Number of adaptive steps to a local fitness peak

We consider a population of genotype sequences evolving on a rugged fitness landscape with many local fitness peaks. The population walks uphill until it encounters a local fitness maximum. We find that the statistical properties of the walk length depend on whether the underlying fitness distribution has a finite mean. If the mean is finite, all the walk length cumulants grow with the sequence length but approach a constant otherwise. Experimental implications of our analytical results are also discussed

Substrate screening effects on the quasiparticle band gap and defect charge transition levels in MoS2_2

Monolayer MoS$_2$ has emerged as an interesting material for nanoelectronic and optoelectronic devices. The effect of substrate screening and defects on the electronic structure of MoS$_2$ are important considerations in the design of such devices. Here, we present ab initio density functional theory (DFT) and GW calculations to study the effect of substrate screening on the quasiparticle band gap and defect charge transition levels (CTLs) in monolayer MoS$_2$. We find a giant renormalization to the free-standing quasiparticle band gap by 350 meV and 530 meV in the presence of graphene and graphite as substrates, respectively. Our results are corroborated by recent experimental measurements on these systems using scanning tunneling spectroscopy and photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy. Sulfur vacancies are the most abundant native defects found in MoS$_2$. We study the CTLs of these vacancies in MoS$_2$ using the DFT+GW formalism. We find (+1/0) and (0/-1) CTLs appear in the pristine band gap of MoS$_2$. Substrate screening results in renormalization of the (0/-1) level, with respect to the valence band maximum (VBM), by the same amount as the gap. This results in the pinning of the (0/-1) level about $\sim$500 meV below the conduction band minimum for the free-standing case as well as in the presence of substrates. The (+1/0) level, on the other hand, lies less than 100 meV above the VBM for all the cases

Origin of layer dependence in band structures of two-dimensional materials

We study the origin of layer dependence in band structures of two-dimensional materials. We find that the layer dependence, at the density functional theory (DFT) level, is a result of quantum confinement and the non-linearity of the exchange-correlation functional. We use this to develop an efficient scheme for performing DFT and GW calculations of multilayer systems. We show that the DFT and quasiparticle band structures of a multilayer system can be derived from a single calculation on a monolayer of the material. We test this scheme on multilayers of MoS$_2$, graphene and phosphorene. This new scheme yields results in excellent agreement with the standard methods at a fraction of the computation cost. This helps overcome the challenge of performing fully converged GW calculations on multilayers of 2D materials, particularly in the case of transition metal dichalcogenides which involve very stringent convergence parameters

Large amplitude oscillations in prominences

Since the first reports of oscillations in prominences in the 1930s, there have been major theoretical and observational developments to understand the nature of these oscillatory phenomena, leading to the whole new field of the so-called “prominence seismology”. There are two types of oscillatory phenomena observed in prominences; “small amplitude oscillations” (2–3 km s−1), which are quite common, and “large-amplitude oscillations” (>20 km s−1) for which observations are scarce. Large-amplitude oscillations have been found as “winking filament” in Hα as well as motion in the plane-of-sky in Hα, EUV, micro-wave and He 10830 observations. Historically, it has been suggested that the large-amplitude oscillations in prominences were triggered by disturbances such as fastmode MHD waves (Moreton wave) produced by remote flares. Recent observations show, in addition, that near-by flares or jets can also create such large-amplitude oscillations in prominences. Large-amplitude oscillations, which are observed both in transverse as well as longitudinal direction, have a range of periods varying from tens of minutes to a few hours. Using the observed period of oscillation and simple theoretical models, the obtained magnetic field in prominences has shown quite a good agreement with directly measured one and, therefore, justifies prominence seismology as a powerful diagnostic tool. On rare occasions, when the large-amplitude oscillations have been observed before or during the eruption, the oscillations may be applied to diagnose the stability and the eruption mechanism. Here we review the recent developments and understanding in the observational properties of large-amplitude oscillations and their trigger mechanisms and stability in the context of prominence seismology

Modeling Stem/Progenitor Cell-Induced Neovascularization and\ud Oxygenation around Solid Implants

Tissue engineering constructs and other solid implants with biomedical applications, such as drug delivery devices or bioartificial organs, need oxygen (O2) to function properly. To understand better the vascular integration of such devices, we recently developed a novel model sensor containing O2-sensitive crystals, consisting of a polymeric capsule limited by a nano-porous filter. The sensor was implanted in mice with hydrogel alone (control) or hydrogel embedded with mouse CD117/c-kit+ bone marrow progenitor cells (BMPC) in order to stimulate peri-implant neovascularization. The sensor provided local partial O2 pressure (pO2) using non-invasive electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) signal measurements. A consistently higher level of per-implant oxygenation was observed in the cell-treatment case as compared to the control over a 10-week period. In order to provide a mechanistic explanation of these experimental observations, we present in this paper a mathematical model, formulated as a system of coupled partial differential equations, that simulates peri-implant vascularization. In the control case, vascularization is considered to be the result of a Foreign Body Reaction (FBR) while in the cell-treatment case, adipogenesis in response to paracrine stimuli produced by the stem cells is assumed to induce neovascularization. The model is validated by fitting numerical predictions of local pO2 to measurements from the implanted sensor. The model is then used to investigate further the potential for using stem cell treatment to enhance the vascular integration of biomedical implants. We thus demonstrate how mathematical modeling combined with experimentation can be used to infer how vasculature develops around biomedical implants in control and stem celltreated cases

Dark Energy and the Statistical Study of the Observed Image Separations of the Multiply Imaged Systems in the CLASS Statistical Sample

The present day observations favour a universe which is flat, accelerated and composed of $\sim 1/3$ matter (baryonic + dark) and $\sim 2/3$ of a negative pressure component, usually referred to as dark energy or quintessence. The Cosmic Lens All Sky Survey (CLASS), the largest radio-selected galactic mass scale gravitational lens search project to date, has resulted in the largest sample suitable for statistical analyses. In the work presented here, we exploit observed image separations of the multiply imaged lensed radio sources in the sample. We use two different tests: (1) image separation distribution function $n(\Delta\theta)$ of the lensed radio sources and (2) {\dtheta}_{\mathrm{pred}} vs {\dtheta}_{\mathrm{obs}} as observational tools to constrain the cosmological parameters $w$ and \Om. The results are in concordance with the bounds imposed by other cosmological tests.Comment: 20 pages latex; Modified " Results and Discussion " section, new references adde

Relevance of inter-composite fermion interaction to the edge Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid

It is shown that Wen's effective theory correctly describes the Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid at the edge of a system of non-interacting composite fermions. However, the weak residual interaction between composite fermions appears to be a relevant perturbation. The filling factor dependence of the Tomonaga-Luttinger parameter is estimated for interacting composite fermions in a microscopic approach and satisfactory agreement with experiment is achieved. It is suggested that the electron field operator may not have a simple representation in the effective one dimensional theory.Comment: 5 pages; accepted in Phys. Rev. Let

A Simple Method for Computing the Non-Linear Mass Correlation Function with Implications for Stable Clustering

We propose a simple and accurate method for computing analytically the mass correlation function for cold dark matter and scale-free models that fits N-body simulations over a range that extends from the linear to the strongly non-linear regime. The method, based on the dynamical evolution of the pair conservation equation, relies on a universal relation between the pair-wise velocity and the smoothed correlation function valid for high and low density models, as derived empirically from N-body simulations. An intriguing alternative relation, based on the stable-clustering hypothesis, predicts a power-law behavior of the mass correlation function that disagrees with N-body simulations but conforms well to the observed galaxy correlation function if negligible bias is assumed. The method is a useful tool for rapidly exploring a wide span of models and, at the same time, raises new questions about large scale structure formation.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

Design of Novel Algorithm and Architecture for Gaussian Based Color Image Enhancement System for Real Time Applications

This paper presents the development of a new algorithm for Gaussian based color image enhancement system. The algorithm has been designed into architecture suitable for FPGA/ASIC implementation. The color image enhancement is achieved by first convolving an original image with a Gaussian kernel since Gaussian distribution is a point spread function which smoothen the image. Further, logarithm-domain processing and gain/offset corrections are employed in order to enhance and translate pixels into the display range of 0 to 255. The proposed algorithm not only provides better dynamic range compression and color rendition effect but also achieves color constancy in an image. The design exploits high degrees of pipelining and parallel processing to achieve real time performance. The design has been realized by RTL compliant Verilog coding and fits into a single FPGA with a gate count utilization of 321,804. The proposed method is implemented using Xilinx Virtex-II Pro XC2VP40-7FF1148 FPGA device and is capable of processing high resolution color motion pictures of sizes of up to 1600x1200 pixels at the real time video rate of 116 frames per second. This shows that the proposed design would work for not only still images but also for high resolution video sequences.Comment: 15 pages, 15 figure