How dsDNA breathing enhances its flexibility and instability on short length scales

We study the unexpected high flexibility of short dsDNA which recently has been reported by a number of experiments. Via the Langevin dynamics simulation of our Breathing DNA model, first we observe the formation of bubbles within the duplex and also forks at the ends, with the size distributions independent of the contour length. We find that these local denaturations at a physiological temperature, despite their rare and transient presence, can lower the persistence length drastically for a short DNA segment in agreement with experiment

Optimum Reactor Outlet Temperatures for High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors Integrated with Industrial Processes

This report summarizes the results of a temperature sensitivity study conducted to identify the optimum reactor operating temperatures for producing the heat and hydrogen required for industrial processes associated with the proposed new high temperature gas-cooled reactor. This study assumed that primary steam outputs of the reactor were delivered at 17 MPa and 540°C and the helium coolant was delivered at 7 MPa at 625–925°C. The secondary outputs of were electricity and hydrogen. For the power generation analysis, it was assumed that the power cycle efficiency was 66% of the maximum theoretical efficiency of the Carnot thermodynamic cycle. Hydrogen was generated via the hightemperature steam electrolysis or the steam methane reforming process. The study indicates that optimum or a range of reactor outlet temperatures could be identified to further refine the process evaluations that were developed for high temperature gas-cooled reactor-integrated production of synthetic transportation fuels, ammonia, and ammonia derivatives, oil from unconventional sources, and substitute natural gas from coal

The challenges encountered with developing a valid and reliable urinary continence assessment form

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a concise continence assessment form that can be completed by patients.A prospective, descriptive, multi-site study was conducted at three major teaching hospitals over a 6 month period utilising a repeated measure design. The study was conducted over two stages: Stage Oneconsisted of developing the face validity and user friendliness of the instrument; Stage Two consisted of establishing the test-retest reliability of the instrument.This paper discusses the process and results of the instrument development project. It highlights the clinical and statistical difficulties experienced in the development of the continence assessment form.<br /

Efficient terahertz generation in highly nonlinear organic crystal HMB-TMS

We report on generation of strong and broadband terahertz (THz) pulses via collinearly phase-matched optical rectification of near-infrared femtosecond pulses in the organic nonlinear optical HMB-TMS (2-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxystyryl)-3-methylbenzo[d]thiazol-3-ium 2,4,6-trimethylbenzenesulfonate) single crystals which exhibit optimal molecular orientation and large macroscopic optical nonlinearity for efficient THz wave generation. Single-cycle THz pulses with a peak electric field strength of 0.66 MV/cm and a bandwidth from 0.1 to 5.4 THz are achieved from an HMB-TMS crystal with only a 2-mm clear aperture pumped by 1350 nm pulses at moderate fluences. The generated THz energy is about 1 µJ and the corresponding pump-to-THz energy conversion efficiency reaches 0.23%.United States. Office of Naval Research (N00014-13-1-0509)United States. Office of Naval Research. Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (N00014-15-1-2879)Samsung Global Research Outreach ProgramNational Research Foundation of Korea (No. 2016R1A2B4011050National Research Foundation of Korea (No. 2014R1A5A1009799)National Research Foundation of Korea (No. 2015K1A3A1A14004646)National Research Foundation of Korea (No. 2009-0093826

Solitons of the Resonant Nonlinear Schrodinger Equation with Nontrivial Boundary Conditions and Hirota Bilinear Method

Physically relevant soliton solutions of the resonant nonlinear Schrodinger (RNLS) equation with nontrivial boundary conditions, recently proposed for description of uniaxial waves in a cold collisionless plasma, are considered in the Hirota bilinear approach. By the Madelung representation, the model is transformed to the reaction-diffusion analog of the NLS equation for which the bilinear representation, soliton solutions and their mutual interactions are studied.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure, talk presented in Workshop `Nonlinear Physics IV: Theory and Experiment`, 22-30 June 2006, Gallipoli, Ital

An HST/WFPC2 Snapshot Survey of 2MASS-Selected Red QSOs

Using simple infrared color selection, 2MASS has found a large number of red, previously unidentified, radio-quiet QSOs. Although missed by UV/optical surveys, the 2MASS QSOs have K-band luminosities that are comparable to "classical" QSOs. This suggests the possible discovery of a previously predicted large population of dust-obscured radio-quiet QSOs. We present the results of an imaging survey of 29 2MASS QSOs observed with WFPC2 onboard the Hubble Space Telescope. I-band images, which benefit from the relative faintness of the nuclei at optical wavelengths, are used to characterize the host galaxies, measure the nuclear contribution to the total observed I-band emission, and to survey the surrounding environments. The 2MASS QSOs are found to lie in galaxies with a variety of morphologies, luminosities, and dynamical states, not unlike those hosting radio-quiet PG QSOs. Our analysis suggests that the extraordinary red colors of the 2MASS QSOs are caused by extinction of an otherwise typical QSO spectrum due to dust near the nucleus.Comment: 23 pages including 9 figures and 7 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ, higher resolution HST images at: http://shapley.as.arizona.edu/~amarble/papers/twomq

Macroscopic traffic models from microscopic car-following models

We present a method to derive macroscopic fluid-dynamic models from microscopic car-following models via a coarse-graining procedure. The method is first demonstrated for the optimal velocity model. The derived macroscopic model consists of a conservation equation and a momentum equation, and the latter contains a relaxation term, an anticipation term, and a diffusion term. Properties of the resulting macroscopic model are compared with those of the optimal velocity model through numerical simulations, and reasonable agreement is found although there are deviations in the quantitative level. The derivation is also extended to general car-following models.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures; to appear in Phys. Rev.

Steady state solutions of hydrodynamic traffic models

We investigate steady state solutions of hydrodynamic traffic models in the absence of any intrinsic inhomogeneity on roads such as on-ramps. It is shown that typical hydrodynamic models possess seven different types of inhomogeneous steady state solutions. The seven solutions include those that have been reported previously only for microscopic models. The characteristic properties of wide jam such as moving velocity of its spatiotemporal pattern and/or out-flux from wide jam are shown to be uniquely determined and thus independent of initial conditions of dynamic evolution. Topological considerations suggest that all of the solutions should be common to a wide class of traffic models. The results are discussed in connection with the universality conjecture for traffic models. Also the prevalence of the limit-cycle solution in a recent study of a microscopic model is explained in this approach.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure

Correlations in Two-Dimensional Vortex Liquids

We report on a high temperature perturbation expansion study of the superfluid-density spatial correlation function of a Ginzburg-Landau-model superconducting film in a magnetic field. We have derived a closed form which expresses the contribution to the correlation function from each graph of the perturbation theory in terms of the number of Euler paths around appropriate subgraphs. We have enumerated all graphs appearing out to 10-th order in the expansion and have evaluated their contributions to the correlation function. Low temperature correlation functions, obtained using Pad\'{e} approximants, are in good agreement with Monte Carlo simulation results and show that the vortex-liquid becomes strongly correlated at temperatures well above the vortex solidification temperature.Comment: 18 pages (RevTeX 3.0) and 4 figures, available upon request, IUCM93-01

Hypercharge and the Cosmological Baryon Asymmetry

Stringent bounds on baryon and lepton number violating interactions have been derived from the requirement that such interactions, together with electroweak instantons, do not destroy a cosmological baryon asymmetry produced at an extremely high temperature in the big bang. While these bounds apply in specific models, we find that they are generically evaded. In particular, the only requirement for a theory to avoid these bounds is that it contain charged particles which, during a certain cosmological epoch, carry a non-zero hypercharge asymmetry. Hypercharge neutrality of the universe then dictates that the remaining particles must carry a compensating hypercharge density, which is necessarily shared amongst them so as to give a baryon asymmetry. Hence the generation of a hypercharge density in a sector of the theory forces the universe to have a baryon asymmetry.Comment: 12 pages plus 1 Postscript figure available upon request. LBL 3482