6,600 research outputs found
Can sand dunes be used to study historic storm events?
Knowing the long-term frequency of high magnitude storm events that cause coastal inundation is critical for present coastal management, especially in the context of rising sea levels and potentially increasing frequency and severity of storm events. Coastal sand dunes may provide a sedimentary archive of past storm events from which long-term frequencies of large storms can be reconstructed. This study uses novel portable optically stimulated luminescence (POSL) profiles from coastal dunes to reconstruct the sedimentary archive of storm and surge activity for Norfolk, UK. Application of POSL profiling with supporting luminescence ages and particle size analysis to coastal dunes provides not only information of dunefield evolution but also on past coastal storms. In this study, seven storm events, two major, were identified from the dune archive spanning the last 140 years. These appear to correspond to historical reports of major storm surges. Dunes appear to be only recording (at least at the sampling resolution used here) the highest storm levels that were associated with significant flooding. As such the approach seems to hold promise to obtain a better understanding of the frequency of large storms by extending the dune archive records further back to times when documentation of storm surges was sparse
Random noise in Diffusion Tensor Imaging, its Destructive Impact and Some Corrections
The empirical origin of random noise is described, its influence on DTI variables is illustrated by a review of numerical and in vivo studies supplemented by new simulations investigating high noise levels. A stochastic model of noise propagation is presented to structure noise impact in DTI. Finally, basics of voxelwise and spatial denoising procedures are presented. Recent denoising procedures are reviewed and consequences of the stochastic model for convenient denoising strategies are discussed
Investigating the detection capability of acoustic emission monitoring to identify imperfections produced by the Metal Active Gas (MAG) welding process
Welding inspection is a critical process that can be severely time-consuming, resulting in productivity delays, especially when destructive or invasive processes are required. This paper defines the novel approach to investigate the physical correlation between common imperfections found in arc welding and the propensity to determine these through the identification of signatures using acoustic emission sensors. Through a set of experiments engineered to induce prominent imperfections (cracks and other anomalies) using a popular welding process and the use of AE technology (both airborne and contact), it provides confirmation that the verification of physical anomalies can indeed be identified through variations in obtained noise frequency signatures. This in situ information provides signals during and after solidification to inform operators of the deposit/HAZ integrity to support the advanced warning of unwanted anomalies and of whether the weld/fabrication process should be halted to undertake rework before completing the fabrication. Experimentation was carried out based on an acceptable set of parameters where extracted data from the sensors were recorded, analysed, and compared with the resultant microstructure. This may allow signal phenomena to be captured and catalogued for future use in referencing against known anomalies
Polyhedral Analysis using Parametric Objectives
The abstract domain of polyhedra lies at the heart of many program analysis techniques. However, its operations can be expensive, precluding their application to polyhedra that involve many variables. This paper describes a new approach to computing polyhedral domain operations. The core of this approach is an algorithm to calculate variable elimination (projection) based on parametric linear programming. The algorithm enumerates only non-redundant inequalities of the projection space, hence permits anytime approximation of the output
D-branes in T-fold conformal field theory
We investigate boundary dynamics of orbifold conformal field theory involving
T-duality twists. Such models typically appear in contexts of non-geometric
string compactifications that are called monodrofolds or T-folds in recent
literature. We use the framework of boundary conformal field theory to analyse
the models from a microscopic world-sheet perspective. In these backgrounds
there are two kinds of D-branes that are analogous to bulk and fractional
branes in standard orbifold models. The bulk D-branes in T-folds allow
intuitive geometrical interpretations and are consistent with the classical
analysis based on the doubled torus formalism. The fractional branes, on the
other hand, are `non-geometric' at any point in the moduli space and their
geometric counterparts seem to be missing in the doubled torus analysis. We
compute cylinder amplitudes between the bulk and fractional branes, and find
that the lightest modes of the open string spectra show intriguing non-linear
dependence on the moduli (location of the brane or value of the Wilson line),
suggesting that the physics of T-folds, when D-branes are involved, could
deviate from geometric backgrounds even at low energies. We also extend our
analysis to the models with SU(2) WZW fibre at arbitrary levels.Comment: 38 pages, no figure, ams packages. Essentially the published versio
Transport in Coupled Quantum Dots: Kondo Effect Versus Anti-Ferromagnetic Correlation
The interplay between the Kondo effect and the inter-dot magnetic interaction
in a coupled-dot system is studied. An exact result for the transport
properties at zero temperature is obtained by diagonalizing a cluster, composed
by the double-dot and its vicinity, which is connected to leads. It is shown
that the system goes continuously from the Kondo regime to an
anti-ferromagnetic state as the inter-dot interaction is increased. The
conductance, the charge at the dots and the spin-spin correlation are obtained
as a function of the gate potential.Comment: 4 pages, 3 postscript figures. Submitted to PR
Chern-Simons Invariants of Torus Links
We compute the vacuum expectation values of torus knot operators in
Chern-Simons theory, and we obtain explicit formulae for all classical gauge
groups and for arbitrary representations. We reproduce a known formula for the
HOMFLY invariants of torus links and we obtain an analogous formula for
Kauffman invariants. We also derive a formula for cable knots. We use our
results to test a recently proposed conjecture that relates HOMFLY and Kauffman
invariants.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures; v2: minor changes, version submitted to AHP. The
final publication is available at
http://www.springerlink.com/content/a2614232873l76h6
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