Coulomb interaction effects on the electronic structure of radial polarized excitons in nanorings

The electronic structure of radially polarized excitons in structured nanorings is analyzed, with emphasis in the ground-state properties and their dependence under applied magnetic fields perpendicular to the ring plane. The electron-hole Coulomb attraction has been treated rigorously, through numerical diagonalization of the full exciton Hamiltonian in the non-interacting electron-hole pairs basis. Depending on the relative weight of the kinetic energy and Coulomb contributions, the ground-state of polarized excitons has "extended" or "localized" features. In the first case, corresponding to small rings dominated by the kinetic energy, the ground-state shows Aharonov-Bohm (AB) oscillations due to the individual orbits of the building particles of the exciton. In the localized regime, corresponding to large rings dominated by the Coulomb interaction, the only remaining AB oscillations are due to the magnetic flux trapped between the electron and hole orbits. This dependence of the exciton, a neutral excitation, on the flux difference confirms this feature as a signature of Coulomb dominated polarized excitons. Analytical approximations are provided in both regimens, which accurate reproduce the numerical results.Comment: 9 pages, including 6 figure

Diagnosing observation error correlations for Doppler radar radial winds in the Met Office UKV model using observation-minus-background and observation-minus-analysis statistics

With the development of convection-permitting numerical weather prediction the efficient use of high-resolution observations in data assimilation is becoming increasingly important. The operational assimilation of these observations, such as Doppler radar radial winds (DRWs), is now common, though to avoid violating the assumption of uncorrelated observation errors the observation density is severely reduced. To improve the quantity of observations used and the impact that they have on the forecast requires the introduction of the full, potentially correlated, error statistics. In this work, observation error statistics are calculated for the DRWs that are assimilated into the Met Office high-resolution UK model using a diagnostic that makes use of statistical averages of observation-minus-background and observation-minus-analysis residuals. This is the first in-depth study using the diagnostic to estimate both horizontal and along-beam observation error statistics. The new results obtained show that the DRW error standard deviations are similar to those used operationally and increase as the observation height increases. Surprisingly the estimated observation error correlation length-scales are longer than the operational thinning distance. They are dependent both on the height of the observation and on the distance of the observation away from the radar. Further tests show that the long correlations cannot be attributed to the background error covariance matrix used in the assimilation, although they are, in part, a result of using superobservations and a simplified observation operator. The inclusion of correlated error statistics in the assimilation allows less thinning of the data and hence better use of the high-resolution observations

Observation error statistics for Doppler radar radial wind superobservations assimilated into the DWD COSMO-KENDA system

Currently in operational numerical weather prediction (NWP) the density of high-resolution observations, such as Doppler radar radial winds (DRWs), is severely reduced in part to avoid violating the assumption of uncorrelated observation errors. To improve the quantity of observations used and the impact that they have on the forecast requires an accurate specification of the observation uncertainties. Observation uncertainties can be estimated using a simple diagnostic that utilises the statistical averages of observation-minus-background and observation-minus-analysis residuals. We are the first to use a modified form of the diagnostic to estimate spatial correlations for observations used in an operational ensemble data assimilation system. The uncertainties for DRW superobservations assimilated into the Deutscher Wetterdienst convection-permitting NWP model are estimated and compared to previous uncertainty estimates for DRWs. The new results show that most diagnosed standard deviations are smaller than those used in the assimilation, hence it may be feasible assimilate DRWs using reduced error standard deviations. However, some of the estimated standard deviations are considerably larger than those used in the assimilation; these large errors highlight areas where the observation processing system may be improved. The error correlation length scales are larger than the observation separation distance and influenced by both the superobbing procedure and observation operator. This is supported by comparing these results to our previous study using Met Office data. Our results suggest that DRW error correlations may be reduced by improving the superobbing procedure and observation operator; however, any remaining correlations should be accounted for in the assimilation

Combined Bacteriophage and Antibiotic Treatment Prevents Pseudomonas aeruginosa Infection of Wild Type and cftr- Epithelial Cells.

With the increase of infections due to multidrug resistant bacterial pathogens and the shortage of antimicrobial molecules with novel targets, interest in bacteriophages as a therapeutic option has regained much attraction. Before the launch of future clinical trials, in vitro studies are required to better evaluate the efficacies and potential pitfalls of such therapies. Here we studied in an ex vivo human airway epithelial cell line model the efficacy of phage and ciprofloxacin alone and in combination to treat infection by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The Calu-3 cell line and the isogenic CFTR knock down cell line (cftr-) infected apically with P. aeruginosa strain PAO1 showed a progressive reduction in transepithelial resistance during 24 h. Administration at 6 h p.i. of single phage, phage cocktails or ciprofloxacin alone prevented epithelial layer destruction at 24 h p.i. Bacterial regrowth, due to phage resistant mutants harboring mutations in LPS synthesis genes, occurred thereafter both in vitro and ex vivo. However, co-administration of two phages combined with ciprofloxacin efficiently prevented PAO1 regrowth and maintained epithelial cell integrity at 72 p.i. The phage/ciprofloxacin treatment did not induce an inflammatory response in the tested cell lines as determined by nanoString <sup>®</sup> gene expression analysis. We conclude that combination of phage and ciprofloxacin efficiently protects wild type and cftr- epithelial cells from infection by P. aeruginosa and emergence of phage resistant mutants without inducing an inflammatory response. Hence, phage-antibiotic combination should be a safe and promising anti-Pseudomonas therapy for future clinical trials potentially including cystic fibrosis patients

Current-voltage characteristics of diluted Josephson-junction arrays: scaling behavior at current and percolation threshold

Dynamical simulations and scaling arguments are used to study the current-voltage (IV) characteristics of a two-dimensional model of resistively shunted Josephson-junction arrays in presence of percolative disorder, at zero external field. Two different limits of the Josephson-coupling concentration $p$ are considered, where $p_c$ is the percolation threshold. For $p$ $>$ $p_c$ and zero temperature, the IV curves show power-law behavior above a disorder dependent critical current. The power-law behavior and critical exponents are consistent with a simple scaling analysis. At $p_c$ and finite temperature $T$, the results show the scaling behavior of a T=0 superconducting transition. The resistance is linear but vanishes for decreasing $T$ with an apparent exponential behavior. Crossover to non-linearity appears at currents proportional to $$, with a thermal-correlation length exponent $\nu_T$ consistent with the corresponding value for the diluted XY model at $p_c$.Comment: Revtex, 9 postscript pages, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Liquid/Liquid Extraction Kinetics of Eu(III) and Am(III) by Extractants Designed for the Industrial Reprocessing of Nuclear Wastes

Results about the kinetics of extraction of Eu(III) and Am(III) by extractants designed for the industrial reprocessing of nuclear wastes are reported. They were obtained using the rotating membrane cell (RMC) technique. Extraction and stripping kinetic rate constants were determined for various compositions of the aqueous and organic phases. The transfer was studied at liquid/liquid interfaces between an aqueous nitric acid solution and an organic solvent containing the diglycolamide extractant molecule N,N,N′,N′-tetra-n-octyl-diglycolamide (TODGA) or a mixture of the bipyridine molecule CyMe4BTBP with TODGA (the latter being used as a phase-transfer catalyst), dissolved in an aliphatic diluent. In some experiments, an aqueous ligand (a sulfonated bis triazinyl pyridine, SO3-Ph-BTP, or a PyTri-diol) was added to the aqueous phase as a stripping agent. The diffusion coefficients of Eu(III) and Am(III), which are key in the analysis of the kinetic data, were measured using the RMC and the closed capillary technique. Whenever possible, mechanisms are proposed to interpret the experimental results

Experimental study of the reduction of field emission by gas injection in vacuum for accelerator applications

LGEP 2014 ID = 1590International audienceField emission current from surfaces under vacuum and at high field strengths can be reduced by the injection of gas into the evacuated volume. In this paper, the effects of H 2 , He, N 2 , and Ar on this "dark" current emitted from a tungsten carbide point cathode for 2 cm gap distance is studied. Exposure to any of these gases at pressures on the order of 10 −3 –10 −2 Pa was found to reduce the emission current by up to 90% with a time constant on the order of ∼1 minute as compared to the current at 10 −6 Pa. The effect was strongly dependent on the gas nature, with Ar and N 2 having larger effects at lower pressures than He and H 2 . The reduction was reversible, with the current increasing to near its original value with a time constant on the order of ∼1–10 minutes after pumping down. The effect of the gas remained in the absence of electric field, whatever the gas pressure. Mechanisms for these and related phenomena are discussed

The Two Dimensional Kondo Model with Rashba Spin-Orbit Coupling

We investigate the effect that Rashba spin-orbit coupling has on the low energy behaviour of a two dimensional magnetic impurity system. It is shown that the Kondo effect, the screening of the magnetic impurity at temperatures T < T_K, is robust against such spin-orbit coupling, despite the fact that the spin of the conduction electrons is no longer a conserved quantity. A proposal is made for how the spin-orbit coupling may change the value of the Kondo temperature T_K in such systems and the prospects of measuring this change are discussed. We conclude that many of the assumptions made in our analysis invalidate our results as applied to recent experiments in semi-conductor quantum dots but may apply to measurements made with magnetic atoms placed on metallic surfaces.Comment: 22 pages, 1 figure; reference update

Highly efficient separation of actinides from lanthanides by a phenanthroline-derived bis-triazine ligand

The synthesis, lanthanide complexation, and solvent ex- traction of actinide(III) and lanthanide(III) radiotracers from nitric acid solutions by a phenanthroline-derived quadridentate bis-triazine ligand are described. The ligand separates Am(III) and Cm(III) from the lanthanides with remarkably high efficiency, high selectivity, and fast extraction kinetics compared to its 2,2'-bipyridine counterpart. Structures of the 1:2 bis-complexes of the ligand with Eu(III) and Yb(III) were elucidated by X-ray crystallography and force field calculations, respec-tively. The Eu(III) bis-complex is the first 1:2 bis-complex of a quadridentate bis-triazine ligand to be characterized by crystallography. The faster rates of extraction were verified by kinetics measurements using the rotating membrane cell technique in several diluents. The improved kinetics of metal ion extraction are related to the higher surface activity of the ligand at the phase interface. The improvement in the ligand's properties on replacing the bipyridine unit with a phenanthroline unit far exceeds what was anticipated based on ligand design alone

Mediterranean spotted fever-like illness caused by Rickettsia sibirica mongolitimonae, North Macedonia, June 2022

Mediterranean spotted fever-like illness (MSF-like illness) is a tick-borne disease caused by Rickettsia sibirica mongolitimonae first reported in France more than 25 years ago. Until today, more than 50 cases of MSF-like illness have been reported in different regions of Europe and Africa, highlighting variable clinical manifestation. Here we report a case of MSF-like illness following a bite from a Hyalomma tick in the Skopje region of North Macedonia