Nuclear isospin asymmetry in α\alpha decays of heavy nuclei

The effects of nuclear isospin asymmetry on $\alpha$ decay lifetimes of heavy nuclei are investigated within various phenomenological models of nuclear potential for the $\alpha$ particle. We consider the widely used simple square well potential and Woods-Saxon potential, and modify them by including an isospin asymmetry term. We then suggest a model for the potential of the $\alpha$ particle motivated by a microscopic phenomenological approach of the Skyrme force model, which naturally introduce the isospin dependent form of the nuclear potential for the $\alpha$ particle. The empirical $\alpha$ decay lifetime formula of Viola and Seaborg is also modified to include isospin asymmetry effects. The obtained $\alpha$ decay half-lives are in good agreement with the experimental data and we find that including the nuclear isospin effects somehow improves the theoretical results for $\alpha$ decay half-lives. The implications of these results are discussed and the predictions on the $\alpha$ decay lifetimes of superheavy elements are also presented.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, 7 tables, Accepted by PRC 94, 024320 (2016

Electrospun polymer nanofibers: the booming cutting edge technology

Electrospinning has been recognized as a simple and efficient technique for the fabrication of ultrathin fibers from a variety of materials including polymers, composite and ceramics. Significant progress has been made throughout the past years in electrospinning and the resulting fibrous structures have been exploited in a wide range of potential applications. This article reviews the state-of-art of electrospinning to prepare fibrous electrode materials and polymer electrolytes based on electrospun membranes in the view of their physical and electrochemical properties for the application in lithium batteries. The review covers the electrospinning process, the governing parameters and their influence on fiber or membrane morphology. After a brief discussion of some potential applications associated with the remarkable features of electrospun membranes, we highlight the exploitation of this cutting edge technology in lithium batteries. Finally the article is concluded with some personal perspectives on the future directions in the fascinating field of energy storag

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Abstract The gravitational waves (GW170817) produced during a binary neutron star inspiral, followed by a gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) and afterglows from X-ray to radio wavelength, were observed. By combining the distance obtained from gravitational waves with the red shift obtained from electromagnetic waves, even the Hubble constant was estimated. This indicates the start of new era of multimessenger astronomy. In addition to the masses of inspiralling neutron stars, the tidal deformability, which depends on the inner structures of neutron stars, has been estimated from gravitational waves. This confirms that even strong interactions can be tested by using gravitational waves. In this article, we review the effect of the tidal deformability of neutron stars on the gravitational waves produced during the inspiral process and discuss the implications of the detected tidal deformability for the neutron star's equations of state

Exosomes from Human Adipose Tissue-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Promote Epidermal Barrier Repair by Inducing de Novo Synthesis of Ceramides in Atopic Dermatitis.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a multifactorial, heterogeneous disease associated with epidermal barrier disruption and intense systemic inflammation. Previously, we showed that exosomes derived from human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ASC-exosomes) attenuate AD-like symptoms by reducing multiple inflammatory cytokine levels. Here, we investigated ASC-exosomes' effects on skin barrier restoration by analyzing protein and lipid contents. We found that subcutaneous injection of ASC-exosomes in an oxazolone-induced dermatitis model remarkably reduced trans-epidermal water loss, while enhancing stratum corneum (SC) hydration and markedly decreasing the levels of inflammatory cytokines such as IL-4, IL-5, IL-13, TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-17, and TSLP, all in a dose-dependent manner. Interestingly, ASC-exosomes induced the production of ceramides and dihydroceramides. Electron microscopic analysis revealed enhanced epidermal lamellar bodies and formation of lamellar layer at the interface of the SC and stratum granulosum with ASC-exosomes treatment. Deep RNA sequencing analysis of skin lesions demonstrated that ASC-exosomes restores the expression of genes involved in skin barrier, lipid metabolism, cell cycle, and inflammatory response in the diseased area. Collectively, our results suggest that ASC-exosomes effectively restore epidermal barrier functions in AD by facilitating the de novo synthesis of ceramides, resulting in a promising cell-free therapeutic option for treating AD

Earnings Management Of Mergers And Acquisitions Of Target Candidates And Deal Withdrawn

In this paper, we investigate the tendencies of target candidate companies to manage earnings, which affects financial reporting quality, in order to increase transaction value, and the withdrawal of deals as a result of low financial reporting quality in M&A in a sample of 316 mergers and acquisitions in South Korea between 2002 and 2011. Using the accruals quality measure developed by Dechow and Dichev (2002) as a proxy for financial reporting quality, we find the following. First, the financial reporting quality of target candidate firms is lower than that of non-target candidate firms because target candidate firms engage in earnings management prior to M&A. Second, low-quality financial reporting of target firms is positively related to the likelihood of deal withdrawal as a result of poor financial reporting quality

High-Efficiency Screening of Monoclonal Antibodies for Membrane Protein Crystallography

Determination of crystal structures of membrane proteins is often limited by difficulties obtaining crystals diffracting to high resolution. Co-crystallization with Fab fragments of monoclonal antibodies has been reported to improve diffraction of membrane proteins crystals. However, it is not simple to generate useful monoclonal antibodies for membrane protein crystallography. In this report, we present an optimized process for efficient screening from immunization to final validation of monoclonal antibody for membrane protein crystallography

Inaccuracy of Density Functional Theory Calculations for Dihydrogen Binding Energetics onto Ca Cation Centers

We investigate the mechanism of dihydrogen adsorption onto Ca cation centers, which has been the significant focus of recent research for hydrogen storage. We particularly concentrate on reliability of commonly used density-functional theories, in comparison with correlated wave function theories. It is shown that, irrespective of the chosen exchange-correlation potentials, density-functional theories result in unphysical binding of H2 molecules onto Ca1+ system. This suggests that several previous publications could contain a serious overestimation of storage capacity at least in part of their results.open262

Effects of 92% oxygen administration on cognitive performance and physiological changes of intellectually and developmentally disabled people

Background: The present study addressed how 92% oxygen administration affects cognitive performance, blood oxygen saturation (SpO(2)), and heart rate (HR) of intellectually and developmentally disabled people. Methods: Seven males (28.9 +/- 1.8 years) and seven females (34.4 +/- 8.3 years) with intellectual and developmental disabilities (disabled level 2.1 +/- 0.5) completed an experiment consisting a 0-back task with normal air (21% oxygen) administered in one run and hyperoxic air (92% oxygen) administered in the other run. The experimental sequence in each run consisted of a 1-min adaptation phase, 2-min control phase, and 2-min 0-back task phase, where SpO(2) and HR were gauged for each phase. Results: The administration of 92% oxygen increased 0-back task performance of intellectually and developmentally disabled people, in association with increased SpO(2) and decreased HR. Our results demonstrate that sufficient oxygen supply subserving cognitive functions, even as a short-term effect, could increase cognitive ability for the intellectually and developmentally disabled people. Conclusions: It is concluded that enriched oxygen can positively affect, at least in the short-term, the working memory of those with intellectual and developmental disabilityopen0

Spatial and temporal variabilities of spring Asian dust events and their impacts on chlorophyll-a concentrations in the western North Pacific Ocean

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2017. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Research Letters 44 (2017): 1474–1482, doi:10.1002/2016GL072124.As the western North Pacific Ocean is located downwind of the source regions for spring Asian dust, it is an ideal location for determining the response of open waters to these events. Spatial analysis of spring Asian dust events from source regions to the western North Pacific, using long-term daily aerosol index data, revealed three different transport pathways supported by the westerly wind system: one passing across the northern East/Japan Sea (40°N–50°N), a second moving over the entire East/Japan Sea (35°N–55°N), and a third flowing predominantly over the Siberian continent (>50°N). Our results indicate that strong spring Asian dust events can increase ocean primary productivity by more than 70% (>2-fold increase in chlorophyll-a concentrations) compared to weak/nondust conditions. Therefore, attention should be paid to the recent downturn in the number of spring Asian dust events and to the response of primary production in the western North Pacific to this change.Korean government (MSIP) Grant Numbers: 2015R1C1A1A01052051, NRF-C1ABA001-2011-0021064; Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI) Grant Number: PE17030; NOAA Grant Number: NA11OAR4310063; WHOI2017-08-1