70 research outputs found
DMRG studies of the effect of constraint release on the viscosity of polymer melts
The scaling of the viscosity of polymer melts is investigated with regard to
the molecular weight. We present a generalization of the Rubinstein-Duke model,
which takes constraint releases into account and calculate the effects on the
viscosity by the use of the Density Matrix Renormalization Group (DMRG)
algorithm. Using input from Rouse theory the rates for the constraint release
are determined in a self consistent way. We conclude that shape fluctuations of
the tube caused by constraint release are not a likely candidate for improving
Doi's crossover theory for the scaling of the polymer viscosity.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figure
Diffusion in a generalized Rubinstein-Duke model of electrophoresis with kinematic disorder
Using a generalized Rubinstein-Duke model we prove rigorously that kinematic
disorder leaves the prediction of standard reptation theory for the scaling of
the diffusion constant in the limit for long polymer chains
unaffected. Based on an analytical calculation as well as Monte Carlo
simulations we predict kinematic disorder to affect the center of mass
diffusion constant of an entangled polymer in the limit for long chains by the
same factor as single particle diffusion in a random barrier model.Comment: 29 pages, 3 figures, submitted to PR
Generation and evolution of vortex-antivortex pairs in Bose-Einstein condensates
We propose a method for generating and controlling a spatially separated
vortex--antivortex pair in a Bose-Einstein condensate trapped in a toroidal
potential. Our simulations of the time dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation show
that in toroidal condensates vortex dynamics are different from the dynamics in
the homogeneous case. Our numerical results agree well with analytical
calculations using the image method. Our proposal offers an effective example
of coherent generation and control of vortex dynamics in atomic condensates.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
1D model of precursors to frictional stick-slip motion allowing for robust comparison with experiments
We study the dynamic behaviour of 1D spring-block models of friction when the
external loading is applied from a side, and not on all blocks like in the
classical Burridge-Knopoff-like models. Such a change in the loading yields
specific difficulties, both from numerical and physical viewpoints. To address
some of these difficulties and clarify the precise role of a series of model
parameters, we start with the minimalistic model by Maegawa et al. (Tribol.
Lett. 38, 313, 2010) which was proposed to reproduce their experiments about
precursors to frictional sliding in the stick-slip regime. By successively
adding (i) an internal viscosity, (ii) an interfacial stiffness and (iii) an
initial tangential force distribution at the interface, we manage to (i) avoid
the model's unphysical stress fluctuations, (ii) avoid its unphysical
dependence on the spatial resolution and (iii) improve its agreement with the
experimental results, respectively. Based on the behaviour of this improved 1D
model, we develop an analytical prediction for the length of precursors as a
function of the applied tangential load. We also discuss the relationship
between the microscopic and macroscopic friction coefficients in the model.Comment: 13 pages, 14 figures, accepted in Tribology Letter
Dipolar interactions and anisotropic magnetoresistance in metallic granular systems
We revisit the theory of magnetoresistance for a system of nanoscopic
magnetic granules in metallic matrix. Using a simple model for the spin
dependent perturbation potential of the granules, we solve Boltzmann equation
for the spin dependent components of the non equilibrium electronic
distribution function. For typical values of the geometric parameters in
granular systems, we find a peculiar structure of the distribution function of
conduction electrons, which is at variance with the two-current model of
conduction in inhomogeneous systems. Our treatment explicitly includes the
effects of dipolar correlations yielding a magnetoresistance ratio which
contains, in addition to the term proportional to the square of uniform
magnetization (), a weak anisotropic contribution
depending on the angle between electric and magnetic fields, and arising from
the anisotropic character of dipolar interactions.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, accepted in PR
A century of trends in adult human height
Being taller is associated with enhanced longevity, and higher education and earnings. We reanalysed 1472 population-based studies, with measurement of height on more than 18.6 million participants to estimate mean height for people born between 1896 and 1996 in 200 countries. The largest gain in adult height over the past century has occurred in South Korean women and Iranian men, who became 20.2 cm (95% credible interval 17.5-22.7) and 16.5 cm (13.3-19.7) taller, respectively. In contrast, there was little change in adult height in some sub-Saharan African countries and in South Asia over the century of analysis. The tallest people over these 100 years are men born in the Netherlands in the last quarter of 20th century, whose average heights surpassed 182.5 cm, and the shortest were women born in Guatemala in 1896 (140.3 cm; 135.8-144.8). The height differential between the tallest and shortest populations was 19-20 cm a century ago, and has remained the same for women and increased for men a century later despite substantial changes in the ranking of countries
Rising rural body-mass index is the main driver of the global obesity epidemic in adults
Body-mass index (BMI) has increased steadily in most countries in parallel with a rise in the proportion of the population who live in cities 1,2 . This has led to a widely reported view that urbanization is one of the most important drivers of the global rise in obesity 3�6 . Here we use 2,009 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in more than 112 million adults, to report national, regional and global trends in mean BMI segregated by place of residence (a rural or urban area) from 1985 to 2017. We show that, contrary to the dominant paradigm, more than 55 of the global rise in mean BMI from 1985 to 2017�and more than 80 in some low- and middle-income regions�was due to increases in BMI in rural areas. This large contribution stems from the fact that, with the exception of women in sub-Saharan Africa, BMI is increasing at the same rate or faster in rural areas than in cities in low- and middle-income regions. These trends have in turn resulted in a closing�and in some countries reversal�of the gap in BMI between urban and rural areas in low- and middle-income countries, especially for women. In high-income and industrialized countries, we noted a persistently higher rural BMI, especially for women. There is an urgent need for an integrated approach to rural nutrition that enhances financial and physical access to healthy foods, to avoid replacing the rural undernutrition disadvantage in poor countries with a more general malnutrition disadvantage that entails excessive consumption of low-quality calories. © 2019, The Author(s)
Simple Mixing of IFN with a Polysaccharide Having High Liver Affinity Enables IFN to Target to the Liver
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