10,251 research outputs found
System Design for a Nuclear Electric Spacecraft Utilizing Out-of-core Thermionic Conversion
Basic guidelines are presented for a nuclear space power system which utilizes heat pipes to transport thermal power from a fast nuclear reactor to an out of core thermionic converter array. Design parameters are discussed for the nuclear reactor, heat pipes, thermionic converters, shields (neutron and gamma), waste heat rejection systems, and the electrical bus bar-cable system required to transport the high current/low voltage power to the processing equipment. Dimensions are compatible with shuttle payload bay constraints
Effects of Kinks on DNA Elasticity
We study the elastic response of a worm-like polymer chain with reversible
kink-like structural defects. This is a generic model for (a) the
double-stranded DNA with sharp bends induced by binding of certain proteins,
and (b) effects of trans-gauche rotations in the backbone of the
single-stranded DNA. The problem is solved both analytically and numerically by
generalizing the well-known analogy to the Quantum Rotator. In the small
stretching force regime, we find that the persistence length is renormalized
due to the presence of the kinks. In the opposite regime, the response to the
strong stretching is determined solely by the bare persistence length with
exponential corrections due to the ``ideal gas of kinks''. This high-force
behavior changes significantly in the limit of high bending rigidity of the
chain. In that case, the leading corrections to the mechanical response are
likely to be due to the formation of multi-kink structures, such as kink pairs.Comment: v1: 16 pages, 7 figures, LaTeX; submitted to Physical Review E; v2: a
new subsection on soft kinks added to section Theory, sections Introduction
and Conclusions expanded, references added, other minor changes; v3: a
reference adde
A Nonlinear Super-Exponential Rational Model of Speculative Financial Bubbles
Keeping a basic tenet of economic theory, rational expectations, we model the
nonlinear positive feedback between agents in the stock market as an interplay
between nonlinearity and multiplicative noise. The derived hyperbolic
stochastic finite-time singularity formula transforms a Gaussian white noise
into a rich time series possessing all the stylized facts of empirical prices,
as well as accelerated speculative bubbles preceding crashes. We use the
formula to invert the two years of price history prior to the recent crash on
the Nasdaq (april 2000) and prior to the crash in the Hong Kong market
associated with the Asian crisis in early 1994. These complex price dynamics
are captured using only one exponent controlling the explosion, the variance
and mean of the underlying random walk. This offers a new and powerful
detection tool of speculative bubbles and herding behavior.Comment: Latex document of 24 pages including 5 eps figure
Volume Fractions of the Kinematic "Near-Critical" Sets of the Quantum Ensemble Control Landscape
An estimate is derived for the volume fraction of a subset in the neighborhood
of the critical set
of the kinematic quantum ensemble control landscape J(U) = Tr(U\rho U' O),
where represents the unitary time evolution operator, {\rho} is the initial
density matrix of the ensemble, and O is an observable operator. This estimate
is based on the Hilbert-Schmidt geometry for the unitary group and a
first-order approximation of . An upper bound on these
near-critical volumes is conjectured and supported by numerical simulation,
leading to an asymptotic analysis as the dimension of the quantum system
rises in which the volume fractions of these "near-critical" sets decrease to
zero as increases. This result helps explain the apparent lack of influence
exerted by the many saddles of over the gradient flow.Comment: 27 pages, 1 figur
Scientific basis for safely shutting in the Macondo Well after the April 20, 2010 Deepwater Horizon blowout
As part of the government response to the Deepwater Horizon blowout, a Well Integrity Team evaluated the geologic hazards of shutting in the Macondo Well at the seafloor and determined the conditions under which it could safely be undertaken. Of particular concern was the possibility that, under the anticipated high shut-in pressures, oil could leak out of the well casing below the seafloor. Such a leak could lead to new geologic pathways for hydrocarbon release to the Gulf of Mexico. Evaluating this hazard required analyses of 2D and 3D seismic surveys, seafloor bathymetry, sediment properties, geophysical well logs, and drilling data to assess the geological, hydrological, and geomechanical conditions around the Macondo Well. After the well was successfully capped and shut in on July 15, 2010, a variety of monitoring activities were used to assess subsurface well integrity. These activities included acquisition of wellhead pressure data, marine multichannel seismic pro- files, seafloor and water-column sonar surveys, and wellhead visual/acoustic monitoring. These data showed that the Macondo Well was not leaking after shut in, and therefore, it could remain safely shut until reservoir pressures were suppressed (killed) with heavy drilling mud and the well was sealed with cement
On the segmentation and classification of hand radiographs
This research is part of a wider project to build predictive models of bone age using hand radiograph images. We examine ways of finding the outline of a hand from an X-ray as the first stage in segmenting the image into constituent bones. We assess a variety of algorithms including contouring, which has not previously been used in this context. We introduce a novel ensemble algorithm for combining outlines using two voting schemes, a likelihood ratio test and dynamic time warping (DTW). Our goal is to minimize the human intervention required, hence we investigate alternative ways of training a classifier to determine whether an outline is in fact correct or not. We evaluate outlining and classification on a set of 1370 images. We conclude that ensembling with DTW improves performance of all outlining algorithms, that the contouring algorithm used with the DTW ensemble performs the best of those assessed, and that the most effective classifier of hand outlines assessed is a random forest applied to outlines transformed into principal components
Semimetal to semimetal charge density wave transition in 1T-TiSe
We report an infrared study on 1-TiSe, the parent compound of the
newly discovered superconductor CuTiSe. Previous studies of this
compound have not conclusively resolved whether it is a semimetal or a
semiconductor: information that is important in determining the origin of its
unconventional CDW transition. Here we present optical spectroscopy results
that clearly reveal that the compound is metallic in both the high-temperature
normal phase and the low-temperature CDW phase. The carrier scattering rate is
dramatically different in the normal and CDW phases and the carrier density is
found to change with temperature. We conclude that the observed properties can
be explained within the scenario of an Overhauser-type CDW mechanism.Comment: 4 pages, 4 page
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