Advocating for Science: Amici Curiae Brief of Wetland and Water Scientists in Support of the Clean Water Rule

The Trump administration has proposed replacing the Clean Water Rule, a 2015 regulation that defined the statutory term Bwaters of the United States^ to clarify the geographic jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act. Since its promulgation, the Clean Water Rule has been subjected to numerous judicial challenges. We submitted an amici curiae brief to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, explaining why the Clean Water Rule, and its definition of Bwaters of the United States,^ is scientifically sound. The definition of Bwaters of the United States^ is a legal determination informed by science. The best available science supports the Clean Water Rule’s categorical treatment of tributaries because compelling scientific evidence demonstrates that tributaries significantly affect the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of traditional navigable waters (primary waters). Similarly, the best available science supports the Clean Water Rule’s categorical treatment of adjacent waters based on geographic proximity. Compelling scientific evidence demonstrates that waters within 100 ft of an ordinary high water mark (OHWM) significantly affect the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of primary waters, as do waters within 100-year floodplains and waters within 1500 ft of high tide lines of tidally influenced primary waters or OHWMs of the Great Lakes. This review article is adapted from that amici brief

The counterbend phenomenon in flagellar axonemes and cross-linked filament bundles

Recent observations of flagellar counterbend in sea urchin sperm show that the mechanical induction of curvature in one part of a passive flagellum induces a compensatory countercurvature elsewhere. This apparent paradoxical effect cannot be explained using the standard elastic rod theory of Euler and Bernoulli, or even the more general Cosserat theory of rods. Here, we develop a geometrically exact mechanical model to describe the statics of microtubule bundles that is capable of predicting the curvature reversal events observed in eukaryotic flagella. This is achieved by allowing the interaction of deformations in different material directions, by accounting not only for structural bending, but also for the elastic forces originating from the internal cross-linking mechanics. Large-amplitude static configurations can be described analytically, and an excellent match between the model and the observed counterbend deformation was found. This allowed a simultaneous estimation of multiple sperm flagellum material parameters, namely the cross-linking sliding resistance, the bending stiffness, and the sperm head junction compliance ratio. We further show that small variations on the empirical conditions may induce discrepancies for the evaluation of the flagellar material quantities, so that caution is required when interpreting experiments. Finally, our analysis demonstrates that the counterbend emerges as a fundamental property of sliding resistance in cross-linked filamentous polymer bundles, which also suggests that cross-linking proteins may contribute to the regulation of the flagellar waveform in swimming sperm via counterbend mechanics

Spin dependent scattering of a domain-wall of controlled size

Magnetoresistance measurements in the CPP geometry have been performed on single electrodeposited Co nanowires exchange biased on one side by a sputtered amorphous GdCo layer. This geometry allows the stabilization of a single domain wall in the Co wire, the thickness of which can be controlled by an external magnetic field. Comparing magnetization, resistivity, and magnetoresistance studies of single Co nanowires, of GdCo layers, and of the coupled system, gives evidence for an additional contribution to the magnetoresistance when the domain wall is compressed by a magnetic field. This contribution is interpreted as the spin dependent scattering within the domain wall when the wall thickness becomes smaller than the spin diffusion length.Comment: 9 pages, 13 figure

Origin of four-fold anisotropy in square lattices of circular ferromagnetic dots

We discuss the four-fold anisotropy of in-plane ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) field $H_r$, found in a square lattice of circular Permalloy dots when the interdot distance $a$ gets comparable to the dot diameter $d$. The minimum $H_r$, along the lattice $$axes, and the maximum, along the$$ axes, differ by $\sim$ 50 Oe at $a/d$ = 1.1. This anisotropy, not expected in uniformly magnetized dots, is explained by a non-uniform magnetization \bm(\br) in a dot in response to dipolar forces in the patterned magnetic structure. It is well described by an iterative solution of a continuous variational procedure.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, revtex, details of analytic calculation and new references are adde

Insolation-driven 100,000-year glacial cycles and hysteresis of ice-sheet volume

The growth and reduction of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets over the past million years is dominated by an approximately 100,000-year periodicity and a sawtooth pattern (gradual growth and fast termination). Milankovitch theory proposes that summer insolation at high northern latitudes drives the glacial cycles, and statistical tests have demonstrated that the glacial cycles are indeed linked to eccentricity, obliquity and precession cycles. Yet insolation alone cannot explain the strong 100,000-year cycle, suggesting that internal climatic feedbacks may also be at work. Earlier conceptual models, for example, showed that glacial terminations are associated with the build-up of Northern Hemisphere ‘excess ice’, but the physical mechanisms underpinning the 100,000-year cycle remain unclear. Here we show, using comprehensive climate and ice-sheet models, that insolation and internal feedbacks between the climate, the ice sheets and the lithosphere–asthenosphere system explain the 100,000-year periodicity. The responses of equilibrium states of ice sheets to summer insolation show hysteresis, with the shape and position of the hysteresis loop playing a key part in determining the periodicities of glacial cycles. The hysteresis loop of the North American ice sheet is such that after inception of the ice sheet, its mass balance remains mostly positive through several precession cycles, whose amplitudes decrease towards an eccentricity minimum. The larger the ice sheet grows and extends towards lower latitudes, the smaller is the insolation required to make the mass balance negative. Therefore, once a large ice sheet is established, a moderate increase in insolation is sufficient to trigger a negative mass balance, leading to an almost complete retreat of the ice sheet within several thousand years. This fast retreat is governed mainly by rapid ablation due to the lowered surface elevation resulting from delayed isostatic rebound, which is the lithosphere–asthenosphere response. Carbon dioxide is involved, but is not determinative, in the evolution of the 100,000-year glacial cycles

Quantum Response at Finite Fields and Breakdown of Chern Numbers

We show that the response to an electric field, in models of the Integral Quantum Hall effect, is analytic in the field and has isolated essential singularity at zero field. We also study the breakdown of Chern numbers associated with the response of Floquet states. We argue, and give evidence, that the breakdown of Chern numbers in Floquet states is a discontinuous transition at zero field. This follows from an observation, of independent interest, that Chern numbers for finite dimensional Floquet operators are generically zero. These results rule out the possibility that the breakdown of the Hall conductance is a phase transition at finite fields for a large class of models.Comment: 16 pages, 8 eps figures, LaTeX2e with IOP style. Many changes, including new materia

Effects of Uniaxial Stress on Antiferromagnetic Moment in the Heavy Electron Compound URu_2Si_2

We have performed the elastic neutron scattering experiments under uniaxial stress \sigma along the tetragonal [100], [110] and [001] directions for URu2Si2. For \sigma // [100] and [110], the antiferromagnetic moment \mu_o is strongly enhanced from 0.02 \mu_B (\sigma=0) to 0.22 \mu_B (\sigma=2.5 kbar) at 1.5 K. The rate of increase d\mu_o/d\sigma is roughly estimated to be ~ 0.1 \mu_B/kbar, which is much larger than that for the hydrostatic pressure (~ 0.025 \mu_B/kbar). Above 2.5 kbar, \mu_o shows a tendency to saturate similar to the behavior in the hydrostatic pressure. For \sigma // [001], on the other hand, \mu_o shows only a slight increase to 0.028 \mu_B (\sigma = 4.6 kbar) with a rate of ~ 0.002 \mu_B/kbar. The observed anisotropy suggests that the competition between the hidden order and the antiferromagnetic state in URu2Si2 is strongly coupled with the tetragonal four-fold symmetry and the c/a ratio, or both.Comment: 3 pages, 3 eps figures, Proceedings of Int. Conf. on Strongly Correlated Electrons with Orbital Degrees of Freedom (Sendai, Japan, September 11-14, 2001

Bis(N,N-diethyl­dithio­carbamato)(1,10-phenanthroline)cobalt(III) tetra­fluorido­borate

The cationic complex in the structure of the title compound, [Co(Et2NCS2)2(C12H8N2)]BF4, has a CoIII atom with a distorted octa­hedral coordination formed by four S atoms of two diethyl­dithio­carbamate and two N atoms of 1,10-phenanthroline ligands. The crystal structure features head-to-tail stacking of the phenanthroline ligands. The tetra­fluorido­borate anions are positioned in the channels between the cation stacks running along the a axis, and form weak C—H⋯F interactions