1,309 research outputs found
Thermal Rounding of the Charge Density Wave Depinning Transition
The rounding of the charge density wave depinning transition by thermal noise
is examined. Hops by localized modes over small barriers trigger
``avalanches'', resulting in a creep velocity much larger than that expected
from comparing thermal energies with typical barriers. For a field equal to the
depinning field, the creep velocity is predicted to have a {\em
power-law} dependence on the temperature ; numerical computations confirm
this result. The predicted order of magnitude of the thermal rounding of the
depinning transition is consistent with rounding seen in experiment.Comment: 12 pages + 3 Postscript figure
Heterogeneity in patient-reported outcomes following low-intensity mental health interventions: a multilevel analysis.
BACKGROUND: Variability in patient-reported outcomes of psychological treatments has been partly attributed to therapists--a phenomenon commonly known as therapist effects. Meta-analytic reviews reveal wide variation in therapist-attributable variability in psychotherapy outcomes, with most studies reporting therapist effects in the region of 5% to 10% and some finding minimal to no therapist effects. However, all except one study to date have been conducted in high-intensity or mixed intervention groups; therefore, there is scarcity of evidence on therapist effects in brief low-intensity psychological interventions. OBJECTIVE: To examine therapist effects in low-intensity interventions for depression and anxiety in a naturalistic setting. DATA AND ANALYSIS: Session-by-session data on patient-reported outcome measures were available for a cohort of 1,376 primary care psychotherapy patients treated by 38 therapists. Outcome measures included PHQ-9 (sensitive to depression) and GAD-7 (sensitive to general anxiety disorder) measures. Three-level hierarchical linear modelling was employed to estimate therapist-attributable proportion of variance in clinical outcomes. Therapist effects were evaluated using the intra-cluster correlation coefficient (ICC) and Bayesian empirical predictions of therapist random effects. Three sensitivity analyses were conducted: 1) using both treatment completers and non-completers; 2) a sub-sample of cases with baseline scores above the conventional clinical thresholds for PHQ-9 and GAD-7; and 3) a two-level model (using patient-level pre- and post-treatment scores nested within therapists). RESULTS: The ICC estimates for all outcome measures were very small, ranging between 0% and 1.3%, although most were statistically significant. The Bayesian empirical predictions showed that therapist random effects were not statistically significantly different from each other. Between patient variability explained most of the variance in outcomes. CONCLUSION: Consistent with the only other study to date in low intensity interventions, evidence was found to suggest minimal to no therapist effects in patient-reported outcomes. This draws attention to the more prominent source of variability which is found at the between-patient level
Dipolar superfluidity in electron-hole bilayer systems
Bilayer electron-hole systems, where the electrons and holes are created via
doping and confined to separate layers, undergo excitonic condensation when the
distance between the layers is smaller than typical distance between particles
within a layer. We argue that the excitonic condensate is a novel dipolar
superfluid in which the phase of the condensate couples to the {\it gradient}
of the vector potential. We predict the existence of dipolar supercurrent which
can be tuned by an in-plane magnetic field and detected by independent contacts
to the layers. Thus the dipolar superfluid offers an example of excitonic
condensate in which the {\it composite} nature of its constituent excitons is
manifest in the macroscopic superfluid state. We also discuss various
properties of this superfluid including the role of vortices.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, minor changes and added few references; final
published versio
Life cycle evolution in the Digenea: a new perspective from phylogeny
We use a new molecular phylogeny, developed from small and large subunit ribosomal RNA genes, to explore evolution of the digenean life cycle. Our approach is to map character states on the phylogeny and then use parsimony to infer how the character evolved. We conclude that, plesiomorphically, digenean miracidia hatched from eggs and penetrated gastropod first intermediate hosts externally. Fork-tailed cercariae were produced in rediae and emerged from the snail to be eaten directly by the teleost definitive host. These plesiomorphic characters are seen in extant Bivesiculidae. We infer that external encystment and the use of second intermediate hosts are derived from this behaviour and that second intermediate hosts have been adopted repeatedly. Tetrapod definitive hosts have also been adopted repeatedly. The new phylogeny proposes a basal dichotomy between 'Diplostomida' (Diplostomoidea, Schistosomatoidea and Brachylaimoidea) and 'Plagiorchiida' (all other digeneans). There is no evidence for coevolution between these clades and groups of gastropods. The most primitive life cycles are seen in basal Plagiorchiida. Basal Diplostomida have three-host life cycles and are associated with tetrapods. The blood flukes (Schistosomatoidea) are inferred to have derived their two-host life cycles by abbreviating three-host cycles. Diplostomida have no adult stages in fishes except by life cycle abbreviation. We present and test a radical hypothesis that the blood-fluke cycle is plesiomorphic within the Diplostomida
Band structure of SnTe studied by Photoemission Spectroscopy
We present an angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy study of the
electronic structure of SnTe, and compare the experimental results to ab initio
band structure calculations as well as a simplified tight-binding model of the
p-bands. Our study reveals the conjectured complex Fermi surface structure near
the L-points showing topological changes in the bands from disconnected
pockets, to open tubes, and then to cuboids as the binding energy increases,
resolving lingering issues about the electronic structure. The chemical
potential at the crystal surface is found to be 0.5eV below the gap,
corresponding to a carrier density of p =1.14x10^{21} cm^{-3} or 7.2x10^{-2}
holes per unit cell. At a temperature below the cubic-rhombohedral structural
transition a small shift in spectral energy of the valance band is found, in
agreement with model predictions.Comment: 4 figure
The first next-generation sequencing approach to the mitochondrial phylogeny of African monogenean parasites (Platyhelminthes: Gyrodactylidae and Dactylogyridae)
Abstract
Background
Monogenean flatworms are the main ectoparasites of fishes. Representatives of the species-rich families Gyrodactylidae and Dactylogyridae, especially those infecting cichlid fishes and clariid catfishes, are important parasites in African aquaculture, even more so due to the massive anthropogenic translocation of their hosts worldwide. Several questions on their evolution, such as the phylogenetic position of Macrogyrodactylus and the highly speciose Gyrodactylus, remain unresolved with available molecular markers. Also, diagnostics and population-level research would benefit from the development of higher-resolution genetic markers. We aim to offer genetic resources for work on African monogeneans by providing mitogenomic data of four species (two belonging to Gyrodactylidae, two to Dactylogyridae), and analysing their gene sequences and gene order from a phylogenetic perspective.
Results
Using Illumina technology, the first four mitochondrial genomes of African monogeneans were assembled and annotated for the cichlid parasites Gyrodactylus nyanzae, Cichlidogyrus halli, Cichlidogyrus mbirizei (near-complete mitogenome) and the catfish parasite Macrogyrodactylus karibae (near-complete mitogenome). Complete nuclear ribosomal operons were also retrieved, as molecular vouchers. The start codon TTG is new for Gyrodactylus and for Dactylogyridae, as is the incomplete stop codon TA for Dactylogyridae. Especially the nad2 gene is promising for primer development. Gene order was identical for protein-coding genes and differed between the African representatives of these families only in a tRNA gene transposition. A mitochondrial phylogeny based on an alignment of nearly 12,500 bp including 12 protein-coding and two ribosomal RNA genes confirms that the Neotropical oviparous Aglaiogyrodactylus forficulatus takes a sister group position with respect to the other gyrodactylids, instead of the supposedly ‘primitive’ African Macrogyrodactylus. Inclusion of the African Gyrodactylus nyanzae confirms the paraphyly of Gyrodactylus. The position of the African dactylogyrid Cichlidogyrus is unresolved, although gene order suggests it is closely related to marine ancyrocephalines.
Conclusions
The amount of mitogenomic data available for gyrodactylids and dactylogyrids is increased by roughly one-third. Our study underscores the potential of mitochondrial genes and gene order in flatworm phylogenetics, and of next-generation sequencing for marker development for these non-model helminths for which few primers are available
Excitons in T-shaped quantum wires
We calculate energies, oscillator strengths for radiative recombination, and
two-particle wave functions for the ground state exciton and around 100 excited
states in a T-shaped quantum wire. We include the single-particle potential and
the Coulomb interaction between the electron and hole on an equal footing, and
perform exact diagonalisation of the two-particle problem within a finite basis
set. We calculate spectra for all of the experimentally studied cases of
T-shaped wires including symmetric and asymmetric GaAs/AlGaAs and
InGaAs/AlGaAs structures. We study in detail the
shape of the wave functions to gain insight into the nature of the various
states for selected symmetric and asymmetric wires in which laser emission has
been experimentally observed. We also calculate the binding energy of the
ground state exciton and the confinement energy of the 1D quantum-wire-exciton
state with respect to the 2D quantum-well exciton for a wide range of
structures, varying the well width and the Al molar fraction . We find that
the largest binding energy of any wire constructed to date is 16.5 meV. We also
notice that in asymmetric structures, the confinement energy is enhanced with
respect to the symmetric forms with comparable parameters but the binding
energy of the exciton is then lower than in the symmetric structures. For
GaAs/AlGaAs wires we obtain an upper limit for the binding energy
of around 25 meV in a 10 {\AA} wide GaAs/AlAs structure which suggests that
other materials must be explored in order to achieve room temperature
applications. There are some indications that
InGaAs/AlGaAs might be a good candidate.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures, uses RevTeX and psfig, submitted to Physical
Review
Neutron scattering in a d_{x^2-y^2}-wave superconductor with strong impurity scattering and Coulomb correlations
We calculate the spin susceptibility at and below T_c for a d_{x^2-y^2}-wave
superconductor with resonant impurity scattering and Coulomb correlations. Both
the impurity scattering and the Coulomb correlations act to maintain peaks in
the spin susceptibility, as a function of momentum, at the Brillouin zone edge.
These peaks would otherwise be suppressed by the superconducting gap. The
predicted amount of suppression of the spin susceptibility in the
superconducting state compared to the normal state is in qualitative agreement
with results from recent magnetic neutron scattering experiments on
La_{1.86}Sr_{0.14}CuO_4 for momentum values at the zone edge and along the zone
diagonal. The predicted peak widths in the superconducting state, however, are
narrower than those in the normal state, a narrowing which has not been
observed experimentally.Comment: 24 pages (12 tarred-compressed-uuencoded Postscript figures), REVTeX
3.0 with epsf macros, UCSBTH-94-1
The Electron Glass in a Switchable Mirror: Relaxation, Aging and Universality
The rare earth hydride YH can be tuned through the
metal-insulator transition both by changing and by illumination with
ultraviolet light. The transition is dominated by strong electron-electron
interactions, with transport in the insulator sensitive to both a Coulomb gap
and persistent quantum fluctuations. Via a systematic variation of UV
illumination time, photon flux, Coulomb gap depth, and temperature, we
demonstrate that polycrystalline YH serves as a model system for
studying the properties of the interacting electron glass. Prominent among its
features are logarithmic relaxation, aging, and universal scaling of the
conductivity
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