Weak-localization and rectification current in non-diffusive quantum wires

We show that electron transport in disordered quantum wires can be described by a modified Cooperon equation, which coincides in form with the Dirac equation for the massive fermions in a 1+1 dimensional system. In this new formalism, we calculate the DC electric current induced by electromagnetic fields in quasi-one-dimensional rings. This current changes sign, from diamagnetic to paramagnetic, depending on the amplitude and frequency of the time-dependent external electromagnetic field.Comment: changed title, added more detail, to appear in J. Phys.: Condens. Matte

Cytotoxic Complexes of Sodium Oleate with β-Lactoglobulin

pre-printA complex of α-lactalbumin and oleic acid has previously been shown to induce apoptosis in cancer cells in a number of in vitro and in vivo trials. This complex is called HAMLET or BAMLET, depending on the origin of α-la (human/bovine alpha-lactalbumin made lethal to tumour cells). In the current study, it was shown that bovine β-lactoglobulin (β-lg), upon binding sodium oleate (NaOle), the salt of oleic acid, also acquires cytotoxicity towards tumour cells (human monocytic cells U937), analogously to HAMLET/BAMLET complexes. The properties of the complex were characterized using FIR spectroscopy, HPLC and SDS-PAGE. It was shown that the level of covalent oligomerization (dimers and trimers) of β-lg increased with increasing the molar ratio of sodium oleate NaOle:β-lg in the preparation procedure. At the same time, increasing the molar ratio of NaOle:β-lg increased the cytotoxicity of the complex. The increase in cytotoxicity appeared to be dependent on the amount of bound NaOle in the complex, but not on the content of multimeric forms of β-lg. The NaOle/β-lg complex also showed similarity with BAMLET in penetrating the cell membrane and co-localizing with the cell nucleus. Furthermore, DNA fragmentation studies suggested that tumour cells (U937) treated with the complex died by apoptosis, as in the case of BAMLET, and healthy cells appeared to be less affected by treatment, as shown with model rat adrenal pheochromocytoma cells PC12. In conclusion, β-lg and NaOle can form complexes with apoptosis-inducing qualities comparable to those of BAMLET.The work was funded by the Irish Dairy Research Trust and The Department of Agriculture (Food Institutional Research Measure – FIRM project 08RDTMFRC650) under the National Development Plan 2007-2013. K. Lišková was funded under the TeagascWalsh Fellowship Scheme

Integration over the quantum diagonal subgroup and associated Fourier-like algebras

By analogy with the classical construction due to Forrest, Samei and Spronk we associate to every compact quantum group $\mathbb{G}$ a completely contractive Banach algebra $A_\Delta(\mathbb{G})$, which can be viewed as a deformed Fourier algebra of $\mathbb{G}$. To motivate the construction we first analyse in detail the quantum version of the integration over the diagonal subgroup, showing that although the quantum diagonal subgroups in fact never exist, as noted earlier by Kasprzak and So{\l}tan, the corresponding integration represented by a certain idempotent state on $C(\mathbb{G})$ makes sense as long as $\mathbb{G}$ is of Kac type. Finally we analyse as an explicit example the algebras $A_\Delta(O_N^+)$, $N\ge 2$, associated to Wang's free orthogonal groups, and show that they are not operator weakly amenable.Comment: Minor updates; Remark 5.7 has been added; 31 page

Transition from columnar to point pinning in coated conductors: critical currents, that are independent of magnetic field direction

We identify a phase transition in the vortex system of a high-temperature superconductor with nano-columnar stacks of precipitates as strong vortex pinning centers. Above a particular, temperature-dependent field $B_X(T)$ the vortex response is no longer determined by the nano-columns, and is instead determined by point-like pinning. This phase transition leads to the change in the measured critical current density as a function of angle between the applied magnetic field and the nano-columns. Below the unbinding, there is a strong maximum in $J_C$ when field is aligned parallel to the columns. Above the unbinding, there is a minimum for this orientation.Comment: Formatted for AP

Perfil ambiental de la industria azucarera de la provincia de Tucumán obtenido a partir de la técnica del Análisis del Ciclo de Vida

La industria del azúcar es una importante actividad a nivel mundial. Durante la campaña 2009/2010, se produjeron 1.683 millones de toneladas de caña de azúcar en el mundo. De los 115 países productores de azúcar, 67 de ellos la producen a partir de caña de azúcar, 39 a partir de remolacha y 9 de caña y remolacha (4). El azúcar de caña se produce principalmente en América y Asia, mientras que el de remolacha se produce principalmente en Europa y, en menor cuantía, en Norteamérica. Hacia 1980, la materia prima para la producción de azúcar era la caña y la remolacha en partes iguales, mientras que en la actualidad, el 80% de la producción mundial de azúcar y gran parte del etanol combustible provienen del cultivo de caña, siendo éste el único que se desarrolla en nuestro país.Fil: Nishihara Hun, Andrea L.. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Tecnologia; ArgentinaFil: Mele, Fernando Daniel. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Tecnologia; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Pérez, Gonzalo A.. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria; Argentin

Tuning flux-pinning in epitaxial NdBa2Cu3O7-x films via engineered, hybrid nanoscale defect structures

Epitaxial NdBa2Cu3O7-x films with a hybrid nanoscale defect structure comprised of BaZrO3 nanodot arrays aligned along the c-axis in one half of the film thickness and aligned perpendicular to the c-axis in the other half thickness of the film were fabricated. Transmission electron microscopy images confirm the orientation of the nanoscale defect structures. The angular dependence of critical current density, Jc, at 77 K, 1 T, shows significantly reduced angular variation of Jc. This study nicely demonstrates how pinning characteristics can be tuned by tuning the nanoscale defect structures within the films.Comment: 13 pages, 3figures, submitted to Applied Physics Expres

Global-local visual processing impacts risk taking behaviors, but only at first

We investigated the impact of early visual processing on decision-making during unpredictable, risky situations. Participants undertook Navon’s (1977) task and attended to either global letters or local letters only, following which they completed the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). It was observed that global-focused individuals made more balloon pumps during the BART (i.e., took more risk), whereas local-focused individuals took less risk, albeit only initially. The theory of predictive and reactive control systems (PARCS) provides an excellent account of the data. Implications and future directions are discussed

A Multi-Index GEM Technique and Its Application to the Southwestern Japan/East Sea

This paper demonstrates a new gravest empirical mode (GEM) technique that constructs multi-index lookup tables of temperature (T) and specific volume anomalies (δ) using historical hydrocasts as a function of three indices: round-trip travel time (τ) from sea floor to the surface, sea surface temperature, and pressure. Moreover, the historical hydrocasts are separated into non-mixed-layer (NML) and mixed-layer (ML) groups, and a single GEM field is constructed for each group. This is called the MI-GEM technique. The appropriate dates for MI-GEM fields are determined by the monthly distribution of the number of NML and ML profiles in the historical hydrocasts, which are also well correlated with the strength of the winds during the 2 yr of observations. The T and δ profiles that are determined by this MI-GEM technique capture 92% and 88% of the T and δ variances in the depth range of 0–200 db. These values reduce by about one-third of the unexplained error variance of the residual GEM, which was recently developed and applied to the optimal interpolated τ data in the southwestern Japan/East Sea (JES) by Mitchell et al. Comparisons with the in situ CTD casts demonstrate that the MI-GEM technique almost always produces improved full water column profiles of T and δ. Whereas the residual GEM estimates had exhibited qualitatively erroneous features like T inversions in the near–surface layer and too thin or thick intermediate water layers in some regions, the MI-GEM estimates avoid those problems, which were inherent to the residual GEM technique in the southwestern JES

On the predictability of sea surface height around Palau

Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2020. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 50(11), (2020): 3267–3294, https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-19-0310.1.As part of the Flow Encountering Abrupt Topography (FLEAT) program, an array of pressure-sensor equipped inverted echo sounders (PIESs) was deployed north of Palau where the westward-flowing North Equatorial Current encounters the southern end of the Kyushu–Palau Ridge in the tropical North Pacific. Capitalizing on concurrent observations from satellite altimetry, FLEAT Spray gliders, and shipboard hydrography, the PIESs’ 10-month duration hourly bottom pressure p and round-trip acoustic travel time τ records are used to examine the magnitude and predictability of sea level and pycnocline depth changes and to track signal propagations through the array. Sea level and pycnocline depth are found to vary in response to a range of ocean processes, with their magnitude and predictability strongly process dependent. Signals characterized here comprise the barotropic tides, semidiurnal and diurnal internal tides, southeastward-propagating superinertial waves, westward-propagating mesoscale eddies, and a strong signature of sea level increase and pycnocline deepening associated with the region’s relaxation from El Niño to La Niña conditions. The presence of a broad band of superinertial waves just above the inertial frequency was unexpected and the FLEAT observations and output from a numerical model suggest that these waves detected near Palau are forced by remote winds east of the Philippines. The PIES-based estimates of pycnocline displacement are found to have large uncertainties relative to overall variability in pycnocline depth, as localized deep current variations arising from interactions of the large-scale currents with the abrupt topography around Palau have significant travel time variability.Support for this research was provided by Office of Naval Research Grants N00014-16-1-2668, N00014-18-1-2406, N00014-15-1-2488, and N00014-15-1-2622. R.C.M. was additionally supported by the Postdoctoral Scholar Program at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, with funding provided by the Weston Howland Jr. Postdoctoral Scholarship

Scaling near Quantum Chaos Border in Interacting Fermi Systems

The emergence of quantum chaos for interacting Fermi systems is investigated by numerical calculation of the level spacing distribution $P(s)$ as function of interaction strength $U$ and the excitation energy $\epsilon$ above the Fermi level. As $U$ increases, $P(s)$ undergoes a transition from Poissonian (nonchaotic) to Wigner-Dyson (chaotic) statistics and the transition is described by a single scaling parameter given by $Z = (U \epsilon^{\alpha}-u_0) \epsilon^{1/2\nu}$, where $u_0$ is a constant. While the exponent $\alpha$, which determines the global change of the chaos border, is indecisive within a broad range of $0.9 \sim 2.0$, finite value of $\nu$, which comes from the increase of the Fock space size with $\epsilon$, suggests that the transition becomes sharp as $\epsilon$ increases.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. E (Rapid Communication