4,380 research outputs found
Granular packings with moving side walls
The effects of movement of the side walls of a confined granular packing are
studied by discrete element, molecular dynamics simulations. The dynamical
evolution of the stress is studied as a function of wall movement both in the
direction of gravity as well as opposite to it. For all wall velocities
explored, the stress in the final state of the system after wall movement is
fundamentally different from the original state obtained by pouring particles
into the container and letting them settle under the influence of gravity. The
original packing possesses a hydrostatic-like region at the top of the
container which crosses over to a depth-independent stress. As the walls are
moved in the direction opposite to gravity, the saturation stress first reaches
a minimum value independent of the wall velocity, then increases to a
steady-state value dependent on the wall-velocity. After wall movement ceases
and the packing reaches equilibrium, the stress profile fits the classic
Janssen form for high wall velocities, while it has some deviations for low
wall velocities. The wall movement greatly increases the number of
particle-wall and particle-particle forces at the Coulomb criterion. Varying
the wall velocity has only small effects on the particle structure of the final
packing so long as the walls travel a similar distance.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures, some figures in colo
Calibration of the LIGO displacement actuators via laser frequency modulation
We present a frequency modulation technique for calibration of the
displacement actuators of the LIGO 4-km-long interferometric gravitational-wave
detectors. With the interferometer locked in a single-arm configuration, we
modulate the frequency of the laser light, creating an effective length
variation that we calibrate by measuring the amplitude of the frequency
modulation. By simultaneously driving the voice coil actuators that control the
length of the arm cavity, we calibrate the voice coil actuation coefficient
with an estimated 1-sigma uncertainty of less than one percent. This technique
enables a force-free, single-step actuator calibration using a displacement
fiducial that is fundamentally different from those employed in other
calibration methods.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Classical and Quantum Gravit
Precise calibration of LIGO test mass actuators using photon radiation pressure
Precise calibration of kilometer-scale interferometric gravitational wave
detectors is crucial for source localization and waveform reconstruction. A
technique that uses the radiation pressure of a power-modulated auxiliary laser
to induce calibrated displacements of one of the ~10 kg arm cavity mirrors, a
so-called photon calibrator, has been demonstrated previously and has recently
been implemented on the LIGO detectors. In this article, we discuss the
inherent precision and accuracy of the LIGO photon calibrators and several
improvements that have been developed to reduce the estimated voice coil
actuator calibration uncertainties to less than 2 percent (1-sigma). These
improvements include accounting for rotation-induced apparent length variations
caused by interferometer and photon calibrator beam centering offsets, absolute
laser power measurement using temperature-controlled InGaAs photodetectors
mounted on integrating spheres and calibrated by NIST, minimizing errors
induced by localized elastic deformation of the mirror surface by using a
two-beam configuration with the photon calibrator beams symmetrically displaced
about the center of the optic, and simultaneously actuating the test mass with
voice coil actuators and the photon calibrator to minimize fluctuations caused
by the changing interferometer response. The photon calibrator is able to
operate in the most sensitive interferometer configuration, and is expected to
become a primary calibration method for future gravitational wave searches.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, accepted by Classical and Quantum Gravit
Precise calibration of LIGO test mass actuators using photon radiation pressure
Precise calibration of kilometer-scale interferometric gravitational wave
detectors is crucial for source localization and waveform reconstruction. A
technique that uses the radiation pressure of a power-modulated auxiliary laser
to induce calibrated displacements of one of the ~10 kg arm cavity mirrors, a
so-called photon calibrator, has been demonstrated previously and has recently
been implemented on the LIGO detectors. In this article, we discuss the
inherent precision and accuracy of the LIGO photon calibrators and several
improvements that have been developed to reduce the estimated voice coil
actuator calibration uncertainties to less than 2 percent (1-sigma). These
improvements include accounting for rotation-induced apparent length variations
caused by interferometer and photon calibrator beam centering offsets, absolute
laser power measurement using temperature-controlled InGaAs photodetectors
mounted on integrating spheres and calibrated by NIST, minimizing errors
induced by localized elastic deformation of the mirror surface by using a
two-beam configuration with the photon calibrator beams symmetrically displaced
about the center of the optic, and simultaneously actuating the test mass with
voice coil actuators and the photon calibrator to minimize fluctuations caused
by the changing interferometer response. The photon calibrator is able to
operate in the most sensitive interferometer configuration, and is expected to
become a primary calibration method for future gravitational wave searches.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, accepted by Classical and Quantum Gravit
Accurate calibration of test mass displacement in the LIGO interferometers
We describe three fundamentally different methods we have applied to
calibrate the test mass displacement actuators to search for systematic errors
in the calibration of the LIGO gravitational-wave detectors. The actuation
frequencies tested range from 90 Hz to 1 kHz and the actuation amplitudes range
from 1e-6 m to 1e-18 m. For each of the four test mass actuators measured, the
weighted mean coefficient over all frequencies for each technique deviates from
the average actuation coefficient for all three techniques by less than 4%.
This result indicates that systematic errors in the calibration of the
responses of the LIGO detectors to differential length variations are within
the stated uncertainties.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, submitted on 31 October 2009 to Classical and
Quantum Gravity for the proceedings of 8th Edoardo Amaldi Conference on
Gravitational Wave
WU Polyomavirus in Patients Infected with HIV or Hepatitis C Virus, Connecticut, USA, 2007
WU polyomavirus (WUPyV) was detected in 10 (8.3%) of 121 HIV-positive plasma specimens, 0 (0%) of 120 HIV-negative serum specimens, and 2 (2.5%) of 79 hepatitis C virus (HCV)–positive serum specimens. KI polyomavirus was not detected in HIV-positive plasma or HCV-positive serum specimens. HIV-infected persons may be susceptible to systemic WUPyV infection
Picophytoplankton biomass distribution in the global ocean
The smallest marine phytoplankton, collectively termed picophytoplankton, have been routinely enumerated by flow cytometry since the late 1980s during cruises throughout most of the world ocean. We compiled a database of 40 946 data points, with separate abundance entries for Prochlorococcus, Synechococcus and picoeukaryotes. We use average conversion factors for each of the three groups to convert the abundance data to carbon biomass. After gridding with 1? spacing, the database covers 2.4% of the ocean surface area, with the best data coverage in the North Atlantic, the South Pacific and North Indian basins, and at least some data in all other basins. The average picophytoplankton biomass is 12 ± 22 µg Cl-1 or 1.9 g Cm-2. We estimate a total global picophytoplankton biomass of 0.53–1.32 Pg C (17–39% Prochlorococcus, 12–15% Synechococcus and 49–69% picoeukaryotes), with an intermediate/best estimate of 0.74 Pg C. Future efforts in this area of research should focus on reporting calibrated cell size and collecting data in undersampled regions
Finite-Size Scaling of the Domain Wall Entropy Distributions for the 2D Ising Spin Glass
The statistics of domain walls for ground states of the 2D Ising spin glass
with +1 and -1 bonds are studied for square lattices with , and = 0.5, where is the fraction of negative bonds, using periodic
and/or antiperiodic boundary conditions. When is even, almost all domain
walls have energy = 0 or 4. When is odd, most domain walls have
= 2. The probability distribution of the entropy, , is found
to depend strongly on . When , the probability distribution
of is approximately exponential. The variance of this distribution
is proportional to , in agreement with the results of Saul and Kardar. For
the distribution of is not symmetric about zero. In
these cases the variance still appears to be linear in , but the average of
grows faster than . This suggests a one-parameter scaling
form for the -dependence of the distributions of for .Comment: 13 page
Nonlinear Dynamics of Aeolian Sand Ripples
We study the initial instability of flat sand surface and further nonlinear
dynamics of wind ripples. The proposed continuous model of ripple formation
allowed us to simulate the development of a typical asymmetric ripple shape and
the evolution of sand ripple pattern. We suggest that this evolution occurs via
ripple merger preceded by several soliton-like interaction of ripples.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, corrected 2 typo
Why, what, and how? case study on law, risk, and decision making as necessary themes in built environment teaching
The paper considers (and defends) the necessity of including legal studies as a core part of built environment undergraduate and postgraduate curricula. The writer reflects upon his own experience as a lawyer working alongside and advising built environment professionals in complex land remediation and site safety management situations in the United Kingdom and explains how themes of liability, risk, and decision making can be integrated into a practical simulation in order to underpin more traditional lecture-based law teaching. Through reflection upon the writer's experiments with simulation-based teaching, the paper suggests some innovations that may better orientate law teaching to engage these themes and, thereby, enhance the relevance of law studies to the future needs of built environment professionals in practice.</p
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