30,526 research outputs found
Origin of Anomalous Water Permeation through Graphene Oxide Membrane
Water inside the low dimensional carbon structures has been considered
seriously owing to fundamental interest in its flow and structures as well as
its practical impact. Recently, the anomalous perfect penetration of water
through graphene oxide membrane was demonstrated although the membrane was
impenetrable for other liquids and even gases. The unusual auxetic behavior of
graphene oxide in the presence of water was also reported. Here, based on
first-principles calculations, we establish atomistic models for hybrid systems
composed of water and graphene oxides revealing the anomalous water behavior
inside the stacked graphene oxides. We show that formation of hexagonal ice
bilayer in between the flakes as well as melting transition of ice at the edges
of flakes are crucial to realize the perfect water permeation across the whole
stacked structures. The distance between adjacent layers that can be controlled
either by oxygen reduction process or pressure is shown to determine the water
flow thus highlighting a unique water dynamics in randomly connected
two-dimensional spaces.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Nano Letter
Long-term Radio Observations of the Intermittent Pulsar B1931+24
We present an analysis of approximately 13-yr of observations of the
intermittent pulsar B1931+24 to further elucidate its behaviour. We find that
while the source exhibits a wide range of nulling (~4-39 d) and radio-emitting
(~1-19 d) timescales, it cycles between its different emission phases over an
average timescale of approximately 38 d, which is remarkably stable over many
years. On average, the neutron star is found to be radio emitting for 26 +- 6 %
of the time. No evidence is obtained to suggest that the pulsar undergoes any
systematic, intrinsic variations in pulse intensity during the radio-emitting
phases. In addition, we find no evidence for any correlation between the length
of consecutive emission phases. An analysis of the rotational behaviour of the
source shows that it consistently assumes the same spin-down rates, i.e. nudot
= -16 +- 1 x 10^-15 s^-2 when emitting and nudot = -10.8 +- 0.4 x 10^-15 s^-2
when not emitting, over the entire observation span. Coupled with the stable
switching timescale, this implies that the pulsar retains a high degree of
magnetospheric memory, and stability, in spite of comparatively rapid (~ms)
dynamical plasma timescales. While this provides further evidence to suggest
that the behaviour of the neutron star is governed by magnetospheric-state
switching, the underlying trigger mechanism remains illusive. This should be
elucidated by future surveys with next generation telescopes such as LOFAR,
MeerKAT and the SKA, which should detect similar sources and provide more clues
to how their radio emission is regulated.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Pressure coefficients of Raman modes of carbon nanotubes resolved by chirality: Environmental effect on graphene sheet
Studies of the mechanical properties of single-walled carbon nanotubes are
hindered by the availability only of ensembles of tubes with a range of
diameters. Tunable Raman excitation spectroscopy picks out identifiable tubes.
Under high pressure, the radial breathing mode shows a strong environmental
effect shown here to be largely independent of the nature of the environment .
For the G-mode, the pressure coefficient varies with diameter consistent with
the thick-wall tube model. However, results show an unexpectedly strong
environmental effect on the pressure coefficients. Reappraisal of data for
graphene and graphite gives the G-mode Grueuneisen parameter gamma = 1.34 and
the shear deformation parameter beta = 1.34.Comment: Submitted to Physical Review
The quantization of the chiral Schwinger model based on the BFT-BFV formalism II
We apply an improved version of Batalin-Fradkin-Tyutin (BFT) Hamiltonian
method to the a=1 chiral Schwinger Model, which is much more nontrivial than
the a>1.\delta\xi$ in the measure. As a result, we explicitly
obtain the fully gauge invariant partition function, which includes a new type
of Wess-Zumino (WZ) term irrelevant to the gauge symmetry as well as usual WZ
action.Comment: 17 pages, To be published in J. Phys.
Disgust implicated in obsessive-compulsive disorder
Psychiatric classificatory systems consider obsessions and compulsions as forms of anxiety disorder. However, the neurology of diseases associated with obsessive-compulsive symptoms suggests the involvement of fronto-striatal regions likely to be involved in the mediation of the emotion of disgust, suggesting that dysfunctions of disgust should be considered alongside anxiety in the pathogenesis of obsessive-compulsive behaviours. We therefore tested recognition of facial expressions of basic emotions (including disgust) by groups of participants with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and with Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome (GTS) with and without co-present obsessive-compulsive behaviours (GTS with OCB; GTS without OCB). A group of people suffering from panic disorder and generalized anxiety were also included in the study. Both groups with obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCD; GTS with OCB) showed impaired recognition of facial expressions of disgust. Such problems were not evident in participants with panic disorder and generalized anxiety, or for participants with GTS without obsessions or compulsions, indicating that the deficit is closely related to the presence of obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Participants with OCD were able to assign words to emotion categories without difficulty, showing that their problem with disgust is linked to a failure to recognize this emotion in others and not a comprehension or response criterion effect. Impaired recognition of disgust is consistent with the neurology of OCD and with the idea that abnormal experience of disgust may be involved in the genesis of obsessions and compulsions
Quantum oscillations and a non-trivial Berry phase in the noncentrosymmetric superconductor BiPd
We report the measurements of de Haas-van Alphen (dHvA) oscillations in the
noncentrosymmetric superconductor BiPd. Several pieces of a complex multi-sheet
Fermi surface are identified, including a small pocket (frequency 40 T) which
is three dimensional and anisotropic. From the temperature dependence of the
amplitude of the oscillations, the cyclotron effective mass is (
0.1) . Further analysis showed a non-trivial -Berry phase is
associated with the 40 T pocket, which strongly supports the presence of
topological states in bulk BiPd and may result in topological superconductivity
due to the proximity coupling to other bands.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Generalized BFT Formalism of Electroweak Theory in the Unitary Gauge
We systematically embed the SU(2)U(1) Higgs model in the unitary
gauge into a fully gauge-invariant theory by following the generalized BFT
formalism. We also suggest a novel path to get a first-class Lagrangian
directly from the original second-class one using the BFT fields.Comment: 14 pages, Latex, no figure
Evolutionary dynamics of insertion sequences in relation to the evolutionary histories of the chromosome and symbiotic plasmid genes of Rhizobium etli populations
Insertion sequences (IS) are mobile genetic elements that are distributed in many prokaryotes. In particular, in the genomes of the symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria collectively known as rhizobia, IS are fairly abundant in plasmids or chromosomal islands that carry the genes needed for symbiosis. Here, we report an analysis of the distribution and genetic conservation of the IS found in the genome of Rhizobium etli CFN42 in a collection of 87 Rhizobium strains belonging to populations with different geographical origins. We used PCR to generate presence/absence profiles of the 39 IS found in R. etli CFN42 and evaluated whether the IS were located in consistent genomic contexts. We found that the IS from the symbiotic plasmid were frequently present in the analyzed strains, whereas the chromosomal IS were observed less frequently. We then examined the evolutionary dynamics of these strains based on a population genetic analysis of two chromosomal housekeeping genes (glyA and dnaB) and three symbiotic sequences (nodC and the two IS elements). Our results indicate that the IS contained within the symbiotic plasmid have a higher degree of genomic context conservation, lower nucleotide diversity and genetic differentiation, and fewer recombination events than the chromosomal housekeeping genes. These results suggest that the R. etli populations diverged recently in Mexico, that the symbiotic plasmid also had a recent origin, and that the IS elements have undergone a process of cyclic infection and expansion
- …