Organized condensation of worm-like chains

We present results relevant to the equilibrium organization of DNA strands of arbitrary length interacting with a spherical organizing center, suggestive of DNA-histone complexation in nucleosomes. We obtain a rich phase diagram in which a wrapping state is transformed into a complex multi-leafed, rosette structure as the adhesion energy is reduced. The statistical mechanics of the "melting" of a rosette can be mapped into an exactly soluble one-dimensional many-body problem.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures in a pdf fil

Role of Multipoles in Counterion-Mediated Interactions between Charged Surfaces: Strong and Weak Coupling

We present general arguments for the importance, or lack thereof, of the structure in the charge distribution of counterions for counterion-mediated interactions between bounding symmetrically charged surfaces. We show that on the mean field or weak coupling level, the charge quadrupole contributes the lowest order modification to the contact value theorem and thus to the intersurface electrostatic interactions. The image effects are non-existent on the mean-field level even with multipoles. On the strong coupling level the quadrupoles and higher order multipoles contribute additional terms to the interaction free energy only in the presence of dielectric inhomogeneities. Without them, the monopole is the only multipole that contributes to the strong coupling electrostatics. We explore the consequences of these statements in all their generality.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure

Exact Lyapunov Exponent for Infinite Products of Random Matrices

In this work, we give a rigorous explicit formula for the Lyapunov exponent for some binary infinite products of random $2\times 2$ real matrices. All these products are constructed using only two types of matrices, $A$ and $B$, which are chosen according to a stochastic process. The matrix $A$ is singular, namely its determinant is zero. This formula is derived by using a particular decomposition for the matrix $B$, which allows us to write the Lyapunov exponent as a sum of convergent series. Finally, we show with an example that the Lyapunov exponent is a discontinuous function of the given parameter.Comment: 1 pages, CPT-93/P.2974,late

Screening by symmetry of long-range hydrodynamic interactions of polymers confined in sheets

Hydrodynamic forces may significantly affect the motion of polymers. In sheet-like cavities, such as the cell's cytoplasm and microfluidic channels, the hydrodynamic forces are long-range. It is therefore expected that that hydrodynamic interactions will dominate the motion of polymers in sheets and will be manifested by Zimm-like scaling. Quite the opposite, we note here that although the hydrodynamic forces are long-range their overall effect on the motion of polymers vanishes due to the symmetry of the two-dimensional flow. As a result, the predicted scaling of experimental observables such as the diffusion coefficient or the rotational diffusion time is Rouse-like, in accord with recent experiments. The effective screening validates the use of the non-interacting blobs picture for polymers confined in a sheet.Comment: http://www.weizmann.ac.il/complex/tlusty/papers/Macromolecules2006.pdf http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ma060251

Analysis of electroencephalograms in Alzheimer's disease patients with multiscale entropy

The aim of this study was to analyse the electroencephalogram (EEG) background activity of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients using the Multiscale Entropy (MSE). The MSE is a recently developed method that quantifies the regularity of a signal on different time scales. These time scales are inspected by means of several coarse-grained sequences formed from the analysed signals. We recorded the EEGs from 19 scalp electrodes in 11 AD patients and 11 age-matched controls and estimated the MSE profile for each epoch of the EEG recordings. The shape of the MSE profiles reveals the EEG complexity, and it suggests that the EEG contains information in deeper scales than the smallest one. Moreover, the results showed that the EEG background activity is less complex in AD patients than control subjects. We found significant difference

Adiabatic-antiadiabatic crossover in a spin-Peierls chain

We consider an XXZ spin-1/2 chain coupled to optical phonons with non-zero frequency $\omega_0$. In the adiabatic limit (small $\omega_0$), the chain is expected to spontaneously dimerize and open a spin gap, while the phonons become static. In the antiadiabatic limit (large $\omega_0$), phonons are expected to give rise to frustration, so that dimerization and formation of spin-gap are obtained only when the spin-phonon interaction is large enough. We study this crossover using bosonization technique. The effective action is solved both by the Self Consistent Harmonic Approximation (SCHA)and by Renormalization Group (RG) approach starting from a bosonized description. The SCHA allows to analyze the lowfrequency regime and determine the coupling constant associated with the spin-Peierls transition. However, it fails to describe the SU(2) invariant limit. This limit is tackled by the RG. Three regimes are found. For $\omega_0\ll\Delta_s$, where $\Delta_s$ is the gap in the static limit $\omega_0\to 0$, the system is in the adiabatic regime, and the gap remains of order $\Delta_s$. For $\omega_0>\Delta_s$, the system enters the antiadiabatic regime, and the gap decreases rapidly as $\omega_0$ increases. Finally, for $\omega_0>\omega_{BKT}$, where $\omega_{BKT}$ is an increasing function of the spin phonon coupling, the spin gap vanishes via a Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition. Our results are discussed in relation with numerical and experimental studies of spin-Peierls systems.Comment: Revtex, 21 pages, 5 EPS figures (v1); 23 pages, 6 EPS figures, more detailed comparison with ED results, referenes added (v2

Voices of girls with disabilities in rural Iran

This paper investigates the interaction of gender, disability and education in rural Iran, which is a relatively unexplored field of research. The responses of 10 female students with disabilities from Isfahan indicated that the obstacles they faced included marginalization, difficulties in getting from home to school, difficulties within the school building itself, and discrimination by teachers, classmates and school authorities. The data collected for the study contain a wide range of conservative gendered discourses, and show how traditional gender beliefs interact with disability to aggravate the problems faced in education by young women with disabilities. It is hoped that the findings will raise awareness among policy-makers of the many formidable obstacles that make it difficult for young women with disabilities to achieve their full potential in education

Hill's Equation with Random Forcing Parameters: Determination of Growth Rates through Random Matrices

This paper derives expressions for the growth rates for the random 2 x 2 matrices that result from solutions to the random Hill's equation. The parameters that appear in Hill's equation include the forcing strength and oscillation frequency. The development of the solutions to this periodic differential equation can be described by a discrete map, where the matrix elements are given by the principal solutions for each cycle. Variations in the forcing strength and oscillation frequency lead to matrix elements that vary from cycle to cycle. This paper presents an analysis of the growth rates including cases where all of the cycles are highly unstable, where some cycles are near the stability border, and where the map would be stable in the absence of fluctuations. For all of these regimes, we provide expressions for the growth rates of the matrices that describe the solutions.Comment: 22 pages, 3 figure