Computer simulations of an impurity in a granular gas under planar Couette flow

We present in this work results from numerical solutions, obtained by means of the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method, of the Boltzmann and Boltzmann--Lorentz equations for an impurity immersed in a granular gas under planar Couette flow. The DSMC results are compared with the exact solution of a recent kinetic model for the same problem. The results confirm that, in steady states and over a wide range of parameter values, the state of the impurity is enslaved to that of the host gas: it follows the same flow velocity profile, its concentration (relative to that of the granular gas) is constant in the bulk region, and the impurity/gas temperature ratio is also constant. We determine also the rheological properties and nonlinear hydrodynamic transport coefficients for the impurity, finding a good semi-quantitative agreement between the DSMC results and the theoretical predictions.Comment: 23 pages, 11 figures; v2: minor change

A Robust and Artifact Resistant Algorithm of Ultrawideband Imaging System for Breast Cancer Detection.

Goal: Ultrawideband radar imaging is regarded as one of the most promising alternatives for breast cancer detection. A range of algorithms reported in literature show satisfactory tumor detection capabilities. However, most of algorithms suffer significant deterioration or even fail when the early-stage artifact, including incident signals and skin-fat interface reflections, cannot be perfectly removed from received signals. Furthermore, fibro-glandular tissue poses another challenge for tumor detection, due to the small dielectric contrast between glandular and cancerous tissues. Methods: This paper introduces a novel Robust and Artifact Resistant (RAR) algorithm, in which a neighborhood pairwise correlation-based weighting is designed to overcome the adverse effects from both artifact and glandular tissues. In RAR, backscattered signals are time-shifted, summed, and weighted by the maximum combination of the neighboring pairwise correlation coefficients between shifted signals, forming the intensity of each point within an imaging area. Results: The effectiveness was investigated using 3-D anatomically and dielectrically accurate finite-difference-time-domain numerical breast models. The use of neighborhood pairwise correlation provided robustness against artifact, and enabled the detection of multiple scatterers. RAR is compared with four well-known algorithms: delay-and-sum, delay-multiply-and-sum, modified-weighted-delay-and-sum, and filtered-delay-and-sum. Conclusion: It has shown that RAR exhibits improved identification capability, robust artifact resistance, and high detectability over its counterparts in most scenarios considered, while maintaining computational efficiency. Simulated tumors in both homogeneous and heterogonous, from mildly to moderately dense breast phantoms, combining an entropy-based artifact removal algorithm, were successfully identified and localized. Significance: These results show the strong potential of RAR for breast cancer screening

Bose-Einstein condensation in antiferromagnets close to the saturation field

At zero temperature and strong applied magnetic fields the ground sate of an anisotropic antiferromagnet is a saturated paramagnet with fully aligned spins. We study the quantum phase transition as the field is reduced below an upper critical $H_{c2}$ and the system enters a XY-antiferromagnetic phase. Using a bond operator representation we consider a model spin-1 Heisenberg antiferromagnetic with single-ion anisotropy in hyper-cubic lattices under strong magnetic fields. We show that the transition at $H_{c2}$ can be interpreted as a Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of magnons. The theoretical results are used to analyze our magnetization versus field data in the organic compound $NiCl_2$-$4SC(NH_2)_2$ (DTN) at very low temperatures. This is the ideal BEC system to study this transition since $H_{c2}$ is sufficiently low to be reached with static magnetic fields (as opposed to pulsed fields). The scaling of the magnetization as a function of field and temperature close to $H_{c2}$ shows excellent agreement with the theoretical predictions. It allows to obtain the quantum critical exponents and confirm the BEC nature of the transition at $H_{c2}$.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure. Accepted for publication in PRB

An exact solution of the inelastic Boltzmann equation for the Couette flow with uniform heat flux

In the steady Couette flow of a granular gas the sign of the heat flux gradient is governed by the competition between viscous heating and inelastic cooling. We show from the Boltzmann equation for inelastic Maxwell particles that a special class of states exists where the viscous heating and the inelastic cooling exactly compensate each other at every point, resulting in a uniform heat flux. In this state the (reduced) shear rate is enslaved to the coefficient of restitution $\alpha$, so that the only free parameter is the (reduced) thermal gradient $\epsilon$. It turns out that the reduced moments of order $k$ are polynomials of degree $k-2$ in $\epsilon$, with coefficients that are nonlinear functions of $\alpha$. In particular, the rheological properties ($k=2$) are independent of $\epsilon$ and coincide exactly with those of the simple shear flow. The heat flux ($k=3$) is linear in the thermal gradient (generalized Fourier's law), but with an effective thermal conductivity differing from the Navier--Stokes one. In addition, a heat flux component parallel to the flow velocity and normal to the thermal gradient exists. The theoretical predictions are validated by comparison with direct Monte Carlo simulations for the same model.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures,1 table; v2: minor change

A review on the use of hormones in fish farming: analytical methods to determine their residues.

Hormones are used in fish farming to increase fish production when one sex of a species has the capacity to grow bigger and faster than the other sex. The technique to increase fish production based on sexual dimorphism mostly uses estrogens and androgens. These chemicals must be handled carefully to ensure environmental, biological and food safety, since they can contaminate the environment and promote changes in the endocrine system inducing adverse effects on the consumer health. Another important issue is the reliability of the analytical methods used to identify and/or quantify hormone residues in the meat of treated fish. Therefore, the aim of this review is to bring into view the use of hormones in fish farming, the possible impacts of this practice on humans and on the environment and to discuss the current methods of analysis for determining the hormone residues in food matrices, especially in fish