Scale-dependent rigidity of polymer-ornamented membranes

We study the fluctuation spectrum of fluid membranes carrying grafted polymers. Contrary to usual descriptions, we find that the modifications induced by the polymers cannot be reduced to the renormalization of the membrane bending rigidity. Instead we show that the ornamented membrane exhibits a scale-dependent elastic modulus that we evaluate. In ornamented lamellar stacks, we further show that this leads to a modification of the Caille parameter characterizing the power-law singularities of the Bragg peaks.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Local entropic effects of polymers grafted to soft interfaces

In this paper, we study the equilibrium properties of polymer chains end-tethered to a fluid membrane. The loss of conformational entropy of the polymer results in an inhomogeneous pressure field that we calculate for gaussian chains. We estimate the effects of excluded volume through a relation between pressure and concentration. Under the polymer pressure, a soft surface will deform. We calculate the deformation profile for a fluid membrane and show that close to the grafting point, this profile assumes a cone-like shape, independently of the boundary conditions. Interactions between different polymers are also mediated by the membrane deformation. This pair-additive potential is attractive for chains grafted on the same side of the membrane and repulsive otherwise.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure

Development of flight check-out system Final report

Flight checkout system breadboard design, construction and testin

Mean lives of some astrophysically important excited levels in carbon, nitrogen and oxygen

A number of astrophysically important mean lives of levels in carbon, nitrogen and oxygen were measured with the beam-foil technique. New values are reported and compared with earlier theoretical and experimental values. Direct references to astrophysical applications are listed

Tailor-made tests for goodness of fit to semiparametric hypotheses

We introduce a new framework for constructing tests of general semiparametric hypotheses which have nontrivial power on the $n^{-1/2}$ scale in every direction, and can be tailored to put substantial power on alternatives of importance. The approach is based on combining test statistics based on stochastic processes of score statistics with bootstrap critical values.Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/009053606000000137 in the Annals of Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aos/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

The effect of incline on caloric expenditure measured by a wrist-worn commercial activity monitor

Purpose Physical activity monitors have become popular among the general public to monitor steps, floors climbed, active minutes, and energy expenditure (EE). While there is evidence to support that these devices are accurate in counting steps, there is limited and inconclusive research regarding how accurate they are in measuring EE. This study aimed to test the accuracy of a newer commercial physical activity monitor, the Fitbit Charge (FC), in reporting EE compared to a research-grade accelerometer (GT3X), and indirect calorimetry (IC) while walking on a treadmill with and without incline. Methods 30 subjects (22 female and 8 male) walked on a treadmill for 4 five-minute stages: 2 mph with 0% grade, 2 mph with 5% grade, 3 mph with 0% grade, and 3 mph with 5% grade. IC was used to measure EE, and subjects wore the FC on their non-dominant wrist and the GT3X on their right hip. Results Analysis showed significant main effect for device and stage, and a significant interaction effect between device and stage. EE for FC was higher (26.22 ± 5.57, 32.10 ± 4.79, 35.39 ± 6.97, and 36.64 ± 6.64 kcals) compared to IC (14.27 ± 3.51, 19.97 ± 4.05, 21.92 ± 4.04, and 28.37 ± 5.78 kcals) and to the GT3X (8.20 ± 3.81, 10.47 ± 7.99, 27.07 ± 10.77, and 27.89 ± 10.64 kcals) for all stages. EE for GT3X was also significantly (P \u3c 0.001) different from IC. FC significantly (P \u3c 0.001) overestimated mean total EE (130.36 ± 4.19 kcals) compared to IC (83.79 ± 3.08 kcals) and GT3X (73.25 ± 5.26 kcals). Conclusion FC overestimates EE regardless of incline compared to EC and GT3X

Civil Disobedience and the Duty to Obey

At what point, asks John Rawls in his celebrated recent book, A Theory of Justice, to which I shall make further reference, does the duty to comply with laws enacted by a legislative majority . . . cease to be binding in view of the right to defend one\u27s liberties and the duty to oppose injustice? This question involves the nature and limits of majority rule. For this reason the problem of civil disobedience is a crucial test case for any theory of the moral basis of democracy

The Decade of School Desegregation – Progress and Prospects

It is now nearly a decade since the Supreme Court handed down its first opinion in Brown v. Board of Education, the School Segregation Cases. Southern disaffection to the side, there are abroad in the land, by and large, two sets of attitudes about the events of the decade. One large body of opinion, while avoiding complacency, feels on the whole encouraged by progress achieved, and by prospects for further progress. Another, no doubt smaller, but highly articulate group is outraged by the passage of a decade during which we have witnessed in the South little more than token compliance with the law declared by the Supreme Court; a decade, moreover, which has seen in the country as a whole the merest beginnings of any effort to grapple with the cognate problems of de facto school segregation, de facto housing segregation, and de facto employment discrimination. In the words of the song from which James Baldwin borrowed the title of his famous best-seller, and with all the urgency and all the alarm bordering on despair that those words connote in Baldwin\u27s usage, many people feel: No more water, the fire next time

Mr. Taft Rehabilitates the Court

Mr. Justice David Josiah Brewer died in March, 1910, after twenty years of service on the Supreme Court. On May 31, 1910, in accordance with a custom almost uniformly observed, there were proceedings in his memory in open court. It was the last day of the October Term, 1909. Chief Justice Melville W. Fuller, who had preceded Brewer on the bench by no more than a year and a half, opened his response to a eulogy by Attorney General George W. Wickersham as follows: During the years of my occupancy of a seat upon this Bench it has been my sad duty to accept for the Court tributes of the Bar in memory of many members of this tribunal who have passed to their reward. As our brother Brewer joins the great procession, there pass before me the forms of Matthews and Miller, of Field and Bradley and Lamar and Blatchford, of Jackson and Gray and of Peckham, whose works follow them now that they rest from their labors. All excellent, illustrious men, though quite different from each other, Fuller continued. Very briefly he dwelt on Brewer, one of the most lovable of them all, on death and the hereafter, on Brewer\u27s eloquence and on his humor, which, like Mr. Lincoln\u27s, served to lighten the load