1,022 research outputs found
Modelling bacterial behaviour close to a no-slip plane boundary: the influence of bacterial geometry
We describe a boundary-element method used to model the hydrodynamics of a bacterium propelled by a single helical flagellum. Using this model, we optimize the power efficiency of swimming with respect to cell body and flagellum geometrical parameters, and find that optima for swimming in unbounded fluid and near a no-slip plane boundary are nearly indistinguishable. We also consider the novel optimization objective of torque efficiency and find a very different optimal shape. Excluding effects such as Brownian motion and electrostatic interactions, it is demonstrated that hydrodynamic forces may trap the bacterium in a stable, circular orbit near the boundary, leading to the empirically observable surface accumulation of bacteria. Furthermore, the details and even the existence of this stable orbit depend on geometrical parameters of the bacterium, as described in this article. These results shed some light on the phenomenon of surface accumulation of micro-organisms and offer hydrodynamic explanations as to why some bacteria may accumulate more readily than others based on morphology
Clocked Atom Delivery to a Photonic Crystal Waveguide
Experiments and numerical simulations are described that develop quantitative
understanding of atomic motion near the surfaces of nanoscopic photonic crystal
waveguides (PCWs). Ultracold atoms are delivered from a moving optical lattice
into the PCW. Synchronous with the moving lattice, transmission spectra for a
guided-mode probe field are recorded as functions of lattice transport time and
frequency detuning of the probe beam. By way of measurements such as these, we
have been able to validate quantitatively our numerical simulations, which are
based upon detailed understanding of atomic trajectories that pass around and
through nanoscopic regions of the PCW under the influence of optical and
surface forces. The resolution for mapping atomic motion is roughly 50 nm in
space and 100 ns in time. By introducing auxiliary guided mode (GM) fields that
provide spatially varying AC-Stark shifts, we have, to some degree, begun to
control atomic trajectories, such as to enhance the flux into to the central
vacuum gap of the PCW at predetermined times and with known AC-Stark shifts.
Applications of these capabilities include enabling high fractional filling of
optical trap sites within PCWs, calibration of optical fields within PCWs, and
utilization of the time-dependent, optically dense atomic medium for novel
nonlinear optical experiments
The Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation in the weak noise limit: Pattern formation and upper critical dimension
We extend the previously developed weak noise scheme, applied to the noisy
Burgers equation in 1D, to the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation for a growing
interface in arbitrary dimensions. By means of the Cole-Hopf transformation we
show that the growth morphology can be interpreted in terms of dynamically
evolving textures of localized growth modes with superimposed diffusive modes.
In the Cole-Hopf representation the growth modes are static solutions to the
diffusion equation and the nonlinear Schroedinger equation, subsequently
boosted to finite velocity by a Galilei transformation. We discuss the dynamics
of the pattern formation and, briefly, the superimposed linear modes.
Implementing the stochastic interpretation we discuss kinetic transitions and
in particular the properties in the pair mode or dipole sector. We find the
Hurst exponent H=(3-d)/(4-d) for the random walk of growth modes in the dipole
sector. Finally, applying Derrick's theorem based on constrained minimization
we show that the upper critical dimension is d=4 in the sense that growth modes
cease to exist above this dimension.Comment: 27 pages, 19 eps figs, revte
Solitons and diffusive modes in the noiseless Burgers equation: Stability analysis
The noiseless Burgers equation in one spatial dimension is analyzed from the
point of view of a diffusive evolution equation in terms of nonlinear soliton
modes and linear diffusive modes. The transient evolution of the profile is
interpreted as a gas of right hand solitons connected by ramp solutions with
superposed linear diffusive modes. This picture is supported by a linear
stability analysis of the soliton mode. The spectrum and phase shift of the
diffusive modes are determined. In the presence of the soliton the diffusive
modes develop a gap in the spectrum and are phase-shifted in accordance with
Levinson's theorem. The spectrum also exhibits a zero-frequency translation or
Goldstone mode associated with the broken translational symmetry.Comment: 9 pages, Revtex file, 5 figures, to be submitted to Phys. Rev.
Organisations, Media, and Society
The dynamic interplay between organisations, media, and society is central to this chapter and highlights ASCoR’s Corporate Communication group’s issue-centred and society-focused approach to explore communication between organisations and their environment. Studying this interplay allows questions to be answered regarding organisations’ role in our mediated society, how organisations shape and are shaped by public and media debates, and how societal issues have become inherently intertwined with organisational practices. To provide a broad overview of the studies conducted by ASCoR researchers on this specific topic, this chapter outlines three main topics: (1) organisations and news media, (2) mediatisation of organisations, and (3) organisational legitimacy
Morphology and scaling in the noisy Burgers equation: Soliton approach to the strong coupling fixed point
The morphology and scaling properties of the noisy Burgers equation in one
dimension are treated by means of a nonlinear soliton approach based on the
Martin-Siggia-Rose technique. In a canonical formulation the strong coupling
fixed point is accessed by means of a principle of least action in the
asymptotic nonperturbative weak noise limit. The strong coupling scaling
behaviour and the growth morphology are described by a gas of nonlinear soliton
modes with a gapless dispersion law and a superposed gas of linear diffusive
modes with a gap. The dynamic exponent is determined by the gapless soliton
dispersion law, whereas the roughness exponent and a heuristic expression for
the scaling function are given by the form factor in a spectral representation
of the interface slope correlation function. The scaling function has the form
of a Levy flight distribution.Comment: 5 pages, Revtex file, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Current Guidelines Have Limited Applicability to Patients with Comorbid Conditions: A Systematic Analysis of Evidence-Based Guidelines
Guidelines traditionally focus on the diagnosis and treatment of single diseases. As almost half of the patients with a chronic disease have more than one disease, the applicability of guidelines may be limited. The aim of this study was to assess the extent that guidelines address comorbidity and to assess the supporting evidence of recommendations related to comorbidity.We conducted a systematic analysis of evidence-based guidelines focusing on four highly prevalent chronic conditions with a high impact on quality of life: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, depressive disorder, diabetes mellitus type 2, and osteoarthritis. Data were abstracted from each guideline on the extent that comorbidity was addressed (general comments, specific recommendations), the type of comorbidity discussed (concordant, discordant), and the supporting evidence of the comorbidity-related recommendations (level of evidence, translation of evidence). Of the 20 guidelines, 17 (85%) addressed the issue of comorbidity and 14 (70%) provided specific recommendations on comorbidity. In general, the guidelines included few recommendations on patients with comorbidity (mean 3 recommendations per guideline, range 0 to 26). Of the 59 comorbidity-related recommendations provided, 46 (78%) addressed concordant comorbidities, 8 (14%) discordant comorbidities, and for 5 (8%) the type of comorbidity was not specified. The strength of the supporting evidence was moderate for 25% (15/59) and low for 37% (22/59) of the recommendations. In addition, for 73% (43/59) of the recommendations the evidence was not adequately translated into the guidelines.Our study showed that the applicability of current evidence-based guidelines to patients with comorbid conditions is limited. Most guidelines do not provide explicit guidance on treatment of patients with comorbidity, particularly for discordant combinations. Guidelines should be more explicit about the applicability of their recommendations to patients with comorbidity. Future clinical trials should also include patients with the most prevalent combinations of chronic conditions
Tadpole-improved SU(2) lattice gauge theory
A comprehensive analysis of tadpole-improved SU(2) lattice gauge theory is
made. Simulations are done on isotropic and anisotropic lattices, with and
without improvement. Two tadpole renormalization schemes are employed, one
using average plaquettes, the other using mean links in Landau gauge.
Simulations are done with spatial lattice spacings in the range of about
0.1--0.4 fm. Results are presented for the static quark potential, the
renormalized lattice anisotropy (where is the ``temporal''
lattice spacing), and for the scalar and tensor glueball masses. Tadpole
improvement significantly reduces discretization errors in the static quark
potential and in the scalar glueball mass, and results in very little
renormalization of the bare anisotropy that is input to the action. We also
find that tadpole improvement using mean links in Landau gauge results in
smaller discretization errors in the scalar glueball mass (as well as in the
static quark potential), compared to when average plaquettes are used. The
possibility is also raised that further improvement in the scalar glueball mass
may result when the coefficients of the operators which correct for
discretization errors in the action are computed beyond tree level.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures (minor changes to overall scales in Fig.1; typos
removed from Eqs. (3),(4),(15); some rewording of Introduction
Dynamics of Freely Cooling Granular Gases
We study dynamics of freely cooling granular gases in two-dimensions using
large-scale molecular dynamics simulations. We find that for dilute systems the
typical kinetic energy decays algebraically with time, E(t) ~ t^{-1}, in the
long time limit. Asymptotically, velocity statistics are characterized by a
universal Gaussian distribution, in contrast with the exponential high-energy
tails characterizing the early homogeneous regime. We show that in the late
clustering regime particles move coherently as typical local velocity
fluctuations, Delta v, are small compared with the typical velocity, Delta v/v
~ t^{-1/4}. Furthermore, locally averaged shear modes dominate over acoustic
modes. The small thermal velocity fluctuations suggest that the system can be
heuristically described by Burgers-like equations.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Canonical phase space approach to the noisy Burgers equation: Probability distributions
We present a canonical phase space approach to stochastic systems described
by Langevin equations driven by white noise. Mapping the associated
Fokker-Planck equation to a Hamilton-Jacobi equation in the nonperturbative
weak noise limit we invoke a {\em principle of least action} for the
determination of the probability distributions. We apply the scheme to the
noisy Burgers and KPZ equations and discuss the time-dependent and stationary
probability distributions. In one dimension we derive the long-time skew
distribution approaching the symmetric stationary Gaussian distribution. In the
short-time region we discuss heuristically the nonlinear soliton contributions
and derive an expression for the distribution in accordance with the directed
polymer-replica and asymmetric exclusion model results. We also comment on the
distribution in higher dimensions.Comment: 18 pages Revtex file, including 8 eps-figures, submitted to Phys.
Rev.
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