2012CB114002), by Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (IRT0943), by the Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 30970129 and 31071648) and the Doctoral Fund of Ministry of Education of China (20100101110097) to ZW

Research Program towards Observation of Neutrino-Nucleus Coherent Scattering

The article describes the research program pursued by the TEXONO Collaboration towards an experiment to observe coherent scattering between neutrinos and the nucleus at the power reactor. The motivations of studying this process are surveyed. In particular, a threshold of 100-200 eV has been achieved with an ultra-low-energy germanium detector prototype. This detection capability at low energy can also be adapted to conduct searches of Cold Dark Matter in the low-mass region as well as to enhance the sensitivities in the study of neutrino magnetic moments.Comment: 5 pages, 8 figures ; Proceedings of TAUP-2005 Workshop, Spain, 2005. Updated on 2006/9/15 for Proceedings of Neutrino-2006 Conference, Santa Fe, 200