Quantum-Spillover-Enhanced Surface-Plasmonic Absorption at the Interface of Silver and High-Index Dielectrics

We demonstrate an unexpectedly strong surface-plasmonic absorption at the interface of silver and high-index dielectrics based on electron and photon spectroscopy. The measured bandwidth and intensity of absorption deviate significantly from the classical theory. Our density-functional calculation well predicts the occurrence of this phenomenon. It reveals that due to the low metal-to-dielectric work function at such interfaces, conduction electrons can display a drastic quantum spillover, causing the interfacial electron-hole pair production to dominate the decay of surface plasmons. This finding can be of fundamental importance in understanding and designing quantum nanoplasmonic devices that utilize noble metals and high-index dielectrics.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Award CMMI-1120724)United States. Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (Grant FA9550-12-1-0488

LDM: Lineage-Aware Data Management in Multi-tier Storage Systems

We design and develop LDM, a novel data management solution to cater the needs of applications exhibiting the lineage property, i.e. in which the current writes are future reads. In such a class of applications, slow writes significantly hurt the over-all performance of jobs, i.e. current writes determine the fate of next reads. We believe that in a large scale shared production cluster, the issues associated due to data management can be mitigated at a way higher layer in the hierarchy of the I/O path, even before requests to data access are made. Contrary to the current solutions to data management which are mostly reactive and/or based on heuristics, LDM is both deterministic and pro-active. We develop block-graphs, which enable LDM to capture the complete time-based data-task dependency associations, therefore use it to perform life-cycle management through tiering of data blocks. LDM amalgamates the information from the entire data center ecosystem, right from the application code, to file system mappings, the compute and storage devices topology, etc. to make oracle-like deterministic data management decisions. With trace-driven experiments, LDM is able to achieve 29–52% reduction in over-all data center workload execution time. Moreover, by deploying LDM with extensive pre-processing creates efficient data consumption pipelines, which also reduces write and read delays significantly

Quantification of nitrotyrosine in nitrated proteins

For kinetic studies of protein nitration reactions, we have developed a method for the quantification of nitrotyrosine residues in protein molecules by liquid chromatography coupled to a diode array detector of ultraviolet-visible absorption. Nitrated bovine serum albumin (BSA) and nitrated ovalbumin (OVA) were synthesized and used as standards for the determination of the protein nitration degree (ND), which is defined as the average number of nitrotyrosine residues divided by the total number of tyrosine residues in a protein molecule. The obtained calibration curves of the ratio of chromatographic peak areas of absorbance at 357 and at 280 nm vs. nitration degree are nearly the same for BSA and OVA (relative deviations <5%). They are near-linear at low ND (< 0.1) and can be described by a second-order polynomial fit up to \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${\hbox{ND}} = 0.5\left( {{R^2} > 0.99} \right)$$\end{document}. A change of chromatographic column led to changes in absolute peak areas but not in the peak area ratios and related calibration functions, which confirms the robustness of the analytical method. First results of laboratory experiments confirm that the method is applicable for the investigation of the reaction kinetics of protein nitration. The main advantage over alternative methods is that nitration degrees can be efficiently determined without hydrolysis or digestion of the investigated protein molecules

Instances and connectors : issues for a second generation process language

This work is supported by UK EPSRC grants GR/L34433 and GR/L32699Over the past decade a variety of process languages have been defined, used and evaluated. It is now possible to consider second generation languages based on this experience. Rather than develop a second generation wish list this position paper explores two issues: instances and connectors. Instances relate to the relationship between a process model as a description and the, possibly multiple, enacting instances which are created from it. Connectors refers to the issue of concurrency control and achieving a higher level of abstraction in how parts of a model interact. We believe that these issues are key to developing systems which can effectively support business processes, and that they have not received sufficient attention within the process modelling community. Through exploring these issues we also illustrate our approach to designing a second generation process language.Postprin

Nitration of the Egg-Allergen Ovalbumin Enhances Protein Allergenicity but Reduces the Risk for Oral Sensitization in a Murine Model of Food Allergy

Nitration of proteins on tyrosine residues, which can occur due to polluted air under "summer smog" conditions, has been shown to increase the allergic potential of allergens. Since nitration of tyrosine residues is also observed during inflammatory responses, this modification could directly influence protein immunogenicity and might therefore contribute to food allergy induction. In the current study we have analyzed the impact of protein nitration on sensitization via the oral route.BALB/c mice were immunized intragastrically by feeding untreated ovalbumin (OVA), sham-nitrated ovalbumin (snOVA) or nitrated ovalbumin (nOVA) with or without concomitant acid-suppression. To analyze the impact of the sensitization route, the allergens were also injected intraperitoneally. Animals being fed OVA or snOVA under acid-suppressive medication developed significantly elevated levels of IgE, and increased titers of specific IgG1 and IgG2a antibodies. Interestingly, oral immunizations of nOVA under anti-acid treatment did not result in IgG and IgE formation. In contrast, intraperitoneal immunization induced high levels of OVA specific IgE, which were significantly increased in the group that received nOVA by injection. Furthermore, nOVA triggered significantly enhanced mediator release from RBL cells passively sensitized with sera from allergic mice. Gastric digestion experiments demonstrated protein nitration to interfere with protein stability as nOVA was easily degraded, whereas OVA and snOVA remained stable up to 120 min. Additionally, HPLC-chip-MS/MS analysis showed that one tyrosine residue (Y(107)) being very efficiently nitrated is part of an ovalbumin epitope recognized exclusively after oral sensitization.These data indicated that despite the enhanced triggering capacity in existing allergy, nitration of OVA may be associated with a reduced de novo sensitizing capability via the oral route due to enhanced protein digestibility and/or changes in antibody epitopes

Embracing the Market: Entry into Self-Employment in Transitional China, 1978-1996

This paper introduces labor market transition as an intervening process by which the macro institutional transition to a market economy alters social stratification outcome. Rather than directly addressing income distribution, it examines the pattern of workers’ entry into self-employment in reform-era China (1978-1996), focusing on rural-urban differences and the temporal trend. Analyses of data from a national representative survey in China show that education, party membership and cadre status all deter urban workers’ entry into self-employment, while education promotes rural workers’ entry into self-employment. As marketization proceeds, the rate of entry into self-employment increases in both rural and urban China, but urban workers are increasingly more likely to take advantages of the new market opportunities. In urban China, college graduates and cadres are still less likely to be involved in self-employment, but they are becoming more likely to do so in the later phase of reform. The diversity of transition scenarios is attributed to rural-urban differences in labor market structures.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39897/3/wp512.pd