3,586 research outputs found
Age spreads in clusters and associations: the lithium test
We report the evidence that several low-mass stars (<~0.4 Msun) of the Orion
and Upper Scorpius clusters have lithium abundances well below the interstellar
value. Due to time-dependent depletion, our result implies stellar ages greater
than ~5 Myr, suggesting that star formation has been proceeding for a long time
in these systems.Comment: to appear in IMF@50: The Initial Mass Function 50 years later, eds.
E. Corbelli et al. (Kluwer Acad. Press), 2004, in pres
Efficient Monte Carlo Simulation of Biological Aging
A bit-string model of biological life-histories is parallelized, with
hundreds of millions of individuals. It gives the desired drastic decay of
survival probabilities with increasing age for 32 age intervals.Comment: PostScript file to appear in Int.J.Mod.Phys.
Election results and the Sznajd model on Barabasi network
The network of Barabasi and Albert, a preferential growth model where a new
node is linked to the old ones with a probability proportional to their
connectivity, is applied to Brazilian election results. The application of the
Sznajd rule, that only agreeing pairs of people can convince their neighbours,
gives a vote distribution in good agreement with reality.Comment: 7 pages including two figures, for Eur. Phys. J.
Maxillary nerve blocks in horses: an experimental comparison of surface landmark and ultrasound-guided techniques
On Spatial Consensus Formation: Is the Sznajd Model Different from a Voter Model?
In this paper, we investigate the so-called ``Sznajd Model'' (SM) in one
dimension, which is a simple cellular automata approach to consensus formation
among two opposite opinions (described by spin up or down). To elucidate the SM
dynamics, we first provide results of computer simulations for the
spatio-temporal evolution of the opinion distribution , the evolution of
magnetization , the distribution of decision times and
relaxation times . In the main part of the paper, it is shown that the
SM can be completely reformulated in terms of a linear VM, where the transition
rates towards a given opinion are directly proportional to frequency of the
respective opinion of the second-nearest neighbors (no matter what the nearest
neighbors are). So, the SM dynamics can be reduced to one rule, ``Just follow
your second-nearest neighbor''. The equivalence is demonstrated by extensive
computer simulations that show the same behavior between SM and VM in terms of
, , , , and the final attractor statistics. The
reformulation of the SM in terms of a VM involves a new parameter , to
bias between anti- and ferromagnetic decisions in the case of frustration. We
show that plays a crucial role in explaining the phase transition
observed in SM. We further explore the role of synchronous versus asynchronous
update rules on the intermediate dynamics and the final attractors. Compared to
the original SM, we find three additional attractors, two of them related to an
asymmetric coexistence between the opposite opinions.Comment: 22 pages, 20 figures. For related publications see
http://www.ais.fraunhofer.de/~fran
The Krause-Hegselmann Consensus Model with Discrete Opinions
The consensus model of Krause and Hegselmann can be naturally extended to the
case in which opinions are integer instead of real numbers. Our algorithm is
much faster than the original version and thus more suitable for applications.
For the case of a society in which everybody can talk to everybody else, we
find that the chance to reach consensus is much higher as compared to other
models; if the number of possible opinions Q<=7, in fact, consensus is always
reached, which might explain the stability of political coalitions with more
than three or four parties. For Q>7 the number S of surviving opinions is
approximately the same independently of the size N of the population, as long
as Q<N. We considered as well the more realistic case of a society structured
like a Barabasi-Albert network; here the consensus threshold depends on the
outdegree of the nodes and we find a simple scaling law for S, as observed for
the discretized Deffuant model.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure
Introductory Chapter: The Many Faces of Calibration and Validation in Analytical Methodology in the Present Day
Performance Assessment of Deteriorated and Retrofitted Steel HP Piles
Deterioration of aging bridges can be attributed to an assortment of mechanisms throughout the structure, with remediation policies also varying. This study focused on assessing the validity of the Nebraska Department of Roads’ (NDOR) reinforced concrete encasement retrofit for corroded steel HP piles. Experiments were designed and conducted to test the capacity of the NDOR retrofit and evaluate failure limit states. Two pile locations were considered: abutment and pile bent. For each location there was a non-deteriorated, deteriorated, and retrofitted case. These cases represented the pile at key stages during its life. NDOR’s concrete encasement retrofit provided the required stability and composite action to return the pile to full capacity. The key finding of the experimental study was a greater than anticipated steel-concrete bond stress. The bond stress observed was three times greater than the nominal recommended by AISC. A computational study was also conducted to investigate sensitivities and alternative configurations, such as geometric alterations, material properties, and reinforcement. The computational study emphasized the load transfer mechanism’s dependence on the type of load applied. Piles governed by axial compression with relatively minor moment were observed to be more sensitive to bond. The moment dominated loads required more surface to surface pressure transfer or bearing. Further investigation is recommended to determine the bond characteristics of steel fully encased by concrete.
Advisor: Joshua Steelma
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