19,293 research outputs found
Probing viscoelastic properties of a thin polymer film sheared between a beads layer and quartz crystal resonator
We report measurements of viscoelastic properties of thin polymer films of
10-100 nm at the MHz range. These thin films are confined between a quartz
crystal resonator and a millimetric bead layer, producing an increase of both
resonance frequency and dissipation of the quartz resonator. The shear modulus
and dynamic viscosity of thin films extracted from these measurements are
consistent with the bulk values of the polymer. This modified quartz resonator
provides an easily realizable and effective tool for probing the rheological
properties of thin films at ambient environment.Comment: submitted to ap
Effect of Statistical Fluctuation in Monte Carlo Based Photon Beam Dose Calculation on Gamma Index Evaluation
The gamma-index test has been commonly adopted to quantify the degree of
agreement between a reference dose distribution and an evaluation dose
distribution. Monte Carlo (MC) simulation has been widely used for the
radiotherapy dose calculation for both clinical and research purposes. The goal
of this work is to investigate both theoretically and experimentally the impact
of the MC statistical fluctuation on the gamma-index test when the fluctuation
exists in the reference, the evaluation, or both dose distributions. To the
first order approximation, we theoretically demonstrated in a simplified model
that the statistical fluctuation tends to overestimate gamma-index values when
existing in the reference dose distribution and underestimate gamma-index
values when existing in the evaluation dose distribution given the original
gamma-index is relatively large for the statistical fluctuation. Our numerical
experiments using clinical photon radiation therapy cases have shown that 1)
when performing a gamma-index test between an MC reference dose and a non-MC
evaluation dose, the average gamma-index is overestimated and the passing rate
decreases with the increase of the noise level in the reference dose; 2) when
performing a gamma-index test between a non-MC reference dose and an MC
evaluation dose, the average gamma-index is underestimated when they are within
the clinically relevant range and the passing rate increases with the increase
of the noise level in the evaluation dose; 3) when performing a gamma-index
test between an MC reference dose and an MC evaluation dose, the passing rate
is overestimated due to the noise in the evaluation dose and underestimated due
to the noise in the reference dose. We conclude that the gamma-index test
should be used with caution when comparing dose distributions computed with
Monte Carlo simulation
Interface Width and Bulk Stability: requirements for the simulation of Deeply Quenched Liquid-Gas Systems
Simulations of liquid-gas systems with extended interfaces are observed to
fail to give accurate results for two reasons: the interface can get ``stuck''
on the lattice or a density overshoot develops around the interface. In the
first case the bulk densities can take a range of values, dependent on the
initial conditions. In the second case inaccurate bulk densities are found. In
this communication we derive the minimum interface width required for the
accurate simulation of liquid gas systems with a diffuse interface. We
demonstrate this criterion for lattice Boltzmann simulations of a van der Waals
gas. When combining this criterion with predictions for the bulk stability we
can predict the parameter range that leads to stable and accurate simulation
results. This allows us to identify parameter ranges leading to high density
ratios of over 1000. This is despite the fact that lattice Boltzmann
simulations of liquid-gas systems were believed to be restricted to modest
density ratios of less than 20.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Automatically detecting road sign text from natural scene video
Automatic detection of text on road signs can help drivers keep aware of the traffic situation and surrounding environments by reminding them of the signs ahead. Current systems can only detect constrained road signs or produce unsatisfying performance when dealing with complex scenes in practical use. This paper firstly reviews the existing techniques used for text detection from natural scene. A novel system which detects text on road signs from natural scene video is then proposed. Our detailed approaches and methodology give a promising solution to this problem in order to reduce the running time and improve the recognition rate. © 2006 IEEE
Large-scale solar wind flow around Saturn's nonaxisymmetric magnetosphere
The interaction between the solar wind and a magnetosphere is fundamental to
the dynamics of a planetary system. Here, we address fundamental questions on
the large-scale magnetosheath flow around Saturn using a 3D magnetohydrodynamic
(MHD) simulation. We find Saturn's polar-flattened magnetosphere to channel
~20% more flow over the poles than around the flanks at the terminator.
Further, we decompose the MHD forces responsible for accelerating the
magnetosheath plasma to find the plasma pressure gradient as the dominant
driver. This is by virtue of a high-beta magnetosheath, and in turn, the
high-MA bow shock. Together with long-term magnetosheath data by the Cassini
spacecraft, we present evidence of how nonaxisymmetry substantially alters the
conditions further downstream at the magnetopause, crucial for understanding
solar wind-magnetosphere interactions such as reconnection and shear
flow-driven instabilities. We anticipate our results to provide a more accurate
insight into the global conditions upstream of Saturn and the outer planets.Comment: Accepted for publication in Journal of Geophysical Journal: Space
Physic
A Survey on platoon-based vehicular cyber-physical systems
Vehicles on the road with some common interests can cooperatively form a platoon-based driving pattern, in which a vehicle follows another one and maintains a small and nearly constant distance to the preceding vehicle. It has been proved that, compared to driving individually, such a platoon-based driving pattern can significantly improve the road capacity and energy efficiency. Moreover, with the emerging vehicular adhoc network (VANET), the performance of platoon in terms of road capacity, safety and energy efficiency, etc., can be further improved. On the other hand, the physical dynamics of vehicles inside the platoon can also affect the performance of VANET. Such a complex system can be considered as a platoon-based vehicular cyber-physical system (VCPS), which has attracted significant attention recently. In this paper, we present a comprehensive survey on platoon-based VCPS. We first review the related work of platoon-based VCPS. We then introduce two elementary techniques involved in platoon-based VCPS: the vehicular networking architecture and standards, and traffic dynamics, respectively. We further discuss the fundamental issues in platoon-based VCPS, including vehicle platooning/clustering, cooperative adaptive cruise control (CACC), platoon-based vehicular communications, etc., and all of which are characterized by the tight coupled relationship between traffic dynamics and VANET behaviors. Since system verification is critical to VCPS development, we also give an overview of VCPS simulation tools. Finally, we share our view on some open issues that may lead to new research directions
Electronic structure and Jahn-Teller effect in GaN:Mn and ZnS:Cr
We present an ab-initio and analytical study of the Jahn-Teller effect in two
diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMS) with d4 impurities, namely Mn-doped GaN
and Cr-doped ZnS. We show that only the combined treatment of Jahn-Teller
distortion and strong electron correlation in the 3d shell may lead to the
correct insulating electronic structure. Using the LSDA+U approach we obtain
the Jahn-Teller energy gain in reasonable agreement with the available
experimental data. The ab-initio results are completed by a more
phenomenological ligand field theory.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure
- …