Chirality Dependence of the KK-Momentum Dark Excitons in Carbon Nanotubes

Using a collection of twelve semiconducting carbon nanotube samples, each highly enriched in a single chirality, we study the chirality dependence of the $K$-momentum dark singlet exciton using phonon sideband optical spectroscopy. Measurements of bright absorptive and emissive sidebands of this finite momentum exciton identify its energy as 20 - 38 meV above the bright singlet exciton, a separation that exhibits systematic dependencies on tube diameter, $2n+m$ family, and semiconducting type. We present calculations that explain how chiral angle dependence in this energy separation relates to the Coulomb exchange interaction, and elaborate the dominance of the $K_{A_1'}$ phonon sidebands over the zone-center phonon sidebands over a wide range of chiralities. The Kataura plot arising from these data is qualitatively well described by theory, but the energy separation between the sidebands shows a larger chiral dependence than predicted. This latter observation may indicate a larger dispersion for the associated phonon near the $K$ point than expected from finite distance force modeling.Comment: 24 pages, 12 figures, 1 table; slight title change, Figures 1 and 11 added, reference added, presentation improved throughout documen

Deranged calcium signaling and neurodegeneration in spinocerebellar ataxia type 3

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3), also known as Machado-Joseph disease (MJD), is an autosomal-dominant neurodegenerative disorder caused by a polyglutamine expansion in ataxin-3 (SCA3, MJD1) protein. In biochemical experiments we demonstrate that mutant SCA3exp specifically associated with the type 1 inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor (InsP3R1), an intracellular calcium (Ca2+) release channel. In electrophysiological and Ca2+ imaging experiments we show that InsP3R1 are sensitized to activation by InsP3 in the presence of mutant SCA3exp. We found that feeding SCA3-YAC-84Q transgenic mice with dantrolene, a clinically relevant stabilizer of intracellular Ca2+ signaling, improved their motor performance and prevented neuronal cells loss in pontine nuclei and substantia nigra regions. Our results indicate that deranged Ca2+ signaling may play an important role in SCA3 pathology and that Ca2+ signaling stabilizers such as dantrolene may be considered as potential therapeutic drugs for treatment of SCA3 patients

Binary Nonlinearization of Lax pairs of Kaup-Newell Soliton Hierarchy

Kaup-Newell soliton hierarchy is derived from a kind of Lax pairs different from the original ones. Binary nonlinearization procedure corresponding to the Bargmann symmetry constraint is carried out for those Lax pairs. The proposed Lax pairs together with adjoint Lax pairs are constrained as a hierarchy of commutative, finite dimensional integrable Hamiltonian systems in the Liouville sense, which also provides us with new examples of finite dimensional integrable Hamiltonian systems. A sort of involutive solutions to the Kaup-Newell hierarchy are exhibited through the obtained finite dimensional integrable systems and the general involutive system engendered by binary nonlinearization is reduced to a specific involutive system generated by mono-nonlinearization.Comment: 15 pages, plain+ams tex, to be published in Il Nuovo Cimento

Shear behaviour of inorganic polymer concrete beams reinforced with basalt FRP bars and stirrups

Inorganic polymer concrete (IPC) reinforced with basalt fibre reinforced polymer (BFRP) was proposed as a promising substitute of conventional reinforced concrete for structures to enhance their sustainability and durability. This paper, for the first time, presents a systematic study, experimental, theoretical and numerical, of shear behaviour of IPC beams reinforced with BFRP bars and stirrups considering the effects of stirrup spacing (S = 80, 100 and 150 mm) and shear span-to-depth ratio (λ = 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5). Result indicates that all BFRP-IPC beams fail in shear as a result of BFRP stirrup rupture and shear-compression failure. Compared to S, λ has a more pronounced influence on shear performance of BFRP reinforced IPC beams, with a maximum reduction of ultimate shear load by 29.4%. The simulation results show good agreement with experimental data, while the theoretical predictions according to existing design provisions for FRP reinforced concrete have a discrepancy of more than 30% with experiments due to lack of consideration of λ. Modified equations taking into account the effect of λ were then derived and used to predict the shear capacity of BFRP reinforced IPC beams, which agrees well with experimental data with an average discrepancy of only around 5%

Behaviour of recycled tyre polymer fibre reinforced concrete at elevated temperatures

This paper presents a systematic study on the feasibility of using recycled tyre polymer (RTP) fibres for mitigating the damage of concrete induced by elevated temperatures. A series of tests were conducted to investigate the effect of RTP fibres on mechanical and thermal behaviour, pore pressure build-up and microstructural evolution of concrete exposed to elevated temperatures (20, 105, 250, 400 and 600 °C), based on which the mechanism of RTP fibres in mitigating damage of concrete was explored. Results indicate that the addition of RTP fibres effectively prevented pore pressure accumulation and significantly mitigated damage of concrete at high temperatures as the melting of RTP fibres and thermal incompatibility between RTP fibres and concrete promoted the formation of interconnected pore-microcrack network of concrete. RTP fibre was proved as a promising sustainable alternative to manufactured polymer fibres for enhancing high temperature and fire resistance of concrete. The optimal RTP fibre content was 1.2 kg/m3 considering the damage mitigation efficiency and strength loss

Internal curing of alkali-activated fly ash-slag pastes using superabsorbent polymer

To mitigate autogenous shrinkage that may cause early-age cracking of alkali-activated fly ash-slag (AAFS) concrete, internal curing using superabsorbent polymers (SAP) is employed in this study. AAFS pastes with different SAP dosages (0–0.5%) and slag replacement ratios to fly ash (15–30%) are investigated. Experimental results indicate that with the addition of SAP workability of fresh paste is improved while compressive strength is comparatively reduced. As SAP dosage increases from 0.2% to 0.5%, chemical shrinkage and autogenous shrinkage of AAFS pastes are reduced by around 18% to 45% and 76% to 85%, respectively. Internal curing of SAP is found to lower the heat peak and shift the peak to the right. This indicates the slower hydration rate corresponding to the lower chemo-mechanical deformation (chemical shrinkage), which contributes to the mitigation of autogenous shrinkage. Therefore, internal curing by means of SAP is an efficient method for mitigating autogenous shrinkage in AAFS pastes

An improvement of isochronous mass spectrometry: Velocity measurements using two time-of-flight detectors

Isochronous mass spectrometry (IMS) in storage rings is a powerful tool for mass measurements of exotic nuclei with very short half-lives down to several tens of microseconds, using a multicomponent secondary beam separated in-flight without cooling. However, the inevitable momentum spread of secondary ions limits the precision of nuclear masses determined by using IMS. Therefore, the momentum measurement in addition to the revolution period of stored ions is crucial to reduce the influence of the momentum spread on the standard deviation of the revolution period, which would lead to a much improved mass resolving power of IMS. One of the proposals to upgrade IMS is that the velocity of secondary ions could be directly measured by using two time-of-flight (double TOF) detectors installed in a straight section of a storage ring. In this paper, we outline the principle of IMS with double TOF detectors and the method to correct the momentum spread of stored ions.Comment: Accepted by Nuclear Inst. and Methods in Physics Research,

Multispace and Multilevel BDDC

BDDC method is the most advanced method from the Balancing family of iterative substructuring methods for the solution of large systems of linear algebraic equations arising from discretization of elliptic boundary value problems. In the case of many substructures, solving the coarse problem exactly becomes a bottleneck. Since the coarse problem in BDDC has the same structure as the original problem, it is straightforward to apply the BDDC method recursively to solve the coarse problem only approximately. In this paper, we formulate a new family of abstract Multispace BDDC methods and give condition number bounds from the abstract additive Schwarz preconditioning theory. The Multilevel BDDC is then treated as a special case of the Multispace BDDC and abstract multilevel condition number bounds are given. The abstract bounds yield polylogarithmic condition number bounds for an arbitrary fixed number of levels and scalar elliptic problems discretized by finite elements in two and three spatial dimensions. Numerical experiments confirm the theory.Comment: 26 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables, 20 references. Formal changes onl

Chirality Dependence of the \u3cem\u3eK\u3c/em\u3e-momentum Dark Excitons in Carbon Nanotubes

Using a collection of 12 semiconducting carbon-nanotube samples, each highly enriched in a single chirality, we study the chirality dependence of the K-momentum dark singlet exciton using phonon sideband optical spectroscopy. Measurements of bright absorptive and emissive sidebands of this finite momentum exciton identify its energy as 20–38 meV above the bright singlet exciton, a separation that exhibits systematic dependencies on tube diameter, 2n+m family, and chiral index. We present calculations that explain how chiral angle dependence in this energy separation relates to the Coulomb exchange interaction and elaborate the dominance of the KAA; phonon sidebands over the zone-center phonon sidebands over a wide range of chiralities. The Kataura plot arising from these data is qualitatively well described by theory but the energy separation between the sidebands shows a larger chiral dependence than predicted. This latter observation may indicate a larger dispersion for the associated phonon near the K point than expected from finite distance force modeling

Bounds of Efficiency at Maximum Power for Normal-, Sub- and Super-Dissipative Carnot-Like Heat Engines

The Carnot-like heat engines are classified into three types (normal-, sub- and super-dissipative) according to relations between the minimum irreversible entropy production in the "isothermal" processes and the time for completing those processes. The efficiencies at maximum power of normal-, sub- and super-dissipative Carnot-like heat engines are proved to be bounded between $\eta_C/2$ and $\eta_C/(2-\eta_C)$, $\eta_C /2$ and $\eta_C$, 0 and $\eta_C/(2-\eta_C)$, respectively. These bounds are also shared by linear, sub- and super-linear irreversible Carnot-like engines [Tu and Wang, Europhys. Lett. 98, 40001 (2012)] although the dissipative engines and the irreversible ones are inequivalent to each other.Comment: 1 figur