2,504 research outputs found
Orthotropic rotation-free thin shell elements
A method to simulate orthotropic behaviour in thin shell finite elements is
proposed. The approach is based on the transformation of shape function
derivatives, resulting in a new orthogonal basis aligned to a specified
preferred direction for all elements. This transformation is carried out solely
in the undeformed state leaving minimal additional impact on the computational
effort expended to simulate orthotropic materials compared to isotropic,
resulting in a straightforward and highly efficient implementation. This method
is implemented for rotation-free triangular shells using the finite element
framework built on the Kirchhoff--Love theory employing subdivision surfaces.
The accuracy of this approach is demonstrated using the deformation of a
pinched hemispherical shell (with a 18{\deg} hole) standard benchmark. To
showcase the efficiency of this implementation, the wrinkling of orthotropic
sheets under shear displacement is analyzed. It is found that orthotropic
subdivision shells are able to capture the wrinkling behavior of sheets
accurately for coarse meshes without the use of an additional wrinkling model.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure
Collapse of orthotropic spherical shells
We report on the buckling and subsequent collapse of orthotropic elastic
spherical shells under volume and pressure control. Going far beyond what is
known for isotropic shells, a rich morphological phase space with three
distinct regimes emerges upon variation of shell slenderness and degree of
orthotropy. Our extensive numerical simulations are in agreement with
experiments using fabricated polymer shells. The shell buckling pathways and
corresponding strain energy evolution are shown to depend strongly on material
orthotropy. We find surprisingly robust orthotropic structures with strong
similarities to stomatocytes and tricolpate pollen grains, suggesting that the
shape of several of Nature's collapsed shells could be understood from the
viewpoint of material orthotropy.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure
Half-Life of O
We have measured the half-life of O, a superallowed decay isotope. The O was produced by the
C(He,n)O reaction using a carbon aerogel target. A
low-energy ion beam of O was mass separated and implanted in a thin
beryllium foil. The beta particles were counted with plastic scintillator
detectors. We find s. This result is
higher than an average value from six earlier experiments, but agrees more
closely with the most recent previous measurement.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure
Water exchange at a hydrated platinum electrode is rare and collective
We use molecular dynamics simulations to study the exchange kinetics of water
molecules at a model metal electrode surface -- exchange between water
molecules in the bulk liquid and water molecules bound to the metal. This
process is a rare event, with a mean residence time of a bound water of about
40 ns for the model we consider. With analysis borrowed from the techniques of
rare-event sampling, we show how this exchange or desorption is controlled by
(1) reorganization of the hydrogen bond network within the adlayer of bound
water molecules, and by (2) interfacial density fluctuations of the bulk liquid
adjacent to the adlayer. We define collective coordinates that describe the
desorption mechanism. Spatial and temporal correlations associated with a
single event extend over nanometers and tens of picoseconds.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure
Nonlinear Dynamics of Capacitive Charging and Desalination by Porous Electrodes
The rapid and efficient exchange of ions between porous electrodes and
aqueous solutions is important in many applications, such as electrical energy
storage by super-capacitors, water desalination and purification by capacitive
deionization (or desalination), and capacitive extraction of renewable energy
from a salinity difference. Here, we present a unified mean-field theory for
capacitive charging and desalination by ideally polarizable porous electrodes
(without Faradaic reactions or specific adsorption of ions) in the limit of
thin double layers (compared to typical pore dimensions). We illustrate the
theory in the case of a dilute, symmetric, binary electrolyte using the
Gouy-Chapman-Stern (GCS) model of the double layer, for which simple formulae
are available for salt adsorption and capacitive charging of the diffuse part
of the double layer. We solve the full GCS mean-field theory numerically for
realistic parameters in capacitive deionization, and we derive reduced models
for two limiting regimes with different time scales: (i) In the
"super-capacitor regime" of small voltages and/or early times where the porous
electrode acts like a transmission line, governed by a linear diffusion
equation for the electrostatic potential, scaled to the RC time of a single
pore. (ii) In the "desalination regime" of large voltages and long times, the
porous electrode slowly adsorbs neutral salt, governed by coupled, nonlinear
diffusion equations for the pore-averaged potential and salt concentration
Amygdala fMRI Signal as a Predictor of Reaction Time
Reaction times (RTs) are a valuable measure for assessing cognitive processes. However, RTs are susceptible to confounds and therefore variable. Exposure to threat, for example, speeds up or slows down responses. Distinct task types to some extent account for differential effects of threat on RTs. But also do inter-individual differences like trait anxiety. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we investigated whether activation within the amygdala, a brain region closely linked to the processing of threat, may also function as a predictor of RTs, similar to trait anxiety scores. After threat conditioning by means of aversive electric shocks, 45 participants performed a choice RT task during alternating 30 s blocks in the presence of the threat conditioned stimulus [CS+] or of the safe control stimulus [CS-]. Trait anxiety was assessed with the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and participants were median split into a high- and a low-anxiety subgroup. We tested three hypotheses: (1) RTs will be faster during the exposure to threat compared to the safe condition in individuals with high trait anxiety. (2) The amygdala fMRI signal will be higher in the threat condition compared to the safe condition. (3) Amygdala fMRI signal prior to a RT trial will be correlated with the corresponding RT. We found that, the high-anxious subgroup showed faster responses in the threat condition compared to the safe condition, while the low-anxious subgroup showed no significant difference in RTs in the threat condition compared to the safe condition. Though the fMRI analysis did not reveal an effect of condition on amygdala activity, we found a trial-by-trial correlation between blood-oxygen-level-dependent signal within the right amygdala prior to the CRT task and the subsequent RT. Taken together, the results of this study showed that exposure to threat modulates task performance. This modulation is influenced by personality trait. Additionally and most importantly, activation in the amygdala predicts behavior in a simple task that is performed during the exposure to threat. This finding is in line with âattentional capture by threatââa model that includes the amygdala as a key brain region for the process that causes the response slowing
Mineral composition of hypogeous fungi in Hungary
In the course of the work, 93 samples from 17 hypogeous fungus species belonging to 6 genera were taken from various habitats in Hungary and were analysed for the concentrations of 22 elements using the inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy ICP method. All the measurements were made in three independent replications.The data were compared with the element contents of 625 epigeous fungi, previously determined using the same method. For all the genera, the elements present in the highest concentrations on a dry matter basis were potassium (6990-29590 ppm) and phosphorus (3400-9140 ppm). These were followed by the macroelements calcium (330-2190 ppm), magnesium (810-1000 ppm) and sodium (110-2990), and the microelements aluminium (30-450 ppm), zinc (60-340 ppm), iron (30-120 ppm) and copper (25-75 ppm), in different orders for each genus.Until now the element contents of fungi have mostly been analysed to determine the nutritional value of edible fungi, and the data on other elements for instance total minerals are insuffi cient for further comparisons (MATTILA et al., 2001).Very little work has been published on the mineral contents of hypogeous large fungi, despite the fact that these include commercially important species such as Tuber aestivum and T. melanosporum (IAN et al., 2003). Most of the previous papers exhibited the following characteristics: (1) some species (e.g. Terfezia species, Tuber melanosporum) were investigated more frequently, and others rarely, if at all; (2) the analyses concentrated chiefly on toxicological and/or environmental aspects; (3) measurements were only made on a few elements (important from the nutritional point of view); (4) only cultivated fungi were included in the studies. The aim of the present work was to determine the element contents of various species of hypogeous fungi in order to answer the following questions: (1) Which characteristic differences can be observed between the element contents of hypogeous and epigeous fungi? (2) Which differences characterise the element contents of various genera of hypogeous fungi? (3) Is there any signifi cant difference between the element contents of hypogeous Ascomycota and Basidiomycota genera? (4) Can any significant difference be observed between the element contents of edible and non-edible hypogeous fungi
In search of optimal stocking regimes in semi-arid grazing lands : one size does not fit all
We discuss the search for optimal stocking regimes in semi-arid grazing lands. We argue that âone size does not fit allâ and that different stocking regimes are appropriate under different conditions. This paper is an attempt to move beyond polarization of the current debate towards a more integrative and flexible approach to grazing management. We propose five different conditions as major influences on grazing regimes: environmental variability and predictability; degradation and thresholds; property right regimes; discount rates; and market stability and prices. We suggest a lack of connection between the micro-economics literature and natural science and social-anthropological literature. It is timely to achieve greater integration around some key questions and hypotheses, and recognize that policy prescriptions at national or even regional levels are likely to have limited value due to context specificity
Mobile Object Tracking in Panoramic Video and LiDAR for Radiological Source-Object Attribution and Improved Source Detection
The addition of contextual sensors to mobile radiation sensors provides
valuable information about radiological source encounters that can assist in
adjudication of alarms. This study explores how computer-vision based object
detection and tracking analyses can be used to augment radiological data from a
mobile detector system. We study how contextual information (streaming video
and LiDAR) can be used to associate dynamic pedestrians or vehicles with
radiological alarms to enhance both situational awareness and detection
sensitivity. Possible source encounters were staged in a mock urban environment
where participants included pedestrians and vehicles moving in the vicinity of
an intersection. Data was collected with a vehicle equipped with 6 NaI(Tl) 2
inch times 4 inch times 16 inch detectors in a hexagonal arrangement and
multiple cameras, LiDARs, and an IMU. Physics-based models that describe the
expected count rates from tracked objects are used to correlate vehicle and/or
pedestrian trajectories to measured count-rate data through the use of Poisson
maximum likelihood estimation and to discern between source-carrying and
non-source-carrying objects. In this work, we demonstrate the capabilities of
our source-object attribution approach as applied to a mobile detection system
in the presence of moving sources to improve both detection sensitivity and
situational awareness in a mock urban environment
Modulating attentional load affects numerosity estimation: evidence against a pre-attentive subitizing mechanism
Traditionally, the visual enumeration of a small number of items (1 to about 4), referred to as subitizing, has been thought of as a parallel and pre-attentive process and functionally different from the serial attentive enumeration of larger numerosities. We tested this hypothesis by employing a dual task paradigm that systematically manipulated the attentional resources available to an enumeration task. Enumeration accuracy for small numerosities was severely decreased as more attentional resources were taken away from the numerical task, challenging the traditionally held notion of subitizing as a pre-attentive, capacity-independent process. Judgement of larger numerosities was also affected by dual task conditions and attentional load. These results challenge the proposal that small numerosities are enumerated by a mechanism separate from large numerosities and support the idea of a single, attention-demanding enumeration mechanism
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