824 research outputs found
Isospectrality in Chaotic Billiards
We consider a modification of isospectral cavities whereby the classical
dynamics changes from pseudointegrable to chaotic. We construct an example
where we can prove that isospectrality is retained. We then demonstrate this
explicitly in microwave resonators.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figure
Efficient attack countermeasure selection accounting for recovery and action costs
The losses arising from a system being hit by cyber attacks can be staggeringly high, but defending against such attacks can also be costly. This work proposes an attack countermeasure selection approach based on cost impact analysis that takes into account the impacts of actions by both the attacker and the defender. We consider a networked system providing services whose functionality depends on other components in the network. We model the costs and losses to service availability from compromises and defensive actions to the components, and show that while containment of the attack can be an effective defense, it may be more cost-efficient to allow parts of the attack to continue further whilst focusing on recovering services to a functional state. Based on this insight, we build a countermeasure selection method that chooses the most cost-effective action based on its impact on expected losses and costs over a given time horizon. Our method is evaluated using simulations in synthetic graphs representing network dependencies and vulnerabilities, and performs well in comparison to alternatives
Magnetotransport through a strongly interacting quantum dot
We study the effect of a magnetic field on the conductance through a strongly
interacting quantum dot by using the finite temperature extension of Wilson's
numerical renormalization group method to dynamical quantities. The quantum dot
has one active level for transport and is modelled by an Anderson impurity
attached to left and right electron reservoirs. Detailed predictions are made
for the linear conductance and the spin-resolved conductance as a function of
gate voltage, temperature and magnetic field strength. A strongly coupled
quantum dot in a magnetic field acts as a spin filter which can be tuned by
varying the gate voltage. The largest spin-filtering effect is found in the
range of gate voltages corresponding to the mixed valence regime of the
Anderson impurity model.Comment: Revised version, to appear in PRB, 4 pages, 4 figure
"I'll look after my health, later": An investigation of procrastination and health
A recent study on the negative health consequences of procrastination suggested that procrastination was associated with higher stress and poor health (Tice & Baumeister, 1997). The current investigation sought to clarify and extend these findings by examining the mediational role of stress and health behaviors in the procrastination-illness relationship. It was hypothesized that in addition to stress, a behavioral pathway would be implicated, with poor weliness behaviors and delay in seeking treatment for health problems mediating the effects of procrastination on health. The model was tested with a sample of university students (n=122) during a high stress period. As expected, the results indicated that procrastination related to poorer health, treatment delay, perceived stress, and fewer weilness behaviors. The process analyses supported the mediational role of stress and treatment delay, but not weliness behaviors, in the procrastination-illness relationship. The model is consistent with current conceptualizations of the personality-health relationship, and presents procrastination as a behavioral style that may increase vulnerability for negative health outcomes. © 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
Individual differences underlying susceptibility to addiction: Role for the endogenous oxytocin system
AbstractRecent research shows that the effects of oxytocin are more diverse than initially thought and that in some cases oxytocin can directly influence the response to drugs and alcohol. Large individual differences in basal oxytocin levels and reactivity of the oxytocin system exist. This paper will review the literature to explore how individual differences in the oxytocin system arise and examine the hypothesis that this may mediate some of the individual differences in susceptibility to addiction and relapse.Differences in the oxytocin system can be based on individual factors, e.g. genetic variation especially in the oxytocin receptor, age or gender, or be the result of early environmental influences such as social experiences, stress or trauma. The paper addresses the factors that cause individual differences in the oxytocin system and the environmental factors that have been identified to induce long-term changes in the developing oxytocin system during different life phases.Individual differences in the oxytocin system can influence effects of drugs and alcohol directly or indirectly. The oxytocin system has bidirectional interactions with the stress-axis, autonomic nervous system, neurotransmitter systems (e.g. dopamine, serotonin and GABA/glutamate) and the immune system. These systems are all important, even vital, in different phases of addiction.It is suggested that early life adversity can change the development of the oxytocin system and the way it modulates other systems. This in turn could minimise the negative feedback loops that would normally exist. Individuals may show only minor differences in behaviour and function unless subsequent stressors or drug use challenges the system. It is postulated that at that time individual differences in oxytocin levels, reactivity of the system or interactions with other systems can influence general resilience, drug effects and the susceptibility to develop problematic drug and alcohol use
Fano resonance in electronic transport through a quantum wire with a side-coupled quantum dot: X-boson treatment
The transport through a quantum wire with a side coupled quantum dot is
studied. We use the X-boson treatment for the Anderson single impurity model in
the limit of . The conductance presents a minimum for values of T=0
in the crossover from mixed-valence to Kondo regime due to a destructive
interference between the ballistic channel associated with the quantum wire and
the quantum dot channel. We obtain the experimentally studied Fano behavior of
the resonance. The conductance as a function of temperature exhibits a
logarithmic and universal behavior, that agrees with recent experimental
results.Comment: 6 pages, 10 eps figs., revtex
The evolution of RNAi as a defence against viruses and transposable elements
RNA interference (RNAi) is an important defence against viruses and transposable elements (TEs). RNAi not only protects against viruses by degrading viral RNA, but hosts and viruses can also use RNAi to manipulate each other's gene expression, and hosts can encode microRNAs that target viral sequences. In response, viruses have evolved a myriad of adaptations to suppress and evade RNAi. RNAi can also protect cells against TEs, both by degrading TE transcripts and by preventing TE expression through heterochromatin formation. The aim of our review is to summarize and evaluate the current data on the evolution of these RNAi defence mechanisms. To this end, we also extend a previous analysis of the evolution of genes of the RNAi pathways. Strikingly, we find that antiviral RNAi genes, anti-TE RNAi genes and viral suppressors of RNAi all evolve rapidly, suggestive of an evolutionary arms race between hosts and parasites. Over longer time scales, key RNAi genes are repeatedly duplicated or lost across the metazoan phylogeny, with important implications for RNAi as an immune defence
Fano Resonances in Electronic Transport through a Single Electron Transistor
We have observed asymmetric Fano resonances in the conductance of a single
electron transistor resulting from interference between a resonant and a
nonresonant path through the system. The resonant component shows all the
features typical of quantum dots, but the origin of the non-resonant path is
unclear. A unique feature of this experimental system, compared to others that
show Fano line shapes, is that changing the voltages on various gates allows
one to alter the interference between the two paths.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures. Submitted to PR
Mesoscopic Fluctuations in Quantum Dots in the Kondo Regime
Properties of the Kondo effect in quantum dots depend sensitively on the
coupling parameters and so on the realization of the quantum dot -- the Kondo
temperature itself becomes a mesoscopic quantity. Assuming chaotic dynamics in
the dot, we use random matrix theory to calculate the distribution of both the
Kondo temperature and the conductance in the Coulomb blockade regime. We study
two experimentally relevant cases: leads with single channels and leads with
many channels. In the single-channel case, the distribution of the conductance
is very wide as fluctuates on a logarithmic scale. As the number of
channels increases, there is a slow crossover to a self-averaging regime.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Dynamical 1/N approach to time-dependent currents through quantum dots
A systematic truncation of the many-body Hilbert space is implemented to
study how electrons in a quantum dot attached to conducting leads respond to
time-dependent biases. The method, which we call the dynamical 1/N approach, is
first tested in the most unfavorable case, the case of spinless fermions (N=1).
We recover the expected behavior, including transient ringing of the current in
response to an abrupt change of bias. We then apply the approach to the
physical case of spinning electrons, N=2, in the Kondo regime for the case of
infinite intradot Coulomb repulsion. In agreement with previous calculations
based on the non-crossing approximation (NCA), we find current oscillations
associated with transitions between Kondo resonances situated at the Fermi
levels of each lead. We show that this behavior persists for a more realistic
model of semiconducting quantum dots in which the Coulomb repulsion is finite.Comment: 18 pages, 7 eps figures, discussion extended for spinless electrons
and typo
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