Ambiguities in order-theoretic formulations of thermodynamics

Since the 1909 work of Carath\'eodory, formulations of thermodynamics have gained ground which highlight the role of the the binary relation of adiabatic accessibility between equilibrium states. A feature of Carath\'eodory's system is that the version therein of the second law contains an ambiguity about the nature of irreversible adiabatic processes, making it weaker than the traditional Kelvin-Planck statement of the law. This paper attempts first to clarify the nature of this ambiguity, by defining the arrow of time in thermodynamics by way of the Equilibrium Principle ("Minus First Law"). It then argues that the ambiguity reappears in the important 1999 axiomatisation due to Lieb and Yngvason.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figur

Nonsimultaneity and Futures Option Pricing: Simulation and Empirical Evidence

Empirical tests of option pricing models are joint tests of the 'correctness' of the model, the efficiency of the market and the simultaneity of price observations. Some degree of nonsimultaeity can be expected in all but the most liquid markets and is therefore evident in many non-US markets. Simulation results indicate that nonsimultaneity is potentially a significant problem in empirical tests of futures option pricing models. Empirical results using Australian data show that a five-minute window for matching transactions does not remove the nonsimultaneity bias for near-the-money and out-of-the money options. A more accurate matching may therefore be required. The nonsimultaneity bias is effectively removed if a five-minute window is employed for in-the-money options.Nonsimultaneity; Futures option; Mispricing

A study of the effectiveness of a residence hall guidance program for college program for college freshman men.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University

The design and implementation of partnet

Journal ArticlePartNet is a federated database for providing interactive online access to mechanical parts catalogs. The data contained in the vendor's product database is exported to the federated database using a networkbased distributed database protocol. A Single coherent view of these vendor databases is provided by a Query Server which clients access to pose queries and receive answers. The client interface programs are simple and can be executed on current desktop computers. The system is scaleable to thousands of vendors and tens of thousands of customers. We feel this approach provides better service at less cost than traditional paper or CD ROM catalogs

Ground‐State Wavefunctions and Energies for the Helium Isoelectronic Series through Z = 10

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/69577/2/JCPSA6-47-8-3077-1.pd

Configuration Interaction in Two‐ and Three‐Electron Atoms

The ground states of the first four members of the helium isoelectronic series and the 22S and 22P states of lithium are calculated using a configuration‐interaction expansion in a complete denumerable set of single‐particle functions, with one adjustable scale parameter. The best energies for the two‐electron systems, obtained with 120‐term expansions, are E(H−) = −0.52748, E(He) = −2.90335, E(Li+) = −7.27945, and E(Be+ +) = −13.65504, in units of e2/a0. The energies for all but He are lower than any heretofore obtained with a configuration‐interaction approach. The dependence of energy on scale factor is found to be very pronounced, in contrast to the corresponding behavior for wavefunctions which contain the interparticle coordinates explicitly. The best energies for the lithium states, obtained with 208‐term expansions, are E(22S) = −7.47369 and E(22P) = −7.40366. The 22S energy is not as good as has been obtained with either expansions in terms of interparticle coordinates or configuration interaction with many nonlinear parameters. The 22P energy is of approximately the same accuracy but is lower than any previously published.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/70610/2/JCPSA6-45-11-4248-1.pd

The energy partitioning of non-thermal particles in a plasma: or the Coulomb logarithm revisited

The charged particle stopping power in a highly ionized and weakly to moderately coupled plasma has been calculated to leading and next-to-leading order by Brown, Preston, and Singleton (BPS). After reviewing the main ideas behind this calculation, we use a Fokker-Planck equation derived by BPS to compute the electron-ion energy partitioning of a charged particle traversing a plasma. The motivation for this application is ignition for inertial confinement fusion -- more energy delivered to the ions means a better chance of ignition, and conversely. It is therefore important to calculate the fractional energy loss to electrons and ions as accurately as possible, as this could have implications for the Laser Megajoule (LMJ) facility in France and the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in the United States. The traditional method by which one calculates the electron-ion energy splitting of a charged particle traversing a plasma involves integrating the stopping power dE/dx. However, as the charged particle slows down and becomes thermalized into the background plasma, this method of calculating the electron-ion energy splitting breaks down. As a result, the method suffers a systematic error of order T/E0, where T is the plasma temperature and E0 is the initial energy of the charged particle. In the case of DT fusion, for example, this can lead to uncertainties as high as 10% or so. The formalism presented here is designed to account for the thermalization process, and in contrast, it provides results that are near-exact.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, invited talk at the 35th European Physical Society meeting on plasma physic

Interpretation of laboratory analyses of biosolids samples (1995)

"New 4/95/5M.""Water Quality.""Focus area : nutrients and bacterial waste.""Published by University Extension, University of Missouri-System.""Biosolids material is useful for land application. It contains organic matter and plant nutrients, such as nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). But, biosolids material from municipal secondary waste treatment plants does not have a uniform composition. Waste characteristics and treatment technologies are different for each community. You must determine the composition of the biosolids to meet nutrient management guidelines."--First page.James R. Brown (School of Natural Resources, University of Missouri--Columbia), Dennis Sievers (Department of Agricultural Engineering, University of Missouri--Columbia), Robert Magai (Environmental Specialist ; Missouri Department of Natural Resources

Techniques for generative melodies inspired by music cognition

This article presents a series of algorithmic techniques for melody generation, inspired by models of music cognition. The techniques are designed for interactive composition, and so privilege brevity, simplicity, and flexibility over fidelity to the underlying models. The cognitive models canvassed span gestalt, preference rule, and statistical learning perspectives; this is a diverse collection with a common thread—the centrality of “expectations” to music cognition. We operationalize some recurrent themes across this collection as probabilistic descriptions of melodic tendency, codifying them as stochastic melody-generation techniques. The techniques are combined into a concise melody generator, with salient parameters exposed for ready manipulation in real time. These techniques may be especially relevant to algorithmic composers, the live-coding community, and to music psychologists and theorists interested in how computational interpretations of cognitive models “sound” in practice

Hippocampus and retrosplenial cortex combine path integration signals for successful navigation

The current study used fMRI in humans to examine goal-directed navigation in an open field environment. We designed a task that required participants to encode survey-level spatial information and subsequently navigate to a goal location in either first person, third person, or survey perspectives. Critically, no distinguishing landmarks or goal location markers were present in the environment, thereby requiring participants to rely on path integration mechanisms for successful navigation. We focused our analysis on mechanisms related to navigation and mechanisms tracking linear distance to the goal location. Successful navigation required translation of encoded survey-level map information for orientation and implementation of a planned route to the goal. Our results demonstrate that successful first and third person navigation trials recruited the anterior hippocampus more than trials when the goal location was not successfully reached. When examining only successful trials, the retrosplenial and posterior parietal cortices were recruited for goal-directed navigation in both first person and third person perspectives. Unique to first person perspective navigation, the hippocampus was recruited to path integrate self-motion cues with location computations toward the goal location. Last, our results demonstrate that the hippocampus supports goal-directed navigation by actively tracking proximity to the goal throughout navigation. When using path integration mechanisms in first person and third person perspective navigation, the posterior hippocampus was more strongly recruited as participants approach the goal. These findings provide critical insight into the neural mechanisms by which we are able to use map-level representations of our environment to reach our navigational goals