341 research outputs found
Induced Anticlinic Ordering and Nanophase Segregation of Bow-Shaped Molecules in a Smectic Solvent
Recent experiments indicate that doping low concentrations of bent-core
molecules into calamitic smectic solvents can induce anticlinic and biaxial
smectic phases. We have carried out Monte Carlo (MC) simulations of mixtures of
rodlike molecules (hard spherocylinders with length/breadth ratio ) and bow- or banana-shaped molecules (hard spherocylinder dimers
with length/breadth ratio or 2.5 and opening angle ) to
probe the molecular-scale organization and phase behavior of rod/banana
mixtures. We find that a low concentration (3%) of dimers
induces anticlinic (SmC) ordering in an untilted smectic (SmA) phase for
. For smaller , half of each bow-shaped
molecule is nanophase segregated between smectic layers, and the smectic layers
are untilted. For , no tilted phases are induced. However,
with decreasing we observe a sharp transition from {\sl intralamellar}
nanophase segregation (bow-shaped molecules segregated within smectic layers)
to {\sl interlamellar} nanophase segregation (bow-shaped molecules concentrated
between smectic layers) near . These results demonstrate that
purely entropic effects can lead to surprisingly complex behavior in rod/banana
mixtures.Comment: 5 pages Revtex, 7 postscript figure
IL-6 activated integrated BATF/IRF4 functions in lymphocytes are T-bet-independent and reversed by subcutaneous immunotherapy.
IL-6 plays a central role in supporting pathological TH2 and TH17 cell development and inhibiting the protective T regulatory cells in allergic asthma. TH17 cells have been demonstrated to regulate allergic asthma in general and T-bet-deficiency-induced asthma in particular. Here we found an inverse correlation between T-bet and Il-6 mRNA expression in asthmatic children. Moreover, experimental subcutaneous immunotherapy (SIT) in T-bet((-/-)) mice inhibited IL-6, IL-21R and lung TH17 cells in a setting of asthma. Finally, local delivery of an anti-IL-6R antibody in T-bet((-/-)) mice resulted in the resolution of this allergic trait. Noteworthy, BATF, crucial for the immunoglobulin-class-switch and TH2,TH17 development, was found down-regulated in the lungs of T-bet((-/-)) mice after SIT and after treatment with anti-IL-6R antibody, indicating a critical role of IL-6 in controlling BATF/IRF4 integrated functions in TH2, TH17 cells and B cells also in a T-bet independent fashion in allergic asthma
Nearly Space-Filling Fractal Networks of Carbon Nanopores
URL:http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.115502
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.88.115502Small-angle x-ray scattering, nitrogen adsorption, and scanning tunneling microscopy show that a series of activated carbons host an extended fractal network of channels with dimension Dp = 2.8-3.0 (pore fractal), channel width 15-20Å (lower end of scaling), network diameter 3000-3400Å (upper end of scaling), and porosity of 0.3-0.6. We interpret the network as a stack of quasiplanar invasion percolation clusters, formed by oxidative removal of walls between closed voids of diameter of ∼10Å and held in registry by fibrils of the biological precursor, and point out unique applications.This work was supported by the Petroleum Research Fund, Grant No. 30602-AC9,5 (P. P.); the Department of Energy, Contracts No. W-7405-ENG-36 (P. P.) and No. DE-AC04-00A185000 (T. P. R.); and the Ceramic and Non-Metallic Materials Program at AFOSR (W. P. H.)
Combined X-Ray and Fully Leaky Guided Mode Studies of the Smectic Layer and Optic Tensor Configuration in a Ferroelectric Liquid-Crystal Cell
B. Hodder, J. Roy Sambles, S. Jenkins, and R. M. Richardson, Physical Review Letters, Vol. 85, pp. 3181 - 3184 (2000). "Copyright © 2000 by the American Physical Society."X-ray scattering together with optical characterization using fully leaky guided modes have been used for the first time to study the same ferroelectric liquid-crystal cell. This enables direct calculation of an accurate cone and chevron description of the liquid-crystal director profile since the layer structure and optic tensor configuration are both well known
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Orbital angular momentum-based dual-comb interferometer for ranging and rotation sensing
We present a dual-comb interferometer capable of measuring both the range to a target as well as the target’s transverse rotation rate. Measurement of the transverse rotation of the target is achieved by preparing the probe comb with orbital angular momentum and measuring the resultant phase shift between interferograms, which arises from the rotational Doppler shift. The distance to the target is measured simultaneously by measuring the time-of-flight delay between the target and reference interferogram centerbursts. With 40 ms of averaging, we measure rotation rates up to 313 Hz with a precision reaching 1 Hz. Distances are measured with an ambiguity range of 75 cm and with a precision of 5.9 µm for rotating targets and 400 nm for a static target. This is the first dual-comb ranging system capable of measuring transverse rotation of a target. This technique has many potential terrestrial and space-based applications for lidar and remote sensing systems.
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Early-stage breast cancer is not associated with the risk of marital dissolution in a large prospective study of women
Background: As breast cancer and its treatment are likely to interfere with traditional expectations of womanhood, it may affect marital stability. Methods: The risk of marital dissolution was analysed with respect to diagnosis of early-stage (T1-4N0-3M0) breast cancer in a cohort of 134 435 married Finnish women followed for a median of 17.0 married years. Age, socioeconomic status, education, number of children, duration of marriage and earlier marriages were taken into account and the effects of surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and endocrine therapy were analysed separately. Results: Women with a diagnosis of early-stage breast cancer did not show increase in marital dissolution (hazard ratio -0.96, 95% confidence interval = 0.79-1.17). Neither the type of surgical procedure nor any of the oncologic treatments was associated with an increase in the risk of divorce. Conclusions: Any evidence of excess risk of marital breakdown after the diagnosis of early-stage breast cancer and its treatment was not demonstrated.Peer reviewe
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Observation of the rotational Doppler shift with spatially incoherent light
The rotational Doppler shift (RDS) is typically measured by illuminating a rotating target with a laser prepared in a simple, known orbital angular momentum (OAM) superposition. We establish theoretically and experimentally that detecting the rotational Doppler shift does not require the incident light to have a well-defined OAM spectrum but instead requires well-defined correlations within the OAM spectrum. We demonstrate measurement of the rotational Doppler shift using spatially incoherent light.
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