1,225 research outputs found
Thermal Logic Gates: Computation with phonons
Logic gates are basic digital elements for computers. We build up thermal
logic gates that can perform similar operations as their electronic
counterparts. The thermal logic gates are based on the nonlinear lattices,
which exhibit very intriguing phenomena due to their temperature dependent
power spectra. We demonstrate that phonons, the heat carriers, can be also used
to carry information and processed accordingly. The possibility of nanoscale
experiment is discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures. To appear in Phys. Rev. Let
The development of a cesium-vapor-filled thermionic energy converter final technical report, 18 jun. - 18 nov. 1962
Cesium-vapor-filled thermionic energy converter for solar heat applicatio
The development of a cesium-vapor-filled thermionic energy converter Final technical report
Cesium-vapor-filled thermionic energy converter design, fabrication, and testin
Tackling Exascale Software Challenges in Molecular Dynamics Simulations with GROMACS
GROMACS is a widely used package for biomolecular simulation, and over the
last two decades it has evolved from small-scale efficiency to advanced
heterogeneous acceleration and multi-level parallelism targeting some of the
largest supercomputers in the world. Here, we describe some of the ways we have
been able to realize this through the use of parallelization on all levels,
combined with a constant focus on absolute performance. Release 4.6 of GROMACS
uses SIMD acceleration on a wide range of architectures, GPU offloading
acceleration, and both OpenMP and MPI parallelism within and between nodes,
respectively. The recent work on acceleration made it necessary to revisit the
fundamental algorithms of molecular simulation, including the concept of
neighborsearching, and we discuss the present and future challenges we see for
exascale simulation - in particular a very fine-grained task parallelism. We
also discuss the software management, code peer review and continuous
integration testing required for a project of this complexity.Comment: EASC 2014 conference proceedin
The Distance to SN 1999em from the Expanding Photosphere Method
We present optical and IR spectroscopy of the first two months of evolution
of the Type II SN 1999em. We combine these data with high-quality optical/IR
photometry beginning only three days after shock breakout, in order to study
the performance of the ``Expanding Photosphere Method'' (EPM) in the
determination of distances. With this purpose we develop a technique to measure
accurate photospheric velocities by cross-correlating observed and model
spectra. The application of this technique to SN 1999em shows that we can reach
an average uncertainty of 11% in velocity from an individual spectrum. Our
analysis shows that EPM is quite robust to the effects of dust. In particular,
the distances derived from the VI filters change by only 7% when the adopted
visual extinction in the host galaxy is varied by 0.45 mag. The superb time
sampling of the BVIZJHK light-curves of SN 1999em permits us to study the
internal consistency of EPM and test the dilution factors computed from
atmosphere models for Type II plateau supernovae. We find that, in the first
week since explosion, the EPM distances are up to 50% lower than the average,
possibly due the presence of circumstellar material. Over the following 65
days, on the other hand, our tests lend strong credence to the atmosphere
models, and confirm previous claims that EPM can produce consistent distances
without having to craft specific models to each supernova. This is particularly
true for the VI filters which yield distances with an internal consistency of
4%. From the whole set of BVIZJHK photometry, we obtain an average distance of
7.5+/-0.5 Mpc, where the quoted uncertainty (7%) is a conservative estimate of
the internal precision of the method obtained from the analysis of the first 70
days of the supernova evolution.Comment: 68 pages, 15 tables, 22 figures, to appear in Ap
Principles of meiotic chromosome assembly revealed in S. cerevisiae
During meiotic prophase, chromosomes organise into a series of chromatin loops emanating from a proteinaceous axis, but the mechanisms of assembly remain unclear. Here we use Saccharomyces cerevisiae to explore how this elaborate three-dimensional chromosome organisation is linked to genomic sequence. As cells enter meiosis, we observe that strong cohesin-dependent grid-like Hi-C interaction patterns emerge, reminiscent of mammalian interphase organisation, but with distinct regulation. Meiotic patterns agree with simulations of loop extrusion with growth limited by barriers, in which a heterogeneous population of expanding loops develop along the chromosome. Importantly, CTCF, the factor that imposes similar features in mammalian interphase, is absent in S. cerevisiae, suggesting alternative mechanisms of barrier formation. While grid-like interactions emerge independently of meiotic chromosome synapsis, synapsis itself generates additional compaction that matures differentially according to telomere proximity and chromosome size. Collectively, our results elucidate fundamental principles of chromosome assembly and demonstrate the essential role of cohesin within this evolutionarily conserved process
A New Algorithm for Supernova Neutrino Transport and Some Applications
We have developed an implicit, multi-group, time-dependent, spherical
neutrino transport code based on the Feautrier variables, the tangent-ray
method, and accelerated iteration. The code achieves high
angular resolution, is good to O(), is equivalent to a Boltzmann solver
(without gravitational redshifts), and solves the transport equation at all
optical depths with precision. In this paper, we present our formulation of the
relevant numerics and microphysics and explore protoneutron star atmospheres
for snapshot post-bounce models. Our major focus is on spectra, neutrino-matter
heating rates, Eddington factors, angular distributions, and phase-space
occupancies. In addition, we investigate the influence on neutrino spectra and
heating of final-state electron blocking, stimulated absorption, velocity terms
in the transport equation, neutrino-nucleon scattering asymmetry, and weak
magnetism and recoil effects. Furthermore, we compare the emergent spectra and
heating rates obtained using full transport with those obtained using
representative flux-limited transport formulations to gauge their accuracy and
viability. Finally, we derive useful formulae for the neutrino source strength
due to nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung and determine bremsstrahlung's influence
on the emergent and neutrino spectra.Comment: 58 pages, single-spaced LaTeX, 23 figures, revised title, also
available at http://jupiter.as.arizona.edu/~burrows/papers, accepted for
publication in the Ap.
Small poly-L-lysines improve cationic lipid-mediated gene transfer in vascular cells in vitro and in vivo
The potential of two small poly-L-lysines ( sPLLs), low molecular weight sPLL ( LMW-L) containing 7 - 30 lysine residues and L18 with 18 lysine repeats, to enhance the efficiency of liposome-mediated gene transfer ( GT) with cationic lipid DOCSPER {[}1,3- dioleoyloxy- 2-( N-5-carbamoyl-spermine)-propane] in vascular smooth muscle cells ( SMCs) was investigated. Dynamic light scattering was used for determination of particle size. Confocal microscopy was applied for colocalization studies of sPLLs and plasmid DNA inside cells. GT was performed in proliferating and quiescent primary porcine SMCs in vitro and in vivo in porcine femoral arteries. At low ionic strength, sPLLs formed small complexes with DNA ( 50 100 nm). At high ionic strength, large complexes ( 11 mu m) were observed without any significant differences in particle size between lipoplexes ( DOCSPER/ DNA) and lipopolyplexes ( DOCSPER/ sPLL/ DNA). Both sPLLs were colocalized with DNA inside cells 24 h after transfection, protecting DNA against degradation. DOCSPER/ sPLL/ DNA formulations enhanced GT in vitro up to 5- fold, in a porcine model using local periadventitial application up to 1.5- fold. Both sPLLs significantly increased liposome- mediated GT. Poly-L-lysine L18 was superior to LMW-L since it enabled maximal GT at a 10-fold lower concentration. Thus, sPLLs may serve as enhancers for GT applications in SMCs in vitro and in vivo using local delivery. Copyright (c) 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel
First-Principles Dynamical Coherent-Potential Approximation Approach to the Ferromagnetism of Fe, Co, and Ni
Magnetic properties of Fe, Co, and Ni at finite temperatures have been
investigated on the basis of the first-principles dynamical CPA (Coherent
Potential Approximation) combined with the LDA (Local Density Approximation) +
Hamiltonian in the Tight-Binding Linear Muffintin Orbital (TB-LMTO)
representation. The Hamiltonian includes the transverse spin fluctuation terms.
Numerical calculations have been performed within the harmonic approximation
with 4th-order dynamical corrections. Calculated single-particle densities of
states in the ferromagnetic state indicate that the dynamical effects reduce
the exchange splitting, suppress the band width of the quasi-particle state,
and causes incoherent excitations corresponding the 6 eV satellites. Results of
the magnetization vs temperature curves, paramagnetic spin susceptibilities,
and the amplitudes of local moments are presented. Calculated Curie
temperatures () are reported to be 1930K for Fe, 2550K for Co, and
620K for Ni; for Fe and Co are overestimated by a factor of 1.8,
while in Ni agrees with the experimental result. Effective Bohr
magneton numbers calculated from the inverse susceptibilities are 3.0 (Fe), 3.0 (Co), and 1.6 (Ni), being in
agreement with the experimental ones. Overestimate of in Fe and Co
is attributed to the neglects of the higher-order dynamical effects as well as
the magnetic short range order.Comment: 10 pages, 13 figure
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