California Institute of Technology

About: California Institute of Technology is a education organization based out in Pasadena, California, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Galaxy & Redshift. The organization has 57649 authors who have published 146691 publications receiving 8620287 citations. The organization is also known as: Caltech & Cal Tech.

Long-Lasting Neurotrophin-Induced Enhancement of Synaptic Transmission in the Adult Hippocampus

Abstract: The neurotrophins are signaling factors important for the differentiation and survival of distinct neuronal populations during development. To test whether the neurotrophins also function in the mature nervous system, the effects of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), nerve growth factor (NGF), and neurotrophic factor 3 (NT-3) on the strength of synaptic transmission in hippocampal slices were determined. Application of BDNF or NT-3 produced a dramatic and sustained (2 to 3 hours) enhancement of synaptic strength at the Schaffer collateral-CA1 synapses; NGF was without significant effect. The enhancement was blocked by K252a, an inhibitor of receptor tyrosine kinases. BDNF and NT-3 decreased paired-pulse facilitation, which is consistent with a possible presynaptic modification. Long-term potentiation could still be elicited in slices previously potentiated by exposure to the neurotrophic factors, which implies that these two forms of plasticity may use at least partially independent cellular mechanisms.

Microstructure controlled shear band pattern formation and enhanced plasticity of bulk metallic glasses containing in situ formed ductile phase dendrite dispersions

Abstract: Results are presented for a ductile metal reinforced bulk metallic glass matrix composite based on glass forming compositions in the Zr-Ti-Cu-Ni-Be system. Primary dendrite growth and solute partitioning in the molten state yields a microstructure consisting of a ductile crystalline Ti-Zr-Nb b phase, with bcc structure, in a Zr-Ti-Nb-Cu-Ni-Be bulk metallic glass matrix. Under unconstrained mechanical loading organized shear band patterns develop throughout the sample. This results in a dramatic increase in the plastic strain to failure, impact resistance, and toughness of the metallic glass. PACS numbers: 81.40. – z, 81.05.Kf Zr41.2Ti13.8Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5 (V1) exhibits an exceptional bulk metallic glass (BMG) forming ability that has motivated investigations of its mechanical behavior [1– 3]. This alloy exhibits a 1.9 GPa tensile yield strength, and a 2% elastic strain prior to failure under tensile or compressive loading. However, as in all metallic glasses, V1 specimens loaded in a state of uniaxial or plane stress fail catastrophically on one dominant shear band and show little global plasticity. Specimens loaded under constrained geometries (plane strain) fail in an elastic, perfectly plastic manner by the generation of multiple shear bands. Multiple shear bands are observed when the catastrophic instability is avoided via mechanical constraint, e.g., in uniaxial compression, bending, rolling, and under localized indentation. This behavior under deformation has limited the application of bulk metallic glasses as an engineering material. This Letter presents results for a new class of ductile metal reinforced BMG matrix composites prepared via in situ processing. Under loading, the two-phase microstructure leads to spatial variations in elastic properties as well as the conditions for yielding, the ductile phase having a lower yield strain. The initiation and propagation of shear bands is controlled by the scale and geometry of the ductile phase dispersion with the result that deformation occurs through the development of highly organized patterns of regularly spaced shear bands distributed uniformly throughout the sample. The compositions in the Zr-Ti-Cu-Ni-Be system are compactly written in terms of a pseudoternary Zr-Ti-X phase diagram, where X represents the moiety Be9Cu5Ni4, characteristic of Zr41.2Ti13.8Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5. Results presented here are for alloys of the form Zr1002x2zTixMz1002yXy, where M is an element that stabilizes the crystalline b phase in Ti- or Zr-based alloys. The inset in Fig. 1 shows the x-ray diffraction pattern for the nominal composition Zr75Ti18.34Nb6.6675X25; i.e., an alloy with M Nb, z 6.66, x 18.34, and y 25. The diffraction pattern was obtained with an INEL diffractometer (Co-Ka radiation) on the cross sectioned surface of a 25 g arc melted rod of roughly cylindrical diameter, f 1 cm. The peaks shown [with (hkl) values labeled] are due to the bcc phase. A Nelson-Riley extrapolation yields a lattice parameter a 3.496 A [4]. Upon cooling from the high temperature melt, the alloy undergoes partial crystallization by nucleation and subsequent dendritic growth of the b phase in the remaining liquid. The remaining liquid subsequently freezes to the glassy state producing a twophase microstructure containing b-phase dendrites in a glass matrix. The final microstructure of a chemically etched specimen is shown in the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image of Fig. 1. SEM electron microprobe analysis gives the average composition for the b-phase dendrites (light phase in Fig. 1) to be Zr 71Ti16.3Nb10Cu1.8Ni0.9. Under the assumption that all of the Be in the alloy is partitioned into the matrix we estimate that the average composition of the amorphous matrix (dark phase) is Zr47Ti12.9Nb2.8Cu11Ni9.6Be16.7. Both are quoted

Cooperative mobile robotics: antecedents and directions

Abstract: There has been increased research interest in systems composed of multiple autonomous mobile robots exhibiting cooperative behavior. Groups of mobile robots are constructed, with an aim to studying such issues as group architecture, resource conflict, origin of cooperation, learning, and geometric problems. As yet, few applications of cooperative robotics have been reported, and supporting theory is still in its formative stages. In this paper, we give a critical survey of existing works and discuss open problems in this field, emphasizing the various theoretical issues that arise in the study of cooperative robotics. We describe the intellectual heritages that have guided early research, as well as possible additions to the set of existing motivations.

Efficient simulation of one-dimensional quantum many-body systems.

Abstract: We present a numerical method to simulate the time evolution, according to a generic Hamiltonian made of local interactions, of quantum spin chains and systems alike. The efficiency of the scheme depends on the amount of entanglement involved in the simulated evolution. Numerical analysis indicates that this method can be used, for instance, to efficiently compute time-dependent properties of low-energy dynamics in sufficiently regular but otherwise arbitrary one-dimensional quantum many-body systems. As by-products, we describe two alternatives to the density matrix renormalization group method.

Wide-field, high-resolution Fourier ptychographic microscopy

Abstract: We report an imaging method, termed Fourier ptychographic microscopy (FPM), which iteratively stitches together a number of variably illuminated, low-resolution intensity images in Fourier space to produce a wide-field, high-resolution complex sample image. By adopting a wavefront correction strategy, the FPM method can also correct for aberrations and digitally extend a microscope’s depth of focus beyond the physical limitations of its optics. As a demonstration, we built a microscope prototype with a resolution of 0.78 µm, a field of view of ∼120 mm^2 and a resolution-invariant depth of focus of 0.3 mm (characterized at 632 nm). Gigapixel colour images of histology slides verify successful FPM operation. The reported imaging procedure transforms the general challenge of high-throughput, high-resolution microscopy from one that is coupled to the physical limitations of the system’s optics to one that is solvable through computation.