Probabilistic Phase Space Trajectory Description for Anomalous Polymer Dynamics

It has been recently shown that the phase space trajectories for the anomalous dynamics of a tagged monomer of a polymer --- for single polymeric systems such as phantom Rouse, self-avoiding Rouse, Zimm, reptation, and translocation through a narrow pore in a membrane; as well as for many-polymeric system such as polymer melts in the entangled regime --- is robustly described by the Generalized Langevin Equation (GLE). Here I show that the probability distribution of phase space trajectories for all these classical anomalous dynamics for single polymers is that of a fractional Brownian motion (fBm), while the dynamics for polymer melts between the entangled regime and the eventual diffusive regime exhibits small, but systematic deviations from that of a fBm.Comment: 8 pages, two figures, 3 eps figure files, minor changes, supplementary material included moved to the appendix, references expanded, to appear in J. Phys.: Condens. Matte

Pore-blockade Times for Field-Driven Polymer Translocation

We study pore blockade times for a translocating polymer of length $N$, driven by a field $E$ across the pore in three dimensions. The polymer performs Rouse dynamics, i.e., we consider polymer dynamics in the absence of hydrodynamical interactions. We find that the typical time the pore remains blocked during a translocation event scales as $\sim N^{(1+2\nu)/(1+\nu)}/E$, where $\nu\simeq0.588$ is the Flory exponent for the polymer. In line with our previous work, we show that this scaling behaviour stems from the polymer dynamics at the immediate vicinity of the pore -- in particular, the memory effects in the polymer chain tension imbalance across the pore. This result, along with the numerical results by several other groups, violates the lower bound $\sim N^{1+\nu}/E$ suggested earlier in the literature. We discuss why this lower bound is incorrect and show, based on conservation of energy, that the correct lower bound for the pore-blockade time for field-driven translocation is given by $\eta N^{2\nu}/E$, where $\eta$ is the viscosity of the medium surrounding the polymer.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, slightly shorter than the previous version; to appear in J. Phys.: Cond. Ma

Simulations of Two-Dimensional Unbiased Polymer Translocation Using the Bond Fluctuation Model

We use the Bond Fluctuation Model (BFM) to study the pore-blockade times of a translocating polymer of length $N$ in two dimensions, in the absence of external forces on the polymer (i.e., unbiased translocation) and hydrodynamic interactions (i.e., the polymer is a Rouse polymer), through a narrow pore. Earlier studies using the BFM concluded that the pore-blockade time scales with polymer length as $\tau_d \sim N^\beta$, with $\beta=1+2\nu$, whereas some recent studies with different polymer models produce results consistent with $\beta=2+\nu$, originally predicted by us. Here $\nu$ is the Flory exponent of the polymer; $\nu=0.75$ in 2D. In this paper we show that for the BFM if the simulations are extended to longer polymers, the purported scaling $\tau_d \sim N^{1+2\nu}$ ceases to hold. We characterize the finite-size effects, and study the mobility of individual monomers in the BFM. In particular, we find that in the BFM, in the vicinity of the pore the individual monomeric mobilities are heavily suppressed in the direction perpendicular to the membrane. After a modification of the BFM which counters this suppression (but possibly introduces other artifacts in the dynamics), the apparent exponent $\beta$ increases significantly. Our conclusion is that BFM simulations do not rule out our theoretical prediction for unbiased translocation, namely $\beta=2+\nu$.Comment: minor proofreading corrections, 23 pages (double spacing), 7 figures, published versio

CAUSES OF DISPOSAL OF MURRAH BUFFALO FROM AN ORGANISED HERD

The present study comprised of 602 disposal records of adult Murrah buffaloes , spread over a period of 16 years from 1985 to 2000 at NDRI, Karnal, Haryana. Analysed data showed that the reproductive problems (38.62), low milk production (24.01) and udder problems (22.76) were the three major reasons of culling in adult Murrah buffaloes . The culling of cows due to involuntary reason (reproductive problems, udder problems and locomotive disorders) accounted for nearly 63.68 percent of total culling in Murrah buffaloes in the NDRI herd. The data revealed that maximum mortality occurred due to digestive problems accounting for 30.89 percent followed by cardio-vascular problems (26.02 percent), respiratory problems (21.14 percent), parasitic problems (8.13 percent) and uro-genital problems (5.69 percent). The results showed that there is a scope for further improvement in production and reproductive efficiency through better monitoring of reproduction and udder health status of the buffaloes. The high involuntary culling rate not only makes the dairy enterprises economically less profitable but also reduces the genetic improvement by lowering the selection differential for milk production

Polymers grafted to porous membranes

We study a single flexible chain molecule grafted to a membrane which has pores of size slightly larger than the monomer size. On both sides of the membrane there is the same solvent. When this solvent is good, i.e. when the polymer is described by a self avoiding walk, it can fairly easily penetrate the membrane, so that the average number of membrane crossings tends, for chain length $N\to\infty$, to a positive constant. The average numbers of monomers on either side of the membrane diverges in this limit, although their ratio becomes infinite. For a poor solvent, in contrast, the entire polymer is located, for large $N$, on one side of the membrane. For good and for theta solvents (ideal polymers) we find scaling laws, whose exponents can in the latter case be easily understood from the behaviour of random walks.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure

Temporal criticality in socio-technical systems

Socio-technical systems, where technological and human elements interact in a goal-oriented manner, provide important, functional support to our societies. We draw specific attention to the concept of timeliness that has been ubiquitously and integrally adopted as a quality standard in the {\it modus operandi\/} of socio-technical systems, but remains an underappreciated aspect. We point out that a variety of incentives, often reinforced by competitive pressures, prompt system operators to myopically optimize for cost- and time-efficiencies, running the risk of inadvertently pushing the systems towards the proverbial `edge of a cliff'. Invoking a stylized model for operational delays, we argue that this cliff edge is a true critical point -- identified as {\it temporal criticality\/} -- implying that system efficiency and robustness to perturbation are in tension with each other. Specifically for firm-to-firm production networks, we suggest that the proximity to temporal criticality is a possible route for solving the fundamental ``excess volatility puzzle'' in economics. Further, in generality for optimizing socio-technical systems, we propose that system operators incorporate a measure of resilience in their welfare functions.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, perspective paper, corrected copy-paste error in the abstrac

Near-infrared photoabsorption by C(60) dianions in a storage ring

We present a detailed study of the electronic structure and the stability of C(60) dianions in the gas phase. Monoanions were extracted from a plasma source and converted to dianions by electron transfer in a Na vapor cell. The dianions were then stored in an electrostatic ring, and their near-infrared absorption spectrum was measured by observation of laser induced electron detachment. From the time dependence of the detachment after photon absorption, we conclude that the reaction has contributions from both direct electron tunneling to the continuum and vibrationally assisted tunneling after internal conversion. This implies that the height of the Coulomb barrier confining the attached electrons is at least similar to 1.5 eV. For C(60)(2-) ions in solution electron spin resonance measurements have indicated a singlet ground state, and from the similarity of the absorption spectra we conclude that also the ground state of isolated C(60)(2-) ions is singlet. The observed spectrum corresponds to an electronic transition from a t(1u) lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) of C(60) to the t(1g) LUMO+1 level. The electronic levels of the dianion are split due to Jahn-Teller coupling to quadrupole deformations of the molecule, and a main absorption band at 10723 cm(-1) corresponds to a transition between the Jahn-Teller ground states. Also transitions from pseudorotational states with 200 cm(-1) and (probably) 420 cm(-1) excitation are observed. We argue that a very broad absorption band from about 11 500 cm(-1) to 13 500 cm(-1) consists of transitions to so-called cone states, which are Jahn-Teller states on a higher potential-energy surface, stabilized by a pseudorotational angular momentum barrier. A previously observed, high-lying absorption band for C(60)(-) may also be a transition to a cone state

Hubungan Laju Pertumbuhan Dengan Saat Berbunga Untuk Seleksi Kegenjahan Tanaman Pepaya

. The research has been conducted at Aripan Experimental Station , Indone- sian Fruit Research Institute at Solok from August 1999 to February 2000 in randomized block design with three repli- cations and 40 accessions of papaya as treatments were collected from West Sumatera, Bengkulu, South Sumatera, Lampung, and East Jawa. The research was using container trial in field. The parameters observed were relative growth rate, net assimilation rate, plant dry weight, plant height, leaf number, stem diameter, and flowering time. The results of the experiment indicated that growth rate and flowering time among accessions are enough variations. No correlation between growth rate component and flowering time of papaya. The experiment results indicated that selec- tion of early flowering papaya by exploited of plant growth rate can not be applied. Accesion No. 029 which indicated faster growth and early flowering can be used as an candidate of superior variety

Response of a Hexagonal Granular Packing under a Localized External Force: Exact Results

We study the response of a two-dimensional hexagonal packing of massless, rigid, frictionless spherical grains due to a vertically downward point force on a single grain at the top layer. We use a statistical approach, where each mechanically stable configuration of contact forces is equally likely. We show that this problem is equivalent to a correlated $q$-model. We find that the response is double-peaked, where the two peaks, sharp and single-grain diameter wide, lie on the two downward lattice directions emanating from the point of the application of the external force. For systems of finite size, the magnitude of these peaks decreases towards the bottom of the packing, while progressively a broader, central maximum appears between the peaks. The response behaviour displays a remarkable scaling behaviour with system size $N$: while the response in the bulk of the packing scales as $\frac{1}{N}$, on the boundary it is independent of $N$, so that in the thermodynamic limit only the peaks on the lattice directions persist. This qualitative behaviour is extremely robust, as demonstrated by our simulation results with different boundary conditions. We have obtained expressions of the response and higher correlations for any system size in terms of integers corresponding to an underlying discrete structure.Comment: Accepted for publication in JStat; 33 pages, 10 figures; Section 2.2 reorganized and rewritten; Details about the simulation procedure added in Sec.3.1. ; A new section, summarizing the final results and the calculation procedure adde

Sensitivity of the stress response function to packing preparation

A granular assembly composed of a collection of identical grains may pack under different microscopic configurations with microscopic features that are sensitive to the preparation history. A given configuration may also change in response to external actions such as compression, shearing etc. We show using a mechanical response function method developed experimentally and numerically, that the macroscopic stress profiles are strongly dependent on these preparation procedures. These results were obtained for both two and three dimensions. The method reveals that, under a given preparation history, the macroscopic symmetries of the granular material is affected and in most cases significant departures from isotropy should be observed. This suggests a new path toward a non-intrusive test of granular material constitutive properties.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures, some numerical data corrected, to appear in J. Phys. Cond. Mat. special issue on Granular Materials (M. Nicodemi Editor