2,883 research outputs found
Zirconium metal-water oxidation kinetics. I. Thermometry
A description is given of the thermometry techniques used in the Zirconium Metal--Water Oxidation Kinetics Program. Temperature measurements in the range 900 to 1500C are made in three experimental systems: two oxidation apparatuses and the annealing furnace used in a corollary study of the diffusion of oxygen in -Zircaloy. Carefully calibrated Pt vs Pt--10 percent Rh thermocouples are employed in all three apparatuses, while a Pt--6 percent Rh vs Pt-- 30 percent Rh thermocouple and an optical pyrometer are used in addition in the annealing furnace. Features of the experimental systems pertaining to thermocouple installation, temperature control, emf measurements, etc. are described, and potential temperature-measurement error sources are discussed in detail. The accuracy of the temperature measurements is analyzed
Interband mixing between two-dimensional states localized in a surface quantum well and heavy hole states of the valence band in narrow gap semiconductor
Theoretical calculations in the framework of Kane model have been carried out
in order to elucidate the role of interband mixing in forming the energy
spectrum of two-dimensional carriers, localized in a surface quantum well in
narrow gap semiconductor. Of interest was the mixing between the 2D states and
heavy hole states in the volume of semiconductor. It has been shown that the
interband mixing results in two effects: the broadening of 2D energy levels and
their shift, which are mostly pronounced for semiconductors with high doping
level. The interband mixing has been found to influence mostly the effective
mass of 2D carriers for large their concentration, whereas it slightly changes
the subband distribution in a wide concentration range.Comment: 12 pages (RevTEX) and 4 PostScript-figure
Tunnelling Studies of Two-Dimensional States in Semiconductors with Inverted Band Structure: Spin-orbit Splitting, Resonant Broadening
The results of tunnelling studies of the energy spectrum of two-dimensional
(2D) states in a surface quantum well in a semiconductor with inverted band
structure are presented. The energy dependence of quasimomentum of the 2D
states over a wide energy range is obtained from the analysis of tunnelling
conductivity oscillations in a quantizing magnetic field. The spin-orbit
splitting of the energy spectrum of 2D states, due to inversion asymmetry of
the surface quantum well, and the broadening of 2D states at the energies, when
they are in resonance with the heavy hole valence band, are investigated in
structures with different strength of the surface quantum well. A quantitative
analysis is carried out within the framework of the Kane model of the energy
spectrum. The theoretical results are in good agreement with the tunnelling
spectroscopy data.Comment: 29 pages, RevTeX, submitted in Phys.Rev.B. Figures available on
request from [email protected]
Higher-order scalar interactions and SM vacuum stability
Investigation of the structure of the Standard Model effective potential at
very large field strengths opens a window towards new phenomena and can reveal
properties of the UV completion of the SM. The map of the lifetimes of the
vacua of the SM enhanced by nonrenormalizable scalar couplings has been
compiled to show how new interactions modify stability of the electroweak
vacuum. Whereas it is possible to stabilize the SM by adding Planck scale
suppressed interactions and taking into account running of the new couplings,
the generic effect is shortening the lifetime and hence further destabilisation
of the SM electroweak vacuum. These findings have been illustrated with phase
diagrams of modified SM-like models. It has been demonstrated that
stabilisation can be achieved by lowering the suppression scale of higher order
operators while picking up such combinations of new couplings, which do not
deepen the new minima of the potential. Our results show the dependence of the
lifetime of the electroweak minimum on the magnitude of the new couplings,
including cases with very small couplings (which means very large effective
suppression scale) and couplings vastly different in magnitude (which
corresponds to two different suppression scales).Comment: plain Latex, 9 figure
Conformal Invariance and Cosmic Background Radiation
The spectrum and statistics of the cosmic microwave background radiation
(CMBR) are investigated under the hypothesis that scale invariance of the
primordial density fluctuations should be promoted to full conformal
invariance. As in the theory of critical phenomena, this hypothesis leads in
general to deviations from naive scaling. The spectral index of the two-point
function of density fluctuations is given in terms of the quantum trace anomaly
and is greater than one, leading to less power at large distance scales than a
strict Harrison-Zel'dovich spectrum. Conformal invariance also implies
non-gaussian statistics for the higher point correlations and in particular, it
completely determines the large angular dependence of the three-point
correlations of the CMBR.Comment: 4 pages, Revtex file, uuencoded with one figur
Physical States of the Quantum Conformal Factor
The conformal factor of the spacetime metric becomes dynamical due to the
trace anomaly of matter fields. Its dynamics is described by an effective
action which we quantize by canonical methods on the Einstein universe . We find an infinite tower of discrete states which satisfy the
constraints of quantum diffeomorphism invariance. These physical states are in
one-to-one correspondence with operators constructed by integrating integer
powers of the Ricci scalar.Comment: PlainTeX File, 34 page
Clocking hadronization in relativistic heavy ion collisions with balance functions
A novel state of matter has been hypothesized to exist during the early stage
of relativistic heavy ion collisions, with normal hadrons not appearing until
several fm/c after the start of the reaction. To test this hypothesis,
correlations between charges and their associated anticharges are evaluated
with the use of balance functions. It is shown that late-stage hadronization is
characterized by tightly correlated charge/anticharge pairs when measured as a
function of relative rapidity.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
In Vivo Assessment of Parenteral Formulations of Oligo(3-Hydroxybutyric Acid) Conjugates with the Model Compound Ibuprofen
Polymer-drug conjugates have gained significant attention as pro-drugs releasing an active substance as a result of enzymatic hydrolysis in physiological environment. In this study, a conjugate of 3-hydroxybutyric acid oligomers with a carboxylic acid group-bearing model drug (ibuprofen) was evaluated in vivo as a potential pro-drug for parenteral administration. Two different formulations, an oily solution and an o/w emulsion were prepared and administered intramuscularly (IM) to rabbits in a dose corresponding to 40 mg of ibuprofen/kilogramme. The concentration of ibuprofen in blood plasma was analysed by HPLC, following solid–phase extraction and using indometacin as internal standard (detection limit, 0.05 μg/ml). No significant differences in the pharmacokinetic parameters (Cmax, Tmax, AUC) were observed between the two tested formulations of the 3-hydroxybutyric acid conjugate. In comparison to the non-conjugated drug in oily solution, the relative bioavailability of ibuprofen conjugates from oily solution, and o/w emulsion was reduced to 17% and 10%, respectively. The 3-hydroxybutyric acid formulations released the active substance over a significantly extended period of time with ibuprofen still being detectable 24 h post-injection, whereas the free compound was almost completely eliminated as early as 6 h after administration. The conjugates remained in a muscle tissue for a prolonged time and can hence be considered as sustained release systems for carboxylic acid derivatives
Fragment Flow and the Nuclear Equation of State
We use the Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck model with a momentum-dependent
nuclear mean field to simulate the dynamical evolution of heavy ion collisions.
We re-examine the azimuthal anisotropy observable, proposed as sensitive to the
equation of state of nuclear matter. We obtain that this sensitivity is maximal
when the azimuthal anisotropy is calculated for nuclear composite fragments, in
agreement with some previous calculations. As a test case we concentrate on
semi-central collisions at 400 MeV.Comment: 12 pages, ReVTeX 3.0. 12 Postscript figures, uuencoded and appende
Simulating the Mammalian Blastocyst - Molecular and Mechanical Interactions Pattern the Embryo
Mammalian embryogenesis is a dynamic process involving gene expression and mechanical forces between proliferating cells. The exact nature of these interactions, which determine the lineage patterning of the trophectoderm and endoderm tissues occurring in a highly regulated manner at precise periods during the embryonic development, is an area of debate. We have developed a computational modeling framework for studying this process, by which the combined effects of mechanical and genetic interactions are analyzed within the context of proliferating cells. At a purely mechanical level, we demonstrate that the perpendicular alignment of the animal-vegetal (a-v) and embryonic-abembryonic (eb-ab) axes is a result of minimizing the total elastic conformational energy of the entire collection of cells, which are constrained by the zona pellucida. The coupling of gene expression with the mechanics of cell movement is important for formation of both the trophectoderm and the endoderm. In studying the formation of the trophectoderm, we contrast and compare quantitatively two hypotheses: (1) The position determines gene expression, and (2) the gene expression determines the position. Our model, which couples gene expression with mechanics, suggests that differential adhesion between different cell types is a critical determinant in the robust endoderm formation. In addition to differential adhesion, two different testable hypotheses emerge when considering endoderm formation: (1) A directional force acts on certain cells and moves them into forming the endoderm layer, which separates the blastocoel and the cells of the inner cell mass (ICM). In this case the blastocoel simply acts as a static boundary. (2) The blastocoel dynamically applies pressure upon the cells in contact with it, such that cell segregation in the presence of differential adhesion leads to the endoderm formation. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to combine cell-based spatial mechanical simulations with genetic networks to explain mammalian embryogenesis. Such a framework provides the means to test hypotheses in a controlled in silico environment
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