290 research outputs found
Functional renormalization group approach to non-collinear magnets
A functional renormalization group approach to -dimensional,
-component, non-collinear magnets is performed using various truncations of
the effective action relevant to study their long distance behavior. With help
of these truncations we study the existence of a stable fixed point for
dimensions between and for various values of focusing on the
critical value that, for a given dimension , separates a first
order region for . Our
approach concludes to the absence of stable fixed point in the physical -
and - cases, in agreement with -expansion and in
contradiction with previous perturbative approaches performed at fixed
dimension and with recent approaches based on conformal bootstrap program.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figure
Model C critical dynamics of random anisotropy magnets
We study the relaxational critical dynamics of the three-dimensional random
anisotropy magnets with the non-conserved n-component order parameter coupled
to a conserved scalar density. In the random anisotropy magnets the structural
disorder is present in a form of local quenched anisotropy axes of random
orientation. When the anisotropy axes are randomly distributed along the edges
of the n-dimensional hypercube, asymptotical dynamical critical properties
coincide with those of the random-site Ising model. However structural disorder
gives rise to considerable effects for non-asymptotic critical dynamics. We
investigate this phenomenon by a field-theoretical renormalization group
analysis in the two-loop order. We study critical slowing down and obtain
quantitative estimates for the effective and asymptotic critical exponents of
the order parameter and scalar density. The results predict complex scenarios
for the effective critical exponent approaching an asymptotic regime.Comment: 8 figures, style files include
Association of maternal pancreatic function and foetal growth in rats treated with DFU, a selective cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor
Constitutive (COX-1) and inducible (COX-2) cyclooxygenase isoforms have been
detected in various mammalian tissues. Their activity is blocked by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs that may induce various side reactions. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of DFU, a selective COX-2 inhibitor, on exocrine and endocrine pancreatic function and the immunoexpression of both COX isoforms in maternal and foetal rat pancreases. The compound was administered to pregnant Wistar rats once daily from the 8th to the 21st day of gestation.
Glucose level and amylase activity were determined in the maternal sera.
Maternal and foetal pancreases were examined histologically. Immunoexpression of COX-1 and COX-2 was also evaluated. Both biochemical parameters, as well as the histological structure of the pancreas were undisturbed in the dams and their
foetuses. The maternal glucose level was found to be an important factor for
foetal growth. Strong cytoplasmic COX-1 immunostaining was observed in acinar
secretory cells, whereas in islets the immune reaction was weak. Endocrine cells also revealed strong cytoplasmic COX-2 staining in the maternal and foetal pancreases. Acinar cells exhibited nuclear reaction, which was strong in the foetal but weak in the maternal pancreases. No differences in COX immunoexpression were found between the DFU-exposed and the control groups in either mothers or foetuses. It should be stressed that DFU administered throughout mid and late
pregnancy in rats did not change maternal or foetal pancreatic morphology or immunoexpression of either of the main COX isoforms in the organ
Critical dynamics and effective exponents of magnets with extended impurities
We investigate the asymptotic and effective static and dynamic critical
behavior of (d=3)-dimensional magnets with quenched extended defects,
correlated in dimensions (which can be considered as the
dimensionality of the defects) and randomly distributed in the remaining
dimensions. The field-theoretical renormalization group
perturbative expansions being evaluated naively do not allow for the reliable
numerical data. We apply the Chisholm-Borel resummation technique to restore
convergence of the two-loop expansions and report the numerical values of the
asymptotic critical exponents for the model A dynamics. We discuss different
scenarios for static and dynamic effective critical behavior and give values
for corresponding non-universal exponents.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure
Critical behavior of disordered systems with replica symmetry breaking
A field-theoretic description of the critical behavior of weakly disordered
systems with a -component order parameter is given. For systems of an
arbitrary dimension in the range from three to four, a renormalization group
analysis of the effective replica Hamiltonian of the model with an interaction
potential without replica symmetry is given in the two-loop approximation. For
the case of the one-step replica symmetry breaking, fixed points of the
renormalization group equations are found using the Pade-Borel summing
technique. For every value , the threshold dimensions of the system that
separate the regions of different types of the critical behavior are found by
analyzing those fixed points. Specific features of the critical behavior
determined by the replica symmetry breaking are described. The results are
compared with those obtained by the -expansion and the scope of the
method applicability is determined.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figure
Universality classes of three-dimensional -vector model
We study the conditions under which the critical behavior of the
three-dimensional -vector model does not belong to the spherically
symmetrical universality class. In the calculations we rely on the
field-theoretical renormalization group approach in different regularization
schemes adjusted by resummation and extended analysis of the series for
renormalization-group functions which are known for the model in high orders of
perturbation theory. The phase diagram of the three-dimensional -vector
model is built marking out domains in the -plane where the model belongs to
a given universality class.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figur
Critical behavior of the random-anisotropy model in the strong-anisotropy limit
We investigate the nature of the critical behavior of the random-anisotropy
Heisenberg model (RAM), which describes a magnetic system with random uniaxial
single-site anisotropy, such as some amorphous alloys of rare earths and
transition metals. In particular, we consider the strong-anisotropy limit
(SRAM), in which the Hamiltonian can be rewritten as the one of an Ising
spin-glass model with correlated bond disorder. We perform Monte Carlo
simulations of the SRAM on simple cubic L^3 lattices, up to L=30, measuring
correlation functions of the replica-replica overlap, which is the order
parameter at a glass transition. The corresponding results show critical
behavior and finite-size scaling. They provide evidence of a finite-temperature
continuous transition with critical exponents and
. These results are close to the corresponding estimates that
have been obtained in the usual Ising spin-glass model with uncorrelated bond
disorder, suggesting that the two models belong to the same universality class.
We also determine the leading correction-to-scaling exponent finding .Comment: 24 pages, 13 figs, J. Stat. Mech. in pres
Effect of iodothyronine hormone status on doxorubicin related cardiotoxicity
The anthracycline anticancer agent doxorubicin has been recognised to induce a dose-dependent cardiotoxicity. The chronic form of such complication is characterized by an irreversible cardiac damage and congestive heart failure. Although the pathogenesis of anthracycline cardiotoxicity seems to be multifactorial, the pivotal role has been attributed to reactive oxygen species formation. Because redox equilibrium in cardiomyocytes may be regulated via iodothyronine hormones, the aim of the study was to appraise the effect of hypothyroidism on heart damages induced by doxorubicin. The rats received methimazole in drinking water (0.001 and 0.025%) after doxorubicin administration (2.0, 5.0 and 15 mg/kg). The cardiac morphology and blood biochemical markers of heart damage were assessed. Decreased levels of iodothyronine hormones had not significant impact on cardiac morphological changes and no effect on the level of B-type natriuretic peptide in rats receiving doxorubicin. Lower hormonal levels had sporadic, diverse effect on blood transaminases, lactate dehydrogenase and creatine kinase levels, but any relation to time, doxorubicin doses and hypothyroid status was found. Hypothyreosis leads to increase in fatty acid binding protein in rats receiving higher dose of doxorubicin. Hypothyreosis had no effect on heart stretching and on necrosis at morphological level, but caused biochemical symptoms of cardiomyocyte necrosis in rats receiving doxorubicin
Predicate Abstraction for Linked Data Structures
We present Alias Refinement Types (ART), a new approach to the verification
of correctness properties of linked data structures. While there are many
techniques for checking that a heap-manipulating program adheres to its
specification, they often require that the programmer annotate the behavior of
each procedure, for example, in the form of loop invariants and pre- and
post-conditions. Predicate abstraction would be an attractive abstract domain
for performing invariant inference, existing techniques are not able to reason
about the heap with enough precision to verify functional properties of data
structure manipulating programs. In this paper, we propose a technique that
lifts predicate abstraction to the heap by factoring the analysis of data
structures into two orthogonal components: (1) Alias Types, which reason about
the physical shape of heap structures, and (2) Refinement Types, which use
simple predicates from an SMT decidable theory to capture the logical or
semantic properties of the structures. We prove ART sound by translating types
into separation logic assertions, thus translating typing derivations in ART
into separation logic proofs. We evaluate ART by implementing a tool that
performs type inference for an imperative language, and empirically show, using
a suite of data-structure benchmarks, that ART requires only 21% of the
annotations needed by other state-of-the-art verification techniques
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