Rotational actuators based on carbon nanotubes

Nanostructures are of great interest not only for their basic scientific richness, but also because they have the potential to revolutionize critical technologies. The miniaturization of electronic devices over the past century has profoundly affected human communication, computation, manufacturing and transportation systems. True molecular-scale electronic devices are now emerging that set the stage for future integrated nanoelectronics. Recently, there have been dramatic parallel advances in the miniaturization of mechanical and electromechanical devices. Commercial microelectromechanical systems now reach the submillimetre to micrometre size scale, and there is intense interest in the creation of next-generation synthetic nanometre-scale electromechanical systems. We report on the construction and successful operation of a fully synthetic nanoscale electromechanical actuator incorporating a rotatable metal plate, with a multi-walled carbon nanotube serving as the key motion-enabling element.     

功能绝缘材料加工工艺对电润湿显示器性能的影响

电润湿显示器是基于氟树脂层（如AF1600）作为疏水绝缘层,通过外加电压来改变液体在其表面润湿性来达到显示效果的装置,为了使光刻胶层和氟树脂层有很好的粘结性能,对氟树脂表面进行离子刻蚀来增大其润湿性. 光刻后需恢复氟树脂疏水性以恢复其电润湿特性. 常用方法是通过高温回流(High Temperature Reflow Method)的方法使刻蚀后的氟树脂表面熔融流平,但高温会造成光刻胶材料黄变,像素格变形等缺陷. 本文通过蒸汽溶解法(Vapor Redissolve Method)代替高温回流法来恢复氟树脂层的疏水性能,使用氟碳溶剂（HFE7100）蒸汽溶解氟树脂层粗糙表面形成溶胶状态,加热蒸发溶剂后使表面恢复疏水性质. 本文针对蒸汽溶解法溶解时间、干燥温度和干燥时间等条件进行探究,并对高温回流法和蒸汽溶解法对电润湿显示器产生的物理和光电影响进行了对比研究.     

齿面磨损最小直齿锥齿轮Ease-off修形设计与分析

为了改善齿轮传动性能和可靠性,提出了直齿锥齿轮齿面抗磨设计与分析方法。该方法结合碟型刀具在摇台型机床切制直齿锥齿轮方法获得大轮齿面;通过预置传动误差及抛物线修形参数设计小轮法向Ease-off曲面,并叠加于大轮的共轭齿面表达修形齿面。结合齿面接触分析、承载接触分析、Archard磨损公式,提出考虑磨损深度影响的齿面承载接触分析数值方法,将齿面几何分析与力学分析融为一体,且充分考虑了安装误差、齿面修形和磨损的耦合性,可准确快速获得齿形重构后的齿面磨损量;以无磨损时承载传动误差幅值(ALTE)最小、齿面磨损次数最多进行修形优化设计,获得最优Ease-off曲面,并分析磨损对ALTE的影响。结果表明:相同磨损量下,随载荷的增加磨损次数逐渐减少且趋于相等;随齿形重构次数增加,主要是双齿啮合区的齿面初始间隙增加,导致承载变形增大;多载荷工况下,随磨损次数增加最小ALTE及其对应的载荷逐渐增大;共轭齿面轻度磨损后ALTE有所改善。     

Ferromagnetism in one-dimensional monatomic metal chains

Two-dimensional systems, such as ultrathin epitaxial films and superlattices, display magnetic properties distinct from bulk materials. A challenging aim of current research in magnetism is to explore structures of still lower dimensionality. As the dimensionality of a physical system is reduced, magnetic ordering tends to decrease as fluctuations become relatively more important. Spin lattice models predict that an infinite one-dimensional linear chain with short-range magnetic interactions spontaneously breaks up into segments with different orientation of the magnetization, thereby prohibiting long-range ferromagnetic order at a finite temperature. These models, however, do not take into account kinetic barriers to reaching equilibrium or interactions with the substrates that support the one-dimensional nanostructures. Here we demonstrate the existence of both short- and long-range ferromagnetic order for one-dimensional monatomic chains of Co constructed on a Pt substrate. We find evidence that the monatomic chains consist of thermally fluctuating segments of ferromagnetically coupled atoms which, below a threshold temperature, evolve into a ferromagnetic long-range-ordered state owing to the presence of anisotropy barriers. The Co chains are characterized by large localized orbital moments and correspondingly large magnetic anisotropy energies compared to two-dimensional films and bulk Co.     

Spontaneous breaking of time-reversal symmetry in the pseudogap state of a high-Tc superconductor

A change in 'symmetry' is often observed when matter undergoes a phase transition-the symmetry is said to be spontaneously broken. The transition made by underdoped high-transition-temperature (high-Tc) superconductors is unusual, in that it is not a mean-field transition as seen in other superconductors. Rather, there is a region in the phase diagram above the superconducting transition temperature Tc (where phase coherence and superconductivity begin) but below a characteristic temperature T* where a 'pseudogap' appears in the spectrum of electronic excitations. It is therefore important to establish if T* is just a cross-over temperature arising from fluctuations in the order parameter that will establish superconductivity at Tc (refs 3, 4), or if it marks a phase transition where symmetry is spontaneously broken. Here we report that, for a material in the pseudogap state, left-circularly polarized photons give a different photocurrent from right-circularly polarized photons. This shows that time-reversal symmetry is spontaneously broken below T*, which therefore corresponds to a phase transition.     

HIV preferentially infects HIV-specific CD4+ T cells

HIV infection is associated with the progressive loss of CD4(+) T cells through their destruction or decreased production. A central, yet unresolved issue of HIV disease is the mechanism for this loss, and in particular whether HIV-specific CD4(+) T cells are preferentially affected. Here we show that HIV-specific memory CD4(+) T cells in infected individuals contain more HIV viral DNA than other memory CD4(+) T cells, at all stages of HIV disease. Additionally, following viral rebound during interruption of antiretroviral therapy, the frequency of HIV viral DNA in the HIV-specific pool of memory CD4(+) T cells increases to a greater extent than in memory CD4(+) T cells of other specificities. These findings show that HIV-specific CD4(+) T cells are preferentially infected by HIV in vivo. This provides a potential mechanism to explain the loss of HIV-specific CD4(+) T-cell responses, and consequently the loss of immunological control of HIV replication. Furthermore, the phenomenon of HIV specifically infecting the very cells that respond to it adds a cautionary note to the practice of structured therapy interruption.     

Identification of a factor that links apoptotic cells to phagocytes

Apoptotic cells are rapidly engulfed by phagocytes to prevent the release of potentially noxious or immunogenic intracellular materials from the dying cells, thereby preserving the integrity and function of the surrounding tissue. Phagocytes engulf apoptotic but not healthy cells, indicating that the apoptotic cells present a signal to the phagocytes, and the phagocytes recognize the signal using a specific receptor. Here, we report a factor that links apoptotic cells to phagocytes. We found that milk fat globule-EGF-factor 8 (MFG-E8), a secreted glycoprotein, was produced by thioglycollate-elicited macrophages. MFG-E8 specifically bound to apoptotic cells by recognizing aminophospholipids such as phosphatidylserine. MFG-E8, when engaged by phospholipids, bound to cells via its RGD (arginine-glycine-aspartate) motif--it bound particularly strongly to cells expressing alpha(v)beta(3) integrin. The NIH3T3 cell transformants that expressed a high level of alpha(v)beta(3) integrin were found to engulf apoptotic cells when MFG-E8 was added. MFG-E8 carrying a point mutation in the RGD motif behaved as a dominant-negative form, and inhibited the phagocytosis of apoptotic cells by peritoneal macrophages in vitro and in vivo. These results indicate that MFG-E8 secreted from activated macrophages binds to apoptotic cells, and brings them to phagocytes for engulfment.     

Crystal structure of bacterial multidrug efflux transporter AcrB

AcrB is a major multidrug exporter in Escherichia coli. It cooperates with a membrane fusion protein, AcrA, and an outer membrane channel, TolC. We have determined the crystal structure of AcrB at 3.5 A resolution. Three AcrB protomers are organized as a homotrimer in the shape of a jellyfish. Each protomer is composed of a transmembrane region 50 A thick and a 70 A protruding headpiece. The top of the headpiece opens like a funnel, where TolC might directly dock into AcrB. A pore formed by three alpha-helices connects the funnel with a central cavity located at the bottom of the headpiece. The cavity has three vestibules at the side of the headpiece which lead into the periplasm. In the transmembrane region, each protomer has twelve transmembrane alpha-helices. The structure implies that substrates translocated from the cell interior through the transmembrane region and from the periplasm through the vestibules are collected in the central cavity and then actively transported through the pore into the TolC tunnel.