Biomechanics Differ for Individuals With Similar Self-Reported Characteristics of Patellofemoral Pain During a High-Demand Multiplanar Movement Task

Context: Patellofemoral pain (PFP) is often categorized by researchers and clinicians using subjective self-reported PFP characteristics; however, this practice might mask important differences in movement biomechanics between PFP patients. Objective: To determine whether biomechanical differences exist during a high-demand multiplanar movement task for PFP patients with similar self-reported PFP characteristics but different quadriceps activation levels. Design: Cross-sectional design. Setting: Biomechanics laboratory. Participants: A total of 15 quadriceps deficient and 15 quadriceps functional (QF) PFP patients with similar self-reported PFP characteristics. Intervention: In total, 5 trials of a high-demand multiplanar land, cut, and jump movement task were performed. Main Outcome Measures: Biomechanics were compared at each percentile of the ground contact phase of the movement task (alpha =.05) between the quadriceps deficient and QF groups. Biomechanical variables included (1) whole-body center of mass, trunk, hip, knee, and ankle kinematics; (2) hip, knee, and ankle kinetics; and (3) ground reaction forces. Results: The QF patients exhibited increased ground reaction force, joint torque, and movement, relative to the quadriceps deficient patients. The QF patients exhibited: (1) up to 90, 60, and 35Nmore vertical, posterior, and medial ground reaction force at various times of the ground contact phase; (2) up to 4 degrees more knee flexion during ground contact and up to 4 degrees more plantarflexion and hip extension during the latter parts of ground contact; and (3) up to 26, 21, and 48 N.m more plantarflexion, knee extension, and hip extension torque, respectively, at various times of ground contact. Conclusions: PFP patients with similar self-reported PFP characteristics exhibit different movement biomechanics, and these differences depend upon quadriceps activation levels. These differences are important because movement biomechanics affect injury risk and athletic performance. In addition, these biomechanical differences indicate that different therapeutic interventions may be needed for PFP patients with similar self-reported PFP characteristics

Extremely large magnetoresistance in few-layer graphene/boron-nitride heterostructures

Understanding magnetoresistance, the change in electrical resistance upon an external magnetic field, at the atomic level is of great interest both fundamentally and technologically. Graphene and other two-dimensional layered materials provide an unprecedented opportunity to explore magnetoresistance at its nascent stage of structural formation. Here, we report an extremely large local magnetoresistance of ~ 2,000% at 400 K and a non-local magnetoresistance of > 90,000% in 9 T at 300 K in few-layer graphene/boron-nitride heterostructures. The local magnetoresistance is understood to arise from large differential transport parameters, such as the carrier mobility, across various layers of few-layer graphene upon a normal magnetic field, whereas the non-local magnetoresistance is due to the magnetic field induced Ettingshausen-Nernst effect. Non-local magnetoresistance suggests the possibility of a graphene based gate tunable thermal switch. In addition, our results demonstrate that graphene heterostructures may be promising for magnetic field sensing applications

Moduli Space Dimensions of Multi-Pronged Strings

The numbers of bosonic and fermionic zero modes of multi-pronged strings are counted in ${\cal N}=4$ super-Yang-Mills theory and compared with those of the IIB string theory. We obtain a nice agreement for the fermionic zero modes, while our result for the bosonic zero modes differs from that obtained in the IIB string theory. The possible origin of the discrepancy is discussedComment: 15 pages, 2 figure

Nodal to Nodeless Superconducting Energy-Gap Structure Change Concomitant with Fermi-Surface Reconstruction in the Heavy-Fermion Compound CeCoIn₅

The London penetration depth λ(T) was measured in single crystals of Ce1-xRxCoIn5, R = La, Nd, and Yb down to Tmin ≈ 50mK (Tc/Tmin ∼ 50) using a tunnel-diode resonator. In the cleanest samples Δλ(T) is best described by the power law Δλ(T) α Tn, with n ∼ 1, consistent with the existence of line nodes in the superconducting gap. Substitutions of Ce with La, Nd, and Yb lead to similar monotonic suppressions of Tc; however, the effects on Δλ(T) differ. While La and Nd substitution leads to an increase in the exponent n and saturation at n ∼ 2, as expected for a dirty nodal superconductor, Yb substitution leads to n \u3e 3, suggesting a change from nodal to nodeless superconductivity. This superconducting gap structure change happens in the same doping range where changes of the Fermi-surface topology were reported, implying that the nodal structure and Fermi-surface topology are closely linked

Radiation Damping of a BPS Monopole; an Implication to S-duality

The radiation reaction of a BPS monopole in the presence of incident electromagnetic waves as well as massless Higgs waves is analyzed classically. The reactive forces are compared to those of $W$ boson that is interpreted as a dual partner of the BPS monopole. It is shown that the damping of acceleration is dual to each other, while in the case of finite size effects the duality is broken explicitly. Their implications on the duality are discussed.Comment: 20 pages, uses revtex, changes in reference

Self-Consistent Two-Gap Description of MgB₂ Superconductor

A self-consistent two-gap γ-model is used to quantitatively describe several thermodynamic properties of MgB2 superconductor. The superconducting coupling matrix, vij, was obtained from the fitting of the superfluid density in the entire superconducting temperature range. Using this input, temperature-dependent superconducting gaps, specific heat, and upper critical fields were calculated with no adjustable parameters and compared with the experimental data as well as with the first-principles calculations. The observed agreement between fit and data shows that γ-model provides adequate quantitative description of the two-gap superconductivity in MgB2 and may serve as a relatively simple and versatile self-consistent description of the thermodynamic quantities in multi-gap superconductors

Acquisition of host-derived carbon in biomass of the ectomycorrhizal fungus Pisolithus microcarpus is correlated to fungal carbon demand and plant defences

Ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi are key players in forest carbon (C) sequestration, receiving a substantial proportion of photosynthetic C from their forest tree hosts in exchange for plant growth-limiting soil nutrients. However, it remains unknown whether the fungus or plant controls the quantum of C in this exchange, nor what mechanisms are involved. Here, we aimed to identify physiological and genetic properties of both partners that influence ECM C transfer. Using a microcosm system, stable isotope tracing, and transcriptomics, we quantified plant-to-fungus C transfer between the host plant Eucalyptus grandis and nine isolates of the ECM fungus Pisolithus microcarpus that range in their mycorrhization potential and investigated fungal growth characteristics and plant and fungal genes that correlated with C acquisition. We found that C acquisition by P. microcarpus correlated positively with both fungal biomass production and the expression of a subset of fungal C metabolism genes. In the plant, C transfer was not positively correlated to the number of colonized root tips, but rather to the expression of defence- and stress-related genes. These findings suggest that C acquisition by ECM fungi involves individual fungal demand for C and defence responses of the host against C drain

Quantum Aspects of Supersymmetric Maxwell Chern-Simons Solitons

We study the various quantum aspects of the $N=2$ supersymmetric Maxwell Chern-Simons vortex systems. The fermion zero modes around the vortices will give rise the degenerate states of vortices. We analyze the angular momentum of these zero modes and apply the result to get the supermultiplet structures of the vortex. The leading quantum correction to the mass of the vortex coming from the mode fluctuations is also calculated using various methods depending on the value of the coefficient of the Chern-Simons term $\kappa$ to be zero, infinite and finite, separately. The mass correction is shown to vanish for all cases. Fermion numbers of vortices are also discussed.Comment: 40 pages, ReVTeX, HYUPT-94/04 SNUTP 94-6