Jožef Stefan Institute

About: Jožef Stefan Institute is a facility organization based out in Ljubljana, Slovenia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Liquid crystal & Dielectric. The organization has 3828 authors who have published 12614 publications receiving 291025 citations.

Entangled nematic colloidal dimers and wires.

Abstract: It has been predicted, but never confirmed, that colloidal particles in a nematic liquid crystal could be self-assembled by delocalized topological defects and entangled disclinations. We show experimentally and theoretically that colloidal dimers and 1D structures bound by entangled topological defect loops can indeed be created by locally thermally quenching a thin layer of the nematic liquid crystal around selected colloidal particles. The topological entanglement provides a strong stringlike binding, which is ten thousand times stronger compared to water-based colloids. This unique binding mechanism could be used to assemble resonator optical waveguides and robust chiral and achiral structures of topologically entangled colloids that we call colloidal wires.

Contribution of thermal and nonthermal factors to the regulation of body temperature in humans

Abstract: The set point has been used to define the regulated level of body temperature, suggesting that displacements of core temperature from the set point initiate heat production (HP) and heat loss (HL) responses. Human and animal experiments have demonstrated that the responses of sweating and shivering do not coincide at a set point but rather establish a thermoeffector threshold zone. Neurophysiological studies have demonstrated that the sensor-to-effector pathways for HP and HL overlap and, in fact, mutually inhibit each other. This reciprocal inhibition theory, presumably reflecting the manner in which thermal factors contribute to homeothermy in humans, does not incorporate the effect of nonthermal factors on temperature regulation. The present review examines the actions of these nonthermal factors within the context of neuronal models of temperature regulation, suggesting that examination of these factors may provide further insights into the nature of temperature regulation. It is concluded that, although there is no evidence to doubt the existence of the HP and HL pathways reciprocally inhibiting one another, it appears that such a mechanism is of little consequence when comparing the effects of nonthermal factors on the thermoregulatory system, since most of these factors seem to exert their influence in the region after the reciprocal cross-inhibition. At any given moment, both thermal and several nonthermal factors will be acting on the thermoregulatory system. It may, therefore, not be appropriate to dismiss the contribution of either when discussing the regulation of body temperature in humans.

Energy resolution and discretization artifacts in the numerical renormalization group

Abstract: We study the limits of the energy resolution that can be achieved in the calculations of spectral functions of quantum impurity models using the numerical renormalization group (NRG) technique with interleaving ($z$ averaging). We show that overbroadening errors can be largely eliminated, that higher-moment spectral sum rules are satisfied to a good accuracy, and that positions, heights and widths of spectral features are well reproduced; the NRG approximates very well the spectral-weight distribution. We find, however, that the discretization of the conduction-band continuum nevertheless introduces artifacts. We present a modified discretization scheme which removes the band-edge discretization artifacts of the conventional approach and significantly improves the convergence to the continuum $(\ensuremath{\Lambda}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}1)$ limit. Sample calculations of spectral functions with high energy resolution are presented. We follow in detail the emergence of the Kondo resonance in the Anderson impurity model as the electron-electron repulsion is increased, and the emergence of the phononic side peaks and the crossover from the spin Kondo effect to the charge Kondo effect in the Anderson-Holstein impurity model as the electron-phonon coupling is increased. We also compute the spectral function of the Hubbard model within the dynamical mean-field theory, confirming the presence of fine structure in the Hubbard bands.

A Survey of Radio Propagation Modeling for Tunnels

Abstract: Radio signal propagation modeling plays an important role in designing wireless communication systems. The propagation models are used to calculate the number and position of base stations and predict the radio coverage. Different models have been developed to predict radio propagation behavior for wireless communication systems in different operating environments. In this paper we shall limit our discussion to the latest achievements in radio propagation modeling related to tunnels. The main modeling approaches used for propagation in tunnels are reviewed, namely, numerical methods for solving Maxwell equations, waveguide or modal approach, ray tracing based methods and two-slope path loss modeling. They are discussed in terms of modeling complexity and required information on the environment including tunnel geometry and electric as well as magnetic properties of walls.