Energetics of rocked inhomogeneous ratchets

We study the efficiency of frictional thermal ratchets driven by finite frequency driving force and in contact with a heat bath. The efficiency exhibits varied behavior with driving frequency. Both nonmonotonic and monotonic behavior have been observed. In particular the magnitude of efficiency in finite frequency regime may be more than the efficiency in the adiabatic regime. This is our central result for rocked ratchets. We also show that for the simple potential we have chosen, the presence of only spatial asymmetry (homogeneous system) or only frictional ratchet (symmetric potential profile), the adiabatic efficiency is always more than in the nonadiabatic case.Comment: 5 figure

CONTACT ANGLE MEASUREMENT OF DENTAL RESTORATIVE MATERIALS BY DROP PROFILE IMAGE ANALYSIS

The capability of initial microbial adhesion to dental restorative composites surface is influenced by the surface wettability of the materials. The common method to evaluate surface wettability of materials is contact angle measurement. The existing conventional method to measure contact angle is by means of a contact angle (CA)-Goniometer device, which is less practically applicable in clinical circumstances. Therefore, a more practical and applicable method is needed to measure contact angle in clinical circumstances. This research was performed to compare between contact angles measured by means of a CA-Goniometer device and a new practical method of drop profile image analysis. In addition, since there were two different formulas that can be used to calculate contact angle value from a drop profile image, then we also need to evaluate which formula is more reliable to be used. Tests were carried out using three composite discs (Clearfill-Kuraray Medical, Inc.) sample and deionised water for different measurement procedures. One drop of 3µl liquid was dropped onto the surface of the composite discs, and the drop profile image was captured by means of a customized home-made device connected to a digital camera. Two different formulas were used to calculate the contact angle value from the drop profile image, namely the “linier gradient equation” and the “tangential line”. The contact angle values obtained from the two different formulas were compared with the value obtained from the conventional method descriptively. Tests were carried out using three composite discs (Clearfill-Kuraray Medical, Inc.) sample and deionised water for different measurement procedures. One drop of 3µl liquid was dropped onto the surface of the composite discs, and the drop profile image was captured by means of a customized home-made device connected to a digital camera. Two different formulas were used to calculate the contact angle value from the drop profile image, namely the “linier gradient equation” and the “tangential line”. The contact angle values obtained from the two different formulas were compared with the value obtained from the conventional method descriptively. The differences in percentage between the contact angle value calculated by the “linier gradient equation” and “tangential line” formulas, and those calculated by means of the CA-Goniometer are 20,56% and 3,51%, respectively. It is obviously demonstrated that the value obtained by the “tangential line” formula has a smaller difference compared to those obtained by the “linier equation gradient” formula. Among the two different formulas, it is confirmed that the contact angle value calculated with the “tangential line” formula has closer similarity with the value obtained from the CA-Goniometer. This result confirms that the new practical method of drop profile image analysis is promising for measuring contact angle values in clinical circumstances. Related to the drop profile image analysis, the “tangential line” formula is more accurate compared to the “linier gradient equation” formula

Byzantine Stochastic Gradient Descent

This paper studies the problem of distributed stochastic optimization in an adversarial setting where, out of the $m$ machines which allegedly compute stochastic gradients every iteration, an $\alpha$-fraction are Byzantine, and can behave arbitrarily and adversarially. Our main result is a variant of stochastic gradient descent (SGD) which finds $\varepsilon$-approximate minimizers of convex functions in $T = \tilde{O}\big( \frac{1}{\varepsilon^2 m} + \frac{\alpha^2}{\varepsilon^2} \big)$ iterations. In contrast, traditional mini-batch SGD needs $T = O\big( \frac{1}{\varepsilon^2 m} \big)$ iterations, but cannot tolerate Byzantine failures. Further, we provide a lower bound showing that, up to logarithmic factors, our algorithm is information-theoretically optimal both in terms of sampling complexity and time complexity

Wormholes in String Theory

A wormhole is constructed by cutting and joining two spacetimes satisfying the low energy string equations with a dilaton field. In spacetimes described by the "string metric" the dilaton energy-momentum tensor need not satisfy the weak or dominant energy conditions. In the cases considered here the dilaton field violates these energy conditions and is the source of the exotic matter required to maintain the wormhole. There is also a surface stress-energy, that must be produced by additional matter, where the spacetimes are joined. It is shown that wormholes can be constructed for which this additional matter satisfies the weak and dominant energy conditions, so that it could be a form of "normal" matter. Charged dilaton wormholes with a coupling between the dilaton and the electromagnetic field that is more general than in string theory are also briefly discussed.Comment: 9 pages, LaTex, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Karakter Morfologi dan Potensi Produksi Beberapa Aksesi Sagu (Metroxylon Spp.) di Kabupaten Sorong Selatan, Papua Barat

Sago palm is a carbohydrate source which has the highest carbohydrate content compared to the other crops. It can produce about 200-400 kg per trunk of sago dry starch. More than 50% sago palm population in the world are grown in Indonesia and 90% sago palm in Indonesia is found in Papua. This research was aimed to characterize several sago palm accessions in South Sorong District, West Papua. There were 12 accessions observed, i.e. Fasai, Fasampe, Falia, Fanomik, Fasongka, Fafion, Fakattao, Fanke, Fablen, Failik, Fakreit and Fasinan. Among these accessions, there were many differences based on morphological characteristics such as shoots color, crown shape, trunk height, number of leaf, existence of spine, starch content, also pith and starch color. Fablen was the only non-spiny type. Most of sago accessions were high yielding accessions with the potential yield more than 200 kg per trunk of sago dry starch. Fanomik had the highest potential yield. Sago palm productivity in the natural forest of Saifi Subdistrict, South Sorong District, West Papua was estimated to reach approximately 34.59 ton ha-1 per year of sago dry starch

Supersymmetric reduced models with a symmetry based on Filippov algebra

Generalizations of the reduced model of super Yang-Mills theory obtained by replacing the Lie algebra structure to Filippov $n$-algebra structures are studied. Conditions for the reduced model actions to be supersymmetric are examined. These models are related with what we call \{cal N}_{min}=2 super $p$-brane actions.Comment: v3: In the previous versions we overlooked that Eq.(3.9) holds more generally, and missed some supersymmetric actions. Those are now included and modifications including a slight change in the title were made accordingly. 1+18 page

Exchange Field Induced Magnetoresistance in Colossal Magnetoresistance Manganites

The effect of an exchange field on electrical transport in thin films of metallic ferromagnetic manganites has been investigated. The exchange field was induced both by direct exchange coupling in a ferromagnet/antiferromagnet multilayer and by indirect exchange interaction in a ferromagnet/paramagnet superlattice. The electrical resistance of the manganite layers was found to be determined by the absolute value of the vector sum of the effective exchange field and the external magnetic field.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Taxonomy of particles in Ising spin chains

The statistical mechanics of particles with shapes on a one-dimensional lattice is investigated in the context of the $s=1$ Ising chain with uniform nearest-neighbor coupling, quadratic single-site potential, and magnetic field, which supports four distinct ground states: $|\uparrow\downarrow\uparrow\downarrow...>$, $|\circ\circ...>$, $|\uparrow\uparrow...>$, $|\uparrow\circ\uparrow\circ...>$. The complete spectrum is generated from each ground state by particles from a different set of six or seven species. Particles and elements of pseudo-vacuum are characterized by motifs (patterns of several consecutive site variables). Particles are floating objects that can be placed into open slots on the lattice. Open slots are recognized as permissible links between motifs. The energy of a particle varies between species but is independent of where it is placed. Placement of one particle changes the open-slot configuration for particles of all species. This statistical interaction is encoded in a generalized Pauli principle, from which the multiplicity of states for a given particle combination is determined and used for the exact statistical mechanical analysis. Particles from all species belong to one of four categories: compacts, hosts, tags, or hybrids. Compacts and hosts find open slots in segments of pseudo-vacuum. Tags find open slots inside hosts. Hybrids are tags with hosting capability. In the taxonomy of particles proposed here, `species' is indicative of structure and `category' indicative of function. The hosting function splits the Pauli principle into exclusion and accommodation parts. Near phase boundaries, the state of the Ising chain at low temperature is akin to that of miscible or immiscible liquids with particles from one species acting as surfactant molecules.Comment: 12 pages, 6 tables, 6 figure