48,471 research outputs found
The transition to living with HIV as a chronic condition: working to create order and control on anti-retroviral therapy
Gaussian ellipsoid model for confined polymer systems
Polymer systems in slab geometries are studied on the basis of the recently
presented Gaussian Ellipsoid Model [J. Chem. Phys. 114, 7655 (2001)].The
potential of the confining walls has an exponential shape. For homogeneous
systems in thermodynamic equilibrium we discuss density, orientation and
deformation profiles of the polymers close to the walls. For strongly
segregated mixtures of polymer components A and B equilibrium profiles are
studied near a planar interface separating A and B rich regions. Spinodal
decomposition processes of the mixtures in the presence of neutral walls show
upon strong confinement an increase of the lateral size of A and B rich domains
and a slowing down of the demixing kinetics. These findings are in agreement
with predictions from time dependent Ginzburg--Landau theory. In the case,
where one wall periodically favors one of the two mixture components over the
other, different equilibrium structures emerge and lead to different kinetic
pathways of spinodal decomposition processes in such systems.Comment: 18 pages, 16 figures, submitted to J. Chem. Phy
Multivariable control theory applied to hierarchial attitude control for planetary spacecraft
Multivariable control theory is applied to the design of a hierarchial attitude control system for the CARD space vehicle. The system selected uses reaction control jets (RCJ) and control moment gyros (CMG). The RCJ system uses linear signal mixing and a no-fire region similar to that used on the Skylab program; the y-axis and z-axis systems which are coupled use a sum and difference feedback scheme. The CMG system uses the optimum steering law and the same feedback signals as the RCJ system. When both systems are active the design is such that the torques from each system are never in opposition. A state-space analysis was made of the CMG system to determine the general structure of the input matrices (steering law) and feedback matrices that will decouple the axes. It is shown that the optimum steering law and proportional-plus-rate feedback are special cases. A derivation of the disturbing torques on the space vehicle due to the motion of the on-board television camera is presented. A procedure for computing an upper bound on these torques (given the system parameters) is included
p-Wave stabilization of three-dimensional Bose-Fermi solitons
We explore bright soliton solutions of ultracold Bose-Fermi gases, showing
that the presence of p-wave interactions can remove the usual collapse
instability and support stable soliton solutions that are global energy minima.
A variational model that incorporates the relevant s- and p-wave interactions
in the system is established analytically and solved numerically to probe the
dependencies of the solitons on key experimental parameters. Under attractive
s-wave interactions, bright solitons exist only as meta-stable states
susceptible to collapse. Remarkably, the presence of repulsive p-wave
interactions alleviates this collapse instability. This dramatically widens the
range of experimentally-achievable soliton solutions and indicates greatly
enhanced robustness. While we focus specifically on the boson-fermion pairing
of 87Rb and 40K, the stabilization inferred by repulsive p-wave interactions
should apply to the wider remit of ultracold Bose-Fermi mixtures.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure
An investigation into the impact of coaching strategies with respect to physical and performance characteristics of male youth of varying biological maturation
This thesis will be presented as two standalone experimental chapters which will culminate in a thesis discussion linking the two papers under the overarching concept of maturation in male youth. Chapter 2 is currently under review in ‘Cogent Medicine’, and the intention of Chapter 2 is to identify physical, injury and performance-based differences between maturational groups within a general school-based population of 8 youth. These observed differences within Chapter 2 will then inform the methodology and coaching strategies utilised within Chapter 3, which will investigate the effectiveness of various coaching methods in order to maximise adaptation, motor ability and injury prevention within each maturational group. The outcome of this thesis hopes to inform practitioners as to how they can best implement their training programmes to maximise learning and adaptation across a range of biological maturation levels. Rather than just knowing when training should occur which has been investigated previously, it is hoped this thesis will provide insight into how coaching should occur to maximise learning within this diverse adolescent population. Due to the layout of this thesis with the individual papers, there is an element of content repetition throughout Chapters 1,2,3 and 4 which needs to be acknowledged, although the various contexts provides uniqueness throughout
The effect of the quasar H1821+643 on the surrounding intracluster medium: revealing the underlying cooling flow
We present a detailed study of the thermodynamic properties of the
intracluster medium of the only low redshift galaxy cluster to contain a highly
luminous quasar, H1821+643. The cluster is a highly massive, strong cool core
cluster. We find that the ICM entropy around the quasar is significantly lower
than that of other similarly massive strong cool core clusters within the
central 80 kpc, and that the entropy lies significantly below the extrapolated
baseline entropy profile from hierarchical structure formation. By comparing
the scaled temperature profile with those of other strong cool core clusters of
similar total mass, we see that the entropy deficiency is due to the central
temperature being significantly lower. This suggests that the presence of the
quasar in the core of H1821+643 has had a dramatic cooling effect on the
intracluster medium around it. We find that, if the quasar was brighter in the
past, Compton cooling by radiation from the quasar may have caused the low
entropy and temperature levels in the ICM around the quasar. Curiously, the
gradients of the steep central temperature and entropy decline are in
reasonable agreement with the profiles expected for a constant pressure cooling
flow. It is possible that the system has been locked into a Compton cooled
feedback cycle which prevents energy release from the black hole heating the
gas sufficiently to switch it off, leading to the formation of a huge (~3x10^10
solar mass) supermassive black hole.Comment: 8 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA
Assessment of Variable-cycle Engines for Mach 2.7 Supersonic Transports
Three proposed SCAR propulsion systems in terms of aircraft range for a fixed payload and take-off gross weight with a design cruise Mach number 2.7 are evaluated. The effects of various noise and operational restraints are determined and sensitivities to some of the more important performance variables are presented for the most probable design noise and operational restraint case. Critical areas requiring new or improved technology for each cycle are delineated
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