441 research outputs found
A prototypical model for tensional wrinkling in thin sheets
The buckling and wrinkling of thin films has recently seen a surge of interest among physicists, biologists, mathematicians and engineers. This has been triggered by the growing interest in developing technologies at ever decreasing scales and the resulting necessity to control the mechanics of tiny structures, as well as by the realization that morphogenetic processes, such as the tissue-shaping instabilities occurring in animal epithelia or plant leaves, often emerge from mechanical instabilities of cell sheets. While the most basic buckling instability of uniaxially compressed plates was understood by Euler more than 200 years ago, recent experiments on nanometrically thin (ultrathin) films have shown significant deviations from predictions of standard buckling theory. Motivated by this puzzle, we introduce here a theoretical model that allows for a systematic analysis of wrinkling in sheets far from their instability threshold. We focus on the simplest extension of Euler buckling that exhibits wrinkles of finite length - a sheet under axisymmetric tensile loads. This geometry, whose first study is attributed to Lam´e, allows us to construct\ud
a phase diagram that demonstrates the dramatic variation of wrinkling patterns from near-threshold to far-from-threshold conditions. Theoretical arguments and comparison to experiments show that for thin sheets the far-from-threshold regime is expected to emerge under extremely small compressive loads, emphasizing the relevance of our analysis for nanomechanics applications
Stable Carbon Isotope Signature of Methane Released From Phytoplankton
Unidad de excelencia MarĂa de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-MAquatic ecosystems play an important role in global methane cycling and many field studies have reported methane supersaturation in the oxic surface mixed layer (SML) of the ocean and in the epilimnion of lakes. The origin of methane formed under oxic condition is hotly debated and several pathways have recently been offered to explain the "methane paradox." In this context, stable isotope measurements have been applied to constrain methane sources in supersaturated oxygenated waters. Here we present stable carbon isotope signatures for six widespread marine phytoplankton species, three haptophyte algae and three cyanobacteria, incubated under laboratory conditions. The observed isotopic patterns implicate that methane formed by phytoplankton might be clearly distinguished from methane produced by methanogenic archaea. Comparing results from phytoplankton experiments with isotopic data from field measurements, suggests that algal and cyanobacterial populations may contribute substantially to methane formationobserved in the SML of oceans and lakes
Nanoscale atomic waveguides with suspended carbon nanotubes
We propose an experimentally viable setup for the realization of
one-dimensional ultracold atom gases in a nanoscale magnetic waveguide formed
by single doubly-clamped suspended carbon nanotubes. We show that all common
decoherence and atom loss mechanisms are small guaranteeing a stable operation
of the trap. Since the extremely large current densities in carbon nanotubes
are spatially homogeneous, our proposed architecture allows to overcome the
problem of fragmentation of the atom cloud. Adding a second nanowire allows to
create a double-well potential with a moderate tunneling barrier which is
desired for tunneling and interference experiments with the advantage of
tunneling distances being in the nanometer regime.Comment: Replaced with the published version, 7 pages, 3 figure
Hypoxia induced downregulation of hepcidin is mediated by platelet derived growth factor BB
OBJECTIVE:
Hypoxia affects body iron homeostasis; however, the underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood.
DESIGN:
Using a standardised hypoxia chamber, 23 healthy volunteers were subjected to hypoxic conditions, equivalent to an altitude of 5600 m, for 6 h. Subsequent experiments were performed in C57BL/6 mice, CREB-H knockout mice, primary hepatocytes and HepG2 cells.
RESULTS:
Exposure of subjects to hypoxia resulted in a significant decrease of serum levels of the master regulator of iron homeostasis hepcidin and elevated concentrations of platelet derived growth factor (PDGF)-BB. Using correlation analysis, we identified PDGF-BB to be associated with hypoxia mediated hepcidin repression in humans. We then exposed mice to hypoxia using a standardised chamber and observed downregulation of hepatic hepcidin mRNA expression that was paralleled by elevated serum PDGF-BB protein concentrations and higher serum iron levels as compared with mice housed under normoxic conditions. PDGF-BB treatment in vitro and in vivo resulted in suppression of both steady state and BMP6 inducible hepcidin expression. Mechanistically, PDGF-BB inhibits hepcidin transcription by downregulating the protein expression of the transcription factors CREB and CREB-H, and pharmacological blockade or genetic ablation of these pathways abrogated the effects of PDGF-BB toward hepcidin expression.
CONCLUSIONS:
Hypoxia decreases hepatic hepcidin expression by a novel regulatory pathway exerted via PDGF-BB, leading to increased availability of circulating iron that can be used for erythropoiesis
Filtering spin with tunnel-coupled electron wave guides
We show how momentum-resolved tunneling between parallel electron wave guides
can be used to observe and exploit lifting of spin degeneracy due to Rashba
spin-orbit coupling. A device is proposed that achieves spin filtering without
using ferromagnets or the Zeeman effect.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, RevTex
Impact of a Viscous Liquid Drop
We simulate the impact of a viscous liquid drop onto a smooth dry solid
surface. As in experiments, when ambient air effects are negligible, impact
flattens the falling drop without producing a splash. The no-slip boundary
condition at the wall produces a boundary layer inside the liquid. Later, the
flattening surface of the drop traces out the boundary layer. As a result, the
eventual shape of the drop is a "pancake" of uniform thickness except at the
rim, where surface tension effects are significant. The thickness of the
pancake is simply the height where the drop surface first collides with the
boundary layer.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letter
Laser microfluidics: fluid actuation by light
The development of microfluidic devices is still hindered by the lack of
robust fundamental building blocks that constitute any fluidic system. An
attractive approach is optical actuation because light field interaction is
contactless and dynamically reconfigurable, and solutions have been anticipated
through the use of optical forces to manipulate microparticles in flows.
Following the concept of an 'optical chip' advanced from the optical actuation
of suspensions, we propose in this survey new routes to extend this concept to
microfluidic two-phase flows. First, we investigate the destabilization of
fluid interfaces by the optical radiation pressure and the formation of liquid
jets. We analyze the droplet shedding from the jet tip and the continuous
transport in laser-sustained liquid channels. In the second part, we
investigate a dissipative light-flow interaction mechanism consisting in
heating locally two immiscible fluids to produce thermocapillary stresses along
their interface. This opto-capillary coupling is implemented in adequate
microchannel geometries to manipulate two-phase flows and propose a contactless
optical toolbox including valves, droplet sorters and switches, droplet
dividers or droplet mergers. Finally, we discuss radiation pressure and
opto-capillary effects in the context of the 'optical chip' where flows,
channels and operating functions would all be performed optically on the same
device
Effect of Doublon-Holon Binding on Mott transition---Variational Monte Carlo Study of Two-Dimensional Bose Hubbard Models
To understand the mechanism of Mott transitions in case of no magnetic
influence, superfluid-insulator (Mott) transitions in the S=0 Bose Hubbard
model at unit filling are studied on the square and triangular lattices, using
a variational Monte Carlo method. In trial many-body wave functions, we
introduce various types of attractive correlation factors between a
doubly-occupied site (doublon, D) and an empty site (holon, H), which play a
central role for Mott transitions, in addition to the onsite repulsive
(Gutzwiller) factor. By optimizing distance-dependent parameters, we study
various properties of this type of wave functions. With a hint from the Mott
transition arising in a completely D-H bound state, we propose an improved
picture of Mott transitions, by introducing two characteristic length scales,
the D-H binding length and the minimum D-D exclusion length
. Generally, a Mott transition occurs when becomes
comparable to . In the conductive (superfluid) state, domains of
D-H pairs overlap with each other (); thereby D and
H can propagate independently as density carriers by successively exchanging
the partners. In contrast, intersite repulsive Jastrow (D-D and H-H) factors
have little importance for the Mott transition.Comment: 16 pages, 22 figures, submitted to J. Phys. Soc. Jp
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