2,102 research outputs found
Influence of Hydrodynamic Interactions on the Kinetics of Colloidal Particle's Adsorption
The kinetics of irreversible adsorption of spherical particles onto a flat
surface is theoretically studied. Previous models, in which hydrodynamic
interactions were disregarded, predicted a power-law behavior for
the time dependence of the coverage of the surface near saturation.
Experiments, however, are in agreement with a power-law behavior of the form
. We outline that, when hydrodynamic interactions are considered, the
assymptotic behavior is found to be compatible with the experimental results in
a wide region near saturation.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett. (in press
Quantum Drag Forces on a Sphere Moving Through a Rarefied Gas
As an application of quantum fluid mechanics, we consider the drag force
exerted on a sphere by an ultra-dilute gas. Quantum mechanical diffraction
scattering theory enters in that regime wherein the mean free path of a
molecule in the gas is large compared with the sphere radius. The drag force is
computed in a model specified by the ``sticking fraction'' of events in which a
gaseous molecule is adsorbed by the spherical surface. Classical inelastic
scattering theory is shown to be inadequate for physically reasonable sticking
fraction values. The quantum mechanical scattering drag force is exhibited
theoretically and compared with experimental data.Comment: 5 pages no figure
Astrophysical Supercomputing with GPUs: Critical Decisions for Early Adopters
General purpose computing on graphics processing units (GPGPU) is
dramatically changing the landscape of high performance computing in astronomy.
In this paper, we identify and investigate several key decision areas, with a
goal of simplyfing the early adoption of GPGPU in astronomy. We consider the
merits of OpenCL as an open standard in order to reduce risks associated with
coding in a native, vendor-specific programming environment, and present a GPU
programming philosophy based on using brute force solutions. We assert that
effective use of new GPU-based supercomputing facilities will require a change
in approach from astronomers. This will likely include improved programming
training, an increased need for software development best-practice through the
use of profiling and related optimisation tools, and a greater reliance on
third-party code libraries. As with any new technology, those willing to take
the risks, and make the investment of time and effort to become early adopters
of GPGPU in astronomy, stand to reap great benefits.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in PAS
Polarization Evolution in Strong Magnetic Fields
Extremely strong magnetic fields change the vacuum index of refraction.
Although this polarization dependent effect is small for typical neutron stars,
it is large enough to decouple the polarization states of photons traveling
within the field. The photon states evolve adiabatically and follow the
changing magnetic field direction. The combination of a rotating magnetosphere
and a frequency dependent state decoupling predicts polarization phase lags
between different wave bands, if the emission process takes place well within
the light cylinder. This QED effect may allow observations to distinguish
between different pulsar emission mechanisms and to reconstruct the structure
of the magnetosphere.Comment: 22 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Thomas-Fermi Calculations of Atoms and Matter in Magnetic Neutron Stars II: Finite Temperature Effects
We present numerical calculations of the equation of state for dense matter
in high magnetic fields, using a temperature dependent Thomas-Fermi theory with
a magnetic field that takes all Landau levels into account. Free energies for
atoms and matter are also calculated as well as profiles of the electron
density as a function of distance from the atomic nucleus for representative
values of the magnetic field strength, total matter density, and temperature.
The Landau shell structure, which is so prominent in cold dense matter in high
magnetic fields, is still clearly present at finite temperature as long as it
is less than approximately one tenth of the cyclotron energy. This structure is
reflected in an oscillatory behaviour of the equation of state and other
thermodynamic properties of dense matter and hence also in profiles of the
density and pressure as functions of depth in the surface layers of magnetic
neutron stars. These oscillations are completely smoothed out by thermal
effects at temperatures of the order of the cyclotron energy or higher.Comment: 37 pages, 17 figures included, submitted to Ap
Epidemiology of post-neonatal bacterial meningitis in Cape Town children
CITATION: Hussey, G. 1997. Epidemiology of post-neonatal bacterial meningitis in Cape Town children. South African Medical Journal, 87(1):51-56.The original publication is available at http://www.samj.org.zaBacterial meningitis is a major cause of childhood morbidity and mortality in South Africa. However, comprehensive regional or national epidemiological data, essential for rational public health interventions, are lacking. The purpose of this 1-year prospective study, from 1 August 1991 to 31 July 1992, was to define the magnitude of the problem of childhood bacterial meningitis in Cape Town. The study group consisted of all children, aged > 1 month to < 74 years, who presented with proven bacterial meningitis at all the hospitals in the Cape Town metropolitan area. During the year 201 cases were identified: 101 (50.2%) were due to Neisseria meningitidis, 74 (36.8%) were due to Haemophilus influenzae and 26 (12.9%) were due to Streptococcus pneumoniae. The overall incidence rate (95% confidence interval) for children less than 14 years, 5 years and 1 year was 34 (30 - 40), 76 (65 - 88) and 257 (213 - 309) per 100 000 children, respectively. The rate was highest in black infants, 416 (316 - 545)/100 000. This was 2 times greater than the rate in coloured infants and about 4.5 times greater than the rate in white infants. The median age of all the children was 10 months. The ages of children with haemophilus and pneumococcal meningitis were similar, 9 and 7.5 months respectively (P = 0.43), while children with meningococcal meningitis were significantly cider (22 months) than the others (P < 0.01). The overall case fatality rate was 5%, and 12.9% of survivors had significant neurological sequelae (disability) on discharge.Publisher’s versio
Mechanism Design in Social Networks
This paper studies an auction design problem for a seller to sell a commodity
in a social network, where each individual (the seller or a buyer) can only
communicate with her neighbors. The challenge to the seller is to design a
mechanism to incentivize the buyers, who are aware of the auction, to further
propagate the information to their neighbors so that more buyers will
participate in the auction and hence, the seller will be able to make a higher
revenue. We propose a novel auction mechanism, called information diffusion
mechanism (IDM), which incentivizes the buyers to not only truthfully report
their valuations on the commodity to the seller, but also further propagate the
auction information to all their neighbors. In comparison, the direct extension
of the well-known Vickrey-Clarke-Groves (VCG) mechanism in social networks can
also incentivize the information diffusion, but it will decrease the seller's
revenue or even lead to a deficit sometimes. The formalization of the problem
has not yet been addressed in the literature of mechanism design and our
solution is very significant in the presence of large-scale online social
networks.Comment: In The Thirty-First AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, San
Francisco, US, 04-09 Feb 201
THERMAL RADIATION FROM MAGNETIZED NEUTRON STARS: A look at the Surface of a Neutron Star.
Surface thermal emission has been detected by ROSAT from four nearby young
neutron stars. Assuming black body emission, the significant pulsations of the
observed light curves can be interpreted as due to large surface temperature
differences produced by the effect of the crustal magnetic field on the flow of
heat from the hot interior toward the cooler surface. However, the energy
dependence of the modulation observed in Geminga is incompatible with blackbody
emission: this effect will give us a strong constraint on models of the neutron
star surface.Comment: 10 pages. tar-compressed and uuencoded postcript file. talk given at
the `Jubilee Gamow Seminar', St. Petersburg, Sept. 1994
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