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Cloud occurrence, microphysical and optical properties and atmospheric profiles within a subtropical cloud regime transition in the northeastern Pacific Ocean are obtained from a synergistic combination of the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) and the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). The observed cloud parameters and atmospheric thermodynamic profile retrievals are binned by cloud type and analyzed based on their probability density functions (PDFs). Comparison of the PDFs to data from the European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasting Re-analysis (ERA-Interim) shows a strong difference in the occurrence of the different cloud types compared to clear sky. An increasing non-Gaussian behavior is observed in cloud optical thickness (τc), effective radius (re) and cloud top temperature (Tc) distributions from Stratocumulus to Trade Cumulus, while decreasing values of lower tropospheric stability are seen. However, variations in the mean, width and shape of the distributions are found. The AIRS potential temperature (θ) and water vapor (q) profiles in the presence of varying marine boundary layer (MBL) cloud types show overall similarities to the ERA-Interim in the mean profiles, but differences arise in the higher moments at some altitudes. The differences between the PDFs from AIRS+MODIS and ERA-Interim make it possible to pinpoint systematic errors in both systems and helps to understand joint PDFs of cloud properties and coincident thermodynamic profiles from satellite observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breast cancer resistance protein (BCRP) is a multidrug resistant ABC transport protein (ABCG-2). It extrudes a wide range of substrates, including many chemotherapy drugs, steroids and folate. It is present in many cancers, as well as normal tissues, in particular barrier tissues such as the blood?brain barrier, the intestine, blood vessels and the human placenta. Human fetal membranes (amnion and chorion laeve) provide the barrier between the maternal uterine environment and the fetus. In the present study, we defined the expression and localisation of BCRP mRNA and protein in human fetal membranes (amnion and chorion) and attached decidua obtained before and following labour at term. BCRP protein and mRNA was expressed in all tissues examined and the levels of expression were not altered by labour. BCRP was localised to the amnion epithelial cells, chorion trophoblast cells and decidua stromal cells, as well as the endothelial cells of maternal blood vessels in the decidua, but was absent from mesenchymal cells. In the amnion epithelium, BCRP protein was localised to the apical surface, cytoplasm and membrane between cells. In the chorion trophoblast and decidua stromal cells, BCRP protein was localised to the plasma membrane. However, in the chorion trophoblast, BCRP protein was also highly expressed in the nucleus. The level of BCRP protein in the membranes was comparable to that in the placenta. These high levels raise the possibility that this transporter plays an important role in the physiological function of the tissues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is demonstrated that the apex of a circular biconcave vesicle of fluid membrane can shift toward to (or away from) the center depending on the increase (or decrease) of the osmotic pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The efficient retrieval of stored CAD files is an area that has received significant attention in recent years. Several Product Data Management products have been developed, most of which are based on the use of coding concepts to retrieve designs. However, the limited number of codes that can be used limits the flexibility of part shape representation and also versatility in retrieving existing drawings. In this paper, an integrated approach using topological relationships among form features as the search indices is proposed. The use of a feature adjacency graph and also a feature topological relation graph that acts as the interface enables this approach to translate the feature-based B-Rep model of a part that is stored in the CAD system into topological relationships that are stored in a relational database. In addition, five types of queries based on topological relationships are used to aid the retrieval of designs. The proposed technique for design retrieval is more convenient than traditional coding based methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human red blood cell (RBC) membranes are typically biconcave-shaped under physiological conditions, and membranes of other shapes, such as spherical, are also observed in pathological RBCs. It has been suggested that there is a relationship between the RBC membrane's material properties, morphologies and physiological functions. The present work studies how various factors affect the morphologies of the RBC membrane based on a free energy functional in continuum elasticity descriptions. In particular, the instability conditions of a diseased spherocyte's spherical shape is obtained explicitly, which determines the region in the phase diagram constructed by two dimensionless state variables defined by elastic moduli, osmotic pressure, etc., in which the spherocyte's membrane can exist in a stable form. In this phase diagram, each point represents the statistical results for a large number of samples observed in recent experiments. Within this stable region of spherocyte's membrane, the spherical RBC membrane is in the global minimal state whereas in the adjacent region on the other side of the boundary, the echinocyte's membrane corresponds to the global minimal state. Our results could be used as a theoretical guide for clinical applications in related diseases, such as malaria, and are in quantitative agreement with recent dynamic optical measurements on the morphological transition of the RBC membrane (see Park Y. et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 107 (2010) 6731). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interdot Coulomb interactions and collective Coulomb blockade were theoretically argued to be a newly important topic, and experimentally identified in semiconductor quantum dots, formed in the gate confined two-dimensional electron gas system. Developments of cluster science and colloidal synthesis accelerated the studies of electron transport in colloidal nanocrystal or quantum-dot solids. To study the interdot coupling, various sizes of two-dimensional arrays of colloidal PbSe quantum dots are self-assembled on flat gold surfaces for scanning tunneling microscopy and scanning tunneling spectroscopy measurements at both room and liquid-nitrogen temperatures. The tip-to-array, array-to-substrate, and interdot capacitances are evaluated and the tunneling spectra of quantum-dot arrays are analyzed by the theory of collective Coulomb blockade. The current-voltage of PbSe quantum-dot arrays conforms properly to a scaling power law function. In this study, the dependence of tunneling spectra on the sizes (numbers of quantum dots) of arrays is reported and the capacitive coupling between quantum dots in the arrays is explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]