Electromagnetic wave propagation in spatially homogeneous yet smoothly time-varying dielectric media

We explore the propagation and transformation of electromagnetic waves through spatially homogeneous yet smoothly time-dependent media within the framework of classical electrodynamics. By modelling the smooth transition, occurring during a finite period {\tau}, as a phenomenologically realistic and sigmoidal change of the dielectric permittivity, an analytically exact solution to Maxwell's equations is derived for the electric displacement in terms of hypergeometric functions. Using this solution, we show the possibility of amplification and attenuation of waves and associate this with the decrease and increase of the time-dependent permittivity. We demonstrate, moreover, that such an energy exchange between waves and non-stationary media leads to the transformation (or conversion) of frequencies. Our results may pave the way towards controllable light-matter interaction in time-varying structures.Comment: 5 figure

Photo-induced volume changes in selenium. Tight-binding molecular dynamics study

Tight-binding molecular dynamics simulations of photo-excitations in small Se clusters (isolated Se$_8$ ring and helical Se chain) and glassy Se networks (containing 162 atoms) were carried out in order to analyse the photo induced instability inside the amorphous selenium. In the cluster systems after taking an electron from the highest occupied molecular orbital to the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital a bond breaking occurs. In the glassy networks photoinduced volume expansion was observed and at the same time the number of coordination defects changed significantly due to illumination

Hairpins in the conformations of a confined polymer

If a semiflexible polymer confined to a narrow channel bends around by 180 degrees, the polymer is said to exhibit a hairpin. The equilibrium extension statistics of the confined polymer are well understood when hairpins are vanishingly rare or when they are plentiful. Here we analyze the extension statistics in the intermediate situation via experiments with DNA coated by the protein RecA, which enhances the stiffness of the DNA molecule by approximately one order of magnitude. We find that the extension distribution is highly non-Gaussian, in good agreement with Monte Carlo simulations of confined discrete wormlike chains. We develop a simple model that qualitatively explains the form of the extension distribution. The model shows that the tail of the distribution at short extensions is determined by conformations with one hairpin.Comment: Revised version. 22 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables, supplementary materia

Acquisition of quantifier raising of a universal across an existential: Evidence from German

Our paper reports an act out task with German 5- and 6-year olds and adults involving doubly-quantified sentences with a universal object and an existential subject. We found that 5- and 6-year olds allow inverse scope in such sentences, while adults do not. Our findings contribute to a growing body of research (e.g. Gualmini et al. 2008; Musolino 2009, etc.) showing that children are more flexible in their scopal considerations than initially proposed by the Isomorphism proposal (Lidz & Musolino 2002; Musolino & Lidz 2006). This result provides support for a theory of German, a “no quantifier raising”-language, in terms of soft violable constraints, or global economy terms (Bobaljik & Wurmbrand 2012), rather than in terms of hard inviolable constraints or rules (Frey 1993). Finally, the results are compatible with Reinhart’s (2004) hypothesis that children do not perform global interface economy considerations due to the increased processing associated with it

Extension of nano-confined DNA: quantitative comparison between experiment and theory

The extension of DNA confined to nanochannels has been studied intensively and in detail. Yet quantitative comparisons between experiments and model calculations are difficult because most theoretical predictions involve undetermined prefactors, and because the model parameters (contour length, Kuhn length, effective width) are difficult to compute reliably, leading to substantial uncertainties. Here we use a recent asymptotically exact theory for the DNA extension in the "extended de Gennes regime" that allows us to compare experimental results with theory. For this purpose we performed new experiments, measuring the mean DNA extension and its standard deviation while varying the channel geometry, dye intercalation ratio, and ionic buffer strength. The experimental results agree very well with theory at high ionic strengths, indicating that the model parameters are reliable. At low ionic strengths the agreement is less good. We discuss possible reasons. Our approach allows, in principle, to measure the Kuhn length and effective width of a single DNA molecule and more generally of semiflexible polymers in solution.Comment: Revised version, 6 pages, 2 figures, 1 table, supplementary materia

What Do Human Rights Mean for Citizenship Education?

The article argues that citizenship education and human rights education can be understood as educational responses to specific social and political challenges in different national, regional and global contexts. It outlines four cases: (1) Nbsp; the early German response of civic education; (2) The late British response of citizenship education; (3) The response of EDC within the European framework of the Council of Europe; (4) The response of HRE within the global framework of the UN and the UNESCO. The main aim is to contribute to the necessary clarification of what is shared and what is different of EDC and HRE in this ongoing process of cooperation and integration between the two approaches in Europe

Representations of J-central J-Potapov functions in both nondegenerate and degenerate cases

AbstractLet J be an m×m signature matrix (i.e. J∗=J and J2=Im) and let D:={z∈C:|z|<1}. Denote PJ(D) the class of all J-Potapov functions in D, i.e. the set of all meromorphic m×m matrix-valued functions f in D with J-contractive values at all points of D at which f is holomorphic. Further, denote PJ,0(D) the subclass of all f∈PJ(D) which are holomorphic at the origin. Let f∈PJ,0(D), and let f(w)=∑j=0∞Ajwj be the Taylor series representation of f in some neighborhood of 0. Then it was proved in [B. Fritzsche, B. Kirstein, U. Raabe, On the structure of J-Potapov sequences, Linear Algebra Appl., in press] that for each n∈N the matrix An can be described by its position in a matrix ball depending on the sequence (Aj)j=0n-1. The J-Potapov function f is called J-central if there exists some k∈N such that for each integer j⩾k the matrix Aj coincides with the center of the corresponding matrix ball.In this paper, we derive left and right quotient representations of matrix polynomials for J-central J-Potapov functions in D. Moreover, we obtain recurrent formulas for the matrix polynomials involved in these quotient representations