Viscous Hydrodynamics and the Quark Gluon Plasma

One of the most striking results from the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider is the strong elliptic flow. This review summarizes what is observed and how these results are combined with reasonable theoretical assumptions to estimate the shear viscosity of QCD near the phase transition. A data comparison with viscous hydrodynamics and kinetic theory calculations indicates that the shear viscosity to entropy ratio is surprisingly small, $\eta/s < 0.4$. The preferred range is $\eta/s \simeq (1\leftrightarrow 3) \times 1/4\pi$.Comment: Prepared for QGP

What part of Fides Quaerens don’t you Intellectum ? On the Persistent Philosophical Misunderstanding of Anselm’s Ontological Argument

A *very* rough draft of a paper on Anselm's "ontological argument" in which I argue that the argument in the Proslogion rests on a robust notion of having "that then which nothing greater can be thought" in one's mind

Fragmented property rights and R&D competition

Where product innovation requires several complementary patents, fragmented property rights can be a factor that limits firms’ willingness to invest in the development and commercialization of new products. This paper studies multiple simultaneous R&D contests for complementary patents and how they interact with patent portfolios that firms may have acquired already. We also consider how this interaction and the intensity of the contests depends on the type of patent trade regimes and the product market equilibria that result from these regimes. We solve for the contest equilibria and show that the multiple patent product involves an important hold-up problem that considerably reduces the overall contest effort

Incorporating glass transition concepts to explain rice milling-quality reductions during the drying process

Previous research has indicated that while drying rough rice using air temperatures above the glass transition temperature (Tg), head rice yield (HRY) reductions are incurred if a state transition occurs when severe intra-kernel moisture content (MC) gradients are present. State transitions can occur by extended drying using high-temperature air or by cooling kernels below Tg before sufficient tempering has occurred. The objectives of this experiment were to determine the maximum MC removal per initial drying pass and the associated tempering durations required to prevent HRY reduction. Two long-grain cultivars, ‘Francis’ and ‘Wells’, at two harvest moisture contents (HMC) were used. Samples were dried with air conditions of either 60°C/17% RH or 50°C/28% RH for various durations to create a range of intra-kernel MC gradients and were subsequently tempered in sealed bags for durations ranging from 0 to 160 min. After tempering, samples were cooled to cause a state transition, and then slowly dried to 12.2% MC. Samples were then milled to determine HRY. Control samples were dried at 21°C/60% RH. Results showed that the amount of moisture that could be removed in the initial drying pass was directly related to the HMC and the drying air condition. The tempering duration required to prevent HRY reductions increased with the amount of MC removed from the kernel in a drying pass. The HRY reduction patterns concur with a hypothesis that explains fissure formation during the drying process based on the Tg of rice kernels

Very low inheritance in cosmogenic surface exposure ages of glacial deposits: A field experiment from two Norwegian glacier forelands

Terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide dating has been widely used to estimate the surface exposure age of bedrock and boulder surfaces associated with deglaciation and Holocene glacier variations, but the effect of inherited age has been rarely directly addressed. In this study, small clasts, embedded in flute surfaces on two cirque glacier forelands in Jotunheimen, southern Norway and deposited within the last ~60 years, were used to test whether such clasts have the modern surface exposure age expected in the absence of inheritance. Two different approaches were taken involving dating of (1) a single clast of cobble size from the proglacial area of Austanbotnbreen, and (2) 75 clasts mostly of pebble size from the proglacial area of Storbreen crushed and treated as a single sample. 10Be surface exposure ages were 99 ± 98 and 368 ± 90 years, respectively, with 95% confidence (±2σ). It is concluded that (1) these small glaciers have eroded and deposited rock fragments with a cosmogenic zero or near-zero concentration, (2) the likelihood of inherited cosmogenic nuclide concentrations in similar rock fragments deposited by larger warm-based glaciers and ice sheets should be small, and (3) combining a large number of small rock particles into one sample rather than using single large clasts of boulder size may provide a viable alternative to the commonly perceived need for five or more independent estimates of exposure age per site