Transport through an electrostatically defined quantum dot lattice in a two-dimensional electron gas

Quantum dot lattices (QDLs) have the potential to allow for the tailoring of optical, magnetic, and electronic properties of a user-defined artificial solid. We use a dual gated device structure to controllably tune the potential landscape in a GaAs/AlGaAs two-dimensional electron gas, thereby enabling the formation of a periodic QDL. The current-voltage characteristics, I (V), follow a power law, as expected for a QDL. In addition, a systematic study of the scaling behavior of I (V) allows us to probe the effects of background disorder on transport through the QDL. Our results are particularly important for semiconductor-based QDL architectures which aim to probe collective phenomena.

Albedo enhancement over land to counteract global warming: impacts on hydrological cycle

A recent modelling study has shown that precipitation and runoff over land would increase when the reflectivity of marine clouds is increased to counter global warming. This implies that large scale albedo enhancement over land could lead to a decrease in runoff over land. In this study, we perform simulations using NCAR CAM3.1 that have implications for Solar Radiation Management geoengineering schemes that increase the albedo over land. We find that an increase in reflectivity over land that mitigates the global mean warming from a doubling of CO2 leads to a large residual warming in the southern hemisphere and cooling in the northern hemisphere since most of the land is located in northern hemisphere. Precipitation and runoff over land decrease by 13.4 and 22.3%, respectively, because of a large residual sinking motion over land triggered by albedo enhancement over land. Soil water content also declines when albedo over land is enhanced. The simulated magnitude of hydrological changes over land are much larger when compared to changes over oceans in the recent marine cloud albedo enhancement study since the radiative forcing over land needed (-8.2 W m(-2)) to counter global mean radiative forcing from a doubling of CO2 (3.3 W m(-2)) is approximately twice the forcing needed over the oceans (-4.2 W m(-2)). Our results imply that albedo enhancement over oceans produce climates closer to the unperturbed climate state than do albedo changes on land when the consequences on land hydrology are considered. Our study also has important implications for any intentional or unintentional large scale changes in land surface albedo such as deforestation/afforestation/reforestation, air pollution, and desert and urban albedo modification.

Anthracene-Containing Conjugated Polymer Showing Four Optical Transitions Upon Doping: A Spectroscopic Study

An anthracene-containing poly(arylene-ethynylene)-alt-poly(arylene-vinylene) (PAE-PAV) of general constitutional unit (PhCCAnthrCCPhCHCHAnthrCHCH)(n) bearing two 2-ethylhexyloxy solubilizing side chains on each phenylene (Ph) unit has been synthesized and characterized. The basic electrochemical characterization was done, showing the existence of two non-reversible oxidation and one reversible reduction peaks. The optical properties, the real and imaginary part of the dielectric function, were probed using spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE). The vibrational structure of the undoped/doped polymer was investigated using Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy. A strong change in the polaronic absorption was observed during the doping, which after modeling revealed the existence of two separated transitions. The optical changes upon doping were additionally recorded using the SE technique. Similar to the results from FT-IR spectroscopy, two new in-the-gap absorptions were found. Moreover, the electrical conductivity as well as the mobility of positive carriers were measured. In the undoped state, the conductivity of the polymer was found to be below the detection limit (

Thermal and Sonochemical Degradation Kinetics of Poly(n-butyl methacrylate-co-alkyl acrylates): Variation of Chain Strength and Stability with Copolymer Composition

The thermal degradation of poly(n-butyl methacrylate-co-alkyl acrylate) was compared with ultrasonic degradation. For this purpose, different compositions of poly (n-butyl methacrylate-co-methyl acrylate) (PBMAMA) and a particular composition of poly(n-butyl methacrylate-co-ethyl acrylate) (PBMAEA) and poly(n-butyl methacrylate-co-butyl acrylate) (PBMABA) were synthesized and characterized. The thermal degradation of polymers shows that the poly(alkyl acrylates) degrade in a single stage by random chain scission and poly(n-butyl methacrylate) degrades in two stages. The number of stages of thermal degradation of copolymers was same as the majority component of the copolymer. The activation energy corresponding to random chain scission increased and then decreased with an increase of n-butyl methacrylate fraction in copolymer. The effect of methyl acrylate content, alkyl acrylate substituent, and solvents on the ultrasonic degradation of these copolymers was investigated. A continuous distribution kinetics model was used to determine the degradation rate coefficients. The degradation rate coefficient of PBMAMA varied nonlinearly with n-butyl methacrylate content. The degradation of poly (n-butyl methacrylate-co-alkyl acrylate) followed the order: PBMAMA < PBMAEA < PBMABA. The variation in the degradation rate constant with composition of the copolymer was discussed in relation to the competing effects of the stretching of the polymer in solution and the electron displacement in the main chain. (C) 2012 Society of Plastics Engineers

Electrostatic modulation of periodic potentials in a two-dimensional electron gas: from antidot lattice to quantum dot lattice

We use a dual gated device structure to introduce a gate-tuneable periodic potential in a GaAs/AlGaAs two dimensional electron gas (2DEG). Using only a suitable choice of gate voltages we can controllably alter the potential landscape of the bare 2DEG, inducing either a periodic array of antidots or quantum dots. Antidots are artificial scattering centers, and therefore allow for a study of electron dynamics. In particular, we show that the thermovoltage of an antidot lattice is particularly sensitive to the relative positions of the Fermi level and the antidot potential. A quantum dot lattice, on the other hand, provides the opportunity to study correlated electron physics. We find that its current-voltage characteristics display a voltage threshold, as well as a power law scaling, indicative of collective Coulomb blockade in a disordered background.

Progress in tuberculosis vaccine development and host-directed therapies-a state of the art review

Tuberculosis continues to kill 1.4 million people annually. During the past 5 years, an alarming increase in the number of patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis has been noted, particularly in eastern Europe, Asia, and southern Africa. Treatment outcomes with available treatment regimens for drug-resistant tuberculosis are poor. Although substantial progress in drug development for tuberculosis has been made, scientific progress towards development of interventions for prevention and improvement of drug treatment outcomes have lagged behind. Innovative interventions are therefore needed to combat the growing pandemic of multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis. Novel adjunct treatments are needed to accomplish improved cure rates for multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis. A novel, safe, widely applicable, and more effective vaccine against tuberculosis is also desperately sought to achieve disease control. The quest to develop a universally protective vaccine for tuberculosis continues. So far, research and development of tuberculosis vaccines has resulted in almost 20 candidates at different stages of the clinical trial pipeline. Host-directed therapies are now being developed to refocus the anti-Mycobacterium tuberculosis-directed immune responses towards the host; a strategy that could be especially beneficial for patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis or extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis. As we are running short of canonical tuberculosis drugs, more attention should be given to host-directed preventive and therapeutic intervention measures.

Observation of correlated spin-orbit order in a strongly anisotropic quantum wire system

Quantum wires with spin-orbit coupling provide a unique opportunity to simultaneously control the coupling strength and the screened Coulomb interactions where new exotic phases of matter can be explored. Here we report on the observation of an exotic spin-orbit density wave in Pb-atomic wires on Si(557) surfaces by mapping out the evolution of the modulated spin-texture at various conditions with spin-and angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy. The results are independently quantified by surface transport measurements. The spin polarization, coherence length, spin dephasing rate and the associated quasiparticle gap decrease simultaneously as the screened Coulomb interaction decreases with increasing excess coverage, providing a new mechanism for generating and manipulating a spin-orbit entanglement effect via electronic interaction. Despite clear evidence of spontaneous spin-rotation symmetry breaking and modulation of spin-momentum structure as a function of excess coverage, the average spin polarization over the Brillouin zone vanishes, indicating that time-reversal symmetry is intact as theoretically predicted.

A controller design method for 3 phase 4 wire grid connected VSI with LCL filter

Closed loop control of a grid connected VSI requires line current control and dc bus voltage control. The closed loop system comprising PR current controller and grid connected VSI with LCL filter is a higher order system. Closed loop control gain expressions are therefore difficult to obtain directly for such systems. In this work a simplified approach has been adopted to find current and voltage controller gain expressions for a 3 phase 4 wire grid connected VSI with LCL filter. The closed loop system considered here utilises PR current controller in natural reference frame and PI controller for dc bus voltage control. Asymptotic frequency response plot and gain bandwidth requirements of the system have been used for current control and voltage controller design. A simplified lower order model, derived for closed loop current control, is used for the dc bus voltage controller design. The adopted design method has been verified through experiments by comparison of the time domain response.

Definition of a serum marker panel for glioblastoma discrimination and identification of Interleukin 1 beta in the microglial secretome as a novel mediator of endothelial cell survival induced by C-reactive protein

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common malignant adult primary brain tumor. We profiled 724 cancer-associated proteins in sera of healthy individuals (n = 27) and GBM (n = 28) using antibody microarray. While 69 proteins exhibited differential abundance in GBM sera, a three-marker panel (LYAM1, BHE40 and CRP) could discriminate GBM sera from that of healthy donors with an accuracy of 89.7% and p < 0.0001. The high abundance of C-reactive protein (CRP) in GBM sera was confirmed in 264 independent samples. High levels of CRP protein was seen in GBM but without a change in transcript levels suggesting a non-tumoral origin. Glioma-secreted Interleukin 6 (IL6) was found to induce hepatocytes to secrete CRP, involving JAK-STAT pathway. The culture supernatant from CRP-treated microglial cells induced endothelial cell survival under nutrient-deprivation condition involving CRP-Fc gamma RIII signaling cascade. Transcript profiling of CRP-treated microglial cells identified Interleukin 1 beta (IL1 beta) present in the microglial secretome as the key mediator of CRP-induced endothelial cell survival. IL1 beta neutralization by antibody-binding or siRNA-mediated silencing in microglial cells reduced the ability of the supernatant from CRP-treated microglial cells to induce endothelial cell survival. Thus our study identifies a serum based three-marker panel for GBM diagnosis and provides leads for developing targeted therapies. Biological significance A complex antibody microarray based serum marker profiling identified a three-marker panel - LYAM1, BHE40 and CRP as an accurate discriminator of glioblastoma sera from that of healthy individuals. CRP protein is seen in high levels without a concomitant increase of CRP transcripts in glioblastoma. Glioma-secreted IL6 induced hepatocytes to produce CRP in a JAK-STAT signaling dependent manner. CRP induced microglial cells to release IL1 beta which in turn promoted endothelial cell survival. This study, besides defining a serum panel for glioblastoma discrimination, identified IL1 beta as a potential candidate for developing targeted therapy. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Finite Element Solutions for Plane Strain Mode I Crack with Strain Grading Effect

In this paper, a new phenomenological theory with strain gradient effects is proposed to account for the size dependence of plastic deformation at micro- and submicro-length scales. The theory fits within the framework of general couple stress theory and three rotational degrees of freedom omega(i) are introduced in addition to the conventional three translational degrees of freedom mu(i). omega(i) is called micro-rotation and is the sum of material rotation plus the particles' relative rotation. While the new theory is used to analyze the crack tip field or the indentation problems, the stretch gradient is considered through a new hardening law. The key features of the theory are that the rotation gradient influences the material character through the interaction between the Cauchy stresses and the couple stresses; the term of stretch gradient is represented as an internal variable to increase the tangent modulus. In fact the present new strain gradient theory is the combination of the strain gradient theory proposed by Chen and Wang (Int. J. Plast., in press) and the hardening law given by Chen and Wang (Acta Mater. 48 (2000a) 3997). In this paper we focus on the finite element method to investigate material fracture for an elastic-power law hardening solid. With remotely imposed classical K fields, the full field solutions are obtained numerically. It is found that the size of the strain gradient dominance zone is characterized by the intrinsic material length l(1). Outside the strain gradient dominance zone, the computed stress field tends to be a classical plasticity field and then K field. The singularity of stresses ahead of the crack tip is higher than that of the classical field and tends to the square root singularity, which has important consequences for crack growth in materials by decohesion at the atomic scale. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Influencia de la rotación de cultivos y control de malezas sobre la cenosis y el crecimiento, desarrollo y rendimiento del cultivo de la soya (Glycine max (L) Merr) c.v. cristalina

Con el objetivo de determinar la influencia de dos rotaciones y tres métodos de control de malezas sobre el crecimiento, desarrollo y rendimiento de la soya se realizó un estudio en los terrenos de la Hacienda "Las Mercedes" en Managua, sobre un suelo de textura arcillosa. La siembra se realizó el siete de septiembre de 1990, utilizando un diseño en bloques completos al azar en parcelas divididas con cuatro réplicas. Siendo el factor "A": rotación; a3 = maíz, a4 = pepino; y el factor "B": Métodos de control de malezas; b1 = químico, b2 = período crítico, b3=limpia periódica. Los resultados reflejan que el cultivo antecedente maíz representa menor abundancia, cobertura y biomasa de malezas a la cosecha de la soya, siendo la especie más abundante Rottboellia cochinchinensis. El cultivo antecedente pepino presenta la menor diversidad, con mayor abundancia de la especie R. cochinchinensis seguida de Cyperus rotundus. Se obtuvieron diferencias significativas solamente en altura de planta a los 27 y 42 días después de la siembra a favor del cultivo antecedente maíz, también se obtuvo mayor número de plantas 39.4 pta/m2, altura de plantas 63.9 cm, número de vainas por plantas 13.92, número de ramas por planta 1.4, diámetro del tallo 3.98 mm, peso seco de paja 4824.5 kg/ha y rendimiento de grano 2289.42 kg/ha. Respecto a los métodos de control la menor abundancia, cobertura y biomasa de malezas se presentó en limpia periódica y el mayor valor el control químico fomesafén en post-emergencia. La diversidad al momento de la cosecha fue similar en los controles limpia periódica y período crítico. Las variables de crecimiento, desarrollo y rendimiento presentaron diferencias significativas para altura de plantas 67.3 cm a favor del control químico; número de semillas por vaina 2.80 a favor de periodo crítico; número de nódulos por planta en R5 14.25, número de ramas por planta 2.4, número de vainas 24.75, diámetro del tallo 5.0 mm, peso seco de paja 7645.8 kg/ha, peso de 1000 semillas 153 g y rendimiento del grano 4141.5 kg/ha a favor del control limpia periódica. En el control químico se presentó el menor número de semillas por vaina 2.55, vainas por planta 5.5, peso seco de nódulos: R1=0.15 g/pta y R5=0.34 g/pta y rendimiento con 832 kg/ha.

Efecto de herbicidas y mezclas sobre la cenosis, crecimiento, desarrollo y rendimiento del sorgo (Sorghum bicolor (L) Moench)

El crecimiento rápido de las áreas sorgueras, ha acarreado consigo problemas que afectan la producción, siendo uno de ellos el manejo de las malezas. Problema que se he acentuado por el uso incorrecto de herbicidas a base de atrazina. Es así que durante la época de postrera de 1988, en el Centro Nacional de Granos Básicos "Humberto Tapia Barquero", ubicado en el municipio de Manamos Región III se llevó a cabo el presente estudio con el objetivo de determinar el afecto de la terbutilazina en diferentes dosis y momentos de aplicación y la mezcla de metolacloro con este Ingrediente. Ademán se evaluó el efecto de la formulación Primextra 500-FW (atratina + metolaclorol y la mezcla física de estos ingredientes activos. sobre el control de las malezas. el crecimento, desarrollo y rendimiento del cultivo del sorgo. Para determinar PI efecto de los tratamientos sobre el control de malezas se realizaron muestreos de abundancia a los 9. 24. 39 PDS y a la cosecha, utilizando 1 m2 como área de muestreo. Además se tomaron datos de porcentajes de cobertura, peso poco de malezas y diversidad de las especies. Para evaluar el efecto de los tratamientos sobre la fenología del cultivo, se midieron las variables plántulas emergidas, fitotoxicidad, días a floración, altura de plantas, excersión, tamaño de panoja, número de Plantan y panojas a cosechar, peso de 1000 semillas, rendimiento de grano y peso seco del cultivo. Los resultados mostraron que el tratamiento mezcla 1.1 kg/ha atrazina + 1.3 kg/ha metolcloro pre-emergente presentó la menor abundancia total de malezas durante el ciclo del cultivo. Sin embargo causó toxicidad al mismo. Terbutilazina aplicada en post-emergencia realizó un buen control de Poaceas, Dicotiledóneas v Cyperaceas, al mismo tiempo redujo la diversidad de especies. El % de cobertura fue afectado por los tratamientos, sin embargo esto no afecto el rendimiento. La mayor acumulación de peso seco da malezas se presentó en los tratamientos con metolacloro al dejar vacíos en las parcelas. Los tratamientos con metolacloro afectaron las variables plántulas emergías, altura de planta. población. número de panoja. peso 1000 semillas v peso seco del cultivo por causar fitotoxicidad al Cultivo, sin embargo. el rendimento de grano no fue afectado significativamente.