690 research outputs found
Quenched growth of nanostructured lead thin films on insulating substrates
Lead island films were obtained via vacuum vapor deposition on glass and
ceramic substrates at 80 K. Electrical conductance was measured during vapor
condensation and further annealing of the film up to room temperature. The
resistance behavior during film formation and atomic force microscopy of
annealed films were used as information sources about their structure. A model
for the quenched growth, based on ballistic aggregation theory, was proposed.
The nanostructure, responsible for chemiresistive properties of thin lead films
and the mechanism of sensor response are discussed.Comment: 2 figures; accepted to Thin Solid Film
Cosmological models with linearly varying deceleration parameter
We propose a new law for the deceleration parameter that varies linearly with
time and covers Berman's law where it is constant. Our law not only allows one
to generalize many exact solutions that were obtained assuming constant
deceleration parameter, but also gives a better fit with data (from SNIa, BAO
and CMB), particularly concerning the late time behavior of the universe.
According to our law only the spatially closed and flat universes are allowed;
in both cases the cosmological fluid we obtain exhibits quintom like behavior
and the universe ends with a big-rip. This is a result consistent with recent
cosmological observations.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures; some typo corrections; to appear in
International Journal of Theoretical Physic
Magnetic Fields in the 3C 129 Cluster
We present multi-frequency VLA observations of the two radio galaxies 3C 129
and 3C 129.1 embedded in a luminous X-ray cluster. These radio observations
reveal a substantial difference in the Faraday Rotation Measures (RMs) toward
3C 129.1 at the cluster center and 3C 129 at the cluster periphery. After
deriving the density profile from available X-ray data, we find that the RM
structure of both radio galaxies can be fit by a tangled cluster magnetic field
with strength 6 microGauss extending at least 3 core radii (450 kpc) from the
cluster center. The magnetic field makes up a small contribution to the total
pressure (5%) in the central regions of the cluster. The radio morphology of 3C
129.1 appears disturbed on the southern side, perhaps by the higher pressure
environment. In contrast with earlier claims for the presence of a moderately
strong cooling flow in the 3C 129 cluster, our analysis of the X-ray data
places a limit on the mass deposition rate from any such flow of <1.2 Msun/yr.Comment: in press at MNRA
Comments on gluon scattering amplitudes via AdS/CFT
In this article we consider n gluon color ordered, planar amplitudes in N=4
super Yang Mills at strong 't Hooft coupling. These amplitudes are approximated
by classical surfaces in AdS_5 space. We compute the value of the amplitude for
a particular kinematic configuration for a large number of gluons and find that
the result disagrees with a recent guess for the exact value of the amplitude.
Our results are still compatible with a possible relation between amplitudes
and Wilson loops.
In addition, we also give a prescription for computing processes involving
local operators and asymptotic states with a fixed number of gluons. As a
byproduct, we also obtain a string theory prescription for computing the dual
of the ordinary Wilson loop, Tr P exp[ i\oint A ], with no couplings to the
scalars. We also evaluate the quark-antiquark potential at two loops.Comment: 27 pages, 9 figures,v3:minor correction
Ibrutinib directly reduces CD8+T cell exhaustion independent of BTK
Introduction: Cytotoxic CD8+ T cell (CTL) exhaustion is a dysfunctional state of T cells triggered by persistent antigen stimulation, with the characteristics of increased inhibitory receptors, impaired cytokine production and a distinct transcriptional profile. Evidence from immune checkpoint blockade therapy supports that reversing T cell exhaustion is a promising strategy in cancer treatment. Ibrutinib, is a potent inhibitor of BTK, which has been approved for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Previous studies have reported improved function of T cells in ibrutinib long-term treated patients but the mechanism remains unclear. We investigated whether ibrutinib directly acts on CD8+ T cells and reinvigorates exhausted CTLs. Methods: We used an established in vitro CTL exhaustion system to examine whether ibrutinib can directly ameliorate T cell exhaustion. Changes in inhibitory receptors, transcription factors, cytokine production and killing capacity of ibrutinib-treated exhausted CTLs were detected by flow cytometry. RNA-seq was performed to study transcriptional changes in these cells. Btk deficient mice were used to confirm that the effect of ibrutinib was independent of BTK expression. Results: We found that ibrutinib reduced exhaustion-related features of CTLs in an in vitro CTL exhaustion system. These changes included decreased inhibitory receptor expression, enhanced cytokine production, and downregulation of the transcription factor TOX with upregulation of TCF1. RNA-seq further confirmed that ibrutinib directly reduced the exhaustion-related transcriptional profile of these cells. Importantly, using btk deficient mice we showed the effect of ibrutinib was independent of BTK expression, and therefore mediated by one of its other targets. Discussion: Our study demonstrates that ibrutinib directly ameliorates CTL exhaustion, and provides evidence for its synergistic use with cancer immunotherapy.</p
Overcoming immune checkpoint blockade resistance in solid tumors with intermittent ITK inhibition
Cytotoxic CD8 + T cell (CTL) exhaustion is driven by chronic antigen stimulation. Reversing CTL exhaustion with immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) has provided clinical benefits in different types of cancer. We, therefore, investigated whether modulating chronic antigen stimulation and T-cell receptor (TCR) signaling with an IL2-inducible T-cell kinase (ITK) inhibitor, could confer ICB responsiveness to ICB resistant solid tumors. In vivo intermittent treatment of 3 ICB-resistant solid tumor (melanoma, mesothelioma or pancreatic cancer) with ITK inhibitor significantly improved ICB therapy. ITK inhibition directly reinvigorate exhausted CTL in vitro as it enhanced cytokine production, decreased inhibitory receptor expression, and downregulated the transcription factor TOX. Our study demonstrates that intermittent ITK inhibition can be used to directly ameliorate CTL exhaustion and enhance immunotherapies even in solid tumors that are ICB resistant.</p
Stability and collapse of localized solutions of the controlled three-dimensional Gross-Pitaevskii equation
On the basis of recent investigations, a newly developed analytical procedure
is used for constructing a wide class of localized solutions of the controlled
three-dimensional (3D) Gross-Pitaevskii equation (GPE) that governs the
dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs). The controlled 3D GPE is
decomposed into a two-dimensional (2D) linear Schr\"{o}dinger equation and a
one-dimensional (1D) nonlinear Schr\"{o}dinger equation, constrained by a
variational condition for the controlling potential. Then, the above class of
localized solutions are constructed as the product of the solutions of the
transverse and longitudinal equations. On the basis of these exact 3D
analytical solutions, a stability analysis is carried out, focusing our
attention on the physical conditions for having collapsing or non-collapsing
solutions.Comment: 21 pages, 14 figure
To wet or not to wet: that is the question
Wetting transitions have been predicted and observed to occur for various
combinations of fluids and surfaces. This paper describes the origin of such
transitions, for liquid films on solid surfaces, in terms of the gas-surface
interaction potentials V(r), which depend on the specific adsorption system.
The transitions of light inert gases and H2 molecules on alkali metal surfaces
have been explored extensively and are relatively well understood in terms of
the least attractive adsorption interactions in nature. Much less thoroughly
investigated are wetting transitions of Hg, water, heavy inert gases and other
molecular films. The basic idea is that nonwetting occurs, for energetic
reasons, if the adsorption potential's well-depth D is smaller than, or
comparable to, the well-depth of the adsorbate-adsorbate mutual interaction. At
the wetting temperature, Tw, the transition to wetting occurs, for entropic
reasons, when the liquid's surface tension is sufficiently small that the free
energy cost in forming a thick film is sufficiently compensated by the fluid-
surface interaction energy. Guidelines useful for exploring wetting transitions
of other systems are analyzed, in terms of generic criteria involving the
"simple model", which yields results in terms of gas-surface interaction
parameters and thermodynamic properties of the bulk adsorbate.Comment: Article accepted for publication in J. Low Temp. Phy
Modeling the Subsurface Structure of Sunspots
While sunspots are easily observed at the solar surface, determining their
subsurface structure is not trivial. There are two main hypotheses for the
subsurface structure of sunspots: the monolithic model and the cluster model.
Local helioseismology is the only means by which we can investigate
subphotospheric structure. However, as current linear inversion techniques do
not yet allow helioseismology to probe the internal structure with sufficient
confidence to distinguish between the monolith and cluster models, the
development of physically realistic sunspot models are a priority for
helioseismologists. This is because they are not only important indicators of
the variety of physical effects that may influence helioseismic inferences in
active regions, but they also enable detailed assessments of the validity of
helioseismic interpretations through numerical forward modeling. In this paper,
we provide a critical review of the existing sunspot models and an overview of
numerical methods employed to model wave propagation through model sunspots. We
then carry out an helioseismic analysis of the sunspot in Active Region 9787
and address the serious inconsistencies uncovered by
\citeauthor{gizonetal2009}~(\citeyear{gizonetal2009,gizonetal2009a}). We find
that this sunspot is most probably associated with a shallow, positive
wave-speed perturbation (unlike the traditional two-layer model) and that
travel-time measurements are consistent with a horizontal outflow in the
surrounding moat.Comment: 73 pages, 19 figures, accepted by Solar Physic
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