Measurement of a Sign-Changing Two-Gap Superconducting Phase in Electron-Doped Ba(Fe_{1-x}Co_x)_2As_2 Single Crystals using Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy

Scanning tunneling spectroscopic studies of $Ba(Fe_{1-x}Co_x)_2As_2$ (x = 0.06, 0.12) single crystals reveal direct evidence for predominantly two-gap superconductivity. These gaps decrease with increasing temperature and vanish above the superconducting transition $T_c$. The two-gap nature and the slightly doping- and energy-dependent quasiparticle scattering interferences near the wave-vectors $(\pm \pi, 0)$ and $(0, \pm \pi)$ are consistent with sign-changing $s$-wave superconductivity. The excess zero-bias conductance and the large gap-to-$T_c$ ratios suggest dominant unitary impurity scattering.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Paper accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters. Contact author: Nai-Chang Yeh ([email protected]

MALS: an efficient strategy for multiple site-directed mutagenesis employing a combination of DNA amplification, ligation and suppression PCR

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Multiple approaches for the site-directed mutagenesis (SDM) have been developed. However, only several of them are designed for simultaneous introduction of multiple nucleotide alterations, and these are time consuming. In addition, many of the existing multiple SDM methods have technical limitations associated with type and number of mutations that can be introduced, or are technically demanding and require special chemical reagents.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study we developed a quick and efficient strategy for introduction of multiple complex mutations in a target DNA without intermediate subcloning by using a combination of connecting SDM and suppression PCR. The procedure consists of sequential rounds, with each individual round including PCR amplification of target DNA with two non-overlapping pairs of oligonucleotides. The desired mutation is incorporated at the 5' end of one or both internal oligonucleotides. DNA fragments obtained during amplification are mixed and ligated. The resulting DNA mixture is amplified with external oligonucleotides that act as suppression adapters. Suppression PCR limits amplification to DNA molecules representing full length target DNA, while amplification of other types of molecules formed during ligation is suppressed. To create additional mutations, an aliquot of the ligation mixture is then used directly for the next round of mutagenesis employing internal oligonucleotides specific for another region of target DNA.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A wide variety of complex multiple mutations can be generated in a short period of time. The procedure is rapid, highly efficient and does not require special chemical reagents. Thus, MALS represents a powerful alternative to the existing methods for multiple SDM.</p

Application of the Evolution-Variable Manifold Approach to Cavity-Stabilized Ethylene Combustion

For combustion in high-speed flows, radical-formation time scales and ignition delay times may be similar to, or dominate, relevant flow time scales. Reliable modeling of induction and autoignition processes is critical to the prediction of combustor performance. The evolution-variable manifold (EVM) approach of Cymbalist and Dimotakis uses a transported scalar to track the evolution of the reaction processes, from induction leading to autoignition and subsequent robust combustion. In the present work, the EVM method is implemented in a computational fluid dynamics code in which wall-modeled large-eddy simulations are performed for two ethylene-air high-speed combustion cases. The detailed thermochemical state of the reacting fluid is tabulated as a function of a reduced number of state variables that include density, energy, mixture fraction, and the reaction-evolution variable. A thermodynamically consistent numerical flux function is developed and the approach for coupling the large-eddy simulation to the EVM framework is discussed. It is found that particular attention must be given to the solution of the energy equation to obtain accurate and computationally stable results. The results show that the LES-EVM approach shows promise for the simulation of turbulent combustion of hydrocarbons in high-speed flows, including those dominated by ignition delay, and encompass regions of thin reaction fronts as well as distributed reaction zones

Novel Applications of Buffer-Gas Cooling to Cold Atoms, Diatomic Molecules, and Large Molecules

Cold gases of atoms and molecules provide a system for the exploration of a diverse set of physical phenomena. For example, cold gasses of magnetically and electrically polar atoms and molecules are ideal systems for quantum simulation and quantum computation experiments, and cold gasses of large polar molecules allow for novel spectroscopic techniques. Buffer-gas cooling is a robust and widely applicable method for cooling atoms and molecules to temperatures of approximately 1 Kelvin. In this thesis, I present novel applications of buffer-gas cooling to obtaining gases of trapped, ultracold atoms and diatomic molecules, as well as the study of the cooling of large organic molecules. In the first experiment of this thesis, a buffer-gas beam source of atoms is used to directly load a magneto-optical trap. Due to the versatility of the buffer-gas beam source, we obtain trapped, sub-milliKelvin gases of four different lanthanide species using the same experimental apparatus. In the second experiment of this thesis, a buffer-gas beam is used as the initial stage of an experiment to directly laser cool and magneto-optically trap the diatomic molecule CaF. In the third experiment of this thesis, buffer-gas cooling is used to study the cooling of the conformational state of large organic molecules. We directly observe conformational relaxation of gas-phase 1,2-propanediol due to cold collisions with helium gas. Lastly, I present preliminary results on a variety of novel applications of buffer-gas cooling, such as mixture analysis, separation of chiral mixtures, the measurement of parity-violation in chiral molecules, and the cooling and spectroscopy of highly unstable reaction intermediates.Chemical Physic

Laser slowing of CaF molecules to near the capture velocity of a molecular MOT

Laser slowing of CaF molecules down to the capture velocity of a magneto-optical trap (MOT) for molecules is achieved. Starting from a two-stage buffer gas beam source, we apply frequency-broadened "white-light" slowing and observe approximately 6x10^4 CaF molecules with velocities near 10\,m/s. CaF is a candidate for collisional studies in the mK regime. This work represents a significant step towards magneto-optical trapping of CaF

Restraint, disinhibition and food-related processing bias

This study examined associations between restraint, disinhibition and food-related processing bias (FPB, assessed by the emotional Stroop task) in males and females in the UK, Greece and Iran. Results showed high restraint was associated with higher FPB. However, high restrained current dieters showed lower FPB that high restrained non-dieters. There was no significant difference in FPB for those showing high versus low disinhibition. Results are discussed in relation to theories of incentive salience and current concerns

Development of the US3D Code for Advanced Compressible and Reacting Flow Simulations

Aerothermodynamics and hypersonic flows involve complex multi-disciplinary physics, including finite-rate gas-phase kinetics, finite-rate internal energy relaxation, gas-surface interactions with finite-rate oxidation and sublimation, transition to turbulence, large-scale unsteadiness, shock-boundary layer interactions, fluid-structure interactions, and thermal protection system ablation and thermal response. Many of the flows have a large range of length and time scales, requiring large computational grids, implicit time integration, and large solution run times. The University of Minnesota NASA US3D code was designed for the simulation of these complex, highly-coupled flows. It has many of the features of the well-established DPLR code, but uses unstructured grids and has many advanced numerical capabilities and physical models for multi-physics problems. The main capabilities of the code are described, the physical modeling approaches are discussed, the different types of numerical flux functions and time integration approaches are outlined, and the parallelization strategy is overviewed. Comparisons between US3D and the NASA DPLR code are presented, and several advanced simulations are presented to illustrate some of novel features of the code

Global diversity in the TAS2R38 bitter taste receptor: Revisiting a classic evolutionary PROPosal

The ability to taste phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) and 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP) is a polymorphic trait mediated by the TAS2R38 bitter taste receptor gene. It has long been hypothesized that global genetic diversity at this locus evolved under pervasive pressures from balancing natural selection. However, recent high-resolution population genetic studies of TAS2Rs suggest that demographic events have played a critical role in the evolution of these genes. We here utilized the largest TAS2R38 database yet analyzed, consisting of 5,589 individuals from 105 populations, to examine natural selection, haplotype frequencies and linkage disequilibrium to estimate the effects of both selection and demography on contemporary patterns of variation at this locus. We found signs of an ancient balancing selection acting on this gene but no post Out-Of-Africa departures from neutrality, implying that the current observed patterns of variation can be predominantly explained by demographic, rather than selective events. In addition, we found signatures of ancient selective forces acting on different African TAS2R38 haplotypes. Collectively our results provide evidence for a relaxation of recent selective forces acting on this gene and a revised hypothesis for the origins of the present-day worldwide distribution of TAS2R38 haplotypes

An African-specific haplotype in MRGPRX4 is associated with menthol cigarette smoking

In the U.S., more than 80% of African-American smokers use mentholated cigarettes, compared to less than 30% of Caucasian smokers. The reasons for these differences are not well understood. To determine if genetic variation contributes to mentholated cigarette smoking, we performed an exome-wide association analysis in a multiethnic population-based sample from Dallas, TX (N = 561). Findings were replicated in an independent cohort of African Americans from Washington, DC (N = 741). We identified a haplotype of MRGPRX4 (composed of rs7102322[G], encoding N245S, and rs61733596[G], T43T), that was associated with a 5-to-8 fold increase in the odds of menthol cigarette smoking. The variants are present solely in persons of African ancestry. Functional studies indicated that the variant G protein-coupled receptor encoded by MRGPRX4 displays reduced agonism in both arrestin-based and G protein-based assays, and alteration of agonism by menthol. These data indicate that genetic variation in MRGPRX4 contributes to inter-individual and inter-ethnic differences in the preference for mentholated cigarettes, and that the existence of genetic factors predisposing vulnerable populations to mentholated cigarette smoking can inform tobacco control and public health policies