316 research outputs found
Formulation of design guidelines for automated robotic assembly in outerspace
The approach for arriving at design guidelines for assembly by robots in outerspace is illustrated. The use of robots in a zero gravity environment necessitates that extra factors over and above normal design guidelines be taken into account. Besides, many of the guidelines for assembly by robots on earth do not apply in space. However, considering the axioms for normal design and assembly as one set, guidelines for design and robotic assembly as another, and guidelines for design and assembly in space as the third set, unions and intersections of these sets can generate guidelines for two or more of these conditions taken together - say design and manual assembly in space. Therein lies the potential to develop expert systems in the future, which would use an exhaustive database and similar guidelines to arrive at those required by a superposition of these conditions
Geometric expansion of the log-partition function of the anisotropic Heisenberg model
We study the asymptotic expansion of the log-partition function of the
anisotropic Heisenberg model in a bounded domain as this domain is dilated to
infinity. Using the Ginibre's representation of the anisotropic Heisenberg
model as a gas of interacting trajectories of a compound Poisson process we
find all the non-decreasing terms of this expansion. They are given explicitly
in terms of functional integrals. As the main technical tool we use the cluster
expansion method.Comment: 38 page
Abstract cluster expansion with applications to statistical mechanical systems
We formulate a general setting for the cluster expansion method and we discuss sufficient criteria for its convergence. We apply the results to systems of classical and quantum particles with stable interactions
Bipolar polaron pair recombination in P3HT/PCBM solar cells
The unique properties of organic semiconductors make them versatile base
materials for many applications ranging from light emitting diodes to
transistors. The low spin-orbit coupling typical for carbon-based materials and
the resulting long spin lifetimes give rise to a large influence of the
electron spin on charge transport which can be exploited in spintronic devices
or to improve solar cell efficiencies. Magnetic resonance techniques are
particularly helpful to elucidate the microscopic structure of paramagnetic
states in semiconductors as well as the transport processes they are involved
in. However, in organic devices the nature of the dominant spin-dependent
processes is still subject to considerable debate. Using multi-frequency pulsed
electrically detected magnetic resonance (pEDMR), we show that the
spin-dependent response of P3HT/PCBM solar cells at low temperatures is
governed by bipolar polaron pair recombination involving the positive and
negative polarons in P3HT and PCBM, respectively, thus excluding a unipolar
bipolaron formation as the main contribution to the spin-dependent charge
transfer in this temperature regime. Moreover the polaron-polaron coupling
strength and the recombination times of polaron pairs with parallel and
antiparallel spins are determined. Our results demonstrate that the pEDMR pulse
sequences recently developed for inorganic semiconductor devices can very
successfully be transferred to the study of spin and charge transport in
organic semiconductors, in particular when the different polarons can be
distinguished spectrally
Seasonal and interannual variability in abundance and population development of Calanus finmarchicus at the western entrance to the Barents Sea, 1995–2019
Data on copepodid abundance and stage composition of Calanus finmarchicus was collected with seasonal resolution (5–6 times a year) from four stations along an oceanographic transect across the western Barents Sea Opening over 25 years (1995–2019). The stations were located in the Norwegian Coastal Current (NCC), inflowing Atlantic water (two stations), and near the Arctic polar front south of Bear Island. Mean copepodite abundance in the water column for the four stations increased from a level around 1000–10,000 individuals m−2 in winter to 30,000–100,000 individuals m−2 in summer (maximum 670,000 m−2). The overwintering (G0) population was dominated by copepodite stage 5 (CV) (40–70%) but with a relatively high fraction also of stage CIV (25–35%) in January. During winter, there was a progressive development of CVs into adult males and females, with mean abundances from 1500 to 4000 adult females m−2 in April and May for the stations in the NCC and Atlantic water. Young copepodids of the new spring generation (G1) appeared with relatively high abundances in April at the NCC station and in May at the Atlantic water stations. The data showed a gradient of later development from south to north, reflected both in the maturation of the overwintering generation and in the development of the spring generation. Back-calculations based on temperature-dependent development time suggested peak spawning around late April to mid-May for the Atlantic water stations, and a month or so earlier (in March) for the NCC station, during an early phase of the spring phytoplankton growth. The spring generation developed as a distinct cohort but with large interannual variability in numbers. In Atlantic water, the composition of the copepodid developmental stages in August resembled the situation in June, although it was slightly more advanced. This is interpreted to reflect development of a second generation (G2) spawned upstream sometime in June or early July. The June data suggests that only a small fraction of the G1 cohort develops into adults that spawn and form the G2. There was a tendency of increased summer abundance of C. finmarchicus in the inflow region of the southwestern Barents Sea after about 2005. This may be related to the wind regime with more eastward wind-stress at the Barents Sea opening in recent ‘high Calanus’ years compared to ‘low Calanus’ years in the early 2000s.publishedVersio
Knockdown of embryonic myosin heavy chain reveals an essential role in the morphology and function of the developing heart
The expression and function of embryonic myosin heavy chain (eMYH) has not been investigated within the early developing heart. This is despite the knowledge that other structural proteins, such as alpha and beta myosin heavy chains and cardiac alpha actin, play crucial roles in atrial septal development and cardiac function. Most cases of atrial septal defects and cardiomyopathy are not associated with a known causative gene, suggesting that further analysis into candidate genes is required. Expression studies localised eMYH in the developing chick heart. eMYH knockdown was achieved using morpholinos in a temporal manner and functional studies were carried out using electrical and calcium signalling methodologies. Knockdown in the early embryo led to abnormal atrial septal development and heart enlargement. Intriguingly, action potentials of the eMYH knockdown hearts were abnormal in comparison with the alpha and beta myosin heavy chain knockdowns and controls. Although myofibrillogenesis appeared normal, in knockdown hearts the tissue integrity was affected owing to apparent focal points of myocyte loss and an increase in cell death. An expression profile of human skeletal myosin heavy chain genes suggests that human myosin heavy chain 3 is the functional homologue of the chick eMYH gene. These data provide compelling evidence that eMYH plays a crucial role in important processes in the early developing heart and, hence, is a candidate causative gene for atrial septal defects and cardiomyopathy
Interpreting Attoclock Measurements of Tunnelling Times
Resolving in time the dynamics of light absorption by atoms and molecules,
and the electronic rearrangement this induces, is among the most challenging
goals of attosecond spectroscopy. The attoclock is an elegant approach to this
problem, which encodes ionization times in the strong-field regime. However,
the accurate reconstruction of these times from experimental data presents a
formidable theoretical challenge. Here, we solve this problem by combining
analytical theory with ab-initio numerical simulations. We apply our theory to
numerical attoclock experiments on the hydrogen atom to extract ionization time
delays and analyse their nature. Strong field ionization is often viewed as
optical tunnelling through the barrier created by the field and the core
potential. We show that, in the hydrogen atom, optical tunnelling is
instantaneous. By calibrating the attoclock using the hydrogen atom, our method
opens the way to identify possible delays associated with multielectron
dynamics during strong-field ionization.Comment: 33 pages, 10 figures, 3 appendixe
Sub-Poissonian statistics in order-to-chaos transition
We study the phenomena at the overlap of quantum chaos and nonclassical
statistics for the time-dependent model of nonlinear oscillator. It is shown in
the framework of Mandel Q-parameter and Wigner function that the statistics of
oscillatory excitation number is drastically changed in order-to chaos
transition. The essential improvement of sub-Poissonian statistics in
comparison with an analogous one for the standard model of driven anharmonic
oscillator is observed for the regular operational regime. It is shown that in
the chaotic regime the system exhibits the range of sub- and super-Poissonian
statistics which alternate one to other depending on time intervals. Unusual
dependence of the variance of oscillatory number on the external noise level
for the chaotic dynamics is observed.Comment: 9 pages, RevTeX, 14 figure
The response of perennial and temporary headwater stream invertebrate communities to hydrological extremes
The headwaters of karst rivers experience considerable hydrological variability, including spates and streambed drying. Extreme summer flooding on the River Lathkill (Derbyshire, UK) provided the opportunity to examine the invertebrate community response to unseasonal spate flows, flow recession and, at temporary sites, streambed drying. Invertebrates were sampled at sites with differing flow permanence regimes during and after the spates. Following streambed drying at temporary sites, dewatered surface sediments were investigated as a refugium for aquatic invertebrates. Experimental rehydration of these dewatered sediments was conducted to promote development of desiccation-tolerant life stages. At perennial sites, spate flows reduced invertebrate abundance and diversity, whilst at temporary sites, flow reactivation facilitated rapid colonisation of the surface channel by a limited number of invertebrate taxa. Following streambed drying, 38 taxa were recorded from the dewatered and rehydrated sediments, with Oligochaeta being the most abundant taxon and Chironomidae (Diptera) the most diverse. Experimental rehydration of dewatered sediments revealed the presence of additional taxa, including Stenophylax sp. (Trichoptera: Limnephilidae) and Nemoura sp. (Plecoptera: Nemouridae). The influence of flow permanence on invertebrate community composition was apparent despite the aseasonal high-magnitude flood events
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