4,530 research outputs found
Wide-Range Tunable Dynamic Property of Carbon Nanotube-Based Fibers
Carbon nanotube (CNT) fiber is formed by assembling millions of individual
tubes. The assembly feature provides the fiber with rich interface structures
and thus various ways of energy dissipation, as reflected by the non-zero loss
tangent (>0.028--0.045) at low vibration frequencies. A fiber containing
entangled CNTs possesses higher loss tangents than a fiber spun from aligned
CNTs. Liquid densification and polymer infiltration, the two common ways to
increase the interfacial friction and thus the fiber's tensile strength and
modulus, are found to efficiently reduce the damping coefficient. This is
because the sliding tendency between CNT bundles can also be well suppressed by
the high packing density and the formation of covalent polymer cross-links
within the fiber. The CNT/bismaleimide composite fiber exhibited the smallest
loss tangent, nearly as the same as that of carbon fibers. At a higher level of
the assembly structure, namely a multi-ply CNT yarn, the inter-fiber friction
and sliding tendency obviously influence the yarn's damping performance, and
the loss tangent can be tuned within a wide range, as similar to carbon fibers,
nylon yarns, or cotton yarns. The wide-range tunable dynamic properties allow
new applications ranging from high quality factor materials to dissipative
systems
Two semi-Lagrangian fast methods for Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equations
In this paper we apply the Fast Iterative Method (FIM) for solving general
Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equations and we compare the results with an
accelerated version of the Fast Sweeping Method (FSM). We find that FIM can be
indeed used to solve HJB equations with no relevant modifications with respect
to the original algorithm proposed for the eikonal equation, and that it
overcomes FSM in many cases. Observing the evolution of the active list of
nodes for FIM, we recover another numerical validation of the arguments
recently discussed in [Cacace et al., SISC 36 (2014), A570-A587] about the
impossibility of creating local single-pass methods for HJB equations
Bio-Inspired Aggregation Control of Carbon Nanotubes for Ultra-Strong Composites
High performance nanocomposites require well dispersion and high alignment of
the nanometer-sized components, at a high mass or volume fraction as well.
However, the road towards such composite structure is severely hindered due to
the easy aggregation of these nanometer-sized components. Here we demonstrate a
big step to approach the ideal composite structure for carbon nanotube (CNT)
where all the CNTs were highly packed, aligned, and unaggregated, with the
impregnated polymers acting as interfacial adhesions and mortars to build up
the composite structure. The strategy was based on a bio-inspired aggregation
control to limit the CNT aggregation to be sub 20--50 nm, a dimension
determined by the CNT growth. After being stretched with full structural
relaxation in a multi-step way, the CNT/polymer (bismaleimide) composite
yielded super-high tensile strengths up to 6.27--6.94 GPa, more than 100%
higher than those of carbon fiber/epoxy composites, and toughnesses up to
117--192 MPa. We anticipate that the present study can be generalized for
developing multifunctional and smart nanocomposites where all the surfaces of
nanometer-sized components can take part in shear transfer of mechanical,
thermal, and electrical signals
Quantum dissipation and broadening mechanisms due to electron-phonon interactions in self-formed InGaN quantum dots
Quantum dissipation and broadening mechanisms in Si-doped InGaN quantum dots are studied via the photoluminescence technique. It is found that the dissipative thermal bath that embeds the quantum dots plays an important role in the photon emission processes. Observed spontaneous emission spectra are modeled with the multimode Brownian oscillator model achieving an excellent agreement between experiment and theory for a wide temperature range. The dimensionless Huang-Rhys factor characterizing the strength of electron-LO-phonon coupling and damping constant accounting for the LO-phonon-bath interaction strength are found to be ∼0.2 and 200 cm-1, respectively, for the InGaN QDs. © 2006 American Institute of Physics.published_or_final_versio
Exploring neurotransmitters and their receptors for breast cancer prevention and treatment
While psychological factors have long been linked to breast cancer pathogenesis and outcomes, accumulating evidence is revealing how the nervous system contributes to breast cancer development, progression, and treatment resistance. Central to the psychological-neurological nexus are interactions between neurotransmitters and their receptors expressed on breast cancer cells and other types of cells in the tumor microenvironment, which activate various intracellular signaling pathways. Importantly, the manipulation of these interactions is emerging as a potential avenue for breast cancer prevention and treatment. However, an important caveat is that the same neurotransmitter can exert multiple and sometimes opposing effects. In addition, certain neurotransmitters can be produced and secreted by non-neuronal cells including breast cancer cells that similarly activate intracellular signaling upon binding to their receptors. In this review we dissect the evidence for the emerging paradigm linking neurotransmitters and their receptors with breast cancer. Foremost, we explore the intricacies of such neurotransmitter-receptor interactions, including those that impinge on other cellular components of the tumor microenvironment, such as endothelial cells and immune cells. Moreover, we discuss findings where clinical agents used to treat neurological and/or psychological disorders have exhibited preventive/therapeutic effects against breast cancer in either associative or pre-clinical studies. Further, we elaborate on the current progress to identify druggable components of the psychological-neurological nexus that can be exploited for the prevention and treatment of breast cancer as well as other tumor types. We also provide our perspectives regarding future challenges in this field where multidisciplinary cooperation is a paramount requirement
The relationship between EEG band power, cognitive processing and intelligence in school-age children
To investigate the differences in event-related potential parameters related to children’s intelligence and cognitive ability, 24 individuals from an experimental class of intellectually gifted children and 23 intellectually average children as the control group from a regular class were selected in the present study and the main neural mechanism pertaining tohigh intelligence was investigated. The electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded and the relationship between different percentages of Delta, Theta, Alpha1, Alpha2, Beta1 and Beta2 and intelligence and cognitive ability were analyzed. The results
suggested that Delta power activity in brighter individuals was more than that in normal individuals, and Alpha2 and Beta1 power activity in higher intelligence individuals were less than that in normalindividuals. In high ability group, Alpha1 was significantly correlated with visual search ability, and Theta band correlated with simple abstract matching significantly. While in the normal group, Delta band related significantly with short term memory abilities. Spectral EEG parameters could be regarded as neural bases for fast reaction and a good tool todiscriminate high intelligent children from the average. 
Casimir forces on a silicon micromechanical chip
Quantum fluctuations give rise to van der Waals and Casimir forces that
dominate the interaction between electrically neutral objects at sub-micron
separations. Under the trend of miniaturization, such quantum electrodynamical
effects are expected to play an important role in micro- and nano-mechanical
devices. Nevertheless, utilization of Casimir forces on the chip level remains
a major challenge because all experiments so far require an external object to
be manually positioned close to the mechanical element. Here, by integrating a
force-sensing micromechanical beam and an electrostatic actuator on a single
chip, we demonstrate the Casimir effect between two micromachined silicon
components on the same substrate. A high degree of parallelism between the two
near-planar interacting surfaces can be achieved because they are defined in a
single lithographic step. Apart from providing a compact platform for Casimir
force measurements, this scheme also opens the possibility of tailoring the
Casimir force using lithographically defined components of non-conventional
shapes
Spin-Imbalance in a One-Dimensional Fermi Gas
Superconductivity and magnetism generally do not coexist. Changing the
relative number of up and down spin electrons disrupts the basic mechanism of
superconductivity, where atoms of opposite momentum and spin form Cooper pairs.
Nearly forty years ago Fulde and Ferrell and Larkin and Ovchinnikov proposed an
exotic pairing mechanism (FFLO) where magnetism is accommodated by formation of
pairs with finite momentum. Despite intense theoretical and experimental
efforts, however, polarized superconductivity remains largely elusive. Here we
report experimental measurements of density profiles of a two spin mixture of
ultracold 6Li atoms trapped in an array of one dimensional (1D) tubes, a system
analogous to electrons in 1D wires. At finite spin imbalance, the system phase
separates with an inverted phase profile in comparison to the three-dimensional
case. In 1D we find a partially polarized core surrounded by wings composed of
either a completely paired BCS superfluid or a fully polarized Fermi gas,
depending on the degree of polarization. Our observations are in quantitative
agreement with theoretical calculations in which the partially polarized phase
is found to be a 1D analogue of the FFLO state. This study demonstrates how
ultracold atomic gases in 1D may be used to create non-trivial new phases of
matter, and also paves the way for direct observation and further study of the
FFLO phase.Comment: 30 pages, 7 figure
NRF2-driven miR-125B1 and miR-29B1 transcriptional regulation controls a novel anti-apoptotic miRNA regulatory network for AML survival
Transcription factor NRF2 is an important regulator of oxidative stress. It is involved in cancer progression, and has abnormal constitutive expression in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). Posttranscriptional regulation by microRNAs (miRNAs) can affect the malignant phenotype of AML cells. In this study, we identified and characterised NRF2-regulated miRNAs in AML. An miRNA array identified miRNA expression level changes in response to NRF2 knockdown in AML cells. Further analysis of miRNAs concomitantly regulated by knockdown of the NRF2 inhibitor KEAP1 revealed the major candidate NRF2-mediated miRNAs in AML. We identified miR-125B to be upregulated and miR-29B to be downregulated by NRF2 in AML. Subsequent bioinformatic analysis identified putative NRF2 binding sites upstream of the miR-125B1 coding region and downstream of the mir-29B1 coding region. Chromatin immunoprecipitation analyses showed that NRF2 binds to these antioxidant response elements (AREs) located in the 5′ untranslated regions of miR-125B and miR-29B. Finally, primary AML samples transfected with anti-miR-125B antagomiR or miR-29B mimic showed increased cell death responsiveness either alone or co-treated with standard AML chemotherapy. In summary, we find that NRF2 regulation of miR-125B and miR-29B acts to promote leukaemic cell survival, and their manipulation enhances AML responsiveness towards cytotoxic chemotherapeutics
Sensory neuron–derived NaV1.7 contributes to dorsal horn neuron excitability
Expression of the voltage-gated sodium channel NaV1.7 in sensory neurons is required for pain sensation. We examined the role of NaV1.7 in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord using an epitope-tagged NaV1.7 knock-in mouse. Immuno–electron microscopy showed the presence of NaV1.7 in dendrites of superficial dorsal horn neurons, despite the absence of mRNA. Rhizotomy of L5 afferent nerves lowered the levels of NaV1.7 in the dorsal horn. Peripheral nervous system–specific NaV1.7 null mutant mice showed central deficits, with lamina II dorsal horn tonic firing neurons more than halved and single spiking neurons more than doubled. NaV1.7 blocker PF05089771 diminished excitability in dorsal horn neurons but had no effect on NaV1.7 null mutant mice. These data demonstrate an unsuspected functional role of primary afferent neuron-generated NaV1.7 in dorsal horn neurons and an expression pattern that would not be predicted by transcriptomic analysis
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