Coherent quantum dynamics of a superconducting flux qubit

We have observed coherent time evolution between two quantum states of a superconducting flux qubit comprising three Josephson junctions in a loop. The superposition of the two states carrying opposite macroscopic persistent currents is manipulated by resonant microwave pulses. Readout by means of switching-event measurement with an attached superconducting quantum interference device revealed quantum-state oscillations with high fidelity. Under strong microwave driving, it was possible to induce hundreds of coherent oscillations. Pulsed operations on this first sample yielded a relaxation time of 900 nanoseconds and a free-induction dephasing time of 20 nanoseconds. These results are promising for future solid-state quantum computing.     

A metalloprotease disintegrin that controls cell migration in Caenorhabditis elegans

In Caenorhabditis elegans, the gonad acquires two U-shaped arms by the directed migration of its distal tip cells (DTCs) along the body wall basement membranes. Correct migration of DTCs requires the mig-17 gene, which encodes a member of the metalloprotease-disintegrin protein family. The MIG-17 protein is secreted from muscle cells of the body wall and localizes in the basement membranes of gonad. This localization is dependent on the disintegrin-like domain of MIG-17 and its catalytic activity. These results suggest that the MIG-17 metalloprotease directs migration of DTCs by remodeling the basement membrane.     

Bacterial taxa that limit sulfur flux from the ocean

Flux of dimethylsulfide (DMS) from ocean surface waters is the predominant natural source of sulfur to the atmosphere and influences climate by aerosol formation. Marine bacterioplankton regulate sulfur flux by converting the precursor dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) either to DMS or to sulfur compounds that are not climatically active. Through the discovery of a glycine cleavage T-family protein with DMSP methyltransferase activity, marine bacterioplankton in the Roseobacter and SAR11 taxa were identified as primary mediators of DMSP demethylation to methylmercaptopropionate. One-third of surface ocean bacteria harbor a DMSP demethylase homolog and thereby route a substantial fraction of global marine primary production away from DMS formation and into the marine microbial food web.     

Numerical evidence that the motion of pluto is chaotic

The Digital Orrery has been used to perform an integration of the motion of the outer planets for 845 million years. This integration indicates that the long-term motion of the planet Pluto is chaotic. Nearby trajectories diverge exponentially with an e-folding time of only about 20 million years.     

Checkpoints: controls that ensure the order of cell cycle events

The events of the cell cycle of most organisms are ordered into dependent pathways in which the initiation of late events is dependent on the completion of early events. In eukaryotes, for example, mitosis is dependent on the completion of DNA synthesis. Some dependencies can be relieved by mutation (mitosis may then occur before completion of DNA synthesis), suggesting that the dependency is due to a control mechanism and not an intrinsic feature of the events themselves. Control mechanisms enforcing dependency in the cell cycle are here called checkpoints. Elimination of checkpoints may result in cell death, infidelity in the distribution of chromosomes or other organelles, or increased susceptibility to environmental perturbations such as DNA damaging agents. It appears that some checkpoints are eliminated during the early embryonic development of some organisms; this fact may pose special problems for the fidelity of embryonic cell division.     

A distinct endothelial cell recognition system that controls lymphocyte traffic into inflamed synovium

Lymphocytes are essential mediators of normal tissue inflammatory reactions and of pathologic tissue damage in, for example, rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases. In a study of the mechanisms controlling lymphocyte entry into sites of inflammation from the blood, the function and specificity of lymphocyte-endothelial interactions were examined in inflamed joint tissue (synovium) from patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Synovial high endothelial venules (HEV) supported the binding of normal peripheral blood lymphocytes in vitro. The characteristics of this binding, which were similar to those of lymphocyte-HEV interactions controlling lymphocyte migration into organized lymphoid tissues, included a requirement for calcium ions, a dependence on metabolic activity, and a preferential adherence of circulating lymphocytes as opposed to immature thymocytes. However, the binding of lymphocytes to synovial HEV was not inhibited by a monoclonal antibody to lymphocyte receptors for lymph node HEV, and synovial HEV failed to bind either lymph node HEV-specific or mucosal HEV-specific B lymphoblastoid cells. The results suggest that a lymphocyte-endothelial cell recognition system that is distinct from such systems in organized lymphoid tissues directs the extravasation of normal lymphocytes as well as pathologically important effector cells into inflamed synovium.     

A bacterial toxin that controls cell cycle progression as a deoxyribonuclease I-like protein

Many bacterial pathogens encode a multisubunit toxin, termed cytolethal distending toxin (CDT), that induces cell cycle arrest, cytoplasm distention, and, eventually, chromatin fragmentation and cell death. In one such pathogen, Campylobacter jejuni, one of the subunits of this toxin, CdtB, was shown to exhibit features of type I deoxyribonucleases. Transient expression of this subunit in cultured cells caused marked chromatin disruption. Microinjection of low amounts of CdtB induced cytoplasmic distention and cell cycle arrest. CdtB mutants with substitutions in residues equivalent to those required for catalysis or magnesium binding in type I deoxyribonucleases did not cause chromatin disruption. CDT holotoxin containing these mutant forms of CdtB did not induce morphological changes or cell cycle arrest.     

Photoinduction of fast, reversible translational motion in a hydrogen-bonded molecular shuttle

A rotaxane is described in which a macrocycle moves reversibly between two hydrogen-bonding stations after a nanosecond laser pulse. Observation of transient changes in the optical absorption spectrum after photoexcitation allows direct quantitative monitoring of the submolecular translational process. The rate of shuttling was determined and the influence of the surrounding medium was studied: At room temperature in acetonitrile, the photoinduced movement of the macrocycle to the second station takes about 1 microsecond and, after charge recombination (about 100 microseconds), the macrocycle shuttles back to its original position. The process is reversible and cyclable and has properties characteristic of an energy-driven piston.     

Evolution of magnetic and superconducting fluctuations with doping of high-Tc superconductors

Electronic Raman scattering from high- and low-energy excitations was studied as a function of temperature, extent of hole doping, and energy of the incident photons in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+/-delta superconductors. For underdoped superconductors, short-range antiferromagnetic (AF) correlations were found to persist with hole doping, and doped single holes were found to be incoherent in the AF environment. Above the superconducting (SC) transition temperature Tc, the system exhibited a sharp Raman resonance of B1g symmetry and energy of 75 millielectron-volts and a pseudogap for electron-hole excitations below 75 millielectron-volts, a manifestation of a partially coherent state forming from doped incoherent quasi particles. The occupancy of the coherent state increases with cooling until phase ordering at Tc produces a global SC state.     

h/e magnetic flux modulation of the energy gap in nanotube quantum dots

We report experiments on quantum dot single-electron-tunneling (SET) transistors made from short multiwall nanotubes and threaded by magnetic flux. Such systems allow us to probe the electronic energy spectrum of the nanotube and its dependence on the magnetic field. Evidence is provided for the interconversion between gapped (semiconducting) and ungapped (metallic) states. Our tubes exhibit h/e-period magnetic flux dependence, in agreement with simple tight-binding calculations.     

保卫细胞液泡内pH调节的可逆解聚聚合颗粒物性质初探

为研究保卫细胞液泡(GCV)的pH在气孔保卫细胞渗透调节中的作用及蚕豆(Vicia faba)叶片气孔GCV中的颗粒物的性质,本实验采用激光共聚焦显微术配合pH荧光探针BCECF AM的荧光比值法对ABA诱导的气孔关闭过程进行观测,发现:蚕豆气孔关闭过程中GCV的pH升高约0.5(pH5.3→5.8)。分别用pH5.3和5.8的Mes/Tris缓冲液调控离体开放态GCV的pH,透射电镜(4×104倍)观察负染片说明:pH 5.3对开放态GCV液所含颗粒物的线度及分布密度无实质影响;而pH 5.8的处理使取自开放态GCV液所含颗粒物的线度明显增大、分布密度显著减小;非特异性蛋白酶Proteinase K处理可使GCV中的颗粒物消失。基于GCV内颗粒物的线度、形状及对pH调控和对Proteinase K处理的响应,推测此种颗粒物是蛋白质。     

Properties of bursicon: an insect protein hormone that controls cuticular tanning

On gel filtration the retention volume of bursicon indicates a molecular weight of about 40,000. On disc electrophoresis bursicon migrates toward the anode and appears at an R(F) (relative to the marker dye) of 0.3 to 0.4. The properties of fractions with bursicon activity in blood, brain, and ganglion of a fly (Sarcophaga bullata), and in blood, ganglion, and corpora cardiaca of a roach (Periplaneta americana) are similar, but not identical. Bursicon in the blood is more heat labile, and the activity in brain and corpora cardiaca shows two peaks in electrophoresis, instead of one as in the other fractions.     

均匀磁场中的辐射带电粒子的经典运动

在经典电动力学的基础上,讨论了辐射阻尼影响下非相对论性带电粒子在均匀磁场中的经典运动.导出了辐射带电粒子的运动方程（阿伯拉罕-洛仑兹方程）,利用微扰法求解该运动方程的初值,得到了带电粒子的轨道方程,得出带电粒子辐射功率随时间的变化规律,并讨论了所得结果的适用性.     

全球漏磁管道检测技术发明专利发展趋势

漏磁管道检测技术是一种应用较为广泛的无损检测技术。为了帮助中国企业了解更多的行业竞争态势,合理制定企业知识产权布局,对近年来漏磁检测技术相关专利信息进行了系统梳理。通过检索全球漏磁管道检测技术领域的专利信息,分析了漏磁管道检测技术在全球的专利布局情况和主要国家、主要申请人的专利布局策略。研究结果表明:近年来中国在漏磁管道检测技术方面的专利申请量和公开量增长迅猛,国外申请量保持平稳态势;国外主要申请人全部为企业,而中国主要申请人为高校、科研院所等,说明中国有大量研究成果尚停留在实验室阶段,有待实现产业应用。     

Resonant amplification of magnetic domain-wall motion by a train of current pulses

The current-induced motion of magnetic domain walls confined to nanostructures is of interest for applications in magnetoelectronic devices in which the domain wall serves as the logic gate or memory element. The injection of spin-polarized current below a threshold value through a domain wall confined to a pinning potential results in its precessional motion within the potential well. We show that by using a short train of current pulses, whose length and spacing are tuned to this precession frequency, the domain wall's oscillations can be resonantly amplified. This makes possible the motion of domain walls with much reduced currents, more than five times smaller than in the absence of resonant amplification.     

A plasminogen-activating protease specifically controls the development of primary pneumonic plague

Primary pneumonic plague is transmitted easily, progresses rapidly, and causes high mortality, but the mechanisms by which Yersinia pestis overwhelms the lungs are largely unknown. We show that the plasminogen activator Pla is essential for Y. pestis to cause primary pneumonic plague but is less important for dissemination during pneumonic plague than during bubonic plague. Experiments manipulating its temporal expression showed that Pla allows Y. pestis to replicate rapidly in the airways, causing a lethal fulminant pneumonia; if unexpressed, inflammation is aborted, and lung repair is activated. Inhibition of Pla expression prolonged the survival of animals with the disease, offering a therapeutic option to extend the period during which antibiotics are effective.     

A network of superconducting gravimeters detects submicrogal coseismic gravity changes

With high-resolution continuous gravity recordings from a regional network of superconducting gravimeters, we have detected permanent changes in gravity acceleration associated with a recent large earthquake. Detected changes in gravity acceleration are smaller than 10(-8) meters seconds(-2) (1 micro-Galileo, about 10(-9) times the surface gravity acceleration) and agree with theoretical values calculated from a dislocation model. Superconducting gravimetry can contribute to the studies of secular gravity changes associated with tectonic processes.     

A post-perovskite lens and D' heat flux beneath the central Pacific

Temperature gradients in a low-shear-velocity province in the lowermost mantle (D' region) beneath the central Pacific Ocean were inferred from the observation of a rapid S-wave velocity increase overlying a rapid decrease. These paired seismic discontinuities are attributed to a phase change from perovskite to post-perovskite and then back to perovskite as the temperature increases with depth. Iron enrichment could explain the occurrence of post-perovskite several hundred kilometers above the core-mantle boundary in this warm, chemically distinct province. The double phase-boundary crossing directly constrains the lowermost mantle temperature gradients. Assuming a standard but unconstrained choice of thermal conductivity, the regional core-mantle boundary heat flux (approximately 85 +/- 25 milliwatts per square meter), comparable to the average at Earth's surface, was estimated, along with a lower bound on global core-mantle boundary heat flow in the range of 13 +/- 4 terawatts. Mapped velocity-contrast variations indicate that the lens of post-perovskite minerals thins and vanishes over 1000 kilometers laterally toward the margin of the chemical distinct region as a result of a approximately 500-kelvin temperature increase.     

Metastability of superconducting compounds in the y-ba-cu-o system

Precision isothermal solution calorimetry was used to determine the standard-state enthalpy of formation of a number of phases in the Y-Ba-Cu-O system. An analysis of the data indicates that YBa(2)Cu(4)O(8) is thermodynamically metastable under ambient conditions. Taken together with the results from previous investigations, these data show that all of the superconducting compounds in the Y-Ba-Cu-O system are thermodynamically metastable at low temperatures.