Polish Question in the Discourse of Russian Pre-Revolutionary Social Thought

An attempt is made to reveal the key elements of the discourse of ethnic diversity management in Russian pre-revolutionary social thought. Numerous texts published by representatives of various sociopolitical views (Westerners, Slavophiles, liberals, conservatives, populists and socialists) devoted to the description and assessment of the policy of the Russian government in relation to national regions in the period under review are analyzed. The study was conducted on the basis of the analysis of mainly English-language scientific literature. Poland was chosen as a model region, that is, the main attention in the article is focused on the Polish question. The choice of this national outskirts is due to the following: on the one hand, it compelled the most close attention of representatives of the Russian pre-revolutionary social movement, and on the other, this territory was the place of testing of various incorporation practices by the Russian government. The study showed that, despite different political views and ideological platforms, Russian intellectuals clearly defined the intentions of the authorities, which consisted in the gradual integration of the periphery into the common imperial space, first on the administrative-legal, and then the cultural field. It is shown that the undulating nature of this process was absolutely opportunistic

Thermal switch of oscillation frequency in belousov- zhabotinsky liquid marbles

© 2019 The Authors. External control of oscillation dynamics in the Belousov- Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction is important for many applications including encoding computing schemes. When considering the BZ reaction, there are limited studies dealing with thermal cycling, particularly cooling, for external control. Recently, liquid marbles (LMs) have been demonstrated as a means of confining the BZ reaction in a system containing a solid-liquid interface. BZ LMs were prepared by rolling 50 ml droplets in polyethylene (PE) powder. Oscillations of electrical potential differences within the marble were recorded by inserting a pair of electrodes through the LM powder coating into the BZ solution core. Electrical potential differences of up to 100mV were observed with an average period of oscillation ca 44 s. BZ LMs were subsequently frozen to 218C to observe changes in the frequency of electrical potential oscillations. The frequency of oscillations reduced upon freezing to 11mHz cf. 23 mHz at ambient temperature. The oscillation frequency of the frozen BZ LM returned to 23 mHz upon warming to ambient temperature. Several cycles of frequency fluctuations were able to be achieved

Fractional dynamics of coupled oscillators with long-range interaction

We consider one-dimensional chain of coupled linear and nonlinear oscillators with long-range power-wise interaction. The corresponding term in dynamical equations is proportional to $1/|n-m|^{\alpha+1}$. It is shown that the equation of motion in the infrared limit can be transformed into the medium equation with the Riesz fractional derivative of order $\alpha$, when $0<\alpha<2$. We consider few models of coupled oscillators and show how their synchronization can appear as a result of bifurcation, and how the corresponding solutions depend on $\alpha$. The presence of fractional derivative leads also to the occurrence of localized structures. Particular solutions for fractional time-dependent complex Ginzburg-Landau (or nonlinear Schrodinger) equation are derived. These solutions are interpreted as synchronized states and localized structures of the oscillatory medium.Comment: 34 pages, 18 figure

Correlation functions near Modulated and Rough Surfaces

In a system with long-ranged correlations, the behavior of correlation functions is sensitive to the presence of a boundary. We show that surface deformations strongly modify this behavior as compared to a flat surface. The modified near surface correlations can be measured by scattering probes. To determine these correlations, we develop a perturbative calculation in the deformations in height from a flat surface. Detailed results are given for a regularly patterned surface, as well as for a self-affinely rough surface with roughness exponent $\zeta$. By combining this perturbative calculation in height deformations with the field-theoretic renormalization group approach, we also estimate the values of critical exponents governing the behavior of the decay of correlation functions near a self-affinely rough surface. We find that for the interacting theory, a large enough $\zeta$ can lead to novel surface critical behavior. We also provide scaling relations between roughness induced critical exponents for thermodynamic surface quantities.Comment: 31 pages, 2 figure

Muon-Spin Rotation Spectra in the Mixed Phase of High-T_c Superconductors : Thermal Fluctuations and Disorder Effects

We study muon-spin rotation (muSR) spectra in the mixed phase of highly anisotropic layered superconductors, specifically Bi_2+xSr_2-xCaCu_2O_8+delta (BSCCO), by modeling the fluid and solid phases of pancake vortices using liquid-state and density functional methods. The role of thermal fluctuations in causing motional narrowing of muSR lineshapes is quantified in terms of a first-principles theory of the flux-lattice melting transition. The effects of random point pinning are investigated using a replica treatment of liquid state correlations and a replicated density functional theory. Our results indicate that motional narrowing in the pure system, although substantial, cannot account for the remarkably small linewidths obtained experimentally at relatively high fields and low temperatures. We find that satisfactory agreement with the muSR data for BSCCO in this regime can be obtained through the ansatz that this ``phase'' is characterized by frozen short-range positional correlations reflecting the structure of the liquid just above the melting transition. This proposal is consistent with recent suggestions of a ``pinned liquid'' or ``glassy'' state of pancake vortices in the presence of pinning disorder. Our results for the high-temperature liquid phase indicate that measurable linewidths may be obtained in this phase as a consequence of density inhomogeneities induced by the pinning disorder. The results presented here comprise a unified, first-principles theoretical treatment of muSR spectra in highly anisotropic layered superconductors in terms of a controlled set of approximations.Comment: 50 pages Latex file, including 10 postscript figure

Vortex lattice disorder in YBCO probed using Beta-NMR

Beta-NMR has been used to study vortex lattice disorder near the surface of the high-Tc superconductor YBCO. The magnetic field distribution from the vortex lattice was detected by implanting a low energy beam of highly polarized 8Li into a thin overlayer of silver on optimally doped, twinned and detwinned YBCO samples. The resonance in Ag broadens significantly below the transition temperature Tc as expected from the emerging field lines of the vortex lattice in YBCO. However, the lineshape is more symmetric and the dependence on the applied magnetic field is much weaker than expected from an ideal vortex lattice, indicating that the vortex density varies across the face of the sample, likely due to pinning at twin boundaries. At low temperatures the broadening from such disorder does not scale with the superfluid density.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure

Strong interface-induced spin-orbit coupling in graphene on WS2

Interfacial interactions allow the electronic properties of graphene to be modified, as recently demonstrated by the appearance of satellite Dirac cones in the band structure of graphene on hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) substrates. Ongoing research strives to explore interfacial interactions in a broader class of materials in order to engineer targeted electronic properties. Here we show that at an interface with a tungsten disulfide (WS2) substrate, the strength of the spin-orbit interaction (SOI) in graphene is very strongly enhanced. The induced SOI leads to a pronounced low-temperature weak anti-localization (WAL) effect, from which we determine the spin-relaxation time. We find that spin-relaxation time in graphene is two-to-three orders of magnitude smaller on WS2 than on SiO2 or hBN, and that it is comparable to the intervalley scattering time. To interpret our findings we have performed first-principle electronic structure calculations, which both confirm that carriers in graphene-on-WS2 experience a strong SOI and allow us to extract a spin-dependent low-energy effective Hamiltonian. Our analysis further shows that the use of WS2 substrates opens a possible new route to access topological states of matter in graphene-based systems.Comment: Originally submitted version in compliance with editorial guidelines. Final version with expanded discussion of the relation between theory and experiments to be published in Nature Communication

Selective Ion Changes during Spontaneous Mitochondrial Transients in Intact Astrocytes

The bioenergetic status of cells is tightly regulated by the activity of cytosolic enzymes and mitochondrial ATP production. To adapt their metabolism to cellular energy needs, mitochondria have been shown to exhibit changes in their ionic composition as the result of changes in cytosolic ion concentrations. Individual mitochondria also exhibit spontaneous changes in their electrical potential without altering those of neighboring mitochondria. We recently reported that individual mitochondria of intact astrocytes exhibit spontaneous transient increases in their Na+ concentration. Here, we investigated whether the concentration of other ionic species were involved during mitochondrial transients. By combining fluorescence imaging methods, we performed a multiparameter study of spontaneous mitochondrial transients in intact resting astrocytes. We show that mitochondria exhibit coincident changes in their Na+ concentration, electrical potential, matrix pH and mitochondrial reactive oxygen species production during a mitochondrial transient without involving detectable changes in their Ca2+ concentration. Using widefield and total internal reflection fluorescence imaging, we found evidence for localized transient decreases in the free Mg2+ concentration accompanying mitochondrial Na+ spikes that could indicate an associated local and transient enrichment in the ATP concentration. Therefore, we propose a sequential model for mitochondrial transients involving a localized ATP microdomain that triggers a Na+-mediated mitochondrial depolarization, transiently enhancing the activity of the mitochondrial respiratory chain. Our work provides a model describing ionic changes that could support a bidirectional cytosol-to-mitochondria ionic communication

Public political narratives: developing a neglected source through the exploratory case of Russia in the Putin-Medvedev era

The place of narrative in political science is an issue that resurfaces with regularity, usually focusing on the questions of generalisability, evidence and causality which lie at the heart of the discipline. Most such debate concerns the use of narrative by political scientists. Far less attention has been devoted to the use of narrative by political actors, despite its relative ubiquity. Even where such attention has been given, it concentrates less on the narrative per se, and more on its performance and impact. However, the nature of public political narratives means that analysis of them facilitates a holistic understanding of their narrators' politics. A public political narrative consists of a sequential account given by political actors connecting selected, specific developments so as to impose a desired order on them. Taking contemporary Russia as an exploratory case, narrative analysis draws out the motivations, world view and inconsistencies within the Putin-Medvedev regime. Recurring motifs and symbols identify the regime's political priorities, explaining policy choices and revealing future concerns. Narrative has a predictive aspect, identifying likely policy responses to unexpected events. Narratives capture time, and shifts in their temporalities indicate changes in self-conceptualisation and political priorities. Temporal appropriations include or exclude particular agential and causal explanations. The relationship between their plots and subplots represents a political signalling process. Public political narratives provide temporally and spatially specific exceptionalist accounts, but their combinatory quality also facilitates comparative analysis. The approach essayed here provides methodological generalisability, arguing that the neglect of public political narratives merits correcting

Condensed Matter Theory of Dipolar Quantum Gases

Recent experimental breakthroughs in trapping, cooling and controlling ultracold gases of polar molecules, magnetic and Rydberg atoms have paved the way toward the investigation of highly tunable quantum systems, where anisotropic, long-range dipolar interactions play a prominent role at the many-body level. In this article we review recent theoretical studies concerning the physics of such systems. Starting from a general discussion on interaction design techniques and microscopic Hamiltonians, we provide a summary of recent work focused on many-body properties of dipolar systems, including: weakly interacting Bose gases, weakly interacting Fermi gases, multilayer systems, strongly interacting dipolar gases and dipolar gases in 1D and quasi-1D geometries. Within each of these topics, purely dipolar effects and connections with experimental realizations are emphasized.Comment: Review article; submitted 09/06/2011. 158 pages, 52 figures. This document is the unedited author's version of a Submitted Work that was subsequently accepted for publication in Chemical Reviews, copyright American Chemical Society after peer review. To access the final edited and published work, a link will be provided soo