16,900 research outputs found
Critical speed and limit cycles in the empty Y25-freight wagon
Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.In this research, an empty freight wagon with Y25 bogies have been modelled. Non-linear creep forces with spin moment between wheel and rail have been used, and also all impacts and friction forces have been modelled. Non-linear equations of motion and kinematical constraints have been solved in time domain, and limit cycles, saddle nodes, and critical speeds have been shown. Both primary and secondary hunting can be seen in the responses of the wagons. The relation between frequency of oscillations and speed can be seen, also, there are chaotic oscillations. Results show that stiffness in impacts affects calculation time and limit cycles
Wakes in a Collisional Quark-Gluon Plasma
Wakes created by a parton moving through a static and infinitely extended
quark-gluon plasma are considered. In contrast to former investigations
collisions within the quark-gluon plasma are taken into account using a
transport theoretical approach (Boltzmann equation) with a
Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook collision term. Within this model it is shown that the
wake structure changes significantly compared to the collisionless case.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, high resolution figures available from the
authors, final version to be published in J. Phys.
A novel method for measuring the bending rigidity of model lipid membranes by simulating tethers
The tensile force along a cylindrical lipid bilayer tube is proportional to
the membrane's bending modulus and inversely proportional to the tube radius.
We show that this relation, which is experimentally exploited to measure
bending rigidities, can be applied with even greater ease in computer
simulations. Using a coarse-grained bilayer model we efficiently obtain bending
rigidities that compare very well with complementary measurements based on an
analysis of thermal undulation modes. We furthermore illustrate that no
deviations from simple quadratic continuum theory occur up to a radius of
curvature comparable to the bilayer thickness.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl
Charge Fluctuations in the Edge States of N-S hybrid Nano-Structures
In this work we show how to calculate the equilibrium and non-equilibrium
charge fluctuations in a gated normal mesoscopic conductor which is attached to
one normal lead and one superconducting lead. We then consider an example where
the structure is placed in a high magnetic field, such that the transport is
dominated by edge states. We calculate the equilibrium and non-equilibrium
charge fluctuations in the gate, for a single edge state, comparing our results
to those for the same system, but with two normal leads. We then consider the
specific example of a quantum point contact and calculate the charge
fluctuations in the gate for more than one edge state.Comment: 4 pages with 1 figure. In published version the high magnetic field
dynamics of the holes is treated incorrectly. An erratum is in preparatio
New Insights into Cosmic Ray induced Biosignature Chemistry in Earth-like Atmospheres
With the recent discoveries of terrestrial planets around active M-dwarfs,
destruction processes masking the possible presence of life are receiving
increased attention in the exoplanet community. We investigate potential
biosignatures of planets having Earth-like (N-O) atmospheres orbiting
in the habitable zone of the M-dwarf star AD Leo. These are bombarded by high
energetic particles which can create showers of secondary particles at the
surface. We apply our cloud-free 1D climate-chemistry model to study the
influence of key particle shower parameters and chemical efficiencies of NOx
and HOx production from cosmic rays. We determine the effect of stellar
radiation and cosmic rays upon atmospheric composition, temperature, and
spectral appearance. Despite strong stratospheric O destruction by cosmic
rays, smog O can significantly build up in the lower atmosphere of our
modeled planet around AD Leo related to low stellar UVB. NO abundances
decrease with increasing flaring energies but a sink reaction for NO with
excited oxygen becomes weaker, stabilizing its abundance. CH is removed
mainly by Cl in the upper atmosphere for strong flaring cases and not via
hydroxyl as is otherwise usually the case. Cosmic rays weaken the role of
CH in heating the middle atmosphere so that HO absorption becomes more
important. We additionally underline the importance of HNO as a possible
marker for strong stellar particle showers. In a nutshell, uncertainty in NOx
and HOx production from cosmic rays significantly influences biosignature
abundances and spectral appearance.Comment: Manuscript version after addressing all referee comments. Published
in Ap
Structure Functions and Pair Correlations of the Quark-Gluon Plasma
Recent experiments at RHIC and theoretical considerations indicate that the
quark-gluon plasma, present in the fireball of relativistic heavy-ion
collisions, might be in a liquid phase. The liquid state can be identified by
characteristic correlation and structure functions. Here definitions of the
structure functions and pair correlations of the quark-gluon plasma are
presented as well as perturbative results. These definitions might be useful
for verifying the quark-gluon-plasma liquid in QCD lattice calculations.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure, revised version (new remark on the coupling
parameter on page 2), to be published in Phys. Rev.
ICAM G241A polymorphism and soluble ICAM-1 serum levels: Evidence for an active immune process in schizophrenia
Objectives: We have previously reported reduced serum levels of soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) in schizophrenic patients. A single-nucleotide polymorphism ( SNP) of the ICAM-1 gene was described at position 241. The G --> A SNP results in a nonsynonymous amino acid exchange of the ICAM-1 protein, and the A allele was shown to be also associated with several immunological disorders like rheumatoid arthritis. Methods: We investigated 70 schizophrenic patients and 128 unrelated healthy control persons regarding the relationship between the serum levels of sICAM-1 and the ICAM-1 G214A polymorphism. Results: We were able to replicate our previous finding of reduced sICAM-1 levels in schizophrenia. Healthy control persons carrying the polymorphic A allele showed markedly lower sICAM-1 serum levels than carriers of the homozygous GG wild type ( p < 0.004). In contrast, no significant difference in the sICAM-1 serum levels were seen regarding the G241A genotype distribution in schizophrenic patients. Conclusion: We hypothesize that the biochemical effect of the G241A SNP is masked in schizophrenic patients, indicating a disease-related mechanism leading to reduced levels of sICAM-1 in schizophrenia. Copyright (C) 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel
Theory and simulations of rigid polyelectrolytes
We present theoretical and numerical studies on stiff, linear
polyelectrolytes within the framework of the cell model. We first review
analytical results obtained on a mean-field Poisson-Boltzmann level, and then
use molecular dynamics simulations to show, under which circumstances these
fail quantitatively and qualitatively. For the hexagonally packed nematic phase
of the polyelectrolytes we compute the osmotic coefficient as a function of
density. In the presence of multivalent counterions it can become negative,
leading to effective attractions. We show that this results from a reduced
contribution of the virial part to the pressure. We compute the osmotic
coefficient and ionic distribution functions from Poisson-Boltzmann theory with
and without a recently proposed correlation correction, and also simulation
results for the case of poly(para-phenylene) and compare it to recently
obtained experimental data on this stiff polyelectrolyte. We also investigate
ion-ion correlations in the strong coupling regime, and compare them to
predictions of the recently advocated Wigner crystal theories.Comment: 32 pages, 15 figures, proceedings of the ASTATPHYS-MEX-2001, to be
published in Mol. Phy
Bid participates in genotoxic drug-induced apoptosis of HeLa cells and is essential for death receptor ligands' apoptotic and synergistic effects
Background: The BH3-only protein Bid is an important component of death receptor-mediated caspase activation. Bid is cleaved by caspase-8 or -10 into t-Bid, which translocates to mitochondria and triggers the release of caspase-activating factors. Bid has also been reported to be cleaved by other proteases. Methodology/Principal Findings: To test the hypothesis that Bid is a central mediator of stress-induced apoptosis, we investigated the effects of a small molecule Bid inhibitor on stress-induced apoptosis, and generated HeLa cells deficient for Bid. Stable knockdown of bid lead to a pronounced resistance to Fas/CD95- and TRAIL-induced caspase activation and apoptosis, and significantly increased clonogenic survival. While Bid-deficient cells were equally sensitive to ER stress-induced apoptosis, they showed moderate, but significantly reduced levels of apoptosis, as well as increased clonogenic survival in response to the genotoxic drugs Etoposide, Oxaliplatin, and Doxorubicin. Similar effects were observed using the Bid inhibitor BI6C9. Interestingly, Bid-deficient cells were dramatically protected from apoptosis when subtoxic concentrations of ER stressors, Etoposide or Oxaliplatin were combined with subtoxic TRAIL concentrations. Conclusions/Significance: Our data demonstrate that Bid is central for death receptor-induced cell death and participates in anti-cancer drug-induced apoptosis in human cervical cancer HeLa cells. They also show that the synergistic effects of TRAIL in combination with either ER stressors or genotoxic anti-cancer drugs are nearly exclusively mediated via an increased activation of Bid-induced apoptosis signalling
Fluctuations of noise and the low frequency cutoff paradox
Recent experiments on blinking quantum dots and weak turbulence in liquid
crystals reveal the fundamental connection between noise and power law
intermittency. The non-stationarity of the process implies that the power
spectrum is random -- a manifestation of weak ergodicity breaking. Here we
obtain the universal distribution of the power spectrum, which can be used to
identify intermittency as the source of the noise. We solve an outstanding
paradox on the non integrability of noise and the violation of Parseval's
theorem. We explain why there is no physical low frequency cutoff and therefore
cannot be found in experiments.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, supplementary material (4 pages
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