In situ optofluidic control of reconfigurable photonic crystal cavities

The mobile nature of fluids is fully exploited in planar photonic crystals to not only tune and reconfigure in situ optical microcavities, in a continuous and reversible manner, but also to create "a posteriori" spatially programmable cavities. Both the amount of liquid and the location of the selectively infiltrated area can be accurately controlled either mechanically, using a microfiber manipulator, or optically, using a laser-controlled evaporation and recondensation scheme. The wide applicability is illustrated by tuning a cavity resonance over 50¿nm, adjusting the frequency splitting of an originally degenerate cavity mode, and by freely moving a liquid-induced cavity through dragging a microdroplet

Habitable Zones and UV Habitable Zones around Host Stars

Ultraviolet radiation is a double-edged sword to life. If it is too strong, the terrestrial biological systems will be damaged. And if it is too weak, the synthesis of many biochemical compounds can not go along. We try to obtain the continuous ultraviolet habitable zones, and compare the ultraviolet habitable zones with the habitable zones of host stars. Using the boundary ultraviolet radiation of ultraviolet habitable zone, we calculate the ultraviolet habitable zones of host stars with masses from 0.08 to 4.00 \mo. For the host stars with effective temperatures lower than 4,600 K, the ultraviolet habitable zones are closer than the habitable zones. For the host stars with effective temperatures higher than 7,137 K, the ultraviolet habitable zones are farther than the habitable zones. For hot subdwarf as a host star, the distance of the ultraviolet habitable zone is about ten times more than that of the habitable zone, which is not suitable for life existence.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Constrained Markovian dynamics of random graphs

We introduce a statistical mechanics formalism for the study of constrained graph evolution as a Markovian stochastic process, in analogy with that available for spin systems, deriving its basic properties and highlighting the role of the `mobility' (the number of allowed moves for any given graph). As an application of the general theory we analyze the properties of degree-preserving Markov chains based on elementary edge switchings. We give an exact yet simple formula for the mobility in terms of the graph's adjacency matrix and its spectrum. This formula allows us to define acceptance probabilities for edge switchings, such that the Markov chains become controlled Glauber-type detailed balance processes, designed to evolve to any required invariant measure (representing the asymptotic frequencies with which the allowed graphs are visited during the process). As a corollary we also derive a condition in terms of simple degree statistics, sufficient to guarantee that, in the limit where the number of nodes diverges, even for state-independent acceptance probabilities of proposed moves the invariant measure of the process will be uniform. We test our theory on synthetic graphs and on realistic larger graphs as studied in cellular biology.Comment: 28 pages, 6 figure

Termite sensitivity to temperature affects global wood decay rates.

Deadwood is a large global carbon store with its store size partially determined by biotic decay. Microbial wood decay rates are known to respond to changing temperature and precipitation. Termites are also important decomposers in the tropics but are less well studied. An understanding of their climate sensitivities is needed to estimate climate change effects on wood carbon pools. Using data from 133 sites spanning six continents, we found that termite wood discovery and consumption were highly sensitive to temperature (with decay increasing >6.8 times per 10°C increase in temperature)-even more so than microbes. Termite decay effects were greatest in tropical seasonal forests, tropical savannas, and subtropical deserts. With tropicalization (i.e., warming shifts to tropical climates), termite wood decay will likely increase as termites access more of Earth's surface.Amy E. Zanne, Habacuc Flores-Moreno, Jeff R. Powell, William K. Cornwell, James W. Dalling, Amy T. Austin, Aimée T. Classen, Paul Eggleton, Kei-ichi Okada, Catherine L. Parr, E. Carol Adair, Stephen Adu-Bredu, Md Azharul Alam, Carolina Alvarez-Garzón, Deborah Apgaua, Roxana Aragón, Marcelo Ardon, Stefan K. Arndt, Louise A. Ashton, Nicholas A. Barber, Jacques Beauchêne, Matty P. Berg, Jason Beringer, Matthias M. Boer, José Antonio Bonet, Katherine Bunney, Tynan J. Burkhardt, Dulcinéia Carvalho, Dennis Castillo-Figueroa, Lucas A. Cernusak, Alexander W. Cheesman, Tainá M. Cirne-Silva, Jamie R. Cleverly, Johannes H. C. Cornelissen, Timothy J. Curran, André M. D, Angioli, Caroline Dallstream, Nico Eisenhauer, Fidele Evouna Ondo, Alex Fajardo, Romina D. Fernandez, Astrid Ferrer, Marco A. L. Fontes, Mark L. Galatowitsch, Grizelle González, Felix Gottschall, Peter R. Grace, Elena Granda, Hannah M. Griffiths, Mariana Guerra Lara, Motohiro Hasegawa, Mariet M. Hefting, Nina Hinko-Najera, Lindsay B. Hutley, Jennifer Jones, Anja Kahl, Mirko Karan, Joost A. Keuskamp, Tim Lardner, Michael Liddell, Craig Macfarlane, Cate Macinnis-Ng, Ravi F. Mariano, M. Soledad Méndez, Wayne S. Meyer, Akira S. Mori, Aloysio S. Moura, Matthew Northwood, Romà Ogaya, Rafael S. Oliveira, Alberto Orgiazzi, Juliana Pardo, Guille Peguero, Josep Penuelas, Luis I. Perez, Juan M. Posada, Cecilia M. Prada, Tomáš Prívetivý, Suzanne M. Prober, Jonathan Prunier, Gabriel W. Quansah, Víctor Resco de Dios, Ronny Richter, Mark P. Robertson, Lucas F. Rocha, Megan A. Rúa, Carolina Sarmiento, Richard P. Silberstein, Mateus C. Silva, Flávia Freire Siqueira, Matthew Glenn Stillwagon, Jacqui Stol, Melanie K. Taylor, François P. Teste, David Y. P. Tng, David Tucker, Manfred Türke, Michael D. Ulyshen, Oscar J. Valverde-Barrantes, Eduardo van den Berg, Richard S. P. van Logtestijn, G. F., Ciska, Veen, Jason G. Vogel, Timothy J. Wardlaw, Georg Wiehl, Christian Wirth, Michaela J. Woods, Paul-Camilo Zalame