A generalized spatiotemporal covariance model for stationary background in analysis of MEG data

Using a noise covariance model based on a single Kronecker product of spatial and temporal covariance in the spatiotemporal analysis of MEG data was demonstrated to provide improvement in the results over that of the commonly used diagonal noise covariance model. In this paper we present a model that is a generalization of all of the above models. It describes models based on a single Kronecker product of spatial and temporal covariance as well as more complicated multi-pair models together with any intermediate form expressed as a sum of Kronecker products of spatial component matrices of reduced rank and their corresponding temporal covariance matrices. The model provides a framework for controlling the tradeoff between the described complexity of the background and computational demand for the analysis using this model. Ways to estimate the value of the parameter controlling this tradeoff are also discussedComment: 4 pages, EMBS 2006 conferenc

Fluctuations in mixtures of lamellar- and nonlamellar-forming lipids

We consider the role of nonlamellar-forming lipids in biological membranes by examining fluctuations, within the random phase approximation, of a model mixture of two lipids, one of which forms lamellar phases while the other forms inverted hexagonal phases. To determine the extent to which nonlamellar-forming lipids facilitiate the formation of nonlamellar structures in lipid mixtures, we examine the fluctuation modes and various correlation functions in the lamellar phase of the mixture. To highlight the role fluctuations can play, we focus on the lamellar phase near its limit of stability. Our results indicate that in the initial stages of the transition, undulations appear in the lamellae occupied by the tails, and that the nonlamellar-forming lipid dominates these undulations. The lamellae occupied by the head groups pinch off to make the tubes of the hexagonal phase. Examination of different correlations and susceptibilities makes quantitative the dominant role of the nonlamellar-forming lipids.Comment: 7 figures (better but larger in byte figures are available upon resuest), submitte

Distribution of lipids in non-lamellar phases of their mixtures

We consider a model of lipids in which a head group, characterized by its volume, is attached to two flexible tails of equal length. The phase diagram of the anhydrous lipid is obtained within self-consistent field theory, and displays, as a function of lipid architecture, a progression of phases: body-centered cubic, hexagonal, gyroid, and lamellar. We then examine mixtures of an inverted hexagonal forming lipid and a lamellar forming lipid. As the volume fractions of the two lipids vary, we find that inverted hexagonal, gyroid, or lamellar phases are formed. We demonstrate that the non-lamellar forming lipid is found preferentially at locations which are difficult for the lipid tails to reach. Variations in the volume fraction of each type of lipid tail are on the order of one to ten per cent within regions dominated by the tails. We also show that the variation in volume fraction is correlated qualitatively with the variation in mean curvature of the head-tail interface.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figures (better figures are available upon request), to appear in J. Chem. Phy

Diffusion-limited loop formation of semiflexible polymers: Kramers theory and the intertwined time scales of chain relaxation and closing

We show that Kramers rate theory gives a straightforward, accurate estimate of the closing time $\tau_c$ of a semiflexible polymer that is valid in cases of physical interest. The calculation also reveals how the time scales of chain relaxation and closing are intertwined, illuminating an apparent conflict between two ways of calculating $\tau_c$ in the flexible limit.Comment: Europhys. Lett., 2003 (in press). 8 pages, 3 figures. See also, physics/0101087 for physicist's approach to and the importance of semiflexible polymer looping, in DNA replicatio

η\eta production off the proton in a Regge-plus-chiral quark approach

A chiral constituent quark model approach, embodying s- and u-channel exchanges,complemented with a Reggeized treatment for t-channel is presented. A model is obtained allowing data for $\pi^- p \to \eta n$ and $\gamma p \to \eta p$ to be describe satisfactorily. For the latter reaction, recently released data by CLAS and CBELSA/TAPS Collaborations in the system total energy range $1.6 \lesssim W \lesssim 2.8$ GeV are well reproduced due to the inclusion of Reggeized trajectories instead of simple $\rho$ and $\omega$ poles. Contribution from "missing" resonances is found to be negligible in the considered processes.Comment: 23 pages.4 figures,4 tables, to appear in Phys.Rev.