3,098 research outputs found
Theory of resistor networks: The two-point resistance
The resistance between arbitrary two nodes in a resistor network is obtained
in terms of the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the Laplacian matrix
associated with the network. Explicit formulas for two-point resistances are
deduced for regular lattices in one, two, and three dimensions under various
boundary conditions including that of a Moebius strip and a Klein bottle. The
emphasis is on lattices of finite sizes. We also deduce summation and product
identities which can be used to analyze large-size expansions of two-and-higher
dimensional lattices.Comment: 30 pages, 5 figures now included; typos in Example 1 correcte
Chrysanthemum species used as food and medicine: Understanding quality differences on the global market
Background
Chrysanthemum flowers [Ch. x morifolium (Ramat.) Hemsl. and Ch. indicum L.] are a globally used and pharmacologically interesting botanical drug, however, with variable product quality.
Objective
We aim at understanding the chemical variability of primary material available commercially based on different origins and associated quality problems like contamination with heavy metals. This needs to be assessed in the context of the current regulations for this botanical drug and associated problems.
Material and Methods
15 C. indicum L. and 50 C. x morifolium (Ramat.) Hemsl., including a range of geographical cultivars recognized in China, samples from the USA, Europe and China were analyzed using High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC) to compare their general chemical profile. Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES) was used to quantify heavy metal contamination.
Results
The: HPTLC fingerprints of C. indicum samples are clearly distinguishable from C. x morifolium. Fingerprints of samples from the same cultivars collected from markets in different countries (USA and China) show different patterns. Large variance of fingerprints within each cultivar group was observed. The heavy metal analysis showed excessive amounts of some harmful heavy metal in some commercial products with excessive cadmium being the most frequent problem.
Conclusions
The Chinese medicinal cultivars vary. Differences between samples sourced from the USA and China might be ascribable to geographical factors (e.g. soil composition), degradation during transport/storage or adulteration, but geographical differences should also be taken into account. Importantly, a much more detailed definition of the drug are needed for better quality control. In addition, with continuous contamination problem observed, a more widespread regulation is an essential requirement for better quality
Photoconductivity Parameters In Lithium Niobate
Measurements on a variety of doped (magnesium and/or iron) and undoped lithium niobate crystals in the oxidized state demonstrate an Arrhenius dependence of dark conductivity on reciprocal temperature between 460 and 590 K. All of the crystals had roughly the same conductivity and activation energy (1.21 eV) over the temperature range, implying that all have about the same free-carrier concentration and mobility. The enhanced photoconductivity of magnesium-doped lithium niobate is attributed to a greatly reduced trapping cross section of Fe3+ for electrons, the smaller cross section being due to a changed substitutional site for Fe3+. The Fe3+ trapping cross section is calculated from photoconductivity data to be of order 10-18 m2 in undoped lithium niobate. This implies a photoelectron lifetime of order 6x10-11 s in a relatively pure (2-ppm Fe) oxidized crystal
Theory of impedance networks: The two-point impedance and LC resonances
We present a formulation of the determination of the impedance between any
two nodes in an impedance network. An impedance network is described by its
Laplacian matrix L which has generally complex matrix elements. We show that by
solving the equation L u_a = lambda_a u_a^* with orthonormal vectors u_a, the
effective impedance between nodes p and q of the network is Z = Sum_a [u_{a,p}
- u_{a,q}]^2/lambda_a where the summation is over all lambda_a not identically
equal to zero and u_{a,p} is the p-th component of u_a. For networks consisting
of inductances (L) and capacitances (C), the formulation leads to the
occurrence of resonances at frequencies associated with the vanishing of
lambda_a. This curious result suggests the possibility of practical
applications to resonant circuits. Our formulation is illustrated by explicit
examples.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures; v4: typesetting corrected; v5: Eq. (63)
correcte
Super-resolution provided by the arbitrarily strong superlinearity of the blackbody radiation
Blackbody radiation is a fundamental phenomenon in nature, and its explanation by Planck marks a cornerstone in the history of Physics. In this theoretical work, we show that the spectral radiance given by Planck's law is strongly superlinear with temperature, with an arbitrarily large local exponent for decreasing wavelengths. From that scaling analysis, we propose a new concept of super-resolved detection and imaging: if a focused beam of energy is scanned over an object that absorbs and linearly converts that energy into heat, a highly nonlinear thermal radiation response is generated, and its point spread function can be made arbitrarily smaller than the excitation beam focus. Based on a few practical scenarios, we propose to extend the notion of super-resolution beyond its current niche in microscopy to various kinds of excitation beams, a wide range of spatial scales, and a broader diversity of target objects
The Structure, Dynamics and Electronic Structure of Liquid Ag-Se Alloys Investigated by Ab Initio Simulation
Ab initio molecular-dynamics simulations have been used to investigate the
structure, dynamics and electronic properties of the liquid alloy Ag(1-x)Se(x)
at 1350 K and at the three compositions x=0.33, 0.42 and 0.65. The calculations
are based on density-functional theory in the local density approximation and
on the pseudopotential plane-wave method. The reliability of the simulations is
confirmed by detailed comparisons with very recent neutron diffraction results
for the partial structure factors and radial distribution functions (RDF) of
the stoichiometric liquid Ag2Se. The simulations show a dramatic change of the
Se-Se RDF with increasing Se content. This change is due to the formation of Se
clusters bound by covalent bonds, the Se-Se bond length being almost the same
as in pure c-Se and l-Se. The clusters are predominantly chain-like, but for
higher x a large fraction of 3-fold coordinated Se atoms is also found. It is
shown that the equilibrium fractions of Se present as isolated atoms and in
clusters can be understood on a simple charge-balance model based on an ionic
interpretation. The Ag and Se diffusion coefficients both increase with Se
content, in spite of the Se clustering. An analysis of the Se-Se bond dynamics
reveals surprisingly short bond lifetimes of less than 1 ps. The changes in the
density of states with composition arise directly from the formation of Se-Se
covalent bonds. Results for the electronic conductivity obtained using the
Kubo-Greenwood approximation are in adequate agreement with experiment for
l-Ag2Se, but not for the high Se contents. Possible reasons for this are
discussed.Comment: 14 pages, Revtex, 14 Postscript figures embedded in the tex
Spanning Trees on Lattices and Integration Identities
For a lattice with vertices and dimension equal or higher
than two, the number of spanning trees grows asymptotically
as in the thermodynamic limit. We present exact integral
expressions for the asymptotic growth constant for spanning trees
on several lattices. By taking different unit cells in the calculation, many
integration identities can be obtained. We also give on the
homeomorphic expansion of -regular lattices with vertices inserted on
each edge.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl
First principles simulations of liquid Fe-S under Earth's core conditions
First principles electronic structure calculations, based upon density
functional theory within the generalized gradient approximation and ultra-soft
Vanderbilt pseudopotentials, have been used to simulate a liquid alloy of iron
and sulfur at Earth's core conditions. We have used a sulfur concentration of
wt, in line with the maximum recent estimates of the sulfur
abundance in the Earth's outer core. The analysis of the structural, dynamical
and electronic structure properties has been used to report on the effect of
the sulfur impurities on the behavior of the liquid. Although pure sulfur is
known to form chains in the liquid phase, we have not found any tendency
towards polymerization in our liquid simulation. Rather, a net S-S repulsion is
evident, and we propose an explanation for this effect in terms of the
electronic structure. The inspection of the dynamical properties of the system
suggests that the sulfur impurities have a negligible effect on the viscosity
of Earth's liquid core.Comment: 24 pages (including 8 figures
Initial Ionization of Compressible Turbulence
We study the effects of the initial conditions of turbulent molecular clouds
on the ionization structure in newly formed H_{ii} regions, using
three-dimensional, photon-conserving radiative transfer in a pre-computed
density field from three-dimensional compressible turbulence. Our results show
that the initial density structure of the gas cloud can play an important role
in the resulting structure of the H_{ii} region. The propagation of the
ionization fronts, the shape of the resulting H_{ii} region, and the total mass
ionized depend on the properties of the turbulent density field. Cuts through
the ionized regions generally show ``butterfly'' shapes rather than spherical
ones, while emission measure maps are more spherical if the turbulence is
driven on scales small compared to the size of the H_{ii} region. The
ionization structure can be described by an effective clumping factor , where is number density of the gas. The larger
the value of , the less mass is ionized, and the more irregular the
H_{ii} region shapes. Because we do not follow dynamics, our results apply only
to the early stage of ionization when the speed of the ionization fronts
remains much larger than the sound speed of the ionized gas, or Alfv\'en speed
in magnetized clouds if it is larger, so that the dynamical effects can be
negligible.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures, version with high quality color images can be
found in http://research.amnh.org/~yuexing/astro-ph/0407249.pd
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