1,165 research outputs found
Investigation of scaling properties of hysteresis in Finemet thin films
We study the behavior of hysteresis loops in Finemet
FeCuNbSiB thin films by using a fluxometric setup
based on a couple of well compensated pickup coils. The presence of scaling
laws of the hysteresis area is investigated as a function of the amplitude and
frequency of the applied field, considering sample thickness from about 20 nm
to 5 m. We do not observe any scaling predicted by theoretical models,
while dynamic loops show a logarithmic dependence on the frequency.Comment: 2 pages, 2 figure
On the Neutrality of Flowshop Scheduling Fitness Landscapes
Solving efficiently complex problems using metaheuristics, and in particular
local searches, requires incorporating knowledge about the problem to solve. In
this paper, the permutation flowshop problem is studied. It is well known that
in such problems, several solutions may have the same fitness value. As this
neutrality property is an important one, it should be taken into account during
the design of optimization methods. Then in the context of the permutation
flowshop, a deep landscape analysis focused on the neutrality property is
driven and propositions on the way to use this neutrality to guide efficiently
the search are given.Comment: Learning and Intelligent OptimizatioN Conference (LION 5), Rome :
Italy (2011
Experimental analysis and model validation of an opaque ventilated facade
Natural ventilation is a convenient way of reducing energy consumption in buildings. In this study an experimental module of an opaque ventilated façade (OVF) was built and tested for assessing its potential of supplying free ventilation and air preheating for the building. A numerical model was created and validated against the experimental data. The experimental results showed that the flow rates induced in the façade cavity were due to mixed driving forces: wind and buoyancy. Depending on the weather conditions one of them was the main driving force, or both were of the same order. When the wind force was the main driving force, higher flow rates were found. In these cases buoyancy acted as supporting driving force. When the wind speed was low and buoyancy prevailed lower flow rates were found. Air and surface temperatures were predicted by the numerical model with a better accuracy than flow and energy rates. The model predicts correctly the influence of the wind and buoyancy driving forces. The experimental OVF module showed potential for free ventilation and air preheating, although it depends on weather and geometrical variables. The use of the numerical model using the right parameters was found viable for analyzing the performance of an OVF
The role of orbital angular momentum in the proton spin
The orbital angular momenta and of up and down quarks in the
proton are estimated as functions of the energy scale as model-independently as
possible, on the basis of Ji's angular momentum sum rule. This analysis
indicates that is large and negative even at low energy scale of
nonperturbative QCD, in contrast to Thomas' similar analysis based on the
refined cloudy bag model. We pursuit the origin of this apparent discrepancy
and suggest that it may have a connection with the fundamental question of how
to define quark orbital angular momenta in QCD.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, 1 table A slightly extended version to appear in
Eur. Phys. J.
Occupational exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals and other parental risk factors in hypospadias and cryptorchidism development: a case–control study
Aim of the study: Endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are exogenous agents that are capable of altering the endocrine system functions, including the regulation of developmental processes. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between EDC exposure and other parental factors in the etiology of hypospadias and cryptorchidism.
Methods: A case–control study was conducted. Cases (n = 210) were infants aged between 6 months and 14 years diagnosed with hypospadias or cryptorchidism who attended the authors' hospital over a period of 18 months, and controls (n = 210) were infants within the same range of age and without any urological disorders who attended the outpatient clinic of the same hospital during the same time period. Their selection was independent of exposures. Data on parental occupational exposure to EDCs and other sociodemographic variables were collected through face-to-face interviews and systematically for both cases and controls. Crude and adjusted odds ratios (ORs) were estimated to control for confounding with their 95% confidence interval (CI) by means of logistic regressions. Specifically, three final models of a dichotomous outcome were constructed: one for cryptorchidism, one for hypospadias, and the third considering both malformations together. The Hosmer-Lemeshow test was used to assess the goodness of fit of the models. Their discriminatory accuracy (DA) was ascertained by estimating their areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves area under the curve (AUC) along with their 95% CI.
Results: Associations were found between advanced maternal age (OR adjusted = 1.82; 95% CI: 1.14–2.92), mother's consumption of anti-abortives (OR = 5.40; 95% CI: 1.40–38.5) and other drugs (OR = 2.02; 95% CI: 1.31–3.16) during pregnancy, maternal and paternal occupational exposure to EDCs (OR = 4.08; 95% CI: 2.03–8.96 and OR = 3.90; 95% CI: 2.41–6.48, respectively), fathers smoking (OR = 2.0; 95% CI: 1.33–2.99), and fathers with urological disorders (OR = 2.31; 95% CI: 1.15–4.90). Maternal and paternal high educational level could be protective of cryptorchidism (OR = 0.47; 95% CI: 0.28–0.76 and OR = 0.63; 95% CI: 0.42–0.93, respectively). The DA of the models for the whole sample (AUC = 0.75; 95% CI: 0.70–0.79) for cryptorchidism (AUC = 0.76; 95% CI: 0.71–0.82) and for hypospadias (AUC = 0.75; 95% CI: 0.69–0.81) was moderately high.
Conclusions: Advanced age, some parental occupational exposure to EDCs, some drug consumption, smoking, and the father's history of urological disorders may increase risk and predict the developments of these malformations. Studies with higher samples sizes are needed to assess associations between individual EDC occupational exposures and drugs and these malformations. [Table presented
Spectral quark model and low-energy hadron phenomenology
We propose a spectral quark model which can be applied to low energy hadronic
physics. The approach is based on a generalization of the Lehmann
representation of the quark propagator. We work at the one-quark-loop level.
Electromagnetic and chiral invariance are ensured with help of the gauge
technique which provides particular solutions to the Ward-Takahashi identities.
General conditions on the quark spectral function follow from natural physical
requirements. In particular, the function is normalized, its all positive
moments must vanish, while the physical observables depend on negative moments
and the so-called log-moments. As a consequence, the model is made finite,
dispersion relations hold, chiral anomalies are preserved, and the twist
expansion is free from logarithmic scaling violations, as requested of a
low-energy model. We study a variety of processes and show that the framework
is very simple and practical. Finally, incorporating the idea of vector-meson
dominance, we present an explicit construction of the quark spectral function
which satisfies all the requirements. The corresponding momentum representation
of the resulting quark propagator exhibits only cuts on the physical axis, with
no poles present anywhere in the complex momentum space. The momentum-dependent
quark mass compares very well to recent lattice calculations. A large number of
predictions and relations can be deduced from our approach for such quantities
as the pion light-cone wave function, non-local quark condensate, pion
transition form factor, pion valence parton distribution function, etc.Comment: revtex, 24 pages, 3 figure
Discovery of a new Y dwarf: WISE J030449.03-270508.3
This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society following peer review. The version of record [D. J. Pinfield, et al, Discovery of a new Y dwarf: WISE J030449.03−270508.3, MNRAS, Vol. 444 (2): 1931-1939, September 2014] is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stu1540.We present a new Y dwarf, WISE J030449.03−270508.3, confirmed from a candidate sample designed to pick out low-temperature objects from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) data base. The new object is typed Y0pec following a visual comparison with spectral standards, and lies at a likely distance of 10–17 pc. Its tangential velocity suggests thin disc membership, but it shows some spectral characteristics that suggest that it may be metal poor and/or older than previously identified Y0 dwarfs. Based on trends seen for warmer late-type T dwarfs, the Y-band flux peak morphology is indicative of sub-solar metallicity, and the enhanced red wing of the J-band flux peak offers evidence for high gravity and/or low metallicity (with associated model trends suggesting an age closer to ∼10 Gyr and mass in the range 0.02–0.03 Mȯ). This object may thus be extending the population parameter space of the known Y0 dwarfs.Peer reviewe
Low-energy QCD: Chiral coefficients and the quark-quark interaction
A detailed investigation of the low-energy chiral expansion is presented
within a model truncation of QCD. The truncation allows for a phenomenological
description of the quark-quark interaction in a framework which maintains the
global symmetries of QCD and permits a expansion. The model dependence
of the chiral coefficients is tested for several forms of the quark-quark
interaction by varying the form of the running coupling, , in the
infrared region. The pattern in the coefficients that arises at tree level is
consistent with large QCD, and is related to the model truncation.Comment: 28 pages, Latex, 6 postscript figures available on request to
[email protected]
Pion light-cone wave function and pion distribution amplitude in the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model
We compute the pion light-cone wave function and the pion quark distribution
amplitude in the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model. We use the Pauli-Villars
regularization method and as a result the distribution amplitude satisfies
proper normalization and crossing properties. In the chiral limit we obtain the
simple results, namely phi_pi(x)=1 for the pion distribution amplitude, and
= -M / f_pi^2 for the second moment of the pion light-cone
wave function, where M is the constituent quark mass and f_pi is the pion decay
constant. After the QCD Gegenbauer evolution of the pion distribution amplitude
good end-point behavior is recovered, and a satisfactory agreement with the
analysis of the experimental data from CLEO is achieved. This allows us to
determine the momentum scale corresponding to our model calculation, which is
close to the value Q_0 = 313 MeV obtained earlier from the analogous analysis
of the pion parton distribution function. The value of is, after the
QCD evolution, around (400 MeV)^2. In addition, the model predicts a linear
integral relation between the pion distribution amplitude and the parton
distribution function of the pion, which holds at the leading-order QCD
evolution.Comment: mistake in Eq.(38) correcte
Bondian frames to couple matter with radiation
A study is presented for the non linear evolution of a self gravitating
distribution of matter coupled to a massless scalar field. The characteristic
formulation for numerical relativity is used to follow the evolution by a
sequence of light cones open to the future. Bondian frames are used to endow
physical meaning to the matter variables and to the massless scalar field.
Asymptotic approaches to the origin and to infinity are achieved; at the
boundary surface interior and exterior solutions are matched guaranteeing the
Darmois--Lichnerowicz conditions. To show how the scheme works some numerical
models are discussed. We exemplify evolving scalar waves on the following fixed
backgrounds: A) an atmosphere between the boundary surface of an incompressible
mixtured fluid and infinity; B) a polytropic distribution matched to a
Schwarzschild exterior; C) a Schwarzschild- Schwarzschild spacetime. The
conservation of energy, the Newman--Penrose constant preservation and other
expected features are observed.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures; to appear in General Relativity and Gravitatio
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