12,690 research outputs found
Stability of pulse-like earthquake ruptures
Pulse-like ruptures arise spontaneously in many elastodynamic rupture
simulations and seem to be the dominant rupture mode along crustal faults.
Pulse-like ruptures propagating under steady-state conditions can be
efficiently analysed theoretically, but it remains unclear how they can arise
and how they evolve if perturbed. Using thermal pressurisation as a
representative constitutive law, we conduct elastodynamic simulations of
pulse-like ruptures and determine the spatio-temporal evolution of slip, slip
rate and pulse width perturbations induced by infinitesimal perturbations in
background stress. These simulations indicate that steady-state pulses driven
by thermal pressurisation are unstable. If the initial stress perturbation is
negative, ruptures stop; conversely, if the perturbation is positive, ruptures
grow and transition to either self-similar pulses (at low background stress) or
expanding cracks (at elevated background stress). Based on a dynamic
dislocation model, we develop an elastodynamic equation of motion for slip
pulses, and demonstrate that steady-state slip pulses are unstable if their
accrued slip is a decreasing function of the uniform background stress
. This condition is satisfied by slip pulses driven by thermal
pressurisation. The equation of motion also predicts quantitatively the growth
rate of perturbations, and provides a generic tool to analyse the propagation
of slip pulses. The unstable character of steady-state slip pulses implies that
this rupture mode is a key one determining the minimum stress conditions for
sustainable ruptures along faults, i.e., their ``strength''. Furthermore, slip
pulse instabilities can produce a remarkable complexity of rupture dynamics,
even under uniform background stress conditions and material properties
Stochastic modelling of intermittent scrape-off layer plasma fluctuations
Single-point measurements of fluctuations in the scrape-off layer of
magnetized plasmas are generally found to be dominated by large-amplitude
bursts which are associated with radial motion of blob-like structures. A
stochastic model for these fluctuations is presented, with the plasma density
given by a random sequence of bursts with a fixed wave form. Under very general
conditions, this model predicts a parabolic relation between the skewness and
kurtosis moments of the plasma fluctuations. In the case of exponentially
distributed burst amplitudes and waiting times, the probability density
function for the fluctuation amplitudes is shown to be a Gamma distribution
with the scale parameter given by the average burst amplitude and the shape
parameter given by the ratio of the burst duration and waiting times.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figur
Does commuting mode choice impact health?
Governments around the world are encouraging people to switch away from sedentary modes of travel towards more active modes, including walking and cycling. The aim of these schemes is to improve population health and to reduce emissions. There is considerable evidence on the latter, yet relatively little on the former. This paper investigates the impact of mode choice on measures of physical and mental health as well as satisfaction with health. Using data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study from 2009-2016, our empirical strategy exploits changes in the mode of commute to identify health outcome responses. Individuals who change modes are matched with those whose mode remains constant. Overall we find that mode switches affect both physical and mental health. Specifically we find an increase in physical health for women and an increase in mental health for both genders, when switching from car to active travel. In contrast, both men and women who switch from active travel to car are shown to experience a significant reduction in their physical health and health satisfaction, and a decline in their mental health when they change from active to public transport
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Relationship between the molecular composition, visible light absorption, and health-related properties of smoldering woodsmoke aerosols
Organic aerosols generated from the smoldering combustion of wood critically impact air quality and health for billions of people worldwide; yet, the links between the chemical components and the optical or biological effects of woodsmoke aerosol (WSA) are still poorly understood. In this work, an untargeted analysis of the molecular composition of smoldering WSA, generated in a controlled environment from nine types of heartwood fuels (African mahogany, birch, cherry, maple, pine, poplar, red oak, redwood, and walnut), identified several hundred compounds using gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) and nano-electrospray high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) with tandem multistage mass spectrometry (MSn). The effects of WSA on cell toxicity as well as gene expression dependent on the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) and estrogen receptor (ER) were characterized with cellular assays, and the visible mass absorption coefficients (MACvis) of WSA were measured with ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. The WSAs studied in this work have significant levels of biological and toxicological activity, with exposure levels in both an outdoor and indoor environment similar to or greater than those of other toxicants. A correlation between the HRMS molecular composition and aerosol properties found that phenolic compounds from the oxidative decomposition of lignin are the main drivers of aerosol effects, while the cellulose decomposition products play a secondary role; e.g., levoglucosan is anticorrelated with multiple effects. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are not expected to form at the combustion temperature in this work, nor were they observed above the detection limit; thus, biological and optical properties of the smoldering WSA are not attributed to PAHs. Syringyl compounds tend to correlate with cell toxicity, while the more conjugated molecules (including several compounds assigned to dimers) have higher AhR activity and MACvis. The negative correlation between cell toxicity and AhR activity suggests that the toxicity of smoldering WSA to cells is not mediated by the AhR. Both mass-normalized biological outcomes have a statistically significant dependence on the degree of combustion of the wood. In addition, our observations support the fact that the visible light absorption of WSA is at least partially due to charge transfer effects in aerosols, as previously suggested. Finally, MACvis has no correlation with toxicity or receptor signaling, suggesting that key chromophores in this work are not biologically active on the endpoints tested
Nosepiece respiration monitor
Comfortable, inexpensive nosepiece respiration monitor produces rapid response signals to most conventional high impedance medical signal conditioners. The monitor measures respiration in a manner that produces a large signal with minimum delay
Analysis of nuclear waste disposal in space, phase 3. Volume 2: Technical report
The options, reference definitions and/or requirements currently envisioned for the total nuclear waste disposal in space mission are summarized. The waste form evaluation and selection process is documented along with the physical characteristics of the iron nickel-base cermet matrix chosen for disposal of commercial and defense wastes. Safety aspects of radioisotope thermal generators, the general purpose heat source, and the Lewis Research Center concept for space disposal are assessed as well as the on-pad catastrophic accident environments for the uprated space shuttle and the heavy lift launch vehicle. The radionuclides that contribute most to long-term risk of terrestrial disposal were determined and the effects of resuspension of fallout particles from an accidental release of waste material were studied. Health effects are considered. Payload breakup and rescue technology are discussed as well as expected requirements for licensing, supporting research and technology, and safety testing
Analysis of nuclear waste disposal in space, phase 3. Volume 1: Executive summary of technical report
The objectives, approach, assumptions, and limitations of a study of nuclear waste disposal in space are discussed with emphasis on the following: (1) payload characterization; (2) safety assessment; (3) health effects assessment; (4) long-term risk assessment; and (5) program planning support to NASA and DOE. Conclusions are presented for each task
Dynamic interference of photoelectrons produced by high-frequency laser pulses
The ionization of an atom by a high-frequency intense laser pulse, where the
energy of a single-photon is sufficient to ionize the system, is investigated
from first principles. It is shown that as a consequence of an AC Stark effect
in the continuum, the energy of the photoelectron follows the envelope of the
laser pulse. This is demonstrated to result in strong dynamic interference of
the photoelectrons of the same kinetic energy emitted at different times.
Numerically exact computations on the hydrogen atom demonstrate that the
dynamic interference spectacularly modifies the photoionization process and is
prominently manifested in the photoelectron spectrum by the appearance of a
distinct multi-peak pattern. The general theory is shown to be well
approximated by explicit analytical expressions which allow for a transparent
understanding of the discovered phenomena and for making predictions on the
dependence of the measured spectrum on the properties of the pulse.Comment: 5 figure
Radiation-Hydrodynamic Simulations of Collapse and Fragmentation in Massive Protostellar Cores
We simulate the early stages of the evolution of turbulent, virialized,
high-mass protostellar cores, with primary attention to how cores fragment, and
whether they form a small or large number of protostars. Our simulations use
the Orion adaptive mesh refinement code to follow the collapse from ~0.1 pc
scales to ~10 AU scales, for durations that cover the main fragmentation phase,
using three-dimensional gravito-radiation hydrodynamics. We find that for a
wide range of initial conditions radiation feedback from accreting protostars
inhibits the formation of fragments, so that the vast majority of the collapsed
mass accretes onto one or a few objects. Most of the fragmentation that does
occur takes place in massive, self-shielding disks. These are driven to
gravitational instability by rapid accretion, producing rapid mass and angular
momentum transport that allows most of the gas to accrete onto the central star
rather than forming fragments. In contrast, a control run using the same
initial conditions but an isothermal equation of state produces much more
fragmentation, both in and out of the disk. We conclude that massive cores with
observed properties are not likely to fragment into many stars, so that, at
least at high masses, the core mass function probably determines the stellar
initial mass function. Our results also demonstrate that simulations of massive
star forming regions that do not include radiative transfer, and instead rely
on a barotropic equation of state or optically thin heating and cooling curves,
are likely to produce misleading results.Comment: 23 pages, 18 figures, emulateapj format. Accepted to ApJ. This
version has minor typo fixes and small additions, no significant changes.
Resolution of images severely degraded to fit within size limit. Download the
full paper from http://www.astro.princeton.edu/~krumholz/recent.htm
Dynamical Masses of Low Mass Stars in the Taurus and Ophiuchus Star Forming Regions
We report new dynamical masses for 5 pre-main sequence (PMS) stars in the
L1495 region of the Taurus star-forming region (SFR) and 6 in the L1688 region
of the Ophiuchus SFR. Since these regions have VLBA parallaxes these are
absolute measurements of the stars' masses and are independent of their
effective temperatures and luminosities. Seven of the stars have masses
solar masses, thus providing data in a mass range with little data, and of
these, 6 are measured to precision . We find 8 stars with masses in the
range 0.09 to 1.1 solar mass that agree well with the current generation of PMS
evolutionary models. The ages of the stars we measured in the Taurus SFR are in
the range 1-3 MY, and MY for those in L1688. We also measured the
dynamical masses of 14 stars in the ALMA archival data for Akeson~\&~Jensen's
Cycle 0 project on binaries in the Taurus SFR. We find that the masses of 7 of
the targets are so large that they cannot be reconciled with reported values of
their luminosity and effective temperature. We suggest that these targets are
themselves binaries or triples.Comment: 20 page
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