310 research outputs found
Domain wall mobility in nanowires: transverse versus vortex walls
The motion of domain walls in ferromagnetic, cylindrical nanowires is
investigated numerically by solving the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation for a
classical spin model in which energy contributions from exchange, crystalline
anisotropy, dipole-dipole interaction, and a driving magnetic field are
considered. Depending on the diameter, either transverse domain walls or vortex
walls are found. The transverse domain wall is observed for diameters smaller
than the exchange length of the given material. Here, the system behaves
effectively one-dimensional and the domain wall mobility agrees with a result
derived for a one-dimensional wall by Slonczewski. For low damping the domain
wall mobility decreases with decreasing damping constant. With increasing
diameter, a crossover to a vortex wall sets in which enhances the domain wall
mobility drastically. For a vortex wall the domain wall mobility is described
by the Walker-formula, with a domain wall width depending on the diameter of
the wire. The main difference is the dependence on damping: for a vortex wall
the domain wall mobility can be drastically increased for small values of the
damping constant up to a factor of .Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure
Phase transitions and noise crosscorrelations in a model of directed polymers in a disordered medium
We show that effective interactions mediated by disorder between two directed
polymers can be modelled as the crosscorrelation of noises in the
Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) equations satisfied by the respective free energies
of these polymers. When there are two polymers, disorder introduces attractive
interactions between them. We analyze the phase diagram in details and show
that these interactions lead to new phases in the phase diagram. We show that,
even in dimension , the two directed polymers see the attraction only if
the strength of the disorder potential exceeds a threshold value. We extend our
calculations to show that if there are polymers in the system then -body
interactions are generated in the disorder averaged effective free energy.Comment: To appear in Phys. Rev. E(2000
A theoretical and empirical investigation of nutritional label use
Due in part to increasing diet-related health problems caused, among others, by obesity, nutritional labelling has been considered important, mainly because it can provide consumers with information that can be used to make informed and healthier food choices. Several studies have focused on the empirical perspective of nutritional label use. None of these studies, however, have focused on developing a theoretical economic model that would adequately describe nutritional label use based on a utility theoretic framework. We attempt to fill this void by developing a simple theoretical model of nutritional label use, incorporating the time a consumer spends reading labels as part of the food choice process. The demand equations of the model are then empirically tested. Results suggest the significant role of several variables that flow directly from the model which, to our knowledge, have not been used in any previous empirical work
Quaternary Structure Defines a Large Class of Amyloid-β Oligomers Neutralized by Sequestration
SummaryThe accumulation of amyloid-β (Aβ) as amyloid fibrils and toxic oligomers is an important step in the development of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, there are numerous potentially toxic oligomers and little is known about their neurological effects when generated in the living brain. Here we show that Aβ oligomers can be assigned to one of at least two classes (type 1 and type 2) based on their temporal, spatial, and structural relationships to amyloid fibrils. The type 2 oligomers are related to amyloid fibrils and represent the majority of oligomers generated in vivo, but they remain confined to the vicinity of amyloid plaques and do not impair cognition at levels relevant to AD. Type 1 oligomers are unrelated to amyloid fibrils and may have greater potential to cause global neural dysfunction in AD because they are dispersed. These results refine our understanding of the pathogenicity of Aβ oligomers in vivo
Evidence for geometry-dependent universal fluctuations of the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang interfaces in liquid-crystal turbulence
We provide a comprehensive report on scale-invariant fluctuations of growing
interfaces in liquid-crystal turbulence, for which we recently found evidence
that they belong to the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) universality class for 1+1
dimensions [Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 230601 (2010); Sci. Rep. 1, 34 (2011)]. Here
we investigate both circular and flat interfaces and report their statistics in
detail. First we demonstrate that their fluctuations show not only the KPZ
scaling exponents but beyond: they asymptotically share even the precise forms
of the distribution function and the spatial correlation function in common
with solvable models of the KPZ class, demonstrating also an intimate relation
to random matrix theory. We then determine other statistical properties for
which no exact theoretical predictions were made, in particular the temporal
correlation function and the persistence probabilities. Experimental results on
finite-time effects and extreme-value statistics are also presented. Throughout
the paper, emphasis is put on how the universal statistical properties depend
on the global geometry of the interfaces, i.e., whether the interfaces are
circular or flat. We thereby corroborate the powerful yet geometry-dependent
universality of the KPZ class, which governs growing interfaces driven out of
equilibrium.Comment: 31 pages, 21 figures, 1 table; references updated (v2,v3); Fig.19
updated & minor changes in text (v3); final version (v4); J. Stat. Phys.
Online First (2012
Weak Segregation Theory and Non-Conventional Morphologies in the Ternary ABC Triblock Copolymers
The Leibler weak segregation theory in molten diblock copolymers is
generalized with due regard for the 2nd shell harmonics contributions defined
in the paper and the phase diagrams are built for the linear and miktoarm
ternary ABC triblock copolymers. The symmetric linear copolymers with the
middle block non-selective with respect to the side ones are shown to undergo
the continuous ODT not only into the lamellar phase but also into various
non-conventional cubic phases (depending on the middle block composition it
could be the simple cubic, face-centered cubic or non-centrosymmetric phase
revealing the symmetry of space group No.214 first predicted to appear in
molten block copolymers). For asymmetric linear ABC copolymers a region of
compositions is found where the weakly segregated gyroid (double gyroid) phase
exists between the planar hexagonal and lamellar or one of the non-conventional
cubic phases up to the very critical point. In contrast, the miktoarm ABC block
copolymers with one of its arm non-selective with respect to the two others are
shown to reveal a pronounced tendency towards strong segregation, which is
preceded by increase of stability of the conventional BCC phase and a peculiar
weakly segregated BCC phase (BCC3), where the dominant harmonics belong to the
3rd co-ordination sphere of the reciprocal lattice. The validity region of the
developed theory is discussed and outlined in the composition triangles both
for linear and miktoarm copolymers.Comment: 61 pages, 12 figure
Retrieval of optical and microphysical properties of transported Saharan dust over Athens and Granada based on multi-wavelength Raman lidar measurements: Study of the mixing processes
In this paper we extract the aerosol microphysical properties for a collection of mineral dust cases measured by multi-wavelength depolarization Raman lidar systems located at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA, Athens, Greece) and the Andalusian Institute for Earth System Research (IISTA-CEAMA, Granada, Spain). The lidar-based retrievals were carried out with the Spheroidal Inversion eXperiments software tool (SphInX) developed at the University of Potsdam (Germany). The software uses regularized inversion of a two-dimensional enhancement of the Mie model based on the spheroid-particle approximation with the aspect ratio determining the particle shape. The selection of the cases was based on the transport time from the source regions to the measuring sites. The aerosol optical depth as measured by AERONET ranged from 0.27 to 0.54 (at 500 nm) depending on the intensity of each event. Our analysis showed the hourly mean particle linear depolarization ratio and particle lidar ratio values at 532 nm ranging from 11 to 34% and from 42 to 79 sr respectively, depending on the mixing status, the corresponding air mass pathways and their transport time. Cases with shorter transport time showed good agreement in terms of the optical and SphInX-retrieved microphysical properties between Athens and Granada providing a complex refractive index value equal to 1.4 + 0.004i. On the other hand, the results for cases with higher transport time deviated from the aforementioned ones as well as from each other, providing, in particular, an imaginary part of the refractive index ranging from 0.002 to 0.005. Reconstructions of two-dimensional shape-size distributions for each selected layer showed that the dominant effective particle shape was prolate with diverse spherical contributions. The retrieved volume concentrations reflect overall the intensity of the episodes.Spanish Ministry of Sciences, Innovation and Universities through project CGL2016-81092,Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports through grant FPU14/0368
Diabetic gastroparesis: Therapeutic options
Gastroparesis is a condition characterized by delayed gastric emptying and the most common known underlying cause is diabetes mellitus. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, abdominal fullness, and early satiety, which impact to varying degrees on the patient’s quality of life. Symptoms and deficits do not necessarily relate to each other, hence despite significant abnormalities in gastric emptying, some individuals have only minimal symptoms and, conversely, severe symptoms do not always relate to measures of gastric emptying. Prokinetic agents such as metoclopramide, domperidone, and erythromycin enhance gastric motility and have remained the mainstay of treatment for several decades, despite unwanted side effects and numerous drug interactions. Mechanical therapies such as endoscopic pyloric botulinum toxin injection, gastric electrical stimulation, and gastrostomy or jejunostomy are used in intractable diabetic gastroparesis (DG), refractory to prokinetic therapies. Mitemcinal and TZP-101 are novel investigational motilin receptor and ghrelin agonists, respectively, and show promise in the treatment of DG. The aim of this review is to provide an update on prokinetic and mechanical therapies in the treatment of DG
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