1,161 research outputs found
Mechanical versus thermodynamical melting in pressure-induced amorphization: the role of defects
We study numerically an atomistic model which is shown to exhibit a one--step
crystal--to--amorphous transition upon decompression. The amorphous phase
cannot be distinguished from the one obtained by quenching from the melt. For a
perfectly crystalline starting sample, the transition occurs at a pressure at
which a shear phonon mode destabilizes, and triggers a cascade process leading
to the amorphous state. When defects are present, the nucleation barrier is
greatly reduced and the transformation occurs very close to the extrapolation
of the melting line to low temperatures. In this last case, the transition is
not anticipated by the softening of any phonon mode. Our observations reconcile
different claims in the literature about the underlying mechanism of pressure
amorphization.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure
When the spatial networks split?
We consider a three dimensional spatial network, where nodes are randomly
distributed within a cube . Each two nodes are connected if
their mutual distance does not excess a given cutoff . We analyse
numerically the probability distribution of the critical density
, where one or more nodes become separated; is
found to increase with as , where is between 20 and 300. The
results can be useful for a design of protocols to control sets of wearable
sensors.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, prepared for the Physical, Biological and Social
Networks - Workshop in the International Conference on Computational Science
ICCS 200
A mechanism for randomness
We investigate explicit functions that can produce truly random numbers. We
use the analytical properties of the explicit functions to show that certain
class of autonomous dynamical systems can generate random dynamics. This
dynamics presents fundamental differences with the known chaotic systems. We
present realphysical systems that can produce this kind of random time-series.
We report theresults of real experiments with nonlinear circuits containing
direct evidence for this new phenomenon. In particular, we show that a
Josephson junction coupled to a chaotic circuit can generate unpredictable
dynamics. Some applications are discussed.Comment: Accepted in Physics Letters A (2002). 11 figures (.eps
Natural Rolling Responses of a Delta Wing in Transonic and Subsonic Flows
The unsteady, three-dimensional, full Navier-Stokes (NS) equations and the Euler equations of rigid-body dynamics are sequentially solved to simulate the natural rolling response of slender delta wings of zero thickness at moderate to high angles of attack, to transonic and subsonic flows. The governing equations of fluid flow and dynamics of the present multi-disciplinary problem are solved using the time-accurate solution of the NS equations with the implicit, upwind, Roe flux-difference splitting, finite-volume scheme and a four-stage Runge-Kutta scheme, respectively. The main focus is to analyze the effect of Mach number and angle of attack on the leading edge vortices and their breakdown, the resultant rolling motion, and overall aerodynamic response of the wing. Three cases demonstrate the natural response of a 65 deg swept, cropped delta wing in a transonic flow with breakdown of the leading edge vortices and an 80 deg swept delta wing in a subsonic flow undergoing either damped or self-excited limit-cycle rolling oscillations as a function of angle of attack. Comparisons with an experimental investigation completes this study, validating the analysis and illustrating the complex details afforded by computational investigations
Combined local and equilateral non-Gaussianities from multifield DBI inflation
We study multifield aspects of Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) inflation. More
specifically, we consider an inflationary phase driven by the radial motion of
a D-brane in a conical throat and determine how the D-brane fluctuations in the
angular directions can be converted into curvature perturbations when the
tachyonic instability arises at the end of inflation. The simultaneous presence
of multiple fields and non-standard kinetic terms gives both local and
equilateral shapes for non-Gaussianities in the bispectrum. We also study the
trispectrum, pointing out that it acquires a particular momentum dependent
component whose amplitude is given by . We show that
this relation is valid in every multifield DBI model, in particular for any
brane trajectory, and thus constitutes an interesting observational signature
of such scenarios.Comment: 38 pages, 11 figures. Typos corrected; references added. This version
matches the one in press by JCA
SU(5) Unified Theories from Intersecting Branes
We discuss the first string theory examples of three generation
non-supersymmetric SU(5) and {\em flipped} SU(5) GUTS, which break to the
Standard model at low energy, without extra matter and/or gauge group factors.
Our GUT examples are based on IIA orientifolds with D6-branes
intersecting at non-trivial angles. These theories necessarily satisfy RR
tadpoles and are free of NSNS tadpoles as the complex structure moduli are
frozen (even though a dilaton tadpole remains) to discrete values. We identify
appropriately the bifundamental Higgses responsible for electroweak symmetry
breaking. In this way, the neutrino see-saw mechanism get nicely realized in
these constructions. Moreover, as baryon number is not a gauged symmetry gauge
mediated dimension six operators do contribute to proton decay; however proton
lifetime may be safely enhanced by appropriately choosing a high GUT scale. An
accompanying natural doublet-triplet splitting guarantees the suppression of
scalar mediated proton decay modes and the stability of triplet scalar masses
against higher dimensional non-renormalizable operators.Comment: 26 pages, 5 figures; no changes, one comment added in the
introductio
Correlates of accelerometry non-adherence in an economically disadvantaged minority urban adult population
Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine socio-demographic and psychosocial correlates of non-adherence to an accelerometry protocol in an economically disadvantaged urban population. Design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: We analyzed 985 New York City adult participants aged 18â81 years from the Physical Activity and Redesigned Community Spaces (PARCS) study. Participants were asked to wear a hip-worn ActiGraph GT3X-BT accelerometer for one week. Adherent accelerometer wear was defined as â„3 days of â„8 h/day of wear over a 7-day period and non-adherent accelerometry wear was defined as any wear less than adherent wear from returned accelerometers. Examined correlates of adherence included sociodemographic and psychosocial characteristics (e.g., general physical/mental health-related quality of life, self-efficacy for exercise, stress, sense of community/neighborhood well-being, and social cohesion). Results: From the total sample, 636 (64.6%) participants provided adherent wear and 349 (35.4%) provided non-adherent wear. In multivariable analysis, younger age (odds ratio [OR] = 0.63, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.53â0.75), poorer health-related quality of life (OR = 0.80, 95% CI: 0.65â0.98 for physical health and OR = 0.77, 95% CI: 0.62â0.94 for mental health), lower sense of community (OR = 0.79, 95% CI: 0.62â1.00) and current smoking status (OR = 1.97, 95% CI: 1.35â2.86) were associated with non-adherent wear. Conclusions: Non-adherent wear was associated with younger age, smoking, and lower self-reported physical/mental functioning and sense of community. This information can inform targeted adherence strategies to improve physical activity and sedentary behavior estimates from accelerometry data in future studies involving an urban minority population
B --> Phi K_S and Supersymmetry
The rare decay B --> Phi K_S is a well-known probe of physics beyond the
Standard Model because it arises only through loop effects yet has the same
time-dependent CP asymmetry as B --> Psi K_S. Motivated by recent data
suggesting new physics in B --> Phi K_S, we look to supersymmetry for possible
explanations, including contributions mediated by gluino loops and by Higgs
bosons. Chirality-preserving LL and RR gluino contributions are generically
small, unless gluinos and squarks masses are close to the current lower bounds.
Higgs contributions are also too small to explain a large asymmetry if we
impose the current upper limit on B(B_s --> mu mu). On the other hand,
chirality-flipping LR and RL gluino contributions can provide sizable effects
and while remaining consistent with related results in B --> Psi K_S, Delta
M_s, B --> X_s gamma and other processes. We discuss how the LR and RL
insertions can be distinguished using other observables, and we provide a
string-based model and other estimates to show that the needed sizes of mass
insertions are reasonable.Comment: 33 pages, 32 figures, Updated version for PRD. Includes discussions
of other recent works on this topic. Added discussions & plots for gluino
mass dependence and effects of theoretical uncertaintie
A sequential quadratic penalty method for nonlinear semidefinite programming
2003-2004 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journa
The Role of the Physical and Social Environment in Observed and Self-Reported Park Use in Low-Income Neighborhoods in New York City
Physical and social environments of parks and neighborhoods influence park use, but the extent of their relative influence remains unclear. This cross-sectional study examined the relationship between the physical and social environment of parks and both observed and self-reported park use in low-income neighborhoods in New York City. We conducted community- (n = 54 parks) and individual-level (n = 904 residents) analyses. At the community level, observed park use was measured using a validated park audit tool and regressed on the number of facilities and programmed activities in parks, violent crime, stop-and-frisk incidents, and traffic accidents. At the individual level, self-reported park use was regressed on perceived park quality, crime, traffic-related walkability, park use by others, and social cohesion and trust. Data were collected in 2016â2018 and analyzed in 2019â2020. At the community level, observed park use was negatively associated with stop-and-frisk (ÎČ = â0.04; SE = 0.02; p < 0.05) and positively associated with the number of park facilities (ÎČ = 1.46; SE = 0.57; p < 0.05) and events (ÎČ = 0.16; SE = 0.16; p < 0.01). At the individual level, self-reported park use was positively associated with the social cohesion and trust scale (ÎČ = 0.02; SE = 0.01; p < 0.05). These results indicate that physical and social attributes of parks, but not perceptions of parks, were significantly associated with park use. The social environment of neighborhoods at both community and individual levels was significantly related to park use. Policies for increasing park use should focus on improving the social environment of parks and surrounding communities, not only parks' physical attributes. These findings can inform urban planning and public health interventions aimed at improving the well-being of residents in low-income communities
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