3,382 research outputs found
Stability of the Magnetic Monopole Condensate in three- and four-colour QCD
It is argued that the ground state of three- and four-colour QCD contains a
monopole condensate, necessary for the dual Meissner effect to be the mechanism
of confinement, and support its stability on the grounds that it gives the
off-diagonal gluons an effective mass sufficient to remove the unstable ground
state mode.Comment: jhep.cls, typos corrected, references added, some content delete
The Administration of Senior Design Projects in a Distance Learning Environment
A method for administering a senior level capstone design course in Electrical Engineering Technology in a distance learning environment is described. Several avenues are explored that help the students successfully conceive, develop, and present their design projects from off- campus locations that are consistent with the requirements placed upon their on-campus peers. Several problems that are unique to offering a senior project course in a distance learning environment are explored and solutions are described
Shaping of molecular weight distribution by iterative learning probability density function control strategies
A mathematical model is developed for the molecular weight distribution (MWD) of free-radical styrene polymerization in a simulated semi-batch reactor system. The generation function technique and moment method are employed to establish the MWD model in the form of Schultz-Zimmdistribution. Both static and dynamic models are described in detail. In order to achieve the closed-loop MWD shaping by output probability density function (PDF) control, the dynamic MWD model is further developed by a linear B-spline approximation. Based on the general form of the B-spline MWD model, iterative learning PDF control strategies have been investigated in order to improve the MWD control performance. Discussions on the simulation studies show the advantages and limitations of the methodology
Elastic energy of proteins and the stages of protein folding
We propose a universal elastic energy for proteins, which depends only on the
radius of gyration and the residue number . It is constructed using
physical arguments based on the hydrophobic effect and hydrogen bonding.
Adjustable parameters are fitted to data from the computer simulation of the
folding of a set of proteins using the CSAW (conditioned self-avoiding walk)
model. The elastic energy gives rise to scaling relations of the form
in different regions. It shows three folding stages
characterized by the progression with exponents , which we
identify as the unfolded stage, pre-globule, and molten globule, respectively.
The pre-globule goes over to the molten globule via a break in behavior akin to
a first-order phase transition, which is initiated by a sudden acceleration of
hydrogen bonding
Self-Assembly of Patchy Particles into Polymer Chains: A Parameter-Free Comparison between Wertheim Theory and Monte Carlo Simulation
We numerically study a simple fluid composed of particles having a hard-core
repulsion, complemented by two short-ranged attractive (sticky) spots at the
particle poles, which provides a simple model for equilibrium polymerization of
linear chains. The simplicity of the model allows for a close comparison, with
no fitting parameters, between simulations and theoretical predictions based on
the Wertheim perturbation theory, a unique framework for the analytic
prediction of the properties of self-assembling particle systems in terms of
molecular parameter and liquid state correlation functions. This theory has not
been subjected to stringent tests against simulation data for ordering across
the polymerization transition. We numerically determine many of the
thermodynamic properties governing this basic form of self-assembly (energy per
particle, order parameter or average fraction of particles in the associated
state, average chain length, chain length distribution, average end-to-end
distance of the chains, and the static structure factor) and find that
predictions of the Wertheim theory accord remarkably well with the simulation
results
Molecular Dynamics Study of Orientational Cooperativity in Water
Recent experiments on liquid water show collective dipole orientation
fluctuations dramatically slower then expected (with relaxation time 50 ns)
[D. P. Shelton, Phys. Rev. B {\bf 72}, 020201(R) (2005)]. Molecular dynamics
simulations of SPC/E water show large vortex-like structure of dipole field at
ambient conditions surviving over 300 ps [J. Higo at al. PNAS, {\bf 98} 5961
(2001)]. Both results disagree with previous results on water dipoles in
similar conditions, for which autocorrelation times are a few ps. Motivated by
these recent results, we study the water dipole reorientation using molecular
dynamics simulations in bulk SPC/E water for temperatures ranging from ambient
300 K down to the deep supercooled region of the phase diagram at 210 K. First,
we calculate the dipole autocorrelation function and find that our simulations
are well-described by a stretched exponential decay, from which we calculate
the {\it orientational autocorrelation time} . Second, we define a
second characteristic time, namely the time required for the randomization of
molecular dipole orientation, the {\it self-dipole randomization time}
, which is an upper limit on ; we find that
. Third, to check if there are correlated domains
of dipoles in water which have large relaxation times compared to the
individual dipoles, we calculate the randomization time of the
site-dipole field, the net dipole moment formed by a set of molecules belonging
to a box of edge . We find that the {\it site-dipole randomization
time} for \AA, i.e.
it is shorter than the same quantity calculated for the self-dipole. Finally,
we find that the orientational correlation length is short even at low .Comment: 25 Pages, 10 figure
How social structure shapes female competition throughout her lifetime
Many studies find a consistent gender gap in competitiveness where men are more likely to compete than women given the same level of ability. Using data from experiments with women ages 12 through 90 in matrilocal and patrilocal communities in rural Malawi, we show that this gender gap does not exist uniformly for all women nor across their whole lifetime. We first replicate three main findings from the gender and competition literature: (i) women are less likely to compete on average; and the gender gap differs by (ii) culture and by (iii) age. In a new finding, we show that the gender gap changes in a theoretically-predicted manner with motherhood status. We argue that these results, when combined, point to an overarching theory of gender and competition–one that is driven by environmental constraints that vary with age, fertility, and social structure. © 202
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