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Characteristics of regional new particle formation in urban and regional background environments in the North China Plain
Long-term measurements of particle number size distributions were carried out both at an urban background site (Peking University, PKU) and a regional Global Atmospheric Watch station (Shangdianzi, SDZ) from March to November in 2008. In total, 52 new particle formation (NPF) events were observed simultaneously at both sites, indicating that this is a regional phenomenon in the North China Plain. On average, the mean condensation sink value before the nucleation events started was 0.025 s−1 in the urban environment, which was 1.6 times higher than that at regional site. However, higher particle formation and growth rates were observed at PKU (10.8 cm−3 s−1 and 5.2 nm h−1) compared with those at SDZ (4.9 cm−3 s−1 and 4.0 nm h−1). These results implied that precursors were much more abundant in the polluted urban environment. Different from the observations in cleaner environments, the background conditions of the observed particle homogeneous nucleation events in the North China Plain could be characterized as the co-existing of a stronger source of precursor gases and a higher condensational sink of pre-existing aerosol particles. Secondary aerosol formation following nucleation events results in an increase of particle mass concentration, particle light scattering coefficient, and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) number concentration, with consequences on visibility, radiative effects, and air quality. Typical regional NPF events with significant particle nucleation rates and subsequent particle growth over a sufficiently long time period at both sites were chosen to investigate the influence of NPF on the number concentration of "potential" CCN. As a result, the NPF and the subsequent condensable growth increased the CCN number concentration in the North China Plain by factors in the range from 5.6 to 8.7. Moreover, the potential contribution of anthropogenic emissions to the CCN number concentration was more than 50%, to which more attention should be drawn in regional and global climate modeling, especially in the polluted urban areas
Coulomb scattering lifetime of a two-dimensional electron gas
Motivated by a recent tunneling experiment in a double quantum-well system,
which reports an anomalously enhanced electronic scattering rate in a clean
two-dimensional electron gas, we calculate the inelastic quasiparticle lifetime
due to electron-electron interaction in a single loop dynamically screened
Coulomb interaction within the random-phase-approximation. We obtain excellent
quantitative agreement with the inelastic scattering rates in the tunneling
experiment without any adjustable parameter, finding that the reported large
( a factor of six) disagreement between theory and experiment arises from
quantitative errors in the existing theoretical work and from the off-shell
energy dependence of the electron self-energy.Comment: 11 pages, RevTex, figures included. Also available at
http://www-cmg.physics.umd.edu/~lzheng
Measurement of Trace I-129 Concentrations in CsI Powder and Organic Liquid Scintillator with Accelerator Mass Spectrometry
Levels of trace radiopurity in active detector materials is a subject of
major concern in low-background experiments. Procedures were devised to measure
trace concentrations of I-129 in the inorganic salt CsI as well as in organic
liquid scintillator with Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) which leads to
improvement in sensitivities by several orders of magnitude over other methods.
No evidence of their existence in these materials were observed. Limits of < 6
X 10^{-13} g/g and < 2.6 X 10^{-17} g/g on the contaminations of I-129 in CsI
and liquid scintillator, respectively, were derived.These are the first results
in a research program whose goals are to develop techniques to measure trace
radioactivity in detector materials by AMS.Comment: Proceedings of 10th International Conference on Accelerator Mass
Spectrometr
Accelerometer-Based Physical Activity Patterns and Associations with Outcomes among Individuals with Osteoarthritis
Background This study examined patterns of physical activity and associations with pain, function, fatigue, and sleep disturbance among individuals with knee or hip osteoarthritis. Methods Participants (n = 54) were enrolled in a telephone-based physical activity coaching intervention trial; all data were collected at baseline. Self-reported measures of pain and function (WOMAC [Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index] subscales), fatigue (10-point numeric rating scale), and PROMIS (Patient-Reported Outcomes Information System) Sleep Disturbance were collected via telephone. Accelerometers were mailed to participants and were worn for at least 3 days. Proportion of time participants spent in sedentary behavior during the morning (from wake until 12:00 pm), afternoon (12:00 pm until 5:59 pm) and evening (6:00 pm until sleep) each day was averaged across all days of wear. Pearson correlations assessed associations between activity and self-reported measures. Results Participants spent a large proportion of time in sedentary behavior: 65.6% of mornings, 70.0% of afternoons, and 76.6% of evenings. Associations between proportion of time spent in sedentary behavior and reported outcomes were generally strongest in the afternoon, strongest for WOMAC function, and lowest for PROMIS Sleep Disturbance. In the evening hours, sedentary time was most strongly associated with fatigue. Conclusions Overall, findings stress the importance of reducing sedentary behavior among adults with osteoarthritis and suggest behavioral interventions may be strengthened by considering patients' within-day variation in symptoms and activity
Magneto-transport in a quantum network: Evidence of a mesoscopic switch
We investigate magneto-transport properties of a shaped three-arm
mesoscopic ring where the upper and lower sub-rings are threaded by
Aharonov-Bohm fluxes and , respectively, within a
non-interacting electron picture. A discrete lattice model is used to describe
the quantum network in which two outer arms are subjected to binary alloy
lattices while the middle arm contains identical atomic sites. It is observed
that the presence of the middle arm provides localized states within the band
of extended regions and lead to the possibility of switching action from a high
conducting state to a low conducting one and vice versa. This behavior is
justified by studying persistent current in the network. Both the total current
and individual currents in three separate branches are computed by using
second-quantized formalism and our idea can be utilized to study magnetic
response in any complicated quantum network. The nature of localized
eigenstates are also investigated from probability amplitudes at different
sites of the quantum device.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figure
Franck-Condon Effect in Central Spin System
We study the quantum transitions of a central spin surrounded by a
collective-spin environment. It is found that the influence of the
environmental spins on the absorption spectrum of the central spin can be
explained with the analog of the Franck-Condon (FC) effect in conventional
electron-phonon interaction system. Here, the collective spins of the
environment behave as the vibrational mode, which makes the electron to be
transitioned mainly with the so-called "vertical transitions" in the
conventional FC effect. The "vertical transition" for the central spin in the
spin environment manifests as, the certain collective spin states of the
environment is favored, which corresponds to the minimal change in the average
of the total spin angular momentum.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure
Use of the Generalized Gradient Approximation in Pseudopotential Calculations of Solids
We present a study of the equilibrium properties of -bonded solids within
the pseudopotential approach, employing recently proposed generalized gradient
approximation (GGA) exchange correlation functionals. We analyze the effects of
the gradient corrections on the behavior of the pseudopotentials and discuss
possible approaches for constructing pseudopotentials self-consistently in the
context of gradient corrected functionals. The calculated equilibrium
properties of solids using the GGA functionals are compared to the ones
obtained through the local density approximation (LDA) and to experimental
data. A significant improvement over the LDA results is achieved with the use
of the GGA functionals for cohesive energies. For the lattice constant, the
same accuracy as in LDA can be obtained when the nonlinear coupling between
core and valence electrons introduced by the exchange correlation functionals
is properly taken into account. However, GGA functionals give bulk moduli that
are too small compared to experiment.Comment: 15 pages, latex, no figure
Inelastic lifetimes of confined two-component electron systems in semiconductor quantum wire and quantum well structures
We calculate Coulomb scattering lifetimes of electrons in two-subband quantum
wires and in double-layer quantum wells by obtaining the quasiparticle
self-energy within the framework of the random-phase approximation for the
dynamical dielectric function. We show that, in contrast to a single-subband
quantum wire, the scattering rate in a two-subband quantum wire contains
contributions from both particle-hole excitations and plasmon excitations. For
double-layer quantum well structures, we examine individual contributions to
the scattering rate from quasiparticle as well as acoustic and optical plasmon
excitations at different electron densities and layer separations. We find that
the acoustic plasmon contribution in the two-component electron system does not
introduce any qualitatively new correction to the low energy inelastic
lifetime, and, in particular, does not produce the linear energy dependence of
carrier scattering rate as observed in the normal state of high-
superconductors.Comment: 16 pages, RevTeX, 7 figures. Also available at
http://www-cmg.physics.umd.edu/~lzheng
Diurnal and inter-monthly variation of land surface heat fluxes over the central Tibetan Plateau area
The energy and water cycle over the Tibetan Plateau play an important role in the Asian monsoon system, which in turn is a major component of both the energy and water cycles of the global climate system. Using field observational data observed from the GAME/Tibet (GEWEX (Global Energy and Water cycle Experiment) Asian Monsoon Experiment on the Tibetan Plateau) and the CAMP/Tibet (CEOP (Coordinated Enhanced Observing Period) Asia-Australia Monsoon Project (CAMP) on the Tibetan Plateau), some results on the local surface energy partitioning (diurnal variation, inter-monthly variation and vertical variation etc.) are presented in this study. The study on the regional surface energy partitioning is of paramount importance over heterogeneous landscape of the Tibetan Plateau and it is also one of the main scientific objectives of the GAME/Tibet and the CAMP/Tibet. Therefore, the regional distributions and their inter-monthly variations of surface heat fluxes (net radiation flux, soil heat flux, sensible heat flux and latent heat flux) are also derived by combining NOAA-14/AVHRR data with field observations. The derived results were validated by using the ground truth, and it shows that the derived regional distributions and their inter-monthly variations of land surface heat fluxes are reasonable by using the method proposed in this study. Further improvement of the method and its applying field were also discussed
Shot noise in normal metal-d-wave superconducting junctions
We present theoretical calculations and predictions for the shot noise in
voltage biased junctions of superconductors and normal metal
counter-electrodes. In the clean limit for the d-wave superconductor the shot
noise vanishes at zero voltage because of resonant Andreev reflection by
zero-energy surface bound states. We examine the sensitivity of this resonance
to impurity scattering. We report theoretical results for the magnetic field
dependence of the shot noise, as well the fingerprints of subdominant - and
pairing channels.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures and 3 tables embedde
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