Analysis of the velocity field of granular hopper flow

We report the analysis of radial characteristics of the flow of granular material through a conical hopper. The discharge is simulated for various orifice sizes and hopper opening angles. Velocity profiles are measured along two radial lines from the hopper cone vertex: along the main axis of the cone and along its wall. An approximate power law dependence on the distance from the orifice is observed for both profiles, although differences between them can be noted. In order to quantify these differences, we propose a Local Mass Flow index that is a promising tool in the direction of a more reliable classification of the flow regimes in hoppers

Counterion density profiles at charged flexible membranes

Counterion distributions at charged soft membranes are studied using perturbative analytical and simulation methods in both weak coupling (mean-field or Poisson-Boltzmann) and strong coupling limits. The softer the membrane, the more smeared out the counterion density profile becomes and counterions pentrate through the mean-membrane surface location, in agreement with anomalous scattering results. Membrane-charge repulsion leads to a short-scale roughening of the membrane.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Timed Consistent Network Updates

Network updates such as policy and routing changes occur frequently in Software Defined Networks (SDN). Updates should be performed consistently, preventing temporary disruptions, and should require as little overhead as possible. Scalability is increasingly becoming an essential requirement in SDN. In this paper we propose to use time-triggered network updates to achieve consistent updates. Our proposed solution requires lower overhead than existing update approaches, without compromising the consistency during the update. We demonstrate that accurate time enables far more scalable consistent updates in SDN than previously available. In addition, it provides the SDN programmer with fine-grained control over the tradeoff between consistency and scalability.Comment: This technical report is an extended version of the paper "Timed Consistent Network Updates", which was accepted to the ACM SIGCOMM Symposium on SDN Research (SOSR) '15, Santa Clara, CA, US, June 201

Liquid Crystals in Electric Field

We present a general theory of electric field effects in liquid crystals where the dielectric tensor depends on the orientation order. As applications, we examine (i) the director fluctuations in nematic states in electric field for arbitrary strength of the dielectric anisotropy and (ii) deformation of the nematic order around a charged particle. Some predictions are made for these effects.Comment: 9pages, 2figure

Spin-phonon coupling in multiferroic RCrO3_3 (R-Y, Lu, Gd, Eu, Sm): A Raman study

Raman study on a select few orthochromites, RCrO$_3$ (R = Y, Lu, Gd, Eu and Sm) shows that the phonon behavior at TN in compounds with magnetic R-ion (Gd and Sm) is remarkably different from that of non-magnetic R-ion (Y, Lu and Eu). While anomalies in most of the observed phonon frequencies in all these compounds may result from the distortion of CrO$_6$ octahedra due to size effect and magnetostriction arising from Cr-ordering, the anomalous behavior of their linewidths observed at TN for the compounds with only magnetic R-ion suggests spin-phonon coupling. The presence of spin-phonon coupling and the anomalies in the low frequency modes related to R-ion motion in orthochromites (R = Gd and Sm) support the suggestion that the coupling between 4f-3d moments play important role in inducing switchable electric polarization.Comment: 6 pages (two column format), 7 figures; The updated version of the manuscript can be found at Euro. Phys. Lett. 101, 17008 (2013

Torqued fireballs in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

We show that the fluctuations in the wounded-nucleon model of the initial stage of relativistic heavy-ion collisions, together with the natural assumption that the forward (backward) moving wounded nucleons emit particles preferably in the forward (backward) direction, lead to an event-by-event torqued fireball. The principal axes associated with the transverse shape are rotated in the forward region in the opposite direction than in the backward region. On the average, the standard deviation of the relative torque angle between the forward and backward rapidity regions is about 20deg for the central and 10deg for the mid-peripheral collisions. The hydrodynamic expansion of a torqued fireball leads to a torqued collective flow, yielding, in turn, torqued principal axes of the transverse-momentum distributions at different rapidities. We propose experimental measures, based on cumulants involving particles in different rapidity regions, which should allow for a quantitative determination of the effect from the data. To estimate the non-flow contributions from resonance decays we run Monte Carlo simulations with THERMINATOR. If the event-by-event torque effect is found in the data, it will support the assumptions concerning the fluctuations in the early stage of the fireball formation, as well as the hypothesis of the asymmetric rapidity shape of the emission functions of the moving sources in the nucleus-nucleus collisions.Comment: Grant reference adde

Universal reduction of pressure between charged surfaces by long-wavelength surface charge modulation

We predict theoretically that long-wavelength surface charge modulations universally reduce the pressure between the charged surfaces with counterions compared with the case of uniformly charged surfaces with the same average surface charge density. The physical origin of this effect is the fact that surface charge modulations always lead to enhanced counterion localization near the surfaces, and hence, fewer charges at the midplane. We confirm the last prediction with Monte Carlo simulations.Comment: 8 pages 1 figure, Europhys. Lett., in pres

Elastic and magnetic effects on the infrared phonon spectra of MnF2

We measured the temperature dependent infrared reflectivity spectra of MnF2 between 4 K and room temperature. We show that the phonon spectrum undergoes a strong renormalization at TN. The ab-initio calculation we performed on this compound accurately predict the magnitude and the direction of the phonon parameters changes across the antiferromagnetic transition, showing that they are mainly induced by the magnetic order. In this material, we found that the dielectric constant is mostly from phonon origin. The large change in the lattice parameters with temperature seen by X-ray diffraction as well as the A2u phonon softening below TN indicate that magnetic order induced distortions in MnF2 are compatible with the ferroelectric instabilities observed in TiO2, FeF2 and other rutile-type fluorides. This study also shows the anomalous temperature evolution of the lower energy Eu mode in the paramagnetic phase, which can be compared to that of the B1g one seen by Raman spectroscopy in many isostructural materials. This was interpreted as being a precursor of a phase transition from rutile to CaCl2 structure which was observed under pressure in ZnF2.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, updated version accepted in PR

Fertilizantes e corretivo da acidez do solo em pimenta-de-cheiro (Capsicum chinense) cultivada no Estado do Amazonas (1ª aproximação).

Clima e solo. Semeadura e plantio. Amostragem de solo. Calagem e adubação. Adubação de plantio. Adubação de manutenção. Análise foliar