Response of YBCO/PCBO/YBCO ramp type Josephson junctions to near MM wave irradiation

A high Tc Josephson device for high frequency detection applications is being developed, consisting of an YBCO/PBCO/YBCO ramp type junction and a broad band log-periodic antenna. In this contribution we present the response of such a device to (near) mm wave irradiation. Shapiro steps have been observed up to very high voltage values - nearly 4 mV at 10 K, at the maximum of the radiation power. The modulation of the step amplitudes shows very good resemblence with the predictions from the Resistively Shunted Junction model

Great Expectations? Assessing the creation of national police organisations in Scotland and the Netherlands

Against a background of recent structural reforms to police organisations in northern and western Europe, this paper examines the experiences of Scotland and the Netherlands where national police forces were established in 2013. Taking a comparative perspective, an analysis of the police reform proposals is followed by a review of the arguments for reform, the challenges of implementation and the findings emerging from the evaluations of the police reforms in each country. The paper concludes by drawing out the contrast between the ‘great expectations’ of the two police reforms articulated by the governments and the realities of bringing about rapid and large-scale organisational change, arguing that institutionalist perspectives on police reform have much to offer in making sense of the challenges of the police reform process

Testing theory in practice: a simple experiment

In this paper we discuss the experiences gained in conducting a simple testing experiment. The goal of this experiment is to apply the abstract, formal testing framework [8] in a practical setting, and to indicate the critical aspects in its application to realistic testing situations. For that purpose a formal description of the system under test (SUT) is made from which tests are systematically derived. These tests are interpreted and executed by a tester against concrete implementations, thereby giving an indication about the correctness of these implementations

The Abstract Police:a conceptual exploration of unintended changes of police organizations

Contains fulltext : 208720.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)21 p

Noise study of a high‐Tc Josephson junction under near‐millimeter‐wave irradiation

Noise studies of both the dc and ac Josephson effects have been performed on a high‐Tc ramp‐type Josephson junction irradiated at 176 GHz. Well‐established analytical results for noise in overdamped RSJs are used to model the measured I‐V characteristics, and their agreement is excellent. Noise‐rounded I‐V curves at the critical current and the first and second Shapiro steps under coherent 176 GHz radiation have been studied in detail at several temperatures and rf power levels. The noise temperatures inferred from these simulations are close to the physical temperatures. An increase of noise temperatures at high radiation power levels is a result of radiation heating, which could be due to a bolometric effect

Mifepristone increases mRNA translation rate, triggers the unfolded protein response, increases autophagic flux, and kills ovarian cancer cells in combination with proteasome or lysosome inhibitors

The synthetic steroid mifepristone blocks the growth of ovarian cancer cells, yet the mechanism driving such effect is not entirely understood. Unbiased genomic and proteomic screenings using ovarian cancer cell lines of different genetic backgrounds and sensitivities to platinum led to the identification of two key genes upregulated by mifepristone and involved in the unfolded protein response (UPR): the master chaperone of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), glucose regulated protein (GRP) of 78 kDa, and the CCAAT/enhancer binding protein homologous transcription factor (CHOP). GRP78 and CHOP were upregulated by mifepristone in ovarian cancer cells regardless of p53 status and platinum sensitivity. Further studies revealed that the three UPR-associated pathways, PERK, IRE1α, and ATF6, were activated by mifepristone. Also, the synthetic steroid acutely increased mRNA translation rate, which, if prevented, abrogated the splicing of XBP1 mRNA, a non-translatable readout of IRE1α activation. Moreover, mifepristone increased LC3-II levels due to increased autophagic flux. When the autophagic–lysosomal pathway was inhibited with chloroquine, mifepristone was lethal to the cells. Lastly, doses of proteasome inhibitors that are inadequate to block the activity of the proteasomes, caused cell death when combined with mifepristone; this phenotype was accompanied by accumulation of poly-ubiquitinated proteins denoting proteasome inhibition. The stimulation by mifepristone of ER stress and autophagic flux offers a therapeutic opportunity for utilizing this compound to sensitize ovarian cancer cells to proteasome or lysosome inhibitors.Fil: Zhang, Lei. University Of South Dakota; Estados UnidosFil: Hapon, María Belén. University Of South Dakota; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo; ArgentinaFil: Goyeneche, Alicia A.. University Of South Dakota; Estados Unidos. McGill University; CanadáFil: Srinivasan, Rekha. University Of South Dakota; Estados UnidosFil: Gamarra Luques, Carlos Diego. University Of South Dakota; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo; ArgentinaFil: Callegari, Eduardo A.. University Of South Dakota; Estados UnidosFil: Drappeau, Donis D.. University Of South Dakota; Estados UnidosFil: Terpstra, Erin J.. University Of South Dakota; Estados UnidosFil: Pan, Bo. University Of South Dakota; Estados UnidosFil: Knapp, Jennifer R.. University of Kansas; Estados UnidosFil: Chien, Jeremy. University of Kansas; Estados UnidosFil: Wang, Xuejun. University Of South Dakota; Estados UnidosFil: Eyster, Kathleen M.. University Of South Dakota; Estados UnidosFil: Telleria, Carlos Marcelo. University Of South Dakota; Estados Unidos. McGill University; Canadá. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Near‐millimeter‐wave response of high Tc ramp‐type Josephson junctions

We have studied the response of a YBCO/PBCO/YBCO ramp‐type junction to coherent radiation at 176 and 270 GHz. The I‐V characteristic of the junction closely resembles the prediction of the RSJ model. The I cR n product of the junction is 0.25 mV at 5 K. The millimeter‐wave radiation is coupled to the junction via a quasioptical structure that focuses the radiation onto the junction through a yttrium‐stabilized ZrO2 substrate. At 176 GHz, we have observed as many as six Shapiro steps at the maximum power level of our Gunn oscillator‐pumped frequency doubler. Shapiro steps are still clearly seen up to 65 K. The amplitudes of the zeroth, first, and second Shapiro steps, as functions of the square root of the radiation power, agree remarkably well with a Bessel function fit, indicating the junction is voltage‐biased at the radiation frequency (rf). At 270 GHz, due to a combination of the heavy rf loss in the ZrO2 substrate and the lack of radiation power, we have observed only the first Shapiro step

Genetical Genomics Reveals Large Scale Genotype-By-Environment Interactions in Arabidopsis thaliana

One of the major goals of quantitative genetics is to unravel the complex interactions between molecular genetic factors and the environment. The effects of these genotype-by-environment interactions also affect and cause variation in gene expression. The regulatory loci responsible for this variation can be found by genetical genomics that involves the mapping of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for gene expression traits also called expression-QTL (eQTLs). Most genetical genomics experiments published so far, are performed in a single environment and hence do not allow investigation of the role of genotype-by-environment interactions. Furthermore, most studies have been done in a steady state environment leading to acclimated expression patterns. However a response to the environment or change therein can be highly plastic and possibly lead to more and larger differences between genotypes. Here we present a genetical genomics study on 120 Arabidopsis thaliana, Landsberg erecta × Cape Verde Islands, recombinant inbred lines (RILs) in active response to the environment by treating them with 3 h of shade. The results of this experiment are compared to a previous study on seedlings of the same RILs from a steady state environment. The combination of two highly different conditions but exactly the same RILs with a fixed genetic variation showed the large role of genotype-by-environment interactions on gene expression levels. We found environment-dependent hotspots of transcript regulation. The major hotspot was confirmed by the expression profile of a near isogenic line. Our combined analysis leads us to propose CSN5A, a COP9 signalosome component, as a candidate regulator for the gene expression response to shade

Elastic and vibrational properties of alpha and beta-PbO

The structure, electronic and dynamic properties of the two layered alpha (litharge) and beta (massicot) phases of PbO have been studied by density functional methods. The role of London dispersion interactions as leading component of the total interaction energy between layers has been addressed by using the Grimme's approach, in which new parameters for Pb and O atoms have been developed. Both gradient corrected and hybrid functionals have been adopted using Gaussian-type basis sets of polarized triple zeta quality for O atoms and small core pseudo-potential for the Pb atoms. Basis set superposition error (BSSE) has been accounted for by the Boys-Bernardi correction to compute the interlayer separation. Cross check with calculations adopting plane waves that are BSSE free have also been performed for both structures and vibrational frequencies. With the new set of proposed Grimme's type parameters structures and dynamical parameters for both PbO phases are in good agreement with experimental data.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure