3,890 research outputs found
Confined states in two-dimensional flat elliptic quantum dots and elliptic quantum wires
The energy spectrum and corresponding wave functions of a flat quantum dot
with elliptic symmetry are obtained exactly. A detailed study is made of the
effect of ellipticity on the energy levels and the corresponding wave
functions. The analytical behavior of the energy levels in certain limiting
cases is obtained.Comment: 8 figures, accepted for publication in Physica
Survivability study of a Water Cleaning Facility using Fluid Stochastic Petri Nets
This paper investigates the survivability of a water cleaning facility using Fluid Stochastic Petri Nets (FSPNs). Water cleaning facilities are responsible for providing drinking water to a specific district. The provided service is very important and makes such facilities belong to a nation's critical infrastructures. Therefore, such a facility should be able to recover in a timely manner after the occurrence of disasters. The use of FSPNs in survivability research is new and promising due to its general applicability. In this paper we model and analyze the survivability of of the last phases of the water cleaning process in a Dutch water company. Analysis results identify the weaknesses of the process and redundancy is suggested to improve the survivability
Rectifying the thermal Brownian motion of three-dimensional asymmetric objects
We extend the analysis of a thermal Brownian motor reported in Phys. Rev.
Lett. 93, 090601 (2004) by C. Van den Broeck, R. Kawai, and P. Meurs to a
three-dimensional configuration. We calculate the friction coefficient,
diffusion coefficient, and drift velocity as a function of shape and present
estimates based on physically realistic parameter values
Intrinsic Ratchets
We present a generic formalism to describe Brownian motion of particles with
intrinsic asymmetry and give predictions for the drift behavior in unbiased
time-dependent force fields. Our findings are supported by molecular dynamics
simulations.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure
Personalized Empathic Computing (PEC)
Until a decade ago, computers were only used by experts, for professional purposes solely. Nowadays, the personal computer (PC) is standard equipment in most western housekeepings and is used to gather information, play games, communicate, etc. In parallel, users' expectations increase and, consequently, PCs are more and more adapted to our needs. The next phase in PC evolution is Personalized Empathic Computing (PEC). When thinking of PEC, questions emerge such as: Who is the user and how to model his or her characteristics? In addition, both possibilities and constraints of technology have to be taken into account. To unravel human emotional state, psychophysiological techniques are employed. Audio and visual information processing is needed to handle the multimedia input. Virtual Reality can be employed to realize high level interaction between users and PEC systems. The realization of PEC requires the cooperation among a broad range of disciplines; e.g., psychology, physiology, computer science, agent technology, interface design, and multimedia analysis. All will be illustrated by running projects, industrial applications, and the latest scientific research. Both the strength and the limitations of current state-of-the-art techniques will be indicated. With that we will look forward, to the future, which is not that far away anymore ..
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