5,866 research outputs found
Nonlinear dynamic intertwining of rods with self-contact
Twisted marine cables on the sea floor can form highly contorted
three-dimensional loops that resemble tangles. Such tangles or hockles are
topologically equivalent to the plectomenes that form in supercoiled DNA
molecules. The dynamic evolution of these intertwined loops is studied herein
using a computational rod model that explicitly accounts for dynamic
self-contact. Numerical solutions are presented for an illustrative example of
a long rod subjected to increasing twist at one end. The solutions reveal the
dynamic evolution of the rod from an initially straight state, through a
buckled state in the approximate form of a helix, through the dynamic collapse
of this helix into a near-planar loop with one site of self-contact, and the
subsequent intertwining of this loop with multiple sites of self-contact. This
evolution is controlled by the dynamic conversion of torsional strain energy to
bending strain energy or, alternatively by the dynamic conversion of twist (Tw)
to writhe (Wr).
KEY WORDS Rod Dynamics, Self-contact, Intertwining, DNA Supercoiling, Cable
HocklingComment: 35 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Proceedings of the Royal Society A:
Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Science
A Novel Design of Multi-Chambered Biomass Battery
In this paper, a novel design of biomass battery has been introduced for providing electricity to meet the lighting requirements of rural household using biomass. A biomass battery is designed, developed and tested using cow dung as the raw material. This is done via anaerobic digestion of the cow dung, and power generation driven by the ions produced henceforth. The voltage and power output is estimated for the proposed system. It is for the first time that such a high voltage is obtained from cow dung fed biomass battery. The output characteristics of this novel battery design have also been compared with the previously designed battery
Biology of Sexual Dysfunction
Sexual activity is a multifaceted activity, involving complex interactions between the nervous system, the endocrine system, the vascular system and a variety of structures that are instrumental in sexual excitement, intercourse and satisfaction. Sexual function has three components i.e., desire, arousal and orgasm. Many sexual dysfunctions can be categorized according to the phase of sexual response that is affected. In actual clinical practice however, sexual desire, arousal and orgasmic difficulties more often than not coexist, suggesting an integration of phases. Sexual dysfunction can result from a wide variety of psychological and physiological causes including derangements in the levels of sex hormones and neurotrensmitters. This review deals with the biology of different phases of sexual function as well as implications of hormones and neurotransmitters in sexual dysfunctio
Simultaneously Sparse Solutions to Linear Inverse Problems with Multiple System Matrices and a Single Observation Vector
A linear inverse problem is proposed that requires the determination of
multiple unknown signal vectors. Each unknown vector passes through a different
system matrix and the results are added to yield a single observation vector.
Given the matrices and lone observation, the objective is to find a
simultaneously sparse set of unknown vectors that solves the system. We will
refer to this as the multiple-system single-output (MSSO) simultaneous sparsity
problem. This manuscript contrasts the MSSO problem with other simultaneous
sparsity problems and conducts a thorough initial exploration of algorithms
with which to solve it. Seven algorithms are formulated that approximately
solve this NP-Hard problem. Three greedy techniques are developed (matching
pursuit, orthogonal matching pursuit, and least squares matching pursuit) along
with four methods based on a convex relaxation (iteratively reweighted least
squares, two forms of iterative shrinkage, and formulation as a second-order
cone program). The algorithms are evaluated across three experiments: the first
and second involve sparsity profile recovery in noiseless and noisy scenarios,
respectively, while the third deals with magnetic resonance imaging
radio-frequency excitation pulse design.Comment: 36 pages; manuscript unchanged from July 21, 2008, except for updated
references; content appears in September 2008 PhD thesi
Mixed Phase in Compact Starts : M-R relations and radial oscillations
It is believed that quark stars or neutron stars with mixed phase in the core
have smaller radii compared to ordinary compact stars. With the recent
observation of several low radius objects, typically a radius of for
star of mass in low mass X-ray binaries (LMXB), it has become very
important to understand the nature of these objects. An accurate determination
of mass-radius relationship of these objects provide us with a physical
laboratory to study the composition of high density matter and the nature of
phase transition. We study the effect of quark and nuclear matter mixed phase
on mass radius relationship and radial oscillations of neutron stars. We find
that the effect of the mixed phase is to decrease the maximum mass of a stable
neutron star and to decrease the radial frequencies .Comment: guest contribution at Int. Workshop on Astronomy & Relativistic
Astrophysics (IWARA 03)held at Olinda-PE (Brazil) from Oct. 12-17,200
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