17,049 research outputs found
An analytical investigation of a simplified thrust-vector orientation technique for establishing lunar orbits
Simplified thrust vector orientation technique for establishing lunar orbit
Role of geometrical symmetry in thermally activated processes in clusters of interacting dipolar moments
Thermally activated magnetization decay is studied in ensembles of clusters
of interacting dipolar moments by applying the master-equation formalism, as a
model of thermal relaxation in systems of interacting single-domain
ferromagnetic particles. Solving the associated master-equation reveals a
breakdown of the energy barrier picture depending on the geometrical symmetry
of structures. Deviations are most pronounced for reduced symmetry and result
in a strong interaction dependence of relaxation rates on the memory of system
initialization. A simple two-state system description of an ensemble of
clusters is developed which accounts for the observed anomalies. These results
follow from a semi-analytical treatment, and are fully supported by kinetic
Monte-Carlo simulations.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure
New broad 8Be nuclear resonances
Energies, total and partial widths, and reduced width amplitudes of 8Be
resonances up to an excitation energy of 26 MeV are extracted from a coupled
channel analysis of experimental data. The presence of an extremely broad J^pi
= 2^+ ``intruder'' resonance is confirmed, while a new 1^+ and very broad 4^+
resonance are discovered. A previously known 22 MeV 2^+ resonance is likely
resolved into two resonances. The experimental J^pi T = 3^(+)? resonance at 22
MeV is determined to be 3^-0, and the experimental 1^-? (at 19 MeV) and 4^-?
resonances to be isospin 0.Comment: 16 pages, LaTe
Highly relativistic spinning particle starting near in a Kerr field
Using the Mathisson-Papapetrou-Dixon (MPD) equations, we investigate the
trajectories of a spinning particle starting near in a Kerr
field and moving with the velocity close to the velocity of light
( is the Boyer-Lindquist radial coordinate of the
counter-rotation circular photon orbits). First, as a partial case of these
trajectories, we consider the equatorial circular orbit with .
This orbit is described by the solution that is common for the rigorous MPD
equations and their linear spin approximation. Then different cases of the
nonequatorial motions are computed and illustrated by the typical figures. All
these orbits exhibit the effects of the significant gravitational repulsion
that are caused by the spin-gravity interaction. Possible applications in
astrophysics are discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figure
Direct calculation of the hard-sphere crystal/melt interfacial free energy
We present a direct calculation by molecular-dynamics computer simulation of
the crystal/melt interfacial free energy, , for a system of hard
spheres of diameter . The calculation is performed by thermodynamic
integration along a reversible path defined by cleaving, using specially
constructed movable hard-sphere walls, separate bulk crystal and fluid systems,
which are then merged to form an interface. We find the interfacial free energy
to be slightly anisotropic with = 0.62, 0.64 and
0.58 for the (100), (110) and (111) fcc crystal/fluid
interfaces, respectively. These values are consistent with earlier density
functional calculations and recent experiments measuring the crystal nucleation
rates from colloidal fluids of polystyrene spheres that have been interpreted
[Marr and Gast, Langmuir {\bf 10}, 1348 (1994)] to give an estimate of
for the hard-sphere system of , slightly lower
than the directly determined value reported here.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letter
Accurate Determination of Phenotypic Information from Historic Thoroughbred Horses by Single Base Extension
Historic DNA have the potential to identify phenotypic information otherwise invisible in the historical, archaeological and palaeontological record. In order to determine whether a single nucleotide polymorphism typing protocol based on single based extension (SNaPshot™) could produce reliable phenotypic data from historic samples, we genotyped three coat colour markers for a sample of historic Thoroughbred horses for which both phenotypic and correct geotypic information were known from pedigree information in the General Stud Book. Experimental results were consistent with the pedigrees in all cases. Thus we demonstrate that historic DNA techniques can produce reliable phenotypic information from museum specimens.© 2010 Campana et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Clinical characteristics of community-dwelling black Alzheimer\u27s disease patients.
There is a relative dearth of studies examining the cognitive and neuropsychiatric features of black Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD) patients in the United States. Therefore, this cross-sectional investigation reported on the prevalence and clinical correlates of depression and psychosis in a community-dwelling black AD sample. The study participants comprised 55 English-speaking black patients evaluated consecutively at a university-affiliated memory disorders clinic. All patients were evaluated utilizing standardized procedures and diagnosed with possible or probable AD according to the criteria established by the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Diseases and Stroke-Alzheimer\u27s Disease and Related Disorders Association. The presence of neuropsychiatric symptoms, including major depression and psychosis (delusions or hallucinations) was established via a semistructured psychiatric interview with the patient and primary care giver. The level of global cognitive impairment was rated with the Mini-Mental State Examination. The results showed that major depression and psychosis were observed in 20% and 58% of the sample, respectively. Mood disturbance was linked with low education, whereas psychosis was associated with greater cognitive dysfunction. This study provides important insight into the clinical characteristics of community-dwelling black AD patients. It is clear that continued research in the area of ethnicity and dementia is warranted to better understand the clinical needs of blacks and other minority populations in the United States that are afflicted with AD
Does gravity cause load-bearing bridges in colloidal and granular systems?
We study structures which can bear loads, "bridges", in particulate packings. To investigate the relationship between bridges and gravity, we experimentally determine bridge statistics in colloidal packings. We vary the effective magnitude and direction of gravity, volume fraction, and interactions, and find that the bridge size distributions depend only on the mean number of neighbors. We identify a universal distribution, in agreement with simulation results for granulars, suggesting that applied loads merely exploit preexisting bridges, which are inherent in dense packings
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