Turbulence-Augmented Minimization of Combustion Time in Mesoscale Internal Combustion Engines

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/76256/1/AIAA-2006-1350-451.pd

Pedagogical demonstration of twitter data analysis: A case study of world AIDS day, 2014

As a pedagogical demonstration of Twitter data analysis, a case study of HIV/AIDS-related tweets around World AIDS Day, 2014, was presented. This study examined if Twitter users from countries with various income levels responded differently to World AIDS Day. The performance of support vector machine (SVM) models as classifiers of relevant tweets was evaluated. A manual coding of 1,826 randomly sampled HIV/AIDS-related original tweets from November 30 through December 2, 2014 was completed. Logistic regression was applied to analyze the association between the World Bank-designated income level of users’ self-reported countries and Twitter contents. To identify the optimal SVM model, 1278 (70%) of the 1826 sampled tweets were randomly selected as the training set, and 548 (30%) served as the test set. Another 180 tweets were separately sampled and coded as the held-out dataset. Compared with tweets from low-income countries, tweets from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries had 60% lower odds to mention epidemiology (adjusted odds ratio, aOR = 0.404; 95% CI: 0.166, 0.981) and three times the odds to mention compassion/support (aOR = 3.080; 95% CI: 1.179, 8.047). Tweets from lower-middle-income countries had 79% lower odds than tweets from low-income countries to mention HIV-affected sub-populations (aOR = 0.213; 95% CI: 0.068, 0.664). The optimal SVM model was able to identify relevant tweets from the held-out dataset of 180 tweets with an accuracy (F1 score) of 0.72. This study demonstrated how students can be taught to analyze Twitter data using manual coding, regression models, and SVM models

Perturbative Calculation of Quasinormal Modes of dd--Dimensional Black Holes

We study analytically quasinormal modes in a wide variety of black hole spacetimes, including $d$--dimensional asymptotically flat spacetimes and non-asymptotically flat spacetimes (particular attention has been paid to the four dimensional case). We extend the analytical calculation to include first-order corrections to analytical expressions for quasinormal mode frequencies by making use of a monodromy technique. All possible type perturbations are included in this paper. The calculation performed in this paper show that systematic expansions for uncharged black holes include different corrections with the ones for charged black holes. This difference makes them have a different $n$--dependence relation in the first-order correction formulae. The method applied above in calculating the first-order corrections of quasinormal mode frequencies seems to be unavailable for black holes with small charge. This result supports the Neitzke's prediction. On what concerns quantum gravity we confirm the view that the $\ln3$ in $d=4$ Schwarzschild seems to be nothing but some numerical coincidences.Comment: 49 pages, 5 figure

Grain refinement of magnesium alloys: a review of recent research, theoretical developments and their application

This paper builds on the ‘‘Grain Refinement of Mg Alloys’’ published in 2005 and reviews the grain refinement research onMg alloys that has been undertaken since then with an emphasis on the theoretical and analytical methods that have been developed. Consideration of recent research results and current theoretical knowledge has highlighted two important factors that affect an alloy’s as-cast grain size. The first factor applies to commercial Mg-Al alloys where it is concluded that impurity and minor elements such as Fe and Mn have a substantially negative impact on grain size because, in combination with Al, intermetallic phases can be formed that tend to poison the more potent native or deliberately added nucleant particles present in the melt. This factor appears to explain the contradictory experimental outcomes reported in the literature and suggests that the search for a more potent and reliable grain refining technology may need to take a different approach. The second factor applies to all alloys and is related to the role of constitutional supercooling which, on the one hand, promotes grain nucleation and, on the other hand, forms a nucleation-free zone preventing further nucleation within this zone, consequently limiting the grain refinement achievable, particularly in low solute-containing alloys. Strategies to reduce the negative impact of these two factors are discussed. Further, the Interdependence model has been shown to apply to a broad range of casting methods from slow cooling gravity die casting to fast cooling high pressure die casting and dynamic methods such as ultrasonic treatment

Density functional theory based screening of ternary alkali-transition metal borohydrides: A computational material design project

The dissociation of molecules, even the most simple hydrogen molecule, cannot be described accurately within density functional theory because none of the currently available functionals accounts for strong on-site correlation. This problem led to a discussion of properties that the local Kohn-Sham potential has to satisfy in order to correctly describe strongly correlated systems. We derive an analytic expression for the nontrivial form of the Kohn-Sham potential in between the two fragments for the dissociation of a single bond. We show that the numerical calculations for a one-dimensional two-electron model system indeed approach and reach this limit. It is shown that the functional form of the potential is universal, i.e., independent of the details of the two fragments.We acknowledge funding by the Spanish MEC (Grant No. FIS2007-65702-C02-01), “Grupos Consolidados UPV/EHU del Gobierno Vasco” (Grant No. IT-319-07), and the European Community through e-I3 ETSF project (Grant Agreement No. 211956).Peer reviewe

An Observational Overview of Solar Flares

We present an overview of solar flares and associated phenomena, drawing upon a wide range of observational data primarily from the RHESSI era. Following an introductory discussion and overview of the status of observational capabilities, the article is split into topical sections which deal with different areas of flare phenomena (footpoints and ribbons, coronal sources, relationship to coronal mass ejections) and their interconnections. We also discuss flare soft X-ray spectroscopy and the energetics of the process. The emphasis is to describe the observations from multiple points of view, while bearing in mind the models that link them to each other and to theory. The present theoretical and observational understanding of solar flares is far from complete, so we conclude with a brief discussion of models, and a list of missing but important observations.Comment: This is an article for a monograph on the physics of solar flares, inspired by RHESSI observations. The individual articles are to appear in Space Science Reviews (2011

Multiethnic Genome-Wide Association Study of Subclinical Atherosclerosis in Individuals With Type 2 Diabetes

Background: Coronary artery calcification (CAC) and carotid artery intima-media thickness (cIMT) are measures of subclinical atherosclerosis in asymptomatic individuals and strong risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is an independent cardiovascular disease risk factor that accelerates atherosclerosis. Methods: We performed meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies in up to 2500 T2D individuals of European ancestry (EA) and 1590 T2D individuals of African ancestry with or without exclusion of prevalent cardiovascular disease, for CAC measured by cardiac computed tomography, and 3608 individuals of EA and 838 individuals of African ancestry with T2D for cIMT measured by ultrasonography within the CHARGE (Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology) Consortium. Results: We replicated 2 loci (rs9369640 and rs9349379 near PHACTR1 and rs10757278 near CDKN2B) for CAC and one locus for cIMT (rs7412 and rs445925 near APOE-APOC1) that were previously reported in the general EA populations. We identified one novel CAC locus (rs8000449 near CSNK1A1L/LINC00547/POSTN at 13q13.3) at P=2.0×10-8in EA. No additional loci were identified with the meta-analyses of EA and African ancestry. The expression quantitative trait loci analysis with nearby expressed genes derived from arterial wall and metabolic tissues from the Genotype-Tissue Expression project pinpoints POSTN, encoding a matricellular protein involved in bone formation and bone matrix organization, as the potential candidate gene at this locus. In addition, we found significant associations (P<3.1×10-4) for 3 previously reported coronary artery disease loci for these subclinical atherosclerotic phenotypes (rs2891168 near CDKN2B-AS1 and rs11170820 near FLJ12825 for CAC, and rs7412 near APOE for cIMT). Conclusions: Our results provide potential biological mechanisms that could link CAC and cIMT to increased cardiovascular disease risk in individuals with T2D