Two flavor QCD and Confinement

We argue that the order of the chiral transition for N_f=2 is a sensitive probe of the QCD vacuum, in particular of the mechanism of color confinement. A strategy is developed to investigate the order of the transition by use of finite size scaling analysis. An in-depth numerical investigation is performed with staggered fermions on lattices with N_t=4 and N_s=12,16,20,24,32 and quark masses am_q ranging from 0.01335 to 0.307036. The specific heat and a number of susceptibilities are measured and compared with the expectations of an O(4) second order and of a first order phase transition. A second order transition in the O(4) and O(2) universality classes are excluded. Substantial evidence emerges for a first order transition. A detailed comparison with previous works is performed.Comment: 46 pages, 20 eps figures, 9 tables, REVTeX

A continuum theory of phase separation kinetics for active Brownian particles

Active Brownian particles (ABPs), when subject to purely repulsive interactions, are known to undergo activity-induced phase separation broadly resembling an equilibrium (attraction-induced) gas-liquid coexistence. Here we present an accurate continuum theory for the dynamics of phase-separating ABPs, derived by direct coarse-graining, capturing leading-order density gradient terms alongside an effective bulk free energy. Such gradient terms do not obey detailed balance; yet we find coarsening dynamics closely resembling that of equilibrium phase separation. Our continuum theory is numerically compared to large-scale direct simulations of ABPs and accurately accounts for domain growth kinetics, domain topologies and coexistence densities

Constitutive equations and wave propagation in Green\u2013Naghdi type II and III thermoelectroelasticity

In this article we extend the theory of thermoelasticity devised by Green and Naghdi to the framework of finite thermoelectroelasticity. Both isotropic and transversely isotropic bodies are considered and thermodynamic restrictions on their constitutive relations are obtained by virtue of the reduced energy equality. In the second part, a linearized theory for transversely isotropic ther- mopiezoelectricity is derived from thermodynamic restrictions by construct- ing the free energy as a quadratic function of the 11 second-order invariants of the basic melds. The resulting theory provides a natural extension of the (linear) Green and Naghdi theory for types II and III rigid heat conductors. As a particular case, we derive the linear system which rules the processes depending on the symmetry axis coordinate only

Southern Corn Rootworm (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) Adult Emergence and Population Growth Assessment After Selection With Vacuolar ATPase-A double-stranded RNA Over Multiple Generations

The southern corn rootworm, Diabrotica undecimpunctata howardi Barber (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), was exposed over multiple generations to vacuolar (v)ATPase-A double-stranded (ds)RNA, first as adults and later, as neonate larvae. During adult selection, high mortality and lower fecundity were observed in the RNAi-selected cages after beetles were exposed to sublethal dsRNA concentrations that varied between LC40 and LC75. During larval selection, a delay in adult emergence and effects on population growth parameters were observed after neonates were exposed to sublethal dsRNA concentrations that varied between LC50 and LC70. Some of the parameters measured for adult emergence such as time to reach maximum linear adult emergence, time elapsed before attaining linear emergence, termination point of the linear emergence, and total days of linear emergence increase, were significantly different between RNAi-selected and control colonies for at least one generation. Significant differences were also observed in population growth parameters such as growth rate, net reproductive rate, doubling time, and generation time. After seven generations of selection, there was no indication that resistance evolved. The sublethal effects caused by exposures of southern corn rootworm to dsRNAs can affect important life history traits and fitness especially through delays in adult emergence and reduction in population growth. Although changes in susceptibility did not occur, the observation of sublethal effects suggests important responses to potential selection pressure. Assuming resistance involves a recessive trait, random mating between susceptible and resistant individuals is an important factor that allows sustainable use of transgenic plants, and delays in adult emergence observed in our studies could potentially compromise this assumption

Saint Jérôme de Júlio Bressane : la traduction comme chemin critique

En 1999, le cinéaste brésilien Júlio Bressane fait le lancement de Saint Jérôme qui a été tourné dans le sertão de Paraíba. Ce film sera analysé ici à partir des séries culturelles, en pensant leprocessus de « transcréation » (CAMPOS 1992) au cinéma. L'article poursuit le débat à travers deux éléments : les textures picturales en rapport avec la photographie et les gestes du protagoniste. Peinture, littérature et musique contribuent à étayer la discussion sur la traduction au cinéma, dans une quête « de propriétés sonores et visuelles » (Ibidem, p. 35), et ce, pour renvoyer au « signe Jérôme » (BRESSANE 2001: 19). Les mouvements de caméra sur le corps de l'acteur et la profondeur de champ traduisent cette personnification de la culture qui se confond avec le paysage.In 1999, Brazilian movie director Júlio Bressane launched Saint Jerome which was shot in Paraíba's sertão, at the North-East of Brazil. The film is examined here in its pictorial series as a "transcreation" process (CAMPOS 1992) to cinema. The discussion brings up two elements: pictorial textures placed by photography, and gestures of the protagonist. Paintings, literature and cinema interact to provide "sound and image properties" (Ibidem, p. 35) related to the "Jerome sign" (BRESSANE 2001: 19). Camera movements slide over the actor's body, alternating with depth of field to translate this great character of culture which blends with the landscape

Genome-wide association studies identify heavy metal ATPase3 as the primary determinant of natural variation in leaf cadmium in Arabidopsis thaliana

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Distinct high-T transitions in underdoped Ba1−x_{1-x}Kx_{x}Fe2_{2}As2_{2}

In contrast to the simultaneous structural and magnetic first order phase transition $T_{0}$ previously reported, our detailed investigation on an underdoped Ba$_{0.84}$K$_{0.16}$Fe$_{2}$As$_{2}$ single crystal unambiguously revealed that the transitions are not concomitant. The tetragonal ($\tau$: I4/mmm) - orthorhombic ($\vartheta$: Fmmm) structural transition occurs at $T_{S}\simeq$ 110 K, followed by an adjacent antiferromagnetic (AFM) transition at $T_{N}\simeq$ 102 K. Hysteresis and coexistence of the $\tau$ and $\vartheta$ phases over a finite temperature range observed in our NMR experiments confirm the first order character of the structural transition and provide evidence that both $T_{S}$ and $T_{N}$ are strongly correlated. Our data also show that superconductivity (SC) develops in the $\vartheta$ phase below $T_{c}$ = 20 K and coexists with long range AFM. This new observation, $T_{S}\neq T_{N}$, firmly establishes another similarity between the hole-doped BaFe$_{2}$As$_{2}$ via K substitution and the electron-doped iron-arsenide superconductors.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

A large stellar evolution database for population synthesis studies. II. Stellar models and isochrones for an alpha-enhanced metal distribution

[Abridged] We present a large, new set of stellar evolution models and isochrones for an alpha-enhanced metal distribution typical of Galactic halo and bulge stars; it represents a homogeneous extension of our stellar model library for a distribution already presented in Pietrinferni et al.(2004). The effect of the alpha-element enhancement has been properly taken into account in the nuclear network, opacity, equation of state and, for the first time, the bolometric corrections, and color transformations. This allows us to avoid the inconsistent use - common to all alpha-enhanced model libraries currently available - of scaled-solar bolometric corrections and color transformations for alpha-enhanced models and isochrones. We show how bolometric corrections to magnitudes obtained for the U,B portion of stellar spectra for T_{eff}<=6500K, are significantly affected by the metal mixture, especially at the higher metallicities. We also provide complete sets of evolutionary models for low-mass, He-burning stellar structures covering the whole metallicity range, to enable synthetic horizontal branch simulations. We compare our database with several widely used stellar model libraries from different authors, as well as with various observed color magnitude and color-color diagrams (Johnson-Cousins BVI and near infrared magnitudes, Stromgren colors) of Galactic field stars and globular clusters. We also test our isochrones comparing integrated optical colors and Surface Brightness Fluctuation magnitudes with selected globular cluster data. We find a general satisfactory agreement with the empirical constraints.Comment: 46 pages, 20 figures, ApJ in press, the whole database presented in this paper can be foud at http://www.te.astro.it/BASTI/index.ph

Near surface mounted thecnique for the flexural and shear strengthening of concrete beams

The efficacies of the Near Surface Mounted and Externally Bonded Reinforcing techniques for the flexural and shear strengthening of reinforced concrete beams are compared. Both techniques are based on the use of carbon fiber reinforced polymer materials. In the present work the carried out tests are described and the main results are presented and analyzed.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - POCTI/ECM/59033/2004 - Program “CUTINSHEAR”.Degussa, Portugal.S&P.Unibetão (Braga)

Magnetic Field Effects on the Head Structure of Protostellar Jets

We present the results of 3-D SPMHD numerical simulations of supermagnetosonic, overdense, radiatively cooling jets. Two initial magnetic configurations are considered: (i) a helical and (ii) a longitudinal field. We find that magnetic fields have important effects on the dynamics and structure of radiative cooling jets, especially at the head. The presence of a helical field suppresses the formation of the clumpy structure which is found to develop at the head of purely hydrodynamical jets. On the other hand, a cooling jet embedded in a longitudinal magnetic field retains clumpy morphology at its head. This fragmented structure resembles the knotty pattern commonly observed in HH objects behind the bow shocks of HH jets. This suggests that a strong (equipartition) helical magnetic field configuration is ruled out at the jet head. Therefore, if strong magnetic fields are present, they are probably predominantly longitudinal in those regions. In both magnetic configurations, we find that the confining pressure of the cocoon is able to excite short-wavelength MHD K-H pinch modes that drive low-amplitude internal shocks along the beam. These shocks are not strong however, and it likely that they could only play a secondary role in the formation of the bright knots observed in HH jets.Comment: 14 pages, 2 Gif figures, uses aasms4.sty. Also available on the web page http://www.iagusp.usp.br/preprints/preprint.html. To appear in The Astrophysical Journal Letter