From Josephson junction metamaterials to tunable pseudo-cavities

arXiv:1305.4844v1The scattering through a Josephson junction (JJ) interrupting a superconducting line is revisited including power leakage. We also discuss how to make tunable and broadband resonant mirrors by concatenating junctions. As an application, we show how to construct cavities using these mirrors, thus connecting two research fields: JJ quantum metamaterials and coupled-cavity arrays. We finish by discussing the first nonlinear corrections to the scattering and their measurable effects. © 2013 IOP Publishing Ltd.This work was supported by Spanish government projects FIS2009-10061, and FIS2011-25167 conanced by FEDER funds. We thanks Aragon government support to group FENOL, CAM research consortium QUITEMAD and PROMISCE European project.Peer Reviewe

Virtopsy: Zukunftsträchtige Forschung in der Rechtsmedizin

Computed tomography techniques have been developed over the last 10 years and have found various applications in the forensic field. The most recent development is multislice computed tomography combined with photogrammetry-based surface optical scanning and image rendering techniques. This combination of techniques can be used to produce 3-dimensional images of injury patterns for comparison with suspect weapons and also to screen for pathological conditions in the living or deceased. This technology provides a minimally invasive procedure for capturing forensically relevant images which can be produced in the courtroom. The rapid developments in imaging techniques could provide an alternative to conventional autopsy procedures in the futur

On the Role of the Difference in Surface Tensions Involved in the Allosteric Regulation of NHE-1 Induced by Low to Mild Osmotic Pressure, Membrane Tension and Lipid Asymmetry

The sodium-proton exchanger 1 (NHE-1) is a membrane transporter that exchanges Na+ for H+ ion across the membrane of eukaryotic cells. It is cooperatively activated by intracellular protons, and this allosteric regulation is modulated by the biophysical properties of the plasma membrane and related lipid environment. Consequently, NHE-1 is a mechanosensitive transporter that responds to osmotic pressure, and changes in membrane composition. The purpose of this study was to develop the relationship between membrane surface tension, and the allosteric balance of a mechanosensitive transporter such as NHE-1. In eukaryotes, the asymmetric composition of membrane leaflets results in a difference in surface tensions that is involved in the creation of a reservoir of intracellular vesicles and membrane buds contributing to buffer mechanical constraints. Therefore, we took this phenomenon into account in this study and developed a set of relations between the mean surface tension, membrane asymmetry, fluid phase endocytosis and the allosteric equilibrium constant of the transporter. We then used the experimental data published on the effects of osmotic pressure and membrane modification on the NHE-1 allosteric constant to fit these equations. We show here that NHE-1 mechanosensitivity is more based on its high sensitivity towards the asymmetry between the bilayer leaflets compared to mean global membrane tension. This compliance to membrane asymmetry is physiologically relevant as with their slower transport rates than ion channels, transporters cannot respond as high pressure-high conductance fast-gating emergency valves