21,134 research outputs found
Shear-stress controlled dynamics of nematic complex fluids
Based on a mesoscopic theory we investigate the non-equilibrium dynamics of a
sheared nematic liquid, with the control parameter being the shear stress
(rather than the usual shear rate, ). To
this end we supplement the equations of motion for the orientational order
parameters by an equation for , which then becomes time-dependent.
Shearing the system from an isotropic state, the stress- controlled flow
properties turn out to be essentially identical to those at fixed .
Pronounced differences when the equilibrium state is nematic. Here, shearing at
controlled yields several non-equilibrium transitions between
different dynamic states, including chaotic regimes. The corresponding
stress-controlled system has only one transition from a regular periodic into a
stationary (shear-aligned) state. The position of this transition in the
- plane turns out to be tunable by the delay
time entering our control scheme for . Moreover, a sudden
change of the control method can {\it stabilize} the chaotic states appearing
at fixed .Comment: 10 pages, 11 figure
Two-state shear diagrams for complex fluids in shear flow
The possible "phase diagrams'' for shear-induced phase transitions between two phases are collected. We consider shear-thickening and shear-thinning fluids, under conditions of both common strain rate and common stress in the two phases, and present the four fundamental shear stress vs. strain rate curves and discuss their concentration dependence. We outline how to construct more complicated phase diagrams, discuss in which class various experimental systems fall, and sketch how to reconstruct the phase diagrams from rheological measurements
An Isotopic analysis of the hydrology and riparian vegetation water sources on Bishop Creek
Five power generation plants along an eleven kilometer stretch divert Bishop Creek water for hydro-electric power. Stream diversion may be adversely affecting the riparian vegetation. Stable isotopic analysis is employed to determine surface water/ground-water interactions along the creek. surface water originates primarily from three headwater lakes. Discharge into Bishop Creek below the headwaters is primarily derived from ground water. The average δD and δ18O values are significantly different for surface water and ground water that an isotopic analysis can delineate between these two components of flow. Therefore isotopic shifts along the creek can determine gaining reaches. In addition, by knowing the isotopic signatures of various waters in the watershed, it may be possible to examine tree waters to determine their water source(s)
KAT-7 Science Verification: Using HI Observations of NGC 3109 to Understand its Kinematics and Mass Distribution
HI observations of the Magellanic-type spiral NGC 3109, obtained with the
seven dish Karoo Array Telescope (KAT-7), are used to analyze its mass
distribution. Our results are compared to what is obtained using VLA data.
KAT-7 is the precursor of the SKA pathfinder MeerKAT, which is under
construction. The short baselines and low system temperature of the telescope
make it sensitive to large scale low surface brightness emission. The new
observations with KAT-7 allow the measurement of the rotation curve of NGC 3109
out to 32', doubling the angular extent of existing measurements. A total HI
mass of 4.6 x 10^8 Msol is derived, 40% more than what was detected by the VLA
observations.
The observationally motivated pseudo-isothermal dark matter (DM) halo model
can reproduce very well the observed rotation curve but the cosmologically
motivated NFW DM model gives a much poorer fit to the data. While having a more
accurate gas distribution has reduced the discrepancy between the observed RC
and the MOdified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) models, this is done at the expense
of having to use unrealistic mass-to-light ratios for the stellar disk and/or
very large values for the MOND universal constant a0. Different distances or HI
contents cannot reconcile MOND with the observed kinematics, in view of the
small errors on those two quantities. As for many slowly rotating gas-rich
galaxies studied recently, the present result for NGC 3109 continues to pose a
serious challenge to the MOND theory.Comment: 25 pages, 20 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomical
Journa
Re-engineering Watt: A case study and best practice recommendations for 3D colour laser scans and 3D printing in museum artefact documentation
3D colour laser scans and 3D printing in museum artefact documentation: User Acceptance and Best Practice Recommendation
Understanding attitudes towards congestion pricing: a latent variable investigation with data from four cities
Numerous cities around the world are considering the implementation of road pricing to ease urban traffic congestion, following on from the success in cities such as London and Singapore. However, policy makers are also all too aware of the generally negative public opinion towards such measures. This study makes use of data collected in four cities (two in Sweden, one in Finland and one in France) using a very consistent survey probing for citizens' attitudes towards pricing. We find very strong similarities across the four cities in terms of a number of underlying attitudinal constructs that help explain people's answers in a hypothetical referendum on congestion pricing. The similarities across cities indicate that the increase in the opinion towards congestion pricing once they are introduced is not primarily an effect of changes in underlying attitudes, changes in how the underlying attitudes influence the support for congestion pricing, or differences in anticipated versus experienced or perceived self - interest. Instead this effect seems to be caused by a status quo acceptance, tending to increase the support for the current situation
Intra-respondent heterogeneity in a stated choice survey on wetland conservation in Belarus: First steps towards creating a link with uncertainty in contingent valuation
Applications of discrete choice models in environmental valuation increasingly use a random coefficient specification, such as mixed logit, to represent taste heterogeneity. The majority of applications rely on data containing multiple observations for each respondent, where a common assumption is that tastes stay constant across choices for the same respondent. We question this assumption and make use of a model developed in the transport field which allows tastes to vary over choices for each consumer in addition to variation across consumers. An empirical analysis making use of a stated choice dataset for wetland conservation in Belarus shows that superior performance is obtained by allowing jointly for the two types of heterogeneity and that recovery of these intra-respondent variations is not possible using standard approaches, such as allowing for scale heterogeneity across tasks. We show also that intra-respondent heterogeneity can be especially high for attributes which respondents are unfamiliar with, and that a failure to account for it can substantially affect welfare estimates. We interpret this as an indication that this heterogeneity relates primarily to uncertainty. Finally, we offer initial insights into the relationship between intra-respondent heterogeneity and findings on uncertainty in a contingent valuation context
A Coupled Map Lattice Model for Rheological Chaos in Sheared Nematic Liquid Crystals
A variety of complex fluids under shear exhibit complex spatio-temporal
behaviour, including what is now termed rheological chaos, at moderate values
of the shear rate. Such chaos associated with rheological response occurs in
regimes where the Reynolds number is very small. It must thus arise as a
consequence of the coupling of the flow to internal structural variables
describing the local state of the fluid. We propose a coupled map lattice (CML)
model for such complex spatio-temporal behaviour in a passively sheared nematic
liquid crystal, using local maps constructed so as to accurately describe the
spatially homogeneous case. Such local maps are coupled diffusively to nearest
and next nearest neighbours to mimic the effects of spatial gradients in the
underlying equations of motion. We investigate the dynamical steady states
obtained as parameters in the map and the strength of the spatial coupling are
varied, studying local temporal properties at a single site as well as
spatio-temporal features of the extended system. Our methods reproduce the full
range of spatio-temporal behaviour seen in earlier one-dimensional studies
based on partial differential equations. We report results for both the one and
two-dimensional cases, showing that spatial coupling favours uniform or
periodically time-varying states, as intuitively expected. We demonstrate and
characterize regimes of spatio-temporal intermittency out of which chaos
develops. Our work suggests that such simplified lattice representations of the
spatio-temporal dynamics of complex fluids under shear may provide useful
insights as well as fast and numerically tractable alternatives to continuum
representations.Comment: 32 pages, single column, 20 figure
Income and distance elasticities of values of travel time savings: New Swiss results
This paper presents the findings of a study looking into the valuation of travel time savings (VTTS) in Switzerland, across modes as well as across purpose groups. The study makes several departures from the usual practice in VTTS studies, with the main one being a direct representation of the income and distance elasticity of the VTTS measures. Here, important gains in model performance and significantly different results are obtained through this approach. Additionally, the analysis shows that the estimation of robust coefficients for congested car travel time is hampered by the low share of congested time in the overall travel time, and the use of an additional rate-of-congestion coefficient, in addition to a generic car travel time coefficient, is preferable. Finally, the analysis demonstrates that the population
mean of the indicators calculated is quite different from the sample means and presents methods to calculate those, along with the associated variances. These variances are of great interest as they allow the generation of confidence intervals, which can be extremely useful in cost-benefit analyses
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