Quantum Effect in a Diode Included Nonlinear Inductance-Capacitance Mesoscopic Circuit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yan Zhanyuan; Zhang Xiaohong; Ma Jinying

2009-01-01

The mesoscopic nonlinear inductance-capacitance circuit is a typical anharmonic oscillator, due to diodes included in the circuit. In this paper, using the advanced quantum theory of mesoscopic circuits, which based on the fundamental fact that the electric charge takes discrete value, the diode included mesoscopic circuit is firstly studied. Schroedinger equation of the system is a four-order difference equation in p-circumflex representation. Using the extended perturbative method, the detail energy spectrum and wave functions are obtained and verified, as an application of the results, the current quantum fluctuation in the ground state is calculated. Diode is a basis component in a circuit, its quantization would popularize the quantum theory of mesoscopic circuits. The methods to solve the high order difference equation are helpful to the application of mesoscopic quantum theory.

Mesoscopic photon heat transistor

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ojanen, T.; Jauho, Antti-Pekka

2008-01-01

We show that the heat transport between two bodies, mediated by electromagnetic fluctuations, can be controlled with an intermediate quantum circuit-leading to the device concept of a mesoscopic photon heat transistor (MPHT). Our theoretical analysis is based on a novel Meir-Wingreen-Landauer-typ......We show that the heat transport between two bodies, mediated by electromagnetic fluctuations, can be controlled with an intermediate quantum circuit-leading to the device concept of a mesoscopic photon heat transistor (MPHT). Our theoretical analysis is based on a novel Meir......-Wingreen-Landauer-type of conductance formula, which gives the photonic heat current through an arbitrary circuit element coupled to two dissipative reservoirs at finite temperatures. As an illustration we present an exact solution for the case when the intermediate circuit can be described as an electromagnetic resonator. We discuss...

Mesoscopic Self-Assembly: A Shift to Complexity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Massimo eMastrangeli

2015-06-01

Full Text Available By focusing on the construction of thermodynamically stable structures, the self-assembly of mesoscopic systems has proven capable of formidable achievements in the bottom-up engineering of micro- and nanosystems. Yet, inspired by an analogous evolution in supramolecular chemistry, synthetic mesoscopic self-assembly may have a lot more ahead, within reach of a shift toward fully three-dimensional architectures, collective interactions of building blocks and kinetic control. All over these challenging fronts, complexity holds the key.

Ginzburg–Landau theory of mesoscopic multi-band Josephson junctions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Romeo, F.; De Luca, R., E-mail: rdeluca@unisa.it

2017-05-15

Highlights: • We generalize, in the realm of the Ginzburg–Landau theory, the de Gennes matching-matrix method for the interface order parameters to describe the superconducting properties of multi-band mesoscopic Josephson junctions. • The results are in agreement with a microscopic treatment of nanobridge junctions. • Thermal stability of the nanobridge junction is discussed in connection with recent experiments on iron-based grain-boundary junctions. - Abstract: A Ginzburg–Landau theory for multi-band mesoscopic Josephson junctions has been developed. The theory, obtained by generalizing the de Gennes matching-matrix method for the interface order parameters, allows the study of the phase dynamics of various types of mesoscopic Josephson junctions. As a relevant application, we studied mesoscopic double-band junctions also in the presence of a superconducting nanobridge interstitial layer. The results are in agreement with a microscopic treatment of the same system. Furthermore, thermal stability of the nanobridge junction is discussed in connection with recent experiments on iron-based grain-boundary junctions.

Quantum switching of polarization in mesoscopic ferroelectrics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sa de Melo, C.A.

1996-01-01

A single domain of a uniaxial ferroelectric grain may be thought of as a classical permanent memory. At the mesoscopic level this system may experience considerable quantum fluctuations due to tunneling between two possible memory states, thus destroying the classical permanent memory effect. To study these quantum effects the concrete example of a mesoscopic uniaxial ferroelectric grain is discussed, where the orientation of the electric polarization determines two possible memory states. The possibility of quantum switching of the polarization in mesoscopic uniaxial ferroelectric grains is thus proposed. To determine the degree of memory loss, the tunneling rate between the two polarization states is calculated at zero temperature both in the absence and in the presence of an external static electric field. In addition, a discussion of crossover temperature between thermally activated behavior and quantum tunneling behavior is presented. And finally, environmental effects (phonons, defects, and surfaces) are also considered. copyright 1996 The American Physical Society

Discrete and mesoscopic regimes of finite-size wave turbulence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

L'vov, V. S.; Nazarenko, S.

2010-01-01

Bounding volume results in discreteness of eigenmodes in wave systems. This leads to a depletion or complete loss of wave resonances (three-wave, four-wave, etc.), which has a strong effect on wave turbulence (WT) i.e., on the statistical behavior of broadband sets of weakly nonlinear waves. This paper describes three different regimes of WT realizable for different levels of the wave excitations: discrete, mesoscopic and kinetic WT. Discrete WT comprises chaotic dynamics of interacting wave 'clusters' consisting of discrete (often finite) number of connected resonant wave triads (or quarters). Kinetic WT refers to the infinite-box theory, described by well-known wave-kinetic equations. Mesoscopic WT is a regime in which either the discrete and the kinetic evolutions alternate or when none of these two types is purely realized. We argue that in mesoscopic systems the wave spectrum experiences a sandpile behavior. Importantly, the mesoscopic regime is realized for a broad range of wave amplitudes which typically spans over several orders on magnitude, and not just for a particular intermediate level.

Lattice Boltzmann model capable of mesoscopic vorticity computation

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, Cheng; Guo, Zhaoli; Wang, Lian-Ping

2017-11-01

It is well known that standard lattice Boltzmann (LB) models allow the strain-rate components to be computed mesoscopically (i.e., through the local particle distributions) and as such possess a second-order accuracy in strain rate. This is one of the appealing features of the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) which is of only second-order accuracy in hydrodynamic velocity itself. However, no known LB model can provide the same quality for vorticity and pressure gradients. In this paper, we design a multiple-relaxation time LB model on a three-dimensional 27-discrete-velocity (D3Q27) lattice. A detailed Chapman-Enskog analysis is presented to illustrate all the necessary constraints in reproducing the isothermal Navier-Stokes equations. The remaining degrees of freedom are carefully analyzed to derive a model that accommodates mesoscopic computation of all the velocity and pressure gradients from the nonequilibrium moments. This way of vorticity calculation naturally ensures a second-order accuracy, which is also proven through an asymptotic analysis. We thus show, with enough degrees of freedom and appropriate modifications, the mesoscopic vorticity computation can be achieved in LBM. The resulting model is then validated in simulations of a three-dimensional decaying Taylor-Green flow, a lid-driven cavity flow, and a uniform flow passing a fixed sphere. Furthermore, it is shown that the mesoscopic vorticity computation can be realized even with single relaxation parameter.

Statewide mesoscopic simulation for Wyoming.

Science.gov (United States)

2013-10-01

This study developed a mesoscopic simulator which is capable of representing both city-level and statewide roadway : networks. The key feature of such models are the integration of (i) a traffic flow model which is efficient enough to : scale to larg...

Quantum Transport in Mesoscopic Systems

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

voltage bias, the tunneling of the electron from the lead to the dot and vice versa will happen very rarely. Then two successive ..... A typical mesoscopic quantum dot system (a small drop- .... dynamical behavior of the distribution function of the.

Mesoscopic model for binary fluids

Science.gov (United States)

Echeverria, C.; Tucci, K.; Alvarez-Llamoza, O.; Orozco-Guillén, E. E.; Morales, M.; Cosenza, M. G.

2017-10-01

We propose a model for studying binary fluids based on the mesoscopic molecular simulation technique known as multiparticle collision, where the space and state variables are continuous, and time is discrete. We include a repulsion rule to simulate segregation processes that does not require calculation of the interaction forces between particles, so binary fluids can be described on a mesoscopic scale. The model is conceptually simple and computationally efficient; it maintains Galilean invariance and conserves the mass and energy in the system at the micro- and macro-scale, whereas momentum is conserved globally. For a wide range of temperatures and densities, the model yields results in good agreement with the known properties of binary fluids, such as the density profile, interface width, phase separation, and phase growth. We also apply the model to the study of binary fluids in crowded environments with consistent results.

cellPACK: a virtual mesoscope to model and visualize structural systems biology.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Graham T; Autin, Ludovic; Al-Alusi, Mostafa; Goodsell, David S; Sanner, Michel F; Olson, Arthur J

2015-01-01

cellPACK assembles computational models of the biological mesoscale, an intermediate scale (10-100 nm) between molecular and cellular biology scales. cellPACK's modular architecture unites existing and novel packing algorithms to generate, visualize and analyze comprehensive three-dimensional models of complex biological environments that integrate data from multiple experimental systems biology and structural biology sources. cellPACK is available as open-source code, with tools for validation of models and with 'recipes' and models for five biological systems: blood plasma, cytoplasm, synaptic vesicles, HIV and a mycoplasma cell. We have applied cellPACK to model distributions of HIV envelope protein to test several hypotheses for consistency with experimental observations. Biologists, educators and outreach specialists can interact with cellPACK models, develop new recipes and perform packing experiments through scripting and graphical user interfaces at http://cellPACK.org/.

The persistent current and energy spectrum on a driven mesoscopic LC-circuit with Josephson junction

Science.gov (United States)

Pahlavanias, Hassan

2018-03-01

The quantum theory for a mesoscopic electric circuit including a Josephson junction with charge discreteness is studied. By considering coupling energy of the mesoscopic capacitor in Josephson junction device, a Hamiltonian describing the dynamics of a quantum mesoscopic electric LC-circuit with charge discreteness is introduced. We first calculate the persistent current on a quantum driven ring including Josephson junction. Then we obtain the persistent current and energy spectrum of a quantum mesoscopic electrical circuit which includes capacitor, inductor, time-dependent external source and Josephson junction.

Magnetic response of superconducting mesoscopic-size YBCO powder

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Deimling, C.V. [Grupo de Supercondutividade e Magnetismo, Departamento de Fisica, Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos, Sao Carlos, SP (Brazil)], E-mail: cesard@df.ufscar.br; Motta, M.; Lisboa-Filho, P.N. [Laboratorio de Materiais Supercondutores, Departamento de Fisica, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Bauru, SP Brazil (Brazil); Ortiz, W.A. [Grupo de Supercondutividade e Magnetismo, Departamento de Fisica, Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos, Sao Carlos, SP (Brazil)

2008-07-15

In this work it is reported the magnetic behavior of submicron and mesoscopic-size superconducting YBCO powders, prepared by a modified polymeric precursors method. The grain size and microstructure were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Measurements of magnetization and AC-susceptibility as a function of temperature were performed with a quantum design SQUID magnetometer. Our results indicated significant differences on the magnetic propreties, in connection with the calcination temperature and the pressure used to pelletize the samples. This contribution is part of an effort to study vortex dynamics and magnetic properties of submicron and mesoscopic-size superconducting samples.

Tungsten Oxide Nanofibers Self-assembled Mesoscopic Microspheres as High-performance Electrodes for Supercapacitor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu, Juan; Ding, Taotao; Wang, Jin; Zhang, Jun; Wang, Shuai; Chen, Changqing; Fang, Yanyan; Wu, Zhihao; Huo, Kaifu; Dai, Jiangnan

2015-01-01

Highlights: • WO 3 mesoscopic microspheres self-assembled by nanofibers. • Inorganic solvent H 2 O 2 play an integral role in the process of self-assembly. • WO 3 mesoscopic microspheres exhibit specific capacitance value of 797.05 F g −1 at a constant density of 0.5 A g −1 in 2 M H 2 SO 4 aqueous solution. • The WO 3 //AC asymmetric supercapacitor displays a maximum energy density of 97.61 Wh kg −1 and power density of 28.01 kW kg −1 . - Abstract: Mesoscopic WO 3 microspheres composed of self-assembly nanofibers were prepared by hydrothermal reaction of tungsten acid potassium and H 2 O 2 . The mesoscopic WO 3 microspheres offer desired porous properties and large effective active areas provided by intertwining nanofibers, thereby resulting in excellent supercapacitive properties due to facile electrolyte flow and fast reaction kinetics. In three electrode configuration, mesoscopic WO 3 microspheres exhibit specific capacitance value of 797.05 F g −1 at the current density of 0.5 A g −1 and excellent cycling stability without decay after 2000 cycles in 2 M H 2 SO 4 aqueous solution. These values are superior to other reported WO 3 composites. An asymmetric supercapacitor is constructed using the as-prepared WO 3 mesoscopic microspheres as the positive electrode and the activated carbon as the negative electrode, which displays excellent electrochemical performance with a maximum energy density of 97.61 Wh kg −1 and power density of 28.01 kW kg −1 . These impressive performances suggest that the mesoscopic WO 3 microspheres are promising electrode materials for supercapacitor

Spin tunnelling in mesoscopic systems

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

We study spin tunnelling in molecular magnets as an instance of a mesoscopic phenomenon, with special emphasis on the molecule Fe8. We show that the tunnel splitting between various pairs of Zeeman levels in this molecule oscillates as a function of applied magnetic field, vanishing completely at special points in the ...

Mesoscopic Simulations of Crosslinked Polymer Networks

Science.gov (United States)

Megariotis, Grigorios; Vogiatzis, Georgios G.; Schneider, Ludwig; Müller, Marcus; Theodorou, Doros N.

2016-08-01

A new methodology and the corresponding C++ code for mesoscopic simulations of elastomers are presented. The test system, crosslinked ds-1’4-polyisoprene’ is simulated with a Brownian Dynamics/kinetic Monte Carlo algorithm as a dense liquid of soft, coarse-grained beads, each representing 5-10 Kuhn segments. From the thermodynamic point of view, the system is described by a Helmholtz free-energy containing contributions from entropic springs between successive beads along a chain, slip-springs representing entanglements between beads on different chains, and non-bonded interactions. The methodology is employed for the calculation of the stress relaxation function from simulations of several microseconds at equilibrium, as well as for the prediction of stress-strain curves of crosslinked polymer networks under deformation.

Coulomb drag in coherent mesoscopic systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mortensen, Asger; Flensberg, Karsten; Jauho, Antti-Pekka

2001-01-01

We present a theory for Coulomb drag between two mesoscopic systems. Our formalism expresses the drag in terms of scattering matrices and wave functions, and its range of validity covers both ballistic and disordered systems. The consequences can be worked out either by analytic means, such as th......We present a theory for Coulomb drag between two mesoscopic systems. Our formalism expresses the drag in terms of scattering matrices and wave functions, and its range of validity covers both ballistic and disordered systems. The consequences can be worked out either by analytic means......, such as the random matrix theory, or by numerical simulations. We show that Coulomb drag is sensitive to localized states. which usual transport measurements do not probe. For chaotic 2D systems we find a vanishing average drag, with a nonzero variance. Disordered 1D wires show a finite drag, with a large variance...

Josephson junction in the quantum mesoscopic electric circuits with charge discreteness

Science.gov (United States)

Pahlavani, H.

2018-04-01

A quantum mesoscopic electrical LC-circuit with charge discreteness including a Josephson junction is considered and a nonlinear Hamiltonian that describing the dynamic of such circuit is introduced. The quantum dynamical behavior (persistent current probability) is studied in the charge and phase regimes by numerical solution approaches. The time evolution of charge and current, number-difference and the bosonic phase and also the energy spectrum of a quantum mesoscopic electric LC-circuit with charge discreteness that coupled with a Josephson junction device are investigated. We show the role of the coupling energy and the electrostatic Coulomb energy of the Josephson junction in description of the quantum behavior and the spectral properties of a quantum mesoscopic electrical LC-circuits with charge discreteness.

CHAIRMEN'S FOREWORD: The Seventh International Conference on New Phenomena in Mesoscopic Structures & The Fifth International Conference on Surfaces and Interfaces of Mesoscopic Devices

Science.gov (United States)

Aoyagi, Yoshinobu; Goodnick, Stephen M.

2006-05-01

, non-equilibrium transport, instabilities, nano-electro-mechanical systems, mesoscopic Josephson effects, phase coherence and breaking, and the Kondo effect •Systems of nanodevices: Quantum cellular automata, systolic SET processors, quantum neural nets, adaptive effects in circuits, and molecular circuits •Nanomaterials: nanotubes, nanowires, organic and molecular materials, self-assembled nano wires, and organic devices •Nanobioelectronics: electronic properties of biological structures on the nanoscale. This year's conference was organized by Prof Stephen Goodnick, Arizona State University, and Prof Yoshinobu Aoyagi, Tokyo Institute of Technology. The conference benefited from 14 invited speakers, whose topics spanned the above list, and a total of 97 registered attendees. The largest contingent was from Japan, followed closely by the US. In total, there were 49 from Japan, 31 fiom the US, and 17 from Europe. The organizers want to especially thank the sponsors for the meeting: The Office of Naval Research, the Army Research Office, and Arizona State University on the US side, and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, through their 151 Committee, on the Japanese side. PROGRAM COMMITTEE •Prof Gerhard Abstreiter, Technical University of Munich •Prof Tsuneya Ando, Tokyo Institute of Technology •Prof John Barker, University of Glasgow •Prof Jonathan Bird, the University at Buffalo •Prof Robert Blick, University of Wisconsin •Prof David Ferry, Chair, Arizona State University •Dr Yoshiro Hirayama, NTT Basic Research Laboratories •Dr Koji Ishibashi, RIKEN •Prof Carlo Jacoboni, University of Modena •Prof David Janes, Purdue University •Prof Friedl Kuchar, University of Leoben •Prof K. Matsumoto, Osaka University •Prof Wolfgang Porod, Notre Dame University •Prof Michiharu Tabe, Shizuoka University •Prof Joachim Wolter, Eindhoven Institute of Technology •Prof Lukas Worschech, University of Würzburg •Dr Naoki Yokoyama, Fujitsu

High Resolution Higher Energy X-ray Microscope for Mesoscopic Materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Snigireva, I; Snigirev, A

2013-01-01

We developed a novel X-ray microscopy technique to study mesoscopically structured materials, employing compound refractive lenses. The easily seen advantage of lens-based methodology is the possibility to retrieve high resolution diffraction pattern and real-space images in the same experimental setup. Methodologically the proposed approach is similar to the studies of crystals by high resolution transmission electron microscopy. The proposed microscope was applied for studying of mesoscopic materials such as natural and synthetic opals, inverted photonic crystals

Many-body effects in the mesoscopic x-ray edge problem

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hentschel, Martina; Roeder, Georg; Ullmo, Denis

2007-01-01

Many-body phenomena, a key interest in the investigation of bulk solid state systems, are studied here in the context of the x-ray edge problem for mesoscopic systems. We investigate the many-body effects associated with the sudden perturbation following the x-ray exciton of a core electron into the conduction band. For small systems with dimensions at the nanoscale we find considerable deviations from the well-understood metallic case where Anderson orthogonality catastrophe and the Mahan-Nozieres-DeDominicis response cause characteristic deviations of the photoabsorption cross section from the naive expectation. Whereas the K-edge is typically rounded in metallic systems, we find a slightly peaked K-edge in generic mesoscopic systems with chaotic-coherent electron dynamics. Thus the behavior of the photoabsorption cross section at threshold depends on the system size and is different for the metallic and the mesoscopic case. (author)

From polycrystal to multi-crystal: ''numerical meso-scope'' development for a local analysis in the elasto-viscoplastic field

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heraud, St.

2000-01-01

The knowledge of the local mechanical fields over several adjacent grains is needed for a better understanding of damage initiation and intergranular. failure in metallic polycrystals. This thesis aimed at the derivation of such fields through a 'numerical meso-scope': this simulation tool relies on the finite element analysis of a multi-crystalline pattern embedded in a large matrix whose mechanical behaviour is derived experimentally from classical tests performed on the studied metal. First, we derived macroscopic elastic-viscoplastic constitutive equations from tensile and creep tests on a AIS1316 stainless steel and we inferred from them the general form of similar, but crystallographic equations to be used for the single crystals; the corresponding parameters were determined by fitting the computed overall response of an aggregate made of 1000 grains with the macroscopic experimental one. We then investigated a creep-damaged area of the same steel and we simulated the same grain ensemble in the 'numerical meso-scope' so as to compare the computed normal stress on all grain boundaries with the observed de-bonded boundaries: this showed the most damaged boundaries to sustain the largest normal stress. Another application was concerned with the understanding of the origin of intergranular damage of aged AIS321 stainless steel. A similar approach was adopted with help of the meso-scope: it showed that observations could not be explained by a sole intragranular hardening as it is currently proposed in the literature. Thus the pertinence of the 'numerical meso-scope' concept can now be demonstrated, which opens on a number of new interesting perspectives. (author)

Mesoscopic Length Scale Controls the Rheology of Dense Suspensions

Science.gov (United States)

Bonnoit, Claire; Lanuza, Jose; Lindner, Anke; Clement, Eric

2010-09-01

From the flow properties of dense granular suspensions on an inclined plane, we identify a mesoscopic length scale strongly increasing with volume fraction. When the flowing layer height is larger than this length scale, a diverging Newtonian viscosity is determined. However, when the flowing layer height drops below this scale, we evidence a nonlocal effective viscosity, decreasing as a power law of the flow height. We establish a scaling relation between this mesoscopic length scale and the suspension viscosity. These results support recent theoretical and numerical results implying collective and clustered granular motion when the jamming point is approached from below.

Mesoscopic effects in the quantum Hall regime

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

. When band mixing between multiple Landau levels is present, mesoscopic effects cause a crossover from a sequence of quantum Hall transitions for weak disorder to classical behavior for strong disorder. This behavior may be of relevance ...

Mesoscopic structure conditions the emergence of cooperation on social networks.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sergi Lozano

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: We study the evolutionary Prisoner's Dilemma on two social networks substrates obtained from actual relational data. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We find very different cooperation levels on each of them that cannot be easily understood in terms of global statistical properties of both networks. We claim that the result can be understood at the mesoscopic scale, by studying the community structure of the networks. We explain the dependence of the cooperation level on the temptation parameter in terms of the internal structure of the communities and their interconnections. We then test our results on community-structured, specifically designed artificial networks, finding a good agreement with the observations in both real substrates. CONCLUSION: Our results support the conclusion that studies of evolutionary games on model networks and their interpretation in terms of global properties may not be sufficient to study specific, real social systems. Further, the study allows us to define new quantitative parameters that summarize the mesoscopic structure of any network. In addition, the community perspective may be helpful to interpret the origin and behavior of existing networks as well as to design structures that show resilient cooperative behavior.

Mesoscopic structure conditions the emergence of cooperation on social networks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lozano, S.; Arenas, A.; Sanchez, A.

2008-12-01

We study the evolutionary Prisoner's Dilemma on two social networks substrates obtained from actual relational data. We find very different cooperation levels on each of them that cannot be easily understood in terms of global statistical properties of both networks. We claim that the result can be understood at the mesoscopic scale, by studying the community structure of the networks. We explain the dependence of the cooperation level on the temptation parameter in terms of the internal structure of the communities and their interconnections. We then test our results on community-structured, specifically designed artificial networks, finding a good agreement with the observations in both real substrates. Our results support the conclusion that studies of evolutionary games on model networks and their interpretation in terms of global properties may not be sufficient to study specific, real social systems. Further, the study allows us to define new quantitative parameters that summarize the mesoscopic structure of any network. In addition, the community perspective may be helpful to interpret the origin and behavior of existing networks as well as to design structures that show resilient cooperative behavior.

Quantum fluctuations in mesoscopic and macroscopic systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cerdeira, H.A.; Guinea Lopez, F.; Weiss, U.

1991-01-01

The conference presentations have been grouped in three chapters; Quantum Transport (4 papers), Dissipation in Discrete Systems (7 papers) and Mesoscopic Junction, Rings and Arrays (6 papers). A separate abstract was prepared for each paper. Refs and figs

Mesoscopic quantum emitters coupled to plasmonic nanostructures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Mads Lykke

for the spontaneous emission of mesoscopic quantum emitters is developed. The light-matter interaction is in this model modied beyond the dipole expectancy and found to both suppress and enhance the coupling to plasmonic modes in excellent agreement with our measurements. We demonstrate that this mesoscopic effect......This thesis reports research on quantum dots coupled to dielectric and plasmonic nano-structures by way of nano-structure fabrication, optical measurements, and theoretical modeling. To study light-matter interaction, plasmonic gap waveguides with nanometer dimensions as well as samples for studies...... to allow for e- cient plasmon-based single-photon sources. Theoretical studies of coupling and propagation properties of plasmonic waveguides reveal that a high-refractive index of the medium surrounding the emitter, e.g. nGaAs = 3.5, limits the realizability of ecient plasmon-based single-photon sources...

Probabilistic simulation of mesoscopic “Schrödinger cat” states

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Opanchuk, B.; Rosales-Zárate, L.; Reid, M.D.; Drummond, P.D., E-mail: pdrummond@swin.edu.au

2014-02-01

We carry out probabilistic phase-space sampling of mesoscopic Schrödinger cat quantum states, demonstrating multipartite Bell violations for up to 60 qubits. We use states similar to those generated in photonic and ion-trap experiments. These results show that mesoscopic quantum superpositions are directly accessible to probabilistic sampling, and we analyze the properties of sampling errors. We also demonstrate dynamical simulation of super-decoherence in ion traps. Our computer simulations can be either exponentially faster or slower than experiment, depending on the correlations measured.

Tunable quasiparticle trapping in Meissner and vortex states of mesoscopic superconductors.

Science.gov (United States)

Taupin, M; Khaymovich, I M; Meschke, M; Mel'nikov, A S; Pekola, J P

2016-03-16

Nowadays, superconductors serve in numerous applications, from high-field magnets to ultrasensitive detectors of radiation. Mesoscopic superconducting devices, referring to those with nanoscale dimensions, are in a special position as they are easily driven out of equilibrium under typical operating conditions. The out-of-equilibrium superconductors are characterized by non-equilibrium quasiparticles. These extra excitations can compromise the performance of mesoscopic devices by introducing, for example, leakage currents or decreased coherence time in quantum devices. By applying an external magnetic field, one can conveniently suppress or redistribute the population of excess quasiparticles. In this article, we present an experimental demonstration and a theoretical analysis of such effective control of quasiparticles, resulting in electron cooling both in the Meissner and vortex states of a mesoscopic superconductor. We introduce a theoretical model of quasiparticle dynamics, which is in quantitative agreement with the experimental data.

Numerical simulation of lubrication mechanisms at mesoscopic scale

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hubert, C.; Bay, Niels; Christiansen, Peter

2011-01-01

The mechanisms of liquid lubrication in metal forming are studied at a mesoscopic scale, adopting a 2D sequential fluid-solid weak coupling approach earlier developed in the first author's laboratory. This approach involves two computation steps. The first one is a fully coupled fluid-structure F...... of pyramidal indentations. The tests are performed with variable reduction and drawing speed under controlled front and back tension forces. Visual observations through a transparent die of the fluid entrapment and escape from the cavities using a CCD camera show the mechanisms of Micro......PlastoHydroDynamic Lubrication (MPHDL) as well as cavity shrinkage due to lubricant compression and escape and strip deformation....

PREFACE: Advanced many-body and statistical methods in mesoscopic systems

Science.gov (United States)

Anghel, Dragos Victor; Sabin Delion, Doru; Sorin Paraoanu, Gheorghe

2012-02-01

It has increasingly been realized in recent times that the borders separating various subfields of physics are largely artificial. This is the case for nanoscale physics, physics of lower-dimensional systems and nuclear physics, where the advanced techniques of many-body theory developed in recent times could provide a unifying framework for these disciplines under the general name of mesoscopic physics. Other fields, such as quantum optics and quantum information, are increasingly using related methods. The 6-day conference 'Advanced many-body and statistical methods in mesoscopic systems' that took place in Constanta, Romania, between 27 June and 2 July 2011 was, we believe, a successful attempt at bridging an impressive list of topical research areas: foundations of quantum physics, equilibrium and non-equilibrium quantum statistics/fractional statistics, quantum transport, phases and phase transitions in mesoscopic systems/superfluidity and superconductivity, quantum electromechanical systems, quantum dissipation, dephasing, noise and decoherence, quantum information, spin systems and their dynamics, fundamental symmetries in mesoscopic systems, phase transitions, exactly solvable methods for mesoscopic systems, various extension of the random phase approximation, open quantum systems, clustering, decay and fission modes and systematic versus random behaviour of nuclear spectra. This event brought together participants from seventeen countries and five continents. Each of the participants brought considerable expertise in his/her field of research and, at the same time, was exposed to the newest results and methods coming from the other, seemingly remote, disciplines. The talks touched on subjects that are at the forefront of topical research areas and we hope that the resulting cross-fertilization of ideas will lead to new, interesting results from which everybody will benefit. We are grateful for the financial and organizational support from IFIN-HH, Ovidius

Quantum Effects of Mesoscopic Inductance and Capacity Coupling Circuits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Jianxin; Yan Zhanyuan; Song Yonghua

2006-01-01

Using the quantum theory for a mesoscopic circuit based on the discretenes of electric charges, the finite-difference Schroedinger equation of the non-dissipative mesoscopic inductance and capacity coupling circuit is achieved. The Coulomb blockade effect, which is caused by the discreteness of electric charges, is studied. Appropriately choose the components in the circuits, the finite-difference Schroedinger equation can be divided into two Mathieu equations in p-circumflex representation. With the WKBJ method, the currents quantum fluctuations in the ground states of the two circuits are calculated. The results show that the currents quantum zero-point fluctuations of the two circuits are exist and correlated.

Current correlations in superconductor - normal metal mesoscopic structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bignon, Guillaume

2005-01-01

Thanks to the experimental progress in miniaturization and cryogenics over the last twenty years, it is now possible to build sufficiently small electric circuits where the wave like nature of electron becomes significant. In such electric circuit transport properties like current and noise are modified. It corresponds to the mesoscopic scale. Moreover, connecting a mesoscopic circuit to a superconductor enhances the effects due to interference between electrons since a superconductor is a macroscopic source of coherent electrons pairs: the Cooper pairs. In this thesis, we study current correlations in mesoscopic normal metal - superconductor structures. First, the energy dependence of current noise in a normal metal - superconductor tunnel junction is analysed taking into account weak disorder and interactions. We show that if the normal metal is out of equilibrium, current and noise become independent. Next, we consider the case of a superconductor connected to two normal metals by tunnel junctions. We show that it is possible to change the sign of current crossed correlation by tuning the voltages and that it can be used to probe the size of the Cooper pairs. Lastly, using Usadel's quasi-classic theory, we study the energy dependence of noise in a normal metal - normal metal - superconductor double junction. We show that barrier's transparencies modifies significantly both current and noise. (author) [fr

Effect of mesoscopic fluctuations on equation of state in cluster-forming systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Ciach

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Equation of state for systems with particles self-assembling into aggregates is derived within a mesoscopic theory combining density functional and field-theoretic approaches. We focus on the effect of mesoscopic fluctuations in the disordered phase. The pressure - volume fraction isotherms are calculated explicitly for two forms of the short-range attraction long-range repulsion potential. Mesoscopic fluctuations lead to an increased pressure in each case, except for very small volume fractions. When large clusters are formed, the mechanical instability of the system is present at much higher temperature than found in mean-field approximation. In this case phase separation competes with the formation of periodic phases (colloidal crystals. In the case of small clusters, no mechanical instability associated with separation into dilute and dense phases appears.

Differences between application of some basic principles of quantum mechanics on atomic and mesoscopic levels

OpenAIRE

Nikulov, Alexey

2005-01-01

Formalism of the quantum mechanics developed for microscopic (atomic) level comes into collision with some logical difficulties on mesoscopic level. Some fundamental differences between application of its basic principles on microscopic and mesoscopic levels are accentuated.

Robust mesoscopic superposition of strongly correlated ultracold atoms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hallwood, David W.; Ernst, Thomas; Brand, Joachim

2010-01-01

We propose a scheme to create coherent superpositions of annular flow of strongly interacting bosonic atoms in a one-dimensional ring trap. The nonrotating ground state is coupled to a vortex state with mesoscopic angular momentum by means of a narrow potential barrier and an applied phase that originates from either rotation or a synthetic magnetic field. We show that superposition states in the Tonks-Girardeau regime are robust against single-particle loss due to the effects of strong correlations. The coupling between the mesoscopically distinct states scales much more favorably with particle number than in schemes relying on weak interactions, thus making particle numbers of hundreds or thousands feasible. Coherent oscillations induced by time variation of parameters may serve as a 'smoking gun' signature for detecting superposition states.

Mesoscopic phenomena in solids

CERN Document Server

Altshuler, BL; Webb, RA

1991-01-01

The physics of disordered systems has enjoyed a resurgence of interest in the last decade. New concepts such as weak localization, interaction effects and Coulomb gap, have been developed for the transport properties of metals and insulators. With the fabrication of smaller and smaller samples and the routine availability of low temperatures, new physics has emerged from the studies of small devices. The new field goes under the name ""mesoscopic physics"" and has rapidly developed, both experimentally and theoretically. This book is designed to review the current status of the field.

Mesoscopic Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy with a Remote Spin Sensor

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Tianyu; Shi, Fazhan; Chen, Sanyou; Guo, Maosen; Chen, Yisheng; Zhang, Yixing; Yang, Yu; Gao, Xingyu; Kong, Xi; Wang, Pengfei; Tateishi, Kenichiro; Uesaka, Tomohiro; Wang, Ya; Zhang, Bo; Du, Jiangfeng

2018-06-01

Quantum sensing based on nitrogen-vacancy (N -V ) centers in diamond has been developed as a powerful tool for microscopic magnetic resonance. However, the reported sensor-to-sample distance is limited within tens of nanometers resulting from the cubic decrease of the signal of spin fluctuation with the increasing distance. Here we extend the sensing distance to tens of micrometers by detecting spin polarization rather than spin fluctuation. We detect the mesoscopic magnetic resonance spectra of polarized electrons of a pentacene-doped crystal, measure its two typical decay times, and observe the optically enhanced spin polarization. This work paves the way for the N -V -based mesoscopic magnetic resonance spectroscopy and imaging at ambient conditions.

Mesoscopic Modeling and Simulation of the Dynamic Tensile Behavior of Concrete

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Ronnie; Simone, A.; Sluys, L. J.

2013-01-01

of the most significant constitutive model parameters on global and local response. Different distributions and shapes of the aggregate grains are tested. Three model parameter sets, corresponding to different moisture conditions, are employed in the analysis of two specimens in which the applied loading rate......We present a two-dimensional mesoscopic finite element model for simulating the rate- and moisture-dependent material behavior of concrete. The idealized mesostructure consists of aggregate grains surrounded by an interfacial transition zone embedded in the bulk material. We examine the influence...

Mesoscopic Iron-Oxide Nanorod Polymer Nanocomposite Films

Science.gov (United States)

Ferrier, Robert; Ohno, Kohji; Composto, Russell

2012-02-01

Dispersion of nanostructures in polymer matrices is required in order to take advantage of the unique properties of the nano-sized filler. This work investigates the dispersion of mesoscopic (200 nm long) iron-oxide rods (FeNRs) grafted with poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) brushes having molecular weights (MWs) of 3.7K, 32K and 160K. These rods were then dispersed in either a poly(methyl methacrylate) or poly(oxyethylene) (PEO) matrix film so that the matrix/brush interaction is either entropic (PMMA matrix) or enthalpic and entropic (PEO matrix). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to determine the dispersion of the FeNRs in the polymer matrix. The results show that the FeNRs with the largest brush were always dispersed in the matrix, whereas the rods with the shorter brushes always aggregated in the matrix. This suggests that the brush MW is a critical parameter to achieve dispersion of these mesoscopic materials. This work can be extended to understand the dispersion of other types of mesocopic particles

Mesoscopic fluctuations in the critical current in InAs-coupled Josephson junctions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Takayanagi, Hideaki; Hansen, J.B.; Nitta, Junsaku

1994-01-01

Mesoscopic fluctuations were confirmed for the critical current in a p-type InAs-coupled Josephson junction. The critical current was measured as a function of the gate voltage corresponding to the change in the Fermi energy. The critical current showed a mesoscopic fluctuation and its behavior was the same as that of the conductance measured at the same time in both the weak and strong localization regimes. The magnitude and the typical period of the fluctuation are discussed and compared to theoretical predictions. ((orig.))

Mesoscopic Fluctuations for the Thinned Circular Unitary Ensemble

Science.gov (United States)

Berggren, Tomas; Duits, Maurice

2017-09-01

In this paper we study the asymptotic behavior of mesoscopic fluctuations for the thinned Circular Unitary Ensemble. The effect of thinning is that the eigenvalues start to decorrelate. The decorrelation is stronger on the larger scales than on the smaller scales. We investigate this behavior by studying mesoscopic linear statistics. There are two regimes depending on the scale parameter and the thinning parameter. In one regime we obtain a CLT of a classical type and in the other regime we retrieve the CLT for CUE. The two regimes are separated by a critical line. On the critical line the limiting fluctuations are no longer Gaussian, but described by infinitely divisible laws. We argue that this transition phenomenon is universal by showing that the same transition and their laws appear for fluctuations of the thinned sine process in a growing box. The proofs are based on a Riemann-Hilbert problem for integrable operators.

Mesoscopic organization reveals the constraints governing Caenorhabditis elegans nervous system.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raj Kumar Pan

Full Text Available One of the biggest challenges in biology is to understand how activity at the cellular level of neurons, as a result of their mutual interactions, leads to the observed behavior of an organism responding to a variety of environmental stimuli. Investigating the intermediate or mesoscopic level of organization in the nervous system is a vital step towards understanding how the integration of micro-level dynamics results in macro-level functioning. The coordination of many different co-occurring processes at this level underlies the command and control of overall network activity. In this paper, we have considered the somatic nervous system of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, for which the entire neuronal connectivity diagram is known. We focus on the organization of the system into modules, i.e., neuronal groups having relatively higher connection density compared to that of the overall network. We show that this mesoscopic feature cannot be explained exclusively in terms of considerations such as, optimizing for resource constraints (viz., total wiring cost and communication efficiency (i.e., network path length. Even including information about the genetic relatedness of the cells cannot account for the observed modular structure. Comparison with other complex networks designed for efficient transport (of signals or resources implies that neuronal networks form a distinct class. This suggests that the principal function of the network, viz., processing of sensory information resulting in appropriate motor response, may be playing a vital role in determining the connection topology. Using modular spectral analysis we make explicit the intimate relation between function and structure in the nervous system. This is further brought out by identifying functionally critical neurons purely on the basis of patterns of intra- and inter-modular connections. Our study reveals how the design of the nervous system reflects several constraints, including

Combining molecular dynamics with mesoscopic Green’s function reaction dynamics simulations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vijaykumar, Adithya, E-mail: vijaykumar@amolf.nl [FOM Institute AMOLF, Science Park 104, 1098 XG Amsterdam (Netherlands); van ’t Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 94157, 1090 GD Amsterdam (Netherlands); Bolhuis, Peter G. [van ’t Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences, University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 94157, 1090 GD Amsterdam (Netherlands); Rein ten Wolde, Pieter, E-mail: p.t.wolde@amolf.nl [FOM Institute AMOLF, Science Park 104, 1098 XG Amsterdam (Netherlands)

2015-12-07

In many reaction-diffusion processes, ranging from biochemical networks, catalysis, to complex self-assembly, the spatial distribution of the reactants and the stochastic character of their interactions are crucial for the macroscopic behavior. The recently developed mesoscopic Green’s Function Reaction Dynamics (GFRD) method enables efficient simulation at the particle level provided the microscopic dynamics can be integrated out. Yet, many processes exhibit non-trivial microscopic dynamics that can qualitatively change the macroscopic behavior, calling for an atomistic, microscopic description. We propose a novel approach that combines GFRD for simulating the system at the mesoscopic scale where particles are far apart, with a microscopic technique such as Langevin dynamics or Molecular Dynamics (MD), for simulating the system at the microscopic scale where reactants are in close proximity. This scheme defines the regions where the particles are close together and simulated with high microscopic resolution and those where they are far apart and simulated with lower mesoscopic resolution, adaptively on the fly. The new multi-scale scheme, called MD-GFRD, is generic and can be used to efficiently simulate reaction-diffusion systems at the particle level.

Combining molecular dynamics with mesoscopic Green’s function reaction dynamics simulations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vijaykumar, Adithya; Bolhuis, Peter G.; Rein ten Wolde, Pieter

2015-01-01

In many reaction-diffusion processes, ranging from biochemical networks, catalysis, to complex self-assembly, the spatial distribution of the reactants and the stochastic character of their interactions are crucial for the macroscopic behavior. The recently developed mesoscopic Green’s Function Reaction Dynamics (GFRD) method enables efficient simulation at the particle level provided the microscopic dynamics can be integrated out. Yet, many processes exhibit non-trivial microscopic dynamics that can qualitatively change the macroscopic behavior, calling for an atomistic, microscopic description. We propose a novel approach that combines GFRD for simulating the system at the mesoscopic scale where particles are far apart, with a microscopic technique such as Langevin dynamics or Molecular Dynamics (MD), for simulating the system at the microscopic scale where reactants are in close proximity. This scheme defines the regions where the particles are close together and simulated with high microscopic resolution and those where they are far apart and simulated with lower mesoscopic resolution, adaptively on the fly. The new multi-scale scheme, called MD-GFRD, is generic and can be used to efficiently simulate reaction-diffusion systems at the particle level

Mesoscopic objects, porous layers and nanocomposites-Possibilities of sol-gel chemistry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Piwonski, Ireneusz

2009-01-01

The goal of this study was to prepare mesoscopic objects, thin porous films and nanocomposite coatings with the use of sol-gel technique. Silica nanotubes, titania nanoparticles, porous titania and zirconia coatings as well as titania nanocomposites were successfully synthesized by changing the type of sol-gel precursor, sol composition and applying dip-coating deposition procedure in order to obtain thin films or coatings. All materials were visualized and characterized by the Atomic Force Microcscopy (AFM) technique. Moreover, characterization of titania nanocomposites was extended to the tribological tests performed by means of microtribometer operating in normal loads range of 30-100 mN. The AFM analysis of mesoscopic objects and nanoparticles showed that the diameter of synthesized silica nanotubes was 60-70 nm and the size of titania nanoparticles was 43 nm. In case of porous layers the pore size in titania and zirconia coatings oscillated between 100 and 240 nm, however their shape and distribution were irregular. Microtribological studies of nanocomposites revealed the moderate decrease of the coefficient of friction for samples containing 5, 15 and 5 wt.% of zirconia nanoparticles in titania coatings annealed at 100, 500 and 1000 deg. C respectively. An enhancement of antiwear properties was already observed for 1 wt.% of nanophase content, except the sample annealed at 500 deg. C. It was also found that the annealing at high temperatures is a primary factor which affects the reduction of friction and wear of titania coatings while the presence of nanoparticles has secondary effect. Investigations in this study carried out with the use of the AFM technique highlighted the potential and flexibility of sol-gel approach in designing of various types of advanced materials in a form of mesoscopic objects, porous coatings and composite layers. Results collected in this study clearly demonstrated that sol-gel technique can be applied effectively in preparation of

Periodic order and defects in Ni-based inverse opal-like crystals on the mesoscopic and atomic scale

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Chumakova, A. V.; Valkovskiy, G. A.; Mistonov, A. A.; Dyadkin, V. A.; Grigoryeva, N. A.; Sapoletova, N. A.; Napolskii, K. S.; Eliseev, A. A.; Petukhov, Andrei V.; Grigoriev, S. V.

2014-01-01

The structure of inverse opal crystals based on nickel was probed on the mesoscopic and atomic levels by a set of complementary techniques such as scanning electron microscopy and synchrotron microradian and wide-angle diffraction. The microradian diffraction revealed the mesoscopic-scale

X-ray diffraction from mesoscopic systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Press, W.; Bahr, D.; Tolan, M.; Burandt, B.; Mueller, M.; Mueller-Buschbaum, P.; Nitz, V.; Stettner, J.

1994-01-01

Two activities of our group concerning structures on mesoscopic length scales are presented: (1) CoSi 2 layers buried in Si-wafers have been studied with many scattering geometries; the emphasis is on diffuse scattering from rough interfaces and diffuse scattering from atomic scale defects. (2) The other example is an investigation of laterally structured surfaces in the region of total external reflection and around Bragg peaks. In both cases extensions of the presently available models are necessary. ((orig.))

Role of mesoscopic morphology in charge transport of doped ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

In doped polyaniline (PANI), the charge transport properties are determined by mesoscopic morphology, which in turn is controlled by the molecular recognition interactions among polymer chain, dopant and solvent. Molecular recognition plays a significant role in chain conformation and charge delocalization.

Quantum transport through mesoscopic disordered interfaces, junctions, and multilayers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nikolic, Branislav K.

2002-01-01

This study explores perpendicular transport through macroscopically inhomogeneous three-dimensional disordered conductors using mesoscopic methods (the real-space Green function technique in a two-probe measuring geometry). The nanoscale samples (containing ∼ 1000 atoms) are modelled by a tight-binding Hamiltonian on a simple cubic lattice where disorder is introduced in the on-site potential energy. I compute the transport properties of: disordered metallic junctions formed by concatenating two homogeneous samples with different kinds of microscopic disorder, a single strongly disordered interface, and multilayers composed of such interfaces and homogeneous layers characterized by different strengths of the same type of microscopic disorder. This allows us to: contrast the resistor model (semiclassical) approach with a fully quantum description of dirty mesoscopic multilayers; study the transmission properties of dirty interfaces (where the Schep-Bauer distribution of transmission eigenvalues is confirmed for a single interface, as well as for a stack of such interfaces that is thinner than the localization length); and elucidate the effect of coupling to ideal leads ('measuring apparatus') on the conductance of both bulk conductors and dirty interfaces. When a multilayer contains a ballistic layer in between two interfaces, its disorder-averaged conductance oscillates as a function of the Fermi energy. I also address some fundamental issues in quantum transport theory - the relationship between the Kubo formula in the exact state representation and the 'mesoscopic Kubo formula' (which gives the exact zero-temperature conductance of a finite-size sample attached to two semi-infinite ideal leads) is thoroughly re-examined by comparing their outcomes for both the junctions and homogeneous samples. (author)

Mesoscopic NbSe3 wires

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zant, H.S.J. van der; Kalwij, A.; Mantel, O.C.; Markovic, N.

1999-01-01

We have fabricated wire structures with (sub)micron sizes in the charge-density wave conductor NbSe 3 . Electrical transport measurements include complete mode-locking on Shapiro steps and show that the patterning has not affected the CDW material. Our mesoscopic wires show strong fluctuation and hysteresis effects in the low-temperature current-voltage characteristics, as well as a strong reduction of the phase-slip voltage. This reduction can not be explained with existing models. We suggest that single phase-slip events are responsible for a substantial reduction of the CDW strain in micron-sized systems. (orig.)

Quantum Spin Transport in Mesoscopic Interferometer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zein W. A.

2007-10-01

Full Text Available Spin-dependent conductance of ballistic mesoscopic interferometer is investigated. The quantum interferometer is in the form of ring, in which a quantum dot is embedded in one arm. This quantum dot is connected to one lead via tunnel barrier. Both Aharonov- Casher and Aharonov-Bohm e ects are studied. Our results confirm the interplay of spin-orbit coupling and quantum interference e ects in such confined quantum systems. This investigation is valuable for spintronics application, for example, quantum information processing.

Recent trends in mesoscopic solar cells based on molecular and nanopigment light harvesters

KAUST Repository

Grä tzel, Carole; Zakeeruddin, Shaik M.

2013-01-01

Mesoscopic solar cells are one of the most promising photovoltaic technologies among third generation photovoltaics due to their low cost and high efficiency. The morphology of wide-band semiconductors, sensitized with molecular or nanosized light harvesters, used as electron collectors contribute substantially to the device performance. Recent developments in the use of organic-inorganic layer structured perovskites as light absorbers and as electron or hole transport materials allows reduction in the thickness of photoanodes to the submicron level and have raised the power conversion efficiency of solid state mesoscopic solar cells above the 10% level.

Dynamic magnetoconductance fluctuations and oscillations in mesoscopic wires and rings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Liu, D. Z.; Hu, Ben Yu-Kuang; Stafford, C. A.

1994-01-01

Using a finite-frequency recursive Green's-function technique, we calculate the dynamic magnetoconductance fluctuations and oscillations in disordered mesoscopic normal-metal systems, incorporating interparticle Coulomb interactions within a self-consistent potential method. In a disorderd metal ...

Electronic properties of mesoscopic graphene structures: Charge confinement and control of spin and charge transport

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rozhkov, A.V., E-mail: arozhkov@gmail.co [Advanced Science Institute, RIKEN, Wako-shi, Saitama, 351-0198 (Japan); Institute for Theoretical and Applied Electrodynamics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 125412, Moscow (Russian Federation); Giavaras, G. [Advanced Science Institute, RIKEN, Wako-shi, Saitama, 351-0198 (Japan); Bliokh, Yury P. [Advanced Science Institute, RIKEN, Wako-shi, Saitama, 351-0198 (Japan); Department of Physics, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000 (Israel); Freilikher, Valentin [Advanced Science Institute, RIKEN, Wako-shi, Saitama, 351-0198 (Japan); Department of Physics, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900 (Israel); Nori, Franco [Advanced Science Institute, RIKEN, Wako-shi, Saitama, 351-0198 (Japan); Department of Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1040 (United States)

2011-06-15

This brief review discusses electronic properties of mesoscopic graphene-based structures. These allow controlling the confinement and transport of charge and spin; thus, they are of interest not only for fundamental research, but also for applications. The graphene-related topics covered here are: edges, nanoribbons, quantum dots, pn-junctions, pnp-structures, and quantum barriers and waveguides. This review is partly intended as a short introduction to graphene mesoscopics.

Universal mesoscopic conductance fluctuations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Evangelou, S.N.

1992-01-01

The theory of conductance fluctuations in disordered metallic systems with size large compared to the mean free path of the electron but small compared to localization length is considered. It is demonstrates that fluctuations have an universal character and are due to repulsion between levels and spectral rigidity. The basic fluctuation measures for the energy spectrum in the mesoscopic regime of disordered systems are consistent with the Gaussian random matrix ensemble predictions. Although our disordered electron random matrix ensemble does not belong to the Gaussian ensemble the two ensembles turn out to be essentially similar. The level repulsion and the spectral rigidity found in nuclear spectra should also be observed in the metallic regime of Anderson localization. 7 refs. (orig.)

Quantum gambling using mesoscopic ring qubits

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pakula, Ireneusz [University of Silesia, Institute of Physics, ul. Uniwersytecka 4, 40-007 Katowice (Poland)

2007-07-15

Quantum Game Theory provides us with new tools for practising games and some other risk related enterprices like, for example, gambling. The two party gambling protocol presented by Goldenberg et al. is one of the simplest yet still hard to implementapplications of Quantum Game Theory. We propose potential physical realisation of the quantum gambling protocol with use of three mesoscopic ring qubits. We point out problems in implementation of such game. (copyright 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim) (orig.)

Quantum gambling using mesoscopic ring qubits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pakula, Ireneusz

2007-01-01

Quantum Game Theory provides us with new tools for practising games and some other risk related enterprices like, for example, gambling. The two party gambling protocol presented by Goldenberg et al. is one of the simplest yet still hard to implementapplications of Quantum Game Theory. We propose potential physical realisation of the quantum gambling protocol with use of three mesoscopic ring qubits. We point out problems in implementation of such game. (copyright 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim) (orig.)

Contact Geometry of Mesoscopic Thermodynamics and Dynamics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miroslav Grmela

2014-03-01

Full Text Available The time evolution during which macroscopic systems reach thermodynamic equilibrium states proceeds as a continuous sequence of contact structure preserving transformations maximizing the entropy. This viewpoint of mesoscopic thermodynamics and dynamics provides a unified setting for the classical equilibrium and nonequilibrium thermodynamics, kinetic theory, and statistical mechanics. One of the illustrations presented in the paper is a new version of extended nonequilibrium thermodynamics with fluxes as extra state variables.

Spin tunnelling in mesoscopic systems

Science.gov (United States)

Garg, Anupam

2001-02-01

We study spin tunnelling in molecular magnets as an instance of a mesoscopic phenomenon, with special emphasis on the molecule Fe8. We show that the tunnel splitting between various pairs of Zeeman levels in this molecule oscillates as a function of applied magnetic field, vanishing completely at special points in the space of magnetic fields, known as diabolical points. This phenomena is explained in terms of two approaches, one based on spin-coherent-state path integrals, and the other on a generalization of the phase integral (or WKB) method to difference equations. Explicit formulas for the diabolical points are obtained for a model Hamiltonian.

Fluctuations and localization in mesoscopic electron

CERN Document Server

Janssen, Martin

2001-01-01

The quantum phenomena of tunneling and interference show up not only in the microscopic world of atoms and molecules, but also in cold materials of the real world, such as metals and semiconductors. Though not fully macroscopic, such mesoscopic systems contain a huge number of particles, and the holistic nature of quantum mechanics becomes evident already in simple electronic measurements. The measured quantity fluctuates as a function of applied fields in an unpredictable, yet reproducible way. Despite this fingerprint character of fluctuations, their statistical properties are universal, i.e

Mesoscopic biology

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

these interactions and their spatio-temporal dynamics are beginning to be explored. ... The elucidation of the structure of DNA and the realization that DNA provides ... molecular recognition during DNA-protein interactions that mediate gene ...

Detailed Simulation of Complex Hydraulic Problems with Macroscopic and Mesoscopic Mathematical Methods

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chiara Biscarini

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The numerical simulation of fast-moving fronts originating from dam or levee breaches is a challenging task for small scale engineering projects. In this work, the use of fully three-dimensional Navier-Stokes (NS equations and lattice Boltzmann method (LBM is proposed for testing the validity of, respectively, macroscopic and mesoscopic mathematical models. Macroscopic simulations are performed employing an open-source computational fluid dynamics (CFD code that solves the NS combined with the volume of fluid (VOF multiphase method to represent free-surface flows. The mesoscopic model is a front-tracking experimental variant of the LBM. In the proposed LBM the air-gas interface is represented as a surface with zero thickness that handles the passage of the density field from the light to the dense phase and vice versa. A single set of LBM equations represents the liquid phase, while the free surface is characterized by an additional variable, the liquid volume fraction. Case studies show advantages and disadvantages of the proposed LBM and NS with specific regard to the computational efficiency and accuracy in dealing with the simulation of flows through complex geometries. In particular, the validation of the model application is developed by simulating the flow propagating through a synthetic urban setting and comparing results with analytical and experimental laboratory measurements.

Quantum bit string commitment protocol using polarization of mesoscopic coherent states

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mendonca, Fabio Alencar; Ramos, Rubens Viana

2008-01-01

In this work, we propose a quantum bit string commitment protocol using polarization of mesoscopic coherent states. The protocol is described and its security against brute force and quantum cloning machine attack is analyzed

Quantum bit string commitment protocol using polarization of mesoscopic coherent states

Science.gov (United States)

Mendonça, Fábio Alencar; Ramos, Rubens Viana

2008-02-01

In this work, we propose a quantum bit string commitment protocol using polarization of mesoscopic coherent states. The protocol is described and its security against brute force and quantum cloning machine attack is analyzed.

Vortex-slip transitions in superconducting a-NbGe mesoscopic channels

Science.gov (United States)

Kokubo, N.; Sorop, T. G.; Besseling, R.; Kes, P. H.

2006-06-01

Intriguing and novel physical aspects related to the vortex flow dynamics have been recently observed in mesoscopic channel devices of a-NbGe with NbN channel edges. In this work we have systematically studied the flow properties of vortices confined in such mesoscopic channels as a function of the magnetic field history, using dc-transport and mode-locking (ML) measurements. As opposed to the field-down situation, in the field-up case a kink anomaly in the dc I-V curves is detected. The mode-locking measurements reveal that this anomaly is, in fact, a flow induced vortex slip transition: by increasing the external drive (either dc or ac) a sudden change occurs from n to n+2 moving vortex rows in the channel. The observed features can be explained in terms of an interplay between field focusing due to screening currents and a change in the predominant pinning mechanism.

Analysis of the elastic behaviour of nonclassical nonlinear mesoscopic materials in quasi-static experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ruffino, E.; Scalerandi, M.

2000-01-01

As discovered by recent quasi-static and dynamic resonance experiments, the classical nonlinear theory fails in describing the hysteretic behaviour of nonlinear mesoscopic materials like rocks, concrete, etc. The paper applies the local interaction simulation approach (LISA) for studying such kind of nonclassical nonlinearity. To this purpose, in the LISA treatment of ultrasonic wave propagation has been included a phenomenological model, based on the PM space approach, of the local mesoscopic features of rocks and other materials with localized damages. A quantitative comparison of simulation and experimental results in quasi-static experiments is also presented

Vortex 'puddles' and magic vortex numbers in mesoscopic superconducting disks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Connolly, M R; Milosevic, M V; Bending, S J [Department of Physics, University of Bath - Claverton Down, Bath, BA2 7AY (United Kingdom); Clem, J R [Ames Laboratory Department of Physics and Astronomy - Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011-3160 (United States); Tamegai, T, E-mail: mrc61@cam.ac.u [Department of Applied Physics, University of Tokyo - Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8627 (Japan)

2009-03-01

The magnetic properties of a superconducting disk change dramatically when its dimensions become mesoscopic. Unlike large disks, where the screening currents induced by an applied magnetic field are strong enough to force vortices to accumulate in a 'puddle' at the centre, in a mesoscopic disk the interaction between one of these vortices and the edge currents can be comparable to the intervortex repulsion, resulting in a destruction of the ordered triangular vortex lattice structure at the centre. Vortices instead form clusters which adopt polygonal and shell-like structures which exhibit magic number states similar to those of charged particles in a confining potential, and electrons in artificial atoms. We have fabricated mesoscopic high temperature superconducting Bi{sub 2}Sr{sub 2}CaCu{sub 2}O{sub 8+delta} disks and investigated their magnetic properties using magneto-optical imaging (MOI) and high resolution scanning Hall probe microscopy (SHPM). The temperature dependence of the vortex penetration field measured using MOI is in excellent agreement with models of the thermal excitation of pancake vortices over edge barriers. The growth of the central vortex puddle has been directly imaged using SHPM and magic vortex numbers showing higher stability have been correlated with abrupt jumps in the measured local magnetisation curves.

Coherent current states in mesoscopic four-terminal Josephson junction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zareyan, M.; Omelyanchouk, A.N.

1999-01-01

A theory is offered for the ballistic 4-terminal Josephson junction. The studied system consist of a mesoscopic two-dimensional normal rectangular layer which is attached on each side to the bulk superconducting banks (terminals). A relation is obtained between the currents through the different terminals, that is valid for arbitrary temperatures and junction sizes. The nonlocal coupling of the supercurrent leads to a new effect, specific for the mesoscopic weak link between two superconducting rings; an applied magnetic flux through one of the rings produces a magnetic flux in the other ring even in the absence of an external flux through the other one. The phase dependent distributions of the local density of Andreev states, of the supercurrents and of the induced order parameter are obtained. The 'interference pattern' for the anomalous average inside the two-dimensional region cam be regulated by the applied magnetic fluxes or the transport currents. For some values of the phase differences between the terminals, the current vortex state and two-dimensional phase slip center appear

Incompatibility of strains and its application to mesoscopic studies of plasticity

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Gröger, Roman; Lookman, T.; Saxena, A.

2010-01-01

Roč. 82, č. 14 (2010), Art. No. 144104 ISSN 1098-0121 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z20410507 Keywords : incompatibility * dislocation * mesoscopic Subject RIV: BM - Solid Matter Physics ; Magnetism Impact factor: 3.772, year: 2010

Nonequilibrium mesoscopic transport: a genealogy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Das, Mukunda P; Green, Frederick

2012-01-01

Models of nonequilibrium quantum transport underpin all modern electronic devices, from the largest scales to the smallest. Past simplifications such as coarse graining and bulk self-averaging served well to understand electronic materials. Such particular notions become inapplicable at mesoscopic dimensions, edging towards the truly quantum regime. Nevertheless a unifying thread continues to run through transport physics, animating the design of small-scale electronic technology: microscopic conservation and nonequilibrium dissipation. These fundamentals are inherent in quantum transport and gain even greater and more explicit experimental meaning in the passage to atomic-sized devices. We review their genesis, their theoretical context, and their governing role in the electronic response of meso- and nanoscopic systems. (topical review)

Dynamics of mesoscopic systems: Non-equilibrium Green's functions approach

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Špička, Václav; Kalvová, Anděla; Velický, B.

2010-01-01

Roč. 42, č. 3 (2010), s. 525-538 ISSN 1386-9477 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA202/08/0361 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10100520; CEZ:AV0Z10100521 Keywords : mesoscopic systems * NGF * initial condition * correlations * Ward identities * transients Subject RIV: BM - Solid Matter Physics ; Magnetism Impact factor: 1.304, year: 2010

Mesoscopic fluctuations and intermittency in aging dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Sibani, P.

2006-01-01

Mesoscopic aging systems are characterized by large intermittent noise fluctuations. In a record dynamics scenario (Sibani P. and Dall J., Europhys. Lett., 64 (2003) 8) these events, quakes, are treated as a Poisson process with average αln (1 + t/tw), where t is the observation time, tw is the age and α is a parameter. Assuming for simplicity that quakes constitute the only source of de-correlation, we present a model for the probability density function (PDF) of the configuration autocorrelation function. Beside α, the model has the average quake size 1/q as a parameter. The model autocorrelation PDF has a Gumbel-like shape, which approaches a Gaussian for large t/tw and becomes sharply peaked in the thermodynamic limit. Its average and variance, which are given analytically, depend on t/tw as a power law and a power law with a logarithmic correction, respectively. Most predictions are in good agreement with data from the literature and with the simulations of the Edwards-Anderson spin-glass carried out as a test.

From the atomic nucleus to mesoscopic systems to microwave cavities

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Abstract. Universal statistical aspects of wave scattering by a variety of physical systems ranging from atomic nuclei to mesoscopic systems and microwave cavities are described. A statistical model for the scattering matrix is employed to address the problem of quantum chaotic scattering. The model, introduced in the past ...

Tailoring of quantum dot emission efficiency by localized surface plasmon polaritons in self-organized mesoscopic rings.

Science.gov (United States)

Margapoti, Emanuela; Gentili, Denis; Amelia, Matteo; Credi, Alberto; Morandi, Vittorio; Cavallini, Massimiliano

2014-01-21

We report on the tailoring of quantum dot (QD) emission efficiency by localized surface plasmon polaritons in self-organized mesoscopic rings. Ag nanoparticles (NPs) with CdSe QDs embedded in a polymeric matrix are spatially organised in mesoscopic rings and coupled in a tuneable fashion by breath figure formation. The mean distance between NPs and QDs and consequently the intensity of QD photoluminescence, which is enhanced by the coupling of surface plasmons and excitons, are tuned by acting on the NP concentration.

Zinc tin oxide as high-temperature stable recombination layer for mesoscopic perovskite/silicon monolithic tandem solar cells

KAUST Repository

Werner, Jérémie

2016-12-05

Perovskite/crystalline silicon tandem solar cells have the potential to reach efficiencies beyond those of silicon single-junction record devices. However, the high-temperature process of 500 °C needed for state-of-the-art mesoscopic perovskite cells has, so far, been limiting their implementation in monolithic tandem devices. Here, we demonstrate the applicability of zinc tin oxide as a recombination layer and show its electrical and optical stability at temperatures up to 500 °C. To prove the concept, we fabricate monolithic tandem cells with mesoscopic top cell with up to 16% efficiency. We then investigate the effect of zinc tin oxide layer thickness variation, showing a strong influence on the optical interference pattern within the tandem device. Finally, we discuss the perspective of mesoscopic perovskite cells for high-efficiency monolithic tandem solar cells. © 2016 Author(s)

Vortex-antivortex patterns in mesoscopic superconductors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Teniers, Gerd; Moshchalkov, V.V.; Chibotaru, L.F.; Ceulemans, Arnout

2003-01-01

We have studied the nucleation of superconductivity in mesoscopic structures of different shape (triangle, square and rectangle). This was made possible by using an analytical gauge transformation for the vector potential A which gives A n =0 for the normal component along the boundary line of the rectangle. As a consequence the superconductor-vacuum boundary condition reduces to the Neumann boundary condition. By solving the linearized Ginzburg-Landau equation with this boundary condition we have determined the field-temperature superconducting phase boundary and the corresponding vortex patterns. The comparison of these patterns for different structures demonstrates that the critical parameters of a superconductor can be manipulated and fine-tuned through nanostructuring

Novel interference effects and a new quantum phase in mesoscopic ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Mesoscopic systems have provided an opportunity to study quantum effects beyond the ... tance [2], normal electron persistent currents [3], non-local current and voltage relations .... If both Б½ and Б¾ are positive or flow in the same direction of the potential drop then the ..... Fermi distribution function ¼(¯) = (1 + exp[(¯ - ) М]).

Mesoscopic fluctuations of the population of a qubit in a strong alternating field

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Denisenko, M. V., E-mail: mar.denisenko@gmail.com; Satanin, A. M. [Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod (Russian Federation)

2016-12-15

Fluctuations of the population of a Josephson qubit in an alternating field, which is a superposition of electromagnetic pulses with large amplitudes, are studied. It is shown that the relative phase of pulses is responsible for the rate of Landau–Zener transitions and, correspondingly, for the frequency of transitions between adiabatic states. The durations of pulses incident on the qubit are controlled with an accuracy of the field period, which results in strong mesoscopic fluctuations of the population of the qubit. Similar to the magnetic field in mesoscopic physics, the relative phase of pulses can destroy the interference pattern of the population of the qubit. The influence of the duration of the pulse and noise on the revealed fluctuation effects is studied.

Production and Detection of Spin-Entangled Electrons in Mesoscopic Conductors

Science.gov (United States)

Burkard, Guido

2006-03-01

Electron spins are an extremely versatile form of quantum bits. When localized in quantum dots, they can form a register for quantum computation. Moreover, being attached to a charge in a mesoscopic conductor allows the electron spin to play the role of a mobile carrier of quantum information similarly to photons in optical quantum communication. Since entanglement is a basic resource in quantum communication, the production and detection of spin-entangled Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) pairs of electrons are of great interest. Besides the practical importance, it is of fundamental interest to test quantum non-locality for electrons. I review the theoretical schemes for the entanglement production in superconductor-normal junctions [1] and other systems. The electron spin entanglement can be detected and quantified from measurements of the fluctuations (shot noise) of the charge current after the electrons have passed through an electronic beam splitter [2,3]. This two-particle interference effect is related to the Hanbury-Brown and Twiss experiment and leads to a doubling of the shot noise SI=φ=0 for spin-entangled states, allowing their differentiation from unentangled pairs. I report on the role of spin-orbit coupling (Rashba and Dresselhaus) in a complete characterization of the spin entanglement [4]. Finally, I address the effects of a discrete level spectrum in the mesoscopic leads and of backscattering and decoherence.[1] P. Recher, E. V. Sukhorukov, D. Loss, Phys. Rev. B 63, 165314 (2001)[2] G. Burkard, D. Loss, E. V. Sukhorukov, Phys. Rev. B 61, R16303 (2000)[3] G. Burkard and D. Loss, Phys. Rev. Lett.91, 087903 (2003)[4] J. C. Egues, G. Burkard, D. Saraga, J. Schliemann, D. Loss, cond-mat/0509038, to appear in Phys.Rev.B (2005).

Convergence of methods for coupling of microscopic and mesoscopic reaction–diffusion simulations

KAUST Repository

Flegg, Mark B.; Hellander, Stefan; Erban, Radek

2015-01-01

© 2015 Elsevier Inc. In this paper, three multiscale methods for coupling of mesoscopic (compartment-based) and microscopic (molecular-based) stochastic reaction-diffusion simulations are investigated. Two of the three methods that will be discussed in detail have been previously reported in the literature; the two-regime method (TRM) and the compartment-placement method (CPM). The third method that is introduced and analysed in this paper is called the ghost cell method (GCM), since it works by constructing a "ghost cell" in which molecules can disappear and jump into the compartment-based simulation. Presented is a comparison of sources of error. The convergent properties of this error are studied as the time step δ. t (for updating the molecular-based part of the model) approaches zero. It is found that the error behaviour depends on another fundamental computational parameter h, the compartment size in the mesoscopic part of the model. Two important limiting cases, which appear in applications, are considered:. (i)δt→0 and h is fixed;(ii)δt→0 and h→0 such that δt/h is fixed. The error for previously developed approaches (the TRM and CPM) converges to zero only in the limiting case (ii), but not in case (i). It is shown that the error of the GCM converges in the limiting case (i). Thus the GCM is superior to previous coupling techniques if the mesoscopic description is much coarser than the microscopic part of the model.

Convergence of methods for coupling of microscopic and mesoscopic reaction–diffusion simulations

KAUST Repository

Flegg, Mark B.

2015-05-01

© 2015 Elsevier Inc. In this paper, three multiscale methods for coupling of mesoscopic (compartment-based) and microscopic (molecular-based) stochastic reaction-diffusion simulations are investigated. Two of the three methods that will be discussed in detail have been previously reported in the literature; the two-regime method (TRM) and the compartment-placement method (CPM). The third method that is introduced and analysed in this paper is called the ghost cell method (GCM), since it works by constructing a "ghost cell" in which molecules can disappear and jump into the compartment-based simulation. Presented is a comparison of sources of error. The convergent properties of this error are studied as the time step δ. t (for updating the molecular-based part of the model) approaches zero. It is found that the error behaviour depends on another fundamental computational parameter h, the compartment size in the mesoscopic part of the model. Two important limiting cases, which appear in applications, are considered:. (i)δt→0 and h is fixed;(ii)δt→0 and h→0 such that δt/h is fixed. The error for previously developed approaches (the TRM and CPM) converges to zero only in the limiting case (ii), but not in case (i). It is shown that the error of the GCM converges in the limiting case (i). Thus the GCM is superior to previous coupling techniques if the mesoscopic description is much coarser than the microscopic part of the model.

Systematic parameter inference in stochastic mesoscopic modeling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lei, Huan; Yang, Xiu [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99352 (United States); Li, Zhen [Division of Applied Mathematics, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912 (United States); Karniadakis, George Em, E-mail: george_karniadakis@brown.edu [Division of Applied Mathematics, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912 (United States)

2017-02-01

We propose a method to efficiently determine the optimal coarse-grained force field in mesoscopic stochastic simulations of Newtonian fluid and polymer melt systems modeled by dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) and energy conserving dissipative particle dynamics (eDPD). The response surfaces of various target properties (viscosity, diffusivity, pressure, etc.) with respect to model parameters are constructed based on the generalized polynomial chaos (gPC) expansion using simulation results on sampling points (e.g., individual parameter sets). To alleviate the computational cost to evaluate the target properties, we employ the compressive sensing method to compute the coefficients of the dominant gPC terms given the prior knowledge that the coefficients are “sparse”. The proposed method shows comparable accuracy with the standard probabilistic collocation method (PCM) while it imposes a much weaker restriction on the number of the simulation samples especially for systems with high dimensional parametric space. Fully access to the response surfaces within the confidence range enables us to infer the optimal force parameters given the desirable values of target properties at the macroscopic scale. Moreover, it enables us to investigate the intrinsic relationship between the model parameters, identify possible degeneracies in the parameter space, and optimize the model by eliminating model redundancies. The proposed method provides an efficient alternative approach for constructing mesoscopic models by inferring model parameters to recover target properties of the physics systems (e.g., from experimental measurements), where those force field parameters and formulation cannot be derived from the microscopic level in a straight forward way.

Periodic order and defects in Ni-based inverse opal-like crystals on the mesoscopic and atomic scale

OpenAIRE

Chumakova, A. V.; Valkovskiy, G. A.; Mistonov, A. A.; Dyadkin, V. A.; Grigoryeva, N. A.; Sapoletova, N. A.; Napolskii, K. S.; Eliseev, A. A.; Petukhov, Andrei V.; Grigoriev, S. V.

2014-01-01

The structure of inverse opal crystals based on nickel was probed on the mesoscopic and atomic levels by a set of complementary techniques such as scanning electron microscopy and synchrotron microradian and wide-angle diffraction. The microradian diffraction revealed the mesoscopic-scale face-centered-cubic (fcc) ordering of spherical voids in the inverse opal-like structure with unit cell dimension of 750±10nm. The diffuse scattering data were used to map defects in the fcc structure as a f...

A novel grid-based mesoscopic model for evacuation dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Meng; Lee, Eric Wai Ming; Ma, Yi

2018-05-01

This study presents a novel grid-based mesoscopic model for evacuation dynamics. In this model, the evacuation space is discretised into larger cells than those used in microscopic models. This approach directly computes the dynamic changes crowd densities in cells over the course of an evacuation. The density flow is driven by the density-speed correlation. The computation is faster than in traditional cellular automata evacuation models which determine density by computing the movements of each pedestrian. To demonstrate the feasibility of this model, we apply it to a series of practical scenarios and conduct a parameter sensitivity study of the effect of changes in time step δ. The simulation results show that within the valid range of δ, changing δ has only a minor impact on the simulation. The model also makes it possible to directly acquire key information such as bottleneck areas from a time-varied dynamic density map, even when a relatively large time step is adopted. We use the commercial software AnyLogic to evaluate the model. The result shows that the mesoscopic model is more efficient than the microscopic model and provides more in-situ details (e.g., pedestrian movement pattern) than the macroscopic models.

Quantum solitonic wave-packet of a meso-scopic system in singularity free gravity

Science.gov (United States)

Buoninfante, Luca; Lambiase, Gaetano; Mazumdar, Anupam

2018-06-01

In this paper we will discuss how to localise a quantum wave-packet due to self-gravitating meso-scopic object by taking into account gravitational self-interaction in the Schrödinger equation beyond General Relativity. In particular, we will study soliton-like solutions in infinite derivative ghost free theories of gravity, which resolves the gravitational 1 / r singularity in the potential. We will show a unique feature that the quantum spread of such a gravitational system is larger than that of the Newtonian gravity, therefore enabling us a window of opportunity to test classical and quantum properties of such theories of gravity in the near future at a table-top experiment.

Structural and optical studies on mesoscopic defect structure in highly conductive AgI-ZnO composites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fujishiro, Fumito; Mochizuki, Shosuke

2003-01-01

The electrical conductivity of (x)AgI-(1-x)ZnO (0≤x≤1) composites at room temperature increases with increasing AgI content and reaches a maximum at about 50% AgI. The results obtained by the scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometry and photoluminescence spectroscopy have clarified high-ionic-conduction pathways related to mesoscopic defect structure at AgI/ZnO interfaces and mesoscopically disordered structure in AgI domain. We have observed also new optical phenomenon, which may arise from excitation energy transfer between AgI-exciton and photoinduced oxygen vacancy at the AgI/ZnO interface

Current density waves in open mesoscopic rings driven by time-periodic magnetic fluxes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yan Conghua; Wei Lianfu

2010-01-01

Quantum coherent transport through open mesoscopic Aharonov-Bohm rings (driven by static fluxes) have been studied extensively. Here, by using quantum waveguide theory and the Floquet theorem we investigate the quantum transport of electrons along an open mesoscopic ring threaded by a time-periodic magnetic flux. We predicate that current density waves could be excited along such an open ring. As a consequence, a net current could be generated along the lead with only one reservoir, if the lead additionally connects to such a normal-metal loop driven by the time-dependent flux. These phenomena could be explained by photon-assisted processes, due to the interaction between the transported electrons and the applied oscillating external fields. We also discuss how the time-average currents (along the ring and the lead) depend on the amplitude and frequency of the applied oscillating fluxes.

Interactions between electrons, mesoscopic Josephson effect and asymmetric current fluctuations

Science.gov (United States)

Huard, B.

2006-07-01

This article discusses three experiments on the properties of electronic transport at the mesoscopic scale. The first one allowed to measure the energy exchange rate between electrons in a metal contaminated by a very weak concentration of magnetic impurities. The role played by magnetic impurities in the Kondo regime on those energy exchanges is quantitatively investigated, and the global measured exchange rate is larger than expected. The second experiment is a measurement of the current-phase relation in a system made of two superconductors linked through a single atom. We thus provide quantitative support for the recent description of the mesoscopic Josephson effect. The last experiment is a measurement of the asymmetry of the current fluctuations in a mesoscopic conductor, using a Josephson junction as a threshold detector. Cet ouvrage décrit trois expériences portant sur les propriétés du transport électronique à l'échelle mésoscopique. La première a permis de mesurer le taux d'échange d'énergie entre électrons dans un métal contenant une très faible concentration d'impuretés magnétiques. Nous avons validé la description quantitative du rôle des impuretés magnétiques dans le régime Kondo sur ces échanges énergétiques et aussi montré que le taux global d'échange est plus fort que prévu. La seconde expérience est une mesure de la relation courant-phase dans un système constitué de deux supraconducteurs couplés par un seul atome. Elle nous a permis de conforter quantitativement la récente description de l'effet Josephson mésoscopique. La dernière expérience est unemesure de l'asymétrie des fluctuations du courant dans un conducteur mésoscopique en utilisant une Jonction Josephson comme détecteur de seuil.

Transport properties of mesoscopic graphene rings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu, N.; Ding, J.W.; Wang, B.L.; Shi, D.N.; Sun, H.Q.

2012-01-01

Based on a recursive Green's function method, we investigate the conductance of mesoscopic graphene rings in the presence of disorder, in the limit of phase coherent transport. Two models of disorder are considered: edge disorder and surface disorder. Our simulations show that the conductance decreases exponentially with the edge disorder and the surface disorder. In the presence of flux, a clear Aharonov-Bohm conductance oscillation with the period Φ 0 (Φ 0 =h/e) is observed. The edge disorder and the surface disorder have no effect on the period of AB oscillation. The amplitudes of AB oscillations vary with gate voltage and flux, which is consistent with the previous results. Additionally, ballistic rectification and negative differential resistance are observed in I-V curves, with on/off characteristic.

Mesoscopic rings with spin-orbit interactions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Berche, Bertrand; Chatelain, Christophe; Medina, Ernesto, E-mail: berche@lpm.u-nancy.f [Statistical Physics Group, Institut Jean Lamour, UMR CNRS No 7198, Universite Henri Poincare, Nancy 1, B.P. 70239, F-54506 Vandoeuvre les Nancy (France)

2010-09-15

A didactic description of charge and spin equilibrium currents on mesoscopic rings in the presence of spin-orbit interaction is presented. Emphasis is made on the non-trivial construction of the correct Hamiltonian in polar coordinates, the calculation of eigenvalues and eigenfunctions and the symmetries of the ground-state properties. Spin currents are derived following an intuitive definition, and then a more thorough derivation is built upon the canonical Lagrangian formulation that emphasizes the SU(2) gauge structure of the transport problem of spin-1/2 fermions in spin-orbit active media. The quantization conditions that follow from the constraint of single-valued Pauli spinors are also discussed. The targeted students are those of a graduate condensed matter physics course.

Self-Assembling Biological Springs Force Transducers on the Micron Nanoscale

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Benedek, George [Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Casparay, Alfred H. [Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)

2016-08-19

In this project, we are developing a new system for measuring forces within and between nanoscale biological molecules based on mesoscopic springs made of cholesterol helical ribbons. These ribbons self-assemble in a wide variety of complex fluids containing sterol, a mixture of surfactants and water [1] and have spring constants in the range from 0.5 to 500 pN/nm [2-4]. By the end of this project, we have demonstrated that the cholesterol helical ribbons can be used for measuring forces between biological objects and for mapping the strain fields in hydrogels.

Periodic order and defects in Ni-based inverse opal-like crystals on the mesoscopic and atomic scale

Science.gov (United States)

Chumakova, A. V.; Valkovskiy, G. A.; Mistonov, A. A.; Dyadkin, V. A.; Grigoryeva, N. A.; Sapoletova, N. A.; Napolskii, K. S.; Eliseev, A. A.; Petukhov, A. V.; Grigoriev, S. V.

2014-10-01

The structure of inverse opal crystals based on nickel was probed on the mesoscopic and atomic levels by a set of complementary techniques such as scanning electron microscopy and synchrotron microradian and wide-angle diffraction. The microradian diffraction revealed the mesoscopic-scale face-centered-cubic (fcc) ordering of spherical voids in the inverse opal-like structure with unit cell dimension of 750±10nm. The diffuse scattering data were used to map defects in the fcc structure as a function of the number of layers in the Ni inverse opal-like structure. The average lateral size of mesoscopic domains is found to be independent of the number of layers. 3D reconstruction of the reciprocal space for the inverse opal crystals with different thickness provided an indirect study of original opal templates in a depth-resolved way. The microstructure and thermal response of the framework of the porous inverse opal crystal was examined using wide-angle powder x-ray diffraction. This artificial porous structure is built from nickel crystallites possessing stacking faults and dislocations peculiar for the nickel thin films.

A Mesoscopic Simulation for the Early-Age Shrinkage Cracking Process of High Performance Concrete in Bridge Engineering

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guodong Li

2017-01-01

Full Text Available On a mesoscopic level, high performance concrete (HPC was assumed to be a heterogeneous composite material consisting of aggregates, mortar, and pores. The concrete mesoscopic structure model had been established based on CT image reconstruction. By combining this model with continuum mechanics, damage mechanics, and fracture mechanics, a relatively complete system for concrete mesoscopic mechanics analysis was established to simulate the process of early-age shrinkage cracking in HPC. This process was based on the dispersion crack model. The results indicated that the interface between the aggregate and mortar was the crack point caused by shrinkage cracks in HPC. The locations of early-age shrinkage cracks in HPC were associated with the spacing and the size of the aggregate particle. However, the shrinkage deformation size of the mortar was related to the scope of concrete cracking and was independent of the crack position. Whereas lower water to cement ratios can improve the early strength of concrete, this ratio cannot control early-age shrinkage cracks in HPC.

The local temperature and chemical potential inside a mesoscopic device driven out of equilibrium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Pei

2011-01-01

In this paper we introduce a method for calculating the local temperature and chemical potential inside a mesoscopic device out of equilibrium. We show how to check the conditions of local thermal equilibrium when the whole system is out of equilibrium. In particular, we study the on-site chemical potentials inside a chain coupled to two reservoirs at a finite voltage bias. We observe in the presence of disorder a large fluctuation in on-site chemical potentials, which can be suppressed by the electron–electron interaction. By taking the average with respect to the configurations of the disorder, we recover the classical picture where the voltage drops monotonically through the resistance wire. We prove the existence of local intensive variables in a mesoscopic device which is in equilibrium or not far from equilibrium

Networks as a Privileged Way to Develop Mesoscopic Level Approaches in Systems Biology

OpenAIRE

Alessandro Giuliani

2014-01-01

The methodologies advocated in computational biology are in many cases proper system-level approaches. These methodologies are variously connected to the notion of “mesosystem” and thus on the focus on relational structures that are at the basis of biological regulation. Here, I describe how the formalization of biological systems by means of graph theory constitutes an extremely fruitful approach to biology. I suggest the epistemological relevance of the notion of graph resides in its multil...

Understanding of mechanical properties of graphite on the basis of mesoscopic microstructure (review)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ishihara, M.; Shibata, T.; Takahashi, T.; Baba, S.; Hoshiya, T.

2002-01-01

With the aim of nuclear application of ceramics in the high-temperature engineering field, the authors have investigated the mesoscopic microstructure related to the mechanical and thermal properties of ceramics. In this paper, recent activities concerning mechanical properties, strength and Young's modulus are presented. In the strength research field, the brittle fracture model considering pore/grain mesoscopic microstructure was expanded so as to render possible an estimation of the strength under stress gradient conditions. Furthermore, the model was expanded to treat the pore/crack interaction effect. The performance of the developed model was investigated from a comparison with experimental data and the Weibull strength theory. In the field of Young's modulus research, ultrasonic wave propagation was investigated using the pore/wave interaction model. Three kinds of interaction modes are treated in the model. The model was applied to the graphite, and its applicability was investigated through comparison with experimental data. (authors)

Time-dependent photon heat transport through a mesoscopic Josephson device

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lu, Wen-Ting; Zhao, Hong-Kang, E-mail: zhaohonk@bit.edu.cn

2017-02-15

The time-oscillating photon heat current through a dc voltage biased mesoscopic Josephson Junction (MJJ) has been investigated by employing the nonequilibrium Green’s function approach. The Landauer-like formula of photon heat current has been derived in both of the Fourier space and its time-oscillating versions, where Coulomb interaction, self inductance, and magnetic flux take effective roles. Nonlinear behaviors are exhibited in the photon heat current due to the quantum nature of MJJ and applied external dc voltage. The magnitude of heat current decreases with increasing the external bias voltage, and subtle oscillation structures appear as the superposition of different photon heat branches. The overall period of heat current with respect to time is not affected by Coulomb interaction, however, the magnitude and phase of it vary considerably by changing the Coulomb interaction. - Highlights: • The time-oscillating photon heat current through a mesoscopic Josephson Junction has been investigated. • The Landauer-like formula of photon heat current has been derived by the nonequilibrium Green’s function approach. • Nonlinear behaviors are exhibited in the photon heat current resulting from the self inductance and Coulomb interaction. • The oscillation structure of heat current is composed of the superposition of oscillations with different periods.

Time-dependent photon heat transport through a mesoscopic Josephson device

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lu, Wen-Ting; Zhao, Hong-Kang

2017-01-01

The time-oscillating photon heat current through a dc voltage biased mesoscopic Josephson Junction (MJJ) has been investigated by employing the nonequilibrium Green’s function approach. The Landauer-like formula of photon heat current has been derived in both of the Fourier space and its time-oscillating versions, where Coulomb interaction, self inductance, and magnetic flux take effective roles. Nonlinear behaviors are exhibited in the photon heat current due to the quantum nature of MJJ and applied external dc voltage. The magnitude of heat current decreases with increasing the external bias voltage, and subtle oscillation structures appear as the superposition of different photon heat branches. The overall period of heat current with respect to time is not affected by Coulomb interaction, however, the magnitude and phase of it vary considerably by changing the Coulomb interaction. - Highlights: • The time-oscillating photon heat current through a mesoscopic Josephson Junction has been investigated. • The Landauer-like formula of photon heat current has been derived by the nonequilibrium Green’s function approach. • Nonlinear behaviors are exhibited in the photon heat current resulting from the self inductance and Coulomb interaction. • The oscillation structure of heat current is composed of the superposition of oscillations with different periods.

Mesoscopic Rydberg Gate Based on Electromagnetically Induced Transparency

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mueller, M.; Lesanovsky, I.; Zoller, P.; Weimer, H.; Buechler, H. P.

2009-01-01

We demonstrate theoretically a parallelized C-NOT gate which allows us to entangle a mesoscopic ensemble of atoms with a single control atom in a single step, with high fidelity and on a microsecond time scale. Our scheme relies on the strong and long-ranged interaction between Rydberg atoms triggering electromagnetically induced transparency. By this we can robustly implement a conditional transfer of all ensemble atoms between two logical states, depending on the state of the control atom. We outline a many-body interferometer which allows a comparison of two many-body quantum states by performing a measurement of the control atom.

Mesoscopic CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 /TiO 2 Heterojunction Solar Cells

KAUST Repository

Etgar, Lioz

2012-10-24

We report for the first time on a hole conductor-free mesoscopic methylammonium lead iodide (CH 3NH 3PbI 3) perovskite/TiO 2 heterojunction solar cell, produced by deposition of perovskite nanoparticles from a solution of CH 3NH 3I and PbI 2 in γ-butyrolactone on a 400 nm thick film of TiO 2 (anatase) nanosheets exposing (001) facets. A gold film was evaporated on top of the CH 3NH 3PbI 3 as a back contact. Importantly, the CH 3NH 3PbI 3 nanoparticles assume here simultaneously the roles of both light harvester and hole conductor, rendering superfluous the use of an additional hole transporting material. The simple mesoscopic CH 3NH 3PbI 3/TiO 2 heterojunction solar cell shows impressive photovoltaic performance, with short-circuit photocurrent J sc= 16.1 mA/cm 2, open-circuit photovoltage V oc = 0.631 V, and a fill factor FF = 0.57, corresponding to a light to electric power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 5.5% under standard AM 1.5 solar light of 1000 W/m 2 intensity. At a lower light intensity of 100W/m 2, a PCE of 7.3% was measured. The advent of such simple solution-processed mesoscopic heterojunction solar cells paves the way to realize low-cost, high-efficiency solar cells. © 2012 American Chemical Society.

Fabrication of mesoscopic floating Si wires by introducing dislocations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Motohashi, Mitsuya; Shimizu, Kazuya; Niwa, Masaaki; Suzuki, Toshiaki

2014-01-01

We fabricated a mesoscopic Si wire by introducing dislocations in a silicon wafer before HF anodization. The dislocations formed along the (111) crystal plane. The outline of the dislocation line was an inverted triangle. The resulting wire floated on a bridge girder and had a hybrid structure consisting of a porous layer and crystalline Si. The cross section of the wire had an inverted triangle shape. The wire formation mechanism is discussed in terms of carrier transport, crystal structure, and dislocation formation during anodization. (paper)

Fabrication of mesoscopic floating Si wires by introducing dislocations

Science.gov (United States)

Motohashi, Mitsuya; Shimizu, Kazuya; Suzuki, Toshiaki; Niwa, Masaaki

2014-12-01

We fabricated a mesoscopic Si wire by introducing dislocations in a silicon wafer before HF anodization. The dislocations formed along the (111) crystal plane. The outline of the dislocation line was an inverted triangle. The resulting wire floated on a bridge girder and had a hybrid structure consisting of a porous layer and crystalline Si. The cross section of the wire had an inverted triangle shape. The wire formation mechanism is discussed in terms of carrier transport, crystal structure, and dislocation formation during anodization.

Mesoscopic segregation of excitation and inhibition in a brain network model.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Malagarriga

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Neurons in the brain are known to operate under a careful balance of excitation and inhibition, which maintains neural microcircuits within the proper operational range. How this balance is played out at the mesoscopic level of neuronal populations is, however, less clear. In order to address this issue, here we use a coupled neural mass model to study computationally the dynamics of a network of cortical macrocolumns operating in a partially synchronized, irregular regime. The topology of the network is heterogeneous, with a few of the nodes acting as connector hubs while the rest are relatively poorly connected. Our results show that in this type of mesoscopic network excitation and inhibition spontaneously segregate, with some columns acting mainly in an excitatory manner while some others have predominantly an inhibitory effect on their neighbors. We characterize the conditions under which this segregation arises, and relate the character of the different columns with their topological role within the network. In particular, we show that the connector hubs are preferentially inhibitory, the more so the larger the node's connectivity. These results suggest a potential mesoscale organization of the excitation-inhibition balance in brain networks.

Mesoscopic model of actin-based propulsion.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jie Zhu

Full Text Available Two theoretical models dominate current understanding of actin-based propulsion: microscopic polymerization ratchet model predicts that growing and writhing actin filaments generate forces and movements, while macroscopic elastic propulsion model suggests that deformation and stress of growing actin gel are responsible for the propulsion. We examine both experimentally and computationally the 2D movement of ellipsoidal beads propelled by actin tails and show that neither of the two models can explain the observed bistability of the orientation of the beads. To explain the data, we develop a 2D hybrid mesoscopic model by reconciling these two models such that individual actin filaments undergoing nucleation, elongation, attachment, detachment and capping are embedded into the boundary of a node-spring viscoelastic network representing the macroscopic actin gel. Stochastic simulations of this 'in silico' actin network show that the combined effects of the macroscopic elastic deformation and microscopic ratchets can explain the observed bistable orientation of the actin-propelled ellipsoidal beads. To test the theory further, we analyze observed distribution of the curvatures of the trajectories and show that the hybrid model's predictions fit the data. Finally, we demonstrate that the model can explain both concave-up and concave-down force-velocity relations for growing actin networks depending on the characteristic time scale and network recoil. To summarize, we propose that both microscopic polymerization ratchets and macroscopic stresses of the deformable actin network are responsible for the force and movement generation.

Amyloid Fibril Polymorphism: Almost Identical on the Atomic Level, Mesoscopically Very Different.

Science.gov (United States)

Seuring, Carolin; Verasdonck, Joeri; Ringler, Philippe; Cadalbert, Riccardo; Stahlberg, Henning; Böckmann, Anja; Meier, Beat H; Riek, Roland

2017-03-02

Amyloid polymorphism of twisted and straight β-endorphin fibrils was studied by negative-stain transmission electron microscopy, scanning transmission electron microscopy, and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Whereas fibrils assembled in the presence of salt formed flat, striated ribbons, in the absence of salt they formed mainly twisted filaments. To get insights into their structural differences at the atomic level, 3D solid-state NMR spectra of both fibril types were acquired, allowing the detection of the differences in chemical shifts of 13 C and 15 N atoms in both preparations. The spectral fingerprints and therefore the chemical shifts are very similar for both fibril types. This indicates that the monomer structure and the molecular interfaces are almost the same but that these small differences do propagate to produce flat and twisted morphologies at the mesoscopic scale. This finding is in agreement with both experimental and theoretical considerations on the assembly of polymers (including amyloids) under different salt conditions, which attribute the mesoscopic difference of flat versus twisted fibrils to electrostatic intermolecular repulsions.

Lead iodide perovskite sensitized all-solid-state submicron thin film mesoscopic solar cell with efficiency exceeding 9%.

KAUST Repository

Kim, Hui-Seon

2012-08-21

We report on solid-state mesoscopic heterojunction solar cells employing nanoparticles (NPs) of methyl ammonium lead iodide (CH(3)NH(3))PbI(3) as light harvesters. The perovskite NPs were produced by reaction of methylammonium iodide with PbI(2) and deposited onto a submicron-thick mesoscopic TiO(2) film, whose pores were infiltrated with the hole-conductor spiro-MeOTAD. Illumination with standard AM-1.5 sunlight generated large photocurrents (J(SC)) exceeding 17 mA/cm(2), an open circuit photovoltage (V(OC)) of 0.888 V and a fill factor (FF) of 0.62 yielding a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 9.7%, the highest reported to date for such cells. Femto second laser studies combined with photo-induced absorption measurements showed charge separation to proceed via hole injection from the excited (CH(3)NH(3))PbI(3) NPs into the spiro-MeOTAD followed by electron transfer to the mesoscopic TiO(2) film. The use of a solid hole conductor dramatically improved the device stability compared to (CH(3)NH(3))PbI(3) -sensitized liquid junction cells.

The development of a 3D mesoscopic model of metallic foam based on an improved watershed algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Jinhua; Zhang, Yadong; Wang, Guikun; Fang, Qin

2018-06-01

The watershed algorithm has been used widely in the x-ray computed tomography (XCT) image segmentation. It provides a transformation defined on a grayscale image and finds the lines that separate adjacent images. However, distortion occurs in developing a mesoscopic model of metallic foam based on XCT image data. The cells are oversegmented at some events when the traditional watershed algorithm is used. The improved watershed algorithm presented in this paper can avoid oversegmentation and is composed of three steps. Firstly, it finds all of the connected cells and identifies the junctions of the corresponding cell walls. Secondly, the image segmentation is conducted to separate the adjacent cells. It generates the lost cell walls between the adjacent cells. Optimization is then performed on the segmentation image. Thirdly, this improved algorithm is validated when it is compared with the image of the metallic foam, which shows that it can avoid the image segmentation distortion. A mesoscopic model of metallic foam is thus formed based on the improved algorithm, and the mesoscopic characteristics of the metallic foam, such as cell size, volume and shape, are identified and analyzed.

Lead iodide perovskite sensitized all-solid-state submicron thin film mesoscopic solar cell with efficiency exceeding 9%.

KAUST Repository

Kim, Hui-Seon; Lee, Chang-Ryul; Im, Jeong-Hyeok; Lee, Ki-Beom; Moehl, Thomas; Marchioro, Arianna; Moon, Soo-Jin; Humphry-Baker, Robin; Yum, Jun-Ho; Moser, Jacques E; Grä tzel, Michael; Park, Nam-Gyu

2012-01-01

We report on solid-state mesoscopic heterojunction solar cells employing nanoparticles (NPs) of methyl ammonium lead iodide (CH(3)NH(3))PbI(3) as light harvesters. The perovskite NPs were produced by reaction of methylammonium iodide with PbI(2) and deposited onto a submicron-thick mesoscopic TiO(2) film, whose pores were infiltrated with the hole-conductor spiro-MeOTAD. Illumination with standard AM-1.5 sunlight generated large photocurrents (J(SC)) exceeding 17 mA/cm(2), an open circuit photovoltage (V(OC)) of 0.888 V and a fill factor (FF) of 0.62 yielding a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 9.7%, the highest reported to date for such cells. Femto second laser studies combined with photo-induced absorption measurements showed charge separation to proceed via hole injection from the excited (CH(3)NH(3))PbI(3) NPs into the spiro-MeOTAD followed by electron transfer to the mesoscopic TiO(2) film. The use of a solid hole conductor dramatically improved the device stability compared to (CH(3)NH(3))PbI(3) -sensitized liquid junction cells.

Lead Iodide Perovskite Sensitized All-Solid-State Submicron Thin Film Mesoscopic Solar Cell with Efficiency Exceeding 9%

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Hui-Seon; Lee, Chang-Ryul; Im, Jeong-Hyeok; Lee, Ki-Beom; Moehl, Thomas; Marchioro, Arianna; Moon, Soo-Jin; Humphry-Baker, Robin; Yum, Jun-Ho; Moser, Jacques E.; Grätzel, Michael; Park, Nam-Gyu

2012-01-01

We report on solid-state mesoscopic heterojunction solar cells employing nanoparticles (NPs) of methyl ammonium lead iodide (CH3NH3)PbI3 as light harvesters. The perovskite NPs were produced by reaction of methylammonium iodide with PbI2 and deposited onto a submicron-thick mesoscopic TiO2 film, whose pores were infiltrated with the hole-conductor spiro-MeOTAD. Illumination with standard AM-1.5 sunlight generated large photocurrents (JSC) exceeding 17 mA/cm2, an open circuit photovoltage (VOC) of 0.888 V and a fill factor (FF) of 0.62 yielding a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 9.7%, the highest reported to date for such cells. Femto second laser studies combined with photo-induced absorption measurements showed charge separation to proceed via hole injection from the excited (CH3NH3)PbI3 NPs into the spiro-MeOTAD followed by electron transfer to the mesoscopic TiO2 film. The use of a solid hole conductor dramatically improved the device stability compared to (CH3NH3)PbI3 -sensitized liquid junction cells. PMID:22912919

Cellular potts models multiscale extensions and biological applications

CERN Document Server

Scianna, Marco

2013-01-01

A flexible, cell-level, and lattice-based technique, the cellular Potts model accurately describes the phenomenological mechanisms involved in many biological processes. Cellular Potts Models: Multiscale Extensions and Biological Applications gives an interdisciplinary, accessible treatment of these models, from the original methodologies to the latest developments. The book first explains the biophysical bases, main merits, and limitations of the cellular Potts model. It then proposes several innovative extensions, focusing on ways to integrate and interface the basic cellular Potts model at the mesoscopic scale with approaches that accurately model microscopic dynamics. These extensions are designed to create a nested and hybrid environment, where the evolution of a biological system is realistically driven by the constant interplay and flux of information between the different levels of description. Through several biological examples, the authors demonstrate a qualitative and quantitative agreement with t...

Application of the Wigner-Function Formulation to Mesoscopic Systems in Presence of Electron-Phonon Interaction

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Jacoboni, C

1997-01-01

A theoretical and computational analysis of the quantum dynamics of charge carriers in presence of electron-phonon interaction based on the Wigner function is here applied to the study of transport in mesoscopic systems...

Introduction to wave scattering, localization, and mesoscopic phenomena

CERN Document Server

Sheng, Ping

1995-01-01

This book gives readers a coherent picture of waves in disordered media, including multiple scattered waves. The book is intended to be self-contained, with illustrated problems and solutions at the end of each chapter to serve the double purpose of filling out the technical and mathematical details and giving the students exercises if used as a course textbook.The study of wave behavior in disordered media has applications in:Condensed matter physics (semi and superconductor nanostructures and mesoscopic phenomena)Materials science/analytical chemistry (analysis of composite and crystalline structures and properties)Optics and electronics (microelectronic and optoelectronic devices)Geology (seismic exploration of Earths subsurface)

Behaviour of concrete under high confinement: study in triaxial compression and in triaxial extension at the mesoscopic scale

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dupray, F.

2008-12-01

This Ph.D. thesis aims at characterising and modeling the mechanical behaviour of concrete under high confinement at the mesoscopic scale. This scale corresponds to that of the large aggregates and the cementitious matrix. The more general scope of this study is the understanding of concrete behaviour under dynamic loading. A dynamic impact can generate mean pressures around 1 GPa. But the characterisation of a material response, in an homogeneous state of stress, can only be achieved through quasi-static tests. The experimentations led in 3S-R Laboratory have underlined the importance of the aggregates in the triaxial response of concrete. Modeling concrete at the mesoscopic level, as a composite of an aggregates phase and a mortar phase, permits a representation of the aggregates effect. An experimental study of the behaviour of mortar phase is performed. Usual tests and hydrostatic and triaxial high confinement tests are realised. The parameters of a constitutive model that couples plasticity with a damage law are identified from these tests. This model is able to reproduce the nonlinear compaction of mortar, the damage behaviour under uniaxial tension or compression, and plasticity under high confinement. The biphasic model uses the finite element method with a cubic and regular mesh. A Monte-Carlo method is used to place quasi-spherical aggregates that respect the given particle size of a reference concrete. Each element is identified by belonging either to the mortar or to the aggregate phase. Numerical simulations are compared with the experimental tests on this concrete. The parameters for these simulations are only identified on the mortar. The simulations reproduce the different phases observed in hydrostatic compression. The evolution of axial moduli under growing confinement is shown, as is the good reproduction of the limit-states experimentally observed under high confinement. The fracture aspect of numerical simulations is comparable with that of

Spontaneous and persistent currents in superconductive and mesoscopic structures (Review)

Science.gov (United States)

Kulik, I. O.

2004-07-01

We briefly review aspects of superconductive persistent currents in Josephson junctions of the S/I/S, S/O/S and S/N/S types, focusing on the origin of jumps in the current versus phase dependences, and discuss in more detail the persistent and the "spontaneous" currents in Aharonov-Bohm mesoscopic and nanoscopic (macromolecular) structures. A fixed-number-of-electrons mesoscopic or macromolecular conducting ring is shown to be unstable against structural transformation removing spatial symmetry (in particular, azimuthal periodicity) of its electron-lattice Hamiltonian. In the case when the transformation is blocked by strong coupling to an external azimuthally symmetric environment, the system becomes bistable in its electronic configuration at a certain number of electrons. Under such a condition, the persistent current has a nonzero value even at an (almost) zero applied Aharonov-Bohm flux and results in very high magnetic susceptibility dM/dH at small nonzero fields, followed by an oscillatory dependence at larger fields. We tentatively assume that previously observed oscillatory magnetization in cyclic metallo-organic molecules by Gatteschi et al. can be attributed to persistent currents. If this proves correct, it may present an opportunity for (and, more generally, macromolecular cyclic structures may suggest the possibility of) engineering quantum computational tools based on the Aharonov-Bohm effect in ballistic nanostructures and macromolecular cyclic aggregates.

Core–shell heterostructured metal oxide arrays enable superior light-harvesting and hysteresis-free mesoscopic perovskite solar cells

KAUST Repository

Mahmood, Khalid; Swain, Bhabani Sankar; Amassian, Aram

2015-01-01

To achieve highly efficient mesoscopic perovskite solar cells (PSCs), the structure and properties of an electron transport layer (ETL) or material (ETM) have been shown to be of supreme importance. Particularly, the core-shell heterostructured mesoscopic ETM architecture has been recognized as a successful electrode design, because of its large internal surface area, superior light-harvesting efficiency and its ability to achieve fast charge transport. Here we report the successful fabrication of a hysteresis-free, 15.3% efficient PSC using vertically aligned ZnO nanorod/TiO2 shell (ZNR/TS) core-shell heterostructured ETMs for the first time. We have also added a conjugated polyelectrolyte polymer into the growth solution to promote the growth of high aspect ratio (AR) ZNRs and substantially improve the infiltration of the perovskite light absorber into the ETM. The PSCs based on the as-synthesized core-shell ZnO/TiO2 heterostructured ETMs exhibited excellent performance enhancement credited to the superior light harvesting capability, larger surface area, prolonged charge-transport pathways and lower recombination rate. The unique ETM design together with minimal hysteresis introduces core-shell ZnO/TiO2 heterostructures as a promising mesoscopic electrode approach for the fabrication of efficient PSCs. This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.

Signatures of topological phase transitions in mesoscopic superconducting rings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pientka, Falko; Romito, Alessandro; Duckheim, Mathias; Oppen, Felix von; Oreg, Yuval

2013-01-01

We investigate Josephson currents in mesoscopic rings with a weak link which are in or near a topological superconducting phase. As a paradigmatic example, we consider the Kitaev model of a spinless p-wave superconductor in one dimension, emphasizing how this model emerges from more realistic settings based on semiconductor nanowires. We show that the flux periodicity of the Josephson current provides signatures of the topological phase transition and the emergence of Majorana fermions (MF) situated on both sides of the weak link even when fermion parity is not a good quantum number. In large rings, the MF hybridize only across the weak link. In this case, the Josephson current is h/e periodic in the flux threading the loop when fermion parity is a good quantum number but reverts to the more conventional h/2e periodicity in the presence of fermion-parity changing relaxation processes. In mesoscopic rings, the MF also hybridize through their overlap in the interior of the superconducting ring. We find that in the topological superconducting phase, this gives rise to an h/e-periodic contribution even when fermion parity is not conserved and that this contribution exhibits a peak near the topological phase transition. This signature of the topological phase transition is robust to the effects of disorder. As a byproduct, we find that close to the topological phase transition, disorder drives the system deeper into the topological phase. This is in stark contrast to the known behavior far from the phase transition, where disorder tends to suppress the topological phase. (paper)

Flexible histone tails in a new mesoscopic oligonucleosome model.

Science.gov (United States)

Arya, Gaurav; Zhang, Qing; Schlick, Tamar

2006-07-01

We describe a new mesoscopic model of oligonucleosomes that incorporates flexible histone tails. The nucleosome cores are modeled using the discrete surface-charge optimization model, which treats the nucleosome as an electrostatic surface represented by hundreds of point charges; the linker DNAs are treated using a discrete elastic chain model; and the histone tails are modeled using a bead/chain hydrodynamic approach as chains of connected beads where each bead represents five protein residues. Appropriate charges and force fields are assigned to each histone chain so as to reproduce the electrostatic potential, structure, and dynamics of the corresponding atomistic histone tails at different salt conditions. The dynamics of resulting oligonucleosomes at different sizes and varying salt concentrations are simulated by Brownian dynamics with complete hydrodynamic interactions. The analyses demonstrate that the new mesoscopic model reproduces experimental results better than its predecessors, which modeled histone tails as rigid entities. In particular, our model with flexible histone tails: correctly accounts for salt-dependent conformational changes in the histone tails; yields the experimentally obtained values of histone-tail mediated core/core attraction energies; and considers the partial shielding of electrostatic repulsion between DNA linkers as a result of the spatial distribution of histone tails. These effects are crucial for regulating chromatin structure but are absent or improperly treated in models with rigid histone tails. The development of this model of oligonucleosomes thus opens new avenues for studying the role of histone tails and their variants in mediating gene expression through modulation of chromatin structure.

Theory and modeling of spin-transport on the microscopic and the mesoscopic scale

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stickler, B.

2013-01-01

It is the aim of this thesis to contribute to the description of spin dynamics in solid state systems. In the first part of this work we present a full quantum treatment of spin-coherent transport in halfmetal / semiconductor CrAs / GaAs heterostructures. The theoretical approach is based on the ab-initio determination of the electronic structures of the materials involved and on the calculation of the band offset. These ingredients are in the second step cast into an effective nearest-neighbor tight-binding Hamiltonian. Finally, in the third step, we investigate by means of the non-equilibrium Green's function technique the current which flows through such a heterostructure if a finite bias is applied. With the help of this strategy it is possible to identify CrAs / GaAs heterostructures as probable candidates for all-semiconductor room-temperature spin-filtering devices, which operate without externally applied magnetic fields. In the second part of this thesis we derive a linear semiclassical spinorial Boltzmann equation. For many (mesoscopic) device geometries a full quantum treatment of transport dynamics may not be necessary and may not be feasible with state-of-the-art techniques. The derivation is based on the quantum mechanical description of a composite quantum system by means of von Neumann's equation. The Born-Markov limit allows us to derive a Lindblad master equation for the reduced system plus non-Markovian corrections. Finally, we perform a Wigner transformation and take the semiclassical limit in order to obtain a spinorial Boltzmann equation, suitable for the description of spin transport on the mesoscopic scale. It has to be emphasized that the spinorial Boltzmann equation constitutes the missing link between a full quantum treatment and heuristically introduced mesoscopic models for spin transport in solid state systems. (author) [de

Equilibrium and shot noise in mesoscopic systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Martin, T.

1994-10-01

Within the last decade, there has been a resurgence of interest in the study of noise in Mesoscopic devices, both experimentally and theoretically. Noise in solid state devices can have different origins: there is 1/f noise, which is believed to arise from fluctuations in the resistance of the sample due to the motion of impurities. On top of this contribution is a frequency independent component associated with the stochastic nature of electron transport, which will be the focus of this paper. If the sample considered is small enough that dephasing and inelastic effects can be neglected, equilibrium (thermal) and excess noise can be completely described in terms of the elastic scattering properties of the sample. As mentioned above, noise arises as a consequence of random processes governing the transport of electrons. Here, there are two sources of randomness: first, electrons incident on the sample occupy a given energy state with a probability given by the Fermi-Dirac distribution function. Secondly, electrons can be transmitted across the sample or reflected in the same reservoir where they came from with a probability given by the quantum mechanical transmission/reflection coefficients. Equilibrium noise refers to the case where no bias voltage is applied between the leads connected to the sample, where thermal agitation alone allows the electrons close to the Fermi level to tunnel through the sample. In general, equilibrium noise is related to the conductance of the sample via the Johnson-Nyquist formula. In the presence of a bias, in the classical regime, one expects to recover the full shot noise < {Delta}{sup 2}I >= 2I{Delta}{mu} as was observed a long time ago in vacuum diodes. In the Mesoscopic regime, however, excess noise is reduced below the shot noise level. The author introduces a more intuitive picture, where the current passing through the device is a superposition of pulses, or electron wave packets, which can be transmitted or reflected.

Thermodynamically consistent mesoscopic model of the ferro/paramagnetic transition

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Benešová, Barbora; Kružík, Martin; Roubíček, Tomáš

2013-01-01

Roč. 64, Č. 1 (2013), s. 1-28 ISSN 0044-2275 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR IAA100750802; GA ČR GA106/09/1573; GA ČR GAP201/10/0357 Grant - others:GA ČR(CZ) GA106/08/1397; GA MŠk(CZ) LC06052 Program:GA; LC Institutional support: RVO:67985556 Keywords : ferro-para-magnetism * evolution * thermodynamics Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics; BA - General Mathematics (UT-L) Impact factor: 1.214, year: 2013 http://library.utia.cas.cz/separaty/2012/MTR/kruzik-thermodynamically consistent mesoscopic model of the ferro-paramagnetic transition.pdf

Superconducting proximity effect in mesoscopic superconductor/normal-metal junctions

CERN Document Server

Takayanagi, H; Toyoda, E

1999-01-01

The superconducting proximity effect is discussed in mesoscopic superconductor/normal-metal junctions. The newly-developed theory shows long-range phase-coherent effect which explaines early experimental results of giant magnetoresistance oscillations in an Andreev interferometer. The theory also shows that the proximity correction to the conductance (PCC) has a reentrant behavior as a function of energy. The reentrant behavior is systematically studied in a gated superconductor-semiconductor junction. A negative PCC is observed in the case of a weak coupling between the normal metal and the external reservoir. Phase coherent ac effect is also observed when rf is irradiated to the junction.

Size and field effect on mesoscopic spin glass

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Komatsu, K. [Department of Applied Physics and Physico-Infomatics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University, Yokohama 223-8522 (Japan)]. E-mail: komatsu@az.appi.keio.ac.jp; Maki, H. [Department of Applied Physics and Physico-Infomatics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University, Yokohama 223-8522 (Japan); Taniyama, T. [Materials and Structures Laboratory, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 4259 Nagatsuta, Midori-ku, Yokohama 226-8503 (Japan); Sato, T. [Department of Applied Physics and Physico-Infomatics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University, Yokohama 223-8522 (Japan)

2007-03-15

Spin glass particles were prepared as the mesoscopic system in order to examine the space scale of spin glass domain (droplet). The peak temperature T {sub peak} in the temperature-dependent magnetization is systematically reduced with decreasing average particle size. This is due to the imitation of droplet growth to the particle diameter. The magnetic field H also decreases T {sub peak}, which is caused by the reduction of the barrier height by Zeeman energy. However, there appears different tendency in the relation between H and T {sub peak} below 100 Oe. This indicates the existence of crossover between the two regimes in which the free energy and Zeeman energy govern the droplet excitation.

Mesoscopic and continuum modelling of angiogenesis

KAUST Repository

Spill, F.; Guerrero, P.; Alarcon, T.; Maini, P. K.; Byrne, H. M.

2014-01-01

Angiogenesis is the formation of new blood vessels from pre-existing ones in response to chemical signals secreted by, for example, a wound or a tumour. In this paper, we propose a mesoscopic lattice-based model of angiogenesis, in which processes that include proliferation and cell movement are considered as stochastic events. By studying the dependence of the model on the lattice spacing and the number of cells involved, we are able to derive the deterministic continuum limit of our equations and compare it to similar existing models of angiogenesis. We further identify conditions under which the use of continuum models is justified, and others for which stochastic or discrete effects dominate. We also compare different stochastic models for the movement of endothelial tip cells which have the same macroscopic, deterministic behaviour, but lead to markedly different behaviour in terms of production of new vessel cells. © 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Mesoscopic and continuum modelling of angiogenesis

KAUST Repository

Spill, F.

2014-03-11

Angiogenesis is the formation of new blood vessels from pre-existing ones in response to chemical signals secreted by, for example, a wound or a tumour. In this paper, we propose a mesoscopic lattice-based model of angiogenesis, in which processes that include proliferation and cell movement are considered as stochastic events. By studying the dependence of the model on the lattice spacing and the number of cells involved, we are able to derive the deterministic continuum limit of our equations and compare it to similar existing models of angiogenesis. We further identify conditions under which the use of continuum models is justified, and others for which stochastic or discrete effects dominate. We also compare different stochastic models for the movement of endothelial tip cells which have the same macroscopic, deterministic behaviour, but lead to markedly different behaviour in terms of production of new vessel cells. © 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Detection of discretized single-shell penetration in mesoscopic vortex matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dolz, M I; Fasano, Y; Bolecek, N R Cejas; Pastoriza, H; Konczykowski, M; Beek, C J van der

2014-01-01

We investigated configurational changes in mesoscopic vortex matter with less than thousand vortices during flux penetration in freestanding 50 μm diameter disks of Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8+δ . High-resolution AC and DC local magnetometry data reveal oscillations in the transmittivity echoed in peaks in the third-harmonics magnetic signal fainting on increasing vortex density. By means of extra experimental evidence and a simple geometrical analysis we show that these features fingerprint the discretized entrance of single-shells of vortices having a shape that mimics the sample edge

Small-angle scattering study of mesoscopic structures in charged gel and their evolution on dehydration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sugiyama, Masaaki; Annaka, Masahiko; Hara, Kazuhiro

2003-01-01

Mesoscopic structures, with length scales similar to10(2) Angstrom, were investigated by small-angle X-ray and neutron scattering (SAXS and SANS) in several N-isopropylacrylamide-sodium acrylate (NIPA-SA) copolymeric hydrogels with varying [NIPA]/[SA] ratios and water contents. The SAXS experimen...

Mesoscopic modeling and parameter estimation of a lithium-ion battery based on LiFePO4/graphite

Science.gov (United States)

Jokar, Ali; Désilets, Martin; Lacroix, Marcel; Zaghib, Karim

2018-03-01

A novel numerical model for simulating the behavior of lithium-ion batteries based on LiFePO4(LFP)/graphite is presented. The model is based on the modified Single Particle Model (SPM) coupled to a mesoscopic approach for the LFP electrode. The model comprises one representative spherical particle as the graphite electrode, and N LFP units as the positive electrode. All the SPM equations are retained to model the negative electrode performance. The mesoscopic model rests on non-equilibrium thermodynamic conditions and uses a non-monotonic open circuit potential for each unit. A parameter estimation study is also carried out to identify all the parameters needed for the model. The unknown parameters are the solid diffusion coefficient of the negative electrode (Ds,n), reaction-rate constant of the negative electrode (Kn), negative and positive electrode porosity (εn&εn), initial State-Of-Charge of the negative electrode (SOCn,0), initial partial composition of the LFP units (yk,0), minimum and maximum resistance of the LFP units (Rmin&Rmax), and solution resistance (Rcell). The results show that the mesoscopic model can simulate successfully the electrochemical behavior of lithium-ion batteries at low and high charge/discharge rates. The model also describes adequately the lithiation/delithiation of the LFP particles, however, it is computationally expensive compared to macro-based models.

Spontaneous and persistent currents in superconductive and mesoscopic structures (Review Article)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kulik, I.O.

2004-01-01

We briefly review aspects of superconductive persistent currents in Josephson junctions of the S/I/S, S/O/S and S/N/S types, focusing on the origin of jumps in the current versus phase dependences, and discuss in more detail the persistent as well as 'spontaneous' currents in the Aharonov-Bohm mesoscopic and nanoscopic (macromolecular) structures. A fixed-number-of-electrons mesoscopic or macromolecular conducting ring is shown to be unstable against structural transformation removing spatial symmetry (in particular, azimuthal periodicity) of its electron- lattice Hamiltonian. In case when the transformation is blocked by strong coupling to an external azimuthally symmetric environment, the system becomes bistable in its electronic configuration at certain number of electrons. At such a condition, the persistent current has a nonzero value even at the (almost) zero applied Aharonov-Bohm flux, and results in very high magnetic susceptibility dM/dH at small nonzero fields, followed by an oscillatory dependence at larger fields. We tentatively assume that previously observed oscillatory magnetization in cyclic metallo-organic molecules by Gatteschi et al. can be attributed to persistent currents. If this proves correct, it may open an opportunity (and, more generally, macromolecular cyclic structures may suggest the possibility) of engineering quantum computational tools based on the Aharonov-Bohm effect in ballistic nanostructures and macromolecular cyclic aggregates

Analogue Between Dynamic Hamiltonian-Operators of a Mesoscopic Ring Carrying Persistent Current and a Josephson Junction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fan Hongyi; Wang Jisuo

2006-01-01

By making the analogy between the operator Hamiltonians of a mesoscopic ring carrying the persistent current and a Josephson junction we have introduced a phase operator and entangled state representation to establish a theoretical formalism for the ring system.

Mesoscopic quantum cryptography

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Molotkov, S. N., E-mail: sergei.molotkov@gmail.com [Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Solid State Physics (Russian Federation)

2017-03-15

Since a strictly single-photon source is not yet available, in quantum cryptography systems, one uses, as information quantum states, coherent radiation of a laser with an average number of photons of μ ≈ 0.1–0.5 in a pulse, attenuated to the quasi-single-photon level. The linear independence of a set of coherent quasi-single-photon information states leads to the possibility of unambiguous measurements that, in the presence of losses in the line, restrict the transmission range of secret keys. Starting from a certain value of critical loss (the length of the line), the eavesdropper knows the entire key, does not make errors, and is not detected—the distribution of secret keys becomes impossible. This problem is solved by introducing an additional reference state with an average number of photons of μ{sub cl} ≈ 10{sup 3}–10{sup 6}, depending on the length of the communication line. It is shown that the use of a reference state does not allow the eavesdropper to carry out measurements with conclusive outcome while remaining undetected. A reference state guarantees detecting an eavesdropper in a channel with high losses. In this case, information states may contain a mesoscopic average number of photons in the range of μ{sub q} ≈ 0.5–10{sup 2}. The protocol proposed is easy to implement technically, admits flexible adjustment of parameters to the length of the communication line, and is simple and transparent for proving the secrecy of keys.

Correlation between hierarchical structure of crystal networks and macroscopic performance of mesoscopic soft materials and engineering principles.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Naibo; Liu, Xiang Yang

2015-11-07

This review examines how the concepts and ideas of crystallization can be extended further and applied to the field of mesoscopic soft materials. It concerns the structural characteristics vs. the macroscopic performance, and the formation mechanism of crystal networks. Although this subject can be discussed in a broad sense across the area of mesoscopic soft materials, our main focus is on supramolecular materials, spider and silkworm silks, and biominerals. First, the occurrence of a hierarchical structure, i.e. crystal network and domain network structures, will facilitate the formation kinetics of mesoscopic phases and boost up the macroscopic performance of materials in some cases (i.e. spider silk fibres). Second, the structure and performance of materials can be correlated in some way by the four factors: topology, correlation length, symmetry/ordering, and strength of association of crystal networks. Moreover, four different kinetic paths of crystal network formation are identified, namely, one-step process of assembly, two-step process of assembly, mixed mode of assembly and foreign molecule mediated assembly. Based on the basic mechanisms of crystal nucleation and growth, the formation of crystal networks, such as crystallographic mismatch (or noncrystallographic) branching (tip branching and fibre side branching) and fibre/polymeric side merging, are reviewed. This facilitates the rational design and construction of crystal networks in supramolecular materials. In this context, the (re-)construction of a hierarchical crystal network structure can be implemented by thermal, precipitate, chemical, and sonication stimuli. As another important class of soft materials, the unusual mechanical performance of spider and silkworm silk fibres are reviewed in comparison with the regenerated silk protein derivatives. It follows that the considerably larger breaking stress and unusual breaking strain of spider silk fibres vs. silkworm silk fibres can be interpreted

Dynamics of skyrmions and edge states in the resistive regime of mesoscopic p-wave superconductors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fernández Becerra, V., E-mail: VictorLeonardo.FernandezBecerra@uantwerpen.be; Milošević, M.V., E-mail: milorad.milosevic@uantwerpen.be

2017-02-15

Highlights: • Voltage–current characterization of a mesoscopic p-wave superconducting sample. • Skyrmions and edge states are stabilized with an out-of-plane applied magnetic field. • In the resistive regime, moving skyrmions and the edge state behave distinctly different from the conventional kinematic vortices. - Abstract: In a mesoscopic sample of a chiral p-wave superconductor, novel states comprising skyrmions and edge states have been stabilized in out-of-plane applied magnetic field. Using the time-dependent Ginzburg–Landau equations we shed light on the dynamic response of such states to an external applied current. Three different regimes are obtained, namely, the superconducting (stationary), resistive (non-stationary) and normal regime, similarly to conventional s-wave superconductors. However, in the resistive regime and depending on the external current, we found that moving skyrmions and the edge state behave distinctly different from the conventional kinematic vortex, thereby providing new fingerprints for identification of p-wave superconductivity.

Biomonitoring test procedures and biological criteria

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kszos, L.A. [Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States); Lipschultz, M.J. [City of Las Vegas, NV (United States); Foster, W.E. [Saint Mary`s Coll., Winona, MN (United States)

1997-10-01

The Water Environment Federation recently issued a special publication, Biomonitoring in the Water Environment. In this paper, the authors highlight the contents of the chapter 3, Biomonitoring Test Procedures, identify current trends in test procedures and introduce the concept of biological criteria (biocriteria). The book chapter (and this paper) focuses on freshwater and marine chronic and acute toxicity tests used in the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits program to identify effluents and receiving waters containing toxic materials in acutely or chronically toxic concentrations. The two major categories of toxicity tests include acute tests and chronic tests. The USEPA chronic tests required in NPDEs permits have been shortened to 7 days by focusing on the most sensitive life-cycle stages; these tests are often referred to as short-term chronic tests. The type of test(s) required depend on NPDES permit requirements, objectives of the test, available resources, requirements of the test organisms, and effluent characteristics such as variability in flow or toxicity. The permit writer will determine the requirements for toxicity test(s) by considering such factors as dilution, effluent variability, and exposure variability. Whether the required test is acute or chronic, the objective of the test is to estimate the safe or no effect concentration which is defined as the concentration which will permit normal propagation of fish and other aquatic life in the receiving waters. In this paper, the authors review the types of toxicity tests, the commonly used test organisms, and the uses of toxicity test data. In addition, they briefly describe research on new methods and the use of biological criteria.

Active learning of constitutive relation from mesoscopic dynamics for macroscopic modeling of non-Newtonian flows

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Lifei; Li, Zhen; Caswell, Bruce; Ouyang, Jie; Karniadakis, George Em

2018-06-01

We simulate complex fluids by means of an on-the-fly coupling of the bulk rheology to the underlying microstructure dynamics. In particular, a continuum model of polymeric fluids is constructed without a pre-specified constitutive relation, but instead it is actively learned from mesoscopic simulations where the dynamics of polymer chains is explicitly computed. To couple the bulk rheology of polymeric fluids and the microscale dynamics of polymer chains, the continuum approach (based on the finite volume method) provides the transient flow field as inputs for the (mesoscopic) dissipative particle dynamics (DPD), and in turn DPD returns an effective constitutive relation to close the continuum equations. In this multiscale modeling procedure, we employ an active learning strategy based on Gaussian process regression (GPR) to minimize the number of expensive DPD simulations, where adaptively selected DPD simulations are performed only as necessary. Numerical experiments are carried out for flow past a circular cylinder of a non-Newtonian fluid, modeled at the mesoscopic level by bead-spring chains. The results show that only five DPD simulations are required to achieve an effective closure of the continuum equations at Reynolds number Re = 10. Furthermore, when Re is increased to 100, only one additional DPD simulation is required for constructing an extended GPR-informed model closure. Compared to traditional message-passing multiscale approaches, applying an active learning scheme to multiscale modeling of non-Newtonian fluids can significantly increase the computational efficiency. Although the method demonstrated here obtains only a local viscosity from the polymer dynamics, it can be extended to other multiscale models of complex fluids whose macro-rheology is unknown.

Long-time integration methods for mesoscopic models of pattern-forming systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abukhdeir, Nasser Mohieddin; Vlachos, Dionisios G.; Katsoulakis, Markos; Plexousakis, Michael

2011-01-01

Spectral methods for simulation of a mesoscopic diffusion model of surface pattern formation are evaluated for long simulation times. Backwards-differencing time-integration, coupled with an underlying Newton-Krylov nonlinear solver (SUNDIALS-CVODE), is found to substantially accelerate simulations, without the typical requirement of preconditioning. Quasi-equilibrium simulations of patterned phases predicted by the model are shown to agree well with linear stability analysis. Simulation results of the effect of repulsive particle-particle interactions on pattern relaxation time and short/long-range order are discussed.

Mesoscopic approach to describe high burn-up fuel behaviour

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kinoshita, M.

1999-01-01

The grain sub-division and the rim structure formation are new phenomena for LWR fuel engineering. The consequence of these are now under investigation in several international programs such as HBRP (High Burnup Rim Project) of CRIEPI, NFIR of EPRI, and EdF/CEA program in France. The theoretical understanding of this phenomenon is underway. Here, the process is peculiar in the following points; (1) majority of the domain of the material are changed to a new morphology after the restructuring, (2) the final size of the new grains is around 0.1 μm which is neither atomic scale nor macroscopic scale. (3) the morphology of the restructured domain indicates fractal like feature which indicates complex process is under-taken. From the first feature, the process is similar to phase transitions or metallographic transformations. However, as the crystallographic structure has no change before and after the restructuring, it is not the phase transition nor the transformation of atomic scale instability. The focus could be put on the material transport of mesoscopic scale which create the peculiar morphology. Indeed there are flows of energy and disturbances in crystallographic structure in nuclear materials on duty. Although the fission energy is 10 4 larger than the formation energy of the defects, thanks to the stability of the selected material, most of energy is thermalized without crystallographic instability. Little remained energy creates flows of disturbances and the new structure is a consequence of ordering process driven by these flows of disturbances. Therefore this phenomenon is a good example to study cooperative ordering process in physics of materials. This paper presents some of present understandings of the rim structure formation based on the mesoscopic mechanistic theories. Possible future development is also proposed (author) (ml)

Unit testing, model validation, and biological simulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Sarma, Gopal P; Jacobs, Travis W; Watts, Mark D; Ghayoomie, S Vahid; Larson, Stephen D; Gerkin, Richard C

2016-01-01

The growth of the software industry has gone hand in hand with the development of tools and cultural practices for ensuring the reliability of complex pieces of software. These tools and practices are now acknowledged to be essential to the management of modern software. As computational models and methods have become increasingly common in the biological sciences, it is important to examine how these practices can accelerate biological software development and improve research quality. In this article, we give a focused case study of our experience with the practices of unit testing and test-driven development in OpenWorm, an open-science project aimed at modeling Caenorhabditis elegans. We identify and discuss the challenges of incorporating test-driven development into a heterogeneous, data-driven project, as well as the role of model validation tests, a category of tests unique to software which expresses scientific models.

Transport Characteristics of Mesoscopic Radio-Frequency Single Electron Transistor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Phillips, A. H.; Kirah, K.; Aly, N. A. I.; El-Sayes, H. E.

2008-01-01

The transport property of a quantum dot under the influence of external time-dependent field is investigated. The mesoscopic device is modelled as semiconductor quantum dot coupled weakly to superconducting leads via asymmetric double tunnel barriers of different heights. An expression for the current is deduced by using the Landauer–Buttiker formula, taking into consideration of both the Coulomb blockade effect and the magnetic field. It is found that the periodic oscillation of the current with the magnetic field is controlled by the ratio of the frequency of the applied ac-field to the electron cyclotron frequency. Our results show that the present device operates as a radio-frequency single electron transistor

Manipulating mesoscopic multipartite entanglement with atom-light interfaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stasinska, J.; Rodo, C.; Paganelli, S.; Birkl, G.; Sanpera, A.

2009-01-01

Entanglement between two macroscopic atomic ensembles induced by measurement on an ancillary light system has proven to be a powerful method for engineering quantum memories and quantum state transfer. Here we investigate the feasibility of such methods for generation, manipulation, and detection of genuine multipartite entanglement (Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger and clusterlike states) between mesoscopic atomic ensembles without the need of individual addressing of the samples. Our results extend in a nontrivial way the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen entanglement between two macroscopic gas samples reported experimentally in [B. Julsgaard, A. Kozhekin, and E. Polzik, Nature (London) 413, 400 (2001)]. We find that under realistic conditions, a second orthogonal light pulse interacting with the atomic samples, can modify and even reverse the entangling action of the first one leaving the samples in a separable state.

Analysis of fluid lubrication mechanisms in metal forming at mesoscopic scale

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dubar, L.; Hubert, C.; Christiansen, Peter

2012-01-01

The lubricant entrapment and escape phenomena in metal forming are studied experimentally as well as numerically. Experiments are carried out in strip reduction of aluminium sheet applying a transparent die to study the fluid flow between mesoscopic cavities. The numerical analysis involves two...... computation steps. The first one is a fully coupled fluid-structure Finite Element computation, where pockets in the surface are plastically deformed leading to the pressurization of the entrapped fluid. The second step computes the fluid exchange between cavities through the plateaus of asperity contacts...

Zinc tin oxide as high-temperature stable recombination layer for mesoscopic perovskite/silicon monolithic tandem solar cells

KAUST Repository

Werner, Jé ré mie; Walter, Arnaud; Rucavado, Esteban; Moon, Soo Jin; Sacchetto, Davide; Rienaecker, Michael; Peibst, Robby; Brendel, Rolf; Niquille, Xavier; De Wolf, Stefaan; Lö per, Philipp; Morales-Masis, Monica; Nicolay, Sylvain; Niesen, Bjoern; Ballif, Christophe

2016-01-01

the concept, we fabricate monolithic tandem cells with mesoscopic top cell with up to 16% efficiency. We then investigate the effect of zinc tin oxide layer thickness variation, showing a strong influence on the optical interference pattern within the tandem

Interface Engineering Based on Liquid Metal for Compact-Layer-free, Fully Printable Mesoscopic Perovskite Solar Cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yumin; Zhao, Jianhong; Zhang, Jin; Jiang, Xixi; Zhu, Zhongqi; Liu, Qingju

2018-05-09

A printing process for the fabrication of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) exhibits promising future application in the photovoltaic industry due to its low-cost and eco-friendly preparation. In mesoscopic carbon-based PSCs, however, compared to conventional ones, the hole-transport-layer-free PSCs often lead to inefficient hole extraction. Here, we used liquid metal (LM, Galinstan) as an interface modifier material in combination with a carbon electrode. Considering the high conductivity and room-temperature fluidity, it is found that LMs are superior in improving hole extraction and, more importantly, LMs tend to be reserved at the interface between ZrO 2 and carbon for enhancing the contact property. Correspondingly, the carrier transfer resistance was decreased at the carbon/perovskite interface. As optimized content, the triple mesoscopic PSCs based on mixed-cation perovskite with a power conversion efficiency of 13.51% was achieved, involving a 26% increase compared to those without LMs. This work opens new techniques for LMs in optoelectronics and printing.

Functional energy nanocomposites surfaces based on mesoscopic microspheres, polymers and graphene flakes

Science.gov (United States)

Alekseev, S. A.; Dmitriev, A. S.; Dmitriev, A. A.; Makarov, P. G.; Mikhailova, I. A.

2017-11-01

In recent years, there has been a great interest in the development and creation of new functional energy materials, including for improving the energy efficiency of power equipment and for effectively removing heat from energy devices, microelectronics and optoelectronics (power micro electronics, supercapacitors, cooling of processors, servers and Data centers). In this paper, the technology of obtaining a new nanocomposite based on mesoscopic microspheres, polymers and graphene flakes is considered. The methods of sequential production of functional materials from graphite flakes of different volumetric concentration using polymers based on epoxy resins and polyimide, as well as the addition of a mesoscopic medium in the form of monodisperse microspheres are described. The data of optical and electron microscopy of such nanocomposites are presented, the main problems in the appearance of defects in such materials are described, the possibilities of their elimination by the selection of different concentrations and sizes of the components. Data are given on the measurement of the hysteresis of the contact angle and the evaporation of droplets on similar substrates. The results of studying the mechanical, electrophysical and thermal properties of such nanocomposites are presented. Particular attention is paid to the investigation of the thermal conductivity of these nanocomposites with respect to the creation of thermal interface materials for cooling devices of electronics, optoelectronics and power engineering.

A mesoscopic reaction rate model for shock initiation of multi-component PBX explosives.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Y R; Duan, Z P; Zhang, Z Y; Ou, Z C; Huang, F L

2016-11-05

The primary goal of this research is to develop a three-term mesoscopic reaction rate model that consists of a hot-spot ignition, a low-pressure slow burning and a high-pressure fast reaction terms for shock initiation of multi-component Plastic Bonded Explosives (PBX). Thereinto, based on the DZK hot-spot model for a single-component PBX explosive, the hot-spot ignition term as well as its reaction rate is obtained through a "mixing rule" of the explosive components; new expressions for both the low-pressure slow burning term and the high-pressure fast reaction term are also obtained by establishing the relationships between the reaction rate of the multi-component PBX explosive and that of its explosive components, based on the low-pressure slow burning term and the high-pressure fast reaction term of a mesoscopic reaction rate model. Furthermore, for verification, the new reaction rate model is incorporated into the DYNA2D code to simulate numerically the shock initiation process of the PBXC03 and the PBXC10 multi-component PBX explosives, and the numerical results of the pressure histories at different Lagrange locations in explosive are found to be in good agreements with previous experimental data. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Nonlinear dynamics in a laser field: spontaneous oscillation of mesoscopic soft matter

CERN Document Server

Nomura, S; Yoshikawa, K

2003-01-01

Experimental studies on the utilization of a laser to create a thermodynamically open system in a mesoscopic scale have been performed, where the laser has the roles to generate attractive and scattering forces on an optically trapped object. We have succeeded in the observation of various novel oscillatory phenomena under laser illumination. In this paper, we present the results of new experiments on the cyclic oscillation of a single giant molecule and periodic bursting in a cluster of micrometer sized beads.

Using synthetic biology to make cells tomorrow's test tubes.

Science.gov (United States)

Garcia, Hernan G; Brewster, Robert C; Phillips, Rob

2016-04-18

The main tenet of physical biology is that biological phenomena can be subject to the same quantitative and predictive understanding that physics has afforded in the context of inanimate matter. However, the inherent complexity of many of these biological processes often leads to the derivation of complex theoretical descriptions containing a plethora of unknown parameters. Such complex descriptions pose a conceptual challenge to the establishment of a solid basis for predictive biology. In this article, we present various exciting examples of how synthetic biology can be used to simplify biological systems and distill these phenomena down to their essential features as a means to enable their theoretical description. Here, synthetic biology goes beyond previous efforts to engineer nature and becomes a tool to bend nature to understand it. We discuss various recent and classic experiments featuring applications of this synthetic approach to the elucidation of problems ranging from bacteriophage infection, to transcriptional regulation in bacteria and in developing embryos, to evolution. In all of these examples, synthetic biology provides the opportunity to turn cells into the equivalent of a test tube, where biological phenomena can be reconstituted and our theoretical understanding put to test with the same ease that these same phenomena can be studied in the in vitro setting.

Out-of-equilibrium spin transport in mesoscopic superconductors.

Science.gov (United States)

Quay, C H L; Aprili, M

2018-08-06

The excitations in conventional superconductors, Bogoliubov quasi-particles, are spin-[Formula: see text] fermions but their charge is energy-dependent and, in fact, zero at the gap edge. Therefore, in superconductors (unlike normal metals) spin and charge degrees of freedom may be separated. In this article, we review spin injection into conventional superconductors and focus on recent experiments on mesoscopic superconductors. We show how quasi-particle spin transport and out-of-equilibrium spin-dependent superconductivity can be triggered using the Zeeman splitting of the quasi-particle density of states in thin-film superconductors with small spin-mixing scattering. Finally, we address the spin dynamics and the feedback of quasi-particle spin imbalances on the amplitude of the superconducting energy gap.This article is part of the theme issue 'Andreev bound states'. © 2018 The Author(s).

Coherent X-ray diffraction studies of mesoscopic materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shabalin, Anatoly

2015-12-01

This thesis is devoted to three separate projects, which can be considered as independent. First, the dynamical scattering effects in the Coherent X-ray Diffractive Imaging (CXDI) method are discussed. Based on the simulation results, a straightforward method for correction for the refraction and absorption artifacts in the Bragg CXDI reconstruction is suggested. The second part summarizes the results of an Coherent X-ray Diffractive Imaging experiment with a single colloidal crystal grain. A remarkable result is that positions of individual particles in the crystal lattice have been resolved in three dimensions. The third project is devoted to X-ray diffraction experimental studies of structural evolution of colloidal crystalline films upon incremental heating. Based on the results of the analysis a model of structural evolution of a colloidal crystal upon heating on nanoscopic and mesoscopic length scales is suggested.

Multidimensional Computerized Adaptive Testing for Indonesia Junior High School Biology

Science.gov (United States)

Kuo, Bor-Chen; Daud, Muslem; Yang, Chih-Wei

2015-01-01

This paper describes a curriculum-based multidimensional computerized adaptive test that was developed for Indonesia junior high school Biology. In adherence to the Indonesian curriculum of different Biology dimensions, 300 items was constructed, and then tested to 2238 students. A multidimensional random coefficients multinomial logit model was…

Effect of the dielectric constant of mesoscopic particle on the exciton binding energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lai Zuyou; Gu Shiwei

1991-09-01

For materials with big exciton reduced mass and big dielectric constant, such as TiO 2 , the variation of dielectric constant with the radius of an ultrafine particle (UFP) is important for determining the exciton binding energy. For the first time a phenomenological formula of the dielectric constant of a UFP with its radius in mesoscopic range is put forward in order to explain the optical properties of TiO 2 UFP. (author). 22 refs, 3 figs, 1 tab

Transmission gaps, trapped modes and Fano resonances in Aharonov-Bohm connected mesoscopic loops

Science.gov (United States)

Mrabti, T.; Labdouti, Z.; El Abouti, O.; El Boudouti, E. H.; Fethi, F.; Djafari-Rouhani, B.

2018-03-01

A simple mesoscopic structure consisting of a double symmetric loops coupled by a segment of length d0 in the presence of an Aharonov-Bohm flux is designed to obtain transmission band gaps and Fano resonances. A general analytical expression for the transmission coefficient and the density of states (DOS) are obtained for various systems of this kind within the framework of the Green's function method in the presence of the magnetic flux. In this work, the amplitude of the transmission and DOS are discussed as a function of the wave vector. We show that the transmission spectrum of the whole structure may exhibit a band gap and a resonance of Fano type without introducing any impurity in one arm of the loop. In particular, we show that for specific values of the magnetic flux and the lengths of the arms constituting the loops, the Fano resonance collapses giving rise to the so-called trapped states or bound in continuum (BIC) states. These states appear when the width of the Fano resonance vanishes in the transmission coefficient as well as in the density of states. Also, we show that the shape of the Fano resonances and the width of the band gaps are very sensitive to the value of the magnetic flux and the geometry of the structure. These results may have important applications for electronic transport in mesoscopic systems.

Magnetofingerprints of superconducting films: Vortex dynamics and mesoscopic-scale disorder

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nowak, E.R.; Israeloff, N.E.; Goldman, A.M.

1994-01-01

The variations of voltage and voltage noise with magnetic field in c-axis-oriented DyBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-δ thin films exhibit reproducible, microstructure-dependent ''magnetofingerprints'' (MF's). The MF's can be scrambled with the reversal of the direction of the Lorentz force on field-induced vortices. Analysis of the noise suggests a strong dependence of the local free-energy landscape on vortex density similar to global frustration effects found in periodic superconducting networks. Above fields which roughly match vortex separation with mesoscopic-scale disorder in the films the noise and the fine structure of the MF's are suppressed, suggesting a crossover to a more weakly pinned vortex-liquid regime

Segment-scale, force-level theory of mesoscopic dynamic localization and entropic elasticity in entangled chain polymer liquids

Science.gov (United States)

Dell, Zachary E.; Schweizer, Kenneth S.

2017-04-01

We develop a segment-scale, force-based theory for the breakdown of the unentangled Rouse model and subsequent emergence of isotropic mesoscopic localization and entropic elasticity in chain polymer liquids in the absence of ergodicity-restoring anisotropic reptation or activated hopping motion. The theory is formulated in terms of a conformational N-dynamic-order-parameter generalized Langevin equation approach. It is implemented using a universal field-theoretic Gaussian thread model of polymer structure and closed at the level of the chain dynamic second moment matrix. The physical idea is that the isotropic Rouse model fails due to the dynamical emergence, with increasing chain length, of time-persistent intermolecular contacts determined by the combined influence of local uncrossability, long range polymer connectivity, and a self-consistent treatment of chain motion and the dynamic forces that hinder it. For long chain melts, the mesoscopic localization length (identified as the tube diameter) and emergent entropic elasticity predictions are in near quantitative agreement with experiment. Moreover, the onset chain length scales with the semi-dilute crossover concentration with a realistic numerical prefactor. Distinctive novel predictions are made for various off-diagonal correlation functions that quantify the full spatial structure of the dynamically localized polymer conformation. As the local excluded volume constraint and/or intrachain bonding spring are softened to allow chain crossability, the tube diameter is predicted to swell until it reaches the radius-of-gyration at which point mesoscopic localization vanishes in a discontinuous manner. A dynamic phase diagram for such a delocalization transition is constructed, which is qualitatively consistent with simulations and the classical concept of a critical entanglement degree of polymerization.

Persistent currents in an ensemble of isolated mesoscopic rings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Altland, A.; Iida, S.; Mueller-Groelling, A.; Weidenmueller, H.A.

1992-01-01

In this work, the authors calculate the persistent current induced at zero temperature by an external, constant, and homogeneous magnetic field in an ensemble of isolated mesoscopic rings. In each ring, the electrons are assumed to move independently under the influence of a Gaussian white noise random impurity potential. They account for the magnetic field only in terms of the flux threading each ring, without considering the field present in the body of the ring. Particular attention is paid to the constraint of integer particle number on each ring. The authors evaluate the persistent current non-perturbatively, using a generating functional involving Grassmann integration. The magnetic flux threading each ring breaks the orthogonal symmetry of the formalism; forcing us to calculate explicitly the orthogonal-unitary crossover. 24 refs., 1 fig

Invited review liquid crystal models of biological materials and silk spinning.

Science.gov (United States)

Rey, Alejandro D; Herrera-Valencia, Edtson E

2012-06-01

A review of thermodynamic, materials science, and rheological liquid crystal models is presented and applied to a wide range of biological liquid crystals, including helicoidal plywoods, biopolymer solutions, and in vivo liquid crystals. The distinguishing characteristics of liquid crystals (self-assembly, packing, defects, functionalities, processability) are discussed in relation to biological materials and the strong correspondence between different synthetic and biological materials is established. Biological polymer processing based on liquid crystalline precursors includes viscoelastic flow to form and shape fibers. Viscoelastic models for nematic and chiral nematics are reviewed and discussed in terms of key parameters that facilitate understanding and quantitative information from optical textures and rheometers. It is shown that viscoelastic modeling the silk spinning process using liquid crystal theories sheds light on textural transitions in the duct of spiders and silk worms as well as on tactoidal drops and interfacial structures. The range and consistency of the predictions demonstrates that the use of mesoscopic liquid crystal models is another tool to develop the science and biomimetic applications of mesogenic biological soft matter. Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

High-resolution and high sensitivity mesoscopic fluorescence tomography based on de-scanning EMCCD: System design and thick tissue imaging applications

Science.gov (United States)

Ozturk, Mehmet Saadeddin

Optical microscopy has been one of the essential tools for biological studies for decades, however, its application areas was limited to superficial investigation due to strong scattering in live tissues. Even though advanced techniques such as confocal or multiphoton methods have been recently developed to penetrate beyond a few hundreds of microns deep in tissues, they still cannot perform in the mesoscopic regime (millimeter scale) without using destructive sample preparation protocols such as clearing techniques. They provide rich cellular information; however, they cannot be readily employed to investigate the biological processes at larger scales. Herein, we will present our effort to establish a novel imaging approach that can quantify molecular expression in intact tissues, well beyond the current microscopy depth limits. Mesoscopic Fluorescence Molecular Tomography (MFMT) is an emerging imaging modality that offers unique potential for the non-invasive molecular assessment of thick in-vitro and in-vivo live tissues. This novel imaging modality is based on an optical inverse problem that allows for retrieval of the quantitative spatial distribution of fluorescent tagged bio-markers at millimeter depth. MFMT is well-suited for in-vivo subsurface tissue imaging and thick bio-printed specimens due to its high sensitivity and fast acquisition times, as well as relatively large fields of view. Herein, we will first demonstrate the potential of this technique using our first generation MFMT system applied to multiplexed reporter gene imaging (in-vitro) and determination of Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) agent bio-distribution in a mouse model (in-vivo). Second, we will present the design rationale, in silico benchmarking, and experimental validation of a second generation MFMT (2GMFMT) system. We will demonstrate the gain in resolution and sensitivity achieved due to the de-scanned dense detector configuration implemented. The potential of this novel platform will be

Mesoscopic layered structure in conducting polymer thin film fabricated by potential-programmed electropolymerization

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fujitsuka, Mamoru (Div. of Molecular Engineering, Kyoto Univ. (Japan)); Nakahara, Reiko (Div. of Molecular Engineering, Kyoto Univ. (Japan)); Iyoda, Tomokazu (Div. of Molecular Engineering, Kyoto Univ. (Japan)); Shimidzu, Takeo (Div. of Molecular Engineering, Kyoto Univ. (Japan)); Tomita, Shigehisa (Toray Research Center Co., Ltd., Shiga (Japan)); Hatano, Yayoi (Toray Research Center Co., Ltd., Shiga (Japan)); Soeda, Fusami (Toray Research Center Co., Ltd., Shiga (Japan)); Ishitani, Akira (Toray Research Center Co., Ltd., Shiga (Japan)); Tsuchiya, Hajime (Nitto Technical Information Center Co., Ltd., Shimohozumi Ibaraki, Osaka (Japan)); Ohtani, Akira (Central Research Lab., Nitto Denko Co., Ltd., Shimohozumi Ibaraki, Osaka (Japan))

1992-11-01

Mesoscopic layered structures in conducting polymer thin films are fabricated by the potential-programmed electropolymerization method. High lateral quality in the layered structure is realized by the improvement of polymerization conditions, i.e., a mixture of pyrrole and bithiophene as monomers, a silicon single-crystal wafer as a working electrode and propylene carbonate as a solvent. SIMS depth profiling of the resulting layered films indicates a significant linear correlation between the electric charge passed and the thickness of the individual layers on a 100 A scale. (orig.)

Formulation of a Mesoscopic Electron Beam Splitter with Application in Semiconductor Based Quantum Computing

OpenAIRE

Shanker, A.; Bhowmik, D.; Bhattacharya, T. K.

2010-01-01

We aim to analytically arrive at a beam splitter formulation for electron waves. The electron beam splitter is an essential component of quantum logical devices. To arrive at the beam splitter structure, the electrons are treated as waves, i.e. we assume the transport to be ballistic. Ballistic electrons are electrons that travel over such short distances that their phase coherence is maintained. For mesoscopic devices with size smaller than the mean free path, the phase relaxation length and...

Vestigial Biological Structures: A Classroom-Applicable Test of Creationist Hypotheses

Science.gov (United States)

Senter, Phil; Ambrocio, Zenis; Andrade, Julia B.; Foust, Katanya K.; Gaston, Jasmine E.; Lewis, Ryshonda P.; Liniewski, Rachel M.; Ragin, Bobby A.; Robinson, Khanna L.; Stanley, Shane G.

2015-01-01

Lists of vestigial biological structures in biology textbooks are so short that some young-Earth creationist authors claim that scientists have lost confidence in the existence of vestigial structures and can no longer identify any verifiable ones. We tested these hypotheses with a method that is easily adapted to biology classes. We used online…

Systems Biology Approach and Mathematical Modeling for Analyzing Phase-Space Switch During Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition.

Science.gov (United States)

Simeoni, Chiara; Dinicola, Simona; Cucina, Alessandra; Mascia, Corrado; Bizzarri, Mariano

2018-01-01

In this report, we aim at presenting a viable strategy for the study of Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) and its opposite Mesenchymal-Epithelial Transition (MET) by means of a Systems Biology approach combined with a suitable Mathematical Modeling analysis. Precisely, it is shown how the presence of a metastable state, that is identified at a mesoscopic level of description, is crucial for making possible the appearance of a phase transition mechanism in the framework of fast-slow dynamics for Ordinary Differential Equations (ODEs).

Vortex patterns in a mesoscopic superconducting rod with a magnetic dot

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Romaguera, Antonio R. de C. [Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco (UFRPE), Recife, PE (Brazil). Dept. de Fisica; Doria, Mauro M. [Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), RJ (Brazil). Dept. de Fisica dos Solidos; Peeters, F.M. [Universiteit Antwerpen (Belgium). Dept. Fysica

2009-07-01

Full text follows. Magnetism and superconductivity are competing orders and its coexistence has been the subject of intense investigation both in nano fabricated materials also in natural compounds. Together they bring new phenomena such as in case of magnetic dots on top of a superconducting film which are a source of ratchet potential.Recently we have investigated vortex patterns that originate from a magnetic domain internal to the superconductor. There vortex lines are curved in space, as their only source and sinkhole are inside the superconductor. We found that when the magnetic domain has a small magnetic moment, the vortex pattern is made of just three vortex loops, instead of one, two or any higher number of vortex loops. The presence of a magnetic moment near thin mesoscopic disks and films has been theoretically and experimentally investigated. New vortex patterns arise there due to the inhomogeneity of the applied magnetic field, although they do not display curved vortices because of the thin limit which turns the vortices into flat two-dimensional objects. In this work we report a theoretical investigation of vortex patterns into a mesoscopic superconducting rod with an external magnetic dot on top. We call it rod to characterize that its height is finite and comparable to the radius, thus larger than a disk and smaller than a wire. Inside the rod, a cylinder with height larger than the coherence length, {xi}, truly three-dimensional curved vortices are formed. We find reentrant behavior which means that the entrance and exit of a vortex is achieved by simply increasing (or decreasing) the intensity of the magnetic field generated by the dot. Thus the present system qualifies for technological applications as a logic gate to perform logical operation in digital circuits.

Vortex patterns in a mesoscopic superconducting rod with a magnetic dot

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Romaguera, Antonio R. de C.; Doria, Mauro M.; Peeters, F.M.

2009-01-01

Full text follows. Magnetism and superconductivity are competing orders and its coexistence has been the subject of intense investigation both in nano fabricated materials also in natural compounds. Together they bring new phenomena such as in case of magnetic dots on top of a superconducting film which are a source of ratchet potential.Recently we have investigated vortex patterns that originate from a magnetic domain internal to the superconductor. There vortex lines are curved in space, as their only source and sinkhole are inside the superconductor. We found that when the magnetic domain has a small magnetic moment, the vortex pattern is made of just three vortex loops, instead of one, two or any higher number of vortex loops. The presence of a magnetic moment near thin mesoscopic disks and films has been theoretically and experimentally investigated. New vortex patterns arise there due to the inhomogeneity of the applied magnetic field, although they do not display curved vortices because of the thin limit which turns the vortices into flat two-dimensional objects. In this work we report a theoretical investigation of vortex patterns into a mesoscopic superconducting rod with an external magnetic dot on top. We call it rod to characterize that its height is finite and comparable to the radius, thus larger than a disk and smaller than a wire. Inside the rod, a cylinder with height larger than the coherence length, ξ, truly three-dimensional curved vortices are formed. We find reentrant behavior which means that the entrance and exit of a vortex is achieved by simply increasing (or decreasing) the intensity of the magnetic field generated by the dot. Thus the present system qualifies for technological applications as a logic gate to perform logical operation in digital circuits.

Robust depth selectivity in mesoscopic scattering regimes using angle-resolved measurements.

Science.gov (United States)

González-Rodríguez, P; Kim, A D; Moscoso, M

2013-03-01

We study optical imaging of tissues in the mesoscopic scattering regime in which light multiply scatters in tissues but is not fully diffusive. We use the radiative transport equation to model light propagation and an ℓ1-optimization method to solve the inverse source problem. We show that recovering the location and strength of several point-like sources that are close to each other is not possible when using angle-averaged measurements. The image reliability is limited by a spatial scale that is on the order of the transport mean-free path, even under the most ideal conditions. However, by using just a few angle-resolved measurements, the proposed method is able to overcome this limitation.

Measurement of mesoscopic high-Tc superconductors using Si mechanical micro-oscillators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dolz, M.; Antonio, D.; Pastoriza, H.

2007-01-01

In a superconducting mesoscopic sample, with dimensions comparable to the London penetration depth, some properties are qualitatively different to those found in the bulk material. These properties include magnetization, vortex dynamics and ordering of the vortex lattice. In order to detect the small signals produced by this kind of samples, new instruments designed for the microscale are needed. In this work we use micromechanical oscillators to study the magnetic properties of a Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8+δ disk with a diameter of 13.5μm and a thickness of 2.5μm. The discussion of our results is based on the existence and contribution of inter and intra layer currents

Mesoscopic conductance fluctuations in high-T{sub c} grain boundary Josephson junctions: Coherent quasiparticle transport

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tafuri, F. [Dip. Ingegneria dell' Informazione, Seconda Universita di Napoli, 81031 Aversa (Italy); CNR-INFM Coherentia, Dip. Scienze Fisiche, Universita di Napoli Federico II, 80125 Naples (Italy)], E-mail: tafuri@na.infn.it; Tagliacozzo, A.; Born, D.; Stornaiuolo, D. [CNR-INFM Coherentia, Dip. Scienze Fisiche, Universita di Napoli Federico II, 80125 Naples (Italy); Gambale, E.; Dalena, D. [Dip. Ingegneria dell' Informazione, Seconda Universita di Napoli, 81031 Aversa (Italy); Lombardi, F. [Department of Microelectronics and Nanoscience, MINA, Chalmers University of Technology, 41296 Goeteborg (Sweden)

2007-09-01

Magneto-fluctuations of the normal resistance R{sub N} have been reproducibly observed in YBa{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub 7-{delta}} (HTS) biepitaxial grain boundary junctions at low temperatures. We attribute them to mesoscopic transport in narrow channels across the grain boundary line. The Thouless energy appears to be the relevant energy scale. Possible implications on the understanding of coherent transport of quasiparticles in HTS and of the dissipation mechanisms are discussed.

Apparatus for measuring the finite load-deformation behavior of a sheet of epithelial cells cultured on a mesoscopic freestanding elastomer membrane

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Selby, John C.; Shannon, Mark A.

2007-01-01

Details are given for the design, calibration, and operation of an apparatus for measuring the finite load-deformation behavior of a sheet of living epithelial cells cultured on a mesoscopic freestanding elastomer membrane, 10 μm thick and 5 mm in diameter. Although similar in concept to bulge tests used to investigate the mechanical properties of micromachined thin films, cell-elastomer composite diaphragm inflation tests pose a unique set of experimental challenges. Composite diaphragm (CD) specimens are extremely compliant (E MIN =0 μl, V MAX ≤40 μl) while simultaneously recording the inflation pressure acting at the fixed boundary of the specimen, p(r=a). Using a carefully prescribed six-cycle inflation test protocol, the apparatus is shown to be capable of measuring the [V,p(r=a)] inflation response of a cell-elastomer CD with random uncertainties estimated at ±0.45 μl and ±2.5 Pa, respectively

Contribution of mesoscopic modeling for flows prediction in cracked concrete buildings in condition of severe accident

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nguyen, T.D.

2010-01-01

This Ph.D. thesis aims at characterising and modeling the mechanical behavior of concrete at the mesoscopic scale. The more general scope of this study is the development of mesoscopic model for concrete; this model is to represent the concrete as a heterogeneous medium, taking into account the difference between aggregate and cement paste respecting the grading curve, the model parameters describe the mechanical and thermal behavior of cement paste and aggregates. We are interested in understanding the concrete behaviour, considered one structure. A program of random granular structure valid in 2D and 3D has been developed. This program is interfaced with the Finite Element code CAST3M in order to compute the numerical simulations. A method for numerical representation of the inclusions of concrete was also developed and validated by projection of the geometry on the shape functions, thus eliminating the problems of meshing that made the representation of all aggregates skeleton almost impossible, particularly in 3D. Firstly, the model is studied in two-dimensional and three-dimensional in order to optimize the geometrical model of the inner structure of concrete in terms of the meshing strategy and the smallest size of the aggregate to be taken into account. The results of the 2D and 3D model are analyzed and compared in the case of uniaxial tension and uniaxial compression. The model used is an isotropic unilateral damage model from Fichant [Fichant et al., 1999]. The model allows to simulate both the macroscopic behavior but also with the local studies of the distribution of crack and crack opening. The model shows interesting results on the transition from diffuse to localized damage and is able to reproduce dilatancy in compression. Finally, the mesoscopic model is applied to three simulations: the calculation of the permeability of cracked concrete; the simulation of the hydration of concrete at early age and finally the scale effect illustrated by bending

Reaction-Transport Systems Mesoscopic Foundations, Fronts, and Spatial Instabilities

CERN Document Server

Horsthemke, Werner; Mendez, Vicenc

2010-01-01

This book is an introduction to the dynamics of reaction-diffusion systems, with a focus on fronts and stationary spatial patterns. Emphasis is on systems that are non-standard in the sense that either the transport is not simply classical diffusion (Brownian motion) or the system is not homogeneous. A important feature is the derivation of the basic phenomenological equations from the mesoscopic system properties. Topics addressed include transport with inertia, described by persistent random walks and hyperbolic reaction-transport equations and transport by anomalous diffusion, in particular subdiffusion, where the mean square displacement grows sublinearly with time. In particular reaction-diffusion systems are studied where the medium is in turn either spatially inhomogeneous, compositionally heterogeneous or spatially discrete. Applications span a vast range of interdisciplinary fields and the systems considered can be as different as human or animal groups migrating under external influences, population...

Andreev reflection properties in a parallel mesoscopic circuit with Majorana bound states

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mu, Jin-Tao; Han, Yu [Physics Department, Liaoning University, Shenyang 110036 (China); Gong, Wei-Jiang, E-mail: gwj@mail.neu.edu.cn [College of Sciences, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819 (China)

2017-03-15

We investigate the Andreev reflection in a parallel mesoscopic circuit with Majorana bound states (MBSs). It is found that in such a structure, the Andreev current can be manipulated in a highly efficient way, by the adjustment of bias voltage, dot levels, inter-MBS coupling, and the applied magnetic flux. Besides, the dot-MBS coupling manner is an important factor to modulate the Andreev current, because it influences the period of the conductance oscillation. By discussing the underlying quantum interference mechanism, the Andreev-reflection property is explained in detail. We believe that all the results can assist to understand the nontrivial role of the MBSs in driving the Andreev reflection.

Magnetic response and critical current properties of mesoscopic-size YBCO superconducting samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lisboa-Filho, P N; Deimling, C V; Ortiz, W A

2010-01-01

In this contribution superconducting specimens of YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-δ were synthesized by a modified polymeric precursor method, yielding a ceramic powder with particles of mesoscopic-size. Samples of this powder were then pressed into pellets and sintered under different conditions. The critical current density was analyzed by isothermal AC-susceptibility measurements as a function of the excitation field, as well as with isothermal DC-magnetization runs at different values of the applied field. Relevant features of the magnetic response could be associated to the microstructure of the specimens and, in particular, to the superconducting intra- and intergranular critical current properties.

Magnetic response and critical current properties of mesoscopic-size YBCO superconducting samples

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lisboa-Filho, P N [UNESP - Universidade Estadual Paulista, Grupo de Materiais Avancados, Departamento de Fisica, Bauru (Brazil); Deimling, C V; Ortiz, W A, E-mail: plisboa@fc.unesp.b [Grupo de Supercondutividade e Magnetismo, Departamento de Fisica, Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos, Sao Carlos (Brazil)

2010-01-15

In this contribution superconducting specimens of YBa{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}O{sub 7-{delta}} were synthesized by a modified polymeric precursor method, yielding a ceramic powder with particles of mesoscopic-size. Samples of this powder were then pressed into pellets and sintered under different conditions. The critical current density was analyzed by isothermal AC-susceptibility measurements as a function of the excitation field, as well as with isothermal DC-magnetization runs at different values of the applied field. Relevant features of the magnetic response could be associated to the microstructure of the specimens and, in particular, to the superconducting intra- and intergranular critical current properties.

Mechanical aspects of allotropic phase change at the mesoscopic scale

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Valance, St.

2007-12-01

The prediction of the mechanical state of steel structures submit to thermo-mechanical loading must take into account consequences of allotropic phase change. Indeed, phase change induce, at least for steels, a mechanism of TRansformation Induced Plasticity (TRIP) leading to irreversible deformation even for loading less than elastic yield limit. Homogenized analytical models generally fail to achieve a correct prediction for complex loading. In order to overcome these difficulties, we present a model achieving a sharper description of the phenomenon. The mesoscopic working scale we adopt here is the grain scale size. Hence, we consider that the behaviour of each phase is homogenous in the sense of continuous media mechanic, whereas the front is explicitly described. We work both experimentally and numerically. Experimentally, we designed a test facility enabling thermo mechanical loading of the sample under partial vacuum. Acquisition of sample surface while martensitic transformation is happening leads, under some hypothesis and thanks to Digital Image Correlation, to the partial identification of area affected by transformation. Numerically, the eXtended Finite Element Method is applied for weakly discontinuous displacement fields. Used of this method needs to numerically track the transformation front -discontinuity support. In that goal, based on level set method, we develop FEM numerical scheme enabling recognition and propagation of discontinuity support. Finally, this work is complete by an approach of driving forces introduced through Eshelbian mechanics which are dual of front velocity. (author)

Interplay between mesoscopic phase separation and bulk magnetism in the layered Na.sub.x./sub.CoO.sub.2./sub

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Zorkovská, A.; Orendáč, M.; Šebek, Josef; Šantavá, Eva; Svoboda, P.; Bradaric, I.; Savič, I.; Feher, A.

2005-01-01

Roč. 72, č. 13 (2005), 132412/1-132412/4 ISSN 1098-0121 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10100520 Keywords : Na x CoO 2 * mesoscopic phase separation * bulk magnetism Subject RIV: BM - Solid Matter Physics ; Magnetism Impact factor: 3.185, year: 2005

Using Models at the Mesoscopic Scale in Teaching Physics: Two Experimental Interventions in Solid Friction and Fluid Statics

Science.gov (United States)

Besson, Ugo; Viennot, Laurence

2004-01-01

This article examines the didactic suitability of introducing models at an intermediate (i.e. mesoscopic) scale in teaching certain subjects, at an early stage. The design and evaluation of two short sequences based on this rationale will be outlined: one bears on propulsion by solid friction, the other on fluid statics in the presence of gravity.…

Mesoscopic Structural Observations of Cores from the Chelungpu Fault System, Taiwan Chelungpu-Fault Drilling Project Hole-A, Taiwan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hiroki Sone

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Structural characteristics of fault rocks distributed within major fault zones provide basic information in understanding the physical aspects of faulting. Mesoscopic structural observations of the drilledcores from Taiwan Chelungpu-fault Drilling Project Hole-A are reported in this article to describe and reveal the distribution of fault rocks within the Chelungpu Fault System.

Quantum Coherence and Random Fields at Mesoscopic Scales

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rosenbaum, Thomas F.

2016-01-01

We seek to explore and exploit model, disordered and geometrically frustrated magnets where coherent spin clusters stably detach themselves from their surroundings, leading to extreme sensitivity to finite frequency excitations and the ability to encode information. Global changes in either the spin concentration or the quantum tunneling probability via the application of an external magnetic field can tune the relative weights of quantum entanglement and random field effects on the mesoscopic scale. These same parameters can be harnessed to manipulate domain wall dynamics in the ferromagnetic state, with technological possibilities for magnetic information storage. Finally, extensions from quantum ferromagnets to antiferromagnets promise new insights into the physics of quantum fluctuations and effective dimensional reduction. A combination of ac susceptometry, dc magnetometry, noise measurements, hole burning, non-linear Fano experiments, and neutron diffraction as functions of temperature, magnetic field, frequency, excitation amplitude, dipole concentration, and disorder address issues of stability, overlap, coherence, and control. We have been especially interested in probing the evolution of the local order in the progression from spin liquid to spin glass to long-range-ordered magnet.

Quantum Coherence and Random Fields at Mesoscopic Scales

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rosenbaum, Thomas F. [Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States)

2016-03-01

We seek to explore and exploit model, disordered and geometrically frustrated magnets where coherent spin clusters stably detach themselves from their surroundings, leading to extreme sensitivity to finite frequency excitations and the ability to encode information. Global changes in either the spin concentration or the quantum tunneling probability via the application of an external magnetic field can tune the relative weights of quantum entanglement and random field effects on the mesoscopic scale. These same parameters can be harnessed to manipulate domain wall dynamics in the ferromagnetic state, with technological possibilities for magnetic information storage. Finally, extensions from quantum ferromagnets to antiferromagnets promise new insights into the physics of quantum fluctuations and effective dimensional reduction. A combination of ac susceptometry, dc magnetometry, noise measurements, hole burning, non-linear Fano experiments, and neutron diffraction as functions of temperature, magnetic field, frequency, excitation amplitude, dipole concentration, and disorder address issues of stability, overlap, coherence, and control. We have been especially interested in probing the evolution of the local order in the progression from spin liquid to spin glass to long-range-ordered magnet.

Thermal-mechanical-chemical responses of polymer-bonded explosives using a mesoscopic reactive model under impact loading.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, XinJie; Wu, YanQing; Huang, FengLei

2017-01-05

A mesoscopic framework is developed to quantify the thermal-mechanical-chemical responses of polymer-bonded explosive (PBX) samples under impact loading. A mesoscopic reactive model is developed for the cyclotetramethylenetetranitramine (HMX) crystal, which incorporates nonlinear elasticity, crystal plasticity, and temperature-dependent chemical reaction. The proposed model was implemented in the finite element code ABAQUS by the user subroutine VUMAT. A series of three-dimensional mesoscale models were constructed and calculated under low-strength impact loading scenarios from 100m/s to 600m/s where only the first wave transit is studied. Crystal anisotropy and microstructural heterogeneity are responsible for the nonuniform stress field and fluctuations of the stress wave front. At a critical impact velocity (≥300m/s), a chemical reaction is triggered because the temperature contributed by the volumetric and plastic works is sufficiently high. Physical quantities, including stress, temperature, and extent of reaction, are homogenized from those across the microstructure at the mesoscale to compare with macroscale measurements, which will advance the continuum-level models. The framework presented in this study has important implications in understanding hot spot ignition processes and improving predictive capabilities in energetic materials. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Floquet-Green's function approach to mesoscopic transport under ac bias

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu, B H; Cao, J C

2008-01-01

The current response of a mesoscopic system under a periodic ac bias is investigated by combining the Floquet theorem and the nonequilibrium Green's function method. The band structure of the lead under ac bias is fully taken into account by using appropriate self-energies in an enlarged Floquet space. Both the retarded and lesser Green's functions are obtained in the Floquet basis to account for the interference and interaction effects. In addition to the external ac bias, the time-varying Coulomb interaction, which is treated at the self-consistent Hartree-Fock level, provides another internal ac field. The numerical results show that the time-varying Coulomb field yields decoherence and reduces the ringing behavior of the current response to a harmonic bias

Broadband giant-refractive-index material based on mesoscopic space-filling curves

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Taeyong; Kim, Jong Uk; Kang, Seung Kyu; Kim, Hyowook; Kim, Do Kyung; Lee, Yong-Hee; Shin, Jonghwa

2016-08-01

The refractive index is the fundamental property of all optical materials and dictates Snell's law, propagation speed, wavelength, diffraction, energy density, absorption and emission of light in materials. Experimentally realized broadband refractive indices remain 1,800 resulting from a mesoscopic crystal with a dielectric constant greater than three million. This gigantic enhancement effect originates from the space-filling curve concept from mathematics. The principle is inherently very broad band, the enhancement being nearly constant from zero up to the frequency of interest. This broadband giant-refractive-index medium promises not only enhanced resolution in imaging and raised fundamental absorption limits in solar energy devices, but also compact, power-efficient components for optical communication and increased performance in many other applications.

Wave basin model tests of technical-biological bank protection

Science.gov (United States)

Eisenmann, J.

2012-04-01

Sloped embankments of inland waterways are usually protected from erosion and other negative im-pacts of ship-induced hydraulic loads by technical revetments consisting of riprap. Concerning the dimensioning of such bank protection there are several design rules available, e.g. the "Principles for the Design of Bank and Bottom Protection for Inland Waterways" or the Code of Practice "Use of Standard Construction Methods for Bank and Bottom Protection on Waterways" issued by the BAW (Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute). Since the European Water Framework Directive has been put into action special emphasis was put on natural banks. Therefore the application of technical-biological bank protection is favoured. Currently design principles for technical-biological bank protection on inland waterways are missing. The existing experiences mainly refer to flowing waters with no or low ship-induced hydraulic loads on the banks. Since 2004 the Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute has been tracking the re-search and development project "Alternative Technical-Biological Bank Protection on Inland Water-ways" in company with the Federal Institute of Hydrology. The investigation to date includes the ex-amination of waterway sections where technical- biological bank protection is applied locally. For the development of design rules for technical-biological bank protection investigations shall be carried out in a next step, considering the mechanics and resilience of technical-biological bank protection with special attention to ship-induced hydraulic loads. The presentation gives a short introduction into hydraulic loads at inland waterways and their bank protection. More in detail model tests of a willow brush mattress as a technical-biological bank protec-tion in a wave basin are explained. Within the scope of these tests the brush mattresses were ex-posed to wave impacts to determine their resilience towards hydraulic loads. Since the

Universal shape characteristics for the mesoscopic star-shaped polymer via dissipative particle dynamics simulations

Science.gov (United States)

Kalyuzhnyi, O.; Ilnytskyi, J. M.; Holovatch, Yu; von Ferber, C.

2018-05-01

In this paper we study the shape characteristics of star-like polymers in various solvent quality using a mesoscopic level of modeling. The dissipative particle dynamics simulations are performed for the homogeneous and four different heterogeneous star polymers with the same molecular weight. We analyse the gyration radius and asphericity at the poor, good and θ-solvent regimes. Detailed explanation based on interplay between enthalpic and entropic contributions to the free energy and analyses on of the asphericity of individual branches are provided to explain the increase of the apsphericity in θ-solvent regime.

Biologic variability and correlation of platelet function testing in healthy dogs.

Science.gov (United States)

Blois, Shauna L; Lang, Sean T; Wood, R Darren; Monteith, Gabrielle

2015-12-01

Platelet function tests are influenced by biologic variability, including inter-individual (CVG ) and intra-individual (CVI ), as well as analytic (CVA ) variability. Variability in canine platelet function testing is unknown, but if excessive, would make it difficult to interpret serial results. Additionally, the correlation between platelet function tests is poor in people, but not well described in dogs. The aims were to: (1) identify the effect of variation in preanalytic factors (venipuncture, elapsed time until analysis) on platelet function tests; (2) calculate analytic and biologic variability of adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and arachidonic acid (AA)-induced thromboelastograph platelet mapping (TEG-PM), ADP-, AA-, and collagen-induced whole blood platelet aggregometry (WBA), and collagen/ADP and collagen/epinephrine platelet function analysis (PFA-CADP, PFA-CEPI); and (3) determine the correlation between these variables. In this prospective observational trial, platelet function was measured once every 7 days, for 4 consecutive weeks, in 9 healthy dogs. In addition, CBC, TEG-PM, WBA, and PFA were performed. Overall coefficients of variability ranged from 13.3% to 87.8% for the platelet function tests. Biologic variability was highest for AA-induced maximum amplitude generated during TEG-PM (MAAA; CVG = 95.3%, CVI = 60.8%). Use of population-based reference intervals (RI) was determined appropriate only for PFA-CADP (index of individuality = 10.7). There was poor correlation between most platelet function tests. Use of population-based RI appears inappropriate for most platelet function tests, and tests poorly correlate with one another. Future studies on biologic variability and correlation of platelet function tests should be performed in dogs with platelet dysfunction and those treated with antiplatelet therapy. © 2015 American Society for Veterinary Clinical Pathology.

Collective excitability in a mesoscopic neuronal model of epileptic activity

Science.gov (United States)

Jedynak, Maciej; Pons, Antonio J.; Garcia-Ojalvo, Jordi

2018-01-01

At the mesoscopic scale, the brain can be understood as a collection of interacting neuronal oscillators, but the extent to which its sustained activity is due to coupling among brain areas is still unclear. Here we address this issue in a simplified situation by examining the effect of coupling between two cortical columns described via Jansen-Rit neural mass models. Our results show that coupling between the two neuronal populations gives rise to stochastic initiations of sustained collective activity, which can be interpreted as epileptic events. For large enough coupling strengths, termination of these events results mainly from the emergence of synchronization between the columns, and thus it is controlled by coupling instead of noise. Stochastic triggering and noise-independent durations are characteristic of excitable dynamics, and thus we interpret our results in terms of collective excitability.

Inferring hidden causal relations between pathway members using reduced Google matrix of directed biological networks

Science.gov (United States)

2018-01-01

Signaling pathways represent parts of the global biological molecular network which connects them into a seamless whole through complex direct and indirect (hidden) crosstalk whose structure can change during development or in pathological conditions. We suggest a novel methodology, called Googlomics, for the structural analysis of directed biological networks using spectral analysis of their Google matrices, using parallels with quantum scattering theory, developed for nuclear and mesoscopic physics and quantum chaos. We introduce analytical “reduced Google matrix” method for the analysis of biological network structure. The method allows inferring hidden causal relations between the members of a signaling pathway or a functionally related group of genes. We investigate how the structure of hidden causal relations can be reprogrammed as a result of changes in the transcriptional network layer during cancerogenesis. The suggested Googlomics approach rigorously characterizes complex systemic changes in the wiring of large causal biological networks in a computationally efficient way. PMID:29370181

Biological testing of a digested sewage sludge and derived composts.

Science.gov (United States)

Moreira, R; Sousa, J P; Canhoto, C

2008-11-01

Aiming to evaluate a possible loss of soil habitat function after amendment with organic wastes, a digested sewage sludge and derived composts produced with green residues, where biologically tested in the laboratory using soil animals (Eisenia andrei and Folsomia candida) and plants (Brassica rapa and Avena sativa). Each waste was tested mimicking a field application of 6ton/ha or 12ton/ha. Avoidance tests did not reveal any impact of sludge and composts to soil biota. Germination and growth tests showed that application of composts were beneficial for both plants. Composts did not affect earthworm's mass increase or reproduction, but the highest sludge amendment revealed negative effects on both parameters. Only the amendment of composts at the highest dose originated an impairment of springtails reproductive output. We suggest that bioassays using different test species may be an additional tool to evaluate effects of amendment of organic wastes in soil. Biological tests are sensitive to pollutants at low concentrations and to interactions undetected by routine chemical analysis.

Biological Applications of Extraordinary Electroconductance and Photovoltaic Effects in Inverse Extraordinary Optoconductance

Science.gov (United States)

Tran, Lauren Christine

The Extraordinary Electroconductance (EEC) sensor has been previously demonstrated to have an electric field sensitivity of 3.05V/cm in a mesoscopic-scale structure fabricated at the center of a parallel plate capacitor. In this thesis, we demonstrate the first successful application of EEC sensors as electrochemical detectors of protein binding and biological molecule concentration. Using the avidin derivative, captavidin, in complex with the vitamin biotin, the change in four-point measured resistance with fluid protein concentration of bare EEC sensors was shown to increase by a factor of four in the presence of biomolecular binding as compared to baseline. Calculations for approximate field strengths introduced by a bound captavidin molecule are also presented. The development of Inverse-Extraordinary Optoconductance (I-EOC), an effect which occurs in nanoscale sensors, is also discussed. In the I-EOC effect, electron transport transitions from ballistic to diffusive with increasing light intensity. In these novel, room temperature optical detectors, the resistance is low at low light intensity and resistance increases by 9462% in a 250nm device mesa upon full illumination with a 5 mW HeNe laser. This is the inverse of bulk and mesoscopic device behavior, in which resistance decreases with increasing photon density.

Atom chips: mesoscopic physics with cold atoms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krueger, P.; Wildermuth, S.; Hofferberth, S.; Haller, E.; GAllego Garcia, D.; Schmiedmayer, J.

2005-01-01

Full text: Cold neutral atoms can be controlled and manipulated in microscopic potentials near surfaces of atom chips. These integrated micro-devices combine the known techniques of atom optics with the capabilities of well established micro- and nanofabrication technology. In analogy to electronic microchips and integrated fiber optics, the concept of atom chips is suitable to explore the domain of mesoscopic physics with matter waves. We use current and charge carrying structures to form complex potentials with high spatial resolution only microns from the surface. In particular, atoms can be confined to an essentially one-dimensional motion. In this talk, we will give an overview of our experiments studying the manipulation of both thermal atoms and BECs on atom chips. First experiments in the quasi one-dimensional regime will be presented. These experiments profit from strongly reduced residual disorder potentials caused by imperfections of the chip fabrication with respect to previously published experiments. This is due to our purely lithographic fabrication technique that proves to be advantageous over electroplating. We have used one dimensionally confined BECs as an ultra-sensitive probe to characterize these potentials. These smooth potentials allow us to explore various aspects of the physics of degenerate quantum gases in low dimensions. (author)

Macro-mesoscopic Fracture and Strength Character of Pre-cracked Granite Under Stress Relaxation Condition

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Junfeng; Yang, Haiqing; Xiao, Yang; Zhou, Xiaoping

2018-05-01

The fracture characters are important index to study the strength and deformation behavior of rock mass in rock engineering. In order to investigate the influencing mechanism of loading conditions on the strength and macro-mesoscopic fracture character of rock material, pre-cracked granite specimens are prepared to conduct a series of uniaxial compression experiments. For parts of the experiments, stress relaxation tests of different durations are also conducted during the uniaxial loading process. Furthermore, the stereomicroscope is adopted to observe the microstructure of the crack surfaces of the specimens. The experimental results indicate that the crack surfaces show several typical fracture characters in accordance with loading conditions. In detail, some cleavage fracture can be observed under conventional uniaxial compression and the fractured surface is relatively rough, whereas as stress relaxation tests are attached, relative slip trace appears between the crack faces and some shear fracture starts to come into being. Besides, the crack faces tend to become smoother and typical terrace structures can be observed in local areas. Combining the macroscopic failure pattern of the specimens, it can be deduced that the duration time for the stress relaxation test contributes to the improvement of the elastic-plastic strain range as well as the axial peak strength for the studied material. Moreover, the derived conclusion is also consistent with the experimental and analytical solution for the pre-peak stage of the rock material. The present work may provide some primary understanding about the strength character and fracture mechanism of hard rock under different engineering environments.

p-type Mesoscopic nickel oxide/organometallic perovskite heterojunction solar cells.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Kuo-Chin; Jeng, Jun-Yuan; Shen, Po-Shen; Chang, Yu-Cheng; Diau, Eric Wei-Guang; Tsai, Cheng-Hung; Chao, Tzu-Yang; Hsu, Hsu-Cheng; Lin, Pei-Ying; Chen, Peter; Guo, Tzung-Fang; Wen, Ten-Chin

2014-04-23

In this article, we present a new paradigm for organometallic hybrid perovskite solar cell using NiO inorganic metal oxide nanocrystalline as p-type electrode material and realized the first mesoscopic NiO/perovskite/[6,6]-phenyl C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PC61BM) heterojunction photovoltaic device. The photo-induced transient absorption spectroscopy results verified that the architecture is an effective p-type sensitized junction, which is the first inorganic p-type, metal oxide contact material for perovskite-based solar cell. Power conversion efficiency of 9.51% was achieved under AM 1.5 G illumination, which significantly surpassed the reported conventional p-type dye-sensitized solar cells. The replacement of the organic hole transport materials by a p-type metal oxide has the advantages to provide robust device architecture for further development of all-inorganic perovskite-based thin-film solar cells and tandem photovoltaics.

Mesoscopic spin Hall effect in semiconductor nanostructures

Science.gov (United States)

Zarbo, Liviu

The spin Hall effect (SHE) is a name given to a collection of diverse phenomena which share two principal features: (i) longitudinal electric current flowing through a paramagnetic semiconductor or metallic sample leads to transverse spin current and spin accumulation of opposite sign at opposing lateral edges; (ii) SHE does not require externally applied magnetic field or magnetic ordering in the equilibrium state of the sample, instead it relies on the presence of spin-orbit (SO) couplings within the sample. This thesis elaborates on a new type of phenomenon within the SHE family, predicted in our recent studies [Phys. Rev. B 72, 075361 (2005); Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 046601 (2005); Phys. Rev. B 72, 075335 (2005); Phys. Rev. B 73 , 075303 (2006); and Europhys. Lett. 77, 47004 (2007)], where pure spin current flows through the transverse electrodes attached to a clean finitesize two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) due to unpolarized charge current injected through its longitudinal leads. If transverse leads are removed, the effect manifests as nonequilibrium spin Hall accumulation at the lateral edges of 2DEG wires. The SO coupling driving this SHE effect is of the Rashba type, which arises due to structural inversion asymmetry of semiconductor heterostructure hosting the 2DEG. We term the effect "mesoscopic" because the spin Hall currents and accumulations reach optimal value in samples of the size of the spin precession length---the distance over which the spin of an electron precesses by an angle pi. In strongly SO-coupled structures this scale is of the order of ˜100 nm, and, therefore, mesoscopic in the sense of being much larger than the characteristic microscopic scales (such as the Fermi wavelength, screening length, or the mean free path in disordered systems), but still much smaller than the macroscopic ones. Although the first theoretical proposal for SHE, driven by asymmetry in SO-dependent scattering of spin-up and spin-down electrons off impurities

Mesoscopic approach to modeling elastic-plastic polycrystalline material behaviour

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kovac, M.; Cizelj, L.

2001-01-01

Extreme loadings during severe accident conditions might cause failure or rupture of the pressure boundary of a reactor coolant system. Reliable estimation of the extreme deformations can be crucial to determine the consequences of such an accident. One of important drawbacks of classical continuum mechanics is idealization of inhomogenous microstructure of materials. This paper discusses the mesoscopic approach to modeling the elastic-plastic behavior of a polycrystalline material. The main idea is to divide the continuum (e.g., polycrystalline aggregate) into a set of sub-continua (grains). The overall properties of the polycrystalline aggregate are therefore determined by the number of grains in the aggregate and properties of randomly shaped and oriented grains. The random grain structure is modeled with Voronoi tessellation and random orientations of crystal lattices are assumed. The elastic behavior of monocrystal grains is assumed to be anisotropic. Crystal plasticity is used to describe plastic response of monocrystal grains. Finite element method is used to obtain numerical solutions of strain and stress fields. The analysis is limited to two-dimensional models.(author)

Aggregation of Frenkel defects under irradiation: a mesoscopic approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soppe, W.; Kotomin, E.

1993-08-01

The radiation-induced aggregation of Frenkel defects in solids is studied in terms of a mesoscopic approach. The asymmetry in elastic interactions between mobile interstitials (I-I) and between interstitials and vacancies (I-V) plays a decisive role in the aggregation of similar defects. The conditions for defect aggregation are studied in detail for NaCl crystals. The critical dose rate for aggregation has been calculated as a function of the temperature as well as the aggregation rate as a function of temperature and dose rate. Furthermore, the role of deep traps (like impurities and di-vacancies), reducing the mobility of interstitials, and the role of dislocations serving as sinks for interstitials, are studied. The aggregation appears to reach a maximum at a distinct temperature which is in agreement both with experiment and the Jain-Lidiard theory. The model also predicts a shift of this maximum towards lower temperatures if the dose rate is decreased. The consequences of the model for the disposal of nuclear waste in rock salt formations, are briefly discussed. (orig.)

Charge storage in mesoscopic graphitic islands fabricated using AFM bias lithography

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kurra, Narendra; Basavaraja, S; Kulkarni, G U [Chemistry and Physics of Materials Unit and DST Unit on Nanoscience, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Jakkur PO, Bangalore 560 064 (India); Prakash, Gyan; Fisher, Timothy S; Reifenberger, Ronald G, E-mail: kulkarni@jncasr.ac.in, E-mail: reifenbr@purdue.edu [Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907 (United States)

2011-06-17

Electrochemical oxidation and etching of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) has been achieved using biased atomic force microscopy (AFM) lithography, allowing patterns of varying complexity to be written into the top layers of HOPG. The graphitic oxidation process and the trench geometry after writing were monitored using intermittent contact mode AFM. Electrostatic force microscopy reveals that the isolated mesoscopic islands formed during the AFM lithography process become positively charged, suggesting that they are laterally isolated from the surrounding HOPG substrate. The electrical transport studies of these laterally isolated finite-layer graphitic islands enable detailed characterization of electrical conduction along the c-direction and reveal an unexpected stability of the charged state. Utilizing conducting-atomic force microscopy, the measured I(V) characteristics revealed significant non-linearities. Micro-Raman studies confirm the presence of oxy functional groups formed during the lithography process.

Insight or illusion? seeing inside the cell with mesoscopic simulations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Shillcock, Julian C.

2008-01-01

 the dynamics of spatially heterogeneous membranes and the crowded cytoplasmic environment to be followed at a modest computational cost. The price for such power is that the atomic detail of the constituents is much lower than in atomistic Molecular Dynamics simulations. We argue that this price is worth...... by spatial resolution and the speed of molecular rearrangements. The increase in computing power of the last few decades enables the construction of computational tools for observing cellular processes in silico. As experiments yield increasing amounts of data on the protein and lipid constituents...... of the cell, computer simulations parametrized using this data are beginning to allow models of cellular processes to be interrogated in ways unavailable in the laboratory. Mesoscopic simulations retain only those molecular features that are believed to be relevant to the processes of interest. This allows...

Continuum Modeling of Biological Network Formation

KAUST Repository

Albi, Giacomo

2017-04-10

We present an overview of recent analytical and numerical results for the elliptic–parabolic system of partial differential equations proposed by Hu and Cai, which models the formation of biological transportation networks. The model describes the pressure field using a Darcy type equation and the dynamics of the conductance network under pressure force effects. Randomness in the material structure is represented by a linear diffusion term and conductance relaxation by an algebraic decay term. We first introduce micro- and mesoscopic models and show how they are connected to the macroscopic PDE system. Then, we provide an overview of analytical results for the PDE model, focusing mainly on the existence of weak and mild solutions and analysis of the steady states. The analytical part is complemented by extensive numerical simulations. We propose a discretization based on finite elements and study the qualitative properties of network structures for various parameter values.

Modeling of electrical and mesoscopic circuits at quantum nanoscale from heat momentum operator

Science.gov (United States)

El-Nabulsi, Rami Ahmad

2018-04-01

We develop a new method to study electrical circuits at quantum nanoscale by introducing a heat momentum operator which reproduces quantum effects similar to those obtained in Suykens's nonlocal-in-time kinetic energy approach for the case of reversible motion. The series expansion of the heat momentum operator is similar to the momentum operator obtained in the framework of minimal length phenomenologies characterized by the deformation of Heisenberg algebra. The quantization of both LC and mesoscopic circuits revealed a number of motivating features like the emergence of a generalized uncertainty relation and a minimal charge similar to those obtained in the framework of minimal length theories. Additional features were obtained and discussed accordingly.

Mesoscopic Strains Maps in Woven Composite Laminas During Off-axis Tension

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicoletto G.

2010-06-01

Full Text Available The mechanics of woven carbon-fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP composites is influenced by the complex architecture of the reinforcement phase. Computational (i.e. finite element based approaches have been used increasingly to model not only the global laminate stiffness, but also damage evolution and laminate strength. The modeling combines the identification of the architectural unit cell (UC, the selection of suitable constitutive models of the different phases, the creation of a fine discretization of the UC in finite elements, the application of an incremental solution procedure that solves iteratively for the stresses and strains in the UC, [1]. The experimental validation of computational models is carried out mainly at the macroscopical level, i.e. simulation of the macroscopic stress-strain curve. Damage, however, is a localized, straindependent phenomenon and therefore only accurate strain distribution within the UC (at the mesolevel can identify critical conditions in terms of damage location, extension and evolution. The validation of computational damage procedures is a key task and full-field optical strain analysis methods appear the ideal instrument. However, only limited examples of direct finte element method (FEM vs experimental strain correlation are found because of the limited sensitivity and spatial resolution of some techniques and the complexity and applicative difficulty of others. The aim of the present paper is to present the application of the digital image correlation (DIC technique, [2], to the full-field strain analysis at the mesoscopic level (i.e. within the UC of a woven CFRP lamina when the direction of loading forms an angle to the material direction. The material under consideration is a woven carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composite. Orthogonal yarns, each made of of several thousand fibers, are woven according the twill-weave architecture is shown in Fig. 1a. Single-ply laminas were manufactured and tested to

Mesoscopic structural phase progression in photo-excited VO2 revealed by time-resolved x-ray diffraction microscopy

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Yi; Cai, Zhonghou; Chen, Pice; Zhang, Qingteng; Highland, Matthew J.; Jung, Il Woong; Walko, Donald A.; Dufresne, Eric M.; Jeong, Jaewoo; Samant, Mahesh G.; Parkin, Stuart S. P.; Freeland, John W.; Evans, Paul G.; Wen, Haidan

2016-02-01

Dynamical phase separation during a solid-solid phase transition poses a challenge for understanding the fundamental processes in correlated materials. Critical information underlying a phase transition, such as localized phase competition, is difficult to reveal by measurements that are spatially averaged over many phase separated regions. The ability to simultaneously track the spatial and temporal evolution of such systems is essential to understanding mesoscopic processes during a phase transition. Using state-of-the-art time-resolved hard x-ray diffraction microscopy, we directly visualize the structural phase progression in a VO2 film upon photoexcitation. Following a homogenous in-plane optical excitation, the phase transformation is initiated at discrete sites and completed by the growth of one lattice structure into the other, instead of a simultaneous isotropic lattice symmetry change. The time-dependent x-ray diffraction spatial maps show that the in-plane phase progression in laser-superheated VO2 is via a displacive lattice transformation as a result of relaxation from an excited monoclinic phase into a rutile phase. The speed of the phase front progression is quantitatively measured, and is faster than the process driven by in-plane thermal diffusion but slower than the sound speed in VO2. The direct visualization of localized structural changes in the time domain opens a new avenue to study mesoscopic processes in driven systems.

Breakdown of the independent electron picture in mesoscopic samples at low temperatures: The hunt for the Unicorn

Science.gov (United States)

Webb, R. A.

1998-03-01

A variety of experiments are discussed where, at low temperatures, it appears that the non-interacting picture of electrons in a Fermi liquid description of a mesoscopic sample is breaking down. Specifically, experiments on the temperature dependence of the phase-coherence time, energy relaxation rate, spin-flip scattering time, persistent currents in normal metals and transmission through a barrier in the fractional quantum Hall regime all display low-temperature properties which can not be accounted for in the independent electron picture.

Semiclassical approach to mesoscopic systems classical trajectory correlations and wave interference

CERN Document Server

Waltner, Daniel

2012-01-01

This volume describes mesoscopic systems with classically chaotic dynamics using semiclassical methods which combine elements of classical dynamics and quantum interference effects. Experiments and numerical studies show that Random Matrix Theory (RMT) explains physical properties of these systems well. This was conjectured more than 25 years ago by Bohigas, Giannoni and Schmit for the spectral properties. Since then, it has been a challenge to understand this connection analytically.  The author offers his readers a clearly-written and up-to-date treatment of the topics covered. He extends previous semiclassical approaches that treated spectral and conductance properties. He shows that RMT results can in general only be obtained semiclassically when taking into account classical configurations not considered previously, for example those containing multiply traversed periodic orbits. Furthermore, semiclassics is capable of describing effects beyond RMT. In this context he studies the effect of a non-zero Eh...

Expertise for Teaching Biology Situated in the Context of Genetic Testing

Science.gov (United States)

Van der Zande, Paul; Akkerman, Sanne F.; Brekelmans, Mieke; Waarlo, Arend Jan; Vermunt, Jan D.

2012-07-01

Contemporary genomics research will impact the daily practice of biology teachers who want to teach up-to-date genetics in secondary education. This article reports on a research project aimed at enhancing biology teachers' expertise for teaching genetics situated in the context of genetic testing. The increasing body of scientific knowledge concerning genetic testing and the related consequences for decision-making indicate the societal relevance of an educational approach based on situated learning. What expertise do biology teachers need for teaching genetics in the personal health context of genetic testing? This article describes the required expertise by exploring the educational practice. Nine experienced teachers were interviewed about the pedagogical content, moral and interpersonal expertise areas concerning how to teach genetics in the personal health context of genetic testing, and the lessons of five of them were observed. The findings showed that the required teacher expertise encompasses specific pedagogical content expertise, interpersonal expertise and a preference for teacher roles and teaching approaches for the moral aspects of teaching in this context. A need for further development of teaching and learning activities for (reflection on) moral reasoning came to the fore. Suggestions regarding how to apply this expertise into context-based genetics education are discussed.

A Mesoscopic Analytical Model to Predict the Onset of Wrinkling in Plain Woven Preforms under Bias Extension Shear Deformation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abbas Hosseini

2017-10-01

Full Text Available A mesoscopic analytical model of wrinkling of Plain-Woven Composite Preforms (PWCPs under the bias extension test is presented, based on a new instability analysis. The analysis is aimed to facilitate a better understanding of the nature of wrinkle formation in woven fabrics caused by large in-plane shear, while it accounts for the effect of fabric and process parameters on the onset of wrinkling. To this end, the mechanism of wrinkle formation in PWCPs in mesoscale is simplified and an equivalent structure composed of bars and different types of springs is proposed, mimicking the behavior of a representative PWCP element at the post-locking state. The parameters of this equivalent structure are derived based on geometric and mechanical characteristics of the PWCP. The principle of minimum total potential energy is employed to formluate the model, and experimental validation is carried out to reveal the effectiveness of the derived wrinkling prediction equation.

In vitro biological test of resistance to oxidation: application to identification of irradiated food

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blache, D.; Prost, M.; Raffi, J.

1991-01-01

The test presented here for the identification of ionized food is a direct application of a biological test of resistance to oxidation, put on for an evaluation of antioxidant properties of pharmaceutic molecules and for the study of free radicals in biology. Consequently, the main part of this datum is relative to this biological test. We only point out, when necessary, how we plan to use it for food items. Our aim in this paper is to present a simple biological test (SPIRAL Patent Pending) to measure the total anti oxidative defence status of individuals utilizing some easy to handle cells: circulating cells. In this presentation, we only limited to red blood cells, but any cell could be used after suitable adaptation of the procedure. The first experiments carried out on irradiated foods are promising, even for foodstuffs in liquid state, but we have surely to do a lot of new ones in order to improve the specificity of this test with regard to irradiation and to define with which food it can be used. (9 refs; 15 figs)

Measurement of mesoscopic high-T{sub c} superconductors using Si mechanical micro-oscillators

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dolz, M. [Centro Atomico Bariloche, Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica and CONICET, R8402AGP S. C. de Bariloche (Argentina)]. E-mail: mdolz@cabbat1.cnea.gov.ar; Antonio, D. [Centro Atomico Bariloche, Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica and CONICET, R8402AGP S. C. de Bariloche (Argentina); Pastoriza, H. [Centro Atomico Bariloche, Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica and CONICET, R8402AGP S. C. de Bariloche (Argentina)

2007-09-01

In a superconducting mesoscopic sample, with dimensions comparable to the London penetration depth, some properties are qualitatively different to those found in the bulk material. These properties include magnetization, vortex dynamics and ordering of the vortex lattice. In order to detect the small signals produced by this kind of samples, new instruments designed for the microscale are needed. In this work we use micromechanical oscillators to study the magnetic properties of a Bi{sub 2}Sr{sub 2}CaCu{sub 2}O{sub 8+{delta}} disk with a diameter of 13.5{mu}m and a thickness of 2.5{mu}m. The discussion of our results is based on the existence and contribution of inter and intra layer currents.

Elastic tunneling identification through crossings, anti-crossings and splitting of states in the complex electronic current of systems based on mesoscopic molecules

Science.gov (United States)

López, Luis I. A.; Mendoza, Michel; Ujevic, Sebastian

2013-09-01

We have systematically studied the conductance σ( E,B) and the electronic current line shapes J( V ex ) through complex mesoscopic molecules in an elastic resonant tunneling regime. The studied systems are based on GaAs/AlGaAs hetero-structures, with several discrete states in each coupled mesoscopic molecule. The molecules were formed using different wells and barrier widths. These systems allow effective couplings and uncouplings that lead to elastic processes as a function of the electronic potential V ex and magnetic field B. In this situation, the J( V ex ) and σ( E, B) curves exhibit a sequence of peaks of difficult interpretation, in which crossings and anti-crossings (a splitting if it is generated in the resonance condition) of states contribute in a way that they cannot be easily identified. Performing a systematic analysis of the evolution of these states (before the resonance condition), we were able to determine the origin of these current peaks. We have found that the coupling of states (anti-crossing) around the resonance region can be identified as a broad mirrored- D line shape in the J( V ex ) curves. The mirrored- D line shape peaks can be clearly differentiated from the neighboring peaks because the last ones follow a very defined increasing sequence in their intensities and widths. Also, this behavior (fingerprint) can be used to identify possible splitting of states in the J( V ex ). The splittings that are generated between states with different quantum numbers (quantum numbers associated to the individual well) follow an unexpected opposite behavior when compared with those generated between states with the same quantum numbers (quasi-miniband). All these results are also observed in the conductance σ( E, B) associated with complex mesoscopic molecules based on a two-dimensional electron gas.

Quasiparticle transport properties of mesoscopic wires containing normal-metal/superconductor/normal-metal proximity junctions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Nam; Kim, Kijoon; Lee, Hu Jong; Lee, Seongjae; Yuk, Jong Seol; Park, Kyoung Wan; Lee, El Hang

1997-01-01

We measured the differential resistance dV/dI of mesoscopic normal-metal/superconductor/normal-metal (N-S-N) junctions. At low temperatures (T PbIn /e, where Δ PbIn is the gap energy of superconducting Pb-In, and at a higher bias V c . The zero-bias dip is supposed to originate from Andreev reflections of quasiparticles and the peak near 2Δ PbIn /e from the formation of a standing-wave mode of quasiparticles inside the superconducting potential barrier. We attribute the peaks at V c to a transition of the superconducting region to the normal state as the current exceeds the critical current I c of S

An investigation on impacts of scheduling configurations on Mississippi biology subject area testing

Science.gov (United States)

Marchette, Frances Lenora

The purpose of this mixed modal study was to compare the results of Biology Subject Area mean scores of students on a 4 x 4 block schedule, A/B block schedule, and traditional year-long schedule for 1A to 5A size schools. This study also reviewed the data to determine if minority or gender issues might influence the test results. Interviews with administrators and teachers were conducted about the type of schedule configuration they use and the influence that the schedule has on student academic performance on the Biology Subject Area Test. Additionally, this research further explored whether schedule configurations allow sufficient time for students to construct knowledge. This study is important to schools, teachers, and administrators because it can assist them in considering the impacts that different types of class schedules have on student performance and if ethnic or gender issues are influencing testing results. This study used the causal-comparative method for the quantitative portion of the study and constant comparative method for the qualitative portion to explore the relationship of school schedules on student academic achievement on the Mississippi Biology Subject Area Test. The aggregate means of selected student scores indicate that the Mississippi Biology Subject Area Test as a measure of student performance reveals no significant difference on student achievement for the three school schedule configurations. The data were adjusted for initial differences of gender, minority, and school size on the three schedule configurations. The results suggest that schools may employ various schedule configurations and expect student performance on the Mississippi Biology Subject Area Test to be unaffected. However, many areas of concern were identified in the interviews that might impact on school learning environments. These concerns relate to effective classroom management, the active involvement of students in learning, the adequacy of teacher education

Clinical history and biologic age predicted falls better than objective functional tests.

Science.gov (United States)

Gerdhem, Paul; Ringsberg, Karin A M; Akesson, Kristina; Obrant, Karl J

2005-03-01

Fall risk assessment is important because the consequences, such as a fracture, may be devastating. The objective of this study was to find the test or tests that best predicted falls in a population-based sample of elderly women. The fall-predictive ability of a questionnaire, a subjective estimate of biologic age and objective functional tests (gait, balance [Romberg and sway test], thigh muscle strength, and visual acuity) were compared in 984 randomly selected women, all 75 years of age. A recalled fall was the most important predictor for future falls. Only recalled falls and intake of psycho-active drugs independently predicted future falls. Women with at least five of the most important fall predictors (previous falls, conditions affecting the balance, tendency to fall, intake of psychoactive medication, inability to stand on one leg, high biologic age) had an odds ratio of 11.27 (95% confidence interval 4.61-27.60) for a fall (sensitivity 70%, specificity 79%). The more time-consuming objective functional tests were of limited importance for fall prediction. A simple clinical history, the inability to stand on one leg, and a subjective estimate of biologic age were more important as part of the fall risk assessment.

Revisiting the mesoscopic Termonia and Smith model for deformation of polymers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krishna Reddy, B; Basu, Sumit; Estevez, Rafael

2008-01-01

Mesoscopic models for polymers have the potential to link macromolecular properties with the mechanical behaviour without being too expensive computationally. An interesting, popular and rather simple model to this end was proposed by Termonia and Smith (1987 Macromolecules 20 835–8). In this model the macromolecular ensemble is viewed as a collection of two-dimensional self-avoiding random walks on a regular lattice whose lattice points represent entanglements. The load is borne by members representing van der Waals bonds as well as macromolecular strands between two entanglement points. Model polymers simulated via this model exhibited remarkable qualitative similarity with real polymers with respect to their molecular weight, entanglement spacing, strain rate and temperature dependence. In this work, we revisit this model and present a detailed reformulation within the framework of a finite deformation finite element scheme. The physical origins of each of the parameters in the model are investigated and inherent assumptions in the model which contribute to its success are critically probed

Short, intermediate and mesoscopic range order in sulfur-rich binary glasses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bychkov, E.; Miloshova, M.; Price, D.L.; Benmore, C.J.; Lorriaux, A.

2006-01-01

Pulsed neutron and high-energy X-ray diffraction, small-angle neutron scattering, Raman spectroscopy and DSC were used to study structural changes on the short, intermediate and mesoscopic range scale for sulfur-rich AsS x (x (ge) 1.5) and GeS x (x (ge) 2) glasses. Two structural regions were found in the both systems. (1) Between stoichiometric (As 2 S 3 and GeS 2 ) and 'saturated' (AsS 2.2 and GeS 2.7 ) compositions, excessive sulfur atoms form sulfur dimers and/or short chains, replacing bridging sulfur in corner-sharing AsS 3/2 and GeS 4/2 units. (2) Above the 'saturated' compositions at (As) x system) appear in the glass network. The glasses become phase separated with the domains of 20-50 (angstrom), presumably enriched with sulfur rings. The longer chains Sn are not stable and crystallize to c-S 8 on ageing of a few days to several months, depending on composition.

Mesoscopic quantum effects in a bad metal, hydrogen-doped vanadium dioxide

Science.gov (United States)

Hardy, Will J.; Ji, Heng; Paik, Hanjong; Schlom, Darrell G.; Natelson, Douglas

2017-05-01

The standard treatment of quantum corrections to semiclassical electronic conduction assumes that charge carriers propagate many wavelengths between scattering events, and succeeds in explaining multiple phenomena (weak localization magnetoresistance (WLMR), universal conductance fluctuations, Aharonov-Bohm oscillations) observed in polycrystalline metals and doped semiconductors in various dimensionalities. We report apparent WLMR and conductance fluctuations in H x VO2, a poor metal (in violation of the Mott-Ioffe-Regel limit) stabilized by the suppression of the VO2 metal-insulator transition through atomic hydrogen doping. Epitaxial thin films, single-crystal nanobeams, and nanosheets show similar phenomenology, though the details of the apparent WLMR seem to depend on the combined effects of the strain environment and presumed doping level. Self-consistent quantitative analysis of the WLMR is challenging given this and the high resistivity of the material, since the quantitative expressions for WLMR are derived assuming good metallicity. These observations raise the issue of how to assess and analyze mesoscopic quantum effects in poor metals.

Predicting protein folding pathways at the mesoscopic level based on native interactions between secondary structure elements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sze Sing-Hoi

2008-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Since experimental determination of protein folding pathways remains difficult, computational techniques are often used to simulate protein folding. Most current techniques to predict protein folding pathways are computationally intensive and are suitable only for small proteins. Results By assuming that the native structure of a protein is known and representing each intermediate conformation as a collection of fully folded structures in which each of them contains a set of interacting secondary structure elements, we show that it is possible to significantly reduce the conformation space while still being able to predict the most energetically favorable folding pathway of large proteins with hundreds of residues at the mesoscopic level, including the pig muscle phosphoglycerate kinase with 416 residues. The model is detailed enough to distinguish between different folding pathways of structurally very similar proteins, including the streptococcal protein G and the peptostreptococcal protein L. The model is also able to recognize the differences between the folding pathways of protein G and its two structurally similar variants NuG1 and NuG2, which are even harder to distinguish. We show that this strategy can produce accurate predictions on many other proteins with experimentally determined intermediate folding states. Conclusion Our technique is efficient enough to predict folding pathways for both large and small proteins at the mesoscopic level. Such a strategy is often the only feasible choice for large proteins. A software program implementing this strategy (SSFold is available at http://faculty.cs.tamu.edu/shsze/ssfold.

Equilibrium finite-frequency noise of an interacting mesoscopic capacitor studied in time-dependent density functional theory

Science.gov (United States)

Dittmann, Niklas; Splettstoesser, Janine; Helbig, Nicole

2018-03-01

We calculate the frequency-dependent equilibrium noise of a mesoscopic capacitor in time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT). The capacitor is modeled as a single-level quantum dot with on-site Coulomb interaction and tunnel coupling to a nearby reservoir. The noise spectra are derived from linear-response conductances via the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. Thereby, we analyze the performance of a recently derived exchange-correlation potential with time-nonlocal density dependence in the finite-frequency linear-response regime. We compare our TDDFT noise spectra with real-time perturbation theory and find excellent agreement for noise frequencies below the reservoir temperature.

Cosmo Cassette: A Microfluidic Microgravity Microbial System For Synthetic Biology Unit Tests and Satellite Missions

Science.gov (United States)

Berliner, Aaron J.

2013-01-01

Although methods in the design-build-test life cycle of the synthetic biology field have grown rapidly, the expansion has been non-uniform. The design and build stages in development have seen innovations in the form of biological CAD and more efficient means for building DNA, RNA, and other biological constructs. The testing phase of the cycle remains in need of innovation. Presented will be both a theoretical abstraction of biological measurement and a practical demonstration of a microfluidics-based platform for characterizing synthetic biological phenomena. Such a platform demonstrates a design of additive manufacturing (3D printing) for construction of a microbial fuel cell (MFC) to be used in experiments carried out in space. First, the biocompatibility of the polypropylene chassis will be demonstrated. The novel MFCs will be cheaper, and faster to make and iterate through designs. The novel design will contain a manifold switchingdistribution system and an integrated in-chip set of reagent reservoirs fabricated via 3D printing. The automated nature of the 3D printing yields itself to higher resolution switching valves and leads to smaller sized payloads, lower cost, reduced power and a standardized platform for synthetic biology unit tests on Earth and in space. It will be demonstrated that the application of unit testing in synthetic biology will lead to the automatic construction and validation of desired constructs. Unit testing methodologies offer benefits of preemptive problem identification, change of facility, simplicity of integration, ease of documentation, and separation of interface from implementation, and automated design.

Testing the universality of biology: a review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chela-Flores, J.

2007-08-01

We discuss whether it is possible to test the universality of biology, a quest that is of paramount relevance for one of its most recent branches, namely astrobiology. We review this topic in terms of the relative roles played on the Earth biota by contingency and evolutionary convergence. Following the seminal contribution of Darwin, it is reasonable to assume that all forms of life known to us so far are not only terrestrial, but are descendants of a common ancestor that evolved on this planet at the end of a process of chemical evolution. We also raise the related question of whether the molecular events that were precursors to the origin of life on Earth are bound to occur elsewhere in the universe, wherever the environmental conditions are similar to the terrestrial ones. We refer to 'cosmic convergence' as the possible occurrence elsewhere in the universe of Earth-like environmental conditions. We argue that cosmic convergence is already suggested by observational data. The set of hypotheses for addressing the question of the universality of biology can be tested by future experiments that are feasible with current technology. We focus on landing on Europa and the broader implications of selecting the specific example of the right landing location. We had discussed earlier the corresponding miniaturized equipment that is already in existence. The significance of these crucial points needs to be put into a wider scientific perspective, which is one of the main objectives of this review. (author)

Testing the universality of biology: a review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chela-Flores, J.

2007-05-01

We discuss whether it is possible to test the universality of biology, a quest that is of paramount relevance for one of its most recent branches, namely astrobiology. We review this topic in terms of the relative roles played on the Earth biota by contingency and evolutionary convergence. Following the seminal contribution of Darwin, it is reasonable to assume that all forms of life known to us so far are not only terrestrial, but are descendants of a common ancestor that evolved on this planet at the end of a process of chemical evolution. We also raise the related question of whether the molecular events that were precursors to the origin of life on Earth are bound to occur elsewhere in the universe, wherever the environmental conditions are similar to the terrestrial ones. We refer to 'cosmic convergence' as the possible occurrence elsewhere in the universe of Earth-like environmental conditions. We argue that cosmic convergence is already suggested by observational data. The set of hypotheses for addressing the question of the universality of biology can be tested by future experiments that are feasible with current technology. We focus on landing on Europe and the broader implications of selecting the specific example of the right landing location. We had discussed earlier the corresponding miniaturized equipment that is already in existence. The significance of these crucial points needs to be put into a wider scientific perspective, which is one of the main objectives of this review. (author)

Modeling elasto-plastic behavior of polycrystalline grain structure of steels at mesoscopic level

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kovac, Marko; Cizelj, Leon

2005-01-01

The multiscale model is proposed to explicitly account for the inhomogeneous structure of polycrystalline materials. Grains and grain boundaries are modeled explicitly using Voronoi tessellation. The constitutive model of crystal grains utilizes anisotropic elasticity and crystal plasticity. Commercially available finite element code is applied to solve the boundary value problem defined at the macroscopic scale. No assumption regarding the distribution of the mesoscopic strain and stress fields is used, apart the finite element discretization. The proposed model is then used to estimate the minimum size of polycrystalline aggregate of selected reactor pressure vessel steel (22 NiMoCr 3 7), above which it can be considered macroscopically homogeneous. Elastic and rate-independent plastic deformation modes are considered. The results are validated by the experimental and simulation results from the literature

Mesoscopic dynamics of diffusion-influenced enzyme kinetics.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Jiang-Xing; Kapral, Raymond

2011-01-28

A particle-based mesoscopic model for enzyme kinetics is constructed and used to investigate the influence of diffusion on the reactive dynamics. Enzymes and enzyme-substrate complexes are modeled as finite-size soft spherical particles, while substrate, product, and solvent molecules are point particles. The system is evolved using a hybrid molecular dynamics-multiparticle collision dynamics scheme. Both the nonreactive and reactive dynamics are constructed to satisfy mass, momentum, and energy conservation laws, and reversible reaction steps satisfy detailed balance. Hydrodynamic interactions among the enzymes and complexes are automatically accounted for in the dynamics. Diffusion manifests itself in various ways, notably in power-law behavior in the evolution of the species concentrations. In accord with earlier investigations, regimes where the product production rate exhibits either monotonic or nonmonotonic behavior as a function of time are found. In addition, the species concentrations display both t(-1/2) and t(-3/2) power-law behavior, depending on the dynamical regime under investigation. For high enzyme volume fractions, cooperative effects influence the enzyme kinetics. The time dependent rate coefficient determined from the mass action rate law is computed and shown to depend on the enzyme concentration. Lifetime distributions of substrate molecules newly released in complex dissociation events are determined and shown to have either a power-law form for rebinding to the same enzyme from which they were released or an exponential form for rebinding to different enzymes. The model can be used and extended to explore a variety of issues related concentration effects and diffusion on enzyme kinetics.

Mesoscopic dynamics of diffusion-influenced enzyme kinetics

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Jiang-Xing; Kapral, Raymond

2011-01-01

A particle-based mesoscopic model for enzyme kinetics is constructed and used to investigate the influence of diffusion on the reactive dynamics. Enzymes and enzyme-substrate complexes are modeled as finite-size soft spherical particles, while substrate, product, and solvent molecules are point particles. The system is evolved using a hybrid molecular dynamics-multiparticle collision dynamics scheme. Both the nonreactive and reactive dynamics are constructed to satisfy mass, momentum, and energy conservation laws, and reversible reaction steps satisfy detailed balance. Hydrodynamic interactions among the enzymes and complexes are automatically accounted for in the dynamics. Diffusion manifests itself in various ways, notably in power-law behavior in the evolution of the species concentrations. In accord with earlier investigations, regimes where the product production rate exhibits either monotonic or nonmonotonic behavior as a function of time are found. In addition, the species concentrations display both t^{-1/2} and t^{-3/2} power-law behavior, depending on the dynamical regime under investigation. For high enzyme volume fractions, cooperative effects influence the enzyme kinetics. The time dependent rate coefficient determined from the mass action rate law is computed and shown to depend on the enzyme concentration. Lifetime distributions of substrate molecules newly released in complex dissociation events are determined and shown to have either a power-law form for rebinding to the same enzyme from which they were released or an exponential form for rebinding to different enzymes. The model can be used and extended to explore a variety of issues related concentration effects and diffusion on enzyme kinetics.

Mapping cortical mesoscopic networks of single spiking cortical or sub-cortical neurons.

Science.gov (United States)

Xiao, Dongsheng; Vanni, Matthieu P; Mitelut, Catalin C; Chan, Allen W; LeDue, Jeffrey M; Xie, Yicheng; Chen, Andrew Cn; Swindale, Nicholas V; Murphy, Timothy H

2017-02-04

Understanding the basis of brain function requires knowledge of cortical operations over wide-spatial scales, but also within the context of single neurons. In vivo, wide-field GCaMP imaging and sub-cortical/cortical cellular electrophysiology were used in mice to investigate relationships between spontaneous single neuron spiking and mesoscopic cortical activity. We make use of a rich set of cortical activity motifs that are present in spontaneous activity in anesthetized and awake animals. A mesoscale spike-triggered averaging procedure allowed the identification of motifs that are preferentially linked to individual spiking neurons by employing genetically targeted indicators of neuronal activity. Thalamic neurons predicted and reported specific cycles of wide-scale cortical inhibition/excitation. In contrast, spike-triggered maps derived from single cortical neurons yielded spatio-temporal maps expected for regional cortical consensus function. This approach can define network relationships between any point source of neuronal spiking and mesoscale cortical maps.

VIRAL TESTING USING BIOLOGICAL AND SEROLOGICAL ASSAY FOR MOST IMPORTANT VIRUSES TO PLUM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Catita Plopa

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Establishing an accurate diagnosis in terms of viral for propagation of fruit tree is very important, it represents the most effective method of protection against viruses. Based on these considerations the primary objective of this study is to detect viruses with the highest incidence in plum by biological and ELISA serological methods, to a number of 85 samples taken from 17 varieties. Serologic testing on DAS-ELISA diagnosed 3 positive samples to Plum pox virus (PPV, 2 positives sample to Prunus necrotic ring spot virus (PNRSV and one positive sample to Prune dwarf virus (PDV. There were not positive samples to Apple chlorotic leaf spot virus (ACLSV. The tests conducted on woody indicator plants by grafting on protect conditions and after 3-24 months assured of diagnosis for PPV, PDV, PNRSV and ACLSV viruses. The biological indicators: ‘GF 305’, ‘Tuleu dulce’ and ‘Vânăt de Italia’, have shown symptoms for PNRSV for two samples.On biological indicator ‘Vânăt de Italia’ and ‘Tuleu dulce’ not appeared symptoms for ‘Centenar’variety tested for PPV, although the symptoms were obvious on ‘GF 305’ indicator, but viral infection was confirmed by ELISA test. Symptoms that indicate the presence of PDV occurred by ‘Vânăt de Italia’ biological indicator.

Small-angle neutron scattering instrument of Institute for Solid State Physics, the Univeristy of Tokyo (SANS-U) and its application to biology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ito, Yuji; Imai, Masayuki; Takahashi, Shiro [Univ. of Tokyo, Tokai Naka Ibaraki (Japan)

1994-12-31

A small-angle neutron spectrometer (SANS-U) suitable for the study of mesoscopic structure in the field of polymer chemistry and biology, has been constructed at the guide hall of JRR-3M reactor at the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. The instrument is 32m long and utilizes a mechanical velocity selector and pinhole collimation to provide a continuous beam with variable wavelength in the range from 5 to 10{Angstrom}. The neutron detector is a 65 x 65cm{sup 2} 2D position sensitive proportional counter. The practical Q range of SANS-U is 0.0008 to 0.45{Angstrom}{sup -1}. The design, characteristics and performance of SANS-U are described with some biological studies using SANS-U.

Metacognitive Ability Relationship with Test Result of Senior High School of Biology Teacher Competence in Sijunjung District

Science.gov (United States)

Ardi, A.; Fadilah, M.; Ichsani, W.

2018-04-01

This research aimed to reveal how the relationship between metacognitive ability and the test result of biology teacher competence in Sijunjung District. The population of this descriptive research were all high school biology teachers in Sijunjung District, and sample is all teachers who are members of the population, which is 23 biology teachers. The instrument used in this research are a questionnaire of research on teacher's metacognitive ability and document about teacher competence test result. The questionnaire was validated first by two lecturers of biology and one lecturer of English. Data analysis using Pearson Product Moment's. Based on the results of research and discussion that have been described, it can generally be concluded that there is a low relationship between metacognitive ability with competence test results of high school biology teachers in Sijunjung District. Partially, the relationship of metacognitive ability with the test result of professional competence of biology teacher showed significant result, with correlation coefficient 0,46 and t table 1,72 while titung 2,37. The contribution of metacognitive ability to the competence test result of the teacher is 21.6%, while the other 78.4% have not been revealed in this research.

Modification of the mesoscopic structure in neutron irradiated EPDM viewed through positron annihilation spectroscopy and dynamic mechanical analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lambri, O.A.; Plazaola, F.; Axpe, E.; Mocellini, R.R.; Zelada-Lambri, G.I.; Garcia, J.A.; Matteo, C.L.; Sorichetti, P.A.

2011-01-01

This article focuses on the study of the mesoscopic structure in neutron irradiated EPDM both from experimental and theoretical points of view. In this work we reveal completely the modification of the mesostructure of the EPDM due to neutron irradiation, resolving volume fraction, size and distribution of the crystalline zones as a function of the irradiation dose. Positron annihilation spectroscopy and dynamic mechanical analysis techniques are applied and the results are discussed by means of new theoretical results for describing the interaction process between the crystals and amorphous zones in EPDM.

The mesoscopic conductance of disordered rings, its random matrix theory and the generalized variable range hopping picture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stotland, Alexander; Peer, Tal; Cohen, Doron; Budoyo, Rangga; Kottos, Tsampikos

2008-01-01

The calculation of the conductance of disordered rings requires a theory that goes beyond the Kubo-Drude formulation. Assuming 'mesoscopic' circumstances the analysis of the electro-driven transitions shows similarities with a percolation problem in energy space. We argue that the texture and the sparsity of the perturbation matrix dictate the value of the conductance, and study its dependence on the disorder strength, ranging from the ballistic to the Anderson localization regime. An improved sparse random matrix model is introduced to capture the essential ingredients of the problem, and leads to a generalized variable range hopping picture. (fast track communication)

Cavity-assisted mesoscopic transport of fermions: Coherent and dissipative dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Hagenmüller, David; Schütz, Stefan; Schachenmayer, Johannes; Genes, Claudiu; Pupillo, Guido

2018-05-01

We study the interplay between charge transport and light-matter interactions in a confined geometry by considering an open, mesoscopic chain of two-orbital systems resonantly coupled to a single bosonic mode close to its vacuum state. We introduce and benchmark different methods based on self-consistent solutions of nonequilibrium Green's functions and numerical simulations of the quantum master equation, and derive both analytical and numerical results. It is shown that in the dissipative regime where the cavity photon decay rate is the largest parameter, the light-matter coupling is responsible for a steady-state current enhancement scaling with the cooperativity parameter. We further identify different regimes of interest depending on the ratio between the cavity decay rate and the electronic bandwidth. Considering the situation where the lower band has a vanishing bandwidth, we show that for a high-finesse cavity, the properties of the resonant Bloch state in the upper band are transferred to the lower one, giving rise to a delocalized state along the chain. Conversely, in the dissipative regime with low-cavity quality factors, we find that the current enhancement is due to a collective decay of populations from the upper to the lower band.

Testing of Synthetic Biological Membranes for Forward Osmosis Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Parodi, Jurek; Mangado, Jaione Romero; Stefanson, Ofir; Flynn, Michael; Mancinelli, Rocco; Kawashima, Brian; Trieu, Serena; Brozell, Adrian; Rosenberg, Kevan

2016-01-01

Commercially available forward osmosis membranes have been extensively tested for human space flight wastewater treatment. Despite the improvements achieved in the last decades, there is still a challenge to produce reliable membranes with anti-fouling properties, chemical resistance, and high flux and selectivity. Synthetic biological membranes that mimic the ones present in nature, which underwent millions of years of evolution, represent a potential solution for further development and progress in membrane technology. Biomimetic forward osmosis membranes based on a polymeric support filter and coated with surfactant multilayers have been engineered to investigate how different manufacturing processes impact the performance and structure of the membrane. However, initial results of the first generation prototype membranes tests reveal a high scatter in the data, due to the current testing apparatus set up. The testing apparatus has been upgraded to improve data collection, reduce errors, and to allow higher control of the testing process.

Australian Biology Test Item Bank, Years 11 and 12. Volume II: Year 12.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, David W., Ed.; Sewell, Jeffrey J., Ed.

This document consists of test items which are applicable to biology courses throughout Australia (irrespective of course materials used); assess key concepts within course statement (for both core and optional studies); assess a wide range of cognitive processes; and are relevant to current biological concepts. These items are arranged under…

Australian Biology Test Item Bank, Years 11 and 12. Volume I: Year 11.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, David W., Ed.; Sewell, Jeffrey J., Ed.

This document consists of test items which are applicable to biology courses throughout Australia (irrespective of course materials used); assess key concepts within course statement (for both core and optional studies); assess a wide range of cognitive processes; and are relevant to current biological concepts. These items are arranged under…

Mesoscopic chaos mediated by Drude electron-hole plasma in silicon optomechanical oscillators

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Jiagui; Huang, Shu-Wei; Huang, Yongjun; Zhou, Hao; Yang, Jinghui; Liu, Jia-Ming; Yu, Mingbin; Lo, Guoqiang; Kwong, Dim-Lee; Duan, Shukai; Wei Wong, Chee

2017-01-01

Chaos has revolutionized the field of nonlinear science and stimulated foundational studies from neural networks, extreme event statistics, to physics of electron transport. Recent studies in cavity optomechanics provide a new platform to uncover quintessential architectures of chaos generation and the underlying physics. Here, we report the generation of dynamical chaos in silicon-based monolithic optomechanical oscillators, enabled by the strong and coupled nonlinearities of two-photon absorption induced Drude electron–hole plasma. Deterministic chaotic oscillation is achieved, and statistical and entropic characterization quantifies the chaos complexity at 60 fJ intracavity energies. The correlation dimension D2 is determined at 1.67 for the chaotic attractor, along with a maximal Lyapunov exponent rate of about 2.94 times the fundamental optomechanical oscillation for fast adjacent trajectory divergence. Nonlinear dynamical maps demonstrate the subharmonics, bifurcations and stable regimes, along with distinct transitional routes into chaos. This provides a CMOS-compatible and scalable architecture for understanding complex dynamics on the mesoscopic scale. PMID:28598426

Dynamic and structural evidence of mesoscopic aggregation in phosphonium ionic liquids

Science.gov (United States)

Cosby, T.; Vicars, Z.; Heres, M.; Tsunashima, K.; Sangoro, J.

2018-05-01

Mesoscopic aggregation in aprotic ionic liquids due to the microphase separation of polar and non-polar components is expected to correlate strongly with the physicochemical properties of ionic liquids and therefore their potential applications. The most commonly cited experimental evidence of such aggregation is the observation of a low-q pre-peak in the x-ray and neutron scattering profiles, attributed to the polarity alternation of polar and apolar phases. In this work, a homologous series of phosphonium ionic liquids with the bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide anion and systematically varying alkyl chain lengths on the phosphonium cation are investigated by small and wide-angle x-ray scattering, dynamic-mechanical spectroscopy, and broadband dielectric spectroscopy. A comparison of the real space correlation distance corresponding to the pre-peak and the presence or absence of the slow sub-α dielectric relaxation previously associated with the motion of mesoscale aggregates reveals a disruption of mesoscale aggregates with increasing symmetry of the quaternary phosphonium cation. These findings contribute to the broader understanding of the interplay of molecular structures, mesoscale aggregation, and physicochemical properties in aprotic ionic liquids.

Optimizing mesoscopic two-band superconductors for observation of fractional vortex states

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Piña, Juan C. [Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Cidade Universitária, 50670-901 Recife, PE (Brazil); Núcleo de Tecnologia, CAA, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, 55002-970 Caruaru, PE (Brazil); Souza Silva, Clécio C. de, E-mail: clecio@df.ufpe [Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Cidade Universitária, 50670-901 Recife, PE (Brazil); Milošević, Milorad V. [Departamento de Física, Universidade Federal do Ceará, 60455-900 Fortaleza, Ceará (Brazil); Departement Fysica, Universiteit Antwerpen, Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerpen (Belgium)

2014-08-15

Highlights: • Observation of fractional vortices in two-band superconductors of broad size range. • There is a minimal sample size for observing each particular fractional state. • Optimal value for stability of each fractional state is determined. • A suitable magnetic dot enhances stability even further. - Abstract: Using the two-component Ginzburg–Landau model, we investigate the effect of sample size and magnitude and homogeneity of external magnetic field on the stability of fractional vortex states in a mesoscopic two-band superconducting disk. We found that each fractional state has a preferable sample size, for which the range of applied field in which the state is stable is pronouncedly large. Vice versa, there exists an optimal magnitude of applied field for which a large range of possible sample radii will support the considered fractional state. Finally, we show that the stability of fractional states can be enhanced even further by magnetic nanostructuring of the sample, i.e. by suitably chosen geometrical parameters and magnetic moment of a ferromagnetic dot placed on top of the superconducting disk.

Mesoscopic modeling of DNA denaturation rates: Sequence dependence and experimental comparison

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dahlen, Oda, E-mail: oda.dahlen@ntnu.no; Erp, Titus S. van, E-mail: titus.van.erp@ntnu.no [Department of Chemistry, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Høgskoleringen 5, Realfagbygget D3-117 7491 Trondheim (Norway)

2015-06-21

Using rare event simulation techniques, we calculated DNA denaturation rate constants for a range of sequences and temperatures for the Peyrard-Bishop-Dauxois (PBD) model with two different parameter sets. We studied a larger variety of sequences compared to previous studies that only consider DNA homopolymers and DNA sequences containing an equal amount of weak AT- and strong GC-base pairs. Our results show that, contrary to previous findings, an even distribution of the strong GC-base pairs does not always result in the fastest possible denaturation. In addition, we applied an adaptation of the PBD model to study hairpin denaturation for which experimental data are available. This is the first quantitative study in which dynamical results from the mesoscopic PBD model have been compared with experiments. Our results show that present parameterized models, although giving good results regarding thermodynamic properties, overestimate denaturation rates by orders of magnitude. We believe that our dynamical approach is, therefore, an important tool for verifying DNA models and for developing next generation models that have higher predictive power than present ones.

Simulating biological processes: stochastic physics from whole cells to colonies

Science.gov (United States)

Earnest, Tyler M.; Cole, John A.; Luthey-Schulten, Zaida

2018-05-01

The last few decades have revealed the living cell to be a crowded spatially heterogeneous space teeming with biomolecules whose concentrations and activities are governed by intrinsically random forces. It is from this randomness, however, that a vast array of precisely timed and intricately coordinated biological functions emerge that give rise to the complex forms and behaviors we see in the biosphere around us. This seemingly paradoxical nature of life has drawn the interest of an increasing number of physicists, and recent years have seen stochastic modeling grow into a major subdiscipline within biological physics. Here we review some of the major advances that have shaped our understanding of stochasticity in biology. We begin with some historical context, outlining a string of important experimental results that motivated the development of stochastic modeling. We then embark upon a fairly rigorous treatment of the simulation methods that are currently available for the treatment of stochastic biological models, with an eye toward comparing and contrasting their realms of applicability, and the care that must be taken when parameterizing them. Following that, we describe how stochasticity impacts several key biological functions, including transcription, translation, ribosome biogenesis, chromosome replication, and metabolism, before considering how the functions may be coupled into a comprehensive model of a ‘minimal cell’. Finally, we close with our expectation for the future of the field, focusing on how mesoscopic stochastic methods may be augmented with atomic-scale molecular modeling approaches in order to understand life across a range of length and time scales.

Probabilistic Fatigue Life Prediction of Bridge Cables Based on Multiscaling and Mesoscopic Fracture Mechanics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhongxiang Liu

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Fatigue fracture of bridge stay-cables is usually a multiscale process as the crack grows from micro-scale to macro-scale. Such a process, however, is highly uncertain. In order to make a rational prediction of the residual life of bridge cables, a probabilistic fatigue approach is proposed, based on a comprehensive vehicle load model, finite element analysis and multiscaling and mesoscopic fracture mechanics. Uncertainties in both material properties and external loads are considered. The proposed method is demonstrated through the fatigue life prediction of cables of the Runyang Cable-Stayed Bridge in China, and it is found that cables along the bridge spans may have significantly different fatigue lives, and due to the variability, some of them may have shorter lives than those as expected from the design.

Chaste: A test-driven approach to software development for biological modelling

KAUST Repository

Pitt-Francis, Joe; Pathmanathan, Pras; Bernabeu, Miguel O.; Bordas, Rafel; Cooper, Jonathan; Fletcher, Alexander G.; Mirams, Gary R.; Murray, Philip; Osborne, James M.; Walter, Alex; Chapman, S. Jon; Garny, Alan; van Leeuwen, Ingeborg M.M.; Maini, Philip K.; Rodrí guez, Blanca; Waters, Sarah L.; Whiteley, Jonathan P.; Byrne, Helen M.; Gavaghan, David J.

2009-01-01

Chaste ('Cancer, heart and soft-tissue environment') is a software library and a set of test suites for computational simulations in the domain of biology. Current functionality has arisen from modelling in the fields of cancer, cardiac physiology

Quantum mechanics and the second law of thermodynamics: an insight gleaned from magnetic hysteresis in the first order phase transition of an isolated mesoscopic-size type I superconductor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Keefe, Peter D

2012-01-01

J Bardeen proposed that the adiabatic phase transition of mesoscopic-size type I superconductors must be accompanied by magnetic hysteresis in the critical magnetic field of sufficient magnitude to satisfy the second law of thermodynamics, herein referred to as ‘Bardeen Hysteresis’. Bardeen Hysteresis remains speculative in that it has not been reported in the literature. This paper investigates Bardeen Hysteresis as a possible accompaniment to the adiabatic phase transition of isolated mesoscopic-size type I superconductors and its implications with respect to the second law of thermodynamics. A causal mechanism for Bardeen Hysteresis is discussed which contrasts with the long accepted causal mechanism of magnetic hysteresis, as first summarized by Pippard, herein referred to as ‘Pippard Hysteresis’. The paper offers guidance for an experimental verification and comments on how the existence of Bardeen Hysteresis has relation to a quantum mechanical basis for the second law of thermodynamics.

Quantum mechanics and the second law of thermodynamics: an insight gleaned from magnetic hysteresis in the first order phase transition of an isolated mesoscopic-size type I superconductor

Science.gov (United States)

Keefe, Peter D.

2012-11-01

J Bardeen proposed that the adiabatic phase transition of mesoscopic-size type I superconductors must be accompanied by magnetic hysteresis in the critical magnetic field of sufficient magnitude to satisfy the second law of thermodynamics, herein referred to as ‘Bardeen Hysteresis’. Bardeen Hysteresis remains speculative in that it has not been reported in the literature. This paper investigates Bardeen Hysteresis as a possible accompaniment to the adiabatic phase transition of isolated mesoscopic-size type I superconductors and its implications with respect to the second law of thermodynamics. A causal mechanism for Bardeen Hysteresis is discussed which contrasts with the long accepted causal mechanism of magnetic hysteresis, as first summarized by Pippard, herein referred to as ‘Pippard Hysteresis’. The paper offers guidance for an experimental verification and comments on how the existence of Bardeen Hysteresis has relation to a quantum mechanical basis for the second law of thermodynamics.

Structure and behavior as determinants: United States nuclear test ban and chemical and biological arms control policy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reich, J.C.

1991-01-01

US efforts to control chemical and biological warfare and nuclear testing are examined with the aim of explaining the paucity of US backed agreements in these areas. Two theoretical perspectives, the behavioral and structural approaches, are used to explore US arms control outcomes. In the behavioral approach, the effects of governmental organization and the bargaining dynamics of policy-making elites with different cognitive styles are posited as important influences on US nuclear test ban and chemical and biological arms control policy outcomes. The behavioral perspective accounts for the timing of all US failed and successful entries (with one exception) into nuclear test bans and chemical and biological warfare restraints. A shortcoming of the behavior approach, however, is that it tends to overemphasize the chances for successful US entry into nuclear test and chemical and biological warfare limitations. Analysis of the same events from the structural perspective helps to correct for expectations generated by behavioral variables for a higher success rate than ultimately resulted. In the structural approach, the focus is on the effect of the organization of international politics on US nuclear test ban and chemical and biological arms control policy outcomes

Mycoplasma testing of cell substrates and biologics: Review of alternative non-microbiological techniques.

Science.gov (United States)

Volokhov, Dmitriy V; Graham, Laurie J; Brorson, Kurt A; Chizhikov, Vladimir E

2011-01-01

Mycoplasmas, particularly species of the genera Mycoplasma and Acholeplasma, are known to be occasional microbial contaminants of cell cultures that produce biologics. This presents a serious concern regarding the risk of mycoplasma contamination for research laboratories and commercial facilities developing and manufacturing cell-derived biological and biopharmaceutical products for therapeutic use. Potential undetected contamination of these products or process intermediates with mycoplasmas represents a potential safety risk for patients and a business risk for producers of biopharmaceuticals. To minimize these risks, monitoring for adventitious agents, such as viruses and mycoplasmas, is performed during the manufacture of biologics produced in cell culture substrates. The "gold standard" microbiological assay, currently recommended by the USP, EP, JP and the US FDA, for the mycoplasma testing of biologics, involves the culture of viable mycoplasmas in broth, agar plates and indicator cells. Although the procedure enables highly efficient mycoplasma detection in cell substrates and cell-derived products, the overall testing strategy is time consuming (a minimum of 28 days) and requires skilled interpretation of the results. The long time period required for these conventional assays does not permit their use for products with short shelf-lives or for timely 'go/no-go' decisions during routine in-process testing. PCR methodology has existed for decades, however PCR based and other alternative methods for mycoplasma detection have only recently been considered for application to biologics manufacture. The application of alternative nucleic acid-based, enzyme-based and/or recombinant cell-culture methods, particularly in combination with efficient sample preparation procedures, could provide advantages over conventional microbiological methods in terms of analytical throughput, simplicity, and turnaround time. However, a challenge to the application of alternative

Evaluation of calcium hydrogen carbonate mesoscopic crystals as a disinfectant for influenza A viruses

Science.gov (United States)

NAKASHIMA, Ryuji; KAWAMOTO, Masaomi; MIYAZAKI, Shigeru; ONISHI, Rumiko; FURUSAKI, Koichi; OSAKI, Maho; KIRISAWA, Rikio; SAKUDO, Akikazu; ONODERA, Takashi

2017-01-01

In this study, the virucidal effect of a novel electrically charged disinfectant CAC-717 was investigated. CAC-717 is produced by applying an electric field to mineral water containing calcium hydrogen carbonate to generate mesoscopic crystals. Virus titration analysis showed a >3 log reduction of influenza A viruses after treatment with CAC-717 for 1 min in room temperature, while infectivity was undetectable after 15 min treatment. Adding bovine serum albumin to CAC-717 solution did not affect the disinfectant effect. Although CAC-717 is an alkaline solution (pH=12.39), upon contact with human tissue, its pH becomes almost physiological (pH 8.84) after accelerated electric discharge, which enables its use against influenza viruses. Therefore, CAC-717 may be used as a preventative measure against influenza A viruses and for biosecurity in the environment. PMID:28392537

Conductance of functionalized nanotubes, graphene and nanowires: from ab initio to mesoscopic physics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Blase, X. [Institut Neel, CNRS/UJF, 25 rue des Martyrs, 38042 Grenoble (France); LPMCN, CNRS/Universite Lyon I, 43 Boulevard du 11 Novembre 1918, 69622 Villeurbanne (France); Adessi, C. [LPMCN, CNRS/Universite Lyon I, 43 Boulevard du 11 Novembre 1918, 69622 Villeurbanne (France); Biel, B. [Dpto. Electronica y Tecnologia de Computadores, Universidad de Granada Facultad de Ciencias, Campus de Fuente Nueva, 18071 Granada (Spain); Lopez-Bezanilla, A.; Roche, S. [CEA, Institut of Nanosciences and Cryogenics, INAC/SPSMS/GT, 17 rue des Martyrs, 38054 Grenoble Cedex 9 (France); Fernandez-Serra, M.V. [LPMCN, CNRS/Universite Lyon I, 43 Boulevard du 11 Novembre 1918, 69622 Villeurbanne (France); Physics and Astronomy department, Stony Brooks University, NY 11794 (United States); Margine, E.R. [LPMCN, CNRS/Universite Lyon I, 43 Boulevard du 11 Novembre 1918, 69622 Villeurbanne (France); Department of Materials, Oxford University, Oxford OX1 3PH (United Kingdom); Triozon, F. [CEA, LETI-Minatec, 17 rue des Martyrs, 38054 Grenoble Cedex 9 (France)

2010-12-15

We review recent theoretical results aiming at understanding the impact of doping and functionalization on the electronic transport properties of nanotubes, nanowires and graphene ribbons. On the basis of ab initio calculations, the conductance of micrometer long tubes or ribbons randomly doped or grafted can be studied, allowing to extract quantities at mesoscopic length scales such as the elastic mean free path and localization length. While the random modification of a 1D conducting channel leads generally to a significant loss of conductance, strategies can be found to either exploit or limitate such a detrimental effect. Spin-filtering in transition metal doped nanotubes, the opening of a mobility gap in graphene ribbons, and the choice of molecules to limitate backscattering in covalently functionalized tubes are examples that will be discussed. Symbolic representation of a nanotube filled with Cobalt atoms or clusters with subsequent optimal spinvalve effect (see text). (Copyright copyright 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Effects of internal noise in mesoscopic chemical systems near Hopf bifurcation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xiao Tiejun; Ma Juan; Hou Zhonghuai; Xin Houwen

2007-01-01

The effects of internal noise in mesoscopic chemical oscillation systems have been studied analytically, in the parameter region close to the deterministic Hopf bifurcation. Starting from chemical Langevin equations, stochastic normal form equations are obtained, governing the evolution of the radius and phase of the stochastic oscillation. By stochastic averaging, the normal form equation can be solved analytically. Stationary distributions of the radius and auto-correlation functions of the phase variable are obtained. It is shown that internal noise can induce oscillation; even no deterministic oscillation exists. The radius of the noise-induced oscillation (NIO) becomes larger when the internal noise increases, but the correlation time becomes shorter. The trade-off between the strength and regularity of the NIO leads to a clear maximum in its signal-to-noise ratio when the internal noise changes, demonstrating the occurrence of internal noise coherent resonance. Since the intensity of the internal noise is inversely proportional to the system size, the phenomenon also indicates the existence of an optimal system size. These theoretical results are applied to a circadian clock system and excellent agreement with the numerical results is obtained

New nanocomposite surfaces and thermal interface materials based on mesoscopic microspheres, polymers and graphene flakes

Science.gov (United States)

Dmitriev, Alex A.; Dmitriev, Alex S.; Makarov, Petr; Mikhailova, Inna

2018-04-01

In recent years, there has been a great interest in the development and creation of new functional energy mate-rials, including for improving the energy efficiency of power equipment and for effectively removing heat from energy devices, microelectronics and optoelectronics (power micro electronics, supercapacitors, cooling of processors, servers and data centers). In this paper, the technology of obtaining new nanocomposites based on mesoscopic microspheres, polymers and graphene flakes is considered. The methods of sequential production of functional materials from graphene flakes of different volumetric concentration using epoxy polymers, as well as the addition of monodisperse microspheres are described. Data are given on the measurement of the contact angle and thermal conductivity of these nanocomposites with respect to the creation of thermal interface materials for cooling devices of electronics, optoelectronics and power engineering.

Fiscal 1997 report on the results of the technical development of super metal under consignment from NEDO. Technology to create ferrous mesoscopic structure control materials; Super metal no gijutsu kaihatsu (tetsukei mesoscopic soshiki seigyo zairyo sosei gijutsu) seika hokokusho (1997 nendo). Shin Energy Sangyo Gijutsu Sogo Kaihatsu Kiko (NEDO) itaku kenkyu

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1998-03-01

The fiscal 1997 results were reported of the project on the technical development of super metal which draws out limit performance of ferrous metal and improves the recyclability. In the study of large-strain deformation, a study was carried out with the use of large-strain deformation of more than 50% per 1 pass (strain rate: 0.7 or more) and multi-phase structure. By the crystal microstructuring technology, a level was reached where approximately 1{mu}m crystal size can be obtained. In the study of high magnetic field utilization, the course of study of the structure control and microstructuring was chosen in the preliminary experiment using the existing 8 tesla magnet, and the design and fabrication of a new 12 tesla large-diameter magnet were conducted. In the study of material structure prediction, modeling of microstructuring by recrystallization and establishment of a material predicting method of micro/multi-phase/mixed-grain structures were made the subjects. In the analysis of the mesoscopic structure, the mesoscopic analysis was made of the 0.3C-9Ni steel microstructured by the large-strain deformation thermal processing, and it was shown that the reflective electronic image measured by varying accelerating voltage gives new structural information. 111 refs., 135 figs., 35 tabs.

Nondestructive mechanical characterization of developing biological tissues using inflation testing.

Science.gov (United States)

Oomen, P J A; van Kelle, M A J; Oomens, C W J; Bouten, C V C; Loerakker, S

2017-10-01

One of the hallmarks of biological soft tissues is their capacity to grow and remodel in response to changes in their environment. Although it is well-accepted that these processes occur at least partly to maintain a mechanical homeostasis, it remains unclear which mechanical constituent(s) determine(s) mechanical homeostasis. In the current study a nondestructive mechanical test and a two-step inverse analysis method were developed and validated to nondestructively estimate the mechanical properties of biological tissue during tissue culture. Nondestructive mechanical testing was achieved by performing an inflation test on tissues that were cultured inside a bioreactor, while the tissue displacement and thickness were nondestructively measured using ultrasound. The material parameters were estimated by an inverse finite element scheme, which was preceded by an analytical estimation step to rapidly obtain an initial estimate that already approximated the final solution. The efficiency and accuracy of the two-step inverse method was demonstrated on virtual experiments of several material types with known parameters. PDMS samples were used to demonstrate the method's feasibility, where it was shown that the proposed method yielded similar results to tensile testing. Finally, the method was applied to estimate the material properties of tissue-engineered constructs. Via this method, the evolution of mechanical properties during tissue growth and remodeling can now be monitored in a well-controlled system. The outcomes can be used to determine various mechanical constituents and to assess their contribution to mechanical homeostasis. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Variable speed limit strategies analysis with mesoscopic traffic flow model based on complex networks

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Shu-Bin; Cao, Dan-Ni; Dang, Wen-Xiu; Zhang, Lin

As a new cross-discipline, the complexity science has penetrated into every field of economy and society. With the arrival of big data, the research of the complexity science has reached its summit again. In recent years, it offers a new perspective for traffic control by using complex networks theory. The interaction course of various kinds of information in traffic system forms a huge complex system. A new mesoscopic traffic flow model is improved with variable speed limit (VSL), and the simulation process is designed, which is based on the complex networks theory combined with the proposed model. This paper studies effect of VSL on the dynamic traffic flow, and then analyzes the optimal control strategy of VSL in different network topologies. The conclusion of this research is meaningful to put forward some reasonable transportation plan and develop effective traffic management and control measures to help the department of traffic management.

Prospective Tests on Biological Models of Acupuncture

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Charles Shang

2009-01-01

Full Text Available The biological effects of acupuncture include the regulation of a variety of neurohumoral factors and growth control factors. In science, models or hypotheses with confirmed predictions are considered more convincing than models solely based on retrospective explanations. Literature review showed that two biological models of acupuncture have been prospectively tested with independently confirmed predictions: The neurophysiology model on the long-term effects of acupuncture emphasizes the trophic and anti-inflammatory effects of acupuncture. Its prediction on the peripheral effect of endorphin in acupuncture has been confirmed. The growth control model encompasses the neurophysiology model and suggests that a macroscopic growth control system originates from a network of organizers in embryogenesis. The activity of the growth control system is important in the formation, maintenance and regulation of all the physiological systems. Several phenomena of acupuncture such as the distribution of auricular acupuncture points, the long-term effects of acupuncture and the effect of multimodal non-specific stimulation at acupuncture points are consistent with the growth control model. The following predictions of the growth control model have been independently confirmed by research results in both acupuncture and conventional biomedical sciences: (i Acupuncture has extensive growth control effects. (ii Singular point and separatrix exist in morphogenesis. (iii Organizers have high electric conductance, high current density and high density of gap junctions. (iv A high density of gap junctions is distributed as separatrices or boundaries at body surface after early embryogenesis. (v Many acupuncture points are located at transition points or boundaries between different body domains or muscles, coinciding with the connective tissue planes. (vi Some morphogens and organizers continue to function after embryogenesis. Current acupuncture research suggests a

Mesoscopic effects in an agent-based bargaining model in regular lattices.

Science.gov (United States)

Poza, David J; Santos, José I; Galán, José M; López-Paredes, Adolfo

2011-03-09

The effect of spatial structure has been proved very relevant in repeated games. In this work we propose an agent based model where a fixed finite population of tagged agents play iteratively the Nash demand game in a regular lattice. The model extends the multiagent bargaining model by Axtell, Epstein and Young modifying the assumption of global interaction. Each agent is endowed with a memory and plays the best reply against the opponent's most frequent demand. We focus our analysis on the transient dynamics of the system, studying by computer simulation the set of states in which the system spends a considerable fraction of the time. The results show that all the possible persistent regimes in the global interaction model can also be observed in this spatial version. We also find that the mesoscopic properties of the interaction networks that the spatial distribution induces in the model have a significant impact on the diffusion of strategies, and can lead to new persistent regimes different from those found in previous research. In particular, community structure in the intratype interaction networks may cause that communities reach different persistent regimes as a consequence of the hindering diffusion effect of fluctuating agents at their borders.

Mesoscopic effects in an agent-based bargaining model in regular lattices.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David J Poza

Full Text Available The effect of spatial structure has been proved very relevant in repeated games. In this work we propose an agent based model where a fixed finite population of tagged agents play iteratively the Nash demand game in a regular lattice. The model extends the multiagent bargaining model by Axtell, Epstein and Young modifying the assumption of global interaction. Each agent is endowed with a memory and plays the best reply against the opponent's most frequent demand. We focus our analysis on the transient dynamics of the system, studying by computer simulation the set of states in which the system spends a considerable fraction of the time. The results show that all the possible persistent regimes in the global interaction model can also be observed in this spatial version. We also find that the mesoscopic properties of the interaction networks that the spatial distribution induces in the model have a significant impact on the diffusion of strategies, and can lead to new persistent regimes different from those found in previous research. In particular, community structure in the intratype interaction networks may cause that communities reach different persistent regimes as a consequence of the hindering diffusion effect of fluctuating agents at their borders.

Local destruction of superconductivity by non-magnetic impurities in mesoscopic iron-based superconductors.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jun; Ji, Min; Schwarz, Tobias; Ke, Xiaoxing; Van Tendeloo, Gustaaf; Yuan, Jie; Pereira, Paulo J; Huang, Ya; Zhang, Gufei; Feng, Hai-Luke; Yuan, Ya-Hua; Hatano, Takeshi; Kleiner, Reinhold; Koelle, Dieter; Chibotaru, Liviu F; Yamaura, Kazunari; Wang, Hua-Bing; Wu, Pei-Heng; Takayama-Muromachi, Eiji; Vanacken, Johan; Moshchalkov, Victor V

2015-07-03

The determination of the pairing symmetry is one of the most crucial issues for the iron-based superconductors, for which various scenarios are discussed controversially. Non-magnetic impurity substitution is one of the most promising approaches to address the issue, because the pair-breaking mechanism from the non-magnetic impurities should be different for various models. Previous substitution experiments demonstrated that the non-magnetic zinc can suppress the superconductivity of various iron-based superconductors. Here we demonstrate the local destruction of superconductivity by non-magnetic zinc impurities in Ba0.5K0.5Fe2As2 by exploring phase-slip phenomena in a mesoscopic structure with 119 × 102 nm(2) cross-section. The impurities suppress superconductivity in a three-dimensional 'Swiss cheese'-like pattern with in-plane and out-of-plane characteristic lengths slightly below ∼1.34 nm. This causes the superconducting order parameter to vary along abundant narrow channels with effective cross-section of a few square nanometres. The local destruction of superconductivity can be related to Cooper pair breaking by non-magnetic impurities.

Mesoscopic modeling of structural and thermodynamic properties of fluids confined by rough surfaces.

Science.gov (United States)

Terrón-Mejía, Ketzasmin A; López-Rendón, Roberto; Gama Goicochea, Armando

2015-10-21

The interfacial and structural properties of fluids confined by surfaces of different geometries are studied at the mesoscopic scale using dissipative particle dynamics simulations in the grand canonical ensemble. The structure of the surfaces is modeled by a simple function, which allows us to simulate readily different types of surfaces through the choice of three parameters only. The fluids we have modeled are confined either by two smooth surfaces or by symmetrically and asymmetrically structured walls. We calculate structural and thermodynamic properties such as the density, temperature and pressure profiles, as well as the interfacial tension profiles for each case and find that a structural order-disorder phase transition occurs as the degree of surface roughness increases. However, the magnitude of the interfacial tension is insensitive to the structuring of the surfaces and depends solely on the magnitude of the solid-fluid interaction. These results are important for modern nanotechnology applications, such as in the enhanced recovery of oil, and in the design of porous materials with specifically tailored properties.

Mesoscopic modeling of the response of human dental enamel to mid-infrared radiation

Science.gov (United States)

Vila Verde, Ana; Ramos, Marta; Stoneham, A. M.

2006-03-01

Ablation of human dental enamel, a composite biomaterial with water pores, is of significant importance in minimally invasive laser dentistry but progress in the area is hampered by the lack of optimal laser parameters. We use mesoscopic finite element models of this material to study its response to mid-infrared radiation. Our results indicate that the cost-effective, off-the-shelf CO2 laser at λ = 10.6 μm may in fact ablate enamel precisely, reproducibly and with limited unwanted side effects such as cracking or heating, provided that a pulse duration of 10 μs is used. Furthermore, our results also indicate that the Er:YAG laser (λ = 2.94 μm), currently popular for laser dentistry, may in fact cause unwanted deep cracking in the enamel when regions with unusually high water content are irradiated, and also provide an explanation for the large range of ablation threshold values observed for this material. The model may be easily adapted to study the response of any composite material to infrared radiation and thus may be useful for the scientific community.

Intact skull chronic windows for mesoscopic wide-field imaging in awake mice

Science.gov (United States)

Silasi, Gergely; Xiao, Dongsheng; Vanni, Matthieu P.; Chen, Andrew C. N.; Murphy, Timothy H.

2016-01-01

Background Craniotomy-based window implants are commonly used for microscopic imaging, in head-fixed rodents, however their field of view is typically small and incompatible with mesoscopic functional mapping of cortex. New Method We describe a reproducible and simple procedure for chronic through-bone wide-field imaging in awake head-fixed mice providing stable optical access for chronic imaging over large areas of the cortex for months. Results The preparation is produced by applying clear-drying dental cement to the intact mouse skull, followed by a glass coverslip to create a partially transparent imaging surface. Surgery time takes about 30 minutes. A single set-screw provides a stable means of attachment for mesoscale assessment without obscuring the cortical field of view. Comparison with Existing Methods We demonstrate the utility of this method by showing seed-pixel functional connectivity maps generated from spontaneous cortical activity of GCAMP6 signals in both awake and anesthetized mice. Conclusions We propose that the intact skull preparation described here may be used for most longitudinal studies that do not require micron scale resolution and where cortical neural or vascular signals are recorded with intrinsic sensors. PMID:27102043

Influence of gamma-irradiation on thermally-induced mesoscopic gelation of degalactosylated xyloglucans

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Todaro, S.; Sabatino, M.A.; Walo, M.; Mangione, M.R.; Bulone, D.; Dispenza, C.

2014-01-01

Thermoresponsive degalactosylated xyloglucans have been already proposed as in situ gelling scaffolds for tissue engineering, due to their reversible macroscopic thermal gelation at body temperature and biodegradability. The highly branched, hydroxyl group-rich molecular structure renders xyloglucans interesting raw materials also in the form of micro/nanoparticles for application as nanoscalar drug delivery devices in cosmetic and pharmaceutical formulations. Owing to their natural source, xyloglucans show high average molecular weight, broad molecular weight distribution and poor water solubility, as large and compact aggregates usually form via inter-molecular hydrogen bonding. 60 Co γ-irradiation has been here applied to reduce the molecular weight. The aqueous solutions of irradiated xyloglucan were characterized by dynamic light scattering measurements and gel filtration chromatography. The aggregation kinetics at 37 °C were studied by dynamic light scattering measurements to confirm the temperature-responsive behavior of this polymer even when dispersed in water at low concentration after γ-irradiation. Irradiation dose–molecular properties relationship has been sought. - Highlights: • Influence of γ-irradiation on a partially degalactosylated xyloglucan is investigated. • Molecular weight reduction is observed in the investigated dose range. • Modification of the temperature-induced mesoscopic gelation kinetics is evidenced

Biological durability of wood in relation to end-use - Part 1. Towards a European standard for laboratory testing of the biological durability of wood

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Acker, Van J.; Stevens, M.; Carey, J.; Sierra-Alvarez, R.; Militz, H.; Bayon, Le I.; Kleist, G.; Peek, R.D.

2003-01-01

The determination of biological durability of wood is an issue requiring sufficient reliability regarding end-use related prediction of performance. Five test institutes joined efforts to check standard test methods and to improve methodology and data interpretation for assessment of natural

Chaste: A test-driven approach to software development for biological modelling

KAUST Repository

Pitt-Francis, Joe

2009-12-01

Chaste (\\'Cancer, heart and soft-tissue environment\\') is a software library and a set of test suites for computational simulations in the domain of biology. Current functionality has arisen from modelling in the fields of cancer, cardiac physiology and soft-tissue mechanics. It is released under the LGPL 2.1 licence. Chaste has been developed using agile programming methods. The project began in 2005 when it was reasoned that the modelling of a variety of physiological phenomena required both a generic mathematical modelling framework, and a generic computational/simulation framework. The Chaste project evolved from the Integrative Biology (IB) e-Science Project, an inter-institutional project aimed at developing a suitable IT infrastructure to support physiome-level computational modelling, with a primary focus on cardiac and cancer modelling. Program summary: Program title: Chaste. Catalogue identifier: AEFD_v1_0. Program summary URL: http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/AEFD_v1_0.html. Program obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen\\'s University, Belfast, N. Ireland. Licensing provisions: LGPL 2.1. No. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 5 407 321. No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 42 004 554. Distribution format: tar.gz. Programming language: C++. Operating system: Unix. Has the code been vectorised or parallelized?: Yes. Parallelized using MPI. RAM:< 90   Megabytes for two of the scenarios described in Section 6 of the manuscript (Monodomain re-entry on a slab or Cylindrical crypt simulation). Up to 16 Gigabytes (distributed across processors) for full resolution bidomain cardiac simulation. Classification: 3. External routines: Boost, CodeSynthesis XSD, CxxTest, HDF5, METIS, MPI, PETSc, Triangle, Xerces. Nature of problem: Chaste may be used for solving coupled ODE and PDE systems arising from modelling biological systems. Use of Chaste in two application areas are described in this paper: cardiac

Biological and chemical tests of contaminated soils to determine bioavailability and environmentally acceptable endpoints (EAE)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Montgomery, C.R.; Menzie, C.A.; Pauwells, S.J.

1995-01-01

The understanding of the concept of bioavailability of soil contaminants to receptors and its use in supporting the development of EAE is growing but still incomplete. Nonetheless, there is increased awareness of the importance of such data to determine acceptable cleanup levels and achieve timely site closures. This presentation discusses a framework for biological and chemical testing of contaminated soils developed as part of a Gas Research Institute (GRI) project entitled ''Environmentally Acceptable Endpoints in Soil Using a Risk Based Approach to Contaminated Site Management Based on Bioavailability of Chemicals in Soil.'' The presentation reviews the GRI program, and summarizes the findings of the biological and chemical testing section published in the GRI report. The three primary components of the presentation are: (1) defining the concept of bioavailability within the existing risk assessment paradigm, (2) assessing the usefulness of the existing tests to measure bioavailability and test frameworks used to interpret these measurements, and (3) suggesting how a small selection of relevant tests could be incorporated into a flexible testing scheme for soils to address this issue

Mesoscopic simulation of dendritic growth observed in x-ray video microscopy during directional solidification of Al-Cu alloys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Delaleau, Pierre; Beckermann, Christoph; Mathiesen, Ragnvald H.; Arnberg, Lars

2010-01-01

A mesoscopic model is developed to simulate microstructures observed in situ by X-ray video microscopy during directional solidification of Al-Cu alloys in a Hele-Shaw cell. In the model, a volume-averaged species conservation equation is solved to obtain the solute concentration and solid fraction fields, and an analytical stagnant film model is used to predict the motion of the dendrite envelopes. The model is carefully validated in several test cases. Then, the model is applied to simulate the columnar dendritic microstructures observed in the X-ray video microscopy experiments for two different alloy compositions. Reasonable agreement is found between the measured and predicted dendrite envelope shapes, solid fractions, and solute concentration fields. The predicted size of the mushy zone and the extent of the undercooled melt region ahead of the columnar front agree well with the in situ experimental observations. The simulation results show quantitative agreement with the internal solid fraction variations measured from the radiographs. The present model is also able to realistically simulate a primary dendrite trunk spacing adjustment that was observed in one of the experiments. Overall, the present study represents the first successful validation of a solidification model using real time, in situ data from an experiment with a metallic alloy. Considerable additional research is needed to account in the model for the effect of gravity driven melt convection. (author)

Mesoscopic Lawlessness

Science.gov (United States)

Laughlin, R. B.

2012-02-01

Whether physics will contribute significantly to unraveling the secrets of life, the grandest challenge of them all, depends critically on whether proteins and other mesoscale objects exhibit emergent law. By this I mean quantitative relationships among their measured properties that are always true. The jury is still out on the matter, for there is evidence both for and against, but it is spotty, on account of the difficulty of measuring 100 nm - 1000 objects without damaging them quantum mechanically. It is therefore not clear that history will repeat itself. Physics contributed mightily to 20th century materials science through its identification and mastery of powerful macroscopic emergent laws such as crystalline rigidity, superconductivity and ferromagnetism, but it cannot do the same thing in biology, regardless of how powerful computers get, unless nature cooperates. The challenge before us as physicists is therefore not to amass more and more terabytes of data and computational output but rather to search for and, with luck, find operating principles at the scale of life greater than those of chemistry, which is to say, greater than a world ruled by nothing but miraculous accidents.

Measuring the Outcome of At-Risk Students on Biology Standardized Tests When Using Different Instructional Strategies

Science.gov (United States)

Burns, Dana

Over the last two decades, online education has become a popular concept in universities as well as K-12 education. This generation of students has grown up using technology and has shown interest in incorporating technology into their learning. The idea of using technology in the classroom to enhance student learning and create higher achievement has become necessary for administrators, teachers, and policymakers. Although online education is a popular topic, there has been minimal research on the effectiveness of online and blended learning strategies compared to the student learning in a traditional K-12 classroom setting. The purpose of this study was to investigate differences in standardized test scores from the Biology End of Course exam when at-risk students completed the course using three different educational models: online format, blended learning, and traditional face-to-face learning. Data was collected from over 1,000 students over a five year time period. Correlation analyzed data from standardized tests scores of eighth grade students was used to define students as "at-risk" for failing high school courses. The results indicated a high correlation between eighth grade standardized test scores and Biology End of Course exam scores. These students were deemed "at-risk" for failing high school courses. Standardized test scores were measured for the at-risk students when those students completed Biology in the different models of learning. Results indicated significant differences existed among the learning models. Students had the highest test scores when completing Biology in the traditional face-to-face model. Further evaluation of subgroup populations indicated statistical differences in learning models for African-American populations, female students, and for male students.

Testing of Biologically Inhibiting Surface

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bill Madsen, Thomas; Larsen, Erup

2003-01-01

The main purpose of this course is to examine a newly developed biologically inhibiting material with regards to galvanic corrosion and electrochemical properties. More in detail, the concern was how the material would react when exposed to cleaning agents, here under CIP cleaning (Cleaning...

A Bayesian method for construction of Markov models to describe dynamics on various time-scales.

Science.gov (United States)

Rains, Emily K; Andersen, Hans C

2010-10-14

The dynamics of many biological processes of interest, such as the folding of a protein, are slow and complicated enough that a single molecular dynamics simulation trajectory of the entire process is difficult to obtain in any reasonable amount of time. Moreover, one such simulation may not be sufficient to develop an understanding of the mechanism of the process, and multiple simulations may be necessary. One approach to circumvent this computational barrier is the use of Markov state models. These models are useful because they can be constructed using data from a large number of shorter simulations instead of a single long simulation. This paper presents a new Bayesian method for the construction of Markov models from simulation data. A Markov model is specified by (τ,P,T), where τ is the mesoscopic time step, P is a partition of configuration space into mesostates, and T is an N(P)×N(P) transition rate matrix for transitions between the mesostates in one mesoscopic time step, where N(P) is the number of mesostates in P. The method presented here is different from previous Bayesian methods in several ways. (1) The method uses Bayesian analysis to determine the partition as well as the transition probabilities. (2) The method allows the construction of a Markov model for any chosen mesoscopic time-scale τ. (3) It constructs Markov models for which the diagonal elements of T are all equal to or greater than 0.5. Such a model will be called a "consistent mesoscopic Markov model" (CMMM). Such models have important advantages for providing an understanding of the dynamics on a mesoscopic time-scale. The Bayesian method uses simulation data to find a posterior probability distribution for (P,T) for any chosen τ. This distribution can be regarded as the Bayesian probability that the kinetics observed in the atomistic simulation data on the mesoscopic time-scale τ was generated by the CMMM specified by (P,T). An optimization algorithm is used to find the most

Science Teacher Efficacy and Outcome Expectancy as Predictors of Students' End-of-Instruction (EOI) Biology I Test Scores

Science.gov (United States)

Angle, Julie; Moseley, Christine

2009-01-01

The purpose of this study was to compare teacher efficacy beliefs of secondary Biology I teachers whose students' mean scores on the statewide End-of-Instruction (EOI) Biology I test met or exceeded the state academic proficiency level (Proficient Group) to teacher efficacy beliefs of secondary Biology I teachers whose students' mean scores on the…

The Theory of the Reentrant Effect in Susceptibility of Cylindrical Mesoscopic Samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gogadze, G.A.

2006-01-01

A theory has been developed to explain the anomalous behavior of the magnetic susceptibility of a normal metal-superconductor (NS) structure in weak magnetic fields at milli kelvin temperatures. The effect was discovered experimentally [A. C. Mota et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 65, 1514 (1990)]. In cylindrical superconducting samples covered with a thin normal pure metal layer, the susceptibility exhibited a reentrant effect: it started to increase unexpectedly when the temperature was lowered below 100 mK. The effect was observed in mesoscopic NS structures when the N and S metals were in good electric contact. The theory proposed is essentially based on the properties of the Andreev levels in the normal metal. When the magnetic field (or temperature) changes, each of the Andreev levels coincides from time to time with the chemical potential of the metal. As a result, the state of the NS structure experiences strong degeneracy, and the quasiparticle density of states exhibits resonance spikes. This generates a large paramagnetic contribution to the susceptibility, which adds to the diamagnetic contribution, thus leading to the reentrant effect. The explanation proposed was obtained within the model of free electrons. The theory provides a good description of the experimental results

Mesoscopic Community Structure of Financial Markets Revealed by Price and Sign Fluctuations.

Science.gov (United States)

Almog, Assaf; Besamusca, Ferry; MacMahon, Mel; Garlaschelli, Diego

2015-01-01

The mesoscopic organization of complex systems, from financial markets to the brain, is an intermediate between the microscopic dynamics of individual units (stocks or neurons, in the mentioned cases), and the macroscopic dynamics of the system as a whole. The organization is determined by "communities" of units whose dynamics, represented by time series of activity, is more strongly correlated internally than with the rest of the system. Recent studies have shown that the binary projections of various financial and neural time series exhibit nontrivial dynamical features that resemble those of the original data. This implies that a significant piece of information is encoded into the binary projection (i.e. the sign) of such increments. Here, we explore whether the binary signatures of multiple time series can replicate the same complex community organization of the financial market, as the original weighted time series. We adopt a method that has been specifically designed to detect communities from cross-correlation matrices of time series data. Our analysis shows that the simpler binary representation leads to a community structure that is almost identical with that obtained using the full weighted representation. These results confirm that binary projections of financial time series contain significant structural information.

Four dimensional chaos and intermittency in a mesoscopic model of the electroencephalogram.

Science.gov (United States)

Dafilis, Mathew P; Frascoli, Federico; Cadusch, Peter J; Liley, David T J

2013-06-01

The occurrence of so-called four dimensional chaos in dynamical systems represented by coupled, nonlinear, ordinary differential equations is rarely reported in the literature. In this paper, we present evidence that Liley's mesoscopic theory of the electroencephalogram (EEG), which has been used to describe brain activity in a variety of clinically relevant contexts, possesses a chaotic attractor with a Kaplan-Yorke dimension significantly larger than three. This accounts for simple, high order chaos for a physiologically admissible parameter set. Whilst the Lyapunov spectrum of the attractor has only one positive exponent, the contracting dimensions are such that the integer part of the Kaplan-Yorke dimension is three, thus giving rise to four dimensional chaos. A one-parameter bifurcation analysis with respect to the parameter corresponding to extracortical input is conducted, with results indicating that the origin of chaos is due to an inverse period doubling cascade. Hence, in the vicinity of the high order, strange attractor, the model is shown to display intermittent behavior, with random alternations between oscillatory and chaotic regimes. This phenomenon represents a possible dynamical justification of some of the typical features of clinically established EEG traces, which can arise in the case of burst suppression in anesthesia and epileptic encephalopathies in early infancy.

Mesoscopic Community Structure of Financial Markets Revealed by Price and Sign Fluctuations.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Assaf Almog

Full Text Available The mesoscopic organization of complex systems, from financial markets to the brain, is an intermediate between the microscopic dynamics of individual units (stocks or neurons, in the mentioned cases, and the macroscopic dynamics of the system as a whole. The organization is determined by "communities" of units whose dynamics, represented by time series of activity, is more strongly correlated internally than with the rest of the system. Recent studies have shown that the binary projections of various financial and neural time series exhibit nontrivial dynamical features that resemble those of the original data. This implies that a significant piece of information is encoded into the binary projection (i.e. the sign of such increments. Here, we explore whether the binary signatures of multiple time series can replicate the same complex community organization of the financial market, as the original weighted time series. We adopt a method that has been specifically designed to detect communities from cross-correlation matrices of time series data. Our analysis shows that the simpler binary representation leads to a community structure that is almost identical with that obtained using the full weighted representation. These results confirm that binary projections of financial time series contain significant structural information.

Test of Science Process Skills of Biology Students towards Developing of Learning Exercises

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Judith S. Rabacal

2016-11-01

Full Text Available This is a descriptive study aimed to determine the academic achievement on science process skills of the BS Biology Students of Northern Negros State College of Science and Technology, Philippines with the end view of developing learning exercises which will enhance their academic achievement on basic and integrated science process skills. The data in this study were obtained using a validated questionnaire. Mean was the statistical tool used to determine the academic achievement on the above mentioned science process skills; t-test for independent means was used to determine significant difference on the academic achievement of science process skills of BS Biology students while Pearson Product Moment of Correlation Coefficient was used to determine the significant relationship between basic and integrated science process skills of the BS Biology students. A 0.05 level of significance was used to determine whether the hypothesis set in the study will be rejected or accepted. Findings revealed that the academic achievement on basic and integrated science process skills of the BS Biology students was average. Findings revealed that there are no significant differences on the academic performance of the BS Biology students when grouped according to year level and gender. Findings also revealed that there is a significant difference on the academic achievement between basic and integrated science process skills of the BS Biology students. Findings revealed that there is a significant relationship between academic achievement on the basic and integrated science process skills of the BS Biology students.

Direct extraction of electron parameters from magnetoconductance analysis in mesoscopic ring array structures

Science.gov (United States)

Sawada, A.; Faniel, S.; Mineshige, S.; Kawabata, S.; Saito, K.; Kobayashi, K.; Sekine, Y.; Sugiyama, H.; Koga, T.

2018-05-01

We report an approach for examining electron properties using information about the shape and size of a nanostructure as a measurement reference. This approach quantifies the spin precession angles per unit length directly by considering the time-reversal interferences on chaotic return trajectories within mesoscopic ring arrays (MRAs). Experimentally, we fabricated MRAs using nanolithography in InGaAs quantum wells which had a gate-controllable spin-orbit interaction (SOI). As a result, we observed an Onsager symmetry related to relativistic magnetic fields, which provided us with indispensable information for the semiclassical billiard ball simulation. Our simulations, developed based on the real-space formalism of the weak localization/antilocalization effect including the degree of freedom for electronic spin, reproduced the experimental magnetoconductivity (MC) curves with high fidelity. The values of five distinct electron parameters (Fermi wavelength, spin precession angles per unit length for two different SOIs, impurity scattering length, and phase coherence length) were thereby extracted from a single MC curve. The methodology developed here is applicable to wide ranges of nanomaterials and devices, providing a diagnostic tool for exotic properties of two-dimensional electron systems.

Unit testing, model validation, and biological simulation [version 1; referees: 2 approved, 1 approved with reservations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gopal P. Sarma

2016-08-01

Full Text Available The growth of the software industry has gone hand in hand with the development of tools and cultural practices for ensuring the reliability of complex pieces of software. These tools and practices are now acknowledged to be essential to the management of modern software. As computational models and methods have become increasingly common in the biological sciences, it is important to examine how these practices can accelerate biological software development and improve research quality. In this article, we give a focused case study of our experience with the practices of unit testing and test-driven development in OpenWorm, an open-science project aimed at modeling Caenorhabditis elegans. We identify and discuss the challenges of incorporating test-driven development into a heterogeneous, data-driven project, as well as the role of model validation tests, a category of tests unique to software which expresses scientific models.

Complex biological testing of ground water quality in the area of sewage settler filtration fields of JSC 'Almaty Kanty'

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vetrinskaya, N.I.; Goldobina, E.A.; Kosmukhambetov, A.R.; Kulikova, O.V.; Kozlova, N.V.; Ismailova, Zh.B.

2001-01-01

Results are given on the ground water ecological quality estimation of operating survey boreholes of JSC 'Almaty Kanty' industrial enterprise filtration fields using different methods of biological testing. Proved that various biological objects reacted differently onto the toxins present in the water. Concealment of toxic effect was performed at short-period testing at several testing objects (stimulation). Revealed during long period tests, that ground water from all the boreholes surveyed is not ecologically clean and pure, and can bring damage for ecosystem of water reservoirs adjacent and sources of drinking water if migration happens. (author)

Gene expression-based biological test for major depressive disorder: an advanced study

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Watanabe S

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Shin-ya Watanabe,1 Shusuke Numata,1 Jun-ichi Iga,2 Makoto Kinoshita,1 Hidehiro Umehara,1 Kazuo Ishii,3 Tetsuro Ohmori1 1Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Tokushima University Graduate School, Tokushima, 2Department of Neuropsychiatry, Molecules and Function, Ehime University Graduate School of Medicine, Ehime, 3Department of Applied Biological Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Tokyo, Japan Purpose: Recently, we could distinguished patients with major depressive disorder (MDD from nonpsychiatric controls with high accuracy using a panel of five gene expression markers (ARHGAP24, HDAC5, PDGFC, PRNP, and SLC6A4 in leukocyte. In the present study, we examined whether this biological test is able to discriminate patients with MDD from those without MDD, including those with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.Patients and methods: We measured messenger ribonucleic acid expression levels of the aforementioned five genes in peripheral leukocytes in 17 patients with schizophrenia and 36 patients with bipolar disorder using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR, and we combined these expression data with our previous expression data of 25 patients with MDD and 25 controls. Subsequently, a linear discriminant function was developed for use in discriminating between patients with MDD and without MDD.Results: This expression panel was able to segregate patients with MDD from those without MDD with a sensitivity and specificity of 64% and 67.9%, respectively.Conclusion: Further research to identify MDD-specific markers is needed to improve the performance of this biological test. Keywords: depressive disorder, biomarker, gene expression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder

Tests of biological activity of metabolites from Penicillium expansum (Link Thom various isolates

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Halina Borecka

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Aqrobacterium tumefaciens and cucumber, mustard and linseeds were compared as test organisms for evaluation of the biological activity of patulin. It was found that the reaction of cucumber seeds and linseed to the patulin concentrations was more pronounced than that of mustard and Aqrobacterium tumefaciens. The activity of metabolites produced by Penicillium expansum was investigated with the use of cucumber seeds. As measure of activity served the percentage of radicule growth inhibition was compared with the growth in control seeds. The biological activity of the metabolites was specific for the isolates, those from apples being more active. Thirty two isolates from pears and 34 from apples were examined.

Computational systems biology and dose-response modeling in relation to new directions in toxicity testing.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Qiang; Bhattacharya, Sudin; Andersen, Melvin E; Conolly, Rory B

2010-02-01

The new paradigm envisioned for toxicity testing in the 21st century advocates shifting from the current animal-based testing process to a combination of in vitro cell-based studies, high-throughput techniques, and in silico modeling. A strategic component of the vision is the adoption of the systems biology approach to acquire, analyze, and interpret toxicity pathway data. As key toxicity pathways are identified and their wiring details elucidated using traditional and high-throughput techniques, there is a pressing need to understand their qualitative and quantitative behaviors in response to perturbation by both physiological signals and exogenous stressors. The complexity of these molecular networks makes the task of understanding cellular responses merely by human intuition challenging, if not impossible. This process can be aided by mathematical modeling and computer simulation of the networks and their dynamic behaviors. A number of theoretical frameworks were developed in the last century for understanding dynamical systems in science and engineering disciplines. These frameworks, which include metabolic control analysis, biochemical systems theory, nonlinear dynamics, and control theory, can greatly facilitate the process of organizing, analyzing, and understanding toxicity pathways. Such analysis will require a comprehensive examination of the dynamic properties of "network motifs"--the basic building blocks of molecular circuits. Network motifs like feedback and feedforward loops appear repeatedly in various molecular circuits across cell types and enable vital cellular functions like homeostasis, all-or-none response, memory, and biological rhythm. These functional motifs and associated qualitative and quantitative properties are the predominant source of nonlinearities observed in cellular dose response data. Complex response behaviors can arise from toxicity pathways built upon combinations of network motifs. While the field of computational cell

Critical tests for determination of microbiological quality and biological activity in commercial vermicompost samples of different origins.

Science.gov (United States)

Grantina-Ievina, Lelde; Andersone, Una; Berkolde-Pīre, Dace; Nikolajeva, Vizma; Ievinsh, Gederts

2013-12-01

The aim of the present paper was to show that differences in biological activity among commercially produced vermicompost samples can be found by using a relatively simple test system consisting of microorganism tests on six microbiological media and soilless seedling growth tests with four vegetable crop species. Significant differences in biological properties among analyzed samples were evident both at the level of microbial load as well as plant growth-affecting activity. These differences were mostly manufacturer- and feedstock-associated, but also resulted from storage conditions of vermicompost samples. A mature vermicompost sample that was produced from sewage sludge still contained considerable number of Escherichia coli. Samples from all producers contained several potentially pathogenic fungal species such as Aspergillus fumigatus, Pseudallescheria boidii, Pseudallescheria fimeti, Pseudallescheria minutispora, Scedosporium apiospermum, Scedosporium prolificans, Scopulariopsis brevicaulis, Stachybotrys chartarum, Geotrichum spp., Aphanoascus terreus, and Doratomyces columnaris. In addition, samples from all producers contained plant growth-promoting fungi from the genera Trichoderma and Mortierella. The described system can be useful both for functional studies aiming at understanding of factors affecting quality characteristics of vermicompost preparations and for routine testing of microbiological quality and biological activity of organic waste-derived composts and vermicomposts.

Fiscal 1998 research report. R and D on super metal (Al system mesoscopic texture-controlled material); 1998 nendo seika hokokusho. Super metal no gijutsu kaihatsu (aluminium kei mesoscopic soshiki seigyo zairyo no gijutsu kaihatsu)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1999-03-01

For development of Al materials with superior industrial characteristics (strength, corrosion resistance), this research has promoted development of large-size Al system materials with mesoscopic crystalline texture by high- strain accumulation control technology, and recovery and recrystallization control technology. In this fiscal year, (1) basic study on high-strain accumulation control technology, (2) study on a formation mechanism of ultra- fine crystal grains, and (3) development of a machining process were made. In (1), basic study on low-temperature rolling and study on rolling by rollers having different peripheral speeds were made. In (2), study on refining of recrystallized grains of 5000-base and 7000-base alloys was made. In (3), a low-temperature rolling equipment, and a ultra-rapid heating device were introduced. For the whole R and D project on super metal, the main research facilities such as a low-temperature rolling body for high- strain accumulation and a high-strain accumulative structure formation equipment (melt rolling equipment) for uniform nucleus formation in recrystallization were introduced to gain a firm foothold for the future application research. (NEDO)

Growth of monodisperse mesoscopic metal-oxide colloids under constant monomer supply

Science.gov (United States)

Nozawa, Koh; Delville, Marie-Hélène; Ushiki, Hideharu; Panizza, Pascal; Delville, Jean-Pierre

2005-07-01

In closed systems, control over the size of monodisperse metal-oxide colloids is generally limited to submicrometric dimensions. To overcome this difficulty, we explore the formation and growth of silica particles under constant monomer supply. The monomer source is externally driven by the progressive addition into the system of one of the precursors. Monodisperse spherical particles are produced up to a mesoscopic size. We analyze their growth versus the monomer addition rate at different temperatures. Our results show that in the presence of a continuous monomer addition, growth is limited by diffusion over the investigated temporal window. Using the temperature variation of the growth rate, we prove that rescaling leads to a data reduction onto a single master curve. Contrary to the growth process, the final particle’s size reached after the end of the reagent supply strongly depends on the addition rate. The variation of the final particle size versus addition rate can be deduced from an analogy with crystal formation in jet precipitation. Within this framework, and using the temperature dependences of both the particle growth law and the final size, we determine the value of the molecular heat of dissolution associated to the silica solubility. These observations support the fact that classical theories of phase-ordering dynamics can be extended to the synthesis of inorganic particles. The emergence of a master behavior in the presence of continuous monomer addition also suggests the extension of these theories to open systems.

Mesoscopic nonequilibrium thermodynamics of solid surfaces and interfaces with triple junction singularities under the capillary and electromigration forces in anisotropic three-dimensional space.

Science.gov (United States)

Ogurtani, Tarik Omer

2006-04-14

A theory of irreversible thermodynamics of curved surfaces and interfaces with triple junction singularities is elaborated to give a full consideration of the effects of the specific surface Gibbs free energy anisotropy in addition to the diffusional anisotropy, on the morphological evolution of surfaces and interfaces in crystalline solids. To entangle this intricate problem, the internal entropy production associated with arbitrary virtual displacements of triple junction and ordinary points on the interfacial layers, embedded in a multicomponent, multiphase, anisotropic composite continuum system, is formulated by adapting a mesoscopic description of the orientation dependence of the chemical potentials in terms of the rotational degree of freedom of individual microelements. The rate of local internal entropy production resulted generalized forces and conjugated fluxes not only for the grain boundary triple junction transversal and longitudinal movements, but also for the ordinary points. The natural combination of the mesoscopic approach coupled with the rigorous theory of irreversible thermodynamics developed previously by the global entropy production hypothesis yields a well-posed, nonlinear, moving free-boundary value problem in two-dimensional (2D) space, as a unified theory. The results obtained for 2D space are generalized into the three-dimensional continuum by utilizing the invariant properties of the vector operators in connection with the descriptions of curved surfaces in differential geometry. This mathematical model after normalization and scaling procedures may be easily adapted for computer simulation studies without introducing any additional phenomenological system parameters (the generalized mobilities), other than the enlarged concept of the surface stiffness.

The application of test systems for balancing and optimising the biological decomposition of harmful substances

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hupe, K.; Heerenklage, J.; Lotter, S.; Stegmann, R.

1993-01-01

Various closed test systems on the laboratory scale for balancing and optimising biological soil cleaning processes are introduced: Glass vessels, respirometers and reactor systems. The systems are compared by many examples. (orig.) [de

Aharonov-Bohm oscillations, quantum decoherence and amplitude modulation in mesoscopic InGaAs/InAlAs rings.

Science.gov (United States)

Ren, S L; Heremans, J J; Gaspe, C K; Vijeyaragunathan, S; Mishima, T D; Santos, M B

2013-10-30

Low-temperature Aharonov-Bohm oscillations in the magnetoresistance of mesoscopic interferometric rings patterned on an InGaAs/InAlAs heterostructure are investigated for their dependence on excitation current and temperature. The rings have an average radius of 650 nm, and a lithographic arm width of 300 nm, yielding pronounced interference oscillations over a wide range of magnetic fields. Apart from a current and temperature dependence, the oscillation amplitude also shows a quasi-periodic modulation with applied magnetic field. The phase coherence length is extracted by analysis of the fundamental and higher Fourier components of the oscillations, and by direct analysis of the amplitude and its dependence on parameters. It is concluded that the Thouless energy forms the measure of excitation energies for quantum decoherence. The amplitude modulation finds an explanation in the effect of the magnetic flux threading the finite width of the interferometer arms.

Fabrication and characterization of large arrays of mesoscopic gold rings on large-aspect-ratio cantilevers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ngo, D. Q.; Petković, I., E-mail: ivana.petkovic@yale.edu; Lollo, A. [Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520 (United States); Castellanos-Beltran, M. A. [National Institute for Standards and Technology, Boulder, Colorado 80305 (United States); Harris, J. G. E. [Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520 (United States); Department of Applied Physics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520 (United States)

2014-10-15

We have fabricated large arrays of mesoscopic metal rings on ultrasensitive cantilevers. The arrays are defined by electron beam lithography and contain up to 10{sup 5} rings. The rings have a circumference of 1 μm, and are made of ultrapure (6N) Au that is deposited onto a silicon-on-insulator wafer without an adhesion layer. Subsequent processing of the SOI wafer results in each array being supported at the end of a free-standing cantilever. To accommodate the large arrays while maintaining a low spring constant, the cantilevers are nearly 1 mm in both lateral dimensions and 100 nm thick. The extreme aspect ratio of the cantilevers, the large array size, and the absence of a sticking layer are intended to enable measurements of the rings' average persistent current in the presence of relatively small magnetic fields. We describe the motivation for these measurements, the fabrication of the devices, and the characterization of the cantilevers' mechanical properties. We also discuss the devices' expected performance in measurements of .