31,558 research outputs found
Direct N-body Simulations of Rubble Pile Collisions
There is increasing evidence that many km-sized bodies in the Solar System
are piles of rubble bound together by gravity. We present results from a
project to map the parameter space of collisions between km-sized spherical
rubble piles. The results will assist in parameterization of collision outcomes
for Solar System formation models and give insight into fragmentation scaling
laws. We use a direct numerical method to evolve the positions and velocities
of the rubble pile particles under the constraints of gravity and physical
collisions. We test the dependence of the collision outcomes on impact
parameter and speed, impactor spin, mass ratio, and coefficient of restitution.
Speeds are kept low (< 10 m/s, appropriate for dynamically cool systems such as
the primordial disk during early planet formation) so that the maximum strain
on the component material does not exceed the crushing strength. We compare our
results with analytic estimates and hydrocode simulations. Off-axis collisions
can result in fast-spinning elongated remnants or contact binaries while fast
collisions result in smaller fragments overall. Clumping of debris escaping
from the remnant can occur, leading to the formation of smaller rubble piles.
In the cases we tested, less than 2% of the system mass ends up orbiting the
remnant. Initial spin can reduce or enhance collision outcomes, depending on
the relative orientation of the spin and orbital angular momenta. We derive a
relationship between impact speed and angle for critical dispersal of mass in
the system. We find that our rubble piles are relatively easy to disperse, even
at low impact speed, suggesting that greater dissipation is required if rubble
piles are the true progenitors of protoplanets.Comment: 30 pages including 4 tables, 8 figures. Revised version to be
published in Icarus
Reducing inappropriate antibiotics prescribing: The role of online commentary on physical examination findings
Objective: This study investigates the relationship of ‘online commentary’(contemporaneous physician comments about physical examination [PE] findings) with (i) parent questioning of the treatment recommendation and (ii) inappropriate antibiotic prescribing. Methods: A nested cross-sectional study of 522 encounters motivated by upper respiratory symptoms in 27 California pediatric practices (38 pediatricians). Physicians completed a post-visit survey regarding physical examination findings, diagnosis, treatment, and whether they perceived the parent as expecting an antibiotic. Taped encounters were coded for ‘problem’ online commentary (PE findings discussed as significant or clearly abnormal) and ‘no problem’ online commentary (PE findings discussed reassuringly as normal or insignificant). Results: Online commentary during the PE occurred in 73% of visits with viral diagnoses (n = 261). Compared to similar cases with ‘no problem’ online commentary, ‘problem’ comments were associated with a 13% greater probability of parents uestioning a non-antibiotic treatment plan (95% CI 0-26%, p = .05,) and a 27% (95% CI: 2-52%, p < .05) greater probability of an inappropriate antibiotic prescription. Conclusion: With viral illnesses, problematic online comments are associated with more pediatrician-parent conflict over non-antibiotic treatment recommendations. This may increase inappropriate antibiotic prescribing. Practice implications: In viral cases, physicians should consider avoiding the use of problematic online commentary
Highly sensitive alkane odour sensors based on functionalised gold nanoparticles
We deposit dense, ordered, thin films of Au-dodecanethiol core/shell nanoparticles by the Langmuir-Schafer (LS) printing method, and find that their resistance at ambient temperature responds selectively and sensitively to alkane odours. Response is a rapid resistance increase due to swelling, and is strongest for alkane odours where the alkane chain is similar in length to the dodecane shell. For decane odours, we find a response to concentrations as low as 15 ppm, about 600 times below the lower explosive limit. Response is weaker, but still significant, to aromatic odours (e.g. Toluene, Xylene), while potential interferants such as polar and/or hydrogen-bonding odours (e.g. alcohols, ketones, water vapour) are somewhat rejected. Resistance is weakly dependent on temperature, and recovers rapidly and completely to its original value within the error margin of measurement. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
Community Structure in Time-Dependent, Multiscale, and Multiplex Networks
Network science is an interdisciplinary endeavor, with methods and
applications drawn from across the natural, social, and information sciences. A
prominent problem in network science is the algorithmic detection of
tightly-connected groups of nodes known as communities. We developed a
generalized framework of network quality functions that allowed us to study the
community structure of arbitrary multislice networks, which are combinations of
individual networks coupled through links that connect each node in one network
slice to itself in other slices. This framework allows one to study community
structure in a very general setting encompassing networks that evolve over
time, have multiple types of links (multiplexity), and have multiple scales.Comment: 31 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. Includes main text and supporting
material. This is the accepted version of the manuscript (the definitive
version appeared in Science), with typographical corrections included her
Recommended from our members
A submillimetre wavelength spectral line search of the Orion molecular cloud core
A submillimetre wavelength molecular line search of the Orion molecular cloud has been made covering a total of about 5 percent of the frequency range 342.8 - 358.6 GHz. This search, coupled with the authors' previous observations of submillimetre transitions in this cloud, has led to the detection of 22 transitions of 14 molecular species, of which 16 are reported here for the first time. No unidentified lines have been detected in the present search. Mapping observations have been obtained for several of the lines and, in the case of H2CO the authors have been able to compare the present data with that obtained from other telescopes, to estimate the density and abundance in the emitting region
Probabilistic Model Counting with Short XORs
The idea of counting the number of satisfying truth assignments (models) of a
formula by adding random parity constraints can be traced back to the seminal
work of Valiant and Vazirani, showing that NP is as easy as detecting unique
solutions. While theoretically sound, the random parity constraints in that
construction have the following drawback: each constraint, on average, involves
half of all variables. As a result, the branching factor associated with
searching for models that also satisfy the parity constraints quickly gets out
of hand. In this work we prove that one can work with much shorter parity
constraints and still get rigorous mathematical guarantees, especially when the
number of models is large so that many constraints need to be added. Our work
is based on the realization that the essential feature for random systems of
parity constraints to be useful in probabilistic model counting is that the
geometry of their set of solutions resembles an error-correcting code.Comment: To appear in SAT 1
Finite Density QCD in the Chiral Limit
We present the first results of an exact simulation of full QCD at finite
density in the chiral limit. We have used a MFA (Microcanonical Fermionic
Average) inspired approach for the reconstruction of the Grand Canonical
Partition Function of the theory; using the fugacity expansion of the fermionic
determinant we are able to move continuously in the () plane with
.Comment: 3 pages, LaTeX, 3 figures, uses espcrc2.sty, psfig. Talk presented by
A. Galante at Lattice 97. Correction of some reference
A successful campaign against the euro
RESULTS from a five-year research programme carried out by the C.S.I.R.O. on the Abydos-Woodstock Pastoral Research Station indicated that euros could be controlled in a practical and economic way by the traditional method of water poisoning,
if it was continued for an extended period and carried out over a large area. Smallscale trials supported this claim, but no opportunity had occurred to assess the practicability of a large-scale poisoning operation
Estimation of Primordial Spectrum with post-WMAP 3 year data
In this paper we implement an improved (error sensitive) Richardson-Lucy
deconvolution algorithm on the measured angular power spectrum from the WMAP 3
year data to determine the primordial power spectrum assuming different points
in the cosmological parameter space for a flat LCDM cosmological model. We also
present the preliminary results of the cosmological parameter estimation by
assuming a free form of the primordial spectrum, for a reasonably large volume
of the parameter space. The recovered spectrum for a considerably large number
of the points in the cosmological parameter space has a likelihood far better
than a `best fit' power law spectrum up to \Delta \chi^2_{eff} \approx -30. We
use Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) for smoothing the raw recovered spectrum
from the binned data. The results obtained here reconfirm and sharpen the
conclusion drawn from our previous analysis of the WMAP 1st year data. A sharp
cut off around the horizon scale and a bump after the horizon scale seem to be
a common feature for all of these reconstructed primordial spectra. We have
shown that although the WMAP 3 year data prefers a lower value of matter
density for a power law form of the primordial spectrum, for a free form of the
spectrum, we can get a very good likelihood to the data for higher values of
matter density. We have also shown that even a flat CDM model, allowing a free
form of the primordial spectrum, can give a very high likelihood fit to the
data. Theoretical interpretation of the results is open to the cosmology
community. However, this work provides strong evidence that the data retains
discriminatory power in the cosmological parameter space even when there is
full freedom in choosing the primordial spectrum.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, uses Revtex4, new analysis and results,
references added, matches version accepted to Phys. Rev.
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