Gravitational radiation from nonaxisymmetric spherical Couette flow in a neutron star

The gravitational wave signal generated by global, nonaxisymmetric shear flows in a neutron star is calculated numerically by integrating the incompressible Navier--Stokes equation in a spherical, differentially rotating shell. At Reynolds numbers \Rey \gsim 3 \times 10^{3}, the laminar Stokes flow is unstable and helical, oscillating Taylor--G\"ortler vortices develop. The gravitational wave strain generated by the resulting kinetic-energy fluctuations is computed in both $+$ and $\times$ polarizations as a function of time. It is found that the signal-to-noise ratio for a coherent, $10^{8}$-{\rm s} integration with LIGO II scales as $6.5 (\Omega_*/10^{4} {\rm rad} {\rm s}^{-1})^{7/2}$ for a star at 1 {\rm kpc} with angular velocity $\Omega_*$. This should be regarded as a lower limit: it excludes pressure fluctuations, herringbone flows, Stuart vortices, and fully developed turbulence (for \Rey \gsim 10^{6}).Comment: (1) School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia. (2) Departamento de Fisica, Escuela de Ciencias,Universidad de Oriente, Cumana, Venezuela, (3) Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letter

Vortex Matter Transition in Bi2{}_2Sr2{}_2CaCu2{}_2O8+y{}_{8+y} under Tilted Fields

Vortex phase diagram under tilted fields from the $c$ axis in Bi${}_2$Sr${}_2$CaCu${}_2$O${}_{8+y}$ is studied by local magnetization hysteresis measurements using Hall probes. When the field is applied at large angles from the $c$ axis, an anomaly ($H_p^\ast$) other than the well-known peak effect ($H_p$) are found at fields below $H_p$. The angular dependence of the field $H_p^\ast$ is nonmonotonic and clearly different from that of $H_p$ and depends on the oxygen content of the crystal. The results suggest existence of a vortex matter transition under tilted fields. Possible mechanisms of the transition are discussed.Comment: Revtex, 4 pages, some corrections are adde

Correlation Between Polymer Packing And Gas Transport Properties For Co2/N2 Separation In Glassy Fluorinated Polyimide Membrane

Gas separation performance of a membrane highly hinges on its physical properties. In this study, the interplay between polymer packing of a membrane and its gas transport behaviours (permeability and selectivity) was investigated through a series of 6FDA-DAM:DABA (3:2) polyimide membranes with different polymer compactness. The chemical structure and the polymer packing of the resulting membrane were characterized using attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and packing density measurement, respectively. CO2/N2 separation efficiency of the membrane was evaluated at 25oC with feed pressure up to 6 bar. N2 permeability was found to rely on the membrane’s packing density, which signified its greater dependence on molecular sieving. In contrast, sorption showed a more vital role in determining the CO2 permeability. In this work, the membrane with a final thickness of 97±2 μm had successfully surpassed the Robeson’s 2008 upper bound plot with a CO2 permeability of 83 Barrer and CO2/N2 selectivity of 97 at 3 bar permeation

Characterization of a Plain Broadband Textile PIFA

Bandwidth characteristic of a wearable antenna is one of the major factors in determining its usability on the human body. In this work, a planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA) structure is proposed to achieve a large bandwidth to avoid serious antenna reflection coefficient detuning when placed in proximity of the body. The proposed structure is designed based on a simple structure, in order to provide practicality in application and maintain fabrication simplicity. Two different types of conductive textiles, namely Pure Copper Polyester Taffeta Fabric (PCPTF) and ShieldIt, are used in order to proof its concept, in comparison with a metallic antenna made from copper foil. The design is spaced and fabricated using a 6 mm thick fleece fabric. To cater for potential fabrication and material measurement inaccuracies, both antennas' performance are also investigated and analyzed with varying physical and material parameters. From this investigation, it is found that the proposed structure's extended bandwidth enabled the antenna to function with satisfactory on-body reflection coefficients, despite unavoidable gain and efficiency reduction

The London theory of the crossing-vortex lattice in highly anisotropic layered superconductors

A novel description of Josephson vortices (JVs) crossed by the pancake vortices (PVs) is proposed on the basis of the anisotropic London theory. The field distribution of a JV and its energy have been calculated for both dense ($a\lambda_J$) PV lattices with distance $a$ between PVs, and the nonlinear JV core size $\lambda_J$. It is shown that the ``shifted'' PV lattice (PVs displaced mainly along JVs in the crossing vortex lattice structure), formed in high out-of-plane magnetic fields transforms into the PV lattice ``trapped'' by the JV sublattice at a certain field, lower than $\Phi_0/\gamma^2s^2$, where $\Phi_0$ is the flux quantum, $\gamma$ is the anisotropy parameter and $s$ is the distance between CuO$_2$ planes. With further decreasing $B_z$, the free energy of the crossing vortex lattice structure (PV and JV sublattices coexist separately) can exceed the free energy of the tilted lattice (common PV-JV vortex structure) in the case of $\gamma s<\lambda_{ab}$ with the in-plane penetration depth $\lambda_{ab}$ if the low ($B_x<\gamma\Phi_0/\lambda_{ab}^2$) or high ($B_x\gtrsim \Phi_0/\gamma s^2$) in-plane magnetic field is applied. It means that the crossing vortex structure is realized in the intermediate field orientations, while the tilted vortex lattice can exist if the magnetic field is aligned near the $c$-axis and the $ab$-plane as well. In the intermediate in-plane fields $\gamma\Phi_0/\lambda_{ab}^2\lesssim B_x \lesssim \Phi_0/\gamma s^2$, the crossing vortex structure with the ``trapped'' PV sublattice seems to settle in until the lock-in transition occurs since this structure has the lower energy with respect to the tilted vortex structure in the magnetic field ${\vec H}$ oriented near the $ab$-plane.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in PR

A new and automated risk prediction of coronary artery disease using clinical endpoints and medical imaging-derived patient-specific insights: protocol for the retrospective GeoCAD cohort study

INTRODUCTION: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of death worldwide. More than a quarter of cardiovascular events are unexplained by current absolute cardiovascular disease risk calculators, and individuals without clinical risk factors have been shown to have worse outcomes. The 'anatomy of risk' hypothesis recognises that adverse anatomical features of coronary arteries enhance atherogenic haemodynamics, which in turn mediate the localisation and progression of plaques. We propose a new risk prediction method predicated on CT coronary angiography (CTCA) data and state-of-the-art machine learning methods based on a better understanding of anatomical risk for CAD. This may open new pathways in the early implementation of personalised preventive therapies in susceptible individuals as a potential key in addressing the growing burden of CAD. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: GeoCAD is a retrospective cohort study in 1000 adult patients who have undergone CTCA for investigation of suspected CAD. It is a proof-of-concept study to test the hypothesis that advanced image-derived patient-specific data can accurately predict long-term cardiovascular events. The objectives are to (1) profile CTCA images with respect to variations in anatomical shape and associated haemodynamic risk expressing, at least in part, an individual's CAD risk, (2) develop a machine-learning algorithm for the rapid assessment of anatomical risk directly from unprocessed CTCA images and (3) to build a novel CAD risk model combining traditional risk factors with these novel anatomical biomarkers to provide a higher accuracy CAD risk prediction tool. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study protocol has been approved by the St Vincent's Hospital Human Research Ethics Committee, Sydney-2020/ETH02127 and the NSW Population and Health Service Research Ethics Committee-2021/ETH00990. The project outcomes will be published in peer-reviewed and biomedical journals, scientific conferences and as a higher degree research thesis

Characteristics of predictor sets found using differential prioritization

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Feature selection plays an undeniably important role in classification problems involving high dimensional datasets such as microarray datasets. For filter-based feature selection, two well-known criteria used in forming predictor sets are relevance and redundancy. However, there is a third criterion which is at least as important as the other two in affecting the efficacy of the resulting predictor sets. This criterion is the degree of differential prioritization (DDP), which varies the emphases on relevance and redundancy depending on the value of the DDP. Previous empirical works on publicly available microarray datasets have confirmed the effectiveness of the DDP in molecular classification. We now propose to establish the fundamental strengths and merits of the DDP-based feature selection technique. This is to be done through a simulation study which involves vigorous analyses of the characteristics of predictor sets found using different values of the DDP from toy datasets designed to mimic real-life microarray datasets.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A simulation study employing analytical measures such as the distance between classes before and after transformation using principal component analysis is implemented on toy datasets. From these analyses, the necessity of adjusting the differential prioritization based on the dataset of interest is established. This conclusion is supported by comparisons against both simplistic rank-based selection and state-of-the-art equal-priorities scoring methods, which demonstrates the superiority of the DDP-based feature selection technique. Reapplying similar analyses to real-life multiclass microarray datasets provides further confirmation of our findings and of the significance of the DDP for practical applications.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The findings have been achieved based on analytical evaluations, not empirical evaluation involving classifiers, thus providing further basis for the usefulness of the DDP and validating the need for unequal priorities on relevance and redundancy during feature selection for microarray datasets, especially highly multiclass datasets.</p

Hydrogels that listen to cells:a review of cell-responsive strategies in biomaterial design for tissue regeneration

The past decade has seen a decided move from static and passive biomaterials to biodegradable, dynamic, and stimuli responsive materials in the laboratory and the clinic. Recent advances towards the rational design of synthetic cell-responsive hydrogels-biomaterials that respond locally to cells or tissues without the input of an artificial stimulus-have provided new strategies and insights on the use of artificial environments for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. These materials can often approximate responsive functions of a cell's complex natural extracellular environment, and must respond to the small and specific stimuli provided within the vicinity of a cell or tissue. In the current literature, there are three main cell-based stimuli that can be harnessed to create responsive hydrogels: (1) enzymes (2) mechanical force and (3) metabolites/small molecules. Degradable bonds, dynamic covalent bonds, and non-covalent or supramolecular interactions are used to provide responsive architectures that enable features ranging from cell selective infiltration to control of stem-cell differentiation. The growing ability to spatiotemporally control the behavior of cells and tissue with rationally designed responsive materials has the ability to allow control and autonomy to future generations of materials for tissue regeneration, in addition to providing understanding and mimicry of the dynamic and complex cellular niche

Global three-dimensional flow of a neutron superfluid in a spherical shell in a neutron star

We integrate for the first time the hydrodynamic Hall-Vinen-Bekarevich-Khalatnikov equations of motion of a $^{1}S_{0}$-paired neutron superfluid in a rotating spherical shell, using a pseudospectral collocation algorithm coupled with a time-split fractional scheme. Numerical instabilities are smoothed by spectral filtering. Three numerical experiments are conducted, with the following results. (i) When the inner and outer spheres are put into steady differential rotation, the viscous torque exerted on the spheres oscillates quasiperiodically and persistently (after an initial transient). The fractional oscillation amplitude ($\sim 10^{-2}$) increases with the angular shear and decreases with the gap width. (ii) When the outer sphere is accelerated impulsively after an interval of steady differential rotation, the torque increases suddenly, relaxes exponentially, then oscillates persistently as in (i). The relaxation time-scale is determined principally by the angular velocity jump, whereas the oscillation amplitude is determined principally by the gap width. (iii) When the mutual friction force changes suddenly from Hall-Vinen to Gorter-Mellink form, as happens when a rectilinear array of quantized Feynman-Onsager vortices is destabilized by a counterflow to form a reconnecting vortex tangle, the relaxation time-scale is reduced by a factor of $\sim 3$ compared to (ii), and the system reaches a stationary state where the torque oscillates with fractional amplitude $\sim 10^{-3}$ about a constant mean value. Preliminary scalings are computed for observable quantities like angular velocity and acceleration as functions of Reynolds number, angular shear, and gap width. The results are applied to the timing irregularities (e.g., glitches and timing noise) observed in radio pulsars.Comment: 6 figures, 23 pages. Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journa