981 research outputs found
Influence of gravity on the collective molecular dynamics of liquid water: the case of the floating water bridge
Quantum electrodynamics (QED) produces a picture of liquid water as a mixture
of a low density coherent phase and an high density non-coherent phase.
Consequently, the Archimedes principle prescribes that, within a gravitational
field, liquid water should be made up, at surface, mainly of the coherent
fraction, which becomes a cage where the gas-like non-coherent fraction is
trapped, acquiring a non-vanishing pressure (vapor tension). Therefore, it is
possible to probe the QED picture by observing the behavior of liquid water
under reduced gravity conditions. The floating water bridge could be a useful
test model.Comment: 5 page
Sensitivity Analysis and Calibration of a Rainfall-runoff Model with the Combined Use of EPA-SWMM and Genetic Algorithm
An integrated Visual Basic Application interface is described that allows for sensitivity analysis, calibration and routing of hydraulichydrological models. The routine consists in the combination of three freeware tools performing hydrological modelling, hydraulic modelling and calibration. With such an approach, calibration is made possible even if information about sewers geometrical features is incomplete. Model parameters involve storage coefficient, time of concentration, runoff coefficient, initial abstraction and Manning coefficient; literature formulas are considered and manipulated to obtain novel expressions and variation ranges. A sensitivity analysis with a local method is performed to obtain information about collinearity among parameters and a ranking of influence. The least important parameters are given a fixed value, and for the remaining ones calibration is performed by means of a genetic algorithm implemented in GANetXL. Single-event calibration is performed with a selection of six rainfall events, which are chosen so to avoid non-uniform rainfall distribution; results are then successfully validated with a sequence of four events
Basic Research and Clinical Application of Drug Delivery Systems for the Treatment of Age-Related Macular Degeneration
Dual plane breast implant reconstruction in large sized breasts: how to maximise the result following first stage total submuscular expansion
Introduction: Women who were good candidates for a skin reducing mastectomy, but were instead treated with a skin-sparing mastectomy and reconstruction with expanders, show discrepancy of volume and form between the healthy breast (voluminous and ptotic) and the expanded mastectomy envelope and muscle, which has a smaller size as well as excessive amount of skin at the lower pole. Methods: From January 2014 to March 2015, we recruited 18 women with breasts of medium to large volume and with moderate to severe ptosis, already treated at a different centre with a one-side mastectomy and reconstruction by means of an expander. These women were treated at our unit for the second reconstructive step with a dual plane technique and a contralateral reduction/mastopexy. Results: The minimum duration of follow-up was 2 years (range 24–30 months). The average volume of the implants was 613 g. The reconstructive outcome at the final follow-up (at least 24 months) was judged by the specialist as excellent in 5 cases, very good in 10 cases and good in 3 cases. Breast Q average score was 87.08. Discussion: The disinsertion of the expanded muscle dome and the use of a dual plane technique for the placement of the definitive implant provide a solution to the skin-volume mismatch problem. The subcutaneous placement of the implant at the level of the lower pole extends the excessive amount of skin and gives the reconstructed breast fullness and natural ptosis. Further validation of our results is neede
Diagnosing Potts criticality and two-stage melting in one-dimensional hard-boson models
We investigate a model of hard-core bosons with infinitely repulsive nearest-
and next-nearest-neighbor interactions in one dimension, introduced by Fendley,
Sengupta and Sachdev in Phys. Rev. B 69, 075106 (2004). Using a combination of
exact diagonalization, tensor network, and quantum Monte Carlo simulations, we
show how an intermediate incommensurate phase separates a crystalline and a
disordered phase. We base our analysis on a variety of diagnostics, including
entanglement measures, fidelity susceptibility, correlation functions, and
spectral properties. According to theoretical expectations, the
disordered-to-incommensurate-phase transition point is compatible with
Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless universal behaviour. The second transition is
instead non-relativistic, with dynamical critical exponent . For the
sake of comparison, we illustrate how some of the techniques applied here work
at the Potts critical point present in the phase diagram of the model for
finite next-nearest-neighbor repulsion. This latter application also allows to
quantitatively estimate which system sizes are needed to match the conformal
field theory spectra with experiments performing level spectroscopy.Comment: 18 pages, 14 figure
What do the orbital motions of the outer planets of the Solar System tell us about the Pioneer anomaly?
In this paper we investigate the effects that an anomalous acceleration as
that experienced by the Pioneer spacecraft after they passed the 20 AU
threshold would induce on the orbital motions of the Solar System planets
placed at heliocentric distances of 20 AU or larger as Uranus, Neptune and
Pluto. It turns out that such an acceleration, with a magnitude of 8.74\times
10^-10 m s^-2, would affect their orbits with secular and short-period signals
large enough to be detected according to the latest published results by E.V.
Pitjeva, even by considering errors up to 30 times larger than those released.
The absence of such anomalous signatures in the latest data rules out the
possibility that in the region 20-40 AU of the Solar System an anomalous force
field inducing a constant and radial acceleration with those characteristics
affects the motion of the major planets.Comment: Latex2e, 19 pages, 3 tables, 10 figures, 18 references. Authorship
changed; new figures added for a direct comparison with the observable
quantities. Accepted for publication in New Astronom
Case Report: Enlarging symmetrical masses of the palate of idiopathic etiology
We report the case of a 33 year-old woman who came to our attention with slowly enlarging exophytic masses of the palate, histologically characterized by sub-epithelial fibrous proliferation with packed collagen bundles and increased fibroblasts number. We describe the condition of idiopathic fibrous hyperplasia, its diagnosis and its surgical treatment, which in our case was carried out with the aid of a custom made thermal printed plaque used as a scaffold
The Effect of Aerobic Exercise on Intraocular Pressure in Horse
The present study was planned to investigate the effect of the intensity of exercise on intraocular pressure (IOP), systolic and diastolic blood pressure, glycaemia and blood lactate concentration in regularly trained Italian saddle jumper horses. On the first day five female horses performed 1 h of walking on an electronically controlled horse-walker at 100 m/min; on the second day 1 h session consisted of 5 min of walk, 30 min of trot, 20 min of gallop and one exercise of a 300 m long trail with eight jumps 90 cm high to be run in 1 min. The studied indicators were collected at rest, immediately after the exercise and 30 min after the exercise. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed a significant effect of different workloads on blood lactate concentration, systolic and diastolic blood pressure. No significant difference was found in IOP reduction when comparing aerobic and moderate anaerobic exercise. Our results confirm that the lack of a significant change in IOP in the athletic horse after mild exercise is in accordance with the human athlete. The cardiovascular and haematological changes induced by aerobic and moderate anaerobic exercise had no significant effect on IOP, either
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