755 research outputs found
Studies on processing, particle formation, and immunogenicity of the HIV-1 gag gene product: a possible component of a HIV vaccine
Antigens in a particulate conformation were shown to be highly immunogenic in mammals. For this reason, the particle forming capacity of derivatives of the HIV-1 group specific core antigen p55 gag was assayed and compared dependent on various expression systems: recombinant bacteria, vaccinia- and baculoviruses were established encoding the entire core protein p55 either in its authentic sequence or lacking the myristylation consensus signal. Moreover, p55 gag was expressed in combination with the protease (p55-PR) or with the entire polymerase (p55-pol), respectively. Budding of 100-160 nm p55 core particles, resembling immature HIV-virions, was observed in the eucaryotic expression systems only. In comparison to the vaccinia virus driven expression of p55 in mammalian cells, considerably higher yields of particulate core antigen were obtained by infection of Spodoptera frugiperda (Sf9) insect cells with the recombinant Autographa californica nuclear polyhedrosis (AcMNPV) baculovirus. Mutation of the NH2-terminal myristylation signal sequence prevented budding of the immature core particles. Expression of the HIV p55-PR gene construct by recombinant baculovirus resulted in complete processing of the p55 gag precursor molecule in this system. The introduction of an artificial frameshift near the natural frameshift site resulted in constitutive expression of the viral protease and complete processing of p55, both in Escherichia coli and in vaccinia virus infected cells. Interestingly, significant processing of p55 resembling that of HIV infected H9 cells could also be achieved in the vaccinia system by fusing the entire pol gene to the gag gene. Moreover, processing was not found to be dependent on amino-terminal myristylation of the gag procursor molecule, which is in contrast to observations with type C and type D retrovirus. However, complete processing of p55 into p24, p17, p9 and p6 abolished particle formation. Purified immature HIV-virus like particles were highly immunogenic in rabbits, leading to a strong humoral immune response after immunization. Empty immature p55 gag particles represent a noninfectious and attractive candidate for a basic vaccine component
How the interface type manipulates the thermomechanical response of nanostructured metals : A case study on nickel
The presence of interfaces with nanoscale spacing significantly enhances the strength of materials, but also the rate controlling processes of plastic flow are subject to change. Due to the confined grain volumes, intragranular dislocation-dislocation interactions, the predominant processes at the micrometer scale, are replaced by emission of dislocations from and their subsequent accommodation at the interfaces. Both processes not only depend on the interfacial spacing, but also on the atomistic structure of the interface. Hence, a thorough understanding how these processes are affected by the interface structure is required to predict and improve the behavior of nanomaterials. The present study attempts to rationalize this effect by investigating the thermomechanical behavior of samples consisting of three different interfaces. Pure nickel samples with predominant fractions of low- and high-angle as well as twin boundaries with a similar average spacing around 150 nm are investigated using high temperature nanoindentation strain rate jump tests. Depending on the interface structure, hardness, strain rate sensitivity and apparent activation volumes evolve distinctively different with testing temperature. While in case of high-angle boundaries for all quantities a pronounced thermal dependence is found, the other two interface types behave almost athermal in the same temperature range. These differences can be rationalized based on the different interfacial diffusivity, affecting the predominant process of interfacial stress relaxation
The new MTLRS transmitting system
This paper presents a detailed description about the new transmitting system of the Modular Transportable Laser Ranging Systems MTLRS-1/2. A simplified theory of the Self Filtering Unstable Resonator (SFUR) is explained. Laser design details are discussed concerning the extreme environmental conditions in which these mobile systems are operating. Details are given concerning the new avalanche START detector. The new SFUR laser and START detector are necessary parts in order to bring both mobile systems towards 1 cm ranging accuracy
Results of the MTLRS-1 upgrade
In this report, the results of the upgrade of the German Modular Transportable Laser Ranging System MTLRS-1 are summarized. A short description of the new components and their influence on the system accuracy is given. It is shown, that the single shot accuracy of the MTLRS-1 has been improved from 5 cm to 1 cm
A surprising method for polarising antiprotons
We propose a method for polarising antiprotons in a storage ring by means of
a polarised positron beam moving parallel to the antiprotons. If the relative
velocity is adjusted to the cross section for spin-flip is
as large as about barn as shown by new QED-calculations of
the triple spin-cross sections. Two possibilities for providing a positron
source with sufficient flux density are presented. A polarised positron beam
with a polarisation of 0.70 and a flux density of approximately /(mm s) appears to be feasible by means of a radioactive C
dc-source. A more involved proposal is the production of polarised positrons by
pair production with circularly polarised photons. It yields a polarisation of
0.76 and requires the injection into a small storage ring. Such polariser
sources can be used at low (100 MeV) as well as at high (1 GeV) energy storage
rings providing a time of about one hour for polarisation build-up of about
antiprotons to a polarisation of about 0.18. A comparison with other
proposals show a gain in the figure-of-merit by a factor of about ten.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures; v2: minor language and signification corrections
v3: (14 pages, 12 figures) major error, nonapplicable polarisation transfer
cross sections replaced by the mandatory spin-flip cross section
Combined effects of tidal and rotational distortions on the equilibrium configuration of low-mass, pre-main sequence stars
In close binary systems, rotation and tidal forces of the component stars
deform each other and destroy their spherical symmetry. We present new models
for low-mass, pre-main sequence stars that include the combined distortion
effects of tidal and rotational forces on the equilibrium configuration of
stars. We investigate the effects of interaction between tides and rotation on
the stellar structure and evolution. The Kippenhahn & Thomas (1970)
approximation, along with the Clairaut-Legendre expansion for the gravitational
potential of a self-gravitating body, is used to take the distortion effects
into account. We obtained values of internal structure constants for low-mass,
pre-main sequence stars from stellar evolutionary models that consider the
combined effects of rotation and tidal forces due to a companion star. We also
derived a new expression for the rotational inertia of a tidally and
rotationally distorted star. Our distorted models were successfully used to
analyze the eclipsing binary system EK Cep, reproducing the stellar radii,
effective temperature ratio, lithium depletion, rotational velocities, and the
apsidal motion rate in the age interval of 15.5-16.7 Myr. In the low-mass
range, the assumption that harmonics greater than j=2 can be neglected seems
not to be fully justified, although it is widely used when analyzing the
apsidal motion of binary systems. The non-standard evolutionary tracks are
cooler than the standard ones, mainly for low-mass stars. Distorted models
predict more mass-concentrated stars at the zero-age main-sequence than
standard models
Electrical properties of ZnO nanorods studied by conductive atomic force microscopy
ZnO nanostructures are promising candidates for the development of novel electronic devices due to their unique electrical and optical properties. Here, we present a complementary electrical characterization of individual upright standing and lying ZnO nanorods using conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM). Initially, the electrical properties of the arrays of upright standing ZnO NRs were characterized using two-dimensional current maps. The current maps were recorded simultaneously with the topography acquired by contact mode AFM. Further, C-AFM was utilized to determine the local current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of the top and side facets of individual upright standing NRs. Current-voltage characterization revealed a characteristic similar to that of a Schottky diode. Detailed discussion of the electrical properties is based on local I-V curves, as well as on the 2D current maps recorded from specific areas. © 2011 American Institute of Physics.published_or_final_versio
Channeling of Positrons through Periodically Bent Crystals: on Feasibility of Crystalline Undulator and Gamma-Laser
The electromagnetic radiation generated by ultra-relativistic positrons
channelling in a crystalline undulator is discussed. The crystalline undulator
is a crystal whose planes are bent periodically with the amplitude much larger
than the interplanar spacing. Various conditions and criteria to be fulfilled
for the crystalline undulator operation are established. Different methods of
the crystal bending are described. We present the results of numeric
calculations of spectral distributions of the spontaneous radiation emitted in
the crystalline undulator and discuss the possibility to create the stimulated
emission in such a system in analogy with the free electron laser. A careful
literature survey covering the formulation of all essential ideas in this field
is given. Our investigation shows that the proposed mechanism provides an
efficient source for high energy photons, which is worth to study
experimentally.Comment: 52 pages, MikTeX, 14 figure
Search for GeV Gamma-ray Counterparts of Gravitational Wave Events by CALET
We present results on searches for gamma-ray counterparts of the LIGO/Virgo
gravitational-wave events using CALorimetric Electron Telescope ({\sl CALET})
observations. The main instrument of {\sl CALET}, CALorimeter (CAL), observes
gamma-rays from GeV up to 10 TeV with a field of view of nearly 2 sr.
In addition, the {\sl CALET} gamma-ray burst monitor (CGBM) views 3 sr
and sr of the sky in the 7 keV -- 1 MeV and the 40 keV -- 20 MeV
bands, respectively, by using two different crystal scintillators. The {\sl
CALET} observations on the International Space Station started in October 2015,
and here we report analyses of events associated with the following
gravitational wave events: GW151226, GW170104, GW170608, GW170814 and GW170817.
Although only upper limits on gamma-ray emission are obtained, they correspond
to a luminosity of erg s in the GeV energy band
depending on the distance and the assumed time duration of each event, which is
approximately the order of luminosity of typical short gamma-ray bursts. This
implies there will be a favorable opportunity to detect high-energy gamma-ray
emission in further observations if additional gravitational wave events with
favorable geometry will occur within our field-of-view. We also show the
sensitivity of {\sl CALET} for gamma-ray transient events which is the order of
~erg\,cm\,s for an observation of 100~s duration.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in
Astrophysical Journa
Performance of the First ANTARES Detector Line
In this paper we report on the data recorded with the first Antares detector
line. The line was deployed on the 14th of February 2006 and was connected to
the readout two weeks later. Environmental data for one and a half years of
running are shown. Measurements of atmospheric muons from data taken from
selected runs during the first six months of operation are presented.
Performance figures in terms of time residuals and angular resolution are
given. Finally the angular distribution of atmospheric muons is presented and
from this the depth profile of the muon intensity is derived.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figure
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