BINA

We demonstrate the shaping and focusing of a probe IR (λ= 1.55 μm) laser beam in silicon. The shaping was done by a second pump laser beam at λ= 0.775 μm and 30ps pulse width which simultaneously and collinearly, illuminates the silicon surface with the IR beam. The shaped probe beam will be used in silicon nanoscopy.

Olivine LiCoPO 4 (LCP) exhibits a rare combination of high theoretical capacity (167 mAh g− 1), excellent thermal stability, and high redox potential (4.8 V vs vs Li/Li+), making it a promising candidate for high voltage lithium batteries. Despite these attractive properties, practical implementation of this electrode chemistry has been limited by stability issues at the cathode-electrolyte interface, including parasitic electrolyte reactions, surface decomposition of the electrode material, and Co dissolution. Carbon coating and substitutions of Co by Fe and other cations improve the performance, however the cycling stability needs further improvement. In an effort to address these issues, we deposited thin, conformal metal oxide surface coatings on substituted LCP powder and investigated the effects of these coatings on the performance of carbon-coated substituted LCP/MCMB graphite full cells with a standard carbonate …

CuO, TiO 2, or SiO 2 was decorated on polyaniline (PANI) by a sonochemical method, and their antimicrobial properties were investigated for two common Gram-negative pathogens: Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (KP). Without PANI, CuO, TiO 2, or SiO 2 with a concentration of 220 µg/mL exhibited no antimicrobial activities. In contrast, PANI-CuO and PANI-TiO 2 (1 mg/mL, each) completely suppressed the PA growth after 6 h of exposure, compared to 12 h for the PANI-SiO 2 at the same concentration. The damage caused by PANI-SiO 2 to KP was less effective, compared to that of PANI-TiO 2 with the eradication time of 12 h versus 6 h, respectively. This bacterium was not affected by PANI-CuO. All the composites bind tightly to the negative groups of bacteria cell walls to compromise their regular activities, leading to the damage of the cell wall envelope and eventual cell lysis. View Full-Text

Detailed in operando studies of electrochemically induced PbBrF deposition at the liquid mercury/liquid electrolyte interface are presented. The nucleation and growth were monitored using time-resolved X-ray diffraction and reflectivity combined with electrochemical measurements, revealing a complex potential-dependent behavior. PbBrF deposition commences at potentials above −0.7 V with the rapid formation of an ultrathin adlayer of one unit cell thickness, on top of which (001)-oriented three-dimensional crystallites are formed. Two potential regimes are identified. At low overpotentials, slow growth of a low surface density film of large crystals is observed. At high overpotentials, crossover to a potential-independent morphology occurs, consisting of a compact PbBrF deposit with a saturation thickness of 25 nm, which forms within a few minutes. This potential behavior can be rationalized by the increasing …

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are brain‐abundant RNAs of mostly unknown functions. To seek their roles in Parkinson's disease (PD), we generated an RNA sequencing resource of several brain region tissues from dozens of PD and control donors. In the healthy substantia nigra (SN), circRNAs accumulate in an age‐dependent manner, but in the PD SN this correlation is lost and the total number of circRNAs reduced. In contrast, the levels of circRNAs are increased in the other studied brain regions of PD patients. We also found circSLC8A1 to increase in the SN of PD individuals. CircSLC8A1 carries 7 binding sites for miR‐128 and is strongly bound to the microRNA effector protein Ago2. Indeed, RNA targets of miR‐128 are also increased in PD individuals, suggesting that circSLC8A1 regulates miR‐128 function and/or activity. CircSLC8A1 levels also increased in cultured cells exposed to the oxidative stress …

Owing to high energy density and economic viability, rechargeable Mg batteries are considered alternatives to lithium ion batteries. However besides the chevrel phase, none of the conventional inorganic cathode materials demonstrate reversible intercalation/deintercalation of Mg+2 ions in an anhydrous electrolyte system. The lack of high voltage and high capacity cathode frustrates the realization of Mg batteries. Previous studies indicate that vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) has the potential to reversibly insert/extract Mg ions. However, many attempts to utilize V2O5 demonstrate limited electrochemical response, due to hindered Mg ion mobility in solid. Here, monodispersed spherical V2O5 with a hierarchical architecture is rationally designed, through a facile and scalable approach. The V2O5 spheres exhibit initial discharge capacity of 225 mA h g−1 which stabilizes at ≈190 mA h g−1 at 10 mA g−1, much higher …

Today, the development of innovative methods for production of organic compounds from natural resources is essential topic for many research groups in the worldwide. Levulinic acid is a platform for many important organic processes in the synthesis of natural products, pharmaceuticals, plasticizers, drugs and various other additives. In addition, 1,4-pentanediol which is a product of reduction of levulinic acid, is a valuable raw material in the chemical industry. Here, we report a highly efficient method for the production of levulinic acid from Chlorella ohadi algae using hydrothermal hydrolysis process by using HCl. Our methodology shows that the levulinic acid can be obtained in almost 90% molar yield compared to the glucose in Chlorella ohadi. Finally, we describe a one step reaction for the completely conversion of levulinic acid into 1,4-pentadiol in water using S. cerevisiae yeast as a catalyst.

Biological logic gates are smart probes able to respond to biological conditions in behaviors similar to computer logic gates, and they pose a promising challenge for modern medicine. Researchers are creating many kinds of smart nanostructures that can respond to various biological parameters such as pH, ion presence, and enzyme activity. Each of these conditions alone might be interesting in a biological sense, but their interactions are what define specific disease conditions. Researchers over the past few decades have developed a plethora of stimuli‐responsive nanodevices, from activatable fluorescent probes to DNA origami nanomachines, many explicitly defining logic operations. Whereas many smart configurations have been explored, in this review we focus on logic operations actuated through fluorescent signals. We discuss the applicability of fluorescence as a means of logic gate implementation …

We propose employing a quantum heat engine as a sensitive probe for thermal baths. In particular, we study a single-atom Otto engine operating in an open thermodynamic cycle. Owing to its cyclic nature, the engine is capable of translating small temperature differences between two baths into a macroscopic oscillation in a flywheel. We present analytical and numerical modeling of the quantum dynamics of the engine and estimate it to be capable of detecting temperature differences as small as 2 μK. This sensitivity can be further improved by utilizing quantum resources such as squeezing of the ion motion. The proposed scheme does not require quantum state initialization and is able to detect small temperature differences in a wide range of base temperatures.

The standard approach to deriving fluctuation theorems fails to capture the effect of quantum correlation and coherence in the initial state of the system. Here, we overcome this difficulty and derive the heat-exchange-fluctuation theorem in the full quantum regime by showing that the energy exchange between two locally thermal states in the presence of initial quantum correlations is faithfully captured by a quasiprobability distribution. Its negativities, being associated with proofs of contextuality, are proxies of nonclassicality. We discuss the thermodynamic interpretation of negative probabilities and provide heat-flow inequalities that can only be violated in their presence. Remarkably, testing these fully quantum inequalities, at an arbitrary dimension, is no more difficult than testing traditional fluctuation theorems. We test these results on data collected in a recent experiment studying the heat transfer between two …

Detailed in operando studies of electrochemically induced PbBrF deposition at the liquid mercury/liquid electrolyte interface are presented. The nucleation and growth were monitored using time-resolved X-ray diffraction and reflectivity combined with electrochemical measurements, revealing a complex potential-dependent behavior. PbBrF deposition commences at potentials above −0.7 V with the rapid formation of an ultrathin adlayer of one unit cell thickness, on top of which (001)-oriented three-dimensional crystallites are formed. Two potential regimes are identified. At low overpotentials, slow growth of a low surface density film of large crystals is observed. At high overpotentials, crossover to a potential-independent morphology occurs, consisting of a compact PbBrF deposit with a saturation thickness of 25 nm, which forms within a few minutes. This potential behavior can be rationalized by the increasing …

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RNA-binding proteins, particularly splicing factors, localize to sub-nuclear domains termed nuclear speckles. During certain viral infections, as the nucleus fills up with replicating virus compartments, host cell chromatin distribution changes, ending up condensed at the nuclear periphery. In this study we wished to determine the fate of nucleoplasmic RNA-binding proteins and nuclear speckles during the lytic cycle of the Kaposi’s sarcoma associated herpesvirus (KSHV). We found that nuclear speckles became fewer and dramatically larger, localizing at the nuclear periphery, adjacent to the marginalized chromatin. Enlarged nuclear speckles contained splicing factors, whereas other proteins were nucleoplasmically dispersed. Polyadenylated RNA, typically found in nuclear speckles under regular conditions, was also found in foci separated from nuclear speckles in infected cells. Poly (A) foci did not contain lncRNAs known to colocalize with nuclear speckles but contained the poly (A)-binding protein PABPN1. Examination of the localization of spliced viral RNAs revealed that some spliced transcripts could be detected within the nuclear speckles. Since splicing is required for the maturation of certain KSHV transcripts, we suggest that the infected cell does not dismantle nuclear speckles but rearranges their components at the nuclear periphery to possibly serve in splicing and transport of viral RNAs into the cytoplasm. View Full-Text

We describe an alternating current method to measure the Nernst effect in superconducting thin films at low temperatures. The Nernst effect is an important tool in the understanding of superconducting fluctuations and, in particular, vortex motion near critical points. However, in most materials, the Nernst signal in a typical experimental setup rarely exceeds a few μV, in some cases being as low as a few nV. DC measurements of such small signals require extensive signal processing and protection against stray pickups and offsets, limiting the sensitivity of such measurements to >1 nV. Here, we describe a method utilizing a one-heater-two-thermometer setup with the heating element and thermometers fabricated on-chip with the sample, which helped to reduce the thermal load and temperature lag between the substrate and the thermometer. Using AC heating power and 2ω measurement, we are able to achieve …

Battery reliability and safety are two key issues critically affecting the sustainability of battery technology and the entire supply chain. Reliability and safety are interrelated and inseparable. In this focus issue, sixty (60) articles have been published online. This is quite an accomplishment for the Journal of The Electrochemical Society, indicative of the importance of this subject matter. We would like to take this opportunity to emphasize the meaning of reliability and safety in a proper context. Reliability, in principle, refers to a cell’s ability to sustain its functionality for the intended use, not only in performance but also in consistency for all aspects of the functions and for resilience in the event of failures. The reliability issues could range from a material’s electrochemical stability, an electrode’s architectural stability, and a cell’s energetic stability under the influences of external stress factors (such as mechanical stresses …

Purpose: Photoreceptor precursor cells (PRPs) differentiated from human embryonic stem cells can serve as a source for cell replacement therapy aimed at vision restoration in patients suffering from degenerative diseases of the outer retina, such as retinitis pigmentosa and AMD. In this work, we studied the electrophysiologic maturation of PRPs throughout the differentiation process.Methods: Human embryonic stem cells were differentiated into PRPs and whole-cell recordings were performed for electrophysiologic characterization at days 0, 30, 60, and 90 along with quantitative PCR analysis to characterize the expression level of various ion channels, which shape the electrophysiologic response. Finally, to characterize the electrically induced calcium currents, we employed calcium imaging (rhod4) to visualize intracellular calcium dynamics in response to electrical activation.Results: Our results revealed an early and steady presence (approximately 100% of responsive cells) of the delayed potassium rectifier current. In contrast, the percentage of cells exhibiting voltage-gated sodium currents increased with maturation (from 0% to almost 90% of responsive cells at 90 days). Moreover, calcium imaging revealed the presence of voltage-gated calcium currents, which play a major role in vision formation. These results were further supported by quantitative PCR analysis, which revealed a significant and continuous (3-to 50-fold) increase in the expression of various voltage-gated channels concomitantly with the increase in the expression of the photoreceptor marker CRX.Conclusions: These results can shed light on the electrophysiologic …

We showed theoretically that the phase modulation of the output of a single optical parametric oscillator can be used to generate a square-grid cluster state, a key resource for universal quantum computing.

Coupled parametric oscillators were recently employed as simulators of artificial Ising networks, with the potential to solve computationally hard minimization problems. We demonstrate a new dynamical regime within the simplest network—two coupled parametric oscillators, where the oscillators never reach a steady state, but show persistent, full-scale, coherent beats, whose frequency reflects the coupling properties and strength. We present a detailed theoretical and experimental study and show that this new dynamical regime appears over a wide range of parameters near the oscillation threshold and depends on the nature of the coupling (dissipative or energy preserving). Thus, a system of coupled parametric oscillators transcends the Ising description and manifests unique coherent dynamics, which may have important implications for coherent computation machines.

The protein translocated intimin receptor (Tir) from enteropathogenic Escherichia coli shares sequence similarity with the host cellular immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibition motifs (ITIMs). The ITIMs of Tir are required for Tir-mediated immune inhibition and evasion of host immune responses. However, the underlying molecular mechanism by which Tir regulates immune inhibition remains unclear. Here we demonstrated that β-arrestin 2, which is involved in the G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) signal pathway, interacted with Tir in an ITIM-dependent manner. For the molecular mechanism, we found that β-arrestin 2 enhanced the recruitment of SHP-1 to Tir. The recruited SHP-1 inhibited K63-linked ubiquitination of TRAF6 by dephosphorylating TRAF6 at Tyr288, and inhibited K63-linked ubiquitination and phosphorylation of TAK1 by dephosphorylating TAK1 at Tyr206, which cut off the downstream signal …

The temperature (T) and cationic chain length (n) evolution of the nanoscale structure of the sub‐layering‐threshold members of a model family of room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) is investigated by x‐ray scattering. The measured curves are computer‐resolved into individual Teubner‐Strey‐like lineshapes. The polar‐apolar layering is found to start at . Opposite n‐trends are found at for the spacings and correlation lengths associated with the diffraction patterns’ two main peaks, and assigned to a shift of balance between the two main interactions, Coulomb and van der Waals, and to increasing packing constraints due to the addition of methylenes. The spacings’ thermal expansion coefficients are found to deviate from the macroscopically‐measured values, and to anomalously decrease with increasing temperature. Finally, the reduced temperature scale, , ( melting temperature), is demonstrated to render …

Polypyrrole grafted with chitosan (PPy-g-CS) and poly (pyrrole-N-(1-naphthyl) ethylenediamine, a copolymer, (COP) have been synthesized by a one-step microwave procedure with carbon dots(C-Dots) as initiators. The electrostatic interaction between the positively charged polymers and negatively charged microbial cell membranes is widely anticipated to be responsible for cellular lysis. However, Escherichia coli exposed to PPy-g-CS (zeta potential = +46.9 mV) was completely perished after 3 h while COP (zeta potential = +64.1 mV) exhibited no antimicrobial effect. The two polymers were capable of eradicating Staphylococcus aureus, implying the charged effect is the main mechanism of cell death. The two polymers could also chelate calcium and other nutrients as well as form an external barrier to suppress the penetration of essential nutrients to support microbial survival and proliferation. In particular …