Precursor Dependent Microstructure Evolution and Nonstoichiometry in Nanostructured Cerium Oxide Coatings Using the Solution Precursor Plasma Spray Technique

A solution precursor plasma spray (SPPS) technique has been used for direct deposition of cerium oxide nanoparticles (CNPs) from various cerium salt solutions as precursors. Solution precursors were injected into the hot zone of a plasma plume to deposit CNP coatings. A numerical study of the droplet injection model has been employed for microstructure development during SPPS. The decomposition of each precursor to cerium oxide was analyzed by thermogravimetric-differential thermal analysis and validated by thermodynamic calculations. The presence of the cerium oxide phase in the coatings was confirmed by X-ray diffraction studies. Transmission electron microscopy studies confirmed nanocrystalline (grain size <14 nm) characteristic of the coatings. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy studies indicated the presence of a high concentration of Ce3+ (up to 0.32) in the coating prepared by SPPS. The processing and microstructure evolution of cerium oxide coatings with high nonstoichiometry are reported.

Temperature dependent transport behavior of n-InN nanodot/p-Si heterojunction structures

The present work explores the temperature dependent transport behavior of n-InN nanodot/p-Si(100) heterojunction diodes. InN nanodot (ND) structures were grown on a 20 nm InN buffer layer on p-Si(100) substrates. These dots were found to be single crystalline and grown along 001] direction. The junction between these two materials exhibits a strong rectifying behavior at low temperatures. The average barrier height (BH) was determined to be 0.7 eV from current-voltage-temperature, capacitance-voltage, and flat band considerations. The band offsets derived from built-in potential were found to be Delta E-C=1.8 eV and Delta E-V=1.3 eV and are in close agreement with Anderson's model. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. doi:10.1063/1.3517489]

Time-Dependent Dynamics of a Planar Galaxy Model

Time-dependent models of collisionless stellar systems with harmonic potentials allowing for an essentially exact analytic description have recently been described. These include oscillating spheres and spheroids. This paper extends the analysis to time-dependent elliptic discs. Although restricted to two space dimensions, the systems are richer in that their parameters form a 10-dimensional phase space (in contrast to six for the earlier models). Apart from total energy and angular momentum, two additional conserved quantities emerge naturally. These can be chosen as the areas of extremal sections of the ellipsoidal region of phase space occupied by the system (their product gives the conserved volume). The present paper describes the construction of these models. An application to a tidal encounter is given which allows one to go beyond the impulse approximation and demonstrates the effects of rotation of the perturbed system on energy and angular-momentum transfer. The angular-momentum transfer is shown to scale inversely as the cube of the encounter velocity for an initial configuration of the perturbed galaxy with zero quadrupole moment.

Temperature dependent free energy surface of polymer folding from equilibrium and quench studies

Langevin dynamics simulation studies have been employed to calculate the temperature dependent free energy surface and folding characteristics of a 500 monomer long linear alkane (polyethylene) chain with a realistic interaction potential. Both equilibrium and temperature quench simulation studies have been carried out. Using the shape anisotropy parameter (S) of the folded molecule as the order parameter, we find a weakly first order phase transition between the high-temperature molten globule and low-temperature rodlike crystalline states separated by a small barrier of the order of k(B)T. Near the melting temperature (580 K), we observe an intriguing intermittent fluctuation with pronounced ``1/f noise characteristics'' between these two states with large difference in shape and structure. We have also studied the possibilities of different pathways of folding to states much below the melting point. At 300 K starting from the all-trans linear configuration, the chain folds stepwise into a very regular fourfold crystallite with very high shape anisotropy. Whereas, when quenched from a high temperature (900 K) random coil regime, we identify a two step transition from the random coiled state to a molten globulelike state and, further, to a anisotropic rodlike state. The trajectory reveals an interesting coupling between the two order parameters, namely, radius of gyration (R-g) and the shape anisotropy parameter (S). The rodlike final state of the quench trajectory is characterized by lower shape anisotropy parameter and significantly larger number of gauche defects as compared to the final state obtained through equilibrium simulation starting from all-trans linear chain. The quench study shows indication of a nucleationlike pathway from the molten globule to the rodlike state involving an underlying rugged energy landscape. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. doi:10.1063/1.3509398]

Analysis of sequence dependent variations in secondary and tertiary structure of tRNA molecules

The double helical regions of the five tRNA(Phe) and two tRNA(Asp) crystal structures have been analyzed using the local basepair step parameters. The sequence dependent effects in the mini double helices of tRNA are very similar to those observed in the crystal structures of oligonucleotides in the A-form, the purine-pyrimidine and purine-purine steps have small roll angles when compared to the fiber models of A-DNA as well as A-RNA, while the pyrimidine-purine doublet steps have large roll angles. The orientation of the basepairs in the D-stem is unusual and invariant i.e. they are different from the other three stems but are very similar in all the five tRNA(Phe) crystal structures, presumably due to tertiary interaction of the Watson-Crick basepairs with other bases, with all bases being highly conserved. The origin of the differences between the tertiary structures of tRNA(Phe) and tRNA(Asp) from yeast has also been investigated. It is found that even though the angle between the acceptor arm and the D-stem is very similar in the two structures, the angle subtended by the acceptor arm and the anticodon arm is smaller in the tRNA(Phe) structure (by more than 10 degrees). This is due to differences in the orientation of the two mini helices constituting the anticodon arm, which are inclined to each other by approximately 25 degrees in tRNA(Phe) and 16 degrees in tRNA(Asp). In addition, the acceptor arm, the D-stem and the anticodon stem are nearly coplanar in tRNA(Phe), while in tRNA(Asp) the anticodon stem projects out of the plane defined by the acceptor arm and the anticodon stem. These two features together lead to a larger separation between the acceptor and anticodon ends in tRNA(Asp) and indicate that the junction between the D-stem and the anticodon stem is quite variable, with features characteristic of a ball-and-socket type joint and determined for each tRNA molecule by the base sequence at the junction.

A novel phenomenon of burst of oxygen uptake during decavanadate-dependent oxidation of NADH

Oxidation of NADH by decavanadate, a polymeric form vanadate with a cage-like structure, in presence of rat liver microsomes followed a biphasic pattern. An initial slow phase involved a small rate of oxygen uptake and reduction of 3 of the 10 vanadium atoms. This was followed by a second rapid phase in which the rates of NADH oxidation and oxygen uptake increased several-fold with a stoichiometry of NADH: O2 of 1ratio1. The burst of NADH oxidation and oxygen uptake which occurs in phosphate, but not in Tris buffer, was prevented by SOD, catalase, histidine, EDTA, MnCl2 and CuSO4, but not by the hydroxyl radical quenchers, ethanol, methanol, formate and mannitol. The burst reaction is of a novel type that requires the polymeric structure of decavanadate for reduction of vanadium which, in presence of traces of H2O2, provides a reactive intermediate that promotes transfer of electrons from NADH to oxygen.

Temperature-dependent chirped coherent phonon dynamics in Bi2Te3 using high-intensity femtosecond laser pulses

Degenerate pump-probe reflectivity experiments have been performed on a single crystal of bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) as a function of sample temperature (3 K to 296 K) and pump intensity using similar to 50 femtosecond laser pulses with central photon energy of 1.57 eV. The time-resolved reflectivity data show two coherently generated totally symmetric A(1g) modes at 1.85 THz and 3.6 THz at 296 K which blue-shift to 1.9 THz and 4.02 THz, respectively, at 3 K. At high photoexcited carrier density of similar to 1.7 x 10(21) cm(-3), the phonon mode at 4.02 THz is two orders of magnitude higher positively chirped (i.e the phonon time period decreases with increasing delay time between the pump and the probe pulses) than the lower-frequency mode at 1.9 THz. The chirp parameter, beta is shown to be inversely varying with temperature. The time evolution of these modes is studied using continuous-wavelet transform of the time-resolved reflectivity data. Copyright (C) EPLA, 2010

The function and regulation of the U11-48K protein in U12-dependent splicing

The removal of noncoding sequences, or introns, from the eukaryotic messenger RNA precursors is catalyzed by a ribonucleoprotein complex known as the spliceosome. In most eukaryotes, two distinct classes of introns exist, each removed by a specific type of spliceosome. The major, U2-type introns account for over 99 % of all introns, and are almost ubiquitous. The minor, U12-type introns are found in most but not all eukaryotes, and reside in conserved locations in a specific set of genes. Due to their slow excision rates, the U12-type introns are expected to be involved in the regulation of the genes containing them by inhibiting the maturation of the messenger RNAs. However, little information is currently available on how the activity of the U12-dependent spliceosome itself is regulated. The levels of many known splicing factors are regulated through unproductive alternative splicing events, which lead to inclusion of premature STOP codons, targeting the transcripts for destruction by the nonsense-mediated decay pathway. These alternative splice sites are typically found in highly conserved sequence elements, which also contain binding sites for factors regulating the activation of the splice sites. Often, the activation is achieved by binding of products of the gene in question, resulting in negative feedback loops. In this study, I show that U11-48K, a protein factor specific to the minor spliceosome, specifically recognizes the U12-type 5' splice site sequence, and is essential for proper function of the minor spliceosome. Furthermore, the expression of U11-48K is regulated through a feedback mechanism, which functions through conserved sequence elements that activate alternative splicing and nonsense-mediated decay. This mechanism is conserved from plants to animals, highlighting both the importance and early origin of this mechanism in regulating splicing factors. I also show that the feedback regulation of U11-48K is counteracted by a component of the major spliceosome, the U1 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particle, as well as members of the hnRNP F/H protein family. These results thus suggest that the feedback mechanism is finely tuned by multiple factors to achieve precise control of the activity of the U12-dependent spliceosome.

Field-dependent changeover from current-to voltage-limiting characteristics by non-linear n-type BaTiO3 ceramics

Non-linear resistors having current-limiting capabilities at lower field strengths, and voltage-limiting characteristics (varistors) at higher field strengths, were prepared from sintered polycrystalline ceramics of (Ba0.6Sr0.4)(Ti0.97Zr0.03)O3+0.3 at % La, and reannealed after painting with low-melting mixtures of Bi2O3 + PbO +B2O3. These types of non-linear characteristics were found to depend upon the non-uniform diffusion of lead and the consequent distribution of Curie points (T c) in these perovskites, resulting in diffuse phase transitions. Tunnelling of electrons across the asymmetric barrier at tetragonak-cubic interfaces changes to tunnelling across the symmetric barrier as the cubic phase is fully stabilized through Joule heating at high field strengths. Therefore the current-limiting characteristics switch over to voltage-limiting behaviour because tunnelling to acceptor-type mid-bandgap states gives way to band-to-band tunnelling.

High accuracy curve fits for chirality, length and diameter dependent initial modulus of single walled carbon nanotubes

Many previous studies regarding the estimation of mechanical properties of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) report that, the modulus of SWCNTs is chirality, length and diameter dependent. Here, this dependence is quantitatively described in terms of high accuracy curve fit equations. These equations allow us to estimate the modulus of long SWCNTs (lengths of about 100-120 nm) if the value at the prescribed low lengths (lengths of about 5-10 nm) is known. This is supposed to save huge computational time and expense. Also, based on the observed length dependent behavior of SWCNT initial modulus, we predict that, SWCNT mechanical properties such as Young's modulus, secant modulus, maximum tensile strength, failure strength, maximum tensile strain and failure strain might also exhibit the length dependent behavior along with chirality and length dependence. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Length-scale-dependent ensemble-averaged conductance of a 1D disordered conductor: Conductance minimum

An exact numerical calculation of ensemble-averaged length-scale-dependent conductance for the one-dimensional Anderson model is shown to support an earlier conjecture for a conductance minimum. The numerical results can be understood in terms of the Thouless expression for the conductance and the Wigner level-spacing statistics.

Temperature dependent electrical transport behavior of InN/GaN heterostructure based Schottky diodes

InN/GaN heterostructure based Schottky diodes were fabricated by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The temperature dependent electrical transport properties were carried out for InN/GaN heterostructure. The barrier height and the ideality factor of the Schottky diodes were found to be temperature dependent. The temperature dependence of the barrier height indicates that the Schottky barrier height is inhomogeneous in nature at the heterostructure interface. The higher value of the ideality factor and its temperature dependence suggest that the current transport is primarily dominated by thermionic field emission (TFE) other than thermionic emission (TE). The room temperature barrier height obtained by using TE and TFE models were 1.08 and 1.43 eV, respectively. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. doi: 10.1063/1.3549685]

Supercritical age-dependent branching Markov processes and their scaling limits

This paper studies the long-time behavior of the empirical distribution of age and normalized position of an age-dependent supercritical branching Markov process. The motion of each individual during its life is a random function of its age. It is shown that the empirical distribution of the age and the normalized position of all individuals alive at time t converges as t -> infinity to a deterministic product measure.

Augmentation of murine natural killer cell and antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity activities by phyllanthus emblica, a new immunomodulator

When administered orally, Phyllanthus emblica, an excellent source of vitamin C (ascorbate), has been found to enhance natural killer (NK) cell activity and antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) in syngeneic BALB/c mice, bearing Dalton's lymphoma ascites (DLA) tumor. P. emblica elicited a 2-fold increase in splenic NK cell activity on day 3 post tumor inoculation. Enhanced activity was highly significant on days 3, 5, 7 and 9 after tumor inoculation with respect to the untreated tumor bearing control. A significant enhancement in ADCC was documented on days 3, 7, 9, 11 and 13 in drug treated mice as compared to the control. An increase in life span (ILS) of 35% was recorded in tumor bearing mice treated with P. emblica. This increased survival was completely abrogated when NK cell and killer (K) cell activities were depleted either by cyclophosphamide or anti-asialo-GM, antibody treatment. These results indicate: (a) an absolute requirement for a functional NK cell or K cell population in order that P. emblica can exert its effect on tumor bearing animals, and (b) the antitumor activity of P. emblica is mediated primarily through the ability of the drug to augment natural cell mediated cytotoxicity.