3,320 research outputs found
Irreversible phase transitions induced by an oscillatory input
A novel kind of irreversible phase transitions (IPT's) driven by an
oscillatory input parameter is studied by means of computer simulations. Second
order IPT's showing scale invariance in relevant dynamic critical properties
are found to belong to the universality class of directed percolation. In
contrast, the absence of universality is observed for first order IPT's.Comment: 18 pages (Revtex); 8 figures (.ps); submitted to Europhysics Letters,
December 9th, 199
Scaling behavior of jamming fluctuations upon random sequential adsorption
It is shown that the fluctuations of the jamming coverage upon Random
Sequential Adsorption (), decay with the lattice size
according to the power-law , with
, where is the dimension of the substrate and
is the fractal dimension of the set of sites belonging to the
substrate where the RSA process actually takes place. This result is in
excellent agreement with the figure recently reported by Vandewalle {\it et al}
({\it Eur. Phys. J.} B. {\bf 14}, 407 (2000)), namely for the
RSA of needles with and , that gives . Furthermore,
our prediction is in excellent agreement with different previous numerical
results. The derived relationships are also confirmed by means of extensive
numerical simulations applied to the RSA of dimers on both stochastic and
deterministic fractal substrates.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures. To appear in Eur. Phys. J. B (Rapid note) (2003
Spectral Target Detection using Physics-Based Modeling and a Manifold Learning Technique
Identification of materials from calibrated radiance data collected by an airborne imaging spectrometer depends strongly on the atmospheric and illumination conditions at the time of collection. This thesis demonstrates a methodology for identifying material spectra using the assumption that each unique material class forms a lower-dimensional manifold (surface) in the higher-dimensional spectral radiance space and that all image spectra reside on, or near, these theoretic manifolds. Using a physical model, a manifold characteristic of the target material exposed to varying illumination and atmospheric conditions is formed. A graph-based model is then applied to the radiance data to capture the intricate structure of each material manifold, followed by the application of the commute time distance (CTD) transformation to separate the target manifold from the background. Detection algorithms are then applied in the CTD subspace. This nonlinear transformation is based on a random walk on a graph and is derived from an eigendecomposition of the pseudoinverse of the graph Laplacian matrix. This work provides a geometric interpretation of the CTD transformation, its algebraic properties, the atmospheric and illumination parameters varied in the physics-based model, and the influence the target manifold samples have on the orientation of the coordinate axes in the transformed space.
This thesis concludes by demonstrating improved detection results in the CTD subspace as compared to detection in the original spectral radiance space
Interfacial depinning transitions in disordered media: revisiting an old puzzle
Interfaces advancing through random media represent a number of different
problems in physics, biology and other disciplines. Here, we study the
pinning/depinning transition of the prototypical non-equilibrium interfacial
model, i.e. the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation, advancing in a disordered medium.
We analyze separately the cases of positive and negative non-linearity
coefficients, which are believed to exhibit qualitatively different behavior:
the positive case shows a continuous transition that can be related to
directed-percolation-depinning while in the negative case there is a
discontinuous transition and faceted interfaces appear. Some studies have
argued from different perspectives that both cases share the same universal
behavior. Here, by using a number of computational and scaling techniques we
shed light on this puzzling situation and conclude that the two cases are
intrinsically different.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figure
Advanced radar absorbing ceramic-based materials for multifunctional applications in space environment
In this review, some results of the experimental activity carried out by the authors on advanced composite materials for space applications are reported. Composites are widely employed in the aerospace industry thanks to their lightweight and advanced thermo-mechanical and electrical properties. A critical issue to tackle using engineered materials for space activities is providing two or more specific functionalities by means of single items/components. In this scenario, carbon-based composites are believed to be ideal candidates for the forthcoming development of aerospace research and space missions, since a widespread variety of multi-functional structures are allowed by employing these materials. The research results described here suggest that hybrid ceramic/polymeric structures could be employed as spacecraft-specific subsystems in order to ensure extreme temperature withstanding and electromagnetic shielding behavior simultaneously. The morphological and thermo-mechanical analysis of carbon/carbon (C/C) three-dimensional (3D) shell prototypes is reported; then, the microwave characterization of multilayered carbon-filled micro-/nano-composite panels is described. Finally, the possibility of combining the C/C bulk with a carbon-reinforced skin in a synergic arrangement is discussed, with the aid of numerical and experimental analyses
Geospatial methods and tools for natural risk management and communications
In the last decade, real-time access to data and the use of high-resolution spatial information have provided scientists and engineers with valuable information to help them understand risk. At the same time, there has been a rapid growth of novel and cutting-edge information and communication technologies for the collection, analysis and dissemination of data, re-inventing the way in which risk management is carried out throughout its cycle (risk identification and reduction, preparedness, disaster relief and recovery). The applications of those geospatial technologies are expected to enable better mitigation of, and adaptation to, the disastrous impact of natural hazards. The description of risks may particularly benefit from the integrated use of new algorithms and monitoring techniques. The ability of new tools to carry out intensive analyses over huge datasets makes it possible to perform future risk assessments, keeping abreast of temporal and spatial changes in hazard, exposure, and vulnerability. The present special issue aims to describe the state-of-the-art of natural risk assessment, management, and communication using new geospatial models and Earth Observation (EO)architecture. More specifically, we have collected a number of contributions dealing with: (1) applications of EO data and machine learning techniques for hazard, vulnerability and risk mapping; (2) natural hazards monitoring and forecasting geospatial systems; (3) modeling of spatiotemporal resource optimization for emergency management in the post-disaster phase; and (4) development of tools and platforms for risk projection assessment and communication of inherent uncertainties
Weakly non-linear dynamics in reaction -- diffusion systems with L\'{e}vy flights
Reaction--diffusion equations with a fractional Laplacian are reduced near a
long wave Hopf bifurcation. The obtained amplitude equation is shown to be the
complex Ginzburg-Landau equation with a fractional Laplacian. Some of the
properties of the normal complex Ginzburg-Landau equation are generalised for
the fractional analogue. In particular, an analogue of Kuramoto-Sivashinsky
equation is derived
Study of the one-dimensional off-lattice hot-monomer reaction model
Hot monomers are particles having a transient mobility (a ballistic flight)
prior to being definitely absorbed on a surface. After arriving at a surface,
the excess energy coming from the kinetic energy in the gas phase is dissipated
through degrees of freedom parallel to the surface plane. In this paper we
study the hot monomer-monomer adsorption-reaction process on a continuum
(off-lattice) one-dimensional space by means of Monte Carlo simulations. The
system exhibits second-order irreversible phase transition between a reactive
and saturated (absorbing) phases which belong to the directed percolation (DP)
universality class. This result is interpreted by means of a coarse-grained
Langevin description which allows as to extend the DP conjecture to transitions
occurring in continuous media.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, final version to appear in J. Phys.
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