Multileaf collimator (MLC) tracking represents a promising technique for motion management in radiotherapy. However, the conflict between limited leaf speed/acceleration and the demand for tracking fast target motion is now a prominent issue. Conventional MLCs typically have a maximum leaf speed of 3-4 cm/s and a maximum leaf acceleration of 50-70 cm/s2, which are inadequate to track fast targe...

TCR-pMHC interaction is the keystone of the adaptive immune response. This process exhibits an impressive capacity of speed, sensitivity, and discrimination that allows detecting foreign pMHCs at very low concentration among much more abundant self-pMHC ligands. However, and despite over three decades of intensive research, the mechanisms by which this remarkable discrimination and sensitivity ...

The effect of dehydration on the aerobic metabolism and endurance of sustained, terrestrial locomotion was determined for the ghost crab, Ocypode quadrata. The rate of evaporative water loss, measured as the percentage of decrease in body mass per hour, was influenced by ambient temperature (Ta). Increasing Ta from 240 C to 300 C (40%-50% relative humidity) increased the rate of water loss from...

In its natural habitat, the one-leaf plant Monophyllaea horsfieldii (Gesneriaceae) shows striking postural changes and dramatic loss of stability in response to intermittently occurring droughts. As the morphological, anatomical and biomechanical bases of these alterations are as yet unclear, we examined the influence of varying water contents on M. horsfieldii by conducting dehydration-rehydra...

We investigated the photosynthetic limitations occurring during dehydration and rehydration of Xerophyta humilis, a poikilochlorophyllous resurrection plant, and whether volatile and non-volatile isoprenoids might be involved in desiccation tolerance. Photosynthesis declined rapidly after dehydration below 85% relative water content (RWC). Raising intercellular CO(2) concentrations during desi...

Understanding how plants tolerate dehydration is a prerequisite for developing novel strategies for improving drought tolerance. The desiccation-tolerant (DT) Sporobolus stapfianus and the desiccation-sensitive (DS) Sporobolus pyramidalis formed a sister group contrast to reveal adaptive metabolic responses to dehydration using untargeted global metabolomic analysis. Young leaves from both gras...

During dehydration, numerous metabolites accumulate in vegetative desiccation-tolerant tissues. This is thought to be important in mechanically stabilizing the cells and membranes in the desiccated state. Non-aqueous fractionation of desiccated leaf tissues of the resurrection grass Eragrostis nindensis (Ficalho and Hiern) provided an insight into the subcellular localization of the metabolites...

We calculate physical properties of rocks in subduction zones using a compilation of mineral physical property measurements, a new set of phase diagrams and subduction-zone thermal models, and apply our results to Cascadia. Observed P-wave speeds of the Juan de Fuca plate west of the Cascadia trench are best matched by a greenschist-facies upper crust and metastable, partially hydrated lower cr...