Effects of oriented substrates on cell morphology, the cell cycle, and the cytoskeleton in Ros 17/2.8 cells

Absence of gravity or microgravity influences the cellular functions of bone forming osteoblasts. The underlying mechanism, however, of cellular sensing and responding to the gravity vector is poorly understood. This work quantified the impact of vector-directional gravity on the biological responses of Ros 17/2.8 cells grown on upward-, downward- or edge-on-oriented substrates. Cell morphology and nuclear translocation, cell proliferation and the cell cycle, and cytoskeletal reorganization were found to vary significantly in the three orientations. All of the responses were duration-dependent. These results provide a new insight into understanding how osteoblasts respond to static vector-directional gravity.

Thermal analysis of microstructural evolution of Al2O3 surface modified layers

Solidification behavior and microstructural evolution of surface modified layers in plasma cladding technique are studied via numerical simulations. Both the coupling effect of temperature and solid volume fraction are considered in the proposed thermal analytical model, by which the transient temperature distributions are calculated and the shape of melting pool is determined. Furthermore, we perform microscopic thermal analysis on the nucleation and growth behaviors of ceramic hardening phases and dendrites, as well as the kinetics of related two-phase flow systems. By comparing with experimental observations, the evolution mechanisms of the morphology of Al2O3 ceramic hardening layer are explained. Based on the above results, a relationship among the scanning velocity of plasma stream, dendritic growth rate and the advancing speed of solid/liquid interface is found, and an energy criterion is proposed for predicting the pushing/engulfing transition of ceramic particles by grain growth fronts. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The influence of the microstructure evolution on the surface morphology in the annealing process of helium-implanted spinel

Single-crystalline spinel (MgAl2O4) specimens were implanted with helium ions of 100 keV at three successively increasing fluences of (0.5, 2.0 and 8.0) x 10(16) ions/cm(2) at room temperature. The specimens were subsequently annealed in vacuum at different temperatures ranging from 500 to 1100 degrees C. Different techniques, including Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermal desorption spectrometry (TDS), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to investigate the specimens, It was found that the absorbance peak in the FTIR due to the stretching vibration of the Al-O bond shifts to smaller wave numbers with increasing fluence, shifting back to larger wave numbers with an increase of annealing temperature. The absorbance peak shift has a linear relationship with the fluence increase in the as-implanted state, while it does not have a linear relationship with the fluence increase after the annealing process. Surface deformation occurred in the specimens implanted with fluences of 2.0 and 8.0 x 10(16) ions/cm(2) in the annealing process. The phenomena described above can be attributed to differences in defect formation in the specimens. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Microscopic Three-Body Force Effect on Nucleon-Nucleon Cross Sections in Symmetric Nuclear Matter

We provide a microscopic calculation of neutron-proton and proton-proton cross sections in symmetric nuclear matter at various densities, using the Brueckner-Hartee-Fock approximation scheme with the Argonne V-14 potential including the contribution of microscopic three-body force. We investigate separately the effects of three-body force on the effective mass and on the scattering amplitude. In the present calculation, the rearrangement contribution of three-body force is considered, which will reduce the neutron and proton effective mass, and depress the amplitude of cross section. The effect of three body force is shown to be repulsive, especially in high densities and large momenta, which will suppress the cross section markedly.

Surface morphology of He-implanted single-crystalline silicon

Single-crystalline Si (100) samples were implanted with 30 keV He2+ ions to doses ranging from 2.0x10(16) to 2.0x10(17) ions/cm(2) and subsequently thermally annealed at 800 degrees C for 30min. The morphological change of the samples with the increase of implantation dose was investigated using atomic force microscopy (AFM). It was found that oblate-shaped blisters with an average height around 4.0nm were found on the 2.0 x 10(16) ions /cm(2) implanted sample surface; spherical-shaped blisters with an average height wound 10.0nm were found on the 5.0 x 10(16) ions/cm(2) implanted sample surface; strip-shaped and conical cracks were observed on the sample He-implanted to a dose of 1.0 X 10(17) ions /cm(2). Exfoliations occurred on the sample surface to a dose of 2.0 x10(17) ions /cm(2). Mechanisms underlying the surface change were discussed.

Superfluidity in neutron matter and symmetric nuclear matter and the effect of a microscopic three-body force

The neutron (PF2)-P-3 pairing gap in pure neutron matter, neutron (PF2)-P-3 gap and neutron-proton (SD1)-S-3 gap in symmetric nuclear matter have been studied by using the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock(BHF) approach and the BCS theory. We have concentrated on investigating and discussing the three-body force effect on the nucleon superfluidity. The calculated results indicate that the three-body force enhances remaxkably the (PF2)-P-3 superfluidity in neutron matter. It also enhances the (PF2)-P-3 superfluidity in symmetric nuclear matter and its effect increases monotonically as the Fermi-momentum k(F) increases, whereas the three-body force is shown to influence only weakly the neutron-proton (SD1)-S-3 gap in symmetric nuclear matter.

Neutron (PF2)-P-3 superfluidity in neutron matter and the effect of microscopic three-body force

The neutron (PF2)-P-3 pairing gap in pure neutron matter has been studied by using the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock( BHF) approach and the BCS theory. We have concentrated our attention on investigating the three-body force effect on the neutron superfluidity in the (PF2)-P-3 channel. The calculated results indicate that the three-body force enhances remarkably the (PF2)-P-3 superfluidity in neutron matter. When adopting the BHF single-particle spectrum, the three-body force turns out to increase the maximum value of the pairing gap from about 0.22 MeV to about 0.5 MeV.