1,802 research outputs found
Dispersity-Driven Melting Transition in Two Dimensional Solids
We perform extensive simulations of Lennard-Jones particles to study
the effect of particle size dispersity on the thermodynamic stability of
two-dimensional solids. We find a novel phase diagram in the dispersity-density
parameter space. We observe that for large values of the density there is a
threshold value of the size dispersity above which the solid melts to a liquid
along a line of first order phase transitions. For smaller values of density,
our results are consistent with the presence of an intermediate hexatic phase.
Further, these findings support the possibility of a multicritical point in the
dispersity-density parameter space.Comment: In revtex format, 4 pages, 6 postscript figures. Submitted to PR
LocalControl: An R Package for Comparative Safety and Effectiveness Research
The LocalControl R package implements novel approaches to address biases and confounding when comparing treatments or exposures in observational studies of outcomes. While designed and appropriate for use in comparative safety and effectiveness research involving medicine and the life sciences, the package can be used in other situations involving outcomes with multiple confounders. LocalControl is an open-source tool for researchers whose aim is to generate high quality evidence using observational data. The package implements a family of methods for non-parametric bias correction when comparing treatments in observational studies, including survival analysis settings, where competing risks and/or censoring may be present. The approach extends to bias-corrected personalized predictions of treatment outcome differences, and analysis of heterogeneity of treatment effect-sizes across patient subgroups
Decoupling of Net Community Production and Export Production at Submesoscale Fronts in the Sargasso Sea
Determinations of the net community production (NCP) in the upper ocean and the particle export production (EP) should balance over long time and large spatial scales. However, recent modeling studies suggest that a horizontal decoupling of flux-regulating processes on submesoscales (≤10 km) could lead to imbalances between individual determinations of NCP and EP. Here we sampled mixed-layer biogeochemical parameters and proxies for NCP and EP during 10, high-spatial resolution (~2 km) surface transects across strong physical gradients in the Sargasso Sea. We observed strong biogeochemical and carbon flux variability in nearly all transects. Spatial coherence among measured biogeochemical parameters within transects was common but rarely did the same parameters covary consistently across transects. Spatial variability was greater in parameters associated with higher trophic levels, such as chlorophyll in \u3e5.0 µm particles, and variability in EP exceeded that of NCP in nearly all cases. Within sampling transects, coincident EP and NCP determinations were uncorrelated. However, when averaged over each transect (30 to 40 km in length), we found NCP and EP to be significantly and positively correlated (R = 0.72, p = 0.04). Transect-averaged EP determinations were slightly smaller than similar NCP values (Type-II regression slope of 0.93, standard deviation = 0.32) but not significantly different from a 1:1 relationship. The results show the importance of appropriate sampling scales when deriving carbon flux budgets from upper ocean observations
A central role for microvillous receptor presentation in leukocyte adhesion under flow
AbstractLeukocyte adhesion to endothelium requires specialized mechanisms for contact initiation under flow. L-selectin (CD62L), an efficient initiator of adhesion, is clustered on the tips of leukocyte microvilli. To test whether microvillous presentation is critical for contact formation (“tethering”), we transfected lymphoid cells with chimeras of L-selectin and CD44, an adhesion molecule that is excluded from microvilli. CD44 transmembrane and intracellular (TM-IC) domains targeted the L-selectin ectodomain to the planar body, whereas L-selectin TM-IC segments conferred CD44 ectodomain clustering on microvilli. Wild-type and chimeric transfectants bound similarly to anti-ectodomain MAbs in static assays, but MAb binding under flow was much more efficient in the context of microvillous presentation. Similarly, wild-type and chimeric L-selectin possessed equivalent lectin activity, but microvillous presentation dramatically enhanced contact initiation on a native ligand. These findings demonstrate a critical role for receptor topography in leukocyte adhesion and suggest a novel regulatory mechanism of leukocyte trafficking
Phase transition in a 2-dimensional Heisenberg model
We investigate the two-dimensional classical Heisenberg model with a
nonlinear nearest-neighbor interaction
V(s,s')=2K[(1+s.s')/2 ]^p.
The analogous nonlinear interaction for the XY model was introduced by
Domany, Schick, and Swendsen, who find that for large p the Kosterlitz-Thouless
transition is preempted by a first-order transition. Here we show that, whereas
the standard (p=1) Heisenberg model has no phase transition, for large enough p
a first-order transition appears. Both phases have only short range order, but
with a correlation length that jumps at the transition.Comment: 6 pages, 5 encapsulated postscript figures; to appear in Physical
Review Letter
Decoupling of net community and export production on submesoscales in the Sargasso Sea
Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2015. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Global Biogeochemical Cycles 29 (2015): 1266–1282, doi:10.1002/2014GB004913.Determinations of the net community production (NCP) in the upper ocean and the particle export production (EP) should balance over long time and large spatial scales. However, recent modeling studies suggest that a horizontal decoupling of flux-regulating processes on submesoscales (≤10 km) could lead to imbalances between individual determinations of NCP and EP. Here we sampled mixed-layer biogeochemical parameters and proxies for NCP and EP during 10, high-spatial resolution (~2 km) surface transects across strong physical gradients in the Sargasso Sea. We observed strong biogeochemical and carbon flux variability in nearly all transects. Spatial coherence among measured biogeochemical parameters within transects was common but rarely did the same parameters covary consistently across transects. Spatial variability was greater in parameters associated with higher trophic levels, such as chlorophyll in >5.0 µm particles, and variability in EP exceeded that of NCP in nearly all cases. Within sampling transects, coincident EP and NCP determinations were uncorrelated. However, when averaged over each transect (30 to 40 km in length), we found NCP and EP to be significantly and positively correlated (R = 0.72, p = 0.04). Transect-averaged EP determinations were slightly smaller than similar NCP values (Type-II regression slope of 0.93, standard deviation = 0.32) but not significantly different from a 1:1 relationship. The results show the importance of appropriate sampling scales when deriving carbon flux budgets from upper ocean observations.NASA Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry program Grant Number: NNX11AL94G; WHOI Postdoctoral Scholar fellowship;
NASA ACE Grant Number: NNX12AJ25G; NSF Grant Number: OCE-07523662016-02-2
Enhancement of Rabi Splitting in a Microcavity with an Embedded Superlattice
We have observed a large coupling between the excitonic and photonic modes of
an AlAs/AlGaAs microcavity filled with an 84-({\rm {\AA}})/20({\rm {\AA}})
GaAs/AlGaAs superlattice. Reflectivity measurements on the coupled
cavity-superlattice system in the presence of a moderate electric field yielded
a Rabi splitting of 9.5 meV at T = 238 K. This splitting is almost 50% larger
than that found in comparable microcavities with quantum wells placed at the
antinodes only. We explain the enhancement by the larger density of optical
absorbers in the superlattice, combined with the quasi-two-dimensional binding
energy of field-localized excitons.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PR
Kosterlitz-Thouless Universality in a Fermionic System
A new extension of the attractive Hubbard model is constructed to study the
critical behavior near a finite temperature superconducting phase transition in
two dimensions using the recently developed meron-cluster algorithm. Unlike
previous calculations in the attractive Hubbard model which were limited to
small lattices, the new algorithm is used to study the critical behavior on
lattices as large as . These precise results for the first time
show that a fermionic system can undergo a finite temperature phase transition
whose critical behavior is well described by the predictions of Kosterlitz and
Thouless almost three decades ago. In particular it is confirmed that the
spatial winding number susceptibility obeys the well known predictions of
finite size scaling for and up to logarithmic corrections the pair
susceptibility scales as at large volumes with for .Comment: Revtex format; 4 pages, 2 figure
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