Spatiotemporal dynamics of Ca2+ signaling and its physiological roles

Changes in the intracellular Ca²⁺ concentration regulate numerous cell functions and display diverse spatiotemporal dynamics, which underlie the versatility of Ca²⁺ in cell signaling. In many cell types, an increase in the intracellular Ca²⁺ concentration starts locally, propagates within the cell (Ca²⁺ wave) and makes oscillatory changes (Ca²⁺ oscillation). Studies of the intracellular Ca²⁺ release mechanism from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) showed that the Ca²⁺ release mechanism has inherent regenerative properties, which is essential for the generation of Ca²⁺ waves and oscillations. Ca²⁺ may shuttle between the ER and mitochondria, and this appears to be important for pacemaking of Ca²⁺ oscillations. Importantly, Ca²⁺ oscillations are an efficient mechanism in regulating cell functions, having effects supra-proportional to the sum of duration of Ca²⁺ increase. Furthermore, Ca²⁺ signaling mechanism studies have led to the development of a method for specific inhibition of Ca²⁺ signaling, which has been used to identify hitherto unrecognized functions of Ca²⁺ signals.     

Competition of Spatial and Temporal Instabilities underTime Delay near Codimension-Two Turing-Hopf Bifurcations

Competition of spatial and temporal instabilities under time delay near the codimension-two Turing-Hopf bifurcations is studied in a reaction-diffusion equation. The time delay changes remarkably the oscillation frequency, the intrinsic wave vector, and the intensities of both Turing and Hopf modes.
The application of appropriate time delay can control the competition between the Turing and Hopf modes. Analysis shows that individual or both feedbacks can realizethe control of the transformation between the Turing and Hopf patterns.Two-dimensional numerical simulations validate the analytical results.     

Microscopic study of relaxation oscillations in quantum-dot VCSELs

We propose a theoretical model to investigate the switch-on dynamics of electrically pumped quantum dot vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers. The model is based on the self-consistently combined quantum dot-wetting layer Maxwell–Bloch equations incorporating microscopically calculated Coulomb and phonon-assisted scattering processes between the quantum dot and the quantum dot-embedding wetting layer states. Our approach allows the calculation of the time delay before lasing as well as of the frequency and damping rate of the appearing relaxation oscillation. We study their dependence on the strength of the injection current density and on the number of QD-layers and DBR-layers by using the finite-difference time-domain method. The results show that switch-on delay time is in inversely proportion to the injection current density while the frequency and the damping rate of relaxation oscillation are proportional to the current density. If we increase the numbers of QD-layers and DBR-layers the delay time becomes shorter, and the frequency and the damping rate become larger.     

Characteristics of single longitudinal mode oscillation of the 2 μm Tm,Ho:YLF microchip laser

The lasing condition and frequency stability of the single longitudinal mode oscillation of a diode laser pumped 2 μm Tm,Ho:YLF microchip laser at room temperature are reported. It is shown that the microchip laser with an output mirror of 99.0% reflectivity had better single longitudinal mode performance than that with an output mirror of 99.5% reflectivity. The frequency tuning rate when varying the crystal temperature was estimated to be 1.9 GHz/°C. Frequency stability of the microchip laser is examined by the self-beating heterodyne detection method for several delay times between 0.48 and 4.8 μs. It is indicated that the spectral fluctuation is in proportion to the delay time and the increasing rate is 2.3 kHz/μs.     

Coherently Precessing Spin Structure in 3He-B High-Resolution Quantum Amplifier

We present results of the study of surface oscillation modes of coherently precessing nuclear spins in the superfluid ³He-B known as a homogeneously precessing domain (HPD). HPD represents the first macroscopic experimental manifestation of magnetic superfluidity phenomenon. The measurements showed that HPD is extremely sensitive to longitudinal perturbations and it behaves as tuned (by magnetic field gradient) quantum amplifier that allows to measure very small changes of magnetic field with very high relative resolution, of the order of 10^-7.     

室温条件下掺铒光纤中光脉冲群速可控特性的研究

利用相干布居振荡技术在介质吸收光谱上产生烧孔，孔宽大约为基态粒子数恢复时间的倒数. 由增益理论分析得到不同抽运光功率对介质吸收状态的影响. 在介质的吸收区域，振荡导致光脉冲经历饱和吸收，脉冲传输延迟；在介质的增益区域，振荡又导致光脉冲经历增益饱和，脉冲传输超前. 应用此技术在掺铒光纤中实现了光速人为可控. 在掺铒光纤晶体中观测到了最慢为2.857×10³m/s的光速减慢传输，相应感生群折射率为10.5×10⁴. 根据布居振荡效应及增益理论，由速率方程出发，得到了 关键词： 光谱烧孔 相干布居振荡 饱和吸收 慢光     

Femtosecond decay-time measurement of electron-plasma oscillation in nanolithographically designed silver particles

The decay time of the electron-plasma oscillation in silver nanoparticles is measured at a nanoparticle film consisting of regularly arranged, identically shaped and identically oriented particles. By design of a noncentrosymmetric particle shape, SHG in transmission at normal incidence of the fundamental beam is obtained. Therefore the autocorrelation function of the optical near field oscillation of the particle, excited by two emporally overlapping fs laser pulses separated by a defined delay time, could be measured. A decay time of 10¹ fs was extracted. This result shows that the damping of the electron-plasma oscillation in nanometric particles is approximately a factor of 2 larger than expected from the value of the imaginary part of the bulk metal dielectric funtion when consideration of the radiation damping in the particles is included. Received: 28 October 1996/Revised version: 2 December 1996     

Effects of nonlinear degradation of protein on the oscillatory dynamics in a simple gene regulatory network

Cooperative stability of protein is here defined as the tendency for the oligomers to be more stable than their monomeric components and to perform their physiological functions. In this paper, we incorporate nonlinear degradation of protein induced by cooperative stability into a simple model which has been previously presented in the biological literature. Linear analysis gives a critical time delay beyond which a periodic solution is born in a Hopf bifurcation. Lindstedt’s method is applied to the nonlinear system, resulting in closed form approximate expressions for the amplitude and frequency of oscillation. Our findings indicate that cooperative stability can cause periodic dynamics through reducing the critical time delay. In addition, we show that cooperative stability may increase the amplitude of oscillation. Our study contributes to the theoretical demonstration of the effect of cooperative stability in the simple gene regulatory network.     

一类具时滞的厄尔尼诺-南方涛动充电-放电振子模型的Hopf分岔与周期解问题

研究了一类具时滞的厄尔尼诺-南方涛动充电-放电振子模型. 给出了产生Hopf分岔的临界时滞条件, 利用Mawhin重合度理论,探讨了该模型的周期解问题. 关键词： 时滞 厄尔尼诺-南方涛动模型 Hopf分岔 周期解     

High index of refraction via quantum interference in a three-level system of Er^3＋-doped yttrium aluminium garnet crystal

A simple three-level system is proposed to produce high index of refraction with zero absorption in an Er^3＋-doped yttrium aluminium garnet （YAG） crystal, which is achieved for a probe field between the excited state 4I13/2 and ground state 4I15/2 by adjusting a strong coherent driving field between the upper excited state 4I11/2 and 4I15/2. It is found that the changes of the frequency of the coherent driving field and the concentration of Er^3＋ ions in the YAG crystal can maximize the index of refraction accompanied by vanishing absorption. This result could be useful for the dispersion compensation in fibre communication, laser particle acceleration, high precision magnetometry and so on.     

Oscillatory expression and variability in p53 regulatory network

The effect of delay, nonlinearity and noise on oscillatory motion is of permanent interest for theoretical and experimental research. Here we explore a negative feedback loop between p53 and Mdm2 with a time delay, which is a key circuit in the response of cells to damage. This circuit shows noisy sustained oscillations in individual human cells following DNA damage, and damped oscillations at the cell population level. We demonstrate the effect of delay on the oscillation, and the correlation in time course. In a multi-species system, the events at different time points which span a time delay are coupled even when the delay is large compared with the other characteristic times of the system. We also clarify that the dynamics at the single-cell level appears to be coherent resonance, and the origin of the damped oscillation at the macroscopic level out of the sustained ones at the single-cell level can be ascribed to the dephasing process which is induced by the interplay between nonlinearity and noise. The findings are consistent with experimental observations and advance our understanding of the dynamics of the p53 network.     

High speed indentation measures by FV,QI and QNM introduce a new understanding of bionanomechanical experiments

Structural and mechanical mapping at the nanoscale by novel high-speed multiparametric Quantitative Imaging (QI) and PeakForce Quantitative Nanomechanical Mapping (PF-QNM) AFM modes was compared to the classical Force Volume (FV) mapping for the case of living Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacterial cells. QI and PF-QNM modes give results consistent with FV for the whole cells in terms of morphology and elastic modulus, while providing higher resolution and shorter acquisition time. As an important complement, the influence of scanning parameters on elastic modulus values was explored for small 0.2² μm² central area on top of cells. The modulus decreases with the indentation depth due to the effect of the hard cell wall, while it increases vs. tip oscillation frequency, displaying viscoelastic behaviour of the living bacterial cells. The ability of different AFM modes to follow correctly the bacteria viscoelastic behaviour at high oscillation frequency was tested.     

Predicting optimal drive sweep rates for autoresonance in Duffing-type oscillators: A beat method using Teager-Kaiser instantaneous frequency

Sustained resonance in a linear oscillator is achievable with a drive whose constant frequency matches the resonant frequency of the oscillator. But in oscillators with nonlinear restoring forces such as the pendulum, Duffing and Duffing-Van der Pol oscillator, the resonant frequency changes as the amplitude changes, so a constant frequency drive results in a beat oscillation instead of sustained resonance. Duffing-type nonlinear oscillators can be driven into sustained resonance, called autoresonance, when the drive frequency is swept in time to match the changing resonant frequency of the oscillator. We find that near-optimal drive linear sweep rates for autoresonance can be estimated from the beat oscillation resulting from constant frequency excitation. Specifically, a least squares estimate of the Teager-Kaiser instantaneous frequency versus time for the beat response to a stationary drive provides a near-optimal estimate of the nonstationary drive linear sweep rate needed to sustain resonance in the pendulum, Duffing and Duffing-Van der Pol oscillators. We confirm these predictions with model-based numerical simulations. An advantage of the beat method of estimating optimal drive sweep rates for maximal autoresonant response is that no model is required so experimentally generated beat oscillation data can be used for systems where no model is available.     

非旋波近似下频率变化的光场对原子布居反转的调控

利用相干态正交化展开方法,在非旋波近似下研究了原子的布居反转随时间的演化情况.数值计算的结果表明了,场频以及耦合强度不随时间变化时,布居反转的周期随着平均光子数的增加而增大,虚光子效应引起的快速振荡随耦合强度的增大而逐渐增大.当光场随时间做正弦调制时,光场的振幅α和角频率β对布居反转的演化都会产生很大影响.光场随时间做方波形式变化,会导致原子布居反转出现新的塌缩回复现象.无论是正弦调制还是方波调制,都会对由虚光子效应产生的小锯齿状的振荡产生影响. 关键词： 相干态正交化展开 非旋波近似 原子布居数反转     

时滞与噪声影响 Notch信号通路动力学的模型化研究

本文基于Hill动力学与Michaelis-Menten方程,建立理论模型研究时滞与噪声影响Notch信号通路动力学.研究发现,her1、her7基因转录的时滞性在很大程度上调控着Notch信号通路的动力学行为.由于时滞性的调控,Notch系统动力学经历Hopf分岔,由稳态转变为周期演化特性.通过考察Notch信号通路的噪声效应,我们发现,由于噪声的扰动,Notch系统周期振荡动力学改变.在较小噪声幅值条件下,Notch信号通路中改变的周期节律性可以通过时滞得以平衡恢复,由此表明了her1、her7转录的时滞性促进了Notch信号通路的周期振荡.对于较强噪声环境,时滞效应很难改变Notch信号的巨大突变,其信号通路动力学行为被噪声影响.理论结果符合实验,并揭示了时滞与噪声对Notch信号通路动力学的一种调控机制,可为设计阻止Notch功能异常导致的多种疾病和癌症的通路治疗方案提供理论依据.     

Extraction and quantitative analysis of microscopic evacuation characteristics based on digital image processing

In this study, experiments of single-file pedestrian movement were conducted and the movement parameters of pedestrians were extracted with a digital image processing method based on a mean-shift algorithm. The microscopic characteristics of pedestrian dynamics, including velocity, density, and lateral oscillation, as well as their interrelations, were obtained and analyzed. Firstly, we studied the lateral oscillation phenomena of pedestrian movement. The result indicates that the trajectory of pedestrians presents a wavy form and the amplitude of the oscillation remains about 5.5 cm when the pedestrians move with free walking velocity, which is the velocity when there is no obvious interaction between sequential pedestrians; but when the movement velocity decreases to 0.27 m/s, the amplitude of oscillation increases to 13 cm. With increasing density, the velocity decreases and the amplitude of oscillation presents a linear increase trend. The increasing oscillation amplitude widens the occupation area of a pedestrian with low velocity, so as to make the moving efficiency even worse. Secondly, we studied the frequency of the oscillation; the result indicates that the frequency remains at 2 Hz when pedestrians move with a free walking velocity, but it presents a similar linear decrease trend when the velocity changes to a lower value. The decrease of oscillation frequency is also a negative feedback to the moving efficiency. Thirdly, it is found that with the increase of crowd density, the time interval between two sequential pedestrians increases, though the space gap between them decreases. The quantitative relation between time interval and crowd density is obtained. The study in this paper provides fundamental data and a basic method for understanding pedestrian dynamics, developing and validating evacuation models. The results are also expected to be useful for evacuation design.     

Two-wavelength and power-balanced oscillation of a CO2 laser for application to differential absorption measurements

A new technique of alternate two-wavelength oscillation of a CO₂ laser is discussed for application to various differential absorption spectroscopic measurements. Power-balanced, two-adjacent branch oscillation using a single CO₂ laser was achieved by modulating the angle of a mirror inside the laser cavity and adjusting automatically the cavity length. The two-wavelength modulation frequency was extended up to about 1.2 kHz. Line tuning and power modulation characteristics were studied. The laser was used in long-path differential absorption measurements of ethylene air pollution molecules to demonstrate the capability of this power-balanced, two-wavelength oscillation method. The minimum detectable absorption was nearly 1×10^–3 in a short-path cell experiment and 3×10^–3 in a long-path experiment.     

Feasibility studies towards future self-sufficient supply of the 99Mo-99mTc isotopes with Japanese accelerators

In order to establish a self-sufficient supply of ^99mTc, we studied feasibilities to produce its parent nucleus, ⁹⁹Mo, using Japanese accelerators. The daughter nucleus, ^99mTc, is indispensable for medical diagnosis. ⁹⁹Mo has so far been imported from abroad, which is separated from fission products generated in nuclear reactors using enriched ²³⁵U fuel. We investigated ^99mTc production possibilities based on the following three scenarios: (1) ⁹⁹Mo production by the (n, 2n) reaction by spallation neutrons at the J-PARC injector, LINAC; (2) ⁹⁹Mo production by the (p, pn) reaction at E_p = 50–80 MeV proton at the RCNP cyclotron; (3) ^99mTc direct production with a 20 MeV proton beam from the PET cyclotron. Among these three scenarios, scenario (1) is for a scheme on a global scale, scenario (2) works in a local area, and both cases take a long time for negotiations. Scenario (3) is attractive because we can use nearly 50 PET cyclotrons in Japan for ^99mTc production. We here consider both the advantages and disadvantages among the three scenarios by taking account of the Japanese accelerator situation.     

Control mechanism of atomic ionization and high-order harmonic generation assisted by attosecond pulses

Attosecond pulses combined with infrared laser constitute a powerful tool for controlling atomic photoionization and high-order harmonic generation (HHG). We apply the intense-field many-body S-matrix theory to solve such two-pulse excitation problems. The theory can give a clear explanation for the oscillation of ionization probability as a function of time delay between infrared field and attosecond pulses with central frequency lying below ionization threshold at moderate infrared intensities. The HHG assisted by such attosecond pulses is also interpreted. In addition to a known dramatic enhancement of HHG, a harmonic emission from rapid oscillation of bound-state population caused by the counter-rotating wave is presented.     

两束啁啾脉冲控制下的H+D+光缔合反应研究

从理论上研究了两束啁啾脉冲控制H+D⁺的光缔合反应. 第一束脉冲用来加速碰撞伴的碰撞速度,第二束脉冲用来增加产物HD⁺的产率. 结果表明:第一束脉冲的参数决定了第二束脉冲的优化参数以及产物HD⁺的布居. 产物的布居可以通过调节两束脉冲的延迟时间得到控制. 关键词： 光缔合 +分子')" href="#">HD⁺分子 啁啾脉冲 波包