Laser-Based Printing: From Liquids to Microstructures

Assembly of materials into microstructures under laser guidance is attracting wide attention. The ability to pattern various materials and form 2D and 3D structures with micron/sub-micron resolution and less energy and material waste compared with standard top-down methods make laser-based printing promising for many applications, for example medical devices, sensors, and microelectronics. Assembly from liquids provides a smaller feature size than powders and has advantages over other states of matter in terms of relatively simple setup, easy handling, and recycling. However, the simplicity of the setup conceals a variety of underlying mechanisms, which cannot be identified simply according to the starting or resulting materials. This progress report surveys the various mechanisms according to the source of the material—preformed or locally synthesized. Within each category, methods are defined according to the driving force of material deposition. The advantages and limitations of each method are critically discussed, and the methods are compared, shedding light on future directions and developments required to advance this field.     

Implementation of Statistical Process Control for Proteomic Experiments Via LC MS/MS

Statistical process control (SPC) is a robust set of tools that aids in the visualization, detection, and identification of assignable causes of variation in any process that creates products, services, or information. A tool has been developed termed Statistical Process Control in Proteomics (SProCoP) which implements aspects of SPC (e.g., control charts and Pareto analysis) into the Skyline proteomics software. It monitors five quality control metrics in a shotgun or targeted proteomic workflow. None of these metrics require peptide identification. The source code, written in the R statistical language, runs directly from the Skyline interface, which supports the use of raw data files from several of the mass spectrometry vendors. It provides real time evaluation of the chromatographic performance (e.g., retention time reproducibility, peak asymmetry, and resolution), and mass spectrometric performance (targeted peptide ion intensity and mass measurement accuracy for high resolving power instruments) via control charts. Thresholds are experiment- and instrument-specific and are determined empirically from user-defined quality control standards that enable the separation of random noise and systematic error. Finally, Pareto analysis provides a summary of performance metrics and guides the user to metrics with high variance. The utility of these charts to evaluate proteomic experiments is illustrated in two case studies.

Real-time quantification of protein expression and translocation at individual cell resolution using imaging-dish-based live cell array

Cell populations represent intrinsically heterogeneous systems with a high level of spatiotemporal complexity. Monitoring and understanding cell-to-cell diversity is essential for the research and application of intra- and interpopulation variations. Optical analysis of live cells is challenging since both adherent and nonadherent cells change their spatial location. However, most currently available single-cell techniques do not facilitate treatment and monitoring of the same live cells over time throughout multistep experiments. An imaging-dish-based live cell array (ID-LCA) has been developed and produced for cell handling, culturing, and imaging of numerous live cells. The dish is composed of an array of pico scale cavities—pico wells (PWs) embossed on its glass bottom. Cells are seeded, cultured, treated, and spatiotemporally measured on the ID-LCA, while each cell or small group of cells are locally constrained in the PWs. Finally, predefined cells can be retrieved for further evaluation. Various types of ID-LCAs were used in this proof-of-principle work, to demonstrate on-ID-LCA transfection of fluorescently tagged chimeric proteins, as well as the detection and kinetic analysis of their induced translocation. High variability was evident within cell populations with regard to protein expression levels as well as the extent and dynamics of protein redistribution. The association of these parameters with cell morphology and functional parameters was examined. Both the new methodology and the device facilitate research of the translocation process at individual cell resolution within large populations and thus, can potentially be used in high-throughput fashion. Graphical Abstract

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Cusp Forms on GL(2n) with GL(n) × GL (n) Periods,and Simple Algebras

The notion of a period of a cusp form on GL(2,D(??)), with respect to the diagonal subgroup D(??)^X × D(??)^X, is defined. Here D is a simple algebra over a global field F with a ring ?? of adeles. For D^x = GL(1), the period is the value at 1/2 of the L-function of the cusp form on GL(2, ??). A cuspidal representation is called cyclic if it contains a cusp form with a non zero period. It is investigated whether the notion of cyclicity is preserved under the Deligne - Kazhdan correspondence, relating cuspidal representations on the group and its split form, where D is a matrix algebra. A local analogue is studied too, using the global technique. The method is based on a new bi-period summation formula. Local multiplicity one statements for spherical distributions, and non - vanishing properties of bi - characters, known only in a few cases, play a key role.     

The rotor-router shape is spherical

This column is a place for those bits of contagious mathematics that travel from person to person in the community, because they are so elegant, suprising, or appealing that one has an urge to pass them on. Contributions are most welcome.     

Magnetization of disordered ballistic quantum billards

We study the magnetic response of mesoscopic quantum dots in the ballistic regime where the mean free path l_e is larger that the size L of the sample, yet smaller than L(K_FL)^d?1. In this regime, disorder plays an important role. Employing a semiclassical picture we calculate the contribution of long tranjectories which are strongly affected by static disorder and which differ sharply from those of clean systems. In the case of a magnetic field, they give rise to a large linear paramagnetic susceptibility (which is disorder independent), whose magnitude is in agreement with recent experimental results. In the case of a Aharonov-Bohm flux, the susceptibility is disorder dependent and is proportional to the mean free path as in the diffusive regime. We also discuss the corresponding non-linear susceptibilities.     

Transition functions for high-frequency diffraction by a curvedperfectly conducting wedge. I. Canonical solution for a curvedsheet

Starting from the canonical Hilbert solution for a perfectly conducting, cylindrically curved sheet of semi-infinite angular extent illuminated by a line source, transition functions are derived for illumination and/or observation directions grazing the sheet surface (or its geometrical continuation) near the edge. This is done by using the Langer-Olver asymptotic formulas for certain Hankel and Bessel function factors in the Hilbert solution. Both the soft (transverse magnetic) and the hard (transverse electric) cases are considered. Depending on the positions of the source and/or the observer, the resulting functions include the Fock functions, the incomplete Airy function and its derivative, and a pair of new canonical functions. The results obtained can serve as a check for heuristic solutions for a curved wedge     

Adaptive versus Non-Adaptive Security of Multi-Party Protocols

Security analysis of multi-party cryptographic protocols distinguishes between two types of adversarial settings: In the non-adaptive setting the set of corrupted parties is chosen in advance, before the interaction begins. In the adaptive setting the adversary chooses who to corrupt during the course of the computation. We study the relations between adaptive security (i.e., security in the adaptive setting) and nonadaptive security, according to two definitions and in several models of computation.