Resonance Damping in Ferromagnets and Ferroelectrics

The phenomenological equations of motion for the relaxation of ordered phases of magnetized and polarized crystal phases can be developed in close analogy with one another. For the case of magnetized systems, the driving magnetic field intensity toward relaxation was developed by Gilbert. For the case of polarized systems, the driving electric field intensity toward relaxation was developed by Khalatnikov. The transport times for relaxation into thermal equilibrium can be attributed to viscous sound wave damping via magnetostriction for the magnetic case and electrostriction for the polarization case.Comment: 5 pages no figures ReVTeX

Dynamic and hybrid variational multiscale models for the simulation of bluff-body flows on unstructured grids

The computation of massively separated flows is a challenging problem of particular in- terest in industrial applications. For the purpose of properly simulating these complex flows on not too heavy unstructured meshes as usually employed in industry, appropriate numerical and turbulent models must be used. In the present work, the computation of the flow past a circular cylinder at different Reynolds numbers is chosen as benchmark. The spatial discretization is based on a mixed finite element/finite volume formulation on unstructured grids. The numerical dissipation of the upwind scheme is made of sixth-order space derivatives in order to limit as far as possible the interactions between numerical and subgrid scale (SGS) dissipation, which could deteriorate the accuracy of the results [4]. A variational multi-scale large-eddy simulation (VMS-LES) with dynamic SGS models and a RANS/VMS-LES model are evaluated on the proposed benchmark for subcritical and supercritical flow regimes respectively (see Fig. 1 and Tab. 1). In the VMS-LES used in this work, the separation between the large and the small resolved scales is obtained through a variational projection operator based on spatial average on agglomerated cells [1]. The dynamic procedure allows the adaptation of the constant of the SGS model to the spatial and temporal variation of the flow characteristics, while the VMS formulation restricts the SGS model effects to the smallest resolved scales. The dynamic versions of the Smagorinsky and of the WALE SGS models are considered herein. The non-dynamic counterparts of these SGS models are also used in order to evaluate the impact of dy- namic SGS modeling in the considered VMS-LES approach for the simulation of massively separated flows. However, the Reynolds number range useful for LES-like simulation is limited as LES grid needs to be sufficiently fine to resolve a significant part of the turbulence scales. With the aim of simulating high Reynolds number flows, it is considered in the present work a hybridization strategy using a blending parameter, such that a VMS- LES simulation is obtained where the grid resolution is fine enough to resolve a significant part of the turbulence fluctuations [2], while a RANS model is acting in the regions of coarse grid resolution, as, for instance, near the body surface

Large field of view, fast and low dose multimodal phase-contrast imaging at high x-ray energy

X-ray phase contrast imaging (XPCI) is an innovative imaging technique which extends the contrast capabilities of ‘conventional’ absorption based x-ray systems. However, so far all XPCI implementations have suffered from one or more of the following limitations: low x-ray energies, small field of view (FOV) and long acquisition times. Those limitations relegated XPCI to a ‘research-only’ technique with an uncertain future in terms of large scale, high impact applications. We recently succeeded in designing, realizing and testing an XPCI system, which achieves significant steps toward simultaneously overcoming these limitations. Our system combines, for the first time, large FOV, high energy and fast scanning. Importantly, it is capable of providing high image quality at low x-ray doses, compatible with or even below those currently used in medical imaging. This extends the use of XPCI to areas which were unpractical or even inaccessible to previous XPCI solutions. We expect this will enable a long overdue translation into application fields such as security screening, industrial inspections and large FOV medical radiography – all with the inherent advantages of the XPCI multimodality

HGDiscovery: an online tool providing functional and phenotypic information on novel variants of homogentisate 1,2- dioxigenase

Alkaptonuria (AKU), a rare genetic disorder, is characterized by the accumulation of homogentisic acid (HGA) in the body. Affected individuals lack functional levels of an enzyme required to breakdown HGA. Mutations in the homogentisate 1,2-dioxygenase (HGD) gene cause AKU and they are responsible for deficient levels of functional HGD, which, in turn, leads to excess levels of HGA. Although HGA is rapidly cleared from the body by the kidneys, in the long term it starts accumulating in various tissues, especially cartilage. Over time (rarely before adulthood), it eventually changes the color of affected tissue to slate blue or black. Here we report a comprehensive mutation analysis of 111 pathogenic and 190 non-pathogenic HGD missense mutations using protein structural informa-tion. Using our comprehensive suite of graph-based signature methods, mCSM complemented with sequence-based tools, we studied the functional and molecular consequences of each mutation on protein stability, inter-action and evolutionary conservation. The scores generated from the structure and sequence-based tools were used to train a supervised machine learning algorithm with 89% accuracy. The empirical classifier was used to generate the variant phenotype for novel HGD missense mutations. All this information is deployed as a user friendly freely available web server called HGDiscovery (https://biosig.lab.uq.edu.au/hgdiscovery/)

The early evolution of Globular Clusters: the case of NGC 2808

Enhancement and spread of helium among globular cluster stars have been recently suggested as a way to explain the horizontal branch blue tails, in those clusters which show a primordial spread in the abundances of CNO and other elements involved in advanced CNO burning (D'Antona et al. 2002). In this paper we examine the implications of the hypothesis that, in many globular clusters, stars were born in two separate events: an initial burst (first generation), which gives origin to probably all high and intermediate mass stars and to a fraction of the cluster stars observed today, and a second, prolonged star formation phase (second generation) in which stars form directly from the ejecta of the intermediate mass stars of the first generation. In particular, we consider in detail the morphology of the horizontal branch in NGC 2808 and argue that it unveils the early cluster evolution, from the birth of the first star generation to the end of the second phase of star formation. This framework provides a feasible interpretation for the still unexplained dichotomy of NGC 2808 horizontal branch, attributing the lack of stars in the RR Lyr region to the gap in the helium content between the red clump, whose stars are considered to belong to the first stellar generation and have primordial helium, and the blue side of the horizontal branch, whose minimum helium content reflects the helium abundance in the smallest mass (~4Msun)contributing to the second stellar generation. This scenario provides constraints on the required Initial Mass Function, in a way that a great deal of remnant neutron stars and stellar mass black holes might have been produced.Comment: 23 pages, 7 figures, in press on The Astrophysical Journa

Network Structures from Selection Principles

We present an analysis of the topologies of a class of networks which are optimal in terms of the requirements of having as short a route as possible between any two nodes while yet keeping the congestion in the network as low as possible. Strikingly, we find a variety of distinct topologies and novel phase transitions between them on varying the number of links per node. Our results suggest that the emergence of the topologies observed in nature may arise both from growth mechanisms and the interplay of dynamical mechanisms with a selection process.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Relaxation Mechanism for Ordered Magnetic Materials

We have formulated a relaxation mechanism for ferrites and ferromagnetic metals whereby the coupling between the magnetic motion and lattice is based purely on continuum arguments concerning magnetostriction. This theoretical approach contrasts with previous mechanisms based on microscopic formulations of spin-phonon interactions employing a discrete lattice. Our model explains for the first time the scaling of the intrinsic FMR linewidth with frequency, and 1/M temperature dependence and the anisotropic nature of magnetic relaxation in ordered magnetic materials, where M is the magnetization. Without introducing adjustable parameters our model is in reasonable quantitative agreement with experimental measurements of the intrinsic magnetic resonance linewidths of important class of ordered magnetic materials, insulator or metals

Nano granular metallic Fe - oxygen deficient TiO2−δ_{2-\delta} composite films: A room temperature, highly carrier polarized magnetic semiconductor

Nano granular metallic iron (Fe) and titanium dioxide (TiO$_{2-\delta}$) were co-deposited on (100) lanthanum aluminate (LaAlO$_3$) substrates in a low oxygen chamber pressure using a pulsed laser ablation deposition (PLD) technique. The co-deposition of Fe and TiO$_2$ resulted in $\approx$ 10 nm metallic Fe spherical grains suspended within a TiO$_{2-\delta}$ matrix. The films show ferromagnetic behavior with a saturation magnetization of 3100 Gauss at room temperature. Our estimate of the saturation magnetization based on the size and distribution of the Fe spheres agreed well with the measured value. The film composite structure was characterized as p-type magnetic semiconductor at 300 K with a carrier density of the order of $10^{22} /{\rm cm^3}$. The hole carriers were excited at the interface between the nano granular Fe and TiO$_{2-\delta}$ matrix similar to holes excited in the metal/n-type semiconductor interface commonly observed in Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (MOS) devices. From the large anomalous Hall effect directly observed in these films it follows that the holes at the interface were strongly spin polarized. Structure and magneto transport properties suggested that these PLD films have potential nano spintronics applications.Comment: 6 pages in Latex including 8 figure

A new standard nomenclature for proteins related to Apx and Shroom

Shroom is a recently-described regulator of cell shape changes in the developing nervous system. This protein is a member of a small family of related proteins that are defined by sequence similarity and in most cases by some link to the actin cytoskeleton. At present these proteins are named Shroom, APX, APXL, and KIAA1202. In light of the growing interest in this family of proteins, we propose here a new standard nomenclature

ERBB2 mRNA as predictor of response to anti-HER2 antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) in breast cancer (BC)

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