1,352 research outputs found
Relationships between synoptic-scale transport and interannual variability of inorganic cations in surface snow at Summit, Greenland: 1992-1996
To fully utilize the long-term chemical records retrieved from central Greenland ice cores, specific relationships between atmospheric circulation and the variability of chemical species in the records need to be better understood. This research examines associations between the variability of surface snow inorganic cation chemistry at Summit, Greenland (collected during 1992–1996 summer field seasons) and changes in air mass transport pathways and source regions, as well as variations in aerosol source strength. Transport patterns and source regions are determined through 10-day isentropic backward air mass trajectories during a 1 month (late May to late June) common season over the 5 years. Changes in the extent of exposed continental surfaces in source regions are evaluated to estimate aerosol-associated calcium and magnesium ion source strength, while forest fire activity in the circumpolar north is investigated to estimate aerosol ammonium ion source strength. During the 1995 common season, 3 times more calcium and magnesium accumulated in the snowpack than the other study years. Also, an increasing trend of ammonium concentration was noted throughout the 5 years. Anomalous transport pathways and velocities were observed during 1995, which likely contributed to the high levels of calcium and magnesium. Increased forest fire activity in North America was concurrent with increased levels of ammonium and potassium, except for 1996, when ion levels were above average and forest fire activity was below average. Because of the ubiquitous nature of soluble ions, we conclude that it is very difficult to establish a quantitative link between the ion content of snow and firn at Summit and changes in aerosol source regions and source strength
Dynamical and quasistatic structural relaxation paths in Pd_(40)Ni_(40)P_(20) glass
By sequential heat treatment of a Pd_(40)Ni_(40)P_(20) metallic glass at temperatures and durations for which
α-relaxation is not possible, dynamic, and quasistatic relaxation paths below the glass transition are
identified via ex situ ultrasonic measurements following each heat treatment. The dynamic
relaxation paths are associated with hopping between nonequilibrium potential energy states of the
glass, while the quasistatic relaxation path is associated with reversible β-relaxation events toward
quasiequilibrium states. These quasiequilibrium states are identified with secondary potential energy
minima that exist within the inherent energy minimum of the glass, thereby supporting the concept
of the sub-basin/metabasin organization of the potential-energy landscape
Why do ultrasoft repulsive particles cluster and crystallize? Analytical results from density functional theory
We demonstrate the accuracy of the hypernetted chain closure and of the
mean-field approximation for the calculation of the fluid-state properties of
systems interacting by means of bounded and positive-definite pair potentials
with oscillating Fourier transforms. Subsequently, we prove the validity of a
bilinear, random-phase density functional for arbitrary inhomogeneous phases of
the same systems. On the basis of this functional, we calculate analytically
the freezing parameters of the latter. We demonstrate explicitly that the
stable crystals feature a lattice constant that is independent of density and
whose value is dictated by the position of the negative minimum of the Fourier
transform of the pair potential. This property is equivalent with the existence
of clusters, whose population scales proportionally to the density. We
establish that regardless of the form of the interaction potential and of the
location on the freezing line, all cluster crystals have a universal Lindemann
ratio L = 0.189 at freezing. We further make an explicit link between the
aforementioned density functional and the harmonic theory of crystals. This
allows us to establish an equivalence between the emergence of clusters and the
existence of negative Fourier components of the interaction potential. Finally,
we make a connection between the class of models at hand and the system of
infinite-dimensional hard spheres, when the limits of interaction steepness and
space dimension are both taken to infinity in a particularly described fashion.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures, submitted to J. Chem. Phys; new version: minor
changes in structure of pape
The structure of fluid trifluoromethane and methylfluoride
We present hard X-ray and neutron diffraction measurements on the polar
fluorocarbons HCF3 and H3CF under supercritical conditions and for a range of
molecular densities spanning about a factor of ten. The Levesque-Weiss-Reatto
inversion scheme has been used to deduce the site-site potentials underlying
the measured partial pair distribution functions. The orientational
correlations between adjacent fluorocarbon molecules -- which are characterized
by quite large dipole moments but no tendency to form hydrogen bonds -- are
small compared to a highly polar system like fluid hydrogen chloride. In fact,
the orientational correlations in HCF3 and H3CF are found to be nearly as small
as those of fluid CF4, a fluorocarbon with no dipole moment.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figure
Optimized random phase approximations for arbitrary reference systems: extremum conditions and thermodynamic consistence
The optimized random phase approximation (ORPA) for classical liquids is
re-examined in the framework of the generating functional approach to the
integral equations. We show that the two main variants of the approximation
correspond to the addition of the same correction to two different first order
approximations of the homogeneous liquid free energy. Furthermore, we show that
it is possible to consistently use the ORPA with arbitrary reference systems
described by continuous potentials and that the same approximation is
equivalent to a particular extremum condition for the corresponding generating
functional. Finally, it is possible to enforce the thermodynamic consistence
between the thermal and the virial route to the equation of state by requiring
the global extremum condition on the generating functional.Comment: 8 pages, RevTe
Structure Factor and Electronic Structure of Compressed Liquid Rubidium
We have applied the quantal hypernetted-chain equations in combination with
the Rosenfeld bridge-functional to calculate the atomic and the electronic
structure of compressed liquid-rubidium under high pressure (0.2, 2.5, 3.9, and
6.1 GPa); the calculated structure factors are in good agreement with
experimental results measured by Tsuji et al. along the melting curve. We found
that the Rb-pseudoatom remains under these high pressures almost unchanged with
respect to the pseudoatom at room pressure; thus, the effective ion-ion
interaction is practically the same for all pressure-values. We observe that
all structure factors calculated for this pressure-variation coincide almost
into a single curve if wavenumbers are scaled in units of the Wigner-Seitz
radius although no corresponding scaling feature is observed in the
effective ion-ion interaction.This scaling property of the structure factors
signifies that the compression in liquid-rubidium is uniform with increasing
pressure; in absolute Q-values this means that the first peak-position ()
of the structure factor increases proportionally to ( being the
specific volume per ion), as was experimentally observed by Tsuji et al.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figure
Investigator and independent review committee exploratory assessment and verification of tumor response in a non-Hodgkin lymphoma study
Interpretation of endpoints (e.g. overall response rate) in clinical trials depends on the accurate and reliable measurement and identification of tumors. Regulatory agencies recommend blinded reviews of imaging data by independent review committees (IRCs). Differences in response outcomes that arise between IRCs and site investigators raise regulatory/sponsor concerns. Here, we evaluate discrepant tumor response assessments by the IRC and unblinded investigators (complete versus partial response, respectively) occurring in 52 (13% of 393 IRC-assessed responders) of 447 enrolled patients with treatment-naïve non-Hodgkin lymphoma from a randomized study. The IRC and investigators were \u27likely correct\u27 in 73% and 25% of cases, respectively (p \u3c .001). Investigators were more likely to make errors by misinterpreting lymph node data and not utilizing PET results. This post hoc finding suggests a possible role for post-training site evaluation/audit, with retraining as needed, and a specialized consensus committee for concurrent blinded review of site/central data
Determination of astrophysical 12N(p,g)13O reaction rate from the 2H(12N, 13O)n reaction and its astrophysical implications
The evolution of massive stars with very low-metallicities depends critically
on the amount of CNO nuclides which they produce. The
N(,\,)O reaction is an important branching point in
the rap-processes, which are believed to be alternative paths to the slow
3 process for producing CNO seed nuclei and thus could change the fate
of massive stars. In the present work, the angular distribution of the
H(N,\,O) proton transfer reaction at =
8.4 MeV has been measured for the first time. Based on the Johnson-Soper
approach, the square of the asymptotic normalization coefficient (ANC) for the
virtual decay of O N + was
extracted to be 3.92 1.47 fm from the measured angular
distribution and utilized to compute the direct component in the
N(,\,)O reaction. The direct astrophysical S-factor at
zero energy was then found to be 0.39 0.15 keV b. By considering the
direct capture into the ground state of O, the resonant capture via the
first excited state of O and their interference, we determined the total
astrophysical S-factors and rates of the N(,\,)O
reaction. The new rate is two orders of magnitude slower than that from the
REACLIB compilation. Our reaction network calculations with the present rate
imply that N()O will only compete successfully with
the decay of N at higher (two orders of magnitude)
densities than initially predicted.Comment: 8 figures, 2 tables, Submitted to Physical Review
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