Model for the hydrogen adsorption on carbon nanostructures

The hydrogen sorption capacity of carbon nanostructures was for several years a very controversial subject. Theoretical models have been published demonstrating a great potential for a large hydrogen sorption capacity of carbon nanostructures. Here we present a simple empirical model where condensation of hydrogen as a monolayer at the surface of nanotubes as well as bulk condensation in the cavity of the tube is assumed. The maximum potential amount of hydrogen absorbed according to the model was calculated to be 2.28×10-3mass % S[m2g-1]=3.0mass % for the adsorption of a monolayer hydrogen at the surface. The condensation of hydrogen in the cavity of the tube leads to a potential absorption for single wall nanotubes starting at 1.5mass % and increasing with the diameter of the tubes. The experimentally measured hydrogen capacity of the nanotube samples correlates with the B.E.T. specific surface area. The slope of the linear relationship is 1.5×10-3mass %/m2g-1. Therefore, the extrapolated maximum discharge capacity of a carbon sample is 2mass %. Furthermore, it can be concluded, that the hydrogen sorption mechanism is related to the surface of the sample, i.e. a surface adsorption proces

ANOMALOUS PERTURBATIVE TRANSPORT IN TOKAMAKS DUE TO DRIFT-WAVE TURBULENCE

A new method for calculating the anomalous transport in tokamak plasmas is presented. The renormalized nonlinear plasma response function is derived using the direct-interaction approximation (DIA). A complete calculation for the case of electrostatic drift-wave turbulence is presented. Explicit expressions for all coefficients of the anomalous transport matrix relating particle and heat fluxes to density and temperature gradients in the plasma are obtained. The anomalous transport matrix calculated using the DIA does not have the Onsager symmetry. As an example of application, the parameters of the Texas Experimental Tokamak (TEXT) [Nucl. Technol. Fusion 1, 479 (1981)] are used to evaluate all transport coefficients numerically, as well as the spectrum modulation. The relation between the theoretical results and the experimental data is discussed. Although this paper focuses on electron transport for simplicity, the method can also be used to calculate anomalous transport due to ion instabilities, such as the ion-temperature-gradient instability

Pseudorandom Generators without the XOR Lemma

Impagliazzo and Wigderson have recently shown that if there exists a decision problem solvable in time 2^{O(n)} and having circuit complexity 2^{Omega(n)} (for all but finitely many n) then P=BPP. This result is a culmination of a series of works showing connections between the existence of hard predicates and the existence of good pseudorandom generators. The construction of Impagliazzo and Wigderson goes through three phases of "hardness amplification" (a multivariate polynomial encoding, a first derandomized XOR Lemma, and a second derandomized XOR Lemma) that are composed with the Nisan-Wigderson generator. In this paper we present two different approaches to proving the main result of Impagliazzo and Wigderson. In developing each approach, we introduce new techniques and prove new results that could be useful in future improvements and/or applications of hardness-randomness trade-offs. Our first result is that when (a modified version of) the Nisan-Wigderson generator construction is applied with a "mildly" hard predicate, the result is a generator that produces a distribution indistinguishable from having large min-entropy. An extractor can then be used to produce a distribution computationally indistinguishable from uniform. This is the first construction of a pseudorandom generator that works with a mildly hard predicate without doing hardness amplification. We then show that in the Impagliazzo-Wigderson construction only the first hardness-amplification phase (encoding with multivariate polynomial) is necessary, since it already gives the required average-case hardness. We prove this result by (i) establishing a connection between the hardness-amplification problem and a list-decoding problem for error-correcting codes; and (ii) presenting a list-decoding algorithm for error-correcting codes based on multivariate polynomials that improves and simplifies a previous one by Arora and Sudan.Engineering and Applied Science

Breast and Cervical Cancer Disparities in Alabama: Current Scenario, Ongoing Efforts to Reduce the Disparity Gaps, and What More We Could be Doing

Over the years, we have made considerable progress in our understanding of the biology of various cancers leading to advancements in cancer management strategies. Consequently, we have witnessed steady improvement in survival rates of cancer patients post-diagnosis, although the progress has been slow for some cancer types. Moreover, the advances in cancer care have not equally benefited all the minority and ethnic populations residing in the United States. The state of Alabama has one of the most diverse demographics in the country and as a result, we witness significant health disparities among our populations. Breast and cervical cancers are two major cancer types that disparately affect the women in our state. Here, we discuss the extent of disparities in the diagnosis and death rates from these cancers in the state of Alabama and potential underlying causes affecting the health outcomes. We also discuss ongoing efforts undertaken to reduce the disparity gaps and provide a perspective for addressing these disparities more effectively. &nbsp

Utilizing field collected insects for next generation sequencing: effects of sampling, storage and DNA extraction methods

DNA sequencing technologies continue to advance the biological sciences, expanding opportunities for genomic studies of non‐model organisms for basic and applied questions. Despite these opportunities, many next generation sequencing protocols have been developed assuming a substantial quantity of high molecular weight DNA (>100 ng), which can be difficult to obtain for many study systems. In particular, the ability to sequence field‐collected specimens that exhibit varying levels of DNA degradation remains largely unexplored. In this study we investigate the influence of five traditional insect capture and curation methods on Double‐Digest Restriction Enzyme Associated DNA (ddRAD) sequencing success for three wild bee species. We sequenced a total of 105 specimens (between 7–13 specimens per species and treatment). We additionally investigated how different DNA quality metrics (including pre‐sequence concentration and contamination) predicted downstream sequencing success, and also compared two DNA extraction methods. We report successful library preparation for all specimens, with all treatments and extraction methods producing enough highly reliable loci for population genetic analyses. Although results varied between species, we found that specimens collected by net sampling directly into 100% EtOH, or by passive trapping followed by 100% EtOH storage before pinning tended to produce higher quality ddRAD assemblies, likely as a result of rapid specimen desiccation. Surprisingly, we found that specimens preserved in propylene glycol during field sampling exhibited lower‐quality assemblies. We provide recommendations for each treatment, extraction method, and DNA quality assessment, and further encourage researchers to consider utilizing a wider variety of specimens for genomic analysesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Small-scale-field Dynamo

Generation of magnetic field energy, without mean field generation, is studied. Isotropic mirror-symmetric turbulence of a conducting fluid amplifies the energy of small-scale magnetic perturbations if the magnetic Reynolds number is high, and the dimensionality of space d satisfies 2.103 < d <8.765. The result does not depend on the model of turbulence, incompressibility and isotropy being the only requirements.Comment: 11 pages Plain TeX, no figures, Accepted by Phys. Rev. Let

Mode-coupling and nonlinear Landau damping effects in auroral Farley-Buneman turbulence

The fundamental problem of Farley-Buneman turbulence in the auroral $E$-region has been discussed and debated extensively in the past two decades. In the present paper we intend to clarify the different steps that the auroral $E$-region plasma has to undergo before reaching a steady state. The mode-coupling calculation, for Farley-Buneman turbulence, is developed in order to place it in perspective and to estimate its magnitude relative to the anomalous effects which arise through the nonlinear wave-particle interaction. This nonlinear effect, known as nonlinear ``Landau damping'' is due to the coupling of waves which produces other waves which in turn lose energy to the bulk of the particles by Landau damping. This leads to a decay of the wave energy and consequently a heating of the plasma. An equation governing the evolution of the field spectrum is derived and a physical interpration for each of its terms is provided

Index

The interest in relativistic beam-plasma instabilities has been greatly rejuvenated over the past two decades by novel concepts in laboratory and space plasmas. Recent advances in this long-standing field are here reviewed from both theoretical and numerical points of view. The primary focus is on the two-dimensional spectrum of unstable electromagnetic waves growing within relativistic, unmagnetized, and uniform electron beam-plasma systems. Although the goal is to provide a unified picture of all instability classes at play, emphasis is put on the potentially dominant waves propagating obliquely to the beam direction, which have received little attention over the years. First, the basic derivation of the general dielectric function of a kinetic relativistic plasma is recalled. Next, an overview of two-dimensional unstable spectra associated with various beam-plasma distribution functions is given. Both cold-fluid and kinetic linear theory results are reported, the latter being based on waterbag and Maxwell–Jüttner model distributions. The main properties of the competing modes (developing parallel, transverse, and oblique to the beam) are given, and their respective region of dominance in the system parameter space is explained. Later sections address particle-in-cell numerical simulations and the nonlinear evolution of multidimensional beam-plasma systems. The elementary structures generated by the various instability classes are first discussed in the case of reduced-geometry systems. Validation of linear theory is then illustrated in detail for large-scale systems, as is the multistaged character of the nonlinear phase. Finally, a collection of closely related beam-plasma problems involving additional physical effects is presented, and worthwhile directions of future research are outlined.Original Publication: Antoine Bret, Laurent Gremillet and Mark Eric Dieckmann, Multidimensional electron beam-plasma instabilities in the relativistic regime, 2010, Physics of Plasmas, (17), 12, 120501-1-120501-36. http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3514586 Copyright: American Institute of Physics http://www.aip.org/</p

New high magnetic field phase of the frustrated S=1/2S=1/2 chain compound LiCuVO4_4

Magnetization of the frustrated $S=1/2$ chain compound LiCuVO$_4$, focusing on high magnetic field phases, is reported. Besides a spin-flop transition and the transition from a planar spiral to a spin modulated structure observed recently, an additional transition was observed just below the saturation field. This newly observed magnetic phase is considered as a spin nematic phase, which was predicted theoretically but was not observed experimentally. The critical fields of this phase and its dM/dH curve are in good agreement with calculations performed in a microscopic model (M. E. Zhitomirsky and H. Tsunetsugu, preprint, arXiv:1003.4096v2).Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure