Black Hole Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics

We have known for more than thirty years that black holes behave as thermodynamic systems, radiating as black bodies with characteristic temperatures and entropies. This behavior is not only interesting in its own right; it could also, through a statistical mechanical description, cast light on some of the deep problems of quantizing gravity. In these lectures, I review what we currently know about black hole thermodynamics and statistical mechanics, suggest a rather speculative "universal" characterization of the underlying states, and describe some key open questions.Comment: 35 pages, Springer macros; for the Proceedings of the 4th Aegean Summer School on Black Hole

Ammonium and nitrate uptake by soybean during recovery from nitrogen deprivation

International audienc

‘(Virtual) ethnicity, the Internet, and well-being

Recent research studies allude to the wellbeing benefits of the Internet to the individual. Yet while these studies possess merit in their findings scant research has focused on the assertion of significant differences, the changing availability and thus role of technology within the daily lives of individuals when ethno-racial differences are considered. We argue for a broader understanding of how the Internet may be used by consumers to avoid, pursue, and/or resolve one’s ethnic identity in their everyday lives and what the wider wellbeing implications are for the individual and society

Timbre variations as an attribute of naturalness in clarinet play

A digital clarinet played by a human and timed by a metronome was used to record two playing control parameters, the breath control and the reed displacement, for 20 repeated performances. The regular behaviour of the parameters was extracted by averaging and the fluctuation was quantified by the standard deviation. It was concluded that the movement of the parameters seem to follow rules. When removing the fluctuations of the parameters by averaging over the repetitions, the result sounded less expressive, although it still seemed to be played by a human. The variation in timbre during the play, in particular within a note's duration, was observed and then fixed while the natural temporal envelope was kept. The result seemed unnatural, indicating that the variation of timbre is important for the naturalness

A New Dental Superalloy System: I. Theory and Alloy Design

Basic factors that influence the physical metallurgy and the mechanical properties of cobalt-base alloys are discussed in this study; these factors include the coherency of the interphase interface, the stacking fault energy, and the average electron hole number. Control of these factors and considerations of corrosion resistance and body compatibility determined the compositions for alloys that fulfill dental requirements.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67835/2/10.1177_00220345730520010701.pd

Modeling and simulation of a blood pump for the development of a left ventricular assist system controller

summary:A mathematical model describing the pressure-volume relationship of the Novacor left ventricular assist system (LVAS) was developed. The model consisted of lumped resistance, capacitance, and inductance elements with one time-varying capacitor to simulate the cyclical pressure generation of the system. The ejection and filling portions of the pump cycle were modeled with two separate functions. The corresponding model parameters were estimated by least squares fit to experimental data obtained in the laboratory. The model performed well at simulating pump pressure of operation throughout the full cycle. Computer simulation of the pump with a cardiovascular model demonstrated the interaction between the LVAS and the cardiovascular system. This model can be used to incorporate on-line cardiovascular parameter estimation and to design a new controller for the LVAS