Development of a Straw Tube Chamber with Pickup-Pad Readout

We have developed a straw tube chamber with pickup-pad readout. The mechanism for signal pickup, the size of the pickup signal, and the distribution of signals among neighboring pads are discussed. We have tested a prototype chamber in a beamtest at Brookhaven National laboratory and have measured chamber efficiencies in excess of 99%.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables. Talk presented at DPF '99 Meeting, UCL

A Construction of Killing Spinors on S^n

We derive simple general expressions for the explicit Killing spinors on the n-sphere, for arbitrary n. Using these results we also construct the Killing spinors on various AdS x Sphere supergravity backgrounds, including AdS_5 x S^5$, AdS_4 x S^7 and AdS_7 x S^4. In addition, we extend previous results to obtain the Killing spinors on the hyperbolic spaces H^n.Comment: 11 pages, LaTe

CTMC calculations of electron capture and ionization in collisions of multiply charged ions with elliptical Rydberg atoms

We have performed classical trajectory Monte Carlo (CTMC) studies of electron capture and ionization in multiply charged (Q=8) ion-Rydberg atom collisions at intermediate impact velocities. Impact parallel to the minor and to the major axis, respectively, of the initial Kepler electron ellipse has been investigated. The important role of the initial electron momentum distribution found for singly charged ion impact is strongly disminished for higher projectile charge, while the initial spatial distribution remains important for all values of Q studied.Comment: 3 pages, 5 figure

Antrodia cinnamomea reduces obesity and modulates the gut microbiota in high-fat diet-fed mice.

BackgroundObesity is associated with gut microbiota dysbiosis, disrupted intestinal barrier and chronic inflammation. Given the high and increasing prevalence of obesity worldwide, anti-obesity treatments that are safe, effective and widely available would be beneficial. We examined whether the medicinal mushroom Antrodia cinnamomea may reduce obesity in mice fed with a high-fat diet (HFD).MethodsMale C57BL/6J mice were fed a HFD for 8 weeks to induce obesity and chronic inflammation. The mice were treated with a water extract of A. cinnamomea (WEAC), and body weight, fat accumulation, inflammation markers, insulin sensitivity and the gut microbiota were monitored.ResultsAfter 8 weeks, the mean body weight of HFD-fed mice was 39.8±1.2 g compared with 35.8±1.3 g for the HFD+1% WEAC group, corresponding to a reduction of 4 g or 10% of body weight (P<0.0001). WEAC supplementation reduced fat accumulation and serum triglycerides in a statistically significant manner in HFD-fed mice. WEAC also reversed the effects of HFD on inflammation markers (interleukin-1β, interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-α), insulin resistance and adipokine production (leptin and adiponectin). Notably, WEAC increased the expression of intestinal tight junctions (zonula occludens-1 and occludin) and antimicrobial proteins (Reg3g and lysozyme C) in the small intestine, leading to reduced blood endotoxemia. Finally, WEAC modulated the composition of the gut microbiota, reducing the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio and increasing the level of Akkermansia muciniphila and other bacterial species associated with anti-inflammatory properties.ConclusionsSupplementation with A. cinnamomea produces anti-obesogenic, anti-inflammatory and antidiabetic effects in HFD-fed mice by maintaining intestinal integrity and modulating the gut microbiota

Reversible Vortex Ratchet Effects and Ordering in Superconductors with Simple Asymmetric Potential Arrays

We demonstrate using computer simulations that the simplest vortex ratchet system for type-II superconductors with artificial pinning arrays, an asymmetric one-dimensional (1D) potential array, exhibits the same features as more complicated two-dimensional vortex ratchets that have been studied in recent experiments. We show that the 1D geometry, originally proposed by Lee et al. [Nature 400, 337 (1999)], undergoes multiple reversals in the sign of the ratchet effect as a function of vortex density, substrate strength, and ac drive amplitude, and that the sign of the ratchet effect is related to the type of vortex lattice structure present. When the vortex lattice is highly ordered, an ordinary vortex ratchet effect occurs which is similar to the response of an isolated particle in the same ratchet geometry. In regimes where the vortices form a smectic or disordered phase, the vortex-vortex interactions are relevant and we show with force balance arguments that the ratchet effect can reverse in sign. The dc response of this system features a reversible diode effect and a variety of vortex states including triangular, smectic, disordered and square.Comment: 10 pages, 12 postscript figures. Version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Studies on Temperature and Strain Sensitivities of a Few-mode Critical Wavelength Fiber Optic Sensor

This paper studied the relationship between the temperature/strain wavelength sensitivity of a fiber optic in-line Mach-Zehnder Interferometer (MZI) sensor and the wavelength separation of the measured wavelength to the critical wavelength (CWL) in a CWL-existed interference spectrum formed by interference between LP01 and LP02 modes. The in-line MZI fiber optic sensor has been constructed by splicing a section of specially designed few-mode fiber (FMF), which support LP01 and LP02 modes propagating in the fiber, between two pieces of single mode fiber. The propagation constant difference, Δβ, between the LP01 and LP02 modes, changes non-monotonously with wavelength and reaches a maximum at the CWL. As a result, in sensor operation, peaks on the different sides of the CWL then shift in opposite directions, and the associated temperature/strain sensitivities increase significantly when the measured wavelength points become close to the CWL, from both sides of the CWL. A theoretical analysis carried out has predicted that with this specified FMF sensor approach, the temperature/strain wavelength sensitivities are governed by the wavelength difference between the measured wavelength and the CWL. This conclusion was seen to agree well with the experimental results obtained. Combining the wavelength shifts of the peaks and the CWL in the transmission spectrum of the SFS structure, this study has shown that this approach forms the basis of effective designs of high sensitivity sensors for multi-parameter detection and offering a large measurement range to satisfy the requirements needed for better industrial measurements