Symmetric linear potential and imperfect Brownian ratchet in molecular motor function

Biomolecular motors are tiny engines that transport materials at the microscopic level within biological cells. In recent years, Elston and Peskin et al have investigated the effect of the elastic properties of the tether that connects the motor to its cargo at the speed of the motor. In this paper we extend their work and present a tether in the form of symmetric linear potential.Our results show that when the driving mechanism is an imperfect Brownian ratchet, the average speed decreases as the stiffness of the tether increases in the limit of large motor diffusion coefficient, which is similar to the results of Elston and Peskin.However, a threshold for the stiffness of the tether connecting the motor to its cargo is found in our model. Only when the tether is stiffer than the threshold can the motor and its cargo function co-operatively, otherwise, the motor and its cargo depart from each other. This result is more realistic than that of the spring model of Elston and Peskin.     

Melting transition of a network model in two dimensions

The freezing transition of a network model for tensionless membranes confined to two dimensions is investigated by Monte Carlo simulations and scaling arguments. In this model, a freezing transition is induced by reducing the tether length. Translational and bond-orientational order parameters and elastic constants are determined as a function of the tether length. A finite-size scaling analysis is used to show that the crystal melts via successive dislocation and disclination unbinding transitions, in qualitative agreement with the predictions of the Kosterlitz-Thouless-Halperin-Nelson-Young theory. The hexatic phase is found to be stable over only a very small interval of tether lengths. Received 4 June 1999 and Revised in final form 1 September 1999     

Experimental study on terahertz radiation

In this letter, we describe a coherent subpicosecond terahertz (THz) spectroscopy system based on nonresonant optical rectification for the generation of THz radiation. We studied the two-photon absorption (TPA) of ZnTe induced by femtosecond laser pulses via THz generation, and its influence on the generation of THz radiation. Experimental results demonstrated that the intensity of pump beam against TPA must be traded off to get an optimum generation of THz radiation. As an example, we measured absorption spectrum of water vapor by time-domain spectroscopy (TDS) in the frequency range from 0.5 to 2.5 THzwith a high overall accuracy.     

On some electromagnetic phenomena in the tether magnetoplasma cloud

Summary The tethered satellite system (TSS) will be accompanied by a variety of electromagnetic phenomena. An independent interconnected formation, a ?tethered magnetoplasma cloud? (TMC), moving in space along the orbit of TSS, at an altitude of about 300 km, will be created. This time-dependent cloud will be a very complicated inhomogeneous formation including electromagnetic oscillations and waves of different type. Some of these waves will be observed on the Earth's surface. Rarefiel regions of the magnetoplasma behind, and dense regions in front of the shuttle orbiter (SO) and the subsatellite (SS) will arise. The neutral nitrogen beam ejected by the thruster becomes an ion beam on the day-light part of the orbit. Its energy is much greater than the local thermal energy. Instabilities of different kind as well as diffusion and recombination effects are expected to accompany the interaction of these beams with the surrounding plasma. The electron beams will produce other types of instabilities. By the electrons precessing along the magnetic-field lines, a current (5·10³V, 0.5 A) should be induced in the 20th km length conducting tether. It will be closed at the bottom of the ionosphere. This huge magnetic loop, so-called ?phantom loop? (PL), should accompany the tether system along its orbit. The length of this ?tether electromagnetic tail? (TEMT) is about 200 km, its magnetic moment will be about 10¹³ A·cm². Alfvén waves and nonlinear effects of heating type may be produced by this loop along the magnetic-field lines. ?Strings? of hot plasma may accompany the tether system.     

Pulling tethers from adhered vesicles

The competition between adhesion and tether formation in bound vesicles is investigated. A theoretical model is developed in which tethers are induced by the application of a pulling force to the top of a strongly adhered vesicle. A critical onset force is identified where the tether spontaneously appears as part of a first order shape transition. Further growth of the tether initiates a detachment process that culminates in a continuous unbinding of the vesicle at a finite detachment force. Both critical forces, as well as all shape parameters, are calculated as a function of the reduced volume and the strength of adhesive potential.     

Regulation of shear stress on rolling behaviors of HL-60 cells on P-selectin

Circulating leukocytes in trafficking to the inflammatory sites, will be first tether to, and then roll on the vascular surface. This event is mediated through specific interaction of P-selectin and P-selectin glycoprotein ligand-1(PSGL-1), and regulated by hemodynamics. Poor data were reported in understanding P-selectin-mediated rolling. With the flow chamber technique, we herein observed HL-60 cell rolling on P-selectin with or without 3% Ficoll at various wall shear stresses from 0.05 to 0.4 dyn/cm2. The results demonstrated that force rather than transport regulated the rolling, similar to rolling on L- and E-selectin. The rolling was accelerated quickly by an increasing force below the optimal shear threshold of 0.15 dyn/cm2 first and then followed by a slowly decelerating phase starting at the optimum, showing a catch-slip transition and serving as a mechanism for the rolling. The catch-slip transition was completely reflected to the tether lifetime and other rolling parameters, such as the mean and fractional stop time. The narrow catch bond regime stabilized the rolling quickly, through steeply increasing fractional stop time to a plateau of about 0.85. Data presented here suggest that the low shear stress threshold serves as a mechanism for most cell rolling events through P-selectin.     

Radiation Laws of a Kerr Nonlinear Blackbody in a Moving Frame of Reference

A Kerr nonlinear blackbody (KNB) is a new kind of blackbody in which bare photons with opposite wave vectors and helicities are bound into pairs and unpaired photons are transformed into nonpolaritons. In the present paper, the radiation of a KNB is considered from the viewpoint of an observer in arbitrary uniform motion with respect to a rest frame of reference of the radiation. It is found that the radiation laws, which include the distribution of nonpolaritons and so forth, are modified due to the motion. Moreover, under a special condition, we notice that the only effect of the motion is to introduce an angle-dependent directional temperature, which replaces the rest-frame temperature of the cavity. Besides, we try to extend the model of a KNB to the whole Universe and apply the modified radiation laws to the question of 2.7 K cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR).     

On the dragged surge vibration of twin TLP systems with multi-interactions of wave and structures

In this study, the wave-induced surge motion of a twin platform of tension leg structural system was investigated. A set of equations along with boundary conditions was derived, and solutions were obtained analytically. In the analysis the coupling problem of a two-dimensional tension leg twin platform interacting with a monochromatic linear wave train in an inviscid and incompressible fluid is considered. The problem was considered as a combination of the scattering and radiation problem. These two boundary-value problems were first solved independently and then combined together to resolve for all unknowns. The analysis was focused on the wave-induced surge motion of the twin platform and the reflection coefficient when the multi-interactions among waves, platform structure and the tension legs were taken into account. From the analytical results, it was found that ignoring the interaction effect between the tether and waves for a twin platform system, it tends to overestimate the wave-induced response in general. It was also realized that the behavior of the tension-leg twin platform was significantly influenced by dimensional factors of the platform system such as the dimension of each platform and the spacing between two platforms.     

On the field of a line charge in magnetized plasma

The field of a line charge in magnetized plasma is determined. It is shown that the Debye shielding doesn't occur in situations where we can neglect the plasma drift. Our approach can justify the use of a simple model of a sheath around an antenna or a tether mounted on a spacecraft moving through ionospheric plasma.     

A Revisit to the Generalized Radiation Laws of a Kerr Nonlinear Blackbody

Based on the new development of nonextensive statistical mechanics (NSM), i.e., the so-called “optimal Lagrange multipliers” (OLM)approach, we revisit the generalized radiation laws of a Kerr nonlinear blackbody (KNB) and obtain the analytical expressions of generalized Planck radiation law and Stefan-Boltzmann law. In order to illustrate the influence of the parameter q on the two generalized radiation laws, we make a numerical calculation of the two laws under appropriate conditions. Besides, we restate our hypothesis to extend the theory of KNB to the whole Universe.     

Hyperviscous diblock copolymer vesicles

Giant vesicles prepared from the diblock copolymer polybutadien-b-polyethyleneoxide (PB-PEO) exhibit a shear surface viscosity, which is about 500 times higher than those found in common phospholipid bilayers. Our result constitutes the first direct measurement of the shear surface viscosity of such polymersomes. At the same time, we measure bending and stretching elastic constants, which fall in the range of values typical for lipid membranes. Pulling out a tether from an immobilized polymersome and following its relaxation back to the vesicle body provides an estimate of the viscous coupling between the two monolayers composing the polymer membrane. The detected intermonolayer friction is about an order of magnitude higher than the characteristic one for phospholipid membranes. Polymersomes are tough vesicles with a high lysis tension. This, together with their robust rheological properties, makes them interesting candidates for a number of technological applications. Received 2 March 2001 and Received in final form 15 February 2002     

Entropy Evolution in the Interior Volume of a Charged $f(R)$ Black Hole *

Based on the 4-dimensional black hole solution of $f(R)$ theory coupled to a nonlinear Maxwell field, we calculate the interior volume of a charged $f(R)$ black hole using the method proposed by Christodoulou and Rovelli. Considering massless scalar field in the interior volume and Hawking radiation carrying only energy, we calculate the entropy of the scalar field inside a charged $f(R)$ black hole and investigate the evolution of the entropy under Hawking radiation. In the meantime, the evolution of the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy under Hawking radiation has also been calculated. Based on these results, the proportional relation is obtained between the evolution of the scalar field entropy and the evolution of Bekenstein-Hawking entropy under Hawking radiation. According to the result, we investigate and discuss how the modified coefficient $b$ in $f(R)$ gravity theory affects the evolution relation between the two types of entropy. It is shown that the radiation rate for Hawking radiation of a charged $f(R)$ black hole can increase with the modified coefficient $b$.     

Improved data analysis method of single-molecule experiments based on probability optimization

To extract the dynamic parameters from single molecule manipulation experiments, usually lots of data at different forces need to be recorded. But the measuring time of a single molecule is limited due to breakage of the tether or degradation of the molecule. Here we propose a data analysis method based on probability maximization of the recorded time trace to extract the dynamic parameters from a single measurement. The feasibility of this method was verified by dealing with the simulation data of a two-state system. We also applied this method to estimate the parameters of DNA hairpin folding and unfolding dynamics measured by a magnetic tweezers experiment.     

Asymptotic symmetries in general relativity

In the context of a recent reformulation of the theory of gravitational radiation from bounded sources in which both shearing and shear-free radiation is manifestly present, we derive the asymptotic symmetry group of the spacetime. The group we obtain contains the Bondi-Metzner-Sachs group as a subgroup. This observation is relevant to the problem of the mysterious role of shear-free radiation in the Bondi-Sachs approach to the theory of gravitational radiation from bounded sources.     

Generalization of the radiation laws of a Kerr nonlinear blackbody

Within the framework of nonextensive statistical mechanics (NSM), we generalize the radiation laws, which include the Planck radiation law and Stefan-Boltzmann law, of a Kerr nonlinear blackbody (KNB) in the normalized form. In order to illustrate the influence of the parameter q on the two generalized radiation laws, we make a numerical calculation of the two laws under appropriate conditions. Furthermore, we make an attempt to extend the theory of KNB to the whole Universe.     

A New Measurement of Electron Beam Emittance with Cerenkov Radiation “Double Imaging” Method

A new way in electron beam emittance measurement with Cerenkov radiation "double imaging" method is proposed in this paper. In the standard emittance measurements with optical diagnostics such as Cerenkov radiation, OTR (Optical Transition Radiation), fluorescence screen or BMP (beam profile monitor) etc., the emittance is indirectly calculated through quadrupole-scanning technique, with the prior ssumption that the beam phase space density distribution is ellipse, which will certainly induce systematic error when the beam profile is quite irregular or the space-charge effects can not be omitted. In proposed method, the Cerenkov radiation pass through a 1-meter focal-length thin convex lens, and a CCD camera is used to capture two images of Cerenkov radiation at the focal plane and at the image plane of the lens respectively. Then, with image processing technique, we acquire the angular divergence information of the electron beam from the image of the focal plane and the radial distribution information from the image of the image plane, which we call Cerenkov radiation "double imaging" method. Therefore, the emittance can be directly attained according to the definition of the RMS emittance. By this method, we can measure the actual phase space distributions without making any prior assumptions about the density distributions. Compared with other general measurements, this "double imaging" method has advantages of simpler equipment, higher precision and wider application. This paper also presents the computer simulation results of emittance measurement on the DC-SC (DC-Superconducting) photocathode injector of PKU-SCAF (Peking University Superconducting Accelerator Facility) being built at Peking University.     

切伦科夫辐射“双成像法”测量电子束发射度

利用切伦科夫辐射,OTR或荧光靶等光学诊断方法进行发射度测量,国内外绝大部分实验是用CCD相机观测电子束打靶产生的光斑,变化四极透镜的磁场梯度,应用“三梯度法”计算出发射度.文中提出了一种新的“双成像法”测量方法,使切伦科夫辐射光通过一长焦距的消色差薄透镜,分别在焦平面和像平面获取图像.通过图像处理,前者可分析出电子束散角分布,后者可分析出电子束径向分布,从而直接得到均方根发射度.该方法对束流相空间和电荷密度分布无需假设,无需借助“三梯度法”,较其他常规测量方法具有实验装置更简便、测量精度更高和适用性更广等优点.文中给出了该测量方法对北京大学DC?SC光阴极注入器的发射度测量进行计算机模拟实验的结果和分析.     

Anomaly analysis of Hawking radiation from Kaluza–Klein black hole with squashed horizon

Considering gravitational and gauge anomalies at the horizon, a new method to derive Hawking radiation from black holes has been developed by Wilczek et al. In this paper, we apply this method to non-rotating and rotating Kaluza–Klein black holes with squashed horizon, respectively. For the rotating case, we found that, after dimensional reduction, an effective U(1) gauge field is generated by an angular isometry. The results show that the gauge current and energy-momentum tensor fluxes are exactly equivalent to Hawking radiation from the event horizon.     

Measurement of therapeutic photon beams-induced Cerenkov radiation generated in PMMA- and PS-based plastic optical fibers

In this study, we characterized Cerenkov radiation generated in polystyrene (PS)- and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA)-based plastic optical fibers (POFs) to select an adequate optical fiber for producing Cerenkov radiation. To determine the relationship between the absorbed dose and the intensity of Cerenkov radiation, we calculated the energy depositions of photon beams and fluxes of electrons inducing Cerenkov radiation using the Monte Carlo N-Particle eXtended code. Also, intensities of Cerenkov radiation generated in PS- and PMMA-based POFs were measured as functions of dose rate and monitor unit. At last, therapeutic photon beams-induced Cerenkov radiation in PS- and PMMA-based POFs was measured according to depths of solid water phantom.     

Effects of Polarization-Maintaining Fibre Degrading on Precision of Fibre Optic Gyroscopes in Radiation Environment

In the space environment, the precision of fibre optic gyroscopes （FOGs） degrades because of space radiation. Photonic components of FOGs are affected by radiation, especially the polarization-maintaining （PM） fibre coil. In relation to the space radiation environment characteristic, we have carried out a series of radiation experiments on a PM fibre coil with 6OCo radiation source at different dose rates. Bazed on the experimental results, the formula between the PM-fibre loss and radiation dose rate is built, and the relation between the precision of FOG and radiation dose is obtained accordingly. The results strongly show that the precision of our FOG degrades owing to the attenuation of the polarization-maintaining fibre, which provides theoretical foundation for the radiation-resistant design of the FOG.