540 research outputs found
Genetic Variation in KCNQ1 Associates With Fasting Glucose andβ-Cell Function: A Study of 3,734 Subjects Comprising Three Ethnicities Living in Singapore
10.2337/db08-1138Diabetes5861445-1449DIAE
Surface finishing of intricate metal mould structures by large-area electron beam irradiation
The advancement of polymer moulding tools is increasingly focused on imparting not only form but also surface texture for functionality to the surfaces of parts that are created. Furthermore, the increasing demand for inexpensive and higher quality micro-components means that tools for replication processes must take advantage of advanced manufacturing techniques. Tools created by processes such as micro-investment casting, as in this case, may often suffer from excessive surface roughness, malformed edges and general deformation. This results in higher de-moulding forces and a reduction in fidelity of moulded parts to design intent. In this study, large-area electron beam irradiation (EB) is shown to be an effective technique for improving these metrics. For the first time, large population, high aspect ratio micro-features are subject to this process and the mechanisms of smoothing and key enhancement phenomena are demonstrated. The possibility of including EB irradiation in an integrated process chain for arriving at net shape is also discussed.
Surfaces of protruding features are shown to have surface roughness reduced significantly from 126 to 22 nm Ra value, with bottom substrate also similarly improving from 150 to 27 nm Ra. Bottoms of recessed features are also observed to have much improved surface finishes. ‘Doming’ of tops of column features is also demonstrated, further enhancing form. These features would be far too fragile to be polished by any other mechanical method
Spatio-temporal dynamics of quantum-well excitons
We investigate the lateral transport of excitons in ZnSe quantum wells by
using time-resolved micro-photoluminescence enhanced by the introduction of a
solid immersion lens. The spatial and temporal resolutions are 200 nm and 5 ps,
respectively. Strong deviation from classical diffusion is observed up to 400
ps. This feature is attributed to the hot-exciton effects, consistent with
previous experiments under cw excitation. The coupled transport-relaxation
process of hot excitons is modelled by Monte Carlo simulation. We prove that
two basic assumptions typically accepted in photoluminescence investigations on
excitonic transport, namely (i) the classical diffusion model as well as (ii)
the equivalence between the temporal and spatial evolution of the exciton
population and of the measured photoluminescence, are not valid for
low-temperature experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure
Molecular and functional expression of anion exchangers in cultured normal human nasal epithelial cells
AIMS:
Anions have an important role in the regulation of airway surface liquid (ASL) volume, viscosity and pH. However, functional localization and regulation of anion exchangers (AEs) have not been clearly described. The aim of this study was to investigate the regulation of AE mRNA expression level in accordance with mucociliary differentiation and the functional expression of AEs cultured normal human nasal epithelial (NHNE) cells.
METHODS:
Nasal mucosal specimens from three patients are obtained and serially cultured cells are subjected to morphological examinations, RT-PCR, Western blot analysis and immunocytochemistry. AE activity is assessed by pHi measurements.
RESULTS:
Expression of ciliated cells on the apical membrane and expression of MUC5AC, a marker of mucous differentiation, increased with time. AE2 and SLC26A4 mRNA expression decreased as mucociliary differentiation progressed, and AE4, SLC26A7 and SLC26A8 mRNA expression increased on the 14th and 28th day after confluence. Accordingly, AE4 protein expression also progressively increased. AE activity in 100 mM K(+) buffer solutions was nearly twofold higher than that in 5 mM K(+) buffer solutions. Moreover, only luminal AE activity increased about fourfold over the control in the presence of 5 microM forskolin. In the presence of 100 microM adenosine-5'-triphosphate (ATP) which evokes intracellular calcium signalling through activation of purinergic receptors, only luminal AE activity was again significantly increased. On the other hand, 500 microM 4,4'-diisothiocyanostilbene-2,2'-disulfonic acid (DIDS), an inhibitor of most SLC4 and SLC26AE isoforms, nearly abolished AE activity in both luminal and basolateral membranes. We found that AE activity was affected by intracellular cAMP and calcium signalling in the luminal membrane and was DIDS-sensitive in both membranes of cultured NHNE cells.
CONCLUSION:
Our findings through molecular and functional studies using cultured NHNE cells suggest that AEs may have an important role in the regulation of ASL.ope
Fluorescence spectrum of a two-level atom driven by a multiple modulated field
We investigate the fluorescence spectrum of a two-level atom driven by a multiple amplitude-modulated field. The driving held is modeled as a polychromatic field composed of a strong central (resonant) component and a large number of symmetrically detuned sideband fields displaced from the central component by integer multiples of a constant detuning. Spectra obtained here differ qualitatively from those observed for a single pair of modulating fields [B. Blind, P.R. Fontana, and P. Thomann, J. Phys. B 13, 2717 (1980)]. In the case of a small number of the modulating fields, a multipeaked spectrum is obtained with the spectral features located at fixed frequencies that are independent of the number of modulating fields and their Rabi frequencies. As the number of the modulating fields increases, the spectrum ultimately evolves to the well-known Mellow triplet with the sidebands shifted from the central component by an effective Rabi frequency whose magnitude depends on the initial relative phases of the components of the driving held. For equal relative phases, the effective Rabi frequency of the driving field can be reduced to zero resulting in the disappearance of fluorescence spectrum, i.e., the atom can stop interacting with the field. When the central component and the modulating fields are 180 degrees out of phase, the spectrum retains its triplet structure with the sidebands located at frequencies equal to the sum of the Rabi frequencies of the component of the driving field. Moreover, we shaw that the frequency of spontaneous emission can be controlled and switched from one frequency to another when the Rabi frequency or initial phase of the modulating fields are varied
Anisotropic flow of charged hadrons, pions and (anti-)protons measured at high transverse momentum in Pb-Pb collisions at TeV
The elliptic, , triangular, , and quadrangular, , azimuthal
anisotropic flow coefficients are measured for unidentified charged particles,
pions and (anti-)protons in Pb-Pb collisions at TeV
with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Results obtained with the
event plane and four-particle cumulant methods are reported for the
pseudo-rapidity range at different collision centralities and as a
function of transverse momentum, , out to GeV/.
The observed non-zero elliptic and triangular flow depends only weakly on
transverse momentum for GeV/. The small dependence
of the difference between elliptic flow results obtained from the event plane
and four-particle cumulant methods suggests a common origin of flow
fluctuations up to GeV/. The magnitude of the (anti-)proton
elliptic and triangular flow is larger than that of pions out to at least
GeV/ indicating that the particle type dependence persists out
to high .Comment: 16 pages, 5 captioned figures, authors from page 11, published
version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/186
Centrality dependence of charged particle production at large transverse momentum in Pb-Pb collisions at TeV
The inclusive transverse momentum () distributions of primary
charged particles are measured in the pseudo-rapidity range as a
function of event centrality in Pb-Pb collisions at
TeV with ALICE at the LHC. The data are presented in the range
GeV/ for nine centrality intervals from 70-80% to 0-5%.
The Pb-Pb spectra are presented in terms of the nuclear modification factor
using a pp reference spectrum measured at the same collision
energy. We observe that the suppression of high- particles strongly
depends on event centrality. In central collisions (0-5%) the yield is most
suppressed with at -7 GeV/. Above
GeV/, there is a significant rise in the nuclear modification
factor, which reaches for GeV/. In
peripheral collisions (70-80%), the suppression is weaker with almost independently of . The measured nuclear
modification factors are compared to other measurements and model calculations.Comment: 17 pages, 4 captioned figures, 2 tables, authors from page 12,
published version, figures at
http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/284
Measurement of charm production at central rapidity in proton-proton collisions at TeV
The -differential production cross sections of the prompt (B
feed-down subtracted) charmed mesons D, D, and D in the rapidity
range , and for transverse momentum GeV/, were
measured in proton-proton collisions at TeV with the ALICE
detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The analysis exploited the hadronic
decays DK, DK, DD, and their charge conjugates, and was performed on a
nb event sample collected in 2011 with a
minimum-bias trigger. The total charm production cross section at TeV and at 7 TeV was evaluated by extrapolating to the full phase space
the -differential production cross sections at TeV
and our previous measurements at TeV. The results were compared
to existing measurements and to perturbative-QCD calculations. The fraction of
cdbar D mesons produced in a vector state was also determined.Comment: 20 pages, 5 captioned figures, 4 tables, authors from page 15,
published version, figures at
http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/307
Particle-yield modification in jet-like azimuthal di-hadron correlations in Pb-Pb collisions at = 2.76 TeV
The yield of charged particles associated with high- trigger
particles ( GeV/) is measured with the ALICE detector in
Pb-Pb collisions at = 2.76 TeV relative to proton-proton
collisions at the same energy. The conditional per-trigger yields are extracted
from the narrow jet-like correlation peaks in azimuthal di-hadron correlations.
In the 5% most central collisions, we observe that the yield of associated
charged particles with transverse momenta GeV/ on the
away-side drops to about 60% of that observed in pp collisions, while on the
near-side a moderate enhancement of 20-30% is found.Comment: 15 pages, 2 captioned figures, 1 table, authors from page 10,
published version, figures at
http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/350
Eigenmodes and growth rates of relativistic current filamentation instability in a collisional plasma
I theoretically found eigenmodes and growth rates of relativistic current
filamentation instability in collisional regimes, deriving a generalized
dispersion relation from self-consistent beam-Maxwell equations. For
symmetrically counterstreaming, fully relativistic electron currents, the
collisional coupling between electrons and ions creates the unstable modes of
growing oscillation and wave, which stand out for long-wavelength
perturbations. In the stronger collisional regime, the growing oscillatory mode
tends to be dominant for all wavelengths. In the collisionless limit, those
modes vanish, while maintaining another purely growing mode that exactly
coincides with a standard relativistic Weibel mode. It is also shown that the
effects of electron-electron collisions and thermal spread lower the growth
rate of the relativistic Weibel instability. The present mechanisms of
filamentation dynamics are essential for transport of homogeneous electron beam
produced by the interaction of high power laser pulses with plasma.Comment: 44 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
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