3,232 research outputs found
Population Growth and Other Statistics of Middle-sized Irish Towns. General Research Series Paper No. 85, April 1976
The basic aim of the study is the presentation of tables of comparative
statistical data relating to 97 towns with population 5OO-1O,OOO in
1971 and analyses of such data. The exclusion of the four County Boroughs
and Dun Laoghaire together with twelve other large towns and all small
towns and villages, was to impart a degree of homogeneity to the inquiry, as
regards function of town. The 97 towns range from Mullingar, the largest
with a population of 9,245 to Cootehill with 1,542
Fermi Liquids and the Luttinger Integral
The Luttinger Theorem, which relates the electron density to the volume of
the Fermi surface in an itinerant electron system, is taken to be one of the
essential features of a Fermi liquid. The microscopic derivation of this result
depends on the vanishing of a certain integral, the Luttinger integral , which is also the basis of the Friedel sum rule for impurity models,
relating the impurity occupation number to the scattering phase shift of the
conduction electrons. It is known that non-zero values of with
, occur in impurity models in phases with non-analytic low
energy scattering, classified as singular Fermi liquids. Here we show the same
values, , occur in an impurity model in phases with regular
low energy Fermi liquid behavior. Consequently the Luttinger integral can be
taken to characterize these phases, and the quantum critical points separating
them interpreted as topological.Comment: 5 pages 7 figure
Natural Aging and Vacancy Trapping in Al-6xxx
Undesirable natural aging (NA) in Al-6xxx delays subsequent artificial aging
(AA) but the size, composition, and evolution of clustering are challenging to
measure. Here, atomistic details of early-stage clustering in Al-1\%Mg-0.6\%Si
during NA are studied computationally using a chemically-accurate
neural-network potential. Feasible growth paths for the preferred
precipitates identify: dominant clusters differing from motifs;
spontaneous vacancy-interstitial formation creating 14-18 solute atom
-like motifs; and lower-energy clusters requiring chemical
re-arrangement to form nuclei. Quasi-on-lattice kinetic Monte Carlo
simulations reveal that 8-14 solute atom clusters form within 1000 s but that
growth slows considerably due to vacancy trapping inside clusters, with
trapping energies of 0.3-0.5 eV. These findings rationalize why cluster growth
and alloy hardness saturate during NA, confirm the concept of ''vacancy
prisons", and suggest why clusters must be dissolved during AA before formation
of . This atomistic understanding of NA may enable design of
strategies to mitigate negative effects of NA
Bursts in a fiber bundle model with continuous damage
We study the constitutive behaviour, the damage process, and the properties
of bursts in the continuous damage fiber bundle model introduced recently.
Depending on its two parameters, the model provides various types of
constitutive behaviours including also macroscopic plasticity. Analytic results
are obtained to characterize the damage process along the plastic plateau under
strain controlled loading, furthermore, for stress controlled experiments we
develop a simulation technique and explore numerically the distribution of
bursts of fiber breaks assuming infinite range of interaction. Simulations
revealed that under certain conditions power law distribution of bursts arises
with an exponent significantly different from the mean field exponent 5/2. A
phase diagram of the model characterizing the possible burst distributions is
constructed.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures, APS style, submitted for publicatio
Modelling Heat Transfer of Carbon Nanotubes
Modelling heat transfer of carbon nanotubes is important for the thermal
management of nanotube-based composites and nanoelectronic device. By using a
finite element method for three-dimensional anisotropic heat transfer, we have
simulated the heat conduction and temperature variations of a single nanotube,
a nanotube array and a part of nanotube-based composite surface with heat
generation. The thermal conductivity used is obtained from the upscaled value
from the molecular simulations or experiments. Simulations show that nanotube
arrays have unique cooling characteristics due to its anisotropic thermal
conductivity.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
Biomechanics of predator–prey arms race in lion, zebra, cheetah and impala
The fastest and most manoeuvrable terrestrial animals are found in savannah habitats, where predators chase and capture running prey. Hunt outcome and success rate are critical to survival, so both predator and prey should evolve to be faster and/or more manoeuvrable. Here we compare locomotor characteristics in two pursuit predator–prey pairs, lion–zebra and cheetah–impala, in their natural savannah habitat in Botswana. We show that although cheetahs and impalas were universally more athletic than lions and zebras in terms of speed, acceleration and turning, within each predator–prey pair, the predators had 20% higher muscle fibre power than prey, 37% greater acceleration and 72% greater deceleration capacity than their prey. We simulated hunt dynamics with these data and showed that hunts at lower speeds enable prey to use their maximum manoeuvring capacity and favour prey survival, and that the predator needs to be more athletic than its prey to sustain a viable success rate
Untangling the ATR-CHEK1 network for prognostication, prediction and therapeutic target validation in breast cancer
Background: ATR-Chk1 signalling network is critical for genomic stability. ATR-Chk1 may be deregulated in breast cancer and have prognostic, predictive and therapeutic significance. Patients and methods: We investigated ATR and phosphorylated CHK1Ser345 protein (pChk1) expression in 1712 breast cancers (Nottingham Tenovus series). ATR and Chk1 mRNA were evaluated in 1950 breast cancers (METABRIC cohort). Pre-clinically, biological consequences of ATR gene knockdown or ATR inhibition by small molecule inhibitor (VE-821) were investigated in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell lines and in non-tumorigenic breast epithelial cells (MCF10A). Results: High ATR and high cytoplasmic pChk1 expression was significantly associated with higher tumour stage, higher mitotic index, pleomorphism and lymphovascular invasion. In univariate analysis, high ATR and high cytoplasmic pChk1 protein expression was associated with shorter breast cancer specific survival (BCSS). In multivariate analysis, high ATR remains an independent predictor of adverse outcome. At the mRNA level, high Chk1 remains associated with aggressive phenotypes including lymph node positivity, high grade, Her-2 overexpression, triple-negative phenotype and molecular classes associated with aggressive behaviour and shorter survival.. Pre-clinically, Chk1 phosphorylation at serine 345 following replication stress (induced by gemcitabine or hydroxyurea treatment) was impaired in ATR knockdown and in VE-821 treated breast cancer cells. Doxycycline inducible knockdown of ATR suppressed growth, which was restored when ATR was re-expressed. Similarly, VE-821 treatment resulted in a dose dependent suppression of cancer cell growth and survival (MCF7 and MDA-MB-231) but had no effect on non-tumorigenic breast epithelial cells (MCF10A). Conclusions: We provides evidence that ATR and Chk1 are promising biomarkers and rational drug target for personalized therapy in breast cancer
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