9,114 research outputs found
A study of longitudinal oscillations of propellant tanks and wave propagations in feed lines. Part II - Wave propagation in elastic pipe filled with incompressible viscous fluid
Fluid wave propagation in liquid propellant feed syste
Parametric Level Set Methods for Inverse Problems
In this paper, a parametric level set method for reconstruction of obstacles
in general inverse problems is considered. General evolution equations for the
reconstruction of unknown obstacles are derived in terms of the underlying
level set parameters. We show that using the appropriate form of parameterizing
the level set function results a significantly lower dimensional problem, which
bypasses many difficulties with traditional level set methods, such as
regularization, re-initialization and use of signed distance function.
Moreover, we show that from a computational point of view, low order
representation of the problem paves the path for easier use of Newton and
quasi-Newton methods. Specifically for the purposes of this paper, we
parameterize the level set function in terms of adaptive compactly supported
radial basis functions, which used in the proposed manner provides flexibility
in presenting a larger class of shapes with fewer terms. Also they provide a
"narrow-banding" advantage which can further reduce the number of active
unknowns at each step of the evolution. The performance of the proposed
approach is examined in three examples of inverse problems, i.e., electrical
resistance tomography, X-ray computed tomography and diffuse optical
tomography
Microfabricated Silicon Mixers for Submillisecond Quench-Flow Analysis
Elucidation of fast chemical reactions such as protein folding requires resolution on a submillisecond time scale. However, most quench-flow and stop-flow techniques only allow chemical processes to be studied after a few milliseconds have elapsed. In order to shorten the minimum observation time for quench-flow experiments, we designed a miniaturized mixer assembly. Two “T” mixers connected by a channel are etched into a 1 cm × 1 cm silicon chip which is interfaced with a commercially available quench-flow instrument. Decreasing the volume of the mixing chambers and the distance between them results in an instrument with greatly reduced dead times. As a test of submillisecond measurements, we studied the basic hydrolysis of phenyl chloroacetate. This reaction proceeds with a second-order rate constant, k = 430 M^(-1) s^(-1), and shows pseudo-first-order kinetics at high hydroxide concentrations. The chemical reaction data demonstrate that the silicon device is capable of initiating and quenching chemical reactions in time intervals as short as 110 μs. The performance of these mixers was further confirmed by visualization using acid-base indicators
Relationships between lower-body muscle structure and, lower-body strength, explosiveness and eccentric leg stiffness in adolescent athletes
The purpose of the present study was to determine whether any relationships were present between lower-body muscle structure and, lower-body strength, variables measured during a counter-movement jump (CMJ) and squat jump (SJ), and eccentric leg stiffness, in adolescent athletes. Thirty junior male (n = 23) and female (n = 7) surfing athletes (14.8 ± 1.7 y; 1.63 ± 0.09 m; 54.8 ± 12.1 kg) undertook lower-body muscle structure assessment with ultrasonography and performed a; CMJ, SJ and an isomet-ric mid-thigh pull (IMTP). In addition, eccentric leg stiffness was calculated from variables of the CMJ and IMTP. Moderate to very large relationships (r = 0.46-0.73) were identified be-tween the thickness of the vastus lateralis (VL) and lateral gas-trocnemius (LG) muscles, and VL pennation angle and; peak force (PF) in the CMJ, SJ and IMTP. Additionally, moderate to large relationships (r = 0.37-0.59) were found between eccentric leg stiffness and; VL and LG thickness, VL pennation angle, and LG fascicle length, with a large relationship (r = 0.59) also present with IMTP PF. These results suggest that greater thick-ness of the VL and LG were related to improved maximal dy-namic and isometric strength, likely due to increased hypertro-phy of the extensor muscles. Furthermore, this increased thickness was related to greater eccentric leg stiffness, as the associated enhanced lower-body strength likely allowed for greater neuromuscular activation, and hence less compliance, during a stretch-shortening cycle
Casimir Forces and Graphene Sheets
The Casimir force between two infinitely thin parallel sheets in a setting of
such sheets is found. The finite two-dimensional conductivities, which
describe the dispersive and absorptive properties of each sheet, are taken into
account, whereupon the theory is applied to interacting graphenes. By exploring
similarities with in-plane optical spectra for graphite, the conductivity of
graphene is modeled as a combination of Lorentz type oscillators. We find that
the graphene transparency and the existence of a universal constant
conductivity result in graphene/graphene Casimir interaction at
large separations to have the same distance dependence as the one for perfect
conductors but with much smaller magnitude
A two-state model for helicase translocation and unwinding of nucleic acids
Helicases are molecular motors that unwind double-stranded nucleic acids
(dsNA), such as DNA and RNA). Typically a helicase translocates along one of
the NA single strands while unwinding and uses adenosine triphosphate (ATP)
hydrolysis as an energy source. Here we model of a helicase motor that can
switch between two states, which could represent two different points in the
ATP hydrolysis cycle. Our model is an extension of the earlier
Betterton-J\"ulicher model of helicases to incorporate switching between two
states. The main predictions of the model are the speed of unwinding of the
dsNA and fluctuations around the average unwinding velocity. Motivated by a
recent claim that the NS3 helicase of Hepatitis C virus follows a flashing
ratchet mechanism, we have compared the experimental results for the NS3
helicase with a special limit of our model which corresponds to the flashing
ratchet scenario. Our model accounts for one key feature of the experimental
data on NS3 helicase. However, contradictory observations in experiments
carried out under different conditions limit the ability to compare the model
to experiments.Comment: minor modification
High resolution 10 mu spectrometry at different planetary latitudes. A practical Hadamard transform spectrometer for astronomical application
Infrared observations at different latitudes were studied in order to obtain spectra in the 10 micrometers region to understand differences in chemical composition or physical structure of the optical features. In order to receive such spectra of a rotating planet, simultaneous observations at different latitudes were made. A Hadamard transform spectrometer with 15 entrance slits was used to obtain 15 simultaneous spectra, at a resolution of 0.01 micrometers. The spectral band covered contained 255 spectral elements
Uniformization, Calogero-Moser/Heun duality and Sutherland/bubbling pants
Inspired by the work of Alday, Gaiotto and Tachikawa (AGT), we saw the
revival of Poincar{\'{e}}'s uniformization problem and Fuchsian equations
obtained thereof.
Three distinguished aspects are possessed by Fuchsian equations. First, they
are available via imposing a classical Liouville limit on level-two null-vector
conditions. Second, they fall into some A_1-type integrable systems. Third, the
stress-tensor present there (in terms of the Q-form) manifests itself as a kind
of one-dimensional "curve".
Thereby, a contact with the recently proposed Nekrasov-Shatashvili limit was
soon made on the one hand, whilst the seemingly mysterious derivation of
Seiberg-Witten prepotentials from integrable models become resolved on the
other hand. Moreover, AGT conjecture can just be regarded as a quantum version
of the previous Poincar{\'{e}}'s approach.
Equipped with these observations, we examined relations between spheric and
toric (classical) conformal blocks via Calogero-Moser/Heun duality. Besides, as
Sutherland model is also obtainable from Calogero-Moser by pinching tori at one
point, we tried to understand its eigenstates from the viewpoint of toric
diagrams with possibly many surface operators (toric branes) inserted. A
picture called "bubbling pants" then emerged and reproduced well-known results
of the non-critical self-dual c=1 string theory under a "blown-down" limit.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures; v2: corrections and references added; v3:
Section 2.4.1 newly added thanks to JHEP referee advice. That classical
four-point spheric conformal blocks reproducing known SW prepotentials is
demonstrated via more examples, to appear in JHEP; v4: TexStyle changed onl
Mgb2 Nonlinear Properties Investigated under Localized High RF Magnetic Field Excitation
In order to increase the accelerating gradient of Superconducting Radio
Frequency (SRF) cavities, Magnesium Diboride (MgB2) opens up hope because of
its high transition temperature and potential for low surface resistance in the
high RF field regime. However, due to the presence of the small superconducting
gap in the {\pi} band, the nonlinear response of MgB2 is potentially quite
large compared to a single gap s-wave superconductor (SC) such as Nb.
Understanding the mechanisms of nonlinearity coming from the two-band structure
of MgB2, as well as extrinsic sources, is an urgent requirement. A localized
and strong RF magnetic field, created by a magnetic write head, is integrated
into our nonlinear-Meissner-effect scanning microwave microscope [1]. MgB2
films with thickness 50 nm, fabricated by a hybrid physical-chemical vapor
deposition technique on dielectric substrates, are measured at a fixed location
and show a strongly temperature-dependent third harmonic response. We propose
that at least two mechanisms are responsible for this nonlinear response, one
of which involves vortex nucleation and penetration into the film. [1] T. M.
Tai, X. X. Xi, C. G. Zhuang, D. I. Mircea, S. M. Anlage, "Nonlinear Near-Field
Microwave Microscope for RF Defect Localization in Superconductors", IEEE
Trans. Appl. Supercond. 21, 2615 (2011).Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure
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