METAPOETIC REFLECTIONS IN THREE AETIA OF THE ARGONAUTICA

This article studies three aetia in the Argonautica that have metapoetic significance as comments on Apollonius’ Callimachean poetics. In the first aetion (1.1132–1139), the Pyrrhic dance reflects the Argonauts’ key role as active agents in the creation of the plot and shows its Callimachean allegiance in the repurposing of traditional martial imagery. In the second one (4.1719–1730), the meagerness of the Argonauts’ offering to Apollo at Anaphe and the light jesting between Medea’s maidens and the Argonauts are programmatic reflections of the ‘lean’ poetics advocated by Callimachus in the Aetia ‘prologue’ (fr. 1). The third aetion (4.1765–1772), by closing the Argonautica in correspondence with the beginning of Callimachus’ Aetia, stresses the close connection between Apollonius and Callimachus. In it, the quick pace, lightness and playfulness of the hydrophoria at Aegina mirrors the fast coming to an end and happy tone that closes the Argonautica

Buffering plasmons in nanoparticle waveguides at the virtual-localized transition

We study the plasmonic energy transfer from a locally excited nanoparticle (LE-NP) to a linear array of small NPs and we obtain the parametric dependence of the response function. An analytical expression allows us to distinguish the extended resonant states and the localized ones, as well as an elusive regime of virtual states. This last appears when the resonance width collapses and before it becomes a localized state. Contrary to common wisdom, the highest excitation transfer does not occur when the system has a well defined extended resonant state but just at the virtual-localized transition, where the main plasmonic modes have eigenfrequencies at the passband edge. The slow group velocity at this critical frequency enables the excitation buffering and hence favors a strong signal inside the chain. A similar situation should appear in many other physical systems. The extreme sensitivity of this transition to the waveguide and LE-NP parameters provides new tools for plasmonics.Comment: Regular article: 7 pages and 5 figure

Editorial

This guest-edited Special Issue of RERM celebrates the enormous contribution that Professor Jeanette Rhedding-Jones made to the field of educational research over her life time

Yard-Sale exchange on networks: Wealth sharing and wealth appropriation

Yard-Sale (YS) is a stochastic multiplicative wealth-exchange model with two phases: a stable one where wealth is shared, and an unstable one where wealth condenses onto one agent. YS is here studied numerically on 1d rings, 2d square lattices, and random graphs with variable average coordination, comparing its properties with those in mean field (MF). Equilibrium properties in the stable phase are almost unaffected by the introduction of a network. Measurement of decorrelation times in the stable phase allow us to determine the critical interface with very good precision, and it turns out to be the same, for all networks analyzed, as the one that can be analytically derived in MF. In the unstable phase, on the other hand, dynamical as well as asymptotic properties are strongly network-dependent. Wealth no longer condenses on a single agent, as in MF, but onto an extensive set of agents, the properties of which depend on the network. Connections with previous studies of coalescence of immobile reactants are discussed, and their analytic predictions are successfully compared with our numerical results.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures. Submitted to JSTA

Estudio de la capacidad productora de biofilm en Streptococcus equi subsp. equi

Luego de adherirse, las bacterias pueden desarrollarse en forma de biofilm, es decir, una comunidad de células bacterianas adheridas y envueltas en una matriz extracelular producida por ellas mismas. Streptococcus equi subsp. equi (S. equi) es una bacteria adaptada al equino que produce la adenitis equina y que puede permanecer en nasofaringe y bolsas guturales de animales recuperados que actúan como portadores y fuentes de infección. Diversos investigadores han propuesto la producción de biofilm bacteriano como modelo de infecciones crónicas y de portadores asintomáticos en seres humanos y animales. Por lo tanto, el objetivo de este trabajo fue evaluar la capacidad productora de biofilm de S. equi. Se trabajó con 84 aislamientos de S. equi utilizando el método colorimétrico de la microplaca y el del portaobjeto, observando microscópicamente la presencia de polisacárido extracelular (PSE) y la formación de aglomerados celulares. En el método colorimétrico, se obtuvieron valores homogéneos a las 18 h de incubación, sin encontrarse diferencias con los distintos medios testeados (p>0,05). La mayor producción fue a las 36 h de incubación, alcanzándose los valores más altos en presencia de plasma equino (p<0,05). El 66% de los aislamientos presentó PSE, sin observarse diferencias entre los aislamientos de enfermos y de portadores. Se encontró asociación entre la formación de aglomerados celulares y producción de PSE (p<0,05). Se logró demostrar por primera vez la capacidad de S. equi para producir biofilm, observándose la formación de una sustancia compatible con el PSE que podría favorecer la permanencia de la bacteria en los caballos portadores. Además, algún componente plasmático del equino sería estimulante de la formación de biofilm como se ha observado en Streptococcus zooepidemicus. Se propone profundizar en el estudio del biofilm para contribuir al conocimiento del comportamiento de S. equi en los portadores

CCAT-prime: Science with an Ultra-widefield Submillimeter Observatory at Cerro Chajnantor

We present the detailed science case, and brief descriptions of the telescope design, site, and first light instrument plans for a new ultra-wide field submillimeter observatory, CCAT-prime, that we are constructing at a 5600 m elevation site on Cerro Chajnantor in northern Chile. Our science goals are to study star and galaxy formation from the epoch of reionization to the present, investigate the growth of structure in the Universe, improve the precision of B-mode CMB measurements, and investigate the interstellar medium and star formation in the Galaxy and nearby galaxies through spectroscopic, polarimetric, and broadband surveys at wavelengths from 200 um to 2 mm. These goals are realized with our two first light instruments, a large field-of-view (FoV) bolometer-based imager called Prime-Cam (that has both camera and an imaging spectrometer modules), and a multi-beam submillimeter heterodyne spectrometer, CHAI. CCAT-prime will have very high surface accuracy and very low system emissivity, so that combined with its wide FoV at the unsurpassed CCAT site our telescope/instrumentation combination is ideally suited to pursue this science. The CCAT-prime telescope is being designed and built by Vertex Antennentechnik GmbH. We expect to achieve first light in the spring of 2021.Comment: Presented at SPIE Millimeter, Submillimeter, and Far-Infrared Detectors and Instrumentation for Astronomy IX, June 14th, 201

Implications of the Cosmic Background Imager Polarization Data

We present new measurements of the power spectra of the E-mode of CMB polarization, the temperature T, the cross-correlation of E and T, and upper limits on the B-mode from 2.5 years of dedicated Cosmic Background Imager (CBI) observations. Both raw maps and optimal signal images in the uv-plane and real space show strong detections of the E-mode (11.7 sigma for the EE power spectrum overall) and no detection of the B-mode. The power spectra are used to constrain parameters of the flat tilted adiabatic Lambda-CDM models: those determined from EE and TE bandpowers agree with those from TT, a powerful consistency check. There is little tolerance for shifting polarization peaks from the TT-forecast locations, as measured by the angular sound crossing scale theta = 100 ell_s = 1.03 +/- 0.02 from EE and TE cf. 1.044 +/- 0.005 with the TT data included. The scope for extra out-of-phase peaks from subdominant isocurvature modes is also curtailed. The EE and TE measurements of CBI, DASI and BOOMERANG are mutually consistent, and, taken together rather than singly, give enhanced leverage for these tests.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, submitted to ApJ -- Accepted version. The fine-bin spectrum, covariance matrix, and window functions are now available on the web (suitable for use in COSMOMC) at: http://www.astro.caltech.edu/~tjp/CBI/data2006/index.html The pipeline in the previous version inadvertently omitted one antenna, so the new spectrum contains ~15% more data. We emphasize that previous results were in no way biased, and that the (small) changes to the spectrum solely reflect the inclusion of the additional data. Numbers and figures in the paper have been updated correspondingly. All maps now have color bar

Thermal stability of copper nitride thin films: The role of nitrogen migration

The atomic composition, structural, morphological, and optical properties of N-rich copper nitride thin films have been investigated prior to and after annealing them in vacuum at temperatures up to 300 °C. Films were characterized by means of ion-beam analysis (IBMA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and spectroscopic ellipsometry techniques (SE). The data reveal that even when the total (integrated over the whole thickness) atomic composition of the films remains constant, nitrogen starts to migrate from the bulk to the film surface, without out-diffusing, at temperatures as low as 100 °C. This migration leads to two chemical phases with different atomic concentration of nitrogen, lattice parameters, and crystallographic orientation but with the same crystal structure. XRD experimental and Rietveld refined data seem to confirm that nitrogen excess accommodates in interstitial locations within the anti-ReO3 crystal lattice forming a solid solution. The influence of nitrogen migration on the optical (electronic) properties of the films will be discusse