4,585 research outputs found
Shock-fitted Euler solutions to shock-vortex interactions
The interaction of a shock wave with a hot spot, a single vortex and a vortex street is studied within the framework of the two dimensional compressible Euler equations. The numerical results obtained by the pseudospectral method and the finite difference MacCormack method are compared. In both the methods the shock wave is fitted as a boundary of the computational domain
Quantum Manifestation of Elastic Constants in Nanostructures
Generally, there are two distinct effects in modifying the properties of
low-dimensional nanostructures: surface effect (SS) due to increased
surface-volume ratio and quantum size effect (QSE) due to quantum confinement
in reduced dimension. The SS has been widely shown to affect the elastic
constants and mechanical properties of nanostructures. Here, using Pb nanofilm
and graphene nanoribbon as model systems, we demonstrate the QSE on the elastic
constants of nanostructures by first-principles calculations. We show that
generally QSE is dominant in affecting the elastic constants of metallic
nanostructures while SS is more pronounced in semiconductor and insulator
nanostructures. Our findings have broad implications in quantum aspects of
nanomechanics
Low Temperature Magnetic Properties of the Double Exchange Model
We study the {\it ferromagnetic} (FM) Kondo lattice model in the strong
coupling limit (double exchange (DE) model). The DE mechanism proposed by Zener
to explain ferromagnetism has unexpected properties when there is more than one
itinerant electron. We find that, in general, the many-body ground state of the
DE model is {\it not} globally FM ordered (except for special filled-shell
cases). Also, the low energy excitations of this model are distinct from spin
wave excitations in usual Heisenberg ferromagnets, which will result in unusual
dynamic magnetic properties.Comment: 5 pages, RevTeX, 5 Postscript figures include
On the soliton width in the incommensurate phase of spin-Peierls systems
We study using bosonization techniques the effects of frustration due to
competing interactions and of the interchain elastic couplings on the soliton
width and soliton structure in spin-Peierls systems. We compare the predictions
of this study with numerical results obtained by exact diagonalization of
finite chains. We conclude that frustration produces in general a reduction of
the soliton width while the interchain elastic coupling increases it. We
discuss these results in connection with recent measurements of the soliton
width in the incommensurate phase of CuGeO_3.Comment: 4 pages, latex, 2 figures embedded in the tex
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Resistance-gene-directed discovery of a natural-product herbicide with a new mode of action.
Bioactive natural products have evolved to inhibit specific cellular targets and have served as lead molecules for health and agricultural applications for the past century1-3. The post-genomics era has brought a renaissance in the discovery of natural products using synthetic-biology tools4-6. However, compared to traditional bioactivity-guided approaches, genome mining of natural products with specific and potent biological activities remains challenging4. Here we present the discovery and validation of a potent herbicide that targets a critical metabolic enzyme that is required for plant survival. Our approach is based on the co-clustering of a self-resistance gene in the natural-product biosynthesis gene cluster7-9, which provides insight into the potential biological activity of the encoded compound. We targeted dihydroxy-acid dehydratase in the branched-chain amino acid biosynthetic pathway in plants; the last step in this pathway is often targeted for herbicide development10. We show that the fungal sesquiterpenoid aspterric acid, which was discovered using the method described above, is a sub-micromolar inhibitor of dihydroxy-acid dehydratase that is effective as a herbicide in spray applications. The self-resistance gene astD was validated to be insensitive to aspterric acid and was deployed as a transgene in the establishment of plants that are resistant to aspterric acid. This herbicide-resistance gene combination complements the urgent ongoing efforts to overcome weed resistance11. Our discovery demonstrates the potential of using a resistance-gene-directed approach in the discovery of bioactive natural products
Mutational analyses of the cysteine-rich domain of Yvh1, a protein required for translational competency in yeast
Ribosome assembly is a complex biological process facilitated by \u3e20
Charge Localization in Disordered Colossal-Magnetoresistance Manganites
The metallic or insulating nature of the paramagnetic phase of the
colossal-magnetoresistance manganites is investigated via a double exchange
Hamiltonian with diagonal disorder. Mobility edge trajectory is determined with
the transfer matrix method. Density of states calculations indicate that random
hopping alone is not sufficient to induce Anderson localization at the Fermi
level with 20-30% doping. We argue that the metal-insulator transtion is likely
due to the formation of localized polarons from nonuniform extended states as
the effective band width is reduced by random hoppings and electron-electron
interactions.Comment: 4 pages, RevTex. 4 Figures include
Molecular-field approach to the spin-Peierls transition in CuGeO_3
We present a theory for the spin-Peierls transition in CuGeO_3. We map the
elementary excitations of the dimerized chain (solitons) on an effective Ising
model. Inter-chain coupling (or phonons) then introduce a linear binding
potential between a pair of soliton and anti-soliton, leading to a finite
transition temperature. We evaluate, as a function of temperature, the order
parameter, the singlet-triplet gap, the specific heat, and the susceptibility
and compare with experimental data on CuGeO_3. We find that CuGeO_3 is close to
a first-order phase transition. We point out, that the famous scaling law
\sim\delta^{2/3} of the triplet gap is a simple consequence of the linear
binding potential between pairs of solitons and anti-solitons in dimerized spin
chains.Comment: 7.1 pages, figures include
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