Application of quasi-homogeneous anisotropic laminates in grid-stiffened panel design

Composite laminates are derived for standard configurations with quasi-homogeneous anisotropic properties, whereby in-plane and out-of-plane stiffness properties are concomitant. Dimensionless parameters, and their relationship to the well-known ply- orientation-dependent lamination parameters, are also developed from which the elements of the extensional and bending stiffness matrices are readily calculated for any fiber/resin properties. The definitive list of laminate configurations for up to 21 plies is presented, together with graphical representations of the lamination parameter design space for standard ply orientations +45, -45, 0 and 90 degrees. Finally, the potential of quasi-homogeneous anisotropic laminates as an optimum design solution for anisogid structures is explored for cases where buckling and strength constraints are both active

Energy and Momentum of Oscillating Neutrinos

It is shown that Lorentz invariance implies that in general flavor neutrinos in oscillation experiments are superpositions of massive neutrinos with different energies and different momenta. It is also shown that for each process in which neutrinos are produced there is either a Lorentz frame in which all massive neutrinos have the same energy or a Lorentz frame in which all massive neutrinos have the same momentum. In the case of neutrinos produced in two-body decay processes, there is a Lorentz frame in which all massive neutrinos have the same energy.Comment: 6 pages, no figure

A Variational Approach to the Structure and Thermodynamics of Linear Polyelectrolytes with Coulomb and Screened Coulomb Interactions

A variational approach, based on a discrete representation of the chain, is used to calculate free energy and conformational properties in polyelectrolytes. The true bond and Coulomb potentials are approximated by a trial isotropic harmonic energy containing force constants between {\em all}monomer-pairs as variational parameters. By a judicious choice of representation and the use of incremental matrix inversion, an efficient and fast-convergent iterative algorithm is constructed, that optimizes the free energy. The computational demand scales as $N^3$ rather than $N^4$ as expected in a more naive approach. The method has the additional advantage that in contrast to Monte Carlo calculations the entropy is easily computed. An analysis of the high and low temperature limits is given. Also, the variational formulation is shown to respect the appropriate virial identities.The accuracy of the approximations introduced are tested against Monte Carlo simulations for problem sizes ranging from $N=20$ to 1024. Very good accuracy is obtained for chains with unscreened Coulomb interactions. The addition of salt is described through a screened Coulomb interaction, for which the accuracy in a certain parameter range turns out to be inferior to the unscreened case. The reason is that the harmonic variational Ansatz becomes less efficient with shorter range interactions. As a by-product a very efficient Monte Carlo algorithm was developed for comparisons, providing high statistics data for very large sizes -- 2048 monomers. The Monte Carlo results are also used to examine scaling properties, based on low-$T$ approximations to end-end and monomer-monomer separations. It is argued that the former increases faster than linearly with the number of bonds.Comment: 40 pages LaTeX, 13 postscript figure

A comparative study on prognostic relevance of various severity scoring systems of acute pancreatitis in present day surgical practice

Prior assessment of severity is very important in the management of acute pancreatitis. The purpose of our study is to compare the predictive efficacy of various severity scoring systems for acute pancreatitis. This study was conducted in patients admitted with acute pancreatitis in Medical College Kolkata, between January 2011 to November 2011 by doing a prospective analysis of patients’ case notes. There was no significant difference in median APACHE II score on admission and after 48 hours in our study. Ranson’s and APACHE II score was found to have similar sensitivity and negative likelihood ratio. Ranson’s and CTSI had similar PPV and PLR. Ranson’s score proved equal to the APACHE II score for predicting mortality and the development of organ dysfunction. The LR+ of MGMOF score (cut off at ≥2) after 48 hours, MGMOF score (cut off at ≥2) on admission, MGMOF score >0 after 48 hours and on admission and Ranson’s were almost comparable. All the scores under study except Goris MOF at a cut off ≥2 on admission had good predictive value in terms of different predictive accuracy parameters. CTSI and Ranson’s score can be most useful to identify mild pancreatitis cases but can also be useful in severe pancreatitis patients to some extent. However, Ranson’s score can not be applied for prediction of severity after 48 hours

Solvable Lattice Gas Models with Three Phases

Phase boundaries in p-T and p-V diagrams are essential in material science researches. Exact analytic knowledge about such phase boundaries are known so far only in two-dimensional (2D) Ising-like models, and only for cases with two phases. In the present paper we present several lattice gas models, some with three phases. The phase boundaries are either analytically calculated or exactly evaluated.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure

Evaluating cumulative ascent: Mountain biking meets Mandelbrot

The problem of determining total distance ascended during a mountain bike trip is addressed. Altitude measurements are obtained from GPS receivers utilizing both GPS-based and barometric altitude data, with data averaging used to reduce fluctuations. The estimation process is sensitive to the degree of averaging, and is related to the well-known question of determining coastline length. Barometric-based measurements prove more reliable, due to their insensitivity to GPS altitude fluctuations.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures (v.2: minor revisions