20,837 research outputs found
Density functional theory for hard-sphere mixtures: the White-Bear version Mark II
In the spirit of the White-Bear version of fundamental measure theory we
derive a new density functional for hard-sphere mixtures which is based on a
recent mixture extension of the Carnahan-Starling equation of state. In
addition to the capability to predict inhomogeneous density distributions very
accurately, like the original White-Bear version, the new functional improves
upon consistency with an exact scaled-particle theory relation in the case of
the pure fluid. We examine consistency in detail within the context of
morphological thermodynamics. Interestingly, for the pure fluid the degree of
consistency of the new version is not only higher than for the original
White-Bear version but also higher than for Rosenfeld's original fundamental
measure theory.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures; minor changes; J. Phys.: Condens. Matter,
accepte
Preferential attachment during the evolution of a potential energy landscape
It has previously been shown that the network of connected minima on a
potential energy landscape is scale-free, and that this reflects a power-law
distribution for the areas of the basins of attraction surrounding the minima.
Here, we set out to understand more about the physical origins of these
puzzling properties by examining how the potential energy landscape of a
13-atom cluster evolves with the range of the potential. In particular, on
decreasing the range of the potential the number of stationary points increases
and thus the landscape becomes rougher and the network gets larger. Thus, we
are able to follow the evolution of the potential energy landscape from one
with just a single minimum to a complex landscape with many minima and a
scale-free pattern of connections. We find that during this growth process, new
edges in the network of connected minima preferentially attach to more
highly-connected minima, thus leading to the scale-free character. Furthermore,
minima that appear when the range of the potential is shorter and the network
is larger have smaller basins of attraction. As there are many of these smaller
basins because the network grows exponentially, the observed growth process
thus also gives rise to a power-law distribution for the hyperareas of the
basins.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figure
Paired and altruistic kidney donation in the UK: algorithms and experimentation
We study the computational problem of identifying optimal
sets of kidney exchanges in the UK. We show how to expand an integer
programming-based formulation [1, 19] in order to model the criteria that
constitute the UK definition of optimality. The software arising from this
work has been used by the National Health Service Blood and Transplant
to find optimal sets of kidney exchanges for their National Living Donor
Kidney Sharing Schemes since July 2008.We report on the characteristics
of the solutions that have been obtained in matching runs of the scheme
since this time. We then present empirical results arising from the real
datasets that stem from these matching runs, with the aim of establishing
the extent to which the particular optimality criteria that are present
in the UK influence the structure of the solutions that are ultimately
computed. A key observation is that allowing 4-way exchanges would be
likely to lead to a significant number of additional transplants
Matrix Elements and Few-Body Calculations within the Unitary Correlation Operator Method
We employ the Unitary Correlation Operator Method (UCOM) to construct
correlated, low-momentum matrix elements of realistic nucleon-nucleon
interactions. The dominant short-range central and tensor correlations induced
by the interaction are included explicitly by an unitary transformation. Using
correlated momentum-space matrix elements of the Argonne V18 potential, we show
that the unitary transformation eliminates the strong off-diagonal
contributions caused by the short-range repulsion and the tensor interaction,
and leaves a correlated interaction dominated by low-momentum contributions. We
use correlated harmonic oscillator matrix elements as input for no-core shell
model calculations for few-nucleon systems. Compared to the bare interaction,
the convergence properties are dramatically improved. The bulk of the binding
energy can already be obtained in very small model spaces or even with a single
Slater determinant. Residual long-range correlations, not treated explicitly by
the unitary transformation, can easily be described in model spaces of moderate
size allowing for fast convergence. By varying the range of the tensor
correlator we are able to map out the Tjon line and can in turn constrain the
optimal correlator ranges.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, using REVTEX
Permafrost - physical aspects and carbon cycling, databases and uncertainties
Permafrost is defined as ground that remains below 0°C for at least 2 consecutive years. About 24% of the northern hemisphere land area is underlain by permafrost. The thawing of permafrost has the potential to influence the climate system through the release of carbon (C) from northern high latitude terrestrial ecosystems, but there is substantial uncertainty about the sensitivity of the C cycle to thawing permafrost. Soil C can be mobilized from permafrost in response to changes in air temperature, directional changes in water balance, fire, thermokarst, and flooding. Observation networks need to be implemented to understand responses of
permafrost and C at a range of temporal and spatial scales. The understanding gained from these observation networks needs to be integrated into modeling frameworks capable of representing how the responses of permafrost C will influence the trajectory of climate in the future
Stable marriage and roommates problems with restricted edges: complexity and approximability
In the Stable Marriage and Roommates problems, a set of agents is given, each of them having a strictly ordered preference list over some or all of the other agents. A matching is a set of disjoint pairs of mutually acceptable agents. If any two agents mutually prefer each other to their partner, then they block the matching, otherwise, the matching is said to be stable. We investigate the complexity of finding a solution satisfying additional constraints on restricted pairs of agents. Restricted pairs can be either forced or forbidden. A stable solution must contain all of the forced pairs, while it must contain none of the forbidden pairs.
Dias et al. (2003) gave a polynomial-time algorithm to decide whether such a solution exists in the presence of restricted edges. If the answer is no, one might look for a solution close to optimal. Since optimality in this context means that the matching is stable and satisfies all constraints on restricted pairs, there are two ways of relaxing the constraints by permitting a solution to: (1) be blocked by as few as possible pairs, or (2) violate as few as possible constraints n restricted pairs.
Our main theorems prove that for the (bipartite) Stable Marriage problem, case (1) leads to View the MathML source-hardness and inapproximability results, whilst case (2) can be solved in polynomial time. For non-bipartite Stable Roommates instances, case (2) yields an View the MathML source-hard but (under some cardinality assumptions) 2-approximable problem. In the case of View the MathML source-hard problems, we also discuss polynomially solvable special cases, arising from restrictions on the lengths of the preference lists, or upper bounds on the numbers of restricted pairs
Estimating field-scale soil water dynamics at a heterogeneous site using multi-channel GPR
We explore the feasibility to quantify the field-scale soil water dynamics through time series of GPR (ground-penetrating radar) measurements, which bridge the gap between point measurements and field measurements. Working on a 40 m × 50 m area in a heterogeneous agricultural field, we obtain a time series of radargrams after a heavy rainfall event. The data are analysed to simultaneously yield (i) a three-dimensional representation of the subsurface architecture and (ii) the total soil water volume between the surface and a reflection boundary associated with the presence of paleo sand dunes or clay inclusions in a rather uniform sand matrix. We assess the precision and the accuracy of these quantities and conclude that the method is sensitive enough to capture the spatial structure of the changing soil water content in a three-dimensional heterogeneous soil during a short-duration infiltration event. While the sensitivity of the method needs to be improved, it already produced useful information to understand the observed patterns in crop height and it yielded insight into the dynamics of soil water content at this site including the effect of evaporation
Electromechanical Reliability Testing of Three-Axial Silicon Force Sensors
This paper reports on the systematic electromechanical characterization of a
new three-axial force sensor used in dimensional metrology of micro components.
The siliconbased sensor system consists of piezoresistive mechanicalstress
transducers integrated in thin membrane hinges supporting a suspended flexible
cross structure. The mechanical behavior of the fragile micromechanical
structure isanalyzed for both static and dynamic load cases. This work
demonstrates that the silicon microstructure withstands static forces of 1.16N
applied orthogonally to the front-side of the structure. A statistical Weibull
analysis of the measured data shows that these values are significantly reduced
if the normal force is applied to the back of the sensor. Improvements of the
sensor system design for future development cycles are derived from the
measurement results.Comment: Submitted on behalf of TIMA Editions
(http://irevues.inist.fr/tima-editions
Efficient reconstruction of dispersive dielectric profiles using time domain reflectometry (TDR)
We present a numerical model for time domain reflectometry (TDR) signal propagation in dispersive dielectric materials. The numerical probe model is terminated with a parallel circuit, consisting of an ohmic resistor and an ideal capacitance. We derive analytical approximations for the capacitance, the inductance and the conductance of three-wire probes. We couple the time domain model with global optimization in order to reconstruct water content profiles from TDR traces. For efficiently solving the inverse problem we use genetic algorithms combined with a hierarchical parameterization. We investigate the performance of the method by reconstructing synthetically generated profiles. The algorithm is then applied to retrieve dielectric profiles from TDR traces measured in the field. We succeed in reconstructing dielectric and ohmic profiles where conventional methods, based on travel time extraction, fail
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