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Chen, Yu

Publications and source records attributed to Chen, Yu.

At least 181 records · Page 10
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

Structures of Pseudomonas aeruginosa LpxA Reveal the Basis for Its Substrate Selectivity

In Gram-negative bacteria, the first step of lipid A biosynthesis is catalyzed by UDP-N-acetylglucosamine acyltransferase (LpxA) through the transfer of a R-3-hydroxyacyl chain from the acyl carrier protein (ACP) to the 3-hydroxyl group of UDP-GlcNAc. Previous studies suggest that LpxA is a critical determinant of the acyl chain length found in lipid A, which varies among species of bacteria. In Escherichia coli and Leptospira interrogans, LpxA prefers to incorporate longer R-3-hydroxyacyl chains (C14 and C12, respectively), whereas in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the enzyme is selective for R-3-hydroxydecanoyl, a 10-hydrocarbon long acyl chain. We now report three P. aeruginosa LpxA crystal structures: apo protein, substrate complex with UDP-GlcNAc, and product complex with UDP-3-O-(R-3-hydroxydecanoyl)-GlcNAc. A comparison between the apo form and complexes identifies key residues that position UDP-GlcNAc appropriately for catalysis and supports the role of catalytic His121 in activating the UDP-GlcNAc 3-hydroxyl group for nucleophilic attack during the reaction. Here, the product-complex structure, for the first time, offers structural insights into how Met169 serves to constrain the length of the acyl chain and thus functions as the so-called hydrocarbon ruler. Furthermore, compared with ortholog LpxA structures, the purported oxyanion hole, formed by the backbone amide group of Gly139, displays a different conformation in P. aeruginosa LpxA, which suggests flexibility of this structural feature important for catalysis and the potential need for substrate-induced conformational change in catalysis. Taken together, the three structures provide valuable insights into P. aeruginosa LpxA catalysis and substrate specificity as well as templates for future inhibitor discovery.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2015

Risk of death from cardiovascular disease associated with low-level arsenic exposure among long-term smokers in a US population-based study

High levels of arsenic exposure have been associated with increases in cardiovascular disease risk. However, studies of arsenic's effects at lower exposure levels are limited and few prospective studies exist in the United States using long-term arsenic exposure biomarkers. We conducted a prospective analysis of the association between toenail arsenic and cardiovascular disease mortality using longitudinal data collected on 3939 participants in the New Hampshire Skin Cancer Study. Using Cox proportional hazard models adjusted for potential confounders, we estimated hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals associated with the risk of death from any cardiovascular disease, ischemic heart disease, and stroke, in relation to natural-log transformed toenail arsenic concentrations. In this US population, although we observed no overall association, arsenic exposure measured from toenail clipping samples was related to an increased risk of ischemic heart disease mortality among long-term smokers (as reported at baseline), with increased hazard ratios among individuals with ≥ 31 total smoking years (HR: 1.52, 95% CI: 1.02, 2.27), ≥ 30 pack-years (HR: 1.66, 95% CI: 1.12, 2.45), and among current smokers (HR: 1.69, 95% CI: 1.04, 2.75). These results are consistent with evidence from more highly exposed populations suggesting a synergistic relationship between arsenic exposure and smoking on health outcomes and support a role for lower-level arsenic exposure in ischemic heart disease mortality. - Highlights: • Arsenic (As) has been associated with increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. • Little is known about CVD effects at lower levels of As exposure common in the US. • Few have investigated the joint effects of As and smoking on CVD in US adults. • We examine chronic low-level As exposure and smoking in relation to CVD mortality. • Arsenic exposure may increase ischemic heart disease mortality among smokers in US.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2015

Collective electronic behaviors of laterally heterostructured armchair MoS{sub 2}-NbS{sub 2} nanoribbons

Based on density functional theory, we have investigated the electronic properties of molybdenum disulfide-niobium disulfide hybrid nanoribbons (MoS{sub 2}-NbS{sub 2} NRs). It is found that the MoS{sub 2} edge, MoS{sub 2} center, NbS{sub 2} edge, and NbS{sub 2} center have distinct contributions to the collective electronic behaviors of MoS{sub 2}-NbS{sub 2} NRs. Its behavior, metallic or semiconductor, depends on whether the central area of NR contains NbS{sub 2} chain or not. This dependence has been also revealed in the electronic structures of NbS{sub 2}-MoS{sub 2}-NbS{sub 2} NR and MoS{sub 2}-NbS{sub 2}-MoS{sub 2} NR, of which the former is semiconductor and the latter is metal. In comparison with MoS{sub 2} NR of the same width, the hybrid has a different bandgap that was caused by the coupled effects between NbS{sub 2} edge and MoS{sub 2} edge. This fact makes MoS{sub 2}-NbS{sub 2} NRs a possible candidate for nanoelectronic devices based on heterostructured transition-metal dichalcogenide.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

A facile method to prepare mesoporous anatase TiO{sub 2} materials in water at lower temperatures

Highlights: • Mesoporous anatase TiO{sub 2} was prepared in water at lower temperatures than 90 °C. • The specific surface areas of as-prepared TiO{sub 2} are in the range of 235–345 m{sup 2} g{sup −1}. • The as-prepared TiO{sub 2} possesses high UV or visible light photocatalytic activity. - Abstract: Mesoporous anatase TiO{sub 2} has been successfully prepared in water at lower temperatures than 90 °C. Firstly, amorphous TiO{sub 2} gels were prepared by conventional sol–gel method at room temperature with tetrabutyl titanate as precursor, and then TiO{sub 2} gels were directly put into water at temperatures of 50–90 °C for 0.5–10 h to form mesoporous anatase TiO{sub 2}. The as-prepared mesoporous TiO{sub 2} was characterized by XRD, TEM, FTIR, Raman, UV–vis DRS, DSC–TGA, and XPS. The results showed that mesoporous anatase TiO{sub 2} contained some organic residuals, the mean size of the TiO{sub 2} nanocrystals was in the range of 3.5–5.4 nm, and their BET specific surface areas were in the range of 235–345 m{sup 2} g{sup −1}. The photocatalytic activity of as-prepared TiO{sub 2} was obviously higher than those of the commercial TiO{sub 2} (P25) and TiO{sub 2} calcined at 450 °C for 3 h under UV or visible light irradiation.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Traveling wave parametric amplifier with Josephson junctions using minimal resonator phase matching

Josephson parametric amplifiers have become a critical tool in superconducting device physics due to their high gain and quantum-limited noise. Traveling wave parametric amplifiers (TWPAs) promise similar noise performance, while allowing for significant increases in both bandwidth and dynamic range. We present a TWPA device based on an LC-ladder transmission line of Josephson junctions and parallel plate capacitors using low-loss amorphous silicon dielectric. Crucially, we have inserted λ/4 resonators at regular intervals along the transmission line in order to maintain the phase matching condition between pump, signal, and idler and increase gain. We achieve an average gain of 12 dB across a 4 GHz span, along with an average saturation power of −92 dBm with noise approaching the quantum limit.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

High-performance transition metal-doped Pt 3 Ni octahedra for oxygen reduction reaction

Bimetallic platinum-nickel (Pt-Ni) nanostructures represent an emerging class of electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in fuel cells, but practical applications have been limited by catalytic activity and durability. We surface-doped Pt 3 Ni octahedra supported on carbon with transition metals, termed M-Pt 3 Ni/C, where M is vanadium, chromium, manganese, iron, cobalt, molybdenum (Mo), tungsten, or rhenium. The Mo-Pt 3 Ni/C showed the best ORR performance, with a specific activity of 10.3 mA/cm2 and mass activity of 6.98 A/mgPt, which are 81- and 73-fold enhancements compared with the commercial Pt/C catalyst (0.127 mA/cm 2 and 0.096 A/mg Pt ). In conclusion, theoretical calculations suggest that Mo prefers subsurface positions near the particle edges in vacuum and surface vertex/edge sites in oxidizing conditions, where it enhances both the performance and the stability of the Pt3Ni catalyst.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Antibacterial properties and atomic resolution X-ray complex crystal structure of a ruthenocene conjugated β-lactam antibiotic

We have determined a 1.18 Å resolution X-ray crystal structure of a novel ruthenocenyle-6-aminopenicillinic acid in complex with CTX-M β-lactamase, showing unprecedented details of interactions between ruthenocene and protein. As the first product complex with an intact catalytic serine, the structure also offers insights into β-lactamase catalysis and inhibitor design.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2015

Improved ion optics for introduction of ions into a 9.4-T Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer

Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) mass spectrometry provides unparalleled mass accuracy and resolving power.[1],[2] With electrospray ionization (ESI), ions are typically transferred into the mass spectrometer through a skimmer, which serves as a conductance-limiting orifice. However, the skimmer allows only a small fraction of incoming ions to enter the mass spectrometer. An ion funnel, originally developed by Smith and coworkers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)[3-5] provides much more efficient ion focusing and transfer. The large entrance aperture of the ion funnel allows almost all ions emanating from a heated capillary to be efficiently captured and transferred, resulting in nearly lossless transmission.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2014

Enhancing optical power of GaN-based light-emitting diodes by nanopatterning on indium tin oxide with tunable fill factor using multiple-exposure nanosphere-lens lithography

In this study, the multiple-exposure nanosphere-lens lithography method utilizing the polystyrene nanospheres with focusing behavior is investigated and introduced to fabricate diverse photonic crystals (PCs) on indium tin oxide to enhance the optical output power of GaN-based light-emitting diode (LED). Simulated results indicate that the focused light intensity decreases with increasing tilted angle due to the shadow effect introduced by adjacent nanospheres. The fill factor of nanopattern is tunable by controlling tilted angles and exposure times. To attain quadruple PC without overlapping patterns, mathematical calculation model is used to define the optimum range of tilted angles. Angular emission patterns and three-dimensional finite-difference time domain simulated results indicate that the enhanced light extraction of PC LEDs results mainly from diffused scattering effects, and the diffraction effects of PC on light extracted efficiency increase with the increase of fill factor. Furthermore, it is confirmed that the multiple PC can extract more light from GaN into air than common PC with same period and fill factor.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Microstructure and electrical properties in W/Nb co-doped Aurivillius phase Bi{sub 4}Ti{sub 3}O{sub 12} piezoelectric ceramics

Highlights: • W/Nb codoped BIT ceramics were prepared by the mixed oxides route. • High nd{sup 0} electronic configuration of W/Nb reduces the lattice distortion and T{sub C}. • Oxygen vacancy is responsible for dielectric relaxation and DC conduction process. • W/Nb additives significantly enhanced the piezoelectric coefficient d{sub 33} value. • BWNb-10 ceramics possessed large remnant polarization and a wide sintering window. - Abstract: Aurivillius-type Bi{sub 4}Ti{sub 3-x}W{sub x/2}Nb{sub x/2}O{sub 12} ceramics were prepared by a conventional solid-state sintering method. The XRD patterns demonstrated that all compositions were a single three layered crystalline structure, involving a reduction of lattice distortion with an increase in W/Nb doping level. The electrical properties including dielectric, electrical conduction and piezoelectric properties were tailored by W/Nb additives. The Curie-temperature decreased, whereas the electrical resistivity drastically increased with introduction of W/Nb donor dopants. As a result, a high electric field can be applied during the poling process. The Bi{sub 4}Ti{sub 2.9}W{sub 0.05}Nb{sub 0.05}O{sub 12} ceramics exhibited optimum piezoelectric coefficient (d{sub 33} ∼22.8 pC/N), large remnant polarization (2P{sub r} ∼26.8 μC/cm{sup 2} @ 200 °C) together with a high Curie temperature (T{sub C} ∼635 °C). Furthermore, this composition possessed a wide sintering window with outstanding piezoelectric properties. These parameters indicate that Bi{sub 4}Ti{sub 2.9}W{sub 0.05}Nb{sub 0.05}O{sub 12}-based ceramic is a promising candidate for high temperature piezoelectric applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Characterization and reduction of microfabrication-induced decoherence in superconducting quantum circuits

Many superconducting qubits are highly sensitive to dielectric loss, making the fabrication of coherent quantum circuits challenging. To elucidate this issue, we characterize the interfaces and surfaces of superconducting coplanar waveguide resonators and study the associated microwave loss. We show that contamination induced by traditional qubit lift-off processing is particularly detrimental to quality factors without proper substrate cleaning, while roughness plays at most a small role. Aggressive surface treatment is shown to damage the crystalline substrate and degrade resonator quality. We also introduce methods to characterize and remove ultra-thin resist residue, providing a way to quantify and minimize remnant sources of loss on device surfaces.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Strong environmental coupling in a Josephson parametric amplifier

We present a lumped-element Josephson parametric amplifier designed to operate with strong coupling to the environment. In this regime, we observe broadband frequency dependent amplification with multi-peaked gain profiles. We account for this behavior using the “pumpistor” model which allows for frequency dependent variation of the external impedance. Using this understanding, we demonstrate control over the complexity of gain profiles through added variation in the environment impedance at a given frequency. With strong coupling to a suitable external impedance, we observe a significant increase in dynamic range, and large amplification bandwidth up to 700 MHz giving near quantum-limited performance.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Nanospherical-lens lithographical Ag nanodisk arrays embedded in p-GaN for localized surface plasmon-enhanced blue light emitting diodes

Large-scale Ag nanodisks (NDs) arrays fabricated using nanospherical-lens lithography (NLL) are embedded in p-GaN layer of an InGaN/GaN light-emitting diode (LED) for generating localized surface plasmon (LSP) coupling with the radiating dipoles in the quantum-well (QWs). Based on the Ag NDs with the controlled surface coverage, LSP leads to the improved crystalline quality of regrowth p-GaN, increased photoluminescence (PL) intensity, reduced PL decay time, and enhanced output power of LED. Compared with the LED without Ag NDs, the optical output power at a current of 350 mA of the LSP-enhanced LEDs with Ag NDs having a distance of 20 and 35 nm to QWs is increased by 26.7% and 31.1%, respectively. The electrical characteristics and optical properties of LEDs with embedded Ag NPs are dependent on the distance of between Ag NPs and QWs region. The LED with Ag NDs array structure is also found to exhibit reduced emission divergence, compared to that without Ag NDs.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Helical tomotherapy with dynamic running-start-stop delivery compared to conventional tomotherapy delivery

Purpose: Despite superior target dose uniformity, helical tomotherapy{sup ®} (HT) may involve a trade-off between longitudinal dose conformity and beam-on time (BOT), due to the limitation of only three available jaw sizes with the conventional HT (1.0, 2.5, and 5.0 cm). The recently introduced dynamic running-start-stop (RSS) delivery allows smaller jaw opening at the superior and inferior ends of the target when a sharp penumbra is needed. This study compared the dosimetric performance of RSS delivery with the fixed jaw HT delivery. Methods: Twenty patient cases were selected and deidentified prior to treatment planning, including 16 common clinical cases (brain, head and neck (HN), lung, and prostate) and four special cases of whole brain with hippocampus avoidance (WBHA) that require a high degree of dose modulation. HT plans were generated for common clinical cases using the fixed 2.5 cm jaw width (HT2.5) and WBHA cases using 1.0 cm (HT1.0). The jaw widths for RSS were preset with a larger size (RSS5.0 vs HT2.5 and RSS2.5 vs HT1.0). Both delivery techniques were planned based on identical contours, prescriptions, and planning objectives. Dose indices for targets and critical organs were compared using dose-volume histograms, BOT, and monitor units. Results: The average BOT was reduced from 4.8 min with HT2.5 to 2.5 min with RSS5.0. Target dose homogeneity with RSS5.0 was shown comparable to HT2.5 for common clinical sites. Superior normal tissue sparing was observed in RSS5.0 for optic nerves and optic chiasm in brain and HN cases. RSS5.0 demonstrated improved dose sparing for cord and esophagus in lung cases, as well as penile bulb in prostate cases. The mean body dose was comparable for both techniques. For the WBHA cases, the target homogeneity was significantly degraded in RSS2.5 without distinct dose sparing for hippocampus, compared to HT1.0. Conclusions: Compared to the fixed jaw HT delivery, RSS combined with a larger jaw width provides faster treatment delivery and improved cranial-caudal target dose conformity. The target coverage achieved by RSS with a large jaw width is comparable to the fixed jaw HT delivery for common cancer sites, but may deteriorate for cases where complex geometry is present in the middle part of the target.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Burden of Total and Cause-Specific Mortality Related to Tobacco Smoking among Adults Aged ≥45 Years in Asia: A Pooled Analysis of 21 Cohorts

Tobacco smoking is a major risk factor for many diseases. We sought to quantify the burden of tobacco-smoking-related deaths in Asia, in parts of which men's smoking prevalence is among the world's highest. We performed pooled analyses of data from 1,049,929 participants in 21 cohorts in Asia to quantify the risks of total and cause-specific mortality associated with tobacco smoking using adjusted hazard ratios and their 95% confidence intervals. We then estimated smoking-related deaths among adults aged ≥45 y in 2004 in Bangladesh, India, mainland China, Japan, Republic of Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan—accounting for ~71% of Asia's total population. An approximately 1.44-fold (95% CI = 1.37–1.51) and 1.48-fold (1.38–1.58) elevated risk of death from any cause was found in male and female ever-smokers, respectively. In 2004, active tobacco smoking accounted for approximately 15.8% (95% CI = 14.3%–17.2%) and 3.3% (2.6%–4.0%) of deaths, respectively, in men and women aged ≥45 y in the seven countries/regions combined, with a total number of estimated deaths of ~1,575,500 (95% CI = 1,398,000–1,744,700). Among men, approximately 11.4%, 30.5%, and 19.8% of deaths due to cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and respiratory diseases, respectively, were attributable to tobacco smoking. Corresponding proportions for East Asian women were 3.7%, 4.6%, and 1.7%, respectively. The strongest association with tobacco smoking was found for lung cancer: a 3- to 4-fold elevated risk, accounting for 60.5% and 16.7% of lung cancer deaths, respectively, in Asian men and East Asian women aged ≥45 y. Tobacco smoking is associated with a substantially elevated risk of mortality, accounting for approximately 2 million deaths in adults aged ≥45 y throughout Asia in 2004. It is likely that smoking-related deaths in Asia will continue to rise over the next few decades if no effective smoking control programs are implemented.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗