Dynamical Response of Nanomechanical Oscillators in Immiscible Viscous Fluid for in vitro Biomolecular Recognition

Dynamical response of nanomechanical cantilever structures immersed in a viscous fluid is important to in vitro single-molecule force spectroscopy, biomolecular recognition of disease-specific proteins, and the detection of microscopic dynamics of proteins. Here we study the stochastic response of biofunctionalized nanomechanical cantilevers beam in a viscous fluid. Using the fluctuation-dissipation theorem we derive an exact expression for the spectral density of the displacement and a linear approximation for the resonance frequency shift. We find that in a viscous solution the frequency shift of the nanoscale cantilever is determined by surface stress generated by biomolecular interaction with negligible contributions from mass loading.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, RevTex4. See http://nano.bu.edu/ for related paper

Elucidating structure-function relationships from molecule-to-cell-to-tissue: from research modalities to clinical realities

The National Academy of Engineering selected ‘Imaging’ as one of the greatest engineering achievements of the 20th century (Greatest Engineering Achievements of the 20th Century. 2009 (cited 2008, November 10); available from: http://www.greatachievements.org/). The combination of different imaging modalities and technologies for mapping bimolecular and/or biological processes within single cells or even whole organs has extraordinary potential for revolutionizing the diagnosis and treatment of pathophysiological disorders, and thus for mitigating the significant social and economic costs associated with the clinical management of disease. Such integrated imaging approaches will eventually lead to individualized programs for disease prevention through advanced diagnosis, risk stratification and targeted cell therapies resulting in more successful and efficient health care. The goal of this article is to provide readers with a current update of selected of state-of-the-art imaging modalities which would likely to lead to improved clinical outcomes if employed in an integrated approach, including use of ultramicrosensors to detect reactive oxygen/nitrogen species in a single cell, use of electron tomography to visualize and characterize cellular organization in three dimensions (3D), and molecular imaging strategies to assess naturally occurring and therapeutic peripheral and myocardial angiogenesis using targeted radiolabeled tracers

Integrated Thermal Energy Storage for Cooling Applications

Many commercial and industrial facilities are cooled using vapor compression cycles (VCC). The performance of such systems degrades with high outdoor temperatures causing high peak electric demand increase, reduced efficiency and lower cooling capacity. An Integrated Thermal Energy Storage System (ITESS) utilizing chilled water provides additional subcooling for a VCC condenser, thereby increasing the capacity of the entire system and providing significant reductions in electric demand and consumption. The ITESS uses a dedicated chiller to cool a thermal storage tank, typically at night when electricity demand and rates may be lower. This thermal reservoir is used during the following day to sub-cool refrigerant leaving the condenser. This additional cooling increases the overall cooling capacity of the chiller without increasing the electrical demand. The following paper outlines the results of a demonstration of the ITESS at an industrial facility in Syracuse, NY. The existing 176-ton chiller, which provides cooling for air conditioning a laboratory space and chilled water for compressor testing, was retrofitted with a 33-ton supplemental chiller, 10,000-gallon water tank, four sub-coolers, and two sub-cooler pumps. The ITESS was instrumented with a number of sensors to measure critical parameters to assess its performance. The test results showed that the cooling capacity of the existing chiller increased by 2.2% - 34.2%, depending on operating conditions, with the addition of subcooling. The ITESS increased existing chiller efficiency between 0.6% - 28.5% and has the potential to reduce power demand by 0.7%-34.3%. Total energy consumption for the system was essentially unchanged, increasing on average by approximately 0.05%, well within the margin of error

R-parity violation and uses of the rare decay sneutrino-->gamma+gamma in hadron and photon colliders

We consider implications of the loop process sneutrino -> gamma gamma in the MSSM with R-parity violation for future experiments, where the sneutrino is produced as the only supersymmetric particle. We present a scenario for the R-parity violating couplings, where this clean decay, although rare with Br(sneutrino -> gamma gamma) ~ 10^{-6}, may be useful for sneutrino detection over a range of sneutrino masses at the LHC. Furthermore, the new sneutrino-gamma-gamma effective coupling may induce detectable sneutrino resonant production in gamma gamma collisions, over a considerably wide mass range. We compare sneutrino -> gamma gamma, gg throughout the paper with the analogous yet quantitatively very different, Higgs -> gamma gamma, gg decays and comment on the loop processes sneutrino -> WW, ZZ.Comment: 19 pages using REVTEX, 3 figures embadded in the text using epsfi

3D-4D Interlinkage Of qqq Wave Functions Under 3D Support For Pairwise Bethe-Salpeter Kernels

Using the method of Green's functions within a Bethe-Salpeter framework characterized by a pairwise qq interaction with a Lorentz-covariant 3D support to its kernel, the 4D BS wave function for a system of 3 identical relativistic spinless quarks is reconstructed from the corresponding 3D form which satisfies a fully connected 3D BSE. This result is a 3-body generalization of a similar 2-body result found earlier under identical conditions of a 3D support to the corresponding qq-bar BS kernel under Covariant Instaneity (CIA for short). (The generalization from spinless to fermion quarks is straightforward). To set the CIA with 3D BS kernel support ansatz in the context of contemporary approaches to the qqq baryon problem, a model scalar 4D qqq BSE with pairwise contact interactions to simulate the NJL-Faddeev equations is worked out fully, and a comparison of both vertex functions shows that the CIA vertex reduces exactly to the NJL form in the limit of zero spatial range. This consistency check on the CIA vertex function is part of a fuller accounting for its mathematical structure whose physical motivation is traceable to the role of `spectroscopy' as an integral part of the dynamics.Comment: 20 pages, Latex, submitted via the account of K.-C. Yan

Bose Condensation and the BTZ Black Hole

Although all popular approaches to quantum gravity are able to recover the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy-area law in the thermodynamic limit, there are significant differences in their descriptions of the microstates and in the application of statistics. Therefore they can have significantly different phenomenological implications. For example, requiring indistinguishability of the elementary degrees of freedom should lead to changes in the black hole's radiative porperties away from the thermodynamic limit and at low temperatures. We demonstrate this for the Ba\~nados-Teitelboim-Zanelli (BTZ) black hole. The energy eigenstates and statistical entropy in the thermodynamic limit of the BTZ black hole were obtained earlier by us via symmetry reduced canonical quantum gravity. In that model the BTZ black hole behaves as a system of Bosonic mass shells moving in a one dimensional harmonic trap. Bose condensation does not occur in the thermodynamic limit but this system possesses a finite critical temperature, $T_c$, and exhibits a large condensate fraction below $T_c$ when the number of shells is finite.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures. Published versio

Performance of Westslope Cutthroat Trout Released into the Upper Cherry Creek Drainage Using Remote Stream Incubators

A major effort to conserve westslope cutthroat (Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi; WCT) is underway throughout Montana. One of the larger WCT conservation projects is onging in the Cherry Creek drainage of the Madison River. About 105 km of stream and a mountain lake are being treated with piscicides to remove nonnative trout, and WCT are being introduced into the drainage using remote stream incubators (RSIs). We are evaluating the relative success of different wild and hatchery stocks of WCT released into Cherry Creek. Here, we report on survival, abundance, growth, condition, and dispersal of WCT in the upper Cherry Creek drainage during the first three years of releases. Two streams of similar size, upper Cherry Creek and Cherry Lake Creek, meet to form main Cherry Creek. Cherry Lake Creek is colder than upper Cherry Creek (average August temperature about 3?C colder).Known numbers of WCT embryos were placed into RSIs at two sites in upper Cherry Creek during 2006 and 2007, one site in Cherry Lake Creek during 2006 and 2007, one site in Pika Creek (a tributary to Cherry Lake Creek) during 2008, and in an un-named spring-fed tributary to main Cherry Creek just below the mouth of Cherry Lake Creek during 2008. Fry that hatched in each RSI were captured and counted prior to release. Population abundances were estimated by single and multiple-pass electrofishing in 100-m sample sections located systematically throughout the upper reaches of the drainage. Estimated survivals from egg to fry, fry to age- 1, age-1 to age-2, and age-2 to age-3 ranged from 13 to 80 percent, 7 to 80 percent, 21 to 100 percent, and 100 percent, respectively. Survivals in the colder stream, Cherry Lake Creek, were lower than in the warmer stream. Over 3500 WCT occupied the upper Cherry Creek drainage by 2009. Fish dispersed short distances upstream and long distances downstream, but downstream dispersal appeared relatively discrete, with WCT filling available habitat near RSIs before occupying reaches further downstream. Early growth of WCT was much slower in colder streams, but by age-3 little difference existed among streams. Conversely, condition factors of WCT were slightly lower in upper Cherry Creek (averaging 0.88 to 0.95) than in Cherry Lake Creek (0.92 to 1.11). The introduction of WCT in upper Cherry Creek has been successful to date; however, natural reproduction by introduced WCT has not yet occurred, but is expected to occur next year

Comprehensive review of fluorescence applications in gynecology

Since the introduction of indocyanine green (ICG) as a fluorophore in near-infrared imaging, fluorescence visualization has become an essential tool in many fields of surgery. In the field of gynecology, recent new applications have been proposed and found their place in clinical practice. Different applications in gynecology were investigated, subcategorized, and overviewed concerning surgical applications and available dyes. Specific applications in which fluorescence-guided surgery was implemented in gynecology are described in this manuscript—namely, sentinel node biopsy, mesometrium visualization, angiography of different organs, safety issues in pregnant women, ureters visualization, detection of peritoneal metastases, targeted fluorophores for cancer detection, fluorescent contamination hysterectomy, lymphography for lower limb lymphedema prevention, tumor margin detection, endometriosis, and metastases mapping. With evolving technology, further innovative research on the new applications of fluorescence visualization in cancer surgery may help to establish these techniques as standards of high-quality surgery in gynecology. However, more investigations are necessary in order to assess if these innovative tools can also be effective to improve patient outcomes and quality of life in different gynecologic malignancies