Crossover from coherent to incoherent dynamics in damped quantum systems

The destruction of quantum coherence by environmental influences is investigated taking the damped harmonic oscillator and the dissipative two-state system as prototypical examples. It is shown that the location of the coherent-incoherent transition depends to a large degree on the dynamical quantity under consideration.Comment: 4 Pages RevTex, to appear as Rapid Communication Phys. Rev.

Voltage-biased quantum wire with impurities

The bosonization technique to describe correlated electrons in a one-dimensional quantum wire containing impurities is extended to include an applied voltage source. The external reservoirs are shown to lead to a boundary condition for the boson phase fields. We use the formalism to investigate the channel conductance, electroneutrality, and charging effects.Comment: 4 pages REVTeX, incl one figure, to appear in Phys.Rev.Let

Abnormal directed migration of blood polymorphonuclear leukocytes in rheumatoid arthritis. Potential role in increased susceptibility to bacterial infections.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients are at higher risks of bacterial infection than healthy subjects. Polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) are the first line of nonspecific cellular defence against these infections. We tested the hypothesis that abnormal directed migration of PMN may be one reason for the increased infection rate of RA patients. PMN migration was investigated in 68 peripheral blood samples of 15 RA patients compared with 64 samples of healthy controls in a novel whole blood in vitro membrane filter assay. The migration of PMNs from RA patients and controls was stimulated using the bacterial chemoattractant N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLP). Unstimulated PMN migration of RA patients was increased compared with healthy controls as measured by the following parameters: (a) absolute number of migrant PMNs (1954+/-87 vs. 1238 +/-58 PMN/mm2), (b) percentage of PMNs migrated into the filter (total migration index, TMI) (28.6+/-0.9 vs. 24.0+/-0.8%), (c) the distance half the migrating PMNs had covered (distribution characteristic, DC) (22.6+/-1.1 vs. 16.1+/-0.6 mm) and (d) the product of TMI and DC (neutrophil migratory activity, NMA) (669.0+/-45.0 vs. 389.0+/-18.9). fMLP stimulated PMNs of RA patients showed defective migration compared to unstimulated samples as shown by (a) a reduced number of migrant PMNs (1799+/-93 PMN/mm2), (b) lower TMI (26.1+/-0.9%), (c) unremarkable altered distribution characteristic (22.9+/-0.8 mm) and (d) significant reduced migratory activity (600.0+/-30.0). Our data suggest that the high incidence of infections in RA patients may partly be caused by defective migratory activity of PMNs to bacterial chemoattractants as demonstrated by fMLP

Coulomb Charging at Large Conduction

We discuss the suppression of Coulomb charging effects on a small metallic island coupled to an electrode by a tunnel junction. At high temperatures the quantum corrections to the classical charging energy $E_c=e^2/2C$, where $C$ is the island capacitance, are evaluated. At low temperatures the large quantum fluctuations of the island charge cause a strong reduction of the effective $E_c$ which is determined explicitly in the limit of a large tunneling conductance.Comment: 4 page

Mikrokredite für Frauen: Instrument zur Akkumulation von symbolischem Kapital?! Empowermentmaßnahmen als Basis für genderspezifischen sozialen Wandel am Beispiel des Mikrokreditsektors in Mittelägypten

Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird die Möglichkeit diskutiert, genderspezifischen sozialen Wandel in Schwellen- und Entwicklungsländern über Mikrokreditvergabesysteme anzustoßen. Anhand einer in Mittelägypten durchgeführten Studie mit mehrfach diskriminierten Frauen wird gezeigt, wie Mikrokredite die Akkumulation nicht nur von ökonomischem, sondern vor allem auch von kulturellem und sozialem Kapital im Bourdieu'schen Sinne unterstützen können. Wenn in diesem Kontext eine Veränderung des symbolischen Kapitals gelingt, kann dies zu neuen Wahrnehmungs-, Denk- und Handlungsschemata der Beteiligten und zu Strukturveränderungen auf der Makroebene führen. Die theoretische Modellierung von genderspezifischem sozialem Wandel erfolgt in diesem Artikel entlang empirischer Daten, die von den Autorinnen in Mittelägypten erhoben wurden

Is the direct observation of electronic coherence in electron transfer reactions possible?

The observability of electronic coherence in electron transfer reactions is discussed. We show that under appropriate circumstances large-amplitude oscillations can be found in the electronic occupation probabilities. The initial preparation of the system is of crucial importance for this effect, and we discuss conditions under which experiments detecting electronic coherence should be feasible. The Feynman-Vernon influence functional formalism is extended to examine more general and experimentally relevant initial preparations. Analytical expressions and path integral quantum dynamics simulations were developed to study the effects of various initial preparations on the observability of electronic coherence.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, to be published in J. Chem. Phy

Electroneutrality and the Friedel sum rule in a Luttinger liquid

Screening in one-dimensional metals is studied for arbitrary electron-electron interactions. It is shown that for finite-range interactions (Luttinger liquid) electroneutrality is violated. This apparent inconsistency can be traced to the presence of external screening gates responsible for the effectively short-ranged Coulomb interactions. We also draw attention to the breakdown of linear screening for wavevectors close to 2 K_f.Comment: 4 pages REVTeX, incl one figure, to appear in Phys.Rev.Let