Practical spatial resolution of electron energy loss spectroscopy in aberration corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy

The resolution of electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) is limited by delocalization of inelastic electron scattering rather than probe size in an aberration corrected scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM). In this study, we present an experimental quantification of EELS spatial resolution using chemically modulated 2×(LaMnO(3))/2×(SrTiO(3)) and 2×(SrVO(3))/2×(SrTiO(3)) superlattices by measuring the full width at half maxima (FWHM) of integrated Ti M(2,3), Ti L(2,3), V L(2,3), Mn L(2,3), La N(4,5), La N(2,3) La M(4,5) and Sr L(3) edges over the superlattices. The EELS signals recorded using large collection angles are peaked at atomic columns. The FWHM of the EELS profile, obtained by curve-fitting, reveals a systematic trend with the energy loss for the Ti, V, and Mn edges. However, the experimental FWHM of the Sr and La edges deviates significantly from the observed experimental tendency.     

On the extendedness of eigenstates in a hierarchical lattice: A critical view

We take a critical view at the basic definition of extended single particle states in a non-translationally invariant system. For this, we present the case of a hierarchical lattice and incorporate long range interactions that are also distributed in a hierarchical fashion. We show that it is possible to explicitly construct eigenstates with constant amplitudes (normalized to unity) at every lattice point for special values of the electron-energy. However, the end-to-end transmission, corresponding to the above energy of the electron in such a hierarchical system depends strongly on a special correlation between the numerical values of the parameters of the Hamiltonian. Keeping the energy and the distribution of the amplitudes invariant, one can transform the lattice from conducting to insulating simply by tuning the numerical values of the long range interaction. The values of these interactions themselves display a fractal character.     

Study of Three-Quasiparticle Band in 83 Kr

Excited states of ⁸³Kr, populated in the ⁷⁶Ge(¹¹B, 3npγ) reaction at a beam energy of 50 MeV, have been studied. The ΔI?=?1 band, built upon the 2,510.0 keV state, has been observed up to 5,639.4 keV with spin (27/2^???). Mean lifetimes have been measured up to spin 23/2^?? in ΔI?=?1 band using the Doppler shift attenuation method. The B(M1) rates derived from the measured lifetimes decrease smoothly with spin indicating that the angular momentum belonging to this band are generated by the shears mechanism.     

Optimum life testing plans in presence of hybrid censoring: A cost function approach

Hybrid censoring scheme is a combination of Type‐I and Type‐II censoring schemes. Determination of optimum hybrid censoring scheme is an important practical issue in designing life testing experiments to enhance the information on reliability of the product. In this work, we consider determination of optimum life testing plans under hybrid censoring scheme by minimizing the total cost associated with the experiment. It is shown that the proposed cost function is scale invariant for some selected distributions. Optimum solution cannot be obtained analytically. We propose a method for obtaining the optimum solution and consider Weibull distribution for illustration. We also studied the sensitivity of the optimal solution to the misspecification of parameter values and cost components through a well‐designed sensitivity analysis. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Phase Field Approach for Martensitic Transformations and Crystal Plasticity

This work is motivated by cryogenic turning which allows end shape machining and simultaneously attaining a hardened surface due to deformation induced martensitic transformations. To study the process on the microscale, a multivariant phase field model for martensitic transformations in conjunction with a crystal plastic material model is introduced. The evolution of microstructure is assumed to follow a time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equation. To solve the field equations the finite element method is used. Time integration is performed with Euler backward schemes, on the global level for the evolution equation of the phase field, and on the element level for the crystal plastic material law. (© 2014 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Directed evolution of cyclic peptides for inhibition of autophagy

In recent decades it has become increasingly clear that induction of autophagy plays an important role in the development of treatment resistance and dormancy in many cancer types. Unfortunately, chloroquine (CQ) and hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), two autophagy inhibitors in clinical trials, suffer from poor pharmacokinetics and high toxicity at therapeutic dosages. This has prompted intense interest in the development of targeted autophagy inhibitors to re-sensitize disease to treatment with minimal impact on normal tissue. We utilized Scanning Unnatural Protease Resistant (SUPR) mRNA display to develop macrocyclic peptides targeting the autophagy protein LC3. The resulting peptides bound LC3A and LC3B—two essential components of the autophagosome maturation machinery—with mid-nanomolar affinities and disrupted protein–protein interactions (PPIs) between LC3 and its binding partners in vitro. The most promising LC3-binding SUPR peptide accessed the cytosol at low micromolar concentrations as measured by chloroalkane penetration assay (CAPA) and inhibited starvation-mediated GFP-LC3 puncta formation in a concentration-dependent manner. LC3-binding SUPR peptides re-sensitized platinum-resistant ovarian cancer cells to cisplatin treatment and triggered accumulation of the adapter protein p62 suggesting decreased autophagic flux through successful disruption of LC3 PPIs in cell culture. In mouse models of metastatic ovarian cancer, treatment with LC3-binding SUPR peptides and carboplatin resulted in almost complete inhibition of tumor growth after four weeks of treatment. These results indicate that SUPR peptide mRNA display can be used to develop cell-penetrating macrocyclic peptides that target and disrupt the autophagic machinery in vitro and in vivo.

SUPR peptide mRNA display was used to evolve a cell-permeable, macrocyclic peptide for autophagy inhibition.     

A proof of the Faber-Krahn inequality for the first eigenvalue of thep-Laplacian

Summary In this work we present an elementary proof of the Faber-Krahn inequality for the first eigenvalue of the p-Laplacian on bounded domains in ℝⁿ. Let λ₁ be the first eigenvalue and λ ₁ ^* be the first eigenvalue for the ball of the same volume. Then we show that λ₁=λ ₁ ^* iff the domain is a ball. Our proof makes considerable use of the corresponding Talenti's inequality and some well known properties of the first eigenfunction. Entrata in Redazione il 20 aprile 1998.     

Study on the structure functions of electrons and the energy flow in the soft component of cosmic-ray extensive air showers

Summary Cosmic-ray air shower structure functions for the distance dependence of electron density in cosmic-ray air showers in the size range 10⁴⋎10⁸ have been computed for their intercomparison and comparison with Monte Carlo simulation results and measurements from recent experiments. The analysis has yielded the present status of theoretical structure functionsvis à vis experimental results and Monte Carlo simulation distributions. The effect of core location error on the lateral distribution of electrons is also discussed from the point of view of different theoretical and experimental results. The energy flow in the soft component of air showers of size ∼4·10⁵ has been evaluated within a ring of radius 10m about the axis of the showers.     

Anisotropy of the electron momentum distribution in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ superconductor studied by positron annihilation

The temperature dependent (30-300 K) Doppler broadening of the positron annihilated γ-radiation measurement has been investigated on single crystalline Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O_8+δ (Bi-2212) high T_c superconducting samples along two different crystallographic orientations. It has been observed that throughout the temperature range the electron momentum distribution has a larger value along the crystallographic c-axis than in the a-b plane. The temperature dependent Doppler broadened positron annihilation γ-radiation lineshape analysis shows a step like increase of S-parameter at the temperature region 92-116 K.