4,544 research outputs found
Magnetic friction in Ising spin systems
A new contribution to friction is predicted to occur in systems with magnetic
correlations: Tangential relative motion of two Ising spin systems pumps energy
into the magnetic degrees of freedom. This leads to a friction force
proportional to the area of contact. The velocity and temperature dependence of
this force are investigated. Magnetic friction is strongest near the critical
temperature, below which the spin systems order spontaneously.
Antiferromagnetic coupling leads to stronger friction than ferromagnetic
coupling with the same exchange constant. The basic dissipation mechanism is
explained. If the coupling of the spin system to the heat bath is weak, a
surprising effect is observed in the ordered phase: The relative motion acts
like a heat pump cooling the spins in the vicinity of the friction surface.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Towards a modeling of the time dependence of contact area between solid bodies
I present a simple model of the time dependence of the contact area between
solid bodies, assuming either a totally uncorrelated surface topography, or a
self affine surface roughness. The existence of relaxation effects (that I
incorporate using a recently proposed model) produces the time increase of the
contact area towards an asymptotic value that can be much smaller than
the nominal contact area. For an uncorrelated surface topography, the time
evolution of is numerically found to be well fitted by expressions of
the form [, where the exponent depends on
the normal load as , with close to 0.5. In
particular, when the contact area is much lower than the nominal area I obtain
, i.e., a logarithmic time increase of the
contact area, in accordance with experimental observations. The logarithmic
increase for low loads is also obtained analytically in this case. For the more
realistic case of self affine surfaces, the results are qualitatively similar.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figure
Theory of adhesion: role of surface roughness
We discuss how surface roughness influence the adhesion between elastic
solids. We introduce a Tabor number which depends on the length scale or
magnification, and which gives information about the nature of the adhesion at
different length scales. We consider two limiting cases relevant for (a)
elastically hard solids with weak adhesive interaction (DMT-limit) and (b)
elastically soft solids or strong adhesive interaction (JKR-limit). For the
former cases we study the nature of the adhesion using different adhesive force
laws (, , where is the wall-wall separation). In
general, adhesion may switch from DMT-like at short length scales to JKR-like
at large (macroscopic) length scale. We compare the theory predictions to the
results of exact numerical simulations and find good agreement between theory
and the simulation results
I Probe, Therefore I Am: Designing a Virtual Journalist with Human Emotions
By utilizing different communication channels, such as verbal language,
gestures or facial expressions, virtually embodied interactive humans hold a
unique potential to bridge the gap between human-computer interaction and
actual interhuman communication. The use of virtual humans is consequently
becoming increasingly popular in a wide range of areas where such a natural
communication might be beneficial, including entertainment, education, mental
health research and beyond. Behind this development lies a series of
technological advances in a multitude of disciplines, most notably natural
language processing, computer vision, and speech synthesis. In this paper we
discuss a Virtual Human Journalist, a project employing a number of novel
solutions from these disciplines with the goal to demonstrate their viability
by producing a humanoid conversational agent capable of naturally eliciting and
reacting to information from a human user. A set of qualitative and
quantitative evaluation sessions demonstrated the technical feasibility of the
system whilst uncovering a number of deficits in its capacity to engage users
in a way that would be perceived as natural and emotionally engaging. We argue
that naturalness should not always be seen as a desirable goal and suggest that
deliberately suppressing the naturalness of virtual human interactions, such as
by altering its personality cues, might in some cases yield more desirable
results.Comment: eNTERFACE16 proceeding
Finite-element analysis of contact between elastic self-affine surfaces
Finite element methods are used to study non-adhesive, frictionless contact
between elastic solids with self-affine surfaces. We find that the total
contact area rises linearly with load at small loads. The mean pressure in the
contact regions is independent of load and proportional to the rms slope of the
surface. The constant of proportionality is nearly independent of Poisson ratio
and roughness exponent and lies between previous analytic predictions. The
contact morphology is also analyzed. Connected contact regions have a fractal
area and perimeter. The probability of finding a cluster of area drops as
where increases with decreasing roughness exponent. The
distribution of pressures shows an exponential tail that is also found in many
jammed systems. These results are contrasted to simpler models and experiment.Comment: 13 pages, 15 figures. Replaced after changed in response to referee
comments. Final two figures change
Impact of lack-of-benefit stopping rules on treatment effect estimates of two-arm multi-stage (TAMS) trials with time to event outcome
In 2011, Royston et al. described technical details of a two-arm, multi-stage (TAMS) design. The design enables a trial to be stopped part-way through recruitment if the accumulating data suggests a lack of benefit of the experimental arm. Such interim decisions can be made using data on an available 'intermediate' outcome. At the conclusion of the trial, the definitive outcome is analyzed. Typical intermediate and definitive outcomes in cancer might be progression-free and overall survival, respectively. In TAMS designs, the stopping rule applied at the interim stage(s) affects the sampling distribution of the treatment effect estimator, potentially inducing bias that needs addressing
High-threshold mechanosensitive ion channels blocked by a novel conopeptide mediate pressure-evoked pain
Little is known about the molecular basis of somatosensory mechanotransduction in mammals. We screened a library of peptide toxins for effects on mechanically activated currents in cultured dorsal root ganglion neurons. One conopeptide analogue, termed NMB-1 for noxious mechanosensation blocker 1, selectively inhibits (IC50 1 µM) sustained mechanically activated currents in a subset of sensory neurons. Biotinylated NMB-1 retains activity and binds selectively to peripherin-positive nociceptive sensory neurons. The selectivity of NMB-1 was confirmed by the fact that it has no inhibitory effects on voltage-gated sodium and calcium channels, or ligand-gated channels such as acid-sensing ion channels or TRPA1 channels. Conversely, the tarantula toxin, GsMTx-4, which inhibits stretch-activated ion channels, had no effects on mechanically activated currents in sensory neurons. In behavioral assays, NMB-1 inhibits responses only to high intensity, painful mechanical stimulation and has no effects on low intensity mechanical stimulation or thermosensation. Unexpectedly, NMB-1 was found to also be an inhibitor of rapid FM1-43 loading (a measure of mechanotransduction) in cochlear hair cells. These data demonstrate that pharmacologically distinct channels respond to distinct types of mechanical stimuli and suggest that mechanically activated sustained currents underlie noxious mechanosensation. NMB-1 thus provides a novel diagnostic tool for the molecular definition of channels involved in hearing and pressure-evoked pain
Molecular dynamics study of contact mechanics: contact area and interfacial separation from small to full contact
We report a molecular dynamics study of the contact between a rigid solid
with a randomly rough surface and an elastic block with a flat surface. We
study the contact area and the interfacial separation from small contact (low
load) to full contact (high load). For small load the contact area varies
linearly with the load and the interfacial separation depends logarithmically
on the load. For high load the contact area approaches to the nominal contact
area (i.e., complete contact), and the interfacial separation approaches to
zero. The present results may be very important for soft solids, e.g., rubber,
or for very smooth surfaces, where complete contact can be reached at moderate
high loads without plastic deformation of the solids.Comment: 4 pages,5 figure
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