Currently it has been proposed that normal brain function is critically dependent upon a dynamical balance between functions of local neuronal assemblies and global integrative processes. A loss of such metastable balance in favor of either independent or hyper-ordered processing is considered as the reflection of a brain disease. It has been shown that opioid dependence can be characterized as...

We propose a new geometric approach to describe the qualitative dynamics of chemical reactions networks. By this method we identify metastable regimes, defined as low dimensional regions of the phase space close to which the dynamics is much slower compared to the rest of the phase space. These metastable regimes depend on the network topology and on the orders of magnitude of the kinetic param...

Unprecedented demands for uniformity, throughput, anisotropy, and damage control in submicron pattern transfer are spurring development of new, low pressure, high charge density plasma reactors, Wafer biasing, independent of plasma production in these new systems is intended to provide improved ion flux and energy control so that selectivity can be optimized and damage can be minimized. However...

Time resolved atomic emission, atomic absorbance, and laser-induced atomic fluorescence measurements of a Ž3 . millisecond pulsed glow discharge, made perpendicular to the insertion probe, provide temporal profiles of 1s P 5 2 Ž3 . and 1s P metastable argon atom populations. Acquisition of these profiles at different spatial positions in the 3 0 plasma provides data from which two-dimensional s...

We study a large class of reversible Markov chains with discrete state space and transition matrixPN . We define the notion of a set of metastable points as a subset of the state space N such that (i) this set is reached from any point x ∈ N without return to x with probability at least bN , while (ii) for any two points x, y in the metastable set, the probability T −1 x,y to reach y from x wit...

We report various types of pathways emerging in the course of freezing into a high pressure ice VII by large-scale molecular dynamics (MD) simulations at 10 GPa, 425 K. Some trajectories showed an apparently stepwise transition via the unique metastable "phase" in accordance with Ostwald's step rule. The metastable structure was identified as one of the tetrahedrally close-packed structures hav...

The dynamics of metastable magnetic domain walls in straight ferromagnetic nanowires under spin waves, external magnetic fields and currentinduced spin-transfer torque are studied by means of micromagnetic simulations. It is found that in contrast to a stable wall, it is possible to displace a metastable domain wall in the absence of external excitation. In addition, independent of the domain w...

Here, we report an engineering approach toward multicomponent self-assembly processes by developing a methodology to circumvent spurious, metastable assemblies. The formation of metastable aggregates often hampers self-assembly of molecular building blocks into the desired nanostructures. Strategies are explored to master the pathway complexity and avoid off-pathway aggregates by optimizing the...

Five phase transitions of [Cd(DMSO)6](ClO4)2 have been detected by differential scanning calorimetry, namely the three reversible transitions: stable KIa ↔ stable KIb at TC4 = 242 K, due to a change of the crystal structure, metastable KII ↔ metastable KIII at TC3 = 318 K, and metastable KII ↔ overcooled K0 at TC2 = 347 K, one irreversible transition: KIa → K0 at TC1 = 376 K, and melting at Tt ...

Self-assembled polymeric aggregates are generally polydisperse in morphology due to the existence of many metastable states in the system. This shortcoming becomes a bottleneck for preparing high quality self-assembled polymeric materials. An important concern is the possibility of controlling morphological polydispersity through the modulation of the metastable states. In this study, both simu...