9,798 research outputs found
Effect of disorder on the thermal transport and elastic properties in thermoelectric Zn4Sb3
Zn4Sb3 undergoes a phase transition from alpha to beta phase at T1[approximate]250 K. The high temperature beta-Zn4Sb3 phase has been widely investigated as a potential state-of-the-art thermoelectric (TE) material, due to its remarkably low thermal conductivity. We have performed electronic and thermal transport measurements exploring the structural phase transition at 250 K. The alpha to beta phase transition manifests itself by anomalies in the resistivity, thermopower, and specific heat at 250 K as well as by a reduction in the thermal conductivity as Zn4Sb3 changes phase from the ordered alpha to the disordered beta-phase. Moreover, measurements of the elastic constants using resonant ultrasound spectroscopy (RUS) reveal a dramatic softening at the order-disorder transition upon warming. These measurements provide further evidence that the remarkable thermoelectric properties of beta-Zn4Sb3 are tied to the disorder in the crystal structure
Influence of the binding mode and many-body interactions
In the present contribution, the ultrafast photoinduced electron migration
dynamics at the interface between an alizarin dye and an anatase TiO2 thin
film is investigated from first principles. Comparison between a time-
dependent many-electron configuration interaction ansatz and a single active
electron approach sheds light on the importance of many-body effects, stemming
from uniquely defined initial conditions prior to photoexcitation. Particular
emphasis is put on understanding the influence of the binding mode on the
migration process. The dynamics is analyzed on the basis of a recently
introduced toolset in the form of electron yields, electronic fluxes, and flux
densities, to reveal microscopic details of the electron migration mechanism.
From the many-body perspective, insight into the nature of electron-electron
and hole-hole interactions during the charge transfer process is obtained. The
present results reveal that the single active electron approach yields
quantitatively and phenomenologically similar results as the many-electron
ansatz. Furthermore, the charge migration processes in the dye-TiO2 model
clusters with different binding modes exhibit similar mechanistic pathways but
on largely different time scales
Noise-induced behaviors in neural mean field dynamics
The collective behavior of cortical neurons is strongly affected by the
presence of noise at the level of individual cells. In order to study these
phenomena in large-scale assemblies of neurons, we consider networks of
firing-rate neurons with linear intrinsic dynamics and nonlinear coupling,
belonging to a few types of cell populations and receiving noisy currents.
Asymptotic equations as the number of neurons tends to infinity (mean field
equations) are rigorously derived based on a probabilistic approach. These
equations are implicit on the probability distribution of the solutions which
generally makes their direct analysis difficult. However, in our case, the
solutions are Gaussian, and their moments satisfy a closed system of nonlinear
ordinary differential equations (ODEs), which are much easier to study than the
original stochastic network equations, and the statistics of the empirical
process uniformly converge towards the solutions of these ODEs. Based on this
description, we analytically and numerically study the influence of noise on
the collective behaviors, and compare these asymptotic regimes to simulations
of the network. We observe that the mean field equations provide an accurate
description of the solutions of the network equations for network sizes as
small as a few hundreds of neurons. In particular, we observe that the level of
noise in the system qualitatively modifies its collective behavior, producing
for instance synchronized oscillations of the whole network, desynchronization
of oscillating regimes, and stabilization or destabilization of stationary
solutions. These results shed a new light on the role of noise in shaping
collective dynamics of neurons, and gives us clues for understanding similar
phenomena observed in biological networks
Elimination of coherent noise in a coherent light imaging system
Optical imaging systems using coherent light introduce objectionable noise into the output image plane. Dust and bubbles on and in lenses cause most of the noise in the output image. This noise usually appears as bull's-eye diffraction patterns in the image. By rotating the lens about the optical axis these diffraction patterns can be essentially eliminated. The technique does not destroy the spatial coherence of the light and permits spatial filtering of the input plane
Inelastic electron relaxation rates caused by Spin M/2 Kondo Impurities
We study a spin S=M/2--Kondo system coupled to electrons in an arbitrary
nonequilibrium situation above Kondo temperature. Coupling to hot electrons
leads to an increased inverse lifetime of pseudo particles, related to the
Korringa width. This in turn is responsible for the increased inelastic
relaxation rates of the electronic system. The rates are related to spin--spin
correlation functions which are determined using a projection operator
formalism. The results generalize recent findings for S=1/2--Kondo impurities
which have been used to describe energy relaxation experiments in disordered
mesoscopic wires.Comment: Brief Report, 4 page
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
Coherent and Incoherent Vortex Flow States in Crossed Channels
We examine vortex flow states in periodic square pinning arrays with one row
and one column of pinning sites removed to create an easy flow crossed channel
geometry. When a drive is simultaneously applied along both major symmetry axes
of the pinning array such that vortices move in both channels, a series of
coherent flow states develop in the channel intersection at rational ratios of
the drive components in each symmetry direction when the vortices can cross the
intersection without local collisions. The coherent flow states are correlated
with a series of anomalies in the velocity force curves, and in some cases can
produce negative differential conductivity. The same general behavior could
also be realized in other systems including colloids, particle traffic in
microfluidic devices, or Wigner crystals in crossed one-dimensional channels.Comment: 5 pages, 4 postscript figure
Possible mechanism for achieving glass-like thermal conductivities in crystals with off-center atoms
In the filled Ga/Ge clathrate, Eu and Sr are off-center in site 2 but Ba is
on-center. All three filler atoms (Ba,Eu,Sr) have low temperature Einstein
modes; yet only for the Eu and Sr systems is there a large dip in the thermal
conductivity, attributed to the Einstein modes. No dip is observed for Ba. Here
we argue that it is the off-center displacement that is crucial for
understanding this unexplained difference in behavior. It enhances the coupling
between the "rattler" motion and the lattice phonons for the Eu and Sr systems,
and turns on/off another scattering mechanism (for 1K < T < 20K) produced by
the presence/absence of off-center sites. The random occupation of different
off-center sites produces a high density of symmetry-breaking defects which
scatters phonons. It may also be important for improving our understanding of
other glassy systems.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure (2 parts) -- v2: intro broadened; strengthened
arguments regarding need for additional phonon scattering mechanis
A future very-high-energy view of our Galaxy
The survey of the inner Galaxy with H.E.S.S. was remarkably successful in
detecting a wide range of new very-high-energy gamma-ray sources. New TeV
gamma-ray emitting source classes were established, although several of the
sources remain unidentified, and progress has been made in understanding
particle acceleration in astrophysical sources. In this work, we constructed a
model of a population of such very-high-energy gamma-ray emitters and
normalised the flux and size distribution of this population model to the
H.E.S.S.-discovered sources. Extrapolating that population of objects to lower
flux levels we investigate what a future array of imaging atmospheric
telescopes (IACTs) such as AGIS or CTA might detect in a survey of the Inner
Galaxy with an order of magnitude improvement in sensitivity. The sheer number
of sources detected together with the improved resolving power will likely
result in a huge improvement in our understanding of the populations of
galactic gamma-ray sources. A deep survey of the inner Milky Way would also
support studies of the interstellar diffuse gamma-ray emission in regions of
high cosmic-ray density. In the final section of this paper we investigate the
science potential for the Galactic Centre region for studying energy-dependent
diffusion with such a future array.Comment: Proceeding of "Heidelberg International Symposium on High Energy
Gamma-Ray Astronomy", held in Heidelberg, 7-11 July 2008, submitted to AIP
Conference Proceedings. 4 pages, 4 figure
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