Self-induced and induced transparencies of two-dimensional and three- dimensional superlattices

The phenomenon of transparency in two-dimensional and three-dimensional superlattices is analyzed on the basis of the Boltzmann equation with a collision term encompassing three distinct scattering mechanisms (elastic, inelastic and electron-electron) in terms of three corresponding distinct relaxation times. On this basis, we show that electron heating in the plane perpendicular to the current direction drastically changes the conditions for the occurrence of self-induced transparency in the superlattice. In particular, it leads to an additional modulation of the current amplitudes excited by an applied biharmonic electric field with harmonic components polarized in orthogonal directions. Furthermore, we show that self-induced transparency and dynamic localization are different phenomena with different physical origins, displaced in time from each other, and, in general, they arise at different electric fields.Comment: to appear in Physical Review

Frequency-Rank Correlations of Rhodopsin Mutations with Tuned Hydropathic Roughness Based on Self-Organized Criticality

The behavior of disease-linked mutations of membrane proteins is especially simple in rhodopsin, where they are well-studied, as they are responsible for retinitis pigmentosa, RP (retinal degeneration). Here we show that the frequency of occurrence of single RP mutations is strongly influenced by their posttranslational survival rates, and that this survival correlates well (82%) with a long-range, non-local hydropathic measure of the roughness of the water interfaces of ex-membrane rhodopsin based on self-organized criticality (SOC). It is speculated that this concept may be generally useful in studying survival rates of many mutated proteins

Dielectrophoresis of charged colloidal suspensions

We present a theoretical study of dielectrophoretic (DEP) crossover spectrum of two polarizable particles under the action of a nonuniform AC electric field. For two approaching particles, the mutual polarization interaction yields a change in their respective dipole moments, and hence, in the DEP crossover spectrum. The induced polarization effects are captured by the multiple image method. Using spectral representation theory, an analytic expression for the DEP force is derived. We find that the mutual polarization effects can change the crossover frequency at which the DEP force changes sign. The results are found to be in agreement with recent experimental observation and as they go beyond the standard theory, they help to clarify the important question of the underlying polarization mechanisms

Radiation induced oscillatory Hall effect in high mobility GaAs/AlGaAs devices

We examine the radiation induced modification of the Hall effect in high mobility GaAs/AlGaAs devices that exhibit vanishing resistance under microwave excitation. The modification in the Hall effect upon irradiation is characterized by (a) a small reduction in the slope of the Hall resistance curve with respect to the dark value, (b) a periodic reduction in the magnitude of the Hall resistance, $R_{xy}$, that correlates with an increase in the diagonal resistance, $R_{xx}$, and (c) a Hall resistance correction that disappears as the diagonal resistance vanishes.Comment: 4 pages text, 4 color figure

Simulating an integrated critiquing system

OBJECTIVE: To investigate factors that determine the feasibility and effectiveness of a critiquing system for asthma/COPD that will be integrated with a general practitioner's (GP's) information system. DESIGN: A simulation study. Four reviewers, playing the role of the computer, generated critiquing comments and requests for additional information on six electronic medical records of patients with asthma/COPD. Three GPs who treated the patients, playing users, assessed the comments and provided missing information when requested. The GPs were asked why requested missing information was unavailable. The reviewers reevaluated their comments after receiving requested missing information. MEASUREMENTS: Descriptions of the number and nature of critiquing comments and requests for missing information. Assessment by the GPs of the critiquing comments in terms of agreement with each comment and judgment of its relevance, both on a five-point scale. Analysis of causes for the (un-)availability of requested missing information. Assessment of the impact of missing information on the generation of critiquing comments. RESULTS: Four reviewers provided 74 critiquing comments on 87 visits in six medical records. Most were about prescriptions (n = 28) and the GPs' workplans (n = 27). The GPs valued comments about diagnostics the most. The correlation between the GPs' agreement and relevance scores was 0.65. However, the GPs' agreements with prescription comments (complete disagreement, 31.3%; disagreement, 20.0%; neutral, 13.8%; agreement, 17.5%; complete agreement, 17.5%) differed from their judgments of these comments' relevance (completely irrelevant, 9.0%; irrelevant, 24.4%; neutral, 24.4%; relevant, 32.1%; completely relevant, 10.3%). The GPs were able to provide answers to 64% of the 90 requests for missing information. Reasons available information had not been recorded were: the GPs had not recorded the information explicitly; they had assumed it to be common knowledge; it was available elsewhere in the record. Reasons information was unavailable were: the decision had been made by another; the GP had not recorded the information. The reviewers left 74% of the comments unchanged after receiving requested missing information. CONCLUSION: Human reviewers can generate comments based on information currently available in electronic medical records of patients with asthma/COPD. The GPs valued comments regarding the diagnostic process the most. Although they judged prescription comments relevant, they often strongly disagreed with them, a discrepancy that poses a challenge for the presentation of critiquing comments for the future critiquing system. Requested additional information that was provided by the GPs led to few changes. Therefore, as system developers faced with the decision to build an integrated, non-inquisitive or an inquisitive critiquing system, the authors choose the former

Higgs-Boson Production Associated with a Single Bottom Quark in Supersymmetric QCD

Due to the enhancement of the couplings between Higgs boson and bottom quarks in the minimal sypersymmetric standard model (MSSM), the cross section of the process pp(p\bar{p}) \to h^0b(h^0\bar{b})+X at hadron colliders can be considerably enhanced. We investigated the production of Higgs boson associated with a single high-p_T bottom quark via subprocess bg(\bar{b}g) \to h^0b(h^0\bar{b}) at hadron colliders including the next-to-leading order (NLO) QCD corrections in MSSM. We find that the NLO QCD correction in the MSSM reaches 50%-70% at the LHC and 60%-85% at the Fermilab Tevatron in our chosen parameter space.Comment: accepted by Phys. Rev.

Rms-flux relation of Cyg X-1 with RXTE: dipping and nondipping cases

The rms (root mean square) variability is the parameter for understanding the emission temporal properties of X-ray binaries (XRBs) and active galactic nuclei (AGN). The rms-flux relation with Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) data for the dips and nondip of black hole Cyg X-1 has been investigated in this paper. Our results show that there exist the linear rms-flux relations in the frequency range 0.1-10 Hz for the dipping light curve. Moreover, this linear relation still remains during the nondip regime, but with the steeper slope than that of the dipping case in the low energy band. For the high energy band, the slopes of the dipping and nondipping cases are hardly constant within errors. The explanations of the results have been made by means of the ``Propagating Perturbation'' model of Lyubarskii (1997).Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures, Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Scienc

Microscopic View on Short-Range Wetting at the Free Surface of the Binary Metallic Liquid Gallium-Bismuth: An X-ray Reflectivity and Square Gradient Theory Study

We present an x-ray reflectivity study of wetting at the free surface of the binary liquid metal gallium-bismuth (Ga-Bi) in the region where the bulk phase separates into Bi-rich and Ga-rich liquid phases. The measurements reveal the evolution of the microscopic structure of wetting films of the Bi-rich, low-surface-tension phase along different paths in the bulk phase diagram. A balance between the surface potential preferring the Bi-rich phase and the gravitational potential which favors the Ga-rich phase at the surface pins the interface of the two demixed liquid metallic phases close to the free surface. This enables us to resolve it on an Angstrom level and to apply a mean-field, square gradient model extended by thermally activated capillary waves as dominant thermal fluctuations. The sole free parameter of the gradient model, i.e. the so-called influence parameter, $\kappa$, is determined from our measurements. Relying on a calculation of the liquid/liquid interfacial tension that makes it possible to distinguish between intrinsic and capillary wave contributions to the interfacial structure we estimate that fluctuations affect the observed short-range, complete wetting phenomena only marginally. A critical wetting transition that should be sensitive to thermal fluctuations seems to be absent in this binary metallic alloy.Comment: RevTex4, twocolumn, 15 pages, 10 figure

Dragon-kings: mechanisms, statistical methods and empirical evidence

This introductory article presents the special Discussion and Debate volume "From black swans to dragon-kings, is there life beyond power laws?" published in Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics in May 2012. We summarize and put in perspective the contributions into three main themes: (i) mechanisms for dragon-kings, (ii) detection of dragon-kings and statistical tests and (iii) empirical evidence in a large variety of natural and social systems. Overall, we are pleased to witness significant advances both in the introduction and clarification of underlying mechanisms and in the development of novel efficient tests that demonstrate clear evidence for the presence of dragon-kings in many systems. However, this positive view should be balanced by the fact that this remains a very delicate and difficult field, if only due to the scarcity of data as well as the extraordinary important implications with respect to hazard assessment, risk control and predictability.Comment: 20 page

Discovery of a morphologically and genetically distinct population of Black-tailed Godwits in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway

Occurring across Eurasia, the Black-tailed GodwitLimosa limosahas three recognized subspecies,melanuroides,limosaandislandicafrom east to west, respectively. With the smallest body size,melanuroideshas been considered the only subspecies in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. Yet, observations along the Chinese coast indicated the presence of distinctively large individuals. Here we compared the morphometrics of these larger birds captured in northern Bohai Bay, China, with those of the three known subspecies and explore the genetic population structuring of Black-tailed Godwits based on the control region of the mitochondrial genome (mtDNA). We found that the Bohai Godwits were indeed significantly larger thanmelanuroides, resemblinglimosamore thanislandica, but with relatively longer bills thanislandica. The level of genetic differentiation between Bohai Godwits and the three recognized subspecies was of similar magnitude to the differentiation among previously recognized subspecies. Based on these segregating morphological and genetic characteristics, we propose that these birds belong to a distinct population, which may be treated and described as a new subspecies