2,318 research outputs found
New numerical approaches for modeling thermochemical convection in a compositionally stratified fluid
Seismic imaging of the mantle has revealed large and small scale
heterogeneities in the lower mantle; specifically structures known as large low
shear velocity provinces (LLSVP) below Africa and the South Pacific. Most
interpretations propose that the heterogeneities are compositional in nature,
differing in composition from the overlying mantle, an interpretation that
would be consistent with chemical geodynamic models. Numerical modeling of
persistent compositional interfaces presents challenges, even to
state-of-the-art numerical methodology. For example, some numerical algorithms
for advecting the compositional interface cannot maintain a sharp compositional
boundary as the fluid migrates and distorts with time dependent fingering due
to the numerical diffusion that has been added in order to maintain the upper
and lower bounds on the composition variable and the stability of the advection
method. In this work we present two new algorithms for maintaining a sharper
computational boundary than the advection methods that are currently openly
available to the computational mantle convection community; namely, a
Discontinuous Galerkin method with a Bound Preserving limiter and a
Volume-of-Fluid interface tracking algorithm. We compare these two new methods
with two approaches commonly used for modeling the advection of two distinct,
thermally driven, compositional fields in mantle convection problems; namely,
an approach based on a high-order accurate finite element method advection
algorithm that employs an artificial viscosity technique to maintain the upper
and lower bounds on the composition variable as well as the stability of the
advection algorithm and the advection of particles that carry a scalar quantity
representing the location of each compositional field. All four of these
algorithms are implemented in the open source FEM code ASPECT
Mixing and Accretion in lambda Bootis Stars
Strong evidence for deep mixing has been uncovered for slowly rotating F, and
A stars of the main sequence. As the accretion/diffusion model for the
formation of lboo stars is heavily dependent on mixing in superficial regions,
such deep mixing may have important repercussions on our understanding of these
stars. It is shown that deep mixing at a level similar to that of FmAm stars
increases the amount of matter that needs to be accreted by the stars with
respect with the standard models by some three orders of magnitude. It is also
shown that significantly larger accretion rates have to be maintained, as high
as ~M_\sun yr^{-1}, to prevent meridional circulation from
canceling the effect of accretion. The existence of old (~Gyr) is
not a likely outcome of the present models for accretion/diffusion with or
without deep mixing. It is argued that lboo stars are potentially very good
diagnostics of mixing mechanisms in moderately fast rotators.Comment: To appear in Astrophysical Journal Letters. 4 pages, 2 fgure
Network of recurrent events for the Olami-Feder-Christensen model
We numerically study the dynamics of a discrete spring-block model introduced
by Olami, Feder and Christensen (OFC) to mimic earthquakes and investigate to
which extent this simple model is able to reproduce the observed spatiotemporal
clustering of seismicty. Following a recently proposed method to characterize
such clustering by networks of recurrent events [Geophys. Res. Lett. {\bf 33},
L1304, 2006], we find that for synthetic catalogs generated by the OFC model
these networks have many non-trivial statistical properties. This includes
characteristic degree distributions -- very similar to what has been observed
for real seismicity. There are, however, also significant differences between
the OFC model and earthquake catalogs indicating that this simple model is
insufficient to account for certain aspects of the spatiotemporal clustering of
seismicity.Comment: 11 pages, 16 figure
Origin and thermal evolution of Mars
The thermal evolution of Mars is governed by subsolidus mantle convection beneath a thick lithosphere. Models of the interior evolution are developed by parameterizing mantle convective heat transport in terms of mantle viscosity, the superadiabatic temperature rise across the mantle, and mantle heat production. Geological, geophysical, and geochemical observations of the compositon and structure of the interior and of the timing of major events in Martian evolution are used to constrain the model computations. Such evolutionary events include global differentiation, atmospheric outgassing, and the formation of the hemispherical dichotomy and Tharsis. Numerical calculations of fully three-dimensional, spherical convection in a shell the size of the Martian mantle are performed to explore plausible patterns of Martian mantel convection and to relate convective features, such as plumes, to surface features, such as Tharsis. The results from the model calculations are presented
Multiple Invaded Consolidating Materials
We study a multiple invasion model to simulate corrosion or intrusion
processes. Estimated values for the fractal dimension of the invaded region
reveal that the critical exponents vary as function of the generation number
, i.e., with the number of times the invasion process takes place. The
averaged mass of the invaded region decreases with a power-law as a
function of , , where the exponent . We
also find that the fractal dimension of the invaded cluster changes from
to . This result confirms that the
multiple invasion process follows a continuous transition from one universality
class (NTIP) to another (optimal path). In addition, we report extensive
numerical simulations that indicate that the mass distribution of avalanches
has a power-law behavior and we find that the exponent
governing the power-law changes continuously as a
function of the parameter . We propose a scaling law for the mass
distribution of avalanches for different number of generations .Comment: 8 pages and 16 figure
Scaling Analysis and Evolution Equation of the North Atlantic Oscillation Index Fluctuations
The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) monthly index is studied from 1825 till
2002 in order to identify the scaling ranges of its fluctuations upon different
delay times and to find out whether or not it can be regarded as a Markov
process. A Hurst rescaled range analysis and a detrended fluctuation analysis
both indicate the existence of weakly persistent long range time correlations
for the whole scaling range and time span hereby studied. Such correlations are
similar to Brownian fluctuations. The Fokker-Planck equation is derived and
Kramers-Moyal coefficients estimated from the data. They are interpreted in
terms of a drift and a diffusion coefficient as in fluid mechanics. All partial
distribution functions of the NAO monthly index fluctuations have a form close
to a Gaussian, for all time lags, in agreement with the findings of the scaling
analyses. This indicates the lack of predictive power of the present NAO
monthly index. Yet there are some deviations for large (and thus rare) events.
Whence suggestions for other measurements are made if some improved
predictability of the weather/climate in the North Atlantic is of interest. The
subsequent Langevin equation of the NAO signal fluctuations is explicitly
written in terms of the diffusion and drift parameters, and a characteristic
time scale for these is given in appendix.Comment: 6 figures, 54 refs., 16 pages; submitted to Int. J. Mod. Phys. C:
Comput. Phy
High-Speed Burring with and without the Use of Surgical Adjuvants in the Intralesional Management of Giant Cell Tumor of Bone: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Local control rates for Giant Cell Tumor of Bone (GCT) have been reported in a large number of retrospective series. However, there remains a lack of consensus with respect to the need for a surgical adjuvant when intralesional curettage is performed. We have systematically reviewed the literature and identified six studies in which two groups from the same patient cohort were treated with intralesional curettage and high-speed burring with or without a chemical or thermal adjuvant. Studies were evaluated for quality and pooled data was analyzed using the fixed effects model. Data from 387 patients did not indicate improved local control with the use of surgical adjuvants. Given the available data, we conclude that surgical adjuvants are not required when meticulous tumor removal is performed
Statistics of Advective Stretching in Three-dimensional Incompressible Flows
We present a method to quantify kinematic stretching in incompressible, unsteady, isoviscous, three-dimensional flows. We extend the method of Kellogg and Turcotte (J. Geophys. Res. 95:421–432, 1990) to compute the axial stretching/thinning experienced by infinitesimal ellipsoidal strain markers in arbitrary three-dimensional incompressible flows and discuss the differences between our method and the computation of Finite Time Lyapunov Exponent (FTLE). We use the cellular flow model developed in Solomon and Mezic (Nature 425:376–380, 2003) to study the statistics of stretching in a three-dimensional unsteady cellular flow. We find that the probability density function of the logarithm of normalised cumulative stretching (log S) for a globally chaotic flow, with spatially heterogeneous stretching behavior, is not Gaussian and that the coefficient of variation of the Gaussian distribution does not decrease with time as
. However, it is observed that stretching becomes exponential log S∼t and the probability density function of log S becomes Gaussian when the time dependence of the flow and its three-dimensionality are increased to make the stretching behaviour of the flow more spatially uniform. We term these behaviors weak and strong chaotic mixing respectively. We find that for strongly chaotic mixing, the coefficient of variation of the Gaussian distribution decreases with time as
. This behavior is consistent with a random multiplicative stretching process
Cerebral Asymmetry in Insomnia Sufferers
Cerebral asymmetry is used to describe the differences in electroencephalographic activity between regions of the brain. The objective of this study was to document frontal, central, and parietal asymmetry in psychophysiological (Psy-I) and paradoxical (Para-I) insomnia sufferers as well as good sleeper (GS) controls, and to compare their patterns of asymmetry to others already found in anxiety and depression. Additionally, asymmetry variations between nights were assessed. Participants were 17 Psy-I, 14 Para-I, and 19 GS (mean age = 40 years, SD = 9.4). They completed three nights of polysomnography (PSG) recordings following a clinical evaluation in a sleep laboratory. All sleep cycles of Nights 2 and 3 were retained for power spectral analysis. The absolute activity in frequency bands (0.00–125.00 Hz) was computed at multiple frontal, central, and parietal sites in rapid eye movement and non-rapid eye movement sleep to provide cerebral asymmetry measures. Mixed model ANOVAs were computed to assess differences between groups and nights. Correlations were performed with asymmetry and symptoms of depression and anxiety from self-reported questionnaires. Over the course of the two nights, Para-I tended to present hypoactivation of their left frontal region but hyperactivation of their right one compared with GS. As for Psy-I, they presented increased activation of their right parietal region compared with Para-I. Asymmetry at frontal, central, and parietal region differed between nights. On a more disrupted night of sleep, Psy-I had increased activity in their right parietal region while Para-I presented a decrease in cerebral activity in the right central region on their less disrupted night of sleep. Anxious and depressive symptoms did not correlate with asymmetry at any region. Therefore, Psy-I and Para-I present unique patterns of cerebral asymmetry that do not relate to depression or anxiety, and asymmetry varies between nights, maybe as a consequence of variability in objective sleep quality from night to night
Analysis of Self-Organized Criticality in the Olami-Feder-Christensen model and in real earthquakes
We perform a new analysis on the dissipative Olami-Feder-Christensen model on
a small world topology considering avalanche size differences. We show that
when criticality appears the Probability Density Functions (PDFs) for the
avalanche size differences at different times have fat tails with a q-Gaussian
shape. This behaviour does not depend on the time interval adopted and is found
also when considering energy differences between real earthquakes. Such a
result can be analytically understood if the sizes (released energies) of the
avalanches (earthquakes) have no correlations. Our findings support the
hypothesis that a self-organized criticality mechanism with long-range
interactions is at the origin of seismic events and indicate that it is not
possible to predict the magnitude of the next earthquake knowing those of the
previous ones.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. New version accepted for publication on PRE Rapid
Communication
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