Heat conduction in 2D strongly-coupled dusty plasmas

We perform non-equilibrium simulations to study heat conduction in two-dimensional strongly coupled dusty plasmas. Temperature gradients are established by heating one part of the otherwise equilibrium system to a higher temperature. Heat conductivity is measured directly from the stationary temperature profile and heat flux. Particular attention is paid to the influence of damping effect on the heat conduction. It is found that the heat conductivity increases with the decrease of the damping rate, while its magnitude agrees with previous experimental measurement.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, presented in SCCS2008 conferenc

The spectral energy distribution of galaxies at z > 2.5: Implications from the Herschel/SPIRE color-color diagram

We use the Herschel SPIRE color-color diagram to study the spectral energy distribution (SED) and the redshift estimation of high-z galaxies. We compiled a sample of 57 galaxies with spectroscopically confirmed redshifts and SPIRE detections in all three bands at $z=2.5-6.4$, and compared their average SPIRE colors with SED templates from local and high-z libraries. We find that local SEDs are inconsistent with high-z observations. The local calibrations of the parameters need to be adjusted to describe the average colors of high-z galaxies. For high-z libraries, the templates with an evolution from z=0 to 3 can well describe the average colors of the observations at high redshift. Using these templates, we defined color cuts to divide the SPIRE color-color diagram into different regions with different mean redshifts. We tested this method and two other color cut methods using a large sample of 783 Herschel-selected galaxies, and find that although these methods can separate the sample into populations with different mean redshifts, the dispersion of redshifts in each population is considerably large. Additional information is needed for better sampling.Comment: 17 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in A&

Fermi resonance-algebraic model for molecular vibrational spectra

A Fermi resonance-algebraic model is proposed for molecular vibrations, where a U(2) algebra is used for describing the vibrations of each bond, and Fermi resonances between stretching and bending modes are taken into account. The model for a bent molecule XY_2 and a molecule XY_3 is successfully applied to fit the recently observed vibrational spectrum of the water molecule and arsine (AsH_3), respectively, and results are compared with those of other models. Calculations show that algebraic approaches can be used as an effective method for describing molecular vibrations with small standard deviations

FHL2 regulates hematopoietic stem cell functions under stress conditions.

FHL2, a member of the four and one half LIM domain protein family, is a critical transcriptional modulator. Here, we identify FHL2 as a critical regulator of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) that is essential for maintaining HSC self-renewal under regenerative stress. We find that Fhl2 loss has limited effects on hematopoiesis under homeostatic conditions. In contrast, Fhl2-null chimeric mice reconstituted with Fhl2-null bone marrow cells developed abnormal hematopoiesis with significantly reduced numbers of HSCs, hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs), red blood cells and platelets as well as hemoglobin levels. In addition, HSCs displayed a significantly reduced self-renewal capacity and were skewed toward myeloid lineage differentiation. We find that Fhl2 loss reduces both HSC quiescence and survival in response to regenerative stress, probably as a consequence of Fhl2-loss-mediated downregulation of cyclin-dependent kinase-inhibitors, including p21(Cip) and p27(Kip1). Interestingly, FHL2 is regulated under the control of a tissue-specific promoter in hematopoietic cells and it is downregulated by DNA hypermethylation in the leukemia cell line and primary leukemia cells. Furthermore, we find that downregulation of FHL2 frequently occurs in myelodysplastic syndrome and acute myeloid leukemia patients, raising a possibility that FHL2 downregulation has a role in the pathogenesis of myeloid malignancies