8,401 research outputs found
Nonequilibrium brittle fracture propagation: Steady state, oscillations and intermittency
A minimal model is constructed for two-dimensional fracture propagation. The
heterogeneous process zone is presumed to suppress stress relaxation rate,
leading to non-quasistatic behavior. Using the Yoffe solution, I construct and
solve a dynamical equation for the tip stress. I discuss a generic tip velocity
response to local stress and find that noise-free propagation is either at
steady state or oscillatory, depending only on one material parameter. Noise
gives rise to intermittency and quasi-periodicity. The theory explains the
velocity oscillations and the complicated behavior seen in polymeric and
amorphous brittle materials. I suggest experimental verifications and new
connections between velocity measurements and material properties.Comment: To appear in Phys. Rev. Lett., 6 pages, self-contained TeX file, 3
postscript figures upon request from author at [email protected] or
[email protected], http://cnls-www.lanl.gov/homepages/rafi/rafindex.htm
HIGH EXCITATION ENERGY STRUCTURES IN HEAVY ION COLLISIONS ON A208Pb TARGET
Energy spectra of fragments from the 36Ar +208Pb reaction at 11 MeV/n and 20Ne + 208Pb reaction at 30 MeV/n were measured using a time of flight spectrometer. Structures ranging up to 130 MeV excitation energy are observed in the inelastic spectra. These structures are shown to be due to an excitation of the208Pb target nucleus
Standardized test outcomes for students engaged in inquiry-based science curricula in the context of urban reform
Considerable effort has been made over the past decade to address the needs of learners in large urban districts through scaleable reform initiatives. We examine the effects of a multifaceted scaling reform that focuses on supporting standards based science teaching in urban middle schools. The effort was one component of a systemic reform effort in the Detroit Public Schools, and was centered on highly specified and developed project-based inquiry science units supported by aligned professional development and learning technologies. Two cohorts of 7th and 8th graders that participated in the project units are compared with the remainder of the district population, using results from the high-stakes state standardized test in science. Both the initial and scaled up cohorts show increases in science content understanding and process skills over their peers, and significantly higher pass rates on the statewide test. The relative gains occur up to a year and a half after participation in the curriculum, and show little attenuation with in the second cohort when scaling occurred and the number of teachers involved increased. The effect of participation in units at different grade levels is independent and cumulative, with higher levels of participation associated with similarly higher achievement scores. Examination of results by gender reveals that the curriculum effort succeeds in reducing the gender gap in achievement experienced by urban African-American boys. These findings demonstrate that standards-based, inquiry science curriculum can lead to standardized achievement test gains in historically underserved urban students, when the curriculum is highly specified, developed, and aligned with professional development and administrative support. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 922–939, 2008Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/61206/1/20248_ftp.pd
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High temperature superconducting current lead test facility with heat pipe intercepts
A high temperature superconducting (HTS) current lead test facility using heat pipe thermal intercepts is under development at the Superconducting Technology Center at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The facility can be configured for tests at currents up to 1,000 A. Mechanical cryocoolers provide refrigeration to the leads. Electrical isolation is maintained by intercepting thermal energy from the leads through cryogenic heat pipes. HST lead warm end temperature is variable from 65 K to over 90 K by controlling heat pipe evaporator temperature. Cold end temperature is variable up to 30 K. Performance predictions in terms of heat pipe evaporator temperature as a function of lead current are presented for the initial facility configuration, which supports testing up to 200 A. Measurements are to include temperature and voltage gradient in the conventional and HTS lead sections, temperature and heat transfer rate in the heat pipes. as well as optimum and off-optimum performance of the conventional lead sections
Structure of unbound neutron-rich He studied using single-neutron transfer
The 8He(d,p) reaction was studied in inverse kinematics at 15.4A MeV using
the MUST2 Si-CsI array in order to shed light on the level structure of 9He.
The well known 16O(d,p)17O reaction, performed here in reverse kinematics, was
used as a test to validate the experimental methods. The 9He missing mass
spectrum was deduced from the kinetic energies and emission angles of the
recoiling protons. Several structures were observed above the neutron-emission
threshold and the angular distributions were used to deduce the multipolarity
of the transitions. This work confirms that the ground state of 9He is located
very close to the neutron threshold of 8He and supports the occurrence of
parity inversion in 9He.Comment: Exp\'erience GANIL/SPIRAL1/MUST
Explanation of the Gibbs paradox within the framework of quantum thermodynamics
The issue of the Gibbs paradox is that when considering mixing of two gases
within classical thermodynamics, the entropy of mixing appears to be a
discontinuous function of the difference between the gases: it is finite for
whatever small difference, but vanishes for identical gases. The resolution
offered in the literature, with help of quantum mixing entropy, was later shown
to be unsatisfactory precisely where it sought to resolve the paradox.
Macroscopic thermodynamics, classical or quantum, is unsuitable for explaining
the paradox, since it does not deal explicitly with the difference between the
gases. The proper approach employs quantum thermodynamics, which deals with
finite quantum systems coupled to a large bath and a macroscopic work source.
Within quantum thermodynamics, entropy generally looses its dominant place and
the target of the paradox is naturally shifted to the decrease of the maximally
available work before and after mixing (mixing ergotropy). In contrast to
entropy this is an unambiguous quantity. For almost identical gases the mixing
ergotropy continuously goes to zero, thus resolving the paradox. In this
approach the concept of ``difference between the gases'' gets a clear
operational meaning related to the possibilities of controlling the involved
quantum states. Difficulties which prevent resolutions of the paradox in its
entropic formulation do not arise here. The mixing ergotropy has several
counter-intuitive features. It can increase when less precise operations are
allowed. In the quantum situation (in contrast to the classical one) the mixing
ergotropy can also increase when decreasing the degree of mixing between the
gases, or when decreasing their distinguishability. These points go against a
direct association of physical irreversibility with lack of information.Comment: Published version. New title. 17 pages Revte
Transport properties of heterogeneous materials derived from Gaussian random fields: Bounds and Simulation
We investigate the effective conductivity () of a class of
amorphous media defined by the level-cut of a Gaussian random field. The three
point solid-solid correlation function is derived and utilised in the
evaluation of the Beran-Milton bounds. Simulations are used to calculate
for a variety of fields and volume fractions at several different
conductivity contrasts. Relatively large differences in are observed
between the Gaussian media and the identical overlapping sphere model used
previously as a `model' amorphous medium. In contrast shows little
variability between different Gaussian media.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figure
Chord distribution functions of three-dimensional random media: Approximate first-passage times of Gaussian processes
The main result of this paper is a semi-analytic approximation for the chord
distribution functions of three-dimensional models of microstructure derived
from Gaussian random fields. In the simplest case the chord functions are
equivalent to a standard first-passage time problem, i.e., the probability
density governing the time taken by a Gaussian random process to first exceed a
threshold. We obtain an approximation based on the assumption that successive
chords are independent. The result is a generalization of the independent
interval approximation recently used to determine the exponent of persistence
time decay in coarsening. The approximation is easily extended to more general
models based on the intersection and union sets of models generated from the
iso-surfaces of random fields. The chord distribution functions play an
important role in the characterization of random composite and porous
materials. Our results are compared with experimental data obtained from a
three-dimensional image of a porous Fontainebleau sandstone and a
two-dimensional image of a tungsten-silver composite alloy.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Diluted Networks of Nonlinear Resistors and Fractal Dimensions of Percolation Clusters
We study random networks of nonlinear resistors, which obey a generalized
Ohm's law, . Our renormalized field theory, which thrives on an
interpretation of the involved Feynman Diagrams as being resistor networks
themselves, is presented in detail. By considering distinct values of the
nonlinearity r, we calculate several fractal dimensions characterizing
percolation clusters. For the dimension associated with the red bonds we show
that at least to order {\sl O} (\epsilon^4),
with being the correlation length exponent, and , where d
denotes the spatial dimension. This result agrees with a rigorous one by
Coniglio. Our result for the chemical distance, d_{\scriptsize min} = 2 -
\epsilon /6 - [ 937/588 + 45/49 (\ln 2 -9/10 \ln 3)] (\epsilon /6)^2 + {\sl O}
(\epsilon^3) verifies a previous calculation by one of us. For the backbone
dimension we find D_B = 2 + \epsilon /21 - 172 \epsilon^2 /9261 + 2 (- 74639 +
22680 \zeta (3))\epsilon^3 /4084101 + {\sl O} (\epsilon^4), where , in agreement to second order in with a two-loop
calculation by Harris and Lubensky.Comment: 29 pages, 7 figure
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