484 research outputs found
Ground Waves Generated by Pile Driving, and Structural Interaction
Pre-formed steel or concrete pile elements are installed by high energy impact or vibro-driver, which causes outgoing ground waves. In severe cases, adjacent buildings are at risk of damage. Assessment of risk is conventionally by reference to threshold limits of vibration. The global approach considers neither the interactive effects between ground and structure, nor frequency and duration. Here, firstly, the dynamics of a pile head impact and of the transmission of a portion of the energy into the ground were modelled by a combination of finite elements (FE), springs and dashpots. The boundary disturbances were then applied to a second model of the soil as an elastic half space. This outer model was constructed of axisymmetric finite and infinite elements for calibration against on-site measurements. The infinite elements (IE) represented a wider zone, and avoided spurious wave reflections at boundaries. Next, the verified ground disturbances adjacent to the pile were used as input to a three-dimensional FE/IE wedge-shaped model of a âsliceâ of the axisymmetric system. Various structural forms, of steel frame structures and of brick walls, were added, giving a dynamic soil-structure analysis. Results show the responses of flexible and stiff structures to outgoing waves caused by impact pile driving and vibro-driving
Electronic in-plane symmetry breaking at field-tuned quantum criticality in CeRhIn5
Electronic nematics are exotic states of matter where electronic interactions
break a rotational symmetry of the underlying lattice, in analogy to the
directional alignment without translational order in nematic liquid crystals.
Intriguingly such phases appear in the copper- and iron-based superconductors,
and their role in establishing high-temperature superconductivity remains an
open question. Nematicity may take an active part, cooperating or competing
with superconductivity, or may appear accidentally in such systems. Here we
present experimental evidence for a phase of nematic character in the heavy
fermion superconductor CeRhIn5. We observe a field-induced breaking of the
electronic tetragonal symmetry of in the vicinity of an antiferromagnetic (AFM)
quantum phase transition at Hc~50T. This phase appears in out-of-plane fields
of H*~28T and is characterized by substantial in-plane resistivity anisotropy.
The anisotropy can be aligned by a small in-plane field component, with no
apparent connection to the underlying crystal structure. Furthermore no
anomalies are observed in the magnetic torque, suggesting the absence of
metamagnetic transitions in this field range. These observations are indicative
of an electronic nematic character of the high field state in CeRhIn5. The
appearance of nematic behavior in a phenotypical heavy fermion superconductor
highlights the interrelation of nematicity and unconventional
superconductivity, suggesting nematicity to be a commonality in such materials
Modified Bell-Plesset Effect with Compressibility: Application to Double-Shell Ignition Target Designs
The effect of spherical convergence on the fluid stability of collapsing and expanding bubbles was originally treated by Bell [Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory Report No. LA-1321 (1951)] and Plesset [J. Appl. Phys. 25, 96 (1954)]. The additional effect of fluid compressibility was also considered by Bell but was limited to the case of nonzero density on only one side of a fluid interface. A more general extension is developed which considers distinct time-dependent uniform densities on both sides of an interface in a spherically converging geometry. A modified form of the velocity potential is used that avoids an unphysical divergence at the origin [Goncharov et al., Phys. Plasmas 7, 5118 (2000); Lin et al., Phys. Fluids 14, 2925 (2002)]. Two consequences of this approach are that an instability proposed by Plesset for an expanding bubble in the limit of large interior density is now absent and application to inertial confinement fusion studies of stability becomes feasible. The model is applied to a proposed ignition double-shell target design [Amendt et al., Phys. Plasmas 9, 2221 (2002)] for the National Ignition Facility [Paisner et al., Laser Focus World 30, 75 (1994)] for studying the stability of the inner surface of an imploding high-Z inner shell. Application of the Haan [Phys. Rev. A 39, 5812 (1989)] saturation criterion suggests that ignition is possible
Evidence for a small hole pocket in the Fermi surface of underdoped YBa2Cu3Oy
The Fermi surface of a metal is the fundamental basis from which its
properties can be understood. In underdoped cuprate superconductors, the Fermi
surface undergoes a reconstruction that produces a small electron pocket, but
whether there is another, as yet undetected portion to the Fermi surface is
unknown. Establishing the complete topology of the Fermi surface is key to
identifying the mechanism responsible for its reconstruction. Here we report
the discovery of a second Fermi pocket in underdoped YBa2Cu3Oy, detected as a
small quantum oscillation frequency in the thermoelectric response and in the
c-axis resistance. The field-angle dependence of the frequency demonstrates
that it is a distinct Fermi surface and the normal-state thermopower requires
it to be a hole pocket. A Fermi surface consisting of one electron pocket and
two hole pockets with the measured areas and masses is consistent with a
Fermi-surface reconstruction caused by the charge-density-wave order observed
in YBa2Cu3Oy, provided other parts of the reconstructed Fermi surface are
removed by a separate mechanism, possibly the pseudogap.Comment: 23 pages, 5 figure
The role of soil water monitoring tools and agricultural innovation platforms in improving food security and income of farmers in smallholder irrigation schemes in Tanzania
Smallholder irrigation is an important pathway towards better livelihoods and food security in sub-Saharan Africa. This article assesses the contribution of farmer-friendly soil and water monitoring tools, and agricultural innovation platforms, towards household income
and food security in two small-scale irrigation schemes in Tanzania. Quantitative and qualitative data from farmerâs field books, household surveys and focus groups were used to assess the impacts of the two interventions. The two interventions together contributed to enhancing smallholdersâ food security and household income in the
two schemes, as did the agricultural innovation platform on its own
Lifshitz critical point in the cuprate superconductor YBa2Cu3Oy from high-field Hall effect measurements
The Hall coefficient R_H of the cuprate superconductor YBa2Cu3Oy was measured
in magnetic fields up to 60 T for a hole concentration p from 0.078 to 0.152,
in the underdoped regime. In fields large enough to suppress superconductivity,
R_H(T) is seen to go from positive at high temperature to negative at low
temperature, for p > 0.08. This change of sign is attributed to the emergence
of an electron pocket in the Fermi surface at low temperature. At p < 0.08, the
normal-state R_H(T) remains positive at all temperatures, increasing
monotonically as T \to 0. We attribute the change of behaviour across p = 0.08
to a Lifshitz transition, namely a change in Fermi-surface topology occurring
at a critical concentration p_L = 0.08, where the electron pocket vanishes. The
loss of the high-mobility electron pocket across p_L coincides with a ten-fold
drop in the conductivity at low temperature, revealed in measurements of the
electrical resistivity at high fields, showing that the so-called
metal-insulator crossover of cuprates is in fact driven by a Lifshitz
transition. It also coincides with a jump in the in-plane anisotropy of ,
showing that without its electron pocket the Fermi surface must have strong
two-fold in-plane anisotropy. These findings are consistent with a
Fermi-surface reconstruction caused by a unidirectional spin-density wave or
stripe order.Comment: 16 pages, 13 figures, see associated Viewpoint: M. Vojta, Physics 4,
12 (2011
On the Geometry and Entropy of Non-Hamiltonian Phase Space
We analyze the equilibrium statistical mechanics of canonical, non-canonical
and non-Hamiltonian equations of motion by throwing light into the peculiar
geometric structure of phase space. Some fundamental issues regarding time
translation and phase space measure are clarified. In particular, we emphasize
that a phase space measure should be defined by means of the Jacobian of the
transformation between different types of coordinates since such a determinant
is different from zero in the non-canonical case even if the phase space
compressibility is null. Instead, the Jacobian determinant associated with
phase space flows is unity whenever non-canonical coordinates lead to a
vanishing compressibility, so that its use in order to define a measure may not
be always correct. To better illustrate this point, we derive a mathematical
condition for defining non-Hamiltonian phase space flows with zero
compressibility. The Jacobian determinant associated with time evolution in
phase space is altogether useful for analyzing time translation invariance. The
proper definition of a phase space measure is particularly important when
defining the entropy functional in the canonical, non-canonical, and
non-Hamiltonian cases. We show how the use of relative entropies can circumvent
some subtle problems that are encountered when dealing with continuous
probability distributions and phase space measures. Finally, a maximum
(relative) entropy principle is formulated for non-canonical and
non-Hamiltonian phase space flows.Comment: revised introductio
Cytokine-facilitated transduction leads to low-level engraftment in nonablated hosts
Using a murine bone marrow transplantation model, we evaluated the long-term engraftment of retrovirally transduced bone marrow cells in nonmyeloablated hosts. Male bone marrow was stimulated in a cocktail of interleukin-3 (IL-3), IL-6, IL-11, and stem cell factor (SCF) for 48 hours, then cocultured on the retroviral producer line MDR18.1 for an additional 24 hours. Functional transduction of hematopoietic progenitors was detected in vitro by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) amplification of multiple drug resistance 1 (MDR1) mRNA from high proliferative potential-colony forming cell (HPP-CFC) colonies. After retroviral transduction, male bone marrow cells were injected into nonablated female mice. Transplant recipients received three TAXOL (Bristol-Myers, Princeton, NJ) injections (10 mg/kg) over a 14-month period. Transplant recipient tissues were analyzed by Southern blot and fluorescence in situ hybridization for Y-chromosome-specific sequences and showed donor cell engraftment of approximately 9%. However, polymerase chain reaction amplification of DNAs from bone marrow, spleen, and peripheral blood showed no evidence of the transduced MDR1 gene. RT-PCR analysis of total bone marrow RNA showed that transcripts from the MDR1 gene were present in a fraction of the engrafted donor cells. These data show functional transfer of the MDR1 gene into nonmyeloablated murine hosts. However, the high rates of in vitro transduction into HPP-CFC, coupled with the low in vivo engraftment rate of donor cells containing the MDR1 gene, suggest that the majority of stem cells that incorporated the retroviral construct did not stably engraft in the host. Based on additional studies that indicate that ex vivo culture of bone marrow induces an engraftment defect concomitantly with progression of cells through S phase, we propose that the cell cycle transit required for proviral integration reduces or impairs the ability of transduced cells to stably engraft
Path Integral for Quantum Operations
In this paper we consider a phase space path integral for general
time-dependent quantum operations, not necessarily unitary. We obtain the path
integral for a completely positive quantum operation satisfied Lindblad
equation (quantum Markovian master equation). We consider the path integral for
quantum operation with a simple infinitesimal generator.Comment: 24 pages, LaTe
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