1,103 research outputs found
Ultrafast extreme rejuvenation of metallic glasses by shock compression
Structural rejuvenation of glasses not only provides fundamental insights into their complicated dynamics but also extends their practical applications. However, it is formidably challenging to rejuvenate a glass on very short time scales. Here, we present the first experimental evidence that a specially designed shock compression technique can rapidly rejuvenate metallic glasses to extremely high-enthalpy states within a very short time scale of about 365 \ub1 8 ns. By controlling the shock stress amplitude, the shock-induced rejuvenation is successfully frozen at different degrees. The underlying structural disordering is quantitatively characterized by the anomalous boson heat capacity peak of glasses. A Deborah number, defined as a competition of time scales between the net structural disordering and the applied loading, is introduced to explain the observed ultrafast rejuvenation phenomena of metallic glasses
Anisotropic distribution functions for spherical galaxies
A method is presented for finding anisotropic distribution functions for
stellar systems with known, spherically symmetric, densities, which depends
only on the two classical integrals of the energy and the magnitude of the
angular momentum. It requires the density to be expressed as a sum of products
of functions of the potential and of the radial coordinate. The solution
corresponding to this type of density is in turn a sum of products of functions
of the energy and of the magnitude of the angular momentum. The products of the
density and its radial and transverse velocity dispersions can be also
expressed as a sum of products of functions of the potential and of the radial
coordinate. Several examples are given, including some of new anisotropic
distribution functions. This device can be extended further to the related
problem of finding two-integral distribution functions for axisymmetric
galaxies.Comment: 5 figure
"Forbidden" transitions between quantum Hall and insulating phases in p-SiGe heterostructures
We show that in dilute metallic p-SiGe heterostructures, magnetic field can
cause multiple quantum Hall-insulator-quantum Hall transitions. The insulating
states are observed between quantum Hall states with filling factors \nu=1 and
2 and, for the first time, between \nu=2 and 3 and between \nu=4 and 6. The
latter are in contradiction with the original global phase diagram for the
quantum Hall effect. We suggest that the application of a (perpendicular)
magnetic field induces insulating behavior in metallic p-SiGe heterostructures
in the same way as in Si MOSFETs. This insulator is then in competition with,
and interrupted by, integer quantum Hall states leading to the multiple
re-entrant transitions. The phase diagram which accounts for these transition
is similar to that previously obtained in Si MOSFETs thus confirming its
universal character
Water stress in maize production in the drylands of the Loess Plateau
Water stress during two maize (Zea mays L.) growing seasons (2013 and 2014) was investigated in a semiarid region of northwest China. The HYDRUS-1D model gave good simulation of the soil water content in different layers throughout a 0- to 200-cm depth during the maize growing season, with R-2 values of 70.6 and 77.0% for the calibration and validation periods, respectively. Water stress for maize production was observed in June of 2013 and in July of 2014. The soil water storage (SWS) decreased significantly during the early stage of the maize growing season, especially in 2014. The root depth and crop height were 20 cm deeper and 100 cm higher, respectively, in 2014 than in 2013 at the early stage. These results suggest that in the early stage of the maize growing season, pre-seeding SWS can alleviate crop water stress effectively via deep roots. Model simulation showed that the plow pan layer (at a depth of 20-40 cm), with high soil bulk density and a lower soil water retention curve, significantly reduced infiltration. High evapotranspiration and low precipitation result in a temporary dry layer during the early stage, highlighting the plow pan as the sensitive layer for water stress during the drought period. Effective management practices such as deep plowing, plastic film mulching, or water conservation treatments in the fallow period are needed to avoid the formation of this temporary dry layer during the drought period at the early stage and thus improve maize production in rainfed agriculture on the Loess Plateau of China
Nernst Effect in Electron-Doped PrCeCuO
The Nernst effect of PrCeCuO (x=0.13, 0.15, and 0.17) has
been measured on thin film samples between 5-120 K and 0-14 T. In comparison to
recent measurements on hole-doped cuprates that showed an anomalously large
Nernst effect above the resistive T and H
\cite{xu,wang1,wang2,capan}, we find a normal Nernst effect above T and
H for all dopings. The lack of an anomalous Nernst effect in the
electron-doped compounds supports the models that explain this effect in terms
of amplitude and phase fluctuations in the hole-doped cuprates. In addition,
the H(T) determined from the Nernst effect shows a conventional behavior
for all dopings. The energy gap determined from H(0) decreases as the
system goes from under-doping to over-dopingin agreement with the recent
tunnelling experiments
Dynamics of a deformable self-propelled particle under external forcing
We investigate dynamics of a self-propelled deformable particle under
external field in two dimensions based on the model equations for the center of
mass and a tensor variable characterizing deformations. We consider two kinds
of external force. One is a gravitational-like force which enters additively in
the time-evolution equation for the center of mass. The other is an
electric-like force supposing that a dipole moment is induced in the particle.
This force is added to the equation for the deformation tensor. It is shown
that a rich variety of dynamics appears by changing the strength of the forces
and the migration velocity of self-propelled particle
Nutrigenomic and nutritional analyses reveal the effects of pelleted feeds on Asian Seabass (Lates calcarifer)
As nutrition-related expenses constitute the majority of the costs for aquaculture farms, it is essential for them to use feeds that provide an ideal combination of nutrients for the species of choice. In this study, the relative effect of consuming three different pelleted feeds (B, C and D) in comparison to frozen baitfish (A; control) were compared on juvenile Asian seabass (77.3 ± 22.4g) that were selected for increased growth rate over two generations. Our objectives were: 1) to evaluate the effects of different pelleted feeds based on overall physiological changes and nutritional quality of fillets; 2) improve our understanding of the underlying mechanisms with transcriptomic analysis; 3) if possible, identify the feed type that supports the growth of these fishes without substantially reducing the nutritional quality of fillet. The growth performance, fatty acid composition of fillet, hepatic histology and transcriptome of the fishes (Groups A-D) were analyzed. The majority of fatty acids of the fillets, except Îł-linolenic acid (GLA, C18:3n6), correlated significantly with the respective diets. Asian seabass fed Feed C showed highest specific growth rate (SGR) and feed conversion efficiency (FCE) with closest histology and transcriptomic profile to control, but their fillet contained the highest n6/n3 ratio. When the liver-based transcriptomes were analyzed, a complex set of differentially expressed genes were detected between groups fed pelleted feeds and controls as well as among the pellet-fed groups themselves. Significant enrichment of genes with growth-related function tallied with the morphological data measured. When compared with control (Group A), âBiosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acidsâ and âSteroid biosynthesisâ pathways were significantly enriched in pellet-fed groups. Reduced goblet cell numbers were observed in the gut of pellet-fed fish compared to controls and fads6 was found to be a suitable candidate gene to separate wild-caught Asian seabass, from pellet-fed ones. These results provide insights for researchers on the various effects of feeds on the biochemistry and global gene expression of the fish and potentially for seabass farms to make more informed feed choices
Noise Filtering Strategies of Adaptive Signaling Networks: The Case of E. Coli Chemotaxis
Two distinct mechanisms for filtering noise in an input signal are identified
in a class of adaptive sensory networks. We find that the high frequency noise
is filtered by the output degradation process through time-averaging; while the
low frequency noise is damped by adaptation through negative feedback. Both
filtering processes themselves introduce intrinsic noises, which are found to
be unfiltered and can thus amount to a significant internal noise floor even
without signaling. These results are applied to E. coli chemotaxis. We show
unambiguously that the molecular mechanism for the Berg-Purcell time-averaging
scheme is the dephosphorylation of the response regulator CheY-P, not the
receptor adaptation process as previously suggested. The high frequency noise
due to the stochastic ligand binding-unbinding events and the random ligand
molecule diffusion is averaged by the CheY-P dephosphorylation process to a
negligible level in E.coli. We identify a previously unstudied noise source
caused by the random motion of the cell in a ligand gradient. We show that this
random walk induced signal noise has a divergent low frequency component, which
is only rendered finite by the receptor adaptation process. For gradients
within the E. coli sensing range, this dominant external noise can be
comparable to the significant intrinsic noise in the system. The dependence of
the response and its fluctuations on the key time scales of the system are
studied systematically. We show that the chemotaxis pathway may have evolved to
optimize gradient sensing, strong response, and noise control in different time
scalesComment: 15 pages, 4 figure
Tensor network states and geometry
Tensor network states are used to approximate ground states of local
Hamiltonians on a lattice in D spatial dimensions. Different types of tensor
network states can be seen to generate different geometries. Matrix product
states (MPS) in D=1 dimensions, as well as projected entangled pair states
(PEPS) in D>1 dimensions, reproduce the D-dimensional physical geometry of the
lattice model; in contrast, the multi-scale entanglement renormalization ansatz
(MERA) generates a (D+1)-dimensional holographic geometry. Here we focus on
homogeneous tensor networks, where all the tensors in the network are copies of
the same tensor, and argue that certain structural properties of the resulting
many-body states are preconditioned by the geometry of the tensor network and
are therefore largely independent of the choice of variational parameters.
Indeed, the asymptotic decay of correlations in homogeneous MPS and MERA for
D=1 systems is seen to be determined by the structure of geodesics in the
physical and holographic geometries, respectively; whereas the asymptotic
scaling of entanglement entropy is seen to always obey a simple boundary law --
that is, again in the relevant geometry. This geometrical interpretation offers
a simple and unifying framework to understand the structural properties of, and
helps clarify the relation between, different tensor network states. In
addition, it has recently motivated the branching MERA, a generalization of the
MERA capable of reproducing violations of the entropic boundary law in D>1
dimensions.Comment: 18 pages, 18 figure
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