636 research outputs found
A Path Integral Approach To Noncommutative Superspace
A path integral formula for the associative star-product of two superfields
is proposed. It is a generalization of the Kontsevich-Cattaneo-Felder's formula
for the star-product of functions of bosonic coordinates. The associativity of
the star-product imposes certain conditions on the background of our sigma
model. For generic background the action is not supersymmetric. The
supersymmetry invariance of the action constrains the background and leads to a
simple formula for the star-product.Comment: Latex 13 pages. v2: references and footnotes adde
Electron and hole transmission through superconductor - normal metal interfaces
We have investigated the transmission of electrons and holes through
interfaces between superconducting aluminum (Tc = 1.2 K) and various normal
non-magnetic metals (copper, gold, palladium, platinum, and silver) using
Andreev-reflection spectroscopy at T = 0.1 K. We analyzed the point contacts
with the modified BTK theory that includes Dynes' lifetime as a fitting
parameter G in addition to superconducting energy gap 2D and normal reflection
described by Z. For contact areas from 1 nm^2 to 10000 nm^2 the BTK Z parameter
was 0.5, corresponding to transmission coefficients of about 80 %, independent
of the normal metal. The very small variation of Z indicates that the
interfaces have a negligible dielectric tunneling barrier. Fermi surface
mismatch does not account for the observed transmission coefficient.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Proceedings of the 19th
International Conference on Magnetism ICM2012 (Busan 2012
Ginzburg-Landau Theory for a p-Wave Sr_2RuO_4 Superconductor: Vortex Core Structure and Extended London Theory
Based on a two dimensional odd-parity superconducting order parameter for
Sr_2RuO_4 with p-wave symmetry, we investigate the single vortex and vortex
lattice structure of the mixed phase near H_{c1}. Ginzburg-Landau calculations
for a single vortex show a fourfold structure with an orientation depending on
the microscopic Fermi surface properties. The corresponding extended London
theory is developed to determine the vortex lattice structure and we find near
H_{c1} a centered rectangular vortex lattice. As the field is increased from
H_{c1} this lattice continuously deforms until a square vortex lattice is
achieved. In the centered rectangular phase the field distribution, as
measurable through \mu-SR experiments, exhibits a characteristic two peak
structure (similar to that predicted in high temperature and borocarbide
superconductors).Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure
In-medium meson properties and field transformations
Since the existing calculations of the effective meson mass in nuclear medium
involve approximations, it is important to examine whether they satisfy the
general requirement of the equivalence theorem that the physical observables
should be independent of the choice of field variables. We study here
consequences of nucleon field transformations. As an illustrative case we
consider the in-medium effective pion mass calculated for the s-wave
pion-nucleon interaction in the linear density approximation. We demonstrate
that it is necessary to include the Born term explicitly in order that the
effective pion mass should obey the equivalence theorem.Comment: 10 pages, using RevTeX4. More detailed discussion, references added.
To be published in Phys. Rev.
Ginzburg-Landau theory of vortices in a multi-gap superconductor
The Ginzburg-Landau functional for a two-gap superconductor is derived within
the weak-coupling BCS model. The two-gap Ginzburg-Landau theory is, then,
applied to investigate various magnetic properties of MgB2 including an upturn
temperature dependence of the transverse upper critical field and a core
structure of an isolated vortex. Orientation of vortex lattice relative to
crystallographic axes is studied for magnetic fields parallel to the c-axis. A
peculiar 30-degree rotation of the vortex lattice with increasing strength of
an applied field observed by neutron scattering is attributed to the multi-gap
nature of superconductivity in MgB2.Comment: 11 page
A study of the superconducting gap in RNiBC (R = Y, Lu) single crystals by inelastic light scattering
Superconductivity-induced changes in the electronic Raman scattering response
were observed for the RNiBC (R = Y, Lu) system in different scattering
geometries. In the superconducting state, 2-like peaks were observed in
A, B, and B spectra from single crystals. The peaks in
A and B symmetries are significantly sharper and stronger than
the peak in B symmetry. The temperature dependence of the frequencies of
the 2-like peaks shows typical BCS-type behavior, but the apparent
values of the gap are strongly anisotropic for both systems. In
addition, for both YNiBC and LuNiBC systems, there exists
reproducible scattering strength below the gap which is roughly
linear to the frequency in B and B symmetries. This discovery of
scattering below the gap in non-magnetic borocarbide superconductors, which are
thought to be conventional BCS-type superconductors, is a challenge for current
understanding of superconductivity in this system.Comment: Added text, changed a figure, and added references. Will appear in
Phys. Rev.
A systematic review of the evidence for single stage and two stage revision of infected knee replacement
BACKGROUND:
Periprosthetic infection about the knee is a devastating complication that may affect between 1% and 5% of knee replacement. With over 79 000 knee replacements being implanted each year in the UK, periprosthetic infection (PJI) is set to become an important burden of disease and cost to the healthcare economy. One of the important controversies in treatment of PJI is whether a single stage revision operation is superior to a two-stage procedure. This study sought to systematically evaluate the published evidence to determine which technique had lowest reinfection rates.
METHODS:
A systematic review of the literature was undertaken using the MEDLINE and EMBASE databases with the aim to identify existing studies that present the outcomes of each surgical technique. Reinfection rate was the primary outcome measure. Studies of specific subsets of patients such as resistant organisms were excluded.
RESULTS:
63 studies were identified that met the inclusion criteria. The majority of which (58) were reports of two-stage revision. Reinfection rated varied between 0% and 41% in two-stage studies, and 0% and 11% in single stage studies. No clinical trials were identified and the majority of studies were observational studies.
CONCLUSIONS:
Evidence for both one-stage and two-stage revision is largely of low quality. The evidence basis for two-stage revision is significantly larger, and further work into direct comparison between the two techniques should be undertaken as a priority
13C-assisted metabolic flux analysis to investigate heterotrophic and mixotrophic metabolism in Cupriavidus necator H16
Introduction. Cupriavidus necator H16 is a gram-negative bacterium, capable of lithoautotrophic growth by utilizing hydrogen as an energy source and fixing carbon dioxide (CO2) through Calvin-Benson-Bassham (CBB) cycle. The potential to utilize synthesis gas (Syngas) and the prospects of rerouting carbon from polyhydroxybutyrate synthesis to value-added compounds makes C. necator an excellent chassis for industrial application.
Objectives. In the context of lack of sufficient quantitative information of the metabolic pathways and to advance in rational metabolic engineering for optimized product synthesis in C. necator H16, we carried out a metabolic flux analysis based on steady-state 13C-labelling.
Methods. In this study, steady-state carbon labelling experiments, using either D-[1-13C]fructose or [1,2-13C]glycerol, were undertaken to investigate the carbon flux through the central carbon metabolism in C. necator H16 under heterotrophic and mixotrophic growth conditions, respectively.
Results. We found that the CBB cycle is active even under heterotrophic condition, and growth is indeed mixotrophic. While Entner-Doudoroff (ED) pathway is shown to be the major route for sugar degradation, tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle is highly active in mixotrophic condition. Enhanced flux is observed in reductive pentose phosphate pathway (redPPP) under the mixotrophic condition to supplement the precursor requirement for CBB cycle. The flux distribution was compared to the mRNA abundance of genes encoding enzymes involved in key enzymatic reactions of the central carbon metabolism.
Conclusion. This study leads the way to establishing 13C-based quantitative fluxomics for rational pathway engineering in C. necator H16
Further development of the Children’s Mathematics Anxiety Scale UK (CMAS-UK) for ages 4–7 years
There are currently many mathematics anxiety rating scales designed typically for adult and older children populations, yet there remains a lack of assessment tools for younger children ( 0.45) and high internal consistency (α = 0.88). A single factor model of Online Mathematics Anxiety was related to the experience of an entire mathematics lesson, from first entering the classroom to completing a task. A significant negative correlation was observed between the CMAS-UK and mathematics performance scores, suggesting that children who score high for mathematics anxiety tend to score to perform less well on a mathematics task. Subsequent confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to test a range of module structures; the shortened 19-item CMAS-UK was found to have similar model indices as the 26-item model, resulting in the maintenance of the revised scale. To conclude, the 19-item CMAS-UK provides a reliable assessment of children’s mathematics anxiety and has been shown to predict mathematics performance. This research points towards the origins of mathematics anxiety occurring when number is first encountered and supports the utility of the CMAS-UK. Subsequent research in the area should consider and appropriately define an affective component that may underlie mathematics anxiety at older ages. Mathematics anxiety relates to more complex procedures that elude the experiences of younger children and may instead be the result of number-based experiences in the early years of education.N/
Multiplicity dependence of jet-like two-particle correlations in p-Pb collisions at = 5.02 TeV
Two-particle angular correlations between unidentified charged trigger and
associated particles are measured by the ALICE detector in p-Pb collisions at a
nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV. The transverse-momentum
range 0.7 5.0 GeV/ is examined,
to include correlations induced by jets originating from low
momen\-tum-transfer scatterings (minijets). The correlations expressed as
associated yield per trigger particle are obtained in the pseudorapidity range
. The near-side long-range pseudorapidity correlations observed in
high-multiplicity p-Pb collisions are subtracted from both near-side
short-range and away-side correlations in order to remove the non-jet-like
components. The yields in the jet-like peaks are found to be invariant with
event multiplicity with the exception of events with low multiplicity. This
invariance is consistent with the particles being produced via the incoherent
fragmentation of multiple parton--parton scatterings, while the yield related
to the previously observed ridge structures is not jet-related. The number of
uncorrelated sources of particle production is found to increase linearly with
multiplicity, suggesting no saturation of the number of multi-parton
interactions even in the highest multiplicity p-Pb collisions. Further, the
number scales in the intermediate multiplicity region with the number of binary
nucleon-nucleon collisions estimated with a Glauber Monte-Carlo simulation.Comment: 23 pages, 6 captioned figures, 1 table, authors from page 17,
published version, figures at
http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/161
- …