Mechanical relations between conductive and radiative heat transfer

We present a general nonequilibrium Green's function formalism for modeling heat transfer in systems characterized by linear response that establishes the formal algebraic relationships between phonon and radiative conduction, and reveals how upper bounds for the former can also be applied to the latter. We also propose an extension of this formalism to treat systems susceptible to the interplay of conductive and radiative heat transfer, which becomes relevant in atomic systems and at nanometric and smaller separations where theoretical descriptions which treat each phenomenon separately may be insufficient. We illustrate the need for such coupled descriptions by providing predictions for a low-dimensional system of carbyne wires in which the total heat transfer can differ from the sum of its radiative and conductive contributions. Our framework has ramifications for understanding heat transfer between large bodies that may approach direct contact with each other or that may be coupled by atomic, molecular, or interfacial film junctions.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figures, 1 table, 2 appendice

Channel-based algebraic limits to conductive heat transfer

Recent experimental advances probing coherent phonon and electron transport in nanoscale devices at contact have motivated theoretical channel-based analyses of conduction based on the nonequilibrium Green's function formalism. The transmission through each channel has been known to be bounded above by unity, yet actual transmissions in typical systems often fall far below these limits. Building upon recently derived radiative heat transfer limits and a unified formalism characterizing heat transport for arbitrary bosonic systems in the linear regime, we propose new bounds on conductive heat transfer. In particular, we demonstrate that our limits are typically far tighter than the Landauer limits per channel and are close to actual transmission eigenvalues by examining a model of phonon conduction in a 1-dimensional chain. Our limits have ramifications for designing molecular junctions to optimize conduction.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, 2 appendice

Near-field Radiative Heat Transfer in Many-Body Systems

Many-body physics aims to understand emergent properties of systems made of many interacting objects. This article reviews recent progress on the topic of radiative heat transfer in many-body systems consisting of thermal emitters interacting in the near-field regime. Near-field radiative heat transfer is a rapidly emerging field of research in which the cooperative behavior of emitters gives rise to peculiar effects which can be exploited to control heat flow at the nanoscale. Using an extension of the standard Polder and van Hove stochastic formalism to deal with thermally generated fields in $N$-body systems, along with their mutual interactions through multiple scattering, a generalized Landauer-like theory is derived to describe heat exchange mediated by thermal photons in arbitrary reciprocal and non-reciprocal multi-terminal systems. In this review, we use this formalism to address both transport and dynamics in these systems from a unified perspective. Our discussion covers: (i) the description of non-additivity of heat flux and its related effects, including fundamental limits as well as the role of nanostructuring and material choice, (ii) the study of equilibrium states and multistable states, (iii) the relaxation dynamics (thermalization) toward local and global equilibria, (iv) the analysis of heat transport regimes in ordered and disordered systems comprised of a large number of objects, density and range of interactions, and (v) the description of thermomagnetic effects in magneto-optical systems and heat transport mechanisms in non-Hermitian many-body systems. We conclude this review by listing outstanding challenges and promising future research directions.Comment: 54 pages, 45 figure

Evaluating the impact of Mexico’s drug policy reforms on people who inject drugs in Tijuana, B.C., Mexico, and San Diego, CA, United States: a binational mixed methods research agenda

Background: Policymakers and researchers seek answers to how liberalized drug policies affect people who inject drugs (PWID). In response to concerns about the failing “war on drugs,” Mexico recently implemented drug policy reforms that partially decriminalized possession of small amounts of drugs for personal use while promoting drug treatment. Recognizing important epidemiologic, policy, and socioeconomic differences between the United States—where possession of any psychoactive drugs without a prescription remains illegal—and Mexico—where possession of small quantities for personal use was partially decriminalized, we sought to assess changes over time in knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and infectious disease profiles among PWID in the adjacent border cities of San Diego, CA, USA, and Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. Methods: Based on extensive binational experience and collaboration, from 2012–2014 we initiated two parallel, prospective, mixed methods studies: Proyecto El Cuete IV in Tijuana (n = 785) and the STAHR II Study in San Diego (n = 575). Methods for sampling, recruitment, and data collection were designed to be compatible in both studies. All participants completed quantitative behavioral and geographic assessments and serological testing (HIV in both studies; hepatitis C virus and tuberculosis in STAHR II) at baseline and four semi-annual follow-up visits. Between follow-up assessment visits, subsets of participants completed qualitative interviews to explore contextual factors relating to study aims and other emergent phenomena. Planned analyses include descriptive and inferential statistics for quantitative data, content analysis and other mixed-methods approaches for qualitative data, and phylogenetic analysis of HIV-positive samples to understand cross-border transmission dynamics. Results: Investigators and research staff shared preliminary findings across studies to provide feedback on instruments and insights regarding local phenomena. As a result, recruitment and data collection procedures have been implemented successfully, demonstrating the importance of binational collaboration in evaluating the impact of structural-level drug policy reforms on the behaviors, health, and wellbeing of PWID across an international border. Conclusions: Our prospective, mixed methods approach allows each study to be responsive to emerging phenomena within local contexts while regular collaboration promotes sharing insights across studies. The strengths and limitations of this approach may serve as a guide for other evaluations of harm reduction policies internationally

Injection of iodine to the stratosphere

© 2015. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. We report a new estimation of the injection of iodine into the stratosphere based on novel daytime (solar zenith angle < 45°) aircraft observations in the tropical tropopause layer and a global atmospheric model with the most recent knowledge about iodine photochemistry. The results indicate that significant levels of total reactive iodine (0.25-0.7 parts per trillion by volume), between 2 and 5 times larger than the accepted upper limits, can be injected into the stratosphere via tropical convective outflow. At these iodine levels, modeled iodine catalytic cycles account for up to 30% of the contemporary ozone loss in the tropical lower stratosphere and can exert a stratospheric ozone depletion potential equivalent to, or even larger than, that of very short-lived bromocarbons. Therefore, we suggest that iodine sources and chemistry need to be considered in assessments of the historical and future evolution of the stratospheric ozone layer.Peer Reviewe

Injection of iodine to the stratosphere

We report a new estimation of the injection of iodine into the stratosphere based on novel daytime (solar zenith angle < 45°) aircraft observations in the tropical tropopause layer and a global atmospheric model with the most recent knowledge about iodine photochemistry. The results indicate that significant levels of total reactive iodine (0.25-0.7 parts per trillion by volume), between 2 and 5 times larger than the accepted upper limits, can be injected into the stratosphere via tropical convective outflow. At these iodine levels, modeled iodine catalytic cycles account for up to 30% of the contemporary ozone loss in the tropical lower stratosphere and can exert a stratospheric ozone depletion potential equivalent to, or even larger than, that of very short-lived bromocarbons. Therefore, we suggest that iodine sources and chemistry need to be considered in assessments of the historical and future evolution of the stratospheric ozone layer.Fil: Saiz López, Alfonso. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto de Química Física; España. National Center For Atmospheric Research. Amospheric Chemistry División; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Baidar, S.. Cooperative Institute For Research In Environmental Science; Estados Unidos. State University of Colorado at Boulder; Estados UnidosFil: Cuevas, Carlos Alberto. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto de Química Física; EspañaFil: Koening, T. K.. State University of Colorado at Boulder; Estados UnidosFil: Fernandez, Rafael Pedro. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto de Química Física; España. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Dix, Barbara. State University of Colorado at Boulder; Estados UnidosFil: Douglas E. KINNISON. National Center For Atmospheric Research. Amospheric Chemistry División; Estados UnidosFil: Jean-Francoise LAMARQUE. National Center For Atmospheric Research. Amospheric Chemistry División; Estados UnidosFil: Xavier Rodriguez-Lloeveras. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto de Química Física; EspañaFil: Campos, T.L.. National Center For Atmospheric Research. Amospheric Chemistry División; Estados UnidosFil: Volkamer, Rainer. Cooperative Institute For Research In Environmental Science; Estados Unidos. State University of Colorado at Boulder; Estados Unido

Statistical properties of power-law random banded unitary matrices in the delocalization-localization transition regime

Power-law random banded unitary matrices (PRBUM), whose matrix elements decay in a power-law fashion, were recently proposed to model the critical statistics of the Floquet eigenstates of periodically driven quantum systems. In this work, we numerically study in detail the statistical properties of PRBUM ensembles in the delocalization-localization transition regime. In particular, implications of the delocalization-localization transition for the fractal dimension of the eigenvectors, for the distribution function of the eigenvector components, and for the nearest neighbor spacing statistics of the eigenphases are examined. On the one hand, our results further indicate that a PRBUM ensemble can serve as a unitary analog of the power-law random Hermitian matrix model for Anderson transition. On the other hand, some statistical features unseen before are found from PRBUM. For example, the dependence of the fractal dimension of the eigenvectors of PRBUM upon one ensemble parameter displays features that are quite different from that for the power-law random Hermitian matrix model. Furthermore, in the time-reversal symmetric case the nearest neighbor spacing distribution of PRBUM eigenphases is found to obey a semi-Poisson distribution for a broad range, but display an anomalous level repulsion in the absence of time-reversal symmetry.Comment: 10 pages + 13 fig

Management of cutaneous metastases using electrochemotherapy

Background. Cutaneous metastases may cause considerable discomfort as a consequence of ulceration, oozing, bleeding and pain. Electrochemotherapy has proven to be highly effective in the treatment of cutaneous metastases. Electrochemotherapy utilises pulses of electricity to increase the permeability of the cell membrane and thereby augment the effect of chemotherapy. For the drug bleomycin, the effect is enhanced several hundred-fold, enabling once-only treatment. The primary endpoint of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of electrochemotherapy as a palliative treatment. Methods. This phase II study is a collaboration between two centres, one in Denmark and the other in the UK. Patients with cutaneous metastases of any histology were included. Bleomycin was administered intratumourally or intravenously followed by application of electric pulses to the tumour site. Results. Fifty-two patients were included. Complete and partial response rate was 68% and 18%, respectively, for cutaneous metastases <3 cm and 8% and 23%, respectively, for cutaneous metastases >3 cm. Treatment was well-tolerated by patients, including the elderly, and no serious adverse events were observed. Conclusions. ECT is an efficient and safe treatment and clinicians should not hesitate to use it even in the elderly

Evidence for t\bar{t}\gamma Production and Measurement of \sigma_t\bar{t}\gamma / \sigma_t\bar{t}

Using data corresponding to 6.0/fb of ppbar collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV collected by the CDF II detector, we present a cross section measurement of top-quark pair production with an additional radiated photon. The events are selected by looking for a lepton, a photon, significant transverse momentum imbalance, large total transverse energy, and three or more jets, with at least one identified as containing a b quark. The ttbar+photon sample requires the photon to have 10 GeV or more of transverse energy, and to be in the central region. Using an event selection optimized for the ttbar+photon candidate sample we measure the production cross section of, and the ratio of cross sections of the two samples. Control samples in the dilepton+photon and lepton+photon+\met, channels are constructed to aid in decay product identification and background measurements. We observe 30 ttbar+photon candidate events compared to the standard model expectation of 26.9 +/- 3.4 events. We measure the ttbar+photon cross section to be 0.18+0.08 pb, and the ratio of the cross section of ttbar+photon to ttbar to be 0.024 +/- 0.009. Assuming no ttbar+photon production, we observe a probability of 0.0015 of the background events alone producing 30 events or more, corresponding to 3.0 standard deviations.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure