Significance Results from this study represent a breakthrough in our understanding of posttranscriptional control of cholesterol metabolism and how microRNAs (miRNAs) are at the heart of cholesterol regulatory circuitry and homeostasis. Although cells are adept at maintaining proper cholesterol levels, it was unknown how cells posttranscriptionally coordinate cholesterol uptake, efflux, and synthesis. MicroRNA-223 (miR-223) transcription and expression are maintained by cholesterol, and, as a feedback network, miR-223 inhibits cholesterol biosynthesis and uptake and increases cholesterol efflux. This study clearly demonstrates the extensive role that miRNAs play in coordinating metabolic adaptation to disease and general homeostasis. This work highlights a unique regulatory control point for cholesterol homeostasis and illustrates how important the study of miRNAs is to the greater understanding of dyslipidemia and cardiovascular disease.

By solving the kinetic spin Bloch equations, we study the time evolution of the transient spin grating, whose spin polarization varies periodically in real space, confined in (001) GaAs quantum wells. With this study we can investigate the properties of both the spin transport and the spin relaxation at the same time. The Fourier component of the spin signal decays double exponentially with two decay rates 1/τ+ and 1/τ−. In high temperature regime, the average of these two rates varies with the grating wave-vector q quadratically, i.e., (1/τ+ + 1/τ−)/2 = Dsq 2 + 1/τs, with Ds andτs representing the spin diffusion coefficient and the average of the out-of-plane and the in-plane spin relaxation times respectively. τ± calculated from our theory are in good agreement with the experimental data by Weber et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 076604 (2007)]. By comparing Ds with and without the electron-electron Coulomb scattering, we calculate the contribution of Coulomb drag to the spin diffusion coefficient. With the transient spin grating result, we further reveal the relations among different characteristic parameters such as spin diffusion coefficient Ds, spin relaxation time τs, and spin injection length Ls. We show that in the presence of the Dresselhaus and/or Rashba spin-orbit coupling, the widely used relation Ls = √ Dsτs is generally inaccurate and can even be very wrong in some special cases. We present an accurate way to extract the steady-state transport characteristic parameters from the transient spin grating signals.

Bloch electron conductivity perpendicular to the layers of a superlattice (period d) is evaluated using an extension of the balance-equation approach [X.L. Lei and C. S. Ting, Phys. Rev. B 32, 1112] to narrow-band transport. The perpendicular peak drift velocity v p and the critical field E c , at which the drift velocity peaks, are analyzed as functions of miniband width. Our theoretical prediction that E c d increases with decreasing miniband width agrees well with the data of Sibille et aL [Phys. Rev. Lett. 64, 52 (1990)], even for the samples of narrowest miniband width in their experiment.

The total yield of H− ions, Y(Ein), produced in backscattering of low-energy H+ and H+2 ions from polycrystalline gold, tungsten, and molybdenum converter surfaces was measured at normal incidence in the energy range Ein=2–30 eV per nucleus. The yield per nucleus is independent of the ion mass. This indicates that the molecular ions are dissociated before colliding with the converter surface. A universal expression for Y(Ein) was developed by combining the electron tunneling theory with atomic scattering theory. This expression agrees well with measurements. The yield is completely characterized by two parameters, Eth/RE and RNη0, which can be determined experimentally: Y=0 for Ein=Eth/RE, and Y approaches the maximum yield Rη0 as Ein increases. These parameters were determined from measured H− yields in ion beam backscattering experiments, as well as for backscattering of thermal distributions of hydrogen atoms. For beam experiments, the maximum yield of 0.3 per nucleus was obtained for Mo/Cs converters with 1.5 eV work function. A higher maximum yield of 0.42 was obtained from experiments on backscattering thermal distributions of H atoms. This is attributed to high extraction fields. The universal yield formula made it possible to compare the results of the two different types of experiments.

Hysteresis and plateau-like behavior of the I–V curves of a double-barrier resonant tunneling structure are simulated in the negative differential resistance region. Our simulation results show that the creation of an emitter quantum well after the current passes its maximum value is the key point in understanding the origin of the I–V plateau-like structure. It is demonstrated that the plateau-like behavior of the I–V curves is produced by the coupling between the energy level in the emitter quantum well and that in the main quantum well. The hysteresis is a manifestation of the above-mentioned energy level coupling, the accumulation and distribution of electrons in the emitter, and the coupling between the energy level in the quantum well and the conduction band edge or the three-dimensional continuum states in the emitter. The effects of the structural parameters on the bistability of the I–V curves of resonant tunneling devices are discussed. The creation and disappearance mechanism of the emitter quantum well is presented. The effects of device temperature on the hysteresis and plateau-like behavior of the I–V curves are obtained. These results provide the physical basis for utilizing the plateau-like structure of I–V curves in designing resonant tunneling devices.