25,371 research outputs found
Co-ordinating distributed knowledge: An investigation into the use of an organisational memory
This paper presents an ethnographically informed investigation into the use of an organisational memory, focusing in particular on how information was used in the performance of work. We argue that understanding how people make use of distributed knowledge is crucial to the design of an organisational memory. However, we take the perspective that an âorganisational memoryâ is not technology dependant, but is an emergent property of group interaction. In this sense, the technology does not form the organisational memory, but provides a novel means of augmenting the co-ordination of collaborative action. The study examines the generation, development and maintenance of knowledge repositories and archives. The knowledge and information captured in the organisational memory enabled the team members to establish a common understanding of the design and to gain an appreciation of the issues and concerns of the other disciplines. The study demonstrates why technology should not be thought of in isolation from its contexts of use, but also how designers can make use of the creative flexibility that people employ in their everyday activities. The findings of the study are therefore of direct relevance to both the design of knowledge archives and to the management of this information within organisations
Evidence for Bolgiano-Obukhov scaling in rotating stratified turbulence using high-resolution direct numerical simulations
We report results on rotating stratified turbulence in the absence of
forcing, with large-scale isotropic initial conditions, using direct numerical
simulations computed on grids of up to 4096^3 points. The Reynolds and Froude
numbers are respectively equal to Re=5.4 x 10^4 and Fr=0.0242. The ratio of the
Brunt-V\"ais\"al\"a to the inertial wave frequency, N/f, is taken to be equal
to 4.95, a choice appropriate to model the dynamics of the southern abyssal
ocean at mid latitudes. This gives a global buoyancy Reynolds number
R_B=ReFr^2=32, a value sufficient for some isotropy to be recovered in the
small scales beyond the Ozmidov scale, but still moderate enough that the
intermediate scales where waves are prevalent are well resolved. We concentrate
on the large-scale dynamics, for which we find a spectrum compatible with the
Bolgiano-Obukhov scaling, and confirm that the Froude number based on a typical
vertical length scale is of order unity, with strong gradients in the vertical.
Two characteristic scales emerge from this computation, and are identified from
sharp variations in the spectral distribution of either total energy or
helicity. A spectral break is also observed at a scale at which the partition
of energy between the kinetic and potential modes changes abruptly, and beyond
which a Kolmogorov-like spectrum recovers. Large slanted layers are ubiquitous
in the flow in the velocity and temperature fields, with local overturning
events indicated by small Richardson numbers, and a small large-scale
enhancement of energy directly attributable to the effect of rotation is also
observed.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures (including compound figures
A paradigmatic flow for small-scale magnetohydrodynamics: properties of the ideal case and the collision of current sheets
We propose two sets of initial conditions for magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) in
which both the velocity and the magnetic fields have spatial symmetries that
are preserved by the dynamical equations as the system evolves. When
implemented numerically they allow for substantial savings in CPU time and
memory storage requirements for a given resolved scale separation. Basic
properties of these Taylor-Green flows generalized to MHD are given, and the
ideal non-dissipative case is studied up to the equivalent of 2048^3 grid
points for one of these flows. The temporal evolution of the logarithmic
decrements, delta, of the energy spectrum remains exponential at the highest
spatial resolution considered, for which an acceleration is observed briefly
before the grid resolution is reached. Up to the end of the exponential decay
of delta, the behavior is consistent with a regular flow with no appearance of
a singularity. The subsequent short acceleration in the formation of small
magnetic scales can be associated with a near collision of two current sheets
driven together by magnetic pressure. It leads to strong gradients with a fast
rotation of the direction of the magnetic field, a feature also observed in the
solar wind.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure
A comparison of spectral element and finite difference methods using statically refined nonconforming grids for the MHD island coalescence instability problem
A recently developed spectral-element adaptive refinement incompressible
magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) code [Rosenberg, Fournier, Fischer, Pouquet, J. Comp.
Phys. 215, 59-80 (2006)] is applied to simulate the problem of MHD island
coalescence instability (MICI) in two dimensions. MICI is a fundamental MHD
process that can produce sharp current layers and subsequent reconnection and
heating in a high-Lundquist number plasma such as the solar corona [Ng and
Bhattacharjee, Phys. Plasmas, 5, 4028 (1998)]. Due to the formation of thin
current layers, it is highly desirable to use adaptively or statically refined
grids to resolve them, and to maintain accuracy at the same time. The output of
the spectral-element static adaptive refinement simulations are compared with
simulations using a finite difference method on the same refinement grids, and
both methods are compared to pseudo-spectral simulations with uniform grids as
baselines. It is shown that with the statically refined grids roughly scaling
linearly with effective resolution, spectral element runs can maintain accuracy
significantly higher than that of the finite difference runs, in some cases
achieving close to full spectral accuracy.Comment: 19 pages, 17 figures, submitted to Astrophys. J. Supp
Adaptive mesh refinement with spectral accuracy for magnetohydrodynamics in two space dimensions
We examine the effect of accuracy of high-order spectral element methods,
with or without adaptive mesh refinement (AMR), in the context of a classical
configuration of magnetic reconnection in two space dimensions, the so-called
Orszag-Tang vortex made up of a magnetic X-point centered on a stagnation point
of the velocity. A recently developed spectral-element adaptive refinement
incompressible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) code is applied to simulate this
problem. The MHD solver is explicit, and uses the Elsasser formulation on
high-order elements. It automatically takes advantage of the adaptive grid
mechanics that have been described elsewhere in the fluid context [Rosenberg,
Fournier, Fischer, Pouquet, J. Comp. Phys. 215, 59-80 (2006)]; the code allows
both statically refined and dynamically refined grids. Tests of the algorithm
using analytic solutions are described, and comparisons of the Orszag-Tang
solutions with pseudo-spectral computations are performed. We demonstrate for
moderate Reynolds numbers that the algorithms using both static and refined
grids reproduce the pseudo--spectral solutions quite well. We show that
low-order truncation--even with a comparable number of global degrees of
freedom--fails to correctly model some strong (sup--norm) quantities in this
problem, even though it satisfies adequately the weak (integrated) balance
diagnostics.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures, 1 table. Submitted to New Journal of Physic
Different homogeneity detectors for improving space-time adaptive radar performance in heterogeneous clutter
© Copyright 2006 IEEESecondary data selection for estimation of the clutter covariance matrix in space-time adaptive processing (STAP) is normally obtained from cells (range rings) in close proximity of the cell under test. The aim of this paper is the analysis of performance improvement of Space-Time Adaptive radars when secondary data selection is obtained by discriminating between quasi-homogeneous areas on the ground which generate clutter with different statistics (i.e. clutter edges including littoral, farmland-wooded hills or rural-urban interfaces). The algorithm presented in this paper, referred to as the Different Homogeneity Detector (DHD), has been tested with simulated data obtained by using a general clutter model and a uniform linear array.Massimo Bertacca, Douglas A. Gray, Luke Rosenber
Fast-time STAP performance in pre and post range processing adaption as applied to multichannel SAR
Hot-clutter cancellation using fast-time Space Time Adaptive Processing (STAP) can occur either pre or post range processing (RP) and to date, there has not been a direct comparison on which method offers the best results. This paper provides an analytic comparison which is verified with simulation and aims to provide insight into the location of the adaptive filter which would provide the best hot-clutter suppression. The covariance models are tested with signal models used in a multichannel Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)
LDA+DMFT Approach to Magnetocrystalline Anisotropy of Strong Magnets
The new challenges posed by the need of finding strong rare-earth free
magnets demand methods that can predict magnetization and magnetocrystalline
anisotropy energy (MAE). We argue that correlated electron effects, which are
normally underestimated in band structure calculations, play a crucial role in
the development of the orbital component of the magnetic moments. Because
magnetic anisotropy arises from this orbital component, the ability to include
correlation effects has profound consequences on our predictive power of the
MAE of strong magnets. Here we show that incorporating the local effects of
electronic correlations with dynamical mean-field theory provides reliable
estimates of the orbital moment, the mass enhancement and the MAE of YCo5.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, published versio
Plasma Interaction With Microbes
The germicidal effects of a non-equilibrium atmospheric pressure plasma generated by a novel resistive barrier discharge on representatives of the two classes of bacteria (Gram-negative and Gram-positive) are discussed. The plasma exposure, while being lethal to both bacterial classes, also produced gross structural damage in the Gram-negative E. coli while none was observed in the more structurally robust Gram-positive Bacillus subtilis. An electrophysical process involving the role of the electrostatic tension on a charged body in a plasma is invoked to explain both observations. Since the efficacy of this electrophysical process depends not only on the tensile strength of the bacterial cell wall but also on its shape and texture, the need for more experimental studies, using a wide range of bacteria belonging to various morphological groups, is suggested. Ways to further test the validity of this electrophysical lysis mechanism for Gram-negative bacteria on one hand, and also to extend its operation to the more robust Gram-positive bacteria on the other, are suggested
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