On piezophase effects in mechanically loaded atomic scale Josephson junctions

The response of an intrinsic Josephson contact to externally applied stress is considered within the framework of the dislocation-induced atomic scale Josephson effect. The predicted quasi-periodic (Fraunhofer-like)stress-strain and stress-current patterns should manifest themselves for experimentally accessible values of applied stresses in intrinsically defected (e.g.,twinned) crystals.Comment: REVTEX (epsf style), 2 EPS figure

Four nearby L dwarfs

We present spectroscopic, photometric and astrometric observations of four bright L dwarfs identified in the course of the 2MASS near-infrared survey. Our spectroscopic data extend to wavelengths shortward of 5000\AA in the L0 dwarf 2MASSJ0746+2000 and the L4 dwarf 2MASSJ0036+1840, allowing the identification of absorption bands due to MgH and CaOH. The atomic resonance lines Ca I 4227\AA and Na I 5890/5896\AA are extremely strong, with the latter having an equivalent width of 240\AA in the L4 dwarf. By spectral type L5, the D lines extend over $\sim1000$\AA and absorb a substantial fraction of the flux emitted in the V band, with a corresponding effect on the (V-I) broadband colour. The KI resonance doublet at 7665/7699\AA increases in equivalent width from spectral type M3 to M7, but decreases in strength from M7 to L0 before broadening substantially at later types. These variations are likely driven by dust formation in these cool atmospheres.Comment: to appear in AJ, January 2000; 27 pages, including 3 tables and 7 figures embedded in the tex

Curative Control of the Peachtree Borer Using Entomopathogenic Nematodes

The peachtree borer, Synanthedon exitiosa (Say 1823), is a major pest of stone fruit trees in North America. Current management relies upon preventative control using broad-spectrum chemical insecticides, primarily chlorpyrifos, applied in the late summer or early fall. However, due to missed applications, poor application timing, or other factors, high levels of S. exitiosa infestation may still occur and persist through the following spring. Curative treatments applied in the spring to established infestations would limit damage to the tree and prevent the next generation of S. exitiosa from emerging within the orchard. However, such curative measures for control of S. exitiosa do not exist. Our objective was to measure the efficacy of the entomopathogenic nematode, Steinernema carpocapsae, as a curative control for existing infestations of S. exitiosa. In peach orchards, spring applications of S. carpocapsae (obtained from a commercial source) were made to infested trees and compared with chlorpyrifos and a water-only control in 2014 and 2015. Additionally, types of spray equipment were compared: nematodes were applied via boom sprayer, handgun, or trunk sprayer. To control for effects of application method or nematode source, in vivo laboratory-grown S. carpocapsae, applied using a watering can, was also included. Treatment effects were assessed 39 d (2014) or 19 d (2015) later by measuring percentage of trees still infested, and also number of surviving S. exitiosa larvae per tree. Results indicated that S. carpocapsae provided significant curative control (e.g., .80% corrected control for the handgun application). In contrast, chlorpyrifos failed to reduce S. exitiosa infestations or number of surviving larvae. In most comparisons, no effect of nematode application method was detected; in one assessment, only the handgun and watering can methods reduced infestation. In conclusion, our study indicates that S. carpocapsae may be used as an effective curative measure for S. exitiosa infestations

Particle displacements in the elastic deformation of amorphous materials: local fluctuations vs. non-affine field

We study the local disorder in the deformation of amorphous materials by decomposing the particle displacements into a continuous, inhomogeneous field and the corresponding fluctuations. We compare these fields to the commonly used non-affine displacements in an elastically deformed 2D Lennard-Jones glass. Unlike the non-affine field, the fluctuations are very localized, and exhibit a much smaller (and system size independent) correlation length, on the order of a particle diameter, supporting the applicability of the notion of local "defects" to such materials. We propose a scalar "noise" field to characterize the fluctuations, as an additional field for extended continuum models, e.g., to describe the localized irreversible events observed during plastic deformation.Comment: Minor corrections to match the published versio

Autoantibodies against C1q as a diagnostic measure of lupus nephritis:systematic review and meta-analysis

This is a freely-available open access publication. Please cite the published version which is available via the DOI link in this record.Objectives: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of C1q autoantibodies in identifying lupus nephritis (LN) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Data Sources and methods: Citation indexes were searched and 370 articles published from 1977 to 2013 were evaluated. The 31 selected studies included in the meta-analysis were cross-sectional in design. Among the 31 studies, 28 compared anti-C1q antibodies in 2769 SLE patients including those with (n = 1442) and without a history of LN (n = 1327). Nine studies examined anti-C1q in 517 SLE patients with active (n = 249) and inactive LN (n = 268). Hierarchical summary receiver operating characteristic (HSROC) random effects models were fitted to pool estimates of accuracy across the studies. Results: Anti-C1q antibodies discriminated between patients with and without a history of LN, with a median specificity of 73.5%. The HSROC model estimated the corresponding sensitivity to be 70.4%. A hypothetical patient with a 55% prior probability of having a history of LN as opposed to no history (the median prevalence across 28 eligible studies) would have a post-test probability of 76.4% following a positive test result (positive predictive value) or 33.0% following a negative test result (negative predictive value). For differentiating active from inactive LN the median specificity of anti-C1q antibodies was 80%, with a corresponding estimated sensitivity value 75.7% based on the HSROC model. A hypothetical patient with a 56% prior probability of active as opposed to inactive LN (the median prevalence across the 9 eligible studies) would have a post-test probability of 82.8% following a positive test result or 27.9% following a negative test result. Conclusions: Although C1q antibodies are associated with lupus nephritis the post-test probabilities are not sufficiently convincing to provide reasonable certainty of the presence or absence of history of disease/active disease.Arthritis Research UKPeninsula Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC)National Health Service South West, funded by the National Institute for Health Research, U

Variational Multiscale Stabilization and the Exponential Decay of Fine-scale Correctors

This paper addresses the variational multiscale stabilization of standard finite element methods for linear partial differential equations that exhibit multiscale features. The stabilization is of Petrov-Galerkin type with a standard finite element trial space and a problem-dependent test space based on pre-computed fine-scale correctors. The exponential decay of these correctors and their localisation to local cell problems is rigorously justified. The stabilization eliminates scale-dependent pre-asymptotic effects as they appear for standard finite element discretizations of highly oscillatory problems, e.g., the poor $L^2$ approximation in homogenization problems or the pollution effect in high-frequency acoustic scattering

Piezomagnetism and Stress Induced Paramagnetic Meissner Effect in Mechanically Loaded High-T_c Granular Superconductors

Two novel phenomena in a weakly coupled granular superconductor under an applied stress are predicted which are based on recently suggested piezophase effect (a macroscopic quantum analog of the piezoelectric effect) in mechanically loaded grain boundary Josephson junctions. Namely, we consider the existence of stress induced paramagnetic moment in zero applied magnetic field (piezomagnetism) and its influence on a low-field magnetization (leading to a mechanically induced paramagnetic Meissner effect). The conditions under which these two effects can be experimentally measured in high-T_$ granular superconductors are discussed.Comment: 4 pages (REVTEX, epsf.sty), 2 PS figure

Big Entropy Fluctuations in Statistical Equilibrium: The Macroscopic Kinetics

Large entropy fluctuations in an equilibrium steady state of classical mechanics were studied in extensive numerical experiments on a simple 2--freedom strongly chaotic Hamiltonian model described by the modified Arnold cat map. The rise and fall of a large separated fluctuation was shown to be described by the (regular and stable) "macroscopic" kinetics both fast (ballistic) and slow (diffusive). We abandoned a vague problem of "appropriate" initial conditions by observing (in a long run)spontaneous birth and death of arbitrarily big fluctuations for any initial state of our dynamical model. Statistics of the infinite chain of fluctuations, reminiscent to the Poincar\'e recurrences, was shown to be Poissonian. A simple empirical relation for the mean period between the fluctuations (Poincar\'e "cycle") has been found and confirmed in numerical experiments. A new representation of the entropy via the variance of only a few trajectories ("particles") is proposed which greatly facilitates the computation, being at the same time fairly accurate for big fluctuations. The relation of our results to a long standing debates over statistical "irreversibility" and the "time arrow" is briefly discussed too.Comment: Latex 2.09, 26 pages, 6 figure

Environment, Ram Pressure, and Shell Formation in HoII

Neutral hydrogen VLA D-array observations of the dwarf irregular galaxy HoII, a prototype galaxy for studies of shell formation, are presented. HI is detected to radii over 16' or 4 R_25, and M_HI=6.44x10^8 M_sun. The total HI map has a comet-like appearance suggesting that HoII is affected by ram pressure from an intragroup medium (IGM). A rotation curve corrected for asymmetric drift was derived and an analysis of the mass distribution yields a total mass 6.3x10^9 M_sun, of which about 80% is dark. HoII lies northeast of the M81 group's core, along with Kar52 (M81dwA) and UGC4483. No signs of interaction are observed and it is argued that HoII is part of the NGC2403 subgroup, infalling towards M81. A case is made for ram pressure stripping and an IGM in the M81 group. Stripping of the disk outer parts would require an IGM density n_IGM>=4.0x10^-6 atoms/cm^3 at the location of HoII. This corresponds to 1% of the virial mass of the group uniformly distributed over a volume just enclosing HoII and is consistent with the X-ray properties of small groups. It is argued that existing observations of HoII do not support self-propagating star formation scenarios, whereby the HI holes and shells are created by supernova explosions and stellar winds. Many HI holes are located in low surface density regions of the disk, where no star formation is expected or observed. Ram pressure has the capacity to enlarge preexisting holes and lower their creation energies, helping to bridge the gap between the observed star formation rate and that required to create the holes. (abridged)Comment: 43 pages, including 7 figures. 4 figures available as JPEG only. Complete manuscript including full resolution figures available at http://www.strw.leidenuniv.nl/~bureau/pub_list.html . Accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journa