483 research outputs found
Plastic Response of a 2D Lennard-Jones amorphous solid: Detailed analysis of the local rearrangements at very slow strain-rate
We analyze in details the atomistic response of a model amorphous material
submitted to plastic shear in the athermal, quasistatic limit. After a linear
stress-strain behavior, the system undergoes a noisy plastic flow. We show that
the plastic flow is spatially heterogeneous. Two kinds of plastic events occur
in the system: quadrupolar localized rearrangements, and shear bands. The
analysis of the individual motion of a particle shows also two regimes: a
hyper-diffusive regime followed by a diffusive regime, even at zero
temperature
Formation of two-dimensional weak localization in conducting Langmuir-Blodgett films
We report the magnetotransport properties up to 7 T in the organic highly
conducting Langmuir-Blodgett(LB) films formed by a molecular association of the
electroactive donor molecule bis(ethylendioxy)tetrathiafulvalene (BEDO-TTF) and
stearic acid CH(CH)COOH. We show the logarithmic decrease of dc
conductivity and the negative transverse magnetoresistance at low temperature.
They are interpreted in the weak localization of two-dimensional (2D)
electronic system based on the homogeneous conducting layer with the molecular
size thickness of BEDO-TTF. The electronic length with phase memory is given at
the mesoscopic scale, which provides for the first time evidence of the 2D
coherent charge transport in the conducting LB films.Comment: 5 pages, 1 Table and 5 figure
Finite SU(N)^k Unification
We consider N=1 supersymmetric gauge theories based on the group SU(N)_1 x
SU(N)_2 x ... x SU(N)_k with matter content (N,N*,1,...,1) + (1,N,N*,...,1) +
>... + (N*,1,1,...,N) as candidates for the unification symmetry of all
particles. In particular we examine to which extent such theories can become
finite and we find that a necessary condition is that there should be exactly
three families. We discuss further some phenomenological issues related to the
cases (N,k) = (3,3), (3,4), and (4,3), in an attempt to choose those theories
that can become also realistic. Thus we are naturally led to consider the
SU(3)^3 model which we first promote to an all-loop finite theory and then we
study its additional predictions concerning the top quark mass, Higgs mass and
supersymmetric spectrum.Comment: 15 page
From Coherent Modes to Turbulence and Granulation of Trapped Gases
The process of exciting the gas of trapped bosons from an equilibrium initial
state to strongly nonequilibrium states is described as a procedure of symmetry
restoration caused by external perturbations. Initially, the trapped gas is
cooled down to such low temperatures, when practically all atoms are in
Bose-Einstein condensed state, which implies the broken global gauge symmetry.
Excitations are realized either by imposing external alternating fields,
modulating the trapping potential and shaking the cloud of trapped atoms, or it
can be done by varying atomic interactions by means of Feshbach resonance
techniques. Gradually increasing the amount of energy pumped into the system,
which is realized either by strengthening the modulation amplitude or by
increasing the excitation time, produces a series of nonequilibrium states,
with the growing fraction of atoms for which the gauge symmetry is restored. In
this way, the initial equilibrium system, with the broken gauge symmetry and
all atoms condensed, can be excited to the state, where all atoms are in the
normal state, with completely restored gauge symmetry. In this process, the
system, starting from the regular superfluid state, passes through the states
of vortex superfluid, turbulent superfluid, heterophase granular fluid, to the
state of normal chaotic fluid in turbulent regime. Both theoretical and
experimental studies are presented.Comment: Latex file, 25 pages, 4 figure
The COMPASS Experiment at CERN
The COMPASS experiment makes use of the CERN SPS high-intensitymuon and
hadron beams for the investigation of the nucleon spin structure and the
spectroscopy of hadrons. One or more outgoing particles are detected in
coincidence with the incoming muon or hadron. A large polarized target inside a
superconducting solenoid is used for the measurements with the muon beam.
Outgoing particles are detected by a two-stage, large angle and large momentum
range spectrometer. The setup is built using several types of tracking
detectors, according to the expected incident rate, required space resolution
and the solid angle to be covered. Particle identification is achieved using a
RICH counter and both hadron and electromagnetic calorimeters. The setup has
been successfully operated from 2002 onwards using a muon beam. Data with a
hadron beam were also collected in 2004. This article describes the main
features and performances of the spectrometer in 2004; a short summary of the
2006 upgrade is also given.Comment: 84 papes, 74 figure
First-principles calculation of the effect of strain on the diffusion of Ge adatoms on Si and Ge (001) surfaces
First-principles calculations are used to calculate the strain dependencies
of the binding and diffusion-activation energies for Ge adatoms on both Si(001)
and Ge(001) surfaces. Our calculations reveal that the binding and activation
energies on a strained Ge(001) surface increase and decrease, respectively, by
0.21 eV and 0.12 eV per percent compressive strain. For a growth temperature of
600 degrees C, these strain-dependencies give rise to a 16-fold increase in
adatom density and a 5-fold decrease in adatom diffusivity in the region of
compressive strain surrounding a Ge island with a characteristic size of 10 nm.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Autoimmune and infectious skin diseases that target desmogleins
Desmosomes are intercellular adhesive junctions of epithelial cells that contain two major transmembrane components, the desmogleins (Dsg) and desmocollins (Dsc), which are cadherin-type cell–cell adhesion molecules and are anchored to intermediate filaments of keratin through interactions with plakoglobin and desmoplakin. Desmosomes play an important role in maintaining the proper structure and barrier function of the epidermis and mucous epithelia. Four Dsg isoforms have been identified to date, Dsg1–Dsg4, and are involved in several skin and heart diseases. Dsg1 and Dsg3 are the two major Dsg isoforms in the skin and mucous membranes, and are targeted by IgG autoantibodies in pemphigus, an autoimmune disease of the skin and mucous membranes. Dsg1 is also targeted by exfoliative toxin (ET) released by Staphylococcus aureus in the infectious skin diseases bullous impetigo and staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome (SSSS). ET is a unique serine protease that shows lock and key specificity to Dsg1. Dsg2 is expressed in all tissues possessing desmosomes, including simple epithelia and myocardia, and mutations in this gene are responsible for arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy/dysplasia. Dsg4 plays an important adhesive role mainly in hair follicles, and Dsg4 mutations cause abnormal hair development. Recently, an active disease model for pemphigus was generated by a unique approach using autoantigen-deficient mice that do not acquire tolerance against the defective autoantigen. Adoptive transfer of Dsg3−/− lymphocytes into mice expressing Dsg3 induces stable anti-Dsg3 IgG production with development of the pemphigus phenotype. This mouse model is a valuable tool with which to investigate immunological mechanisms of harmful IgG autoantibody production in pemphigus. Further investigation of desmoglein molecules will continue to provide insight into the unsolved pathophysiological mechanisms of diseases and aid in the development of novel therapeutic strategies with minimal side effects
Epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors for the treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer: results and open issues
The medical treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has progressively changed since the introduction of “targeted therapy”. The development of one of these molecular drug categories, e. g., the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine-kinase (TK) selective inhibitors, such as the orally active gefitinib and erlotinib, offers an interesting new opportunity. The clinical response rates obtained with their employment in unselected patient populations only account for approximately 10%. Because of this, over the last two years numerous studies have been performed in order to identify the patient subsets that could better benefit from these agents. Not only patient characteristics and clinical-pathological features, such as never-smoking status, female gender, East Asian origin, adenocarcinoma histology, bronchioloalveolar subtype, but also molecular findings, such as somatic mutations in the EGFR gene, emerge as potentially useful prognostic and predictive factors in advanced NSCLC. Further, specifically designed clinical trials are still needed to completely clarify these and other open issues that are reviewed in this paper, in order to clarify all the interesting findings available in the clinical practice
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