Quantum dynamics of a single vortex

Vortices occur naturally in a wide range of gases and fluids, from macroscopic to microscopic scales. In Bose-Einstein condensates of dilute atomic gases, superfluid helium and superconductors, the existence of vortices is a consequence of the quantum nature of the system. Quantized vortices of supercurrent are generated by magnetic flux penetrating the material, and play a key role in determining the material properties and the performance of superconductor-based devices. At high temperatures the dynamics of such vortices are essentially classical, while at low temperatures previous experiments have suggested collective quantum dynamics. However, the question of whether vortex tunnelling occurs at low temperatures has been addressed only for large collections of vortices. Here we study the quantum dynamics of an individual vortex in a superconducting Josephson junction. By measuring the statistics of the vortex escape from a controllable pinning potential, we demonstrate the existence of quantized levels of the vortex energy within the trapping potential well and quantum tunnelling of the vortex through the pinning barrier.     

Gigantic jets between a thundercloud and the ionosphere

Transient luminous events in the atmosphere, such as lighting-induced sprites and upwardly discharging blue jets, were discovered recently in the region between thunderclouds and the ionosphere. In the conventional picture, the main components of Earth's global electric circuit include thunderstorms, the conducting ionosphere, the downward fair-weather currents and the conducting Earth. Thunderstorms serve as one of the generators that drive current upward from cloud tops to the ionosphere, where the electric potential is hundreds of kilovolts higher than Earth's surface. It has not been clear, however, whether all the important components of the global circuit have even been identified. Here we report observations of five gigantic jets that establish a direct link between a thundercloud (altitude approximately 16 km) and the ionosphere at 90 km elevation. Extremely-low-frequency radio waves in four events were detected, while no cloud-to-ground lightning was observed to trigger these events. Our result indicates that the extremely-low-frequency waves were generated by negative cloud-to-ionosphere discharges, which would reduce the electrical potential between ionosphere and ground. Therefore, the conventional picture of the global electric circuit needs to be modified to include the contributions of gigantic jets and possibly sprites.     

The evolution of reproductive isolation through sexual conflict

Classical population-genetics theory suggests that reproductive isolation will evolve fastest in small isolated populations. In contrast, recent theory suggests that divergence should occur fastest in larger allopatric populations. The rationale behind this is that sexual conflict, potentially the strongest driver of speciation, is greater in larger, higher-density populations. This idea is highly controversial and has little experimental support. Here we show, using replicate fly populations with varying levels of sexual conflict, that larger, more dense populations with more sexual conflict diverged to a greater degree than small populations with relaxed conflict. This result strongly suggests that speciation can occur rapidly in large populations through increased sexual conflict.     

Topography and synaptic shaping of direction selectivity in primary auditory cortex

The direction of frequency-modulated (FM) sweeps is an important temporal cue in animal and human communication. FM direction-selective neurons are found in the primary auditory cortex (A1), but their topography and the mechanisms underlying their selectivity remain largely unknown. Here we report that in the rat A1, direction selectivity is topographically ordered in parallel with characteristic frequency (CF): low CF neurons preferred upward sweeps, whereas high CF neurons preferred downward sweeps. The asymmetry of 'inhibitory sidebands', suppressive regions flanking the tonal receptive field (TRF) of the spike response, also co-varied with CF. In vivo whole-cell recordings showed that the direction selectivity already present in the synaptic inputs was enhanced by cortical synaptic inhibition, which suppressed the synaptic excitation of the non-preferred direction more than that of the preferred. The excitatory and inhibitory synaptic TRFs had identical spectral tuning, but with inhibition delayed relative to excitation. The spectral asymmetry of the synaptic TRFs co-varied with CF, as had direction selectivity and sideband asymmetry, and thus suggested a synaptic mechanism for the shaping of FM direction selectivity and its topographic ordering.     

Toward an understanding of cell growth and the cell division cycle of unicellular photoautotrophic cyanobacteria

The cell division cycle of Synechococcus sp. strain PCC 6301 in light is characterized by the sequential and orderly appearance of macromolecular synthesis periods. In the dark, macromolecular synthesis and cell division are severely curtailed. When dark-incubated cultures are reexposed to light, a new cell cycle is initiated. The pattern of the cell events displayed by Synechococcus in light and the absence of sustained growth in dark incubation conditions suggests that light-activated regulatory molecules control macromolecular synthesis and the cell division cycle. For example, ribosomal RNA synthesis is stimulated by a light-activated DNA binding factor in light but not in the dark. Light/dark conditions induce cell synchrony in Prochlorococcus. Distinct G1, S and G2 phases characterize cell cycles of marine Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus. Cell division in Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 and marine Synechococcus is controlled by circadian oscillators.     

Dysregulation of TGF-beta activation contributes to pathogenesis in Marfan syndrome

Marfan syndrome is an autosomal dominant disorder of connective tissue caused by mutations in fibrillin-1 (encoded by FBN1 in humans and Fbn1 in mice), a matrix component of extracellular microfibrils. A distinct subgroup of individuals with Marfan syndrome have distal airspace enlargement, historically described as emphysema, which frequently results in spontaneous lung rupture (pneumothorax; refs. 1-3). To investigate the pathogenesis of genetically imposed emphysema, we analyzed the lung phenotype of mice deficient in fibrillin-1, an accepted model of Marfan syndrome. Lung abnormalities are evident in the immediate postnatal period and manifest as a developmental impairment of distal alveolar septation. Aged mice deficient in fibrillin-1 develop destructive emphysema consistent with the view that early developmental perturbations can predispose to late-onset, seemingly acquired phenotypes. We show that mice deficient in fibrillin-1 have marked dysregulation of transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) activation and signaling, resulting in apoptosis in the developing lung. Perinatal antagonism of TGF-beta attenuates apoptosis and rescues alveolar septation in vivo. These data indicate that matrix sequestration of cytokines is crucial to their regulated activation and signaling and that perturbation of this function can contribute to the pathogenesis of disease.     

Iron-mediated inhibition of H+-ATPase in plasma membrane vesicles isolated from wheat roots

The mechanisms of iron-mediated inhibition of the H(+)-ATPase activity of plasma membrane (PM) vesicles isolated from wheat roots were investigated. Both FeSO(4) and FeCl(3) significantly inhibited PM H(+)-ATPase activity, and the inhibition could be reversed by the addition of the metal ion chelator EDTA-Na(2) or a specific Fe(2+) chelator, indicating that the inhibitory effect was due to specific action of Fe(2+) or Fe(3+). Measurement of the extent of lipid peroxidation showed that oxidative damage on the PM caused by Fe(2+) or Fe(3+) seemed to be correlated with the inhibition of PM H(+)-ATPase activity. However, prevention of lipid peroxidation with butylated hydroxytoluene did not affect iron-mediated inhibition in the PM H(+)-ATPase, suggesting that the inhibition of the PM H(+)-ATPase was not a consequence of lipid peroxidation caused by iron. Investigation of the effects of various reactive oxygen species scavengers on the iron-mediated inhibition of H(+)-ATPase activity indicated that hydroxyl radicals (*OH) and hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) might be involved in the Fe(2+)-mediated decrease in PM H(+)-ATPase activity. Moreover, iron caused a decrease in plasma protein thiol (P-SH), and Fe(3+) brought a higher degree of oxidation in thiol groups than Fe(2+) at the same concentration. Modification of the thiol redox state in the PM suggested that reducing thiol groups were essential to maintain PM H(+)-ATPase activity. Incubation of the specific thiol modification reagent 5,5-dithio-bis(2-nitrobenzoic acid) with the rightside-out and inside-out PM revealed that thiol oxidation occurred at the apoplast side of the PM. Western blotting analysis revealed a decrease in H(+)-ATPase content caused by iron. Taken together, these results suggested that thiol oxidation might account for the inhibition of PM H(+)-ATPase caused by iron, and that *OH and H(2)O(2) were also involved in Fe(2+)-mediated inhibition.     

Antiferromagnetic order as the competing ground state in electron-doped Nd1.85Ce0.15CuO4

Superconductivity in the high-transition-temperature (high-T(c)) copper oxides competes with other possible ground states. The physical explanation for superconductivity can be constrained by determining the nature of the closest competing ground state, and establishing if that state is universal among the high-T(c) materials. Antiferromagnetism has been theoretically predicted to be the competing ground state. A competing ground state is revealed when superconductivity is destroyed by the application of a magnetic field, and antiferromagnetism has been observed in hole-doped materials under the influence of modest fields. None of the previous experiments have revealed the quantum phase transition from the superconducting state to the antiferromagnetic state, because they failed to reach the upper critical field B(c2). Here we report the results of transport and neutron-scattering experiments on electron-doped Nd1.85Ce0.15CuO4 (refs 13, 14), where B(c2) can be reached. The applied field reveals a static, commensurate, anomalously conducting long-range ordered antiferromagnetic state, in which the induced moment scales approximately linearly with the field strength until it saturates at B(c2). This and previous experiments on the hole-doped materials therefore establishes antiferromagnetic order as a competing ground state in the high-T(c) copper oxide materials, irrespective of electron or hole doping.     

基于多AGENT的机器人装配系统结构

采用Ａｇｅｎｔ的基本思想,对多Ａｇｅｎｔ系统分别从个体和群体的角度出发,构造系统结构。通过对系统行为方式的定义,将全局运行流程与局部运行流程相分离,将任务的执行和任务间的协调相分离,将任务的选择与自身及状态相结合,从而系统结构可以隔离高层的系统控制与低层的执行过程,使虚拟系统在结构上具有更大灵活性,可扩充性和可重用性。