3,098 research outputs found
High-resolution 3D weld toe stress analysis and ACPD method for weld toe fatigue crack initiation
Weld toe fatigue crack initiation is highly dependent on the local weld toe stress-concentrating geometry including any inherent flaws. These flaws are responsible for premature fatigue crack initiation (FCI) and must be minimised to maximise the fatigue life of a welded joint. In this work, a data-rich methodology has been developed to capture the true weld toe geometry and resulting local weld toe stress-field and relate this to the FCI life of a steel arc-welded joint. To obtain FCI lives, interrupted fatigue test was performed on the welded joint monitored by a novel multi-probe array of alternating current potential drop (ACPD) probes across the weld toe. This setup enabled the FCI sites to be located and the FCI life to be determined and gave an indication of early fatigue crack propagation rates. To understand fully the local weld toe stress-field, high-resolution (5 mu m) 3D linear-elastic finite element (FE) models were generated from X-ray micro-computed tomography (mu-CT) of each weld toe after fatigue testing. From these models, approximately 202 stress concentration factors (SCFs) were computed for every 1 mm of weld toe. These two novel methodologies successfully link to provide an assessment of the weld quality and this is correlated with the fatigue performance
Charged gravitational instantons in five-dimensional Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet-Maxwell theory
We study a solution of the Einstein-Gauus-Bonnet theory in 5 dimensions
coupled to a Maxwell field, whose euclidean continuation gives rise to an
instanton describing black hole pair production. We also discuss the dual
theory with a 3-form field coupled to gravity.Comment: 8 pages, plain Te
Towards operational measures of computer security
Ideally, a measure of the security of a system should capture quantitatively the intuitive notion of âthe ability of the system to resist attackâ. That is, it should be operational, reflecting the degree to which the system can be expected to remain free of security breaches under particular conditions of operation (including attack). Instead, current security levels at best merely reflect the extensiveness of safeguards introduced during the design and development of a system. Whilst we might expect a system developed to a higher level than another to exhibit âmore secure behaviourâ in operation, this cannot be guaranteed; more particularly, we cannot infer what the actual security behaviour will be from knowledge of such a level. In the paper we discuss similarities between reliability and security with the intention of working towards measures of âoperational securityâ similar to those that we have for reliability of systems. Very informally, these measures could involve expressions such as the rate of occurrence of security breaches (cf rate of occurrence of failures in reliability), or the probability that a specified âmissionâ can be accomplished without a security breach (cf reliability function). This new approach is based on the analogy between system failure and security breach. A number of other analogies to support this view are introduced. We examine this duality critically, and have identified a number of important open questions that need to be answered before this quantitative approach can be taken further. The work described here is therefore somewhat tentative, and one of our major intentions is to invite discussion about the plausibility and feasibility of this new approach
Gravitational quasinormal modes for Anti-de Sitter black holes
Quasinormal mode spectra for gravitational perturbations of black holes in
four dimensional de Sitter and anti-de Sitter space are investigated. The
anti-de Sitter case is relevant to the ADS-CFT correspondence in superstring
theory. The ADS-CFT correspondence suggests a prefered set of boundary
conditions.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures in ReVTe
Cosmic Censorship: As Strong As Ever
Spacetimes which have been considered counter-examples to strong cosmic
censorship are revisited. We demonstrate the classical instability of the
Cauchy horizon inside charged black holes embedded in de Sitter spacetime for
all values of the physical parameters. The relevant modes which maintain the
instability, in the regime which was previously considered stable, originate as
outgoing modes near to the black hole event horizon. This same mechanism is
also relevant for the instability of Cauchy horizons in other proposed
counter-examples of strong cosmic censorship.Comment: 4 pages RevTeX style, 1 figure included using epsfi
Pair Creation of Black Holes by Domain Walls
In this paper we study the production of pairs of neutral and charged black
holes by domain walls, finding classical solutions and calculating their
classical actions. We find that neutral black holes whose creation is mediated
by Euclidean instantons must be produced mutually at rest with respect to one
another, but for charged black holes a new type of instanton is possible in
which after formation the two black holes accelerate away from one another.
These new types of instantons are not possible in Einstein-Maxwell theory with
a cosmological constant. We also find that the creation of non-orientable black
hole solutions can be mediated by Euclidean instantons and that in addition if
one is prepared to consider entirely Lorentzian no-boundary type contributions
to the path integral then mutually accelerating pairs may be created even in
the neutral case. Finally we consider the production of Kaluza-Klein monopoles
both by a standard cosmological term and in the presence of a domain wall. We
find that compactification is accompanied by the production of pairs of
Kaluza-Klein monopoles.Comment: 22 pages (REVTeX with AMS Symbols) with 5 postscript figures attached
in a single uuencoded, g-zipped, tar file at end of tex fil
Resistance Noise Scaling in a Dilute Two-Dimensional Hole System in GaAs
We have measured the resistance noise of a two-dimensional (2D)hole system in
a high mobility GaAs quantum well, around the 2D metal-insulator transition
(MIT) at zero magnetic field. The normalized noise power increases
strongly when the hole density p_s is decreased, increases slightly with
temperature (T) at the largest densities, and decreases strongly with T at low
p_s. The noise scales with the resistance, , as for a
second order phase transition such as a percolation transition. The p_s
dependence of the conductivity is consistent with a critical behavior for such
a transition, near a density p* which is lower than the observed MIT critical
density p_c.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev. Let
Birthweight, HIV exposure and infant feeding as predictors of malnutrition in Botswanan infants
Background: A better understanding of the nutritional status of infants who are HIV-Exposed-Uninfected (HEU) and HIV-Unexposed-Uninfected (HUU) during their first 1000 days is key to improving population health, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Methods: A cross-sectional study compared the nutritional status, feeding practices and determinants of nutritional status of HEU and HUU infants residing in representative selected districts in Botswana during their first 1000 days of life. Four hundred and thirteen infants (37.3% HIV-exposed), aged 6â24 months, attending routine child health clinics, were recruited. Anthropometric, 24-h dietary intake and socio-demographic data was collected. Anthropometric Z-scores were calculated using 2006 World Health Organization growth standards. Modelling of the determinants of malnutrition was undertaken using logistic regression. Results: Overall, the prevalences of stunting, wasting and being underweight were 10.4%, 11.9% and 10.2%, respectively. HEU infants were more likely to be underweight (15.6% versus 6.9%), (P < 0.01) and stunted (15.6% versus 7.3%), (P < 0.05) but not wasted (P = 0.14) than HUU infants. HEU infants tended to be formula fed (82.5%), whereas HUU infants tended to breastfeed (94%) for the first 6 months (P < 0.001). Significant predictors of nutritional status were HIV exposure, birthweight, birth length, APGAR (appearance, pulse, grimace, activity and respiration) score and mother/caregiver's education with little influence of socio-economic status. Conclusions: HEU infants aged 6â24 months had worse nutritional status compared to HUU infants. Low birthweight was the main predictor of undernutrition in this population. Optimisation of infant nutritional status should focus on improving birthweight. In addition, specific interventions should target HEU infants aiming to eliminate growth disparity between HEU and HUU infants.</p
Pair of accelerated black holes in a de Sitter background: the dS C-metric
Following the work of Kinnersley and Walker for flat spacetimes, we have
analyzed the anti-de Sitter C-metric in a previous paper. In the de Sitter
case, Podolsky and Griffiths have established that the de Sitter C-metric (dS
C-metric) found by Plebanski and Demianski describes a pair of accelerated
black holes in the dS background with the acceleration being provided (in
addition to the cosmological constant) by a strut that pushes away the two
black holes or, alternatively, by a string that pulls them. We extend their
analysis mainly in four directions. First, we draw the Carter-Penrose diagrams
of the massless uncharged dS C-metric, of the massive uncharged dS C-metric and
of the massive charged dS C-metric. These diagrams allow us to clearly identify
the presence of two dS black holes and to conclude that they cannot interact
gravitationally. Second, we revisit the embedding of the dS C-metric in the 5D
Minkowski spacetime and we represent the motion of the dS C-metric origin in
the dS 4-hyperboloid as well as the localization of the strut. Third, we
comment on the physical properties of the strut that connects the two black
holes. Finally, we find the range of parameters that correspond to non-extreme
black holes, extreme black holes, and naked particles.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures (RevTeX4). Published version: references adde
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