Thermal Hall conductivity of marginal Fermi liquids subject to out-of plane impurities in high-TcT_c cuprates

The effect of out-of-plane impurities on the thermal Hall conductivity $\kappa_{xy}$ of in-plane marginal-Fermi-liquid (MFL) quasiparticles in high-$T_c$ cuprates is examined by following the work on electrical Hall conductivity $\sigma_{xy}$ by Varma and Abraham [Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 4652 (2001)]. It is shown that the effective Lorentz force exerted by these impurities is a weak function of energies of the MFL quasiparticles, resulting in nearly the same temperature dependence of $\kappa_{xy}/T$ and $\sigma_{xy}$, indicative of obedience of the Wiedemann-Franz law. The inconsistency of the theoretical result with the experimental one is speculated to be the consequence of the different amounts of out-of-plane impurities in the two YBaCuO samples used for the $\kappa_{xy}$ and $\sigma_{xy}$ measurements.Comment: 5 pages, 2 eps figures; final versio

Effect of incorporation of wheat straw and nitrogen addition on the flux of soil gases (CH4 and N2O) at two moisture and temperature regimes

Non-Peer ReviewedMethane and nitrous oxide contribute to global warming of the earth's atmosphere. The concentration of CH4 and N2O in the atmosphere is increasing at an alarming rate of 1% and 0.25% yr-1, respectively. Little information is available about the effect of agronomic practices on soil gases emitted from cultivated soils in the prairies. An incubation study was undertaken to understand the effects of agronomic management practices and environmental factors on CH4 and N2O emissions from a cultivated soil. Methane production was preceded by a two week lag phase, and it was emitted only from submerged soils incubated at 25°C. Addition of straw enhanced the emission and N addition reduced the rate of CH4 production. Soil incubated at -30kPa moisture may act as a sink for methane. Emission of N2O was observed within 2 days of submergence and was maximum when nitrogen alone was added to the soil. Addition of wheat straw along with nitrogen decreased the emission of N2O as compared to nitrogen alone. Temperature of 10 °C and moisture at -30kPa limited the emissions of N2O from the soil

Subtask 3.16 - Low-Cost Coal-Water Fuel for Entrained-Flow Gasification

The specific objective of this research project is to assess the potential process efficiency and pollution control benefits that may occur by applying the hydrothermal, or hot water-drying, process to low-rank coals as related to entrained-flow gasification systems. Project emphasis is on identifying more efficient coal dewatering and CWF formulation methods prior to gasification. A favorable estimate of incremental cost for integrated hydrothermal drying depends, in part, on increasing the particle size of the feed coal from minus 100 to minus 28 mesh for the purpose of simplifying the slurry concentration process. Two options will be reviewed for dewatering or concentrating the processed slurry: (1) repressurization and then concentration with sieve bends or (2) partial dewatering at system pressure with hydroclones. Both have their own merits, sieve bends being a low-cost alternative, while hydroclone application would not require additional pumping sections prior to gasification. Various CWF samples with different particle-size distributions and solids concentrations will be sent to equipment vendors for application review. Also, EERC cost models will be used to calculate the integral cost of adding the partial dewatering to the hydrothermal technology for a commercial-size facility

The effect of organic structures on the water stability of macro-aggregates.

Non-Peer ReviewedA study was conducted to identify the chemical structures of soil organic matter and examine their effect on the water stability of macro-aggregates (>250 um) in a SiL Brown Chernozem under wheat-fallow (WF) and continuous wheat (CW) . The proportion of water stable macro-aggregates were determined by wet sieving. Chemical structures of soil organic matter were characterized by pyrolysis field ionization mass spectrometry (Py-FIMS), and grouped into seven classes: carbohydrates, phenolic and lignin monomers, lignin dimers, lipids + alkanes and alkenes, sterols, alkyl aromatic and N-compounds. In comparison with CW, there was a reduction in the proportion of macro-aggregates and an increase of micro-aggregates in the WF crop rotation. Sixty-five percent of all the soil organic matter (SOM) was identified by Py-FIMS. The average concentration of each class of compound in whole soil and macro-aggregate samples ranged between 0.1 and 15% of the total identified SOM. Carbohydrates, phenolic, and lignin monomers were the most abundant compounds (>10%). Linear regression models (r2 ~ 0.96, p=0.05) showed that the stability of macro-aggregates was highly correlated with the concentration of the least abundant (<3. 5%) structures of sterols, lipids and lignin dimers. These compounds are metabolic products of plants and soil organisms

Stimulation of Beta Decay due to a Bose-Einstein Condensate

Nuclear processes can be stimulated by the presence of a macroscopic number of bosons in one of the final states. We describe the conditions necessary to observe the atom-stimulation of a beta decay process. The stimulation may be observable if it becomes possible to produce a Bose-Einstein condensate with the order of $10^{14}$ atoms in a trap.Comment: 7 pages, LaTeX, uses elsart.cls, home page at http://online.anu.edu.au/Physics/Welcome.htm

Decommissioning in the mature nuclear power industry

Procedures for decommissioning a nuclear power plant or a spent fuel reprocessing plant are described. (DCC

Can the Pioneer anomaly be of gravitational origin? A phenomenological answer

In order to satisfy the equivalence principle, any non-conventional mechanism proposed to gravitationally explain the Pioneer anomaly, in the form in which it is presently known from the so-far analyzed Pioneer 10/11 data, cannot leave out of consideration its impact on the motion of the planets of the Solar System as well, especially those orbiting in the regions in which the anomalous behavior of the Pioneer probes manifested itself. In this paper we, first, discuss the residuals of the right ascension \alpha and declination \delta of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto obtained by processing various data sets with different, well established dynamical theories (JPL DE, IAA EPM, VSOP). Second, we use the latest determinations of the perihelion secular advances of some planets in order to put on the test two gravitational mechanisms recently proposed to accommodate the Pioneer anomaly based on two models of modified gravity. Finally, we adopt the ranging data to Voyager 2 when it encountered Uranus and Neptune to perform a further, independent test of the hypothesis that a Pioneer-like acceleration can also affect the motion of the outer planets of the Solar System. The obtained answers are negative.Comment: Latex2e, 26 pages, 6 tables, 2 figure, 47 references. It is the merging of gr-qc/0608127, gr-qc/0608068, gr-qc/0608101 and gr-qc/0611081. Final version to appear in Foundations of Physic

Statistics of Lyapunov exponent in one-dimensional layered systems

Localization of acoustic waves in a one dimensional water duct containing many randomly distributed air filled blocks is studied. Both the Lyapunov exponent and its variance are computed. Their statistical properties are also explored extensively. The results reveal that in this system the single parameter scaling is generally inadequate no matter whether the frequency we consider is located in a pass band or in a band gap. This contradicts the earlier observations in an optical case. We compare the results with two optical cases and give a possible explanation of the origin of the different behaviors.Comment: 6 pages revtex file, 6 eps figure