11,748 research outputs found
Peristaltic Pumping of Blood Through Small Vessels of Varying Cross-section
The paper is devoted to a study of the peristaltic motion of blood in the
micro-circulatory system. The vessel is considered to be of varying
cross-section. The progressive peristaltic waves are taken to be of sinusoidal
nature. Blood is considered to be a Herschel-Bulkley fluid. Of particular
concern here is to investigate the effects of amplitude ratio, mean pressure
gradient, yield stress and the power law index on the velocity distribution,
streamline pattern and wall shear stress. On the basis of the derived
analytical expression, extensive numerical calculations have been made. The
study reveals that velocity of blood and wall shear stress are appreciably
affected due to the non-uniform geometry of blood vessels. They are also highly
sensitive to the magnitude of the amplitude ratio and the value of the fluid
index.Comment: Accepted for publication in ASME journal of Applied Mechanics. arXiv
admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1108.1285v
Using a weightless neural network to forecast stock prices: A case study of Nigerian stock exchange
This research work, proposes forecasting stock prices in the stock market industry in Nigeria using a Weightless Neural Network (WNN). A neural network application used to demonstrate the application of the WNN in the forecasting of stock prices in the market is designed and implemented in Visual Foxpro 6.0. The proposed network is tested with stock data obtained from the Nigeria Stock Exchange. This
system is compared with Single Exponential Smoothing (SES) model. The WNN error value is found to be 0.39 while that of SES is 9.78, based on these values, forecasting with the WNN is observed to be more accurate and closer to the real data than those using the SES model
Estimation of soil water deficit in an irrigated cotton field with infrared thermography
Plant growth and soil water deficit can vary spatially and temporally in crop fields due to variation in soil properties and/or irrigation and crop management factors. We conducted field experiments with cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) over two seasons during 2007-2009 to test if infrared thermography can distinguish systematic variation in deficit irrigation applied to various parts of the field over time. Soil water content was measured with a neutron probe and thermal images of crop plants were taken with a thermal infrared camera. Leaf water potential and stomatal conductance were also measured on selected occasions. All measurements were made at fixed locations within three replicate plots of an irrigation experiment consisting of four soil-water deficit treatments. Canopy temperature related as well with soil water within the root zone of cotton as the stomatal conductance index derived from canopy temperature, but it neglected the effect of local and seasonal variation in environmental conditions. Similarities in the pattern of spatial variation in canopy temperature and soil water over the experimental field indicates that thermography can be used with stomatal conductance index to assess soil water deficit in cotton fields for scheduling of irrigation and to apply water in areas within the field where it is most needed to reduce water deficit stress to the crop. Further confidence with application of infrared thermography can be gained by testing our measurement approach and analysis with irrigation scheduling of other crops
Peristaltic Transport of a Rheological Fluid: Model for Movement of Food Bolus Through Esophagus
Fluid mechanical peristaltic transport through esophagus has been of concern
in the paper. A mathematical model has been developed with an aim to study the
peristaltic transport of a rheological fluid for arbitrary wave shapes and tube
lengths. The Ostwald-de Waele power law of viscous fluid is considered here to
depict the non-Newtonian behaviour of the fluid. The model is formulated and
analyzed with the specific aim of exploring some important information
concerning the movement of food bolus through the esophagus. The analysis has
been carried out by using lubrication theory. The study is particularly
suitable for cases where the Reynolds number is small. The esophagus is treated
as a circular tube through which the transport of food bolus takes places by
periodic contraction of the esophageal wall. Variation of different variables
concerned with the transport phenomena such as pressure, flow velocity,
particle trajectory and reflux are investigated for a single wave as well as
for a train of periodic peristaltic waves. Locally variable pressure is seen to
be highly sensitive to the flow index `n'. The study clearly shows that
continuous fluid transport for Newtonian/rheological fluids by wave train
propagation is much more effective than widely spaced single wave propagation
in the case of peristaltic movement of food bolus in the esophagus.Comment: Accepted for publication in Applied Mathematics and Mechanics (AMM),
Springe
Gluon Condensates, Chiral Symmetry Breaking and Pion Wave Function
We consider here chiral symmetry breaking in quantum chromodynamics arising
from gluon condensates in vacuum. Through coherent states of gluons simulating
a mean field type of approximation, we show that the off-shell gluon
condensates of vacuum generate a mass-like contribution for the quarks, giving
rise to chiral symmetry breaking. We next note that spontaneous breaking of
global chiral symmetry links the four component quark field operator to the
pion wave function. This in turn yields many hadronic properties in the light
quark sector in agreement with experiments, leading to the conclusion that low
energy hadron properties are primarily driven by the vacuum structure of
quantum chromodynamics.Comment: 25 pages, IP/BBSR/92-76, revte
Fluoride salts and container materials for thermal energy storage applications in the temperature range 973 to 1400 K
Multicomponent fluoride salt mixtures were characterized for use as latent heat of fusion heat storage materials in advanced solar dynamic space power systems with operating temperatures in the range of 973 to 1400 K. The melting points and eutectic composition for many systems with published phase diagrams were verified, and several new eutectic compositions were identified. Additionally, the heats of fusion of several binary and ternary eutectics and congruently melting intermediate compounds were measured by differential scanning calorimetry. The extent of corrosion of various metals by fluoride melts was estimated from thermodynamic considerations, and equilibrium conditions inside a containment vessel were calculated as functions of the initial moisture content of the salt and free volume above the molten salt. Preliminary experimental data on the corrosion of commercial, high-temperature alloys in LiF-19.5CaF2 and NaF-27CaF2-36MgF2 melts are presented and compared to the thermodynamic predictions
Estimated heats of fusion of fluoride salt mixtures suitable for thermal energy storage applications
The heats of fusion of several fluoride salt mixtures with melting points greater than 973 K were estimated from a coupled analysis of the available thermodynamic data and phase diagrams. Simple binary eutectic systems with and without terminal solid solutions, binary eutectics with congruent melting intermediate phases, and ternary eutectic systems were considered. Several combinations of salts were identified, most notable the eutectics LiF-22CaF2 and NaF-60MgF2 which melt at 1039 and 1273 K respectively which posses relatively high heats of fusion/gm (greater than 0.7 kJ/g). Such systems would seemingly be ideal candidates for the light weight, high energy storage media required by the thermal energy storage unit in advanced solar dynamic power systems envisioned for the future space missions
Nucleation theory and the phase diagram of the magnetization-reversal transition
The phase diagram of the dynamic magnetization-reversal transition in pure
Ising systems under a pulsed field competing with the existing order can be
explained satisfactorily using the classical nucleation theory. Indications of
single-domain and multi-domain nucleation and of the corresponding changes in
the nucleation rates are clearly observed. The nature of the second time scale
of relaxation, apart from the field driven nucleation time, and the origin of
its unusual large values at the phase boundary are explained from the
disappearing tendency of kinks on the domain wall surfaces after the withdrawal
of the pulse. The possibility of scaling behaviour in the multi-domain regime
is identified and compared with the earlier observations.Comment: 10 pages Latex, 4 Postscript figure
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