5,763 research outputs found
The Average Kinetic Energy of the Superconducting State
Isothermal magnetization curves are plotted as the magnetization times the
magnetic induction, , versus the applied field, H. We show
here that this new curve is the average kinetic energy of the superconducting
state versus the applied field, for type-II superconductors with a high
Ginzburg-Landau parameter . The maximum of occurs at
a field, , directly related to the upper critical field, ,
suggesting that may be extracted from such plots even in cases when
it is too high for direct measurement. We obtain these plots both
theoretically, from the Ginzburg-Landau theory, and experimentally, using a
Niobium sample with , and compare them.Comment: 11 pages, 9 postscript figure
TECHNIQUES FOR MOSAICS DOCUMENTATION THROUGH PHOTOGRAMMETRY DATA ACQUISITION. THE BYZANTINE MOSAICS OF THE NATIVITY CHURCH
Abstract. This paper describes a sequence of actions developed to guarantee a reliable and suitable dataset for the creation of detailed ortho images of Nativity Church mosaics. During acquisition campaigns, different photogrammetric techniques were tested, and different survey instruments were compared to improve the quality of the data obtained. The different outputs allow the adjustment of the instrument parameters and the acquisition methods, to structure a methodological process aimed at obtaining an accurate level of detail to describe the individual mosaic tile.From the realization of a reliable photomosaics an automatic vectorization system has been developed. This process, aimed at digitizing the tiles of the Church walls and the pavement mosaics, responds to a documentation and management purpose and to an objective of structuring a data acquisition method and post-production that can be replicated on other mosaic contexts
Using imprecise continuous time Markov chains for assessing the reliability of power networks with common cause failure and non-immediate repair.
We explore how imprecise continuous time Markov
chains can improve traditional reliability models based
on precise continuous time Markov chains. Specifically,
we analyse the reliability of power networks under very
weak statistical assumptions, explicitly accounting for
non-stationary failure and repair rates and the limited
accuracy by which common cause failure rates can be
estimated. Bounds on typical quantities of interest
are derived, namely the expected time spent in system
failure state, as well as the expected number of
transitions to that state. A worked numerical example
demonstrates the theoretical techniques described.
Interestingly, the number of iterations required for
convergence is observed to be much lower than current
theoretical bounds
Three-dimensional Ginzburg-Landau simulation of a vortex line displaced by a zigzag of pinning spheres
A vortex line is shaped by a zigzag of pinning centers and we study here how
far the stretched vortex line is able to follow this path. The pinning center
is described by an insulating sphere of coherence length size such that in its
surface the de Gennes boundary condition applies. We calculate the free energy
density of this system in the framework of the Ginzburg-Landau theory and study
the critical displacement beyond which the vortex line is detached from the
pinning center.Comment: Submitted to special issue of Prammna-Journal of Physics devoted to
the Vortex State Studie
Shocks in unmagnetized plasma with a shear flow: Stability and magnetic field generation
A pair of curved shocks in a collisionless plasma is examined with a
two-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation. The shocks are created by
the collision of two electron-ion clouds at a speed that exceeds everywhere the
threshold speed for shock formation. A variation of the collision speed along
the initially planar collision boundary, which is comparable to the ion
acoustic speed, yields a curvature of the shock that increases with time. The
spatially varying Mach number of the shocks results in a variation of the
downstream density in the direction along the shock boundary. This variation is
eventually equilibrated by the thermal diffusion of ions. The pair of shocks is
stable for tens of inverse ion plasma frequencies. The angle between the mean
flow velocity vector of the inflowing upstream plasma and the shock's
electrostatic field increases steadily during this time. The disalignment of
both vectors gives rise to a rotational electron flow, which yields the growth
of magnetic field patches that are coherent over tens of electron skin depths.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures accepted for publication in Physics of Plasma
A robust Bayesian analysis of the impact of policy decisions on crop rotations.
We analyse the impact of a policy decision on crop rotations, using the imprecise land use model that was developed by the authors in earlier work. A specific challenge in crop rotation models is that farmer’s crop choices are driven by both policy changes and external non-stationary factors, such as rainfall, temperature and agricultural input and output prices. Such dynamics can be modelled by a non-stationary stochastic process, where crop transition probabilities are multinomial logistic functions of such external factors. We use a robust Bayesian approach to estimate the parameters of our model, and validate it by comparing the model response with a non-parametric estimate, as well as by cross validation. Finally, we use the resulting predictions to solve a hypothetical yet realistic policy problem
The Levels of DAHP Synthase, the First Enzyme of the Shikimate Pathway, Are Related to Free Aromatic Amino Acids and Glutamine Content in Nicotiana plumbaginifolia Cell Cultures
Aromatic amino acid homeostasis was investigated in cell suspension cultures of Nicotiana plumbaginifolia and was related to the activity of the first enzyme in aromatic biosynthesis, 3-deoxy-D-arabino-heptulosonate-7-phosphate (DAHP) synthase. An inverse relationship was found between the intracellular content of free phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan and enzyme specific activity levels, suggesting the occurrence of end-product control mechanisms. Two DAHP synthase isogenes are present in wild tobacco that showed a different expression pattern during the culture growth cycle. Intracellular levels of aromatic amino acids were increased or decreased by adding the culture medium with phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan, or with sublethal doses of the shikimate pathway inhibitor glyphosate, respectively. As a consequence, enzyme levels varied in the opposite direction. The concomitant exogenous supply of glutamine further reduced enzyme activity in mid-log cells, suggesting induction by both aromatic amino acid depletion and nitrogen starvation
A guided search non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm for the multi-objective university course timetabling problem
Copyright @ Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011.The university course timetabling problem is a typical combinatorial optimization problem. This paper tackles the multi-objective university course timetabling problem (MOUCTP) and proposes a guided search non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm to solve the MOUCTP. The proposed algorithm integrates a guided search technique, which uses a memory to store useful information extracted from previous good solutions to guide the generation of new solutions, and two local search schemes to enhance its performance for the MOUCTP. The experimental results based on a set of test problems show that the proposed algorithm is efficient for solving the MOUCTP
The ground states of the two-component order parameter superconductor
We show that in presence of an applied external field the two-component order
parameter superconductor falls in two categories of ground states, namely, in
the traditional Abrikosov ground state or in a new ground state fitted to
describe a superconducting layer with texture, that is, patched regions
separated by a phase difference of . The existence of these two kinds of
ground states follows from the sole assumption that the total supercurrent is
the sum of the two individual supercurrents and is independent of any
consideration about the free energy expansion. Uniquely defined relations
between the current density and the superfluid density hold for these two
ground states, which also determine the magnetization in terms of average
values of the order parameters. Because these ground state conditions are also
Bogomolny equations we construct the free energy for the two-component
superconductor which admits the Bogomolny solution at a special coupling value.Comment: 5 page
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