Anderson Localization in Disordered Vibrating Rods

We study, both experimentally and numerically, the Anderson localization phenomenon in torsional waves of a disordered elastic rod, which consists of a cylinder with randomly spaced notches. We find that the normal-mode wave amplitudes are exponentially localized as occurs in disordered solids. The localization length is measured using these wave amplitudes and it is shown to decrease as a function of frequency. The normal-mode spectrum is also measured as well as computed, so its level statistics can be analyzed. Fitting the nearest-neighbor spacing distribution a level repulsion parameter is defined that also varies with frequency. The localization length can then be expressed as a function of the repulsion parameter. There exists a range in which the localization length is a linear function of the repulsion parameter, which is consistent with Random Matrix Theory. However, at low values of the repulsion parameter the linear dependence does not hold.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure

Evaluación de la severidad de la incontinencia urinaria de esfuerzo con estudios urodinámicos: un estudio comparativo para detectar deficiencia intrínseca del esfínter uretral externo

ResumenObjetivoDeterminar la sensibilidad y especificidad del punto de presión de fuga abdominal (ALPP), para evaluar la presencia de deficiencia intrínseca del esfínter (DIE) comparativamente con la presión máxima de cierre uretral (MUCP, por sus siglas en inglés), estableciendo la correlación clínico-urodinámica correspondiente.ResultadosFueron evaluadas 34 pacientes con incontinencia urinaria de esfuerzo (IUE); 17 paciente (50%) fueron diagnosticadas urodinámicamente con DIE por punto de ALPP; 9 tuvieron IUE severa mientras que sólo 2 (5.8%) lo fueron por MUCP, de las cuales una tuvo IUE severa y otra, IUE moderada. Dieciocho pacientes fueron catalogadas clínicamente como IUE severa, de las cuales 17 tuvieron DIE por ALPP entre severa y moderada (94%).ConclusionesLa evaluación urodinámica de la IUE permite establecer de manera clara la fisiopatología de una disfunción del tracto urinario inferior concomitante, con la posibilidad de objetivar la presencia de IUE con el ALPP en al menos 85% de los casos, con una sensibilidad y especificidad para diagnosticar DIE muy superior a la MUCP.AbstractAimsTo determine the sensitivity and specificity of the abdominal leak point pressure (ALPP) in order to comparatively evalúate the presence of intrinsic sphincter deficiency (ISD) with máximum urethral closure pressure (MUCP) and establish the corresponding clinical and urodynamic correlation.ResultsThirty-four patients with stress urinary incontinence (SUI) were evaluated. Seventeen of those patients (50%) were urodynamically diagnosed with ISD through ALPP and 9 of them had severe SUI. Only 2 patients were diagnosed with ISD through MUCP; one of them had severe SUI and the other presented with modérate SUI. Eighteen patients were clinically classified with severe SUI, 17 of whom had moderate to severe ISD diagnosed through ALPP (94%).ConclusionsUrodynamic evaluation of SUI made it possible to clearly establish the pathophysiology of concomitant lower urinary tract dysfunction and to objectify the presence of SUI through ALPP in at least 85% of the cases. ALPP had a much higher sensitivity and specificity for diagnosing ISD than MUCP

Stability of conductance oscillations in monatomic sodium wires

We study the stability of conductance oscillations in monatomic sodium wires with respect to structural variations. The geometry, the electronic structure and the electronic potential of sodium wires suspended between two sodium electrodes are obtained from self-consistent density functional theory calculations. The conductance is calculated within the framework of the Landauer-B\"utttiker formalism, using the mode-matching technique as formulated recently in a real-space finite-difference scheme [Phys. Rev. B \textbf{70}, 195402 (2004)]. We find a regular even-odd conductance oscillation as a function of the wire length, where wires comprising an odd number of atoms have a conductance close to the quantum unit $G_0=e^2/\pi\hbar$, and even-numbered wires have a lower conductance. The conductance of odd-numbered wires is stable with respect to geometry changes in the wire or in the contacts between the wire and the electrodes; the conductance of even-numbered wires is more sensitive. Geometry changes affect the spacing and widths of the wire resonances. In the case of odd-numbered wires the transmission is on-resonance, and hardly affected by the resonance shapes, whereas for even-numbered wires the transmission is off-resonance and sensitive to the resonance shapes. Predicting the amplitude of the conductance oscillation requires a first-principles calculation based upon a realistic structure of the wire and the leads. A simple tight-binding model is introduced to clarify these results.Comment: 16 pages, 20 figure