Fluctuation Relation for Heat

We present a fluctuation relation for heat dissipation in a nonequilibrium system. A nonequilibrium work is known to obey the fluctuation theorem in any time interval $t$. A heat, which differs from a work by an energy change, is shown to satisfy a modified fluctuation relation. Modification is brought by correlation between a heat and an energy change during nonequilibrium processes whose effect may not be negligible even in the $t\to\infty$ limit. The fluctuation relation is derived for overdamped Langevin equation systems, and tested in a linear diffusion system.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figur

Involvement of Hexokinase1 in Plant Growth Promotion as Mediated by Burkholderia Phytofimans

Burkholderia phytofirmans strain PsJN consistently enhanced the growth of potato plants in vitro. The role of hexokinase1 in glucose phosphorylation was investigated in plants with PsJN. Increased hexokinase1 activity only in roots of PsJN-treated plants cultivar Kennebec suggests that hexokinase1 is associated with plant root and stem growth. Plant growth with PsJN was determined when plants were grown with different sugars at various concentrations. PsJN-treated plants expressed diverse forms of growth promotion. When growth promotion did occur, hexokinase1 activity also increased. Growth promotion and hexokinase1 activity appear to be correlated to the enzyme to recognize the substrate for catalytic activity. Cultivar Yukon Gold showed minimum response to the growth promotion typically induced by PsJN in cultivar Kennebec. Hexoinase1 activity in the roots of PsJN-treated plants was increased at much later stage than found with cultivar Kennebec. This indicates that the mechanism associated with growth promotion by PsJN is different in different potato cultivars. Keywords

Quantum-based Mechanical Force Realization in Pico-Newton Range

We propose mechanical force realization based on flux quantization in the pico-Newton range. By controlling the number of flux quantum in a superconducting annulus, a force can be created as integer multiples of a constant step. For a 50 nm-thick Nb annulus with the inner and outer radii of 5 $\mu$m and 10 $\mu$m, respectively, and the field gradient of 10 T/m the force step is estimated to be 184 fN. The stability against thermal fluctuations is also addressed.Comment: 5 pages; 4 figure