Effect of Thermal Undulations on the Bending Elasticity and Spontaneous Curvature of Fluid Membranes

We amplify previous arguments why mean curvature should be used as measure of integration in calculating the effective bending rigidity of fluid membranes subjected to a weak background curvature. The stiffening of the membrane by its fluctuations, recently derived for spherical shapes, is recovered for cylindrical curvature. Employing curvilinear coordinates, we then discuss stiffening for arbitrary shapes, confirm that the elastic modulus of Gaussian curvature is not renormalized in the presence of fluctuations, and show for the first time that any spontaneous curvature also remains unchanged.Comment: 26 pages, 2 figures, to appear in EPJ

Interacting Crumpled Manifolds: Exact Results to all Orders of Perturbation Theory

In this letter, we report progress on the field theory of polymerized tethered membranes. For the toy-model of a manifold repelled by a single point, we are able to sum the perturbation expansion in the strength g of the interaction exactly in the limit of internal dimension D -> 2. This exact solution is the starting point for an expansion in 2-D, which aims at connecting to the well studied case of polymers (D=1). We here give results to order (2-D)^4, where again all orders in g are resummed. This is a first step towards a more complete solution of the self-avoiding manifold problem, which might also prove valuable for polymers.Comment: 8 page

Livro Digital Comemorativo aos 70 anos do ICBNA: as novas tecnologias preservando a história da inserção cultural estadunidense em Porto Alegre

Este artigo apresenta o processo criacional do livro digital comemorativo aos 70 anos do Instituto Cultural Brasileiro Norte-Americano - ICBNA. O texto atenta para a diversidade de fontes da instituição e como as mesmas foram adaptadas a “era digital”, buscando contribuir com a historiografia acerca do tema, revelando não apenas como se deu o processo de inserção cultural estadunidense na capital, mas também como a cultura e as novas tecnologias podem andar lado a lado na construção do conhecimento histórico e na preservação do patrimônio cultural.Sem bols

Virtual Case Management: Can a State Agency Realistically Survive Without Paper?

In the fall of 2000 the state of Illinois Department of Human Services, Office of Rehabilitation Services (ORS), introduced its new Virtual Case Management System, (VCM). This exciting new concept in case management greatly reduces paperwork and labor-intensive handling of customer files. VCM streamlines status movements, reduces errors and improves timelines of services. Illinois continues to upgrade its new technology to include time saving features and assure safe, confidential treatment of customer information

Development of a Nested PCR Method for Detection of Mycoplasma Bovis in Preserved Milk Samples

A nested PCR method was developed and validated for detection of Mycoplasma bovis in milk samples preserved with bronopol. A previously described, randomly cloned DNA fragment was sequenced. This sequence information was used to develop a set of internal primers for a nested PCR assay. Cationic surfactant purification was used to eliminate milk protein substances that inhibit amplification. Serial diluted seeded milk samples were used to determine a sensitivity of 5.1 CFU equivalents/ml of milk. Specificity of the assay was confirmed testing against 7 other mycoplasma species and 11 other mastitis organisms. A comparison of culture, with blind passage, to the nested PCR reaction was performed on clinical field milk samples from M. bovis affected and M. bovis free herds. The nested PCR method was more sensitive than culture (~5 CFU/ml), specific for M. bovis, effective with preserved milk, and could be completed in less than one day. This may provide a practical, rapid, cost effective procedure to screen for clinical and subclinical M. bovis carriers using routinely obtained preservative-treated milk samples

Field theory of interacting crumpled manifolds

The effect of a (delta)-interaction on a polymerized membrane of arbitrary internal dimension D has been studied. Depending on the dimensionality of membrane and embedding space, different physical scenarios are observed: The delocalization of a membrane from an attractive defect as well as steric repulsions. The difference of polymers from membranes is emphasized. For the latter, non-trivial contributions appear at the 2-loop level. Furthermore, a "massive scheme" inspired by calculations in fixed dimensions for scalar field theories has been exploited. Despite the fact that these calculations are only amenable numerically, it has been found that in the limit of D->2 each diagram can be evaluated analytically. This property extends in fact to any order in perturbation theory, allowing for a summation of all orders. An analytically continued expression for the effective coupling of membranes in the scaling limit of large sizes as compared to the microscopic cutoff is obtained. Finally, the construction of an expansion of the effective coupling about D=2 is presented. Applications to the case of self-avoiding membranes are mentioned