1,072 research outputs found
Novel fabrication technique for planar glass waveguides
A novel technique has been developed for the deposition of low-loss planar glass waveguides by directly spin coating from the liquid, thus overcoming the problems of reproducing glass stoichiometry when depositing from the vapour
Theoretical analysis of the focusing of acoustic waves by two-dimensional sonic crystals
Motivated by a recent experiment on acoustic lenses, we perform numerical
calculations based on a multiple scattering technique to investigate the
focusing of acoustic waves with sonic crystals formed by rigid cylinders in
air. The focusing effects for crystals of various shapes are examined. The
dependance of the focusing length on the filling factor is also studied. It is
observed that both the shape and filling factor play a crucial role in
controlling the focusing. Furthermore, the robustness of the focusing against
disorders is studied. The results show that the sensitivity of the focusing
behavior depends on the strength of positional disorders. The theoretical
results compare favorably with the experimental observations, reported by
Cervera, et al. (Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 023902 (2002)).Comment: 8 figure
Connecting Disasters and Climate Change to the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus
publishedVersionPaid Open Acces
Locating current sheets in the solar corona
Current sheets are essential for energy dissipation in the solar corona, in
particular by enabling magnetic reconnection. Unfortunately, sufficiently thin
current sheets cannot be resolved observationally and the theory of their
formation is an unresolved issue as well. We consider two predictors of coronal
current concentrations, both based on geometrical or even topological
properties of a force free coronal magnetic field. First, there are
separatrices related to magnetic nulls. Through separatrices the magnetic
connectivity changes discontinuously. Coronal magnetic nulls are, however, very
rare. At second, inspired by the concept of generalized magnetic reconnection
without nulls, quasi-separatrix layers (QSL) were suggested. Through QSL the
magnetic connectivity changes continuously, though strongly. The strength of
the connectivity change can be quantified by measuring the squashing of the
flux tubes which connect the magnetically conjugated photospheres.
We verify the QSL and separatrix concepts by comparing the sites of magnetic
nulls and enhanced squashing with the location of current concentrations in the
corona. Due to the known difficulties of their direct observation we simulated
the coronal current sheets by numerically calculating the response of the
corona to energy input from the photosphere heating a simultaneously observed
EUV Bright Point. We did not find coronal current sheets not at the
separatrices but at several QSL locations. The reason is that although the
geometrical properties of force free extrapolated magnetic fields can indeed,
hint at possible current concentrations, a necessary condition for current
sheet formation is the local energy input into the corona
World Mineral Production 2012-16
The latest edition of this annual publication from the British Geological Survey (BGS) is now available to download. This volume contains mineral production statistics for the five year period from 2012 to 2016, for more than 70 mineral commodities, by country worldwide. Additional tables containing European production of aggregates and cement are included as an Appendix.
It is the latest publication from the World Mineral Statistics dataset which began in 1913. The information contained in the dataset, and associated publications, is compiled from a wide range of sources: home and overseas government departments, national statistical offices, specialist commodity authorities, company reports, and a network of contacts throughout the world
Self-energy and Self-force in the Space-time of a Thick Cosmic String
We calculate the self-energy and self-force for an electrically charged
particle at rest in the background of Gott-Hiscock cosmic string space-time. We
found the general expression for the self-energy which is expressed in terms of
the matrix of the scattering problem. The self-energy continuously falls
down outward from the string's center with maximum at the origin of the string.
The self-force is repulsive for an arbitrary position of the particle. It tends
to zero in the string's center and also far from the string and it has a
maximum value at the string's surface. The plots of the numerical calculations
of the self-energy and self-force are shown.Comment: 15 pages, 4 Postscript figures, ReVTe
Could widespread use of antiviral treatment curb the COVID-19 pandemic? A modeling study
Background: Despite the development of safe and effective vaccines, effective treatments for COVID-19 disease are still urgently needed. Several antiviral drugs have shown to be effective in reducing progression of COVID-19 disease. Methods: In the present work, we use an agent-based mathematical model to assess the potential population impact of the use of antiviral treatments in four countries with different demographic structure and current levels of vaccination coverage: Kenya, Mexico, United States (US) and Belgium. We analyzed antiviral effects on reducing hospitalization and death, and potential antiviral effects on reducing transmission. For each country, we varied daily treatment initiation rate (DTIR) and antiviral effect in reducing transmission (AVT). Results: Irrespective of location and AVT, widespread antiviral treatment of symptomatic adult infections (20% DTIR) prevented the majority of COVID-19 deaths, and recruiting 6% of all adult symptomatic infections daily reduced mortality by over 20% in all countries. Furthermore, our model projected that targeting antiviral treatment to the oldest age group (65 years old and older, DTIR of 20%) can prevent over 30% of deaths. Our results suggest that early antiviral treatment (as soon as possible after inception of infection) is needed to mitigate transmission, preventing 50% more infections compared to late treatment (started 3 to 5 days after symptoms onset). Our results highlight the synergistic effect of vaccination and antiviral treatment: as the vaccination rate increases, antivirals have a larger relative impact on population transmission. Finally, our model projects that even in highly vaccinated populations, adding antiviral treatment can be extremely helpful to mitigate COVID-19 deaths. Conclusions: These results suggest that antiviral treatments can become a strategic tool that, in combination with vaccination, can significantly reduce COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths and can help control SARS-CoV-2 transmission
Small scale energy release driven by supergranular flows on the quiet Sun
In this article we present data and modelling for the quiet Sun that strongly suggest a ubiquitous small-scale atmospheric heating mechanism that is driven solely by converging supergranular flows.
A possible energy source for such events is the power transfer to the plasma via the work done on the magnetic field by photospheric convective flows, which exert drag of the footpoints of magnetic structures. In this paper we present evidence of small scale energy release events driven directly by the hydrodynamic forces that act on the magnetic elements in the photosphere, as a result of supergranular scale flows. We show strong spatial and temporal correlation between quiet Sun soft X-ray emission (from <i>Yohkoh</i> and <i>SOHO</i> MDI-derived flux removal events driven by deduced photospheric flows.
We also present a simple model of heating generated by flux submergence, based on particle acceleration by converging magnetic mirrors.
In the near future, high resolution soft X-ray images from XRT on the <i>Hinode</i> satellite will allow definitive, quantitative verification of our results
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