Fine-Structure Line Emission from the Outflows of Young Stellar Objects

The flux and line shape of the fine-structure transitions of \NeII\ and \NeIII\ at 12.8 and 15.55\,$\mu$m and of the forbidden transitions of \OI\ $\lambda6300$ are calculated for young stellar objects with a range of mass-loss rates and X-ray luminosities using the X-wind model of jets and the associated wide-angle winds. For moderate and high accretion rates, the calculated \NeII\ line luminosity is comparable to or much larger than produced in X-ray irradiated disk models. All of the line luminosities correlate well with the main parameter in the X-wind model, the mass-loss rate, and also with the assumed X-ray luminosity --- and with one another. The line shapes of an approaching jet are broad and have strong blue-shifted peaks near the effective terminal velocity of the jet. They serve as a characteristic and testable aspect of jet production of the neon fine-structure lines and the \OI\ forbidden transitions.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, published in Ap

Distributed Training Large-Scale Deep Architectures

Scale of data and scale of computation infrastructures together enable the current deep learning renaissance. However, training large-scale deep architectures demands both algorithmic improvement and careful system configuration. In this paper, we focus on employing the system approach to speed up large-scale training. Via lessons learned from our routine benchmarking effort, we first identify bottlenecks and overheads that hinter data parallelism. We then devise guidelines that help practitioners to configure an effective system and fine-tune parameters to achieve desired speedup. Specifically, we develop a procedure for setting minibatch size and choosing computation algorithms. We also derive lemmas for determining the quantity of key components such as the number of GPUs and parameter servers. Experiments and examples show that these guidelines help effectively speed up large-scale deep learning training

Determination of the lateral size and thickness of solution-processed graphene flakes

We present a method to determine the lateral size distribution of solution–processed graphene via direct image analysis techniques. Initially transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and optical microscopy (OM) were correlated and used to provide a reliable benchmark. A rapid, automated OM method was then developed to obtain the distribution from thousands of flakes, avoiding statistical uncertainties and providing high accuracy. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) was further employed to develop an in-situ method to derive the number particle size distribution (PSD) for a dispersion, with a deviation lower than 22% in the sub-micron regime. Methods for determining flake thickness are also discussed

On the selection and design of proteins and peptide derivatives for the production of photoluminescent, red-emitting gold quantum clusters

Novel pathways of the synthesis of photoluminescent gold quantum clusters (AuQCs) using biomolecules as reactants provide biocompatible products for biological imaging techniques. In order to rationalize the rules for the preparation of red-emitting AuQCs in aqueous phase using proteins or peptides, the role of different organic structural units was investigated. Three systems were studied: proteins, peptides, and amino acid mixtures, respectively. We have found that cysteine and tyrosine are indispensable residues. The SH/S-S ratio in a single molecule is not a critical factor in the synthesis, but on the other hand, the stoichiometry of cysteine residues and the gold precursor is crucial. These observations indicate the importance of proper chemical behavior of all species in a wide size range extending from the atomic distances (in the AuI-S semi ring) to nanometer distances covering the larger sizes of proteins assuring the hierarchical structure of the whole self-assembled system

Pathological Ace2-to-Ace enzyme switch in the stressed heart is transcriptionally controlled by the endothelial Brg1–FoxM1 complex

Genes encoding angiotensin-converting enzymes (Ace and Ace2) are essential for heart function regulation. Cardiac stress enhances Ace, but suppresses Ace2, expression in the heart, leading to a net production of angiotensin II that promotes cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis. The regulatory mechanism that underlies the Ace2-to-Ace pathological switch, however, is unknown. Here we report that the Brahma-related gene-1 (Brg1) chromatin remodeler and forkhead box M1 (FoxM1) transcription factor cooperate within cardiac (coronary) endothelial cells of pathologically stressed hearts to trigger the Ace2-to-Ace enzyme switch, angiotensin I-to-II conversion, and cardiac hypertrophy. In mice, cardiac stress activates the expression of Brg1 and FoxM1 in endothelial cells. Once activated, Brg1 and FoxM1 form a protein complex on Ace and Ace2 promoters to concurrently activate Ace and repress Ace2, tipping the balance to Ace2 expression with enhanced angiotensin II production, leading to cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis. Disruption of endothelial Brg1 or FoxM1 or chemical inhibition of FoxM1 abolishes the stress-induced Ace2-to-Ace switch and protects the heart from pathological hypertrophy. In human hypertrophic hearts, BRG1 and FOXM1 expression is also activated in endothelial cells; their expression levels correlate strongly with the ACE/ACE2 ratio, suggesting a conserved mechanism. Our studies demonstrate a molecular interaction of Brg1 and FoxM1 and an endothelial mechanism of modulating Ace/Ace2 ratio for heart failure therapy

Epicardial calcineurin-NFAT signals through Smad2 to direct coronary smooth muscle cell and arterial wall development

AIMS: Congenital coronary artery anomalies produce serious events that include syncope, arrhythmias, myocardial infarction, or sudden death. Studying the mechanism of coronary development will contribute to the understanding of the disease and help design new diagnostic or therapeutic strategies. Here, we characterized a new calcineurin-NFAT signalling which specifically functions in the epicardium to regulate the development of smooth muscle wall of the coronary arteries. METHODS AND RESULTS: Using tissue-specific gene deletion, we found that calcineurin-NFAT signals in the embryonic epicardium to direct coronary smooth muscle cell development. The smooth muscle wall of coronary arteries fails to mature in mice with epicardial deletion of calcineurin B1 (Cnb1), and accordingly these mutant mice develop cardiac dysfunction with reduced exercise capacity. Inhibition of calcineurin at various developmental windows shows that calcineurin-NFAT signals within a narrow time window at embryonic Day 12.5-13.5 to regulate coronary smooth muscle cell development. Within the epicardium, NFAT transcriptionally activates the expression of Smad2, whose gene product is critical for transducing transforming growth factor β (TGFβ)-Alk5 signalling to control coronary development. CONCLUSION: Our findings demonstrate new spatiotemporal and molecular actions of calcineurin-NFAT that dictate coronary arterial wall development and a new mechanism by which calcineurin-NFAT integrates with TGFβ signalling during embryonic development

Constraining Intra-cluster Gas Models with AMiBA13

Clusters of galaxies have been used extensively to determine cosmological parameters. A major difficulty in making best use of Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) and X-ray observations of clusters for cosmology is that using X-ray observations it is difficult to measure the temperature distribution and therefore determine the density distribution in individual clusters of galaxies out to the virial radius. Observations with the new generation of SZ instruments are a promising alternative approach. We use clusters of galaxies drawn from high-resolution adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) cosmological simulations to study how well we should be able to constrain the large-scale distribution of the intra-cluster gas (ICG) in individual massive relaxed clusters using AMiBA in its configuration with 13 1.2-m diameter dishes (AMiBA13) along with X-ray observations. We show that non-isothermal beta models provide a good description of the ICG in our simulated relaxed clusters. We use simulated X-ray observations to estimate the quality of constraints on the distribution of gas density, and simulated SZ visibilities (AMiBA13 observations) for constraints on the large-scale temperature distribution of the ICG. We find that AMiBA13 visibilities should constrain the scale radius of the temperature distribution to about 50% accuracy. We conclude that the upgraded AMiBA, AMiBA13, should be a powerful instrument to constrain the large-scale distribution of the ICG.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal, 12 pages, 9 figure

Structural water as an essential comonomer in supramolecular polymerization

Water is an essential comonomer in a supramolecular polymer that is used as a recyclable, water-activated glue.</jats:p