The period-doubling of gravity-capillary waves

In this paper an attempt is made to explain the period-doubling of wind-generated gravity-capillary waves as observed in the experiment of Choi (1977). It is conjectured that period-doubling is closely related to the phenomenon of second-harmonic resonance. In order to obtain a simple dynamical model, results of McGoldrick (1970) and Simmons (1969) are extended to include the effect of wind input and shear in the current. For pure gravity–capillary waves (no wind, no current) the condition for energy transfer from the second harmonic to the fundamental wave of Chen & Saffman (1979) is recovered. We also discuss the effect of wind and we find that wind input gives rise to a very sudden period-doubling. Qualitative agreement with experiment is obtained

On a fourth-order envelope equation for deep-water waves

The ordinary nonlinear Schrödinger equation for deep-water waves (found by a perturbation analysis to O(ε^3) in the wave steepness ε) compares unfavourably with the exact calculations of Longuet-Higgins (1978) for ε > 0·10. Dysthe (1979) showed that a significant improvement is found by taking the perturbation analysis one step further to O(ε^4). One of the dominant new effects is the wave-induced mean flow. We elaborate the Dysthe approach by investigating the effect of the wave-induced flow on the long-time behaviour of the Benjamin–Feir instability. The occurrence of a wave-induced flow may give rise to a Doppler shift in the frequency of the carrier wave and therefore could explain the observed down-shift in experiment (Lake et al. 1977). However, we present arguments why this is not a proper explanation. Finally, we apply the Dysthe equations to a homogeneous random field of gravity waves and obtain the nonlinear energy-transfer function recently found by Dungey & Hui (1979)

Disordered Electrons in a Strong Magnetic Field: Transfer Matrix Approaches to the Statistics of the Local Density of States

We present two novel approaches to establish the local density of states as an order parameter field for the Anderson transition problem. We first demonstrate for 2D quantum Hall systems the validity of conformal scaling relations which are characteristic of order parameter fields. Second we show the equivalence between the critical statistics of eigenvectors of the Hamiltonian and of the transfer matrix, respectively. Based on this equivalence we obtain the order parameter exponent $\alpha_0\approx 3.4$ for 3D quantum Hall systems.Comment: 4 pages, 3 Postscript figures, corrected scale in Fig.

Ghrelin drives GH secretion during fasting in man

OBJECTIVES: In humans, fasting leads to elevated serum GH concentrations. Traditionally, changes in hypothalamic GH-releasing hormone and somatostatin release are considered as the main mechanisms that induce this elevated GH secretion during fasting. Ghrelin is an endogenous ligand of the GH secretagogue receptor and is synthesized in the stomach. As ghrelin administration in man stimulates GH release, while serum ghrelin concentrations are elevated during fasting in man, this increase in ghrelin levels might be another mechanism whereby fasting results in stimulation of GH release. DESIGN AND SUBJECTS: In ten healthy non-obese males we performed a double-blind placebo-controlled crossover study comparing fasting with and fasting without GH receptor blockade. GH, ghrelin, insulin, glucose and free fatty acids were assessed. RESULTS: While ghrelin levels do not vary considerably in the fed state, fasting rapidly induced a diurnal rhythm in ghrelin concentrations. These changes in serum ghrelin concentrations during fasting were followed by similar, profound changes in serum GH levels. The rapid development of a diurnal ghrelin rhythm could not be explained by changes in insulin, glucos