5,771 research outputs found
Thermal Fluctuations in a Lamellar Phase of a Binary Amphiphile-Solvent Mixture: A Molecular Dynamics Study
We investigate thermal fluctuations in a smectic A phase of an
amphiphile-solvent mixture with molecular dynamics simulations. We use an
idealized model system, where solvent particles are represented by simple
beads, and amphiphiles by bead-and-spring tetramers. At a solvent bead fraction
of 20 % and sufficiently low temperature, the amphiphiles self-assemble into a
highly oriented lamellar phase. Our study aims at comparing the structure of
this phase with the predictions of the elastic theory of thermally fluctuating
fluid membrane stacks [Lei et al., J. Phys. II 5, 1155 (1995)]. We suggest a
method which permits to calculate the bending rigidity and compressibility
modulus of the lamellar stack from the simulation data. The simulation results
are in reasonable agreement with the theory
Signatures of Electronic Correlations in Optical Properties of LaFeAsOF
Spectroscopic ellipsometry is used to determine the dielectric function of
the superconducting LaFeAsOF ( = 27 K) and undoped LaFeAsO
polycrystalline samples in the wide range 0.01-6.5 eV at temperatures 10 350 K. The free charge carrier response in both samples is heavily
damped with the effective carrier density as low as 0.0400.005 electrons
per unit cell. The spectral weight transfer in the undoped LaFeAsO associated
with opening of the pseudogap at about 0.65 eV is restricted at energies below
2 eV. The spectra of superconducting LaFeAsOF reveal a
significant transfer of the spectral weight to a broad optical band above 4 eV
with increasing temperature. Our data may imply that the electronic states near
the Fermi surface are strongly renormalized due to electron-phonon and/or
electron-electron interactions.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, units in Fig.2 adde
Linking partial and quasi dynamical symmetries in rotational nuclei
Background: Quasi dynamical symmetries (QDS) and partial dynamical symmetries
(PDS) play an important role in the understanding of complex systems. Up to now
these symmetry concepts have been considered to be unrelated. Purpose:
Establish a link between PDS and QDS and find an emperical manifestation.
Methods: Quantum number fluctuations and the intrinsic state formalism are used
within the framework of the interacting boson model of nuclei. Results: A
previously unrecognized region of the parameter space of the interacting boson
model that has both O(6) PDS (purity) and SU(3) QDS (coherence) in the ground
band is established. Many rare-earth nuclei approximately satisfying both
symmetry requirements are identified. Conclusions: PDS are more abundant than
previously recognized and can lead to a QDS of an incompatible symmetry.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl
Ferromagnetism and Lattice Distortions in the Perovskite YTiO
The thermodynamic properties of the ferromagnetic perovskite YTiO are
investigated by thermal expansion, magnetostriction, specific heat, and
magnetization measurements. The low-temperature spin-wave contribution to the
specific heat, as well as an Arrott plot of the magnetization in the vicinity
of the Curie temperature K, are consistent with a
three-dimensional Heisenberg model of ferromagnetism. However, a magnetic
contribution to the thermal expansion persists well above , which
contrasts with typical three-dimensional Heisenberg ferromagnets, as shown by a
comparison with the corresponding model system EuS. The pressure dependences of
and of the spontaneous moment are extracted using thermodynamic
relationships. They indicate that ferromagnetism is strengthened by uniaxial
pressures and is weakened by uniaxial
pressures and hydrostatic pressure.
Our results show that the distortion along the - and -axes is further
increased by the magnetic transition, confirming that ferromagnetism is favored
by a large GdFeO-type distortion. The c-axis results however do not fit
into this simple picture, which may be explained by an additional
magnetoelastic effect, possibly related to a Jahn-Teller distortion.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figure
Evaluation of a measles vaccine campaign by oral-fluid surveys in a rural Kenyan district: interpretation of antibody prevalence data using mixture models
We evaluated the effectiveness of a measles vaccine campaign in rural Kenya, based on oral-fluid surveys and mixture-modelling analysis. Specimens were collected from 886 children aged 9 months to 14 years pre-campaign and from a comparison sample of 598 children aged 6 months post-campaign. Quantitative measles-specific antibody data were obtained by commercial kit. The estimated proportions of measles-specific antibody negative in children aged 0–4, 5–9 and 10–14 years were 51%, 42% and 27%, respectively, pre- campaign and 18%, 14% and 6%, respectively, post-campaign. We estimate a reduction in the proportion susceptible of 65–78%, with ~85% of the population recorded to have received vaccine. The proportion of ‘weak’ positive individuals rose from 35% pre-campaign to 54% post-campaign. Our results confirm the effectiveness of the campaign in reducing susceptibility to measles and demonstrate the potential of oral-fluid studies to monitor the impact of measles vaccination campaigns
Interacting Growth Walk - a model for hyperquenched homopolymer glass?
We show that the compact self avoiding walk configurations, kinetically
generated by the recently introduced Interacting Growth Walk (IGW) model, can
be considered as members of a canonical ensemble if they are assigned random
values of energy. Such a mapping is necessary for studying the thermodynamic
behaviour of this system. We have presented the specific heat data for the IGW,
obtained from extensive simulations on a square lattice; we observe a broad
hump in the specific heat above the -point, contrary to expectation.Comment: 4 figures; Submitted to PR
Discovery and Differential Processing of HLA Class II-Restricted Minor Histocompatibility Antigen LB-PIP4K2A-1S and Its Allelic Variant by Asparagine Endopeptidase
Minor histocompatibility antigens are the main targets of donor-derived T-cells after allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Identification of these antigens and understanding their biology are a key requisite for more insight into how graft vs. leukemia effect and graft vs. host disease could be separated. We here identified four new HLA class II-restricted minor histocompatibility antigens using whole genome association scanning. For one of the new antigens, i.e., LB-PIP4K2A-1S, we measured strong T-cell recognition of the donor variant PIP4K2A-1N when pulsed as exogenous peptide, while the endogenously expressed variant in donor EBV-B cells was not recognized. We showed that lack of T-cell recognition was caused by intracellular cleavage by a protease named asparagine endopeptidase (AEP). Furthermore, microarray gene expression analysis showed that PIP4K2A and AEP are both ubiquitously expressed in a wide variety of healthy tissues, but that expression levels of AEP were lower in primary acute myeloid leukemia (AML). In line with that, we confirmed low activity of AEP in AML cells and demonstrated that HLA-DRB1*03:01 positive primary AML expressing LB-PIP4K2A-1S or its donor variant PIP4K2A-1N were both recognized by specific T-cells. In conclusion, LB-PIP4K2A-1S not only represents a novel minor histocompatibility antigen but also provides evidence that donor T-cells after allogeneic stem cell transplantation can target the autologous allelic variant as leukemia-associated antigen. Furthermore, it demonstrates that endopeptidases can play a role in cell type-specific intracellular processing and presentation of HLA class II-restricted antigens, which may be explored in future immunotherapy of AML
Quantum fingerprinting
Classical fingerprinting associates with each string a shorter string (its
fingerprint), such that, with high probability, any two distinct strings can be
distinguished by comparing their fingerprints alone. The fingerprints can be
exponentially smaller than the original strings if the parties preparing the
fingerprints share a random key, but not if they only have access to
uncorrelated random sources. In this paper we show that fingerprints consisting
of quantum information can be made exponentially smaller than the original
strings without any correlations or entanglement between the parties: we give a
scheme where the quantum fingerprints are exponentially shorter than the
original strings and we give a test that distinguishes any two unknown quantum
fingerprints with high probability. Our scheme implies an exponential
quantum/classical gap for the equality problem in the simultaneous message
passing model of communication complexity. We optimize several aspects of our
scheme.Comment: 8 pages, LaTeX, one figur
First Measurement of Collectivity of Coexisting Shapes based on Type II Shell Evolution: The Case of Zr
Background: Type II shell evolution has recently been identified as a
microscopic cause for nuclear shape coexistence. Purpose: Establish a low-lying
rotational band in 96-Zr. Methods: High-resolution inelastic electron
scattering and a relative analysis of transition strengths are used. Results:
The B(E2; 0_1^+ -> 2_2^+) value is measured and electromagnetic decay strengths
of the secdond 2^+ state are deduced. Conclusions: Shape coexistence is
established for 96-Zr. Type II shell evolution provides a systematic and
quantitative mechanism to understand deformation at low excitation energies.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
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