The mechanical response of semiflexible networks to localized perturbations

Previous research on semiflexible polymers including cytoskeletal networks in cells has suggested the existence of distinct regimes of elastic response, in which the strain field is either uniform (affine) or non-uniform (non-affine) under external stress. Associated with these regimes, it has been further suggested that a new fundamental length scale emerges, which characterizes the scale for the crossover from non-affine to affine deformations. Here, we extend these studies by probing the response to localized forces and force dipoles. We show that the previously identified nonaffinity length [D.A. Head et al. PRE 68, 061907 (2003).] controls the mesoscopic response to point forces and the crossover to continuum elastic behavior at large distances.Comment: 16 pages, 18 figures; substantial changes to text and figures to clarify the crossover to continuum elasticity and the role of finite-size effect

Tapinarof in the treatment of psoriasis: A review of the unique mechanism of action of a novel therapeutic AhR modulating agent (TAMA)

Tapinarof, a novel, first-in-class small-molecule topical therapeutic aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) modulating agent (TAMA), is in clinical development for the treatment of psoriasis and atopic dermatitis. The efficacy of tapinarof in psoriasis is attributed to its specific binding and activation of AhR, a ligand-dependent transcription factor, leading to the downregulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including interleukin-17, and regulation of skin barrier protein expression to promote skin barrier normalization. AhR signaling regulates gene expression in immune cells and skin cells, and has critical roles in the regulation of skin homeostasis. Tapinarof-mediated AhR signaling underlies the mechanistic basis for the significant efficacy and acceptable tolerability observed in early phase clinical trials of tapinarof cream in the treatment of psoriasis

Coupled dynamics of voltage and calcium in paced cardiac cells

We investigate numerically and analytically the coupled dynamics of transmembrane voltage and intracellular calcium cycling in paced cardiac cells using a detailed physiological model and its reduction to a three-dimensional discrete map. The results provide a theoretical framework to interpret various experimentally observed modes of instability ranging from electromechanically concordant and discordant alternans to quasiperiodic oscillations of voltage and calcium

Advocating Affordable Housing in New Hampshire: The Amicus Curiae Brief of the American Planning Association in Wayne Britton v. Town of Chester

In June 1990, The American Planning Association, a national Washington, D.C. based non-profit association of 27,000 professional planners, elected and appointed planning officials, and citizens interested in improving urban and rural planning filed this amicus curiae brief with the New Hampshire Supreme Court. The case on appeal is Wayne Britton v. Town of Chester, No. 85-E-342 (N.H. Super. Ct. June 27, 1989), brought by a builder/developer and low-income plaintiffs in need of affordable housing in Chester, New Hampshire

Planck's scale dissipative effects in atom interferometry

Atom interferometers can be used to study phenomena leading to irreversibility and dissipation, induced by the dynamics of fundamental objects (strings and branes) at a large mass scale. Using an effective, but physically consistent description in terms of a master equation of Lindblad form, the modifications of the interferometric pattern induced by the new phenomena are analyzed in detail. We find that present experimental devices can in principle provide stringent bounds on the new effects.Comment: 12 pages, plain-Te

Dimensionality dependent electronic structure of the exfoliated van der Waals antiferromagnet NiPS3_3

Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering (RIXS) was used to measure the local electronic structure in few-layer exfoliated flakes of the van der Waals antiferromagnet NiPS$_3$. The resulting spectra show a systematic softening and broadening of $NiS_6$ multiplet excitations with decreasing layer count from the bulk to three atomic layers (3L). These trends are driven by a decrease in the transition metal-ligand and ligand-ligand hopping integrals, and in the charge-transfer energy: $\Delta$ = 0.60 eV in the bulk and 0.22 eV in 3L NiPS$_3$. Relevant intralayer magnetic exchange integrals computed from the electronic parameters exhibit a systematic decrease in the average interaction strength with thickness and place 2D NiPS$_3$ close to the phase boundary between stripy and spiral antiferromagnetic order, which may explain the apparent vanishing of long-range order in the 2D limit. This study explicitly demonstrates the influence of $inter$layer electronic interactions on $intra$layer ones in insulating magnets. As a consequence, the magnetic Hamiltonian in few-layer insulating magnets can be significantly different from that in the bulk.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures; additional 9 pages and 13 figures of supplementary informatio

Images and nonlocal vortex pinning in thin superfluid films

For thin films of superfluid adsorbed on a disordered substrate, we derive the equation of motion for a vortex in the presence of a random potential within a mean field (Hartree) description of the condensate. The compressible nature of the condensate leads to an effective pinning potential experienced by the vortex which is nonlocal, with a long range tail that smoothes out the random potential coupling the condensate to the substrate. We interpret this nonlocality in terms of images, and relate the effective potential governing the dynamics to the pinning energy arising from the expectation value of the Hamiltonian with respect to the vortex wavefunction.Comment: 19 pages, revtex, to appear Phys. Rev.