495 research outputs found

    Interactions and the Theta Term in One-Dimensional Gapped Systems

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    We study how the \theta -term is affected by interactions in certain one-dimensional gapped systems that preserve charge-conjugation, parity, and time-reversal invariance. We exploit the relation between the chiral anomaly of a fermionic system and the classical shift symmetry of its bosonized dual. The vacuum expectation value of the dual boson is identified with the value of the \theta -term for the corresponding fermionic system. Two (related) examples illustrate the identification. We first consider the massive Luttinger liquid and find the \theta -term to be insensitive to the strength of the interaction. Next, we study the continuum limit of the Heisenberg XXZ spin-1/2 chain, perturbed by a second nearest-neighbor spin interaction. For a certain range of the XXZ anisotropy, we find that we can tune between two distinct sets of topological phases by varying the second nearest-neighbor coupling. In the first, we find the standard vacua at \theta = 0, \pi, while the second contains vacua that spontaneously break charge-conjugation and parity with fractional \theta / \pi = 1/ 2, 3/2. We also study quantized pumping in both examples following recent work.Comment: 17 pages, harvmac; v.2 typo corrected and slight re-wording

    Gravity Duals of Lifshitz-like Fixed Points

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    We find candidate macroscopic gravity duals for scale-invariant but non-Lorentz invariant fixed points, which do not have particle number as a conserved quantity. We compute two-point correlation functions which exhibit novel behavior relative to their AdS counterparts, and find holographic renormalization group flows to conformal field theories. Our theories are characterized by a dynamical critical exponent zz, which governs the anisotropy between spatial and temporal scaling tā†’Ī»ztt \to \lambda^z t, xā†’Ī»xx \to \lambda x; we focus on the case with z=2z=2. Such theories describe multicritical points in certain magnetic materials and liquid crystals, and have been shown to arise at quantum critical points in toy models of the cuprate superconductors. This work can be considered a small step towards making useful dual descriptions of such critical points.Comment: 17 pages, harvmac; v2 comments about behavior of metric near r=0 added (thanks to S. Hartnoll and G. Horowitz

    Strengthening Resource Sharing through Community Driven Development and Innovation

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    Resource sharing is an area in libraries with intense focus on cooperation and innovation. Libraries dedicate themselves to sharing collections to enhance access far beyond what any one library could offer. Resource sharing involves connecting not only users to collections, but connecting many different library technologies. An effective and innovative resource sharing group requires both a commitment to community, but also a commitment to developing technology that can help achieve the groupā€™s goals. The IDS Project is a community-based resource sharing development cooperative whose members are tightly connected through professional development and high-level support initiatives such as the Online Learning Institute and the Mentor Program. Also, the IDS Project serves its members through software development based on deep understanding of community needs. As a development cooperative, the collective expertise of the group is integrated into building new technologies that solve major resource sharing issues. To effectively connect the disparate technologies needed to make resource sharing effective, a new resource sharing platform, IDS Logic, was created to harvest the knowledge and expertise of the engaged community and connect technologies including ILLiad, OCLC services, Integrated Library Systems, and other vendor and library platforms

    Better Performance on the Psychomotor Vigilance Task Is Associated with Longer Sleep Duration and Lower Self-Reported Sleep Need in the Real World

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    The psychomotor vigilance task (PVT) is sensitive measure of performance impairment arising from sleep loss and circadian misalignment. Some individuals are able to maintain stable, good performance during laboratory-imposed sleep restriction. It is unclear whether such individuals need less sleep or whether they are more resilient to the effects of sleep loss. We aimed to characterize the relationship between sleep duration and perceived sleep need with PVT performance under real-world conditions

    Revision of Paschen's Law Relating to the ESD of Aerospace Vehicle Surfaces

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    The purpose of this work is to develop a version of Paschens law that takes into account the flow of ambient gas past electrode surfaces. Paschens law does not consider the flow of gas past an aerospace vehicle whose surfaces may be triboelectrically charged by dust or ice crystal impingement while traversing the atmosphere. The basic hypothesis of this work is that the number of electron-ion pairs created per unit distance between electrode surfaces is mitigated by the electron-ion pairs removed per unit distance by the flow of gas. The revised theoretical model must be a function of the mean velocity vxm of the ambient gas and reduce to Paschens law when the mean velocity is zero. A new theoretical formulation of Paschens law, taking into account the Mach number and compressible dynamic pressure, derived by the authors, will be discussed. This equation has been evaluated by wind tunnel experimentation. Initial data of the baseline wind tunnel experiments show results consistent with the hypothesis. This work may enhance the safety of aerospace vehicles through a redefinition of electrostatic launch commit criteria. It is also possible for new products, such as antistatic coatings, to be formulated based on this data

    Dynamic Gas Flow Effects on the ESD of Aerospace Vehicle Surfaces

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    The purpose of this work is to develop a dynamic version of Paschen's Law that takes into account the flow of ambient gas past aerospace vehicle surfaces. However, the classic Paschen's Law does not take into account the flow of gas of an aerospace vehicle, whose surfaces may be triboelectrically charged by dust or ice crystal impingement, traversing the atmosphere. The basic hypothesis of this work is that the number of electron-ion pairs created per unit distance by the electric field between the electrodes is mitigated by the electron-ion pairs removed per unit distance by the flow of gas. The revised Paschen equation must be a function of the mean velocity, v(sub xm), of the ambient gas and reduces to the classical version of Paschen's law when the gas mean velocity, v(sub xm) = 0. New formulations of Paschen's Law, taking into account Mach number and dynamic pressure, derived by the authors, will be discussed. These equations will be evaluated by wind tunnel experimentation later this year. Based on the results of this work, it is hoped that the safety of aerospace vehicles will be enhanced with a redefinition of electrostatic launch commit criteria. It is also possible that new products, such as new anti-static coatings, may be formulated from this data

    The Grizzly, December 3, 1982

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    Graterford Prisoners Counseled ā€¢ Phi Psi Sponsors Santa ā€¢ Chem Society Rated Outstanding ā€¢ Renowned Professor Dies ā€¢ Steinbright Scholarships Offered ā€¢ News Briefs: Sigma Pi Sigma Inducts New Members; Operation Native Talent; New Evening School Class; Winterfest II Schedules Events; Going for Baroque ā€¢ Commuters Don\u27t Get No Respect! ā€¢ Letters to the Editor ā€¢ Is Tuition Increase Justified? ā€¢ Recent Thefts and Attacks Prompt Security Questions ā€¢ Cheating at Ursinus? ā€¢ A Last Squeeze Before Departing ā€¢ The Missionary: A Blessing ā€¢ Roving Reporter: How Do You Feel About the New Security System in the Quad? ā€¢ Challenge Yourself at Outward Bound ā€¢ The Perfect Man ā€¢ UC Faculty Not Burnt Out ā€¢ Sports Profile: Mullahy and Bazow, Football Captains ā€¢ Women\u27s Basketball Tops Aggies in Opener: Jankauskas Scoring and Rebounding Was Key ā€¢ UC Making a Contribution to Olympic Efforthttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1090/thumbnail.jp

    The role of dietary fatty acids in predicting myocardial structure in fat-fed rats

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p><it>Background</it></p> <p>Obesity increases the risk for development of cardiomyopathy in the absence of hypertension, diabetes or myocardial ischemia. Not all obese individuals, however, progress to heart failure. Indeed, obesity may provide protection from cardiovascular mortality in some populations. The fatty acid milieu, modulated by diet, may modify obesity-induced myocardial structure and function, lending partial explanation for the array of cardiomyopathic phenotypy in obese individuals.</p> <p><it>Methods</it></p> <p>Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed 1 of the following 4 diets for 32 weeks: control (CON); 50% saturated fat (SAT); 40% saturated fat + 10% linoleic acid (SAT+LA); 40% saturated fat + 10% Ī±-linolenic acid (SAT+ALA). Serum leptin, insulin, glucose, free fatty acids and triglycerides were quantitated. <it>In vivo </it>cardiovascular outcomes included blood pressure, heart rate and echocardiographic measurements of structure and function. The rats were sacrificed and myocardium was processed for fatty acid analysis (TLC-GC), and evaluation of potential modifiers of myocardial structure including collagen (Masson's trichrome, hydroxyproline quantitation), lipid (Oil Red O, triglyceride quantitation) and myocyte cross sectional area.</p> <p><it>Results</it></p> <p>Rats fed SAT+LA and SAT+ALA diets had greater cranial LV wall thickness compared to rats fed CON and SAT diets, in the absence of hypertension or apparent insulin resistance. Treatment was not associated with changes in myocardial function. Myocardial collagen and triglycerides were similar among treatment groups; however, rats fed the high-fat diets, regardless of composition, demonstrated increased myocyte cross sectional area.</p> <p><it>Conclusions</it></p> <p>Under conditions of high-fat feeding, replacement of 10% saturated fat with either LA or ALA is associated with thickening of the cranial LV wall, but without concomitant functional changes. Increased myocyte size appears to be a more likely contributor to early LV thickening in response to high-fat feeding. These findings suggest that myocyte hypertrophy may be an early change leading to gross LV hypertrophy in the hearts of "healthy" obese rats, in the absence of hypertension, diabetes and myocardial ischemia.</p

    Low-cost electronic sensors for environmental research: pitfalls and opportunities

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    Repeat observations underpin our understanding of environmental processes, but financial constraints often limit scientistsā€™ ability to deploy dense networks of conventional commercial instrumentation. Rapid growth in the Internet-Of-Things (IoT) and the maker movement is paving the way for low-cost electronic sensors to transform global environmental monitoring. Accessible and inexpensive sensor construction is also fostering exciting opportunities for citizen science and participatory research. Drawing on 6 years of developmental work with Arduino-based open-source hardware and software, extensive laboratory and field testing, and incor- poration of such technology into active research programmes, we outline a series of successes, failures and lessons learned in designing and deploying environmental sensors. Six case studies are presented: a water table depth probe, air and water quality sensors, multi-parameter weather stations, a time-sequencing lake sediment trap, and a sonic anemometer for monitoring sand transport. Schematics, code and purchasing guidance to reproduce our sensors are described in the paper, with detailed build instructions hosted on our Kingā€™s College London Geography Environmental Sensors Github repository and the FreeStation project website. We show in each case study that manual design and construction can produce research-grade scientific instrumentation (mean bias error for calibrated sensors ā€“0.04 to 23%) for a fraction of the conventional cost, provided rigorous, sensor-specific calibration and field testing is conducted. In sharing our collective experiences with build-it- yourself environmental monitoring, we intend for this paper to act as a catalyst for physical geographers and the wider environmental science community to begin incorporating low-cost sensor development into their research activities. The capacity to deploy denser sensor networks should ultimately lead to superior envi- ronmental monitoring at the local to global scales
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