Application Experiences of NASTRAN Thermal Analysis in Engineering

The application of the thermal analysis phase of NASTRAN in engineering is described. Some illustrative samples are presented to demonstrate the applicability and limitation of NASTRAN thermal analysis capability. The results of the evaluation of the relative efficiency, applicability and accuracy among NASTRAN, other finite element programs, and finite difference programs are also presented

Structure functions near the chiral limit

We compute hadron masses and the lowest moments of unpolarized and polarized nucleon structure functions down to pion masses of 300 MeV, in an effort to make unambiguous predictions at the physical light quark mass.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures, Lattice2002(matrixel

Determining the venting efficiency of simple chimneys for buoyant plumes

We present preliminary results from an examination of the capture and venting of a buoyant plume by a chimney. The aim is to enable improved management of indoor pollutant sources – for instance, the plume rising from a cooking pan in a kitchen or a cooking fire in a hut. Using the principle of dynamic similarity, we precise ly and controllably model the behaviour of indoor plumes by using saline solutions ejected into an enclosure containing freshwater. These well - established laboratory analogue techniques enable the location and concentration of tracer in the plume to be eas ily tracked, reflecting the evolution of pollutants carried in the plume. Focusing on a plume within a room containing a quiescent ambient environment, we identify two physical mechanisms potentially responsible for driving the removal of pollutants. The f irst, we describe as the capture of the plume, a process driven by the direct interaction between the plume and the evacuation opening; the second, we describe as the draining flow driven by a buoyant layer of fluid which may accumulate at the ceiling and is then evacuated through the effects of buoyancy. We first demonstrate that the addition of a simple cylindrical chimney that hangs downwards from an opening in the (analogue) ceiling increases the venting efficiency of these potentially polluting plumes. We go on to examine how the capture efficiency of these simple chimneys varies as the relative size of the plume and the chimney are altered, and demonstrate that simple model can provide predictions of the observed variation in capture efficiency

On predictability of rare events leveraging social media: a machine learning perspective

Information extracted from social media streams has been leveraged to forecast the outcome of a large number of real-world events, from political elections to stock market fluctuations. An increasing amount of studies demonstrates how the analysis of social media conversations provides cheap access to the wisdom of the crowd. However, extents and contexts in which such forecasting power can be effectively leveraged are still unverified at least in a systematic way. It is also unclear how social-media-based predictions compare to those based on alternative information sources. To address these issues, here we develop a machine learning framework that leverages social media streams to automatically identify and predict the outcomes of soccer matches. We focus in particular on matches in which at least one of the possible outcomes is deemed as highly unlikely by professional bookmakers. We argue that sport events offer a systematic approach for testing the predictive power of social media, and allow to compare such power against the rigorous baselines set by external sources. Despite such strict baselines, our framework yields above 8% marginal profit when used to inform simple betting strategies. The system is based on real-time sentiment analysis and exploits data collected immediately before the games, allowing for informed bets. We discuss the rationale behind our approach, describe the learning framework, its prediction performance and the return it provides as compared to a set of betting strategies. To test our framework we use both historical Twitter data from the 2014 FIFA World Cup games, and real-time Twitter data collected by monitoring the conversations about all soccer matches of four major European tournaments (FA Premier League, Serie A, La Liga, and Bundesliga), and the 2014 UEFA Champions League, during the period between Oct. 25th 2014 and Nov. 26th 2014.Comment: 10 pages, 10 tables, 8 figure

The genetics of a putative social trait in natural populations of yeast

The sharing of secreted invertase by yeast cells is a well established laboratory model for cooperation, but the only evidence that such cooperation occurs in nature is that the SUC loci, which encode invertase, vary in number and functionality. Genotypes that do not produce invertase can act as “cheats” in laboratory experiments, growing on the glucose that is released when invertase producers, or “cooperators”, digest sucrose. However, genetic variation for invertase production might instead be explained by adaptation of different populations to different local availabilities of sucrose, the substrate for invertase. Here we find that, 110 wild yeast strains isolated from natural habitats, all contained a single SUC locus and produced invertase; none were “cheats”. The only genetic variants we found were three strains isolated instead from sucrose-rich nectar, which produced higher levels of invertase from three additional SUC loci at their sub-telomeres. We argue that the pattern of SUC gene variation is better explained by local adaptation than by social conflict

Bell inequality violation with two remote atomic qubits

We observe violation of a Bell inequality between the quantum states of two remote Yb ions separated by a distance of about one meter with the detection loophole closed. The heralded entanglement of two ions is established via interference and joint detection of two emitted photons, whose polarization is entangled with each ion. The entanglement of remote qubits is also characterized by full quantum state tomography.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

PDFS: Practical Data Feed Service for Smart Contracts

Smart contracts are a new paradigm that emerged with the rise of the blockchain technology. They allow untrusting parties to arrange agreements. These agreements are encoded as a programming language code and deployed on a blockchain platform, where all participants execute them and maintain their state. Smart contracts are promising since they are automated and decentralized, thus limiting the involvement of third trusted parties, and can contain monetary transfers. Due to these features, many people believe that smart contracts will revolutionize the way we think of distributed applications, information sharing, financial services, and infrastructures. To release the potential of smart contracts, it is necessary to connect the contracts with the outside world, such that they can understand and use information from other infrastructures. For instance, smart contracts would greatly benefit when they have access to web content. However, there are many challenges associated with realizing such a system, and despite the existence of many proposals, no solution is secure, provides easily-parsable data, introduces small overheads, and is easy to deploy. In this paper we propose PDFS, a practical system for data feeds that combines the advantages of the previous schemes and introduces new functionalities. PDFS extends content providers by including new features for data transparency and consistency validations. This combination provides multiple benefits like content which is easy to parse and efficient authenticity verification without breaking natural trust chains. PDFS keeps content providers auditable, mitigates their malicious activities (like data modification or censorship), and allows them to create a new business model. We show how PDFS is integrated with existing web services, report on a PDFS implementation and present results from conducted case studies and experiments.Comment: Blockchain; Smart Contracts; Data Authentication; Ethereu

Policy lessons from a simple open - economy model

The authors show how two-sector models can be used to derive policy lessons about adjustment in developing economies. In the past two decades, changes in the external environment and in economic policies have been the key factors in the performance of developing economies. By and large the shocks have involved the external sector: terms-of-trade shocks or cutbacks in foreign capital. The policy responses most commonly proposed have targeted the external sector: depreciating the real exchange rate or reducing distortionary taxes to make the economy more competitive. The authors provide a starting point for analyzing the relation between external shocks and policy responses. Starting from a small, one-country, two-sector, three-good (1-2-3) model, the authors outline how the effects of a foreign capital inflow and terms-of-trade shock can be analyzed. They derive the assumptions underlying the conventional policy recommendation of real exchange rate depreciation in response to adverse shocks. The implications of such trade and fiscal policy instruments as export subsidies, import tariffs, and domestic indirect taxes can also be studied in this framework. The authors show that the standard advice to depreciate the real exchange rate in the wake of an adverse terms-of-trade shock rests on the condition that the income effect of the external shock dominates its substitution effect. But, depending on the characteristics of the economy (for example, the trade elasticities), policy results may run counter to received wisdom. For example, when the substitution effect ofan adverse external shock dominates, real depreciation is inappropriate. An infusion of foreign capital does not necessarily benefit the nontradable sector, as the results of"Dutch disease"models suggest (for example, in the extreme case of nearly infinite substitution elasticity between imports and domestic goods). When import tariffs are significant sources of public revenue, potential revenue losses from tariff cuts must be offset by other revenue sources to maintain the external current account balance. The paper shows a simple way to calculate the necessary tax adjustment. A major advantage of small models is their simplicity. The example in this paper can be solved analytically - either graphically or algebraically. It also can be solved numerically, using such widely available PC-based spreadsheet programs as Excel. The numerical implementation involves only modest data requirements. The data that governments normally release on national income, fiscal, and balance of payments accounts are sufficient.Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Economic Stabilization,TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT,Markets and Market Access

A non-perturbative determination of Z_V and b_V for O(a) improved quenched and unquenched Wilson fermions

By considering the local vector current between nucleon states and imposing charge conservation we determine, for $O(a)$ improved Wilson fermions, its renormalisation constant and quark mass improvement coefficient. The computation is performed for both quenched and two flavour unquenched fermions.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures, Lattice(2002)(improve