Recent developments of the Synchrotron Light source at NSRRC

Macromolecular crystallographic (MX) structure determination at synchrotron radiation sources has the potential to advance significantly through use of X-ray beams of one micron or smaller cross-sections. Recently, the MX Frontiers at the One Micron Scale Workshop explored structural biology scientific opportunities made possible through the use of micro-beams, and anticipated technical challenges for developers of MX beamlines at the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II). More than 100 attendees participated in the workshop, which included one-and-a-half days of lectures, discussions, and a semi-formal poster session on July 23–24, 2009, at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL).     

Reciprocal Response of Human Oral Epithelial Cells to Internalized Silica Nanoparticles

Silica nanoparticles (SiO₂ NPs) are one of the most widely used engineered nanoparticles and can been found in a wide range of consumer products. Despite their massive global production scale, little is known about their potential effects in the context of unintended exposure or ingestion. Using TR146 cells as an in vitro model of the human oral buccal mucosa, the uptake, spatial intracellular distribution, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, inflammatory response, and cytotoxic effects of commercial SiO₂ NPs are examined. SiO₂ NPs are shown to dock and cross the cellular membrane barrier in a dose–time‐dependent manner. Confocal sectioning reveals translocation of SiO₂ NPs into the cell nucleus after 12 h of exposure. A concentration threshold of more than 500 × 10^?6 m is observed, above which SiO₂ NPs are shown to exert significant oxidative stress with concomitant upregulation of inflammatory genes IL6 and TNFA. Further analysis of the p53 pathway and a series of apoptotic and cell cycle biomarkers reveals intracellular accumulation of SiO₂ NPs exert marginal nanotoxicity. Collectively, this study provides important information regarding the uptake, intracellular distribution, and potential adverse cellular effects of SiO₂ NPs commonly found in consumer products in the human oral epithelium.     

High performance IGZO/TiO2 thin film transistors using Y2O3 buffer layers on polycarbonate substrate

In this work, we fabricate IGZO TFT devices on flexible substrate at room temperature. The IGZO/TiO₂ TFT has small subthreshold swing of 0.16 V/dec, but suffers large gate leakage and negative threshold voltage. However, the TiO₂ TFT with Y₂O₃ buffer layers shows improved characteristics including a low threshold voltage of 0.55 V, a small sub-threshold swing of 0.175 V/decade and high field-effect mobility of 43 cm²/Vs. Such good performance can be attributed to the enhanced capacitance density and lowered gate leakage owing to the integration of large band gap Y₂O₃ and low-temperature higher-κ TiO₂.     

Influence of Specimen Geometry on the Estimation of the Planar Biaxial Mechanical Properties of Cruciform Specimens

It is in general challenging to characterize planar mechanical properties of extremely soft tissues such as cell-seeded collagen gels. One of the difficulties is related to premature failure of specimens. This issue may be resolved by employing fillets on stress-concentrated spots of the specimen. The existence of fillets, however, complicates the estimation of stress at the center of the specimen where stiffness data are collected. In this study, cruciform rubber specimens with two types of fillets (general vs. cut-in fillets) at the intersections of perpendicular arms were prepared and subjected to planar biaxial mechanical testing, aiming at investigating how the fillets affect the estimation of mechanical properties of cruciform specimens. Digital image correlation was used to analyze full-field deformation in the central region of the specimens. Finite element analysis with a Neo-Hookean model was performed to simulate the full-field deformation under the same experimental boundary conditions. The strain distribution for each specimen geometry obtained by finite element analysis was found to be in good agreement with that analyzed by digital image correlation, validating the finite element models. Finite element simulation showed that the greatest value of the maximum principal strain decreased with increasing the fillet radius regardless of the fillet type. Increasing the fillet radius, in general, also reduced the strain field uniformity in the central region. Compared with general fillets, however, the use of cut-in fillets provided greater strain field uniformity given the same fillet radius. Finite element analysis was also used to estimate effective transverse length required to convert tensile force at the boundary to local stress at the center. It was found that the effective transverse length for each specimen geometry remained relatively constant if the specimen was not excessively deformed (i.e., global equibiaxial stretch ≤ 1.2). We suggest using cut-in fillets at the intersections of perpendicular arms when preparing cruciform specimens for testing extremely soft tissues.     

Mathematical study on wave interaction with a composite poroelastic submerged breakwater

In this paper the problem of wave propagation over an adjoining-type of composite submerged poroelastic breakwater with different materials is investigated theoretically. A new analytical solution for describing the dynamic response of wave interaction with poroelastic structures is presented. A set of simultaneous equations is developed and numerically solved in order to produce a general solution for each region subject to matching boundary conditions. The present paper focuses on the changes of influence parameters such as different component widths of the composite breakwater, permeability coefficients, composite materials and configurations of breakwater on wave variations.     

Rotational symmetry and properties of the ancient solutions of Ricci flow on surfaces

We give a simple proof for the rotational symmetry of ancient solutions of Ricci flow on surfaces. As a consequence we obtain a simple proof of some results of Daskalopoulos, Hamilton and Sesum on the a priori estimates for the ancient solutions of Ricci flow on surfaces. We also give a simple proof for the solution to be a Rosenau solution under some mild conditions on the solutions of Ricci flow on surfaces.     

Single-machine scheduling with effects of exponential learning and general deterioration

The purpose of this study is to explore the single-machine scheduling with the effects of exponential learning and general deterioration. By the effects of exponential learning and general deterioration, we meant that job processing time is decided by the functions of their starting time and positions in the sequence. Results showed that with the introduction of learning effect and deteriorating jobs to job processing time, single-machine makespan, and sum of completion time (square) minimization problems remained polynomially solvable, respectively. But for the following objective functions: the weighted sum of completion time and the maximum lateness, this paper proved that the weighted smallest basic processing time first (WSPT) rule and the earliest due date first (EDD) rule constructed the optimal sequence under some special cases, respectively.     

A further investigation of a pair of series transformation formulas with applications

As a theoretical completion or a substantial supplement to a recent joint paper by He et al. [Discrete Math. 308 (2008), pp. 3427–3440] containing a pair of series transformation formulas with a variety of illustrative examples, we provide some convergence theorems for the transformation formulas under certain general conditions. We also show that these two transformation formulas subject to the convergence conditions can be further utilized to produce more than 30 special power series sums and combinatorial identities (in a wider sense) mostly not given previously.