On different cascade-speeds for longitudinal and transverse velocity increments

We address the problem of differences between longitudinal and transverse velocity increments in isotropic small scale turbulence. The relationship of these two quantities is analyzed experimentally by means of stochastic Markovian processes leading to a phenomenological Fokker- Planck equation from which a generalization of the Karman equation is derived. From these results, a simple relationship between longitudinal and transverse structure functions is found which explains the difference in the scaling properties of these two structure functions.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, now with corrected postscrip

Set-valued State Estimation for Nonlinear Systems Using Hybrid Zonotopes

This paper proposes a method for set-valued state estimation of nonlinear, discrete-time systems. This is achieved by combining graphs of functions representing system dynamics and measurements with the hybrid zonotope set representation that can efficiently represent nonconvex and disjoint sets. Tight over-approximations of complex nonlinear functions are efficiently produced by leveraging special ordered sets and neural networks, which enable computation of set-valued state estimates that grow linearly in memory complexity with time. A numerical example demonstrates significant reduction of conservatism in the set-valued state estimates using the proposed method as compared to an idealized convex approach

Regeneration of Stochastic Processes: An Inverse Method

We propose a novel inverse method that utilizes a set of data to construct a simple equation that governs the stochastic process for which the data have been measured, hence enabling us to reconstruct the stochastic process. As an example, we analyze the stochasticity in the beat-to-beat fluctuations in the heart rates of healthy subjects as well as those with congestive heart failure. The inverse method provides a novel technique for distinguishing the two classes of subjects in terms of a drift and a diffusion coefficients which behave completely differently for the two classes of subjects, hence potentially providing a novel diagnostic tool for distinguishing healthy subjects from those with congestive heart failure, even at the early stages of the disease development.Comment: 5 pages, two columns, 7 figs. to appear, The European Physical Journal B (2006

Stochastic analysis of different rough surfaces

This paper shows in detail the application of a new stochastic approach for the characterization of surface height profiles, which is based on the theory of Markov processes. With this analysis we achieve a characterization of the scale dependent complexity of surface roughness by means of a Fokker-Planck or Langevin equation, providing the complete stochastic information of multiscale joint probabilities. The method is applied to several surfaces with different properties, for the purpose of showing the utility of this method in more details. In particular we show the evidence of Markov properties, and we estimate the parameters of the Fokker-Planck equation by pure, parameter-free data analysis. The resulting Fokker-Planck equations are verified by numerical reconstruction of conditional probability density functions. The results are compared with those from the analysis of multi-affine and extended multi-affine scaling properties which is often used for surface topographies. The different surface structures analysed here show in details advantages and disadvantages of these methods.Comment: Minor text changes to be identical with the published versio

Ion acceleration in plasmas emerging from a helicon-heated magnetic-mirror device

Using laser-induced fluorescence, measurements have been made of metastable argon-ion, Ar{sup +}*(3d{sup 4} f{sub 7/2}), velocity distributions on the major axis of an axisymmetric magnetic-mirror device whose plasma is sustained by helicon wave absorption. Within the mirror, these ions have sub-eV temperature and, at most, a subthermal axial drift. In the region outside the mirror coils, conditions are found where these ions have a field-parallel velocity above the acoustic speed, to an axial energy of {approx}30 eV, while the field-parallel ion temperature remains low. The supersonic Ar{sup +}*(3d{sup 4} f{sub 7/2}) are accelerated to one-third of their final energy within a short region in the plasma column, {le}1 cm, and continue to accelerate over the next 5 cm. Neutral gas density strongly affects the supersonic Ar{sup +}*(3d{sup 4} f{sub 7/2}) density

Thiorhodococcus mannitoliphagus sp. nov., a new purple sulfur bacterium from the White Sea

A novel purple sulfur bacterium, strain WS(T), was isolated from a microbial mat from an estuary of the White Sea. Individual cells are coccoid shaped, motile by flagella and do not contain gas vesicles. The mean cell diameter is 1.85 mum (range 1.5-2.0 mum). Cell suspensions exhibit a purple-violet colour. They contain bacteriochlorophyll a and carotenoids of the rhodopinal series as photosynthetic pigments. The novel bacterium is an anoxygenic photoautotroph, using sulfide, thiosulfate, sulfite and elemental sulfur as electron donors for photosynthesis and is capable of photoassimilating several organic carbon sources in the presence of carbonate and a reduced sulfur source (sulfide and/or thiosulfate). Sulfur globules, formed during oxidation of sulfide, are stored transiently inside the cells. Optimal salinity and pH for growth are at 0.5-2.0 % NaCl and pH 7.0-7.5. The DNA base composition of strain WS(T) is 61.8 mol% G+C. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that the new isolate belongs to the genus Thiorhodococcus, with Thiorhodococcus minor CE2203(T) as the nearest relative (sequence similarity of 97.3 %). Several distinct differences from described species necessitate the description of a novel species. Thiorhodococcus mannitoliphagus sp. nov. is the proposed name, with strain WS(T) (=ATCC BAA-1228(T)=VKM B-2393(T)) as the type strain

Влияние геометрии вертикальных ребер на производительность емкостей для десублимации газообразного UF6

Объектом исследования является вертикальная погружная емкость с вертикальным оребрением. В процессе исследования проводился расчет зависимостей средней производительности емкостей объемом от 1 до 4 кубометров с вертикальным оребрением от длины и ширины вертикальных ребер. Для данных емкостей были определены оптимальные значения ширины и длины вертикальных ребер.The object of study is a vertical immersion tank with vertical fins. In the course of the study, the dependences of the average productivity of containers with a volume of 1 to 4 cubic meters with vertical ribbing on the length and width of vertical ribs were calculated. For these containers, the optimal values of the width and length of the vertical ribs were determined

Risk factors for adverse perinatal outcomes in imprisoned pregnant women: a systematic review

BACKGROUND: Imprisoned pregnant women constitute an important obstetric group about whom relatively little is known. This systematic review was conducted to identify the risk factors associated with adverse pregnancy outcome present in this group of women. METHODS: The review was conducted according to a prespecified protocol. Studies of any design were included if they described information on any of the pre-specified risk factors. We calculated the results as summary percentages or odds ratios where data was available on both cases and population controls. RESULTS: The search strategy identified 27 relevant papers of which 13 met the inclusion criteria, involving 1504 imprisoned pregnant women and 4571 population control women. Imprisoned women are more likely to be single, from an ethnic minority, and not to have completed high school. They are more likely to have a medical problem which could affect the pregnancy outcome and yet less likely to receive adequate antenatal care. They are also more likely to smoke, drink alcohol to excess and take illegal drugs. CONCLUSION: Imprisoned women are clearly a high risk obstetric group. These findings have important implications for the provision of care to this important group of women

The influence of thermal cycles on the microstructure of grade 92 steel

The microstructure in the heat-affected zone (HAZ) of welds made from the 9 wt pct chromium martensitic Grade 92 steel is complex and has not yet been completely understood. There is a lack of systematic microstructural investigations to define the different regions of the microstructure across the HAZ of Grade 92 steel welds as a function of the welding process. In this study, the microstructure in the HAZ of an as-fabricated single-pass bead-on-plate weld on a parent metal of Grade 92 steel was systematically investigated by using an extensive range of electron and ion-microscopy-based techniques. A dilatometer was used to apply controlled thermal cycles to simulate the microstructures in the different regions of the HAZ. A wide range of microstructural properties in the simulated materials were then characterized and compared with the experimental observations from the weld HAZ. It was found that the microstructure in the HAZ of a single-pass Grade 92 steel weld can be categorized as a function of a decreasing peak temperature reached as (1) the completely transformed (CT) region, in which the original matrix is completely reaustenitized with complete dissolution of the pre-existing secondary precipitate particles; (2) the partially transformed (PT) region, where the original matrix is partially reaustenitized along with a partial dissolution of the secondary precipitate particles from the original matrix; and (3) the overtempered (OT) region, where the pre-xisting precipitate particles coarsen. The PT region is considered to be the susceptible area for damage in the commonly reported HAZ failures in weldments constructed from these types of steels