348 research outputs found
Distribution of winners in truel games
In this work we present a detailed analysis using the Markov chain theory of
some versions of the truel game in which three players try to eliminate each
other in a series of one-to-one competitions, using the rules of the game.
Besides reproducing some known expressions for the winning probability of each
player, including the equilibrium points, we give expressions for the actual
distribution of winners in a truel competition.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures. Conference proceedin
Discrete--time ratchets, the Fokker--Planck equation and Parrondo's paradox
Parrondo's games manifest the apparent paradox where losing strategies can be
combined to win and have generated significant multidisciplinary interest in
the literature. Here we review two recent approaches, based on the
Fokker-Planck equation, that rigorously establish the connection between
Parrondo's games and a physical model known as the flashing Brownian ratchet.
This gives rise to a new set of Parrondo's games, of which the original games
are a special case. For the first time, we perform a complete analysis of the
new games via a discrete-time Markov chain (DTMC) analysis, producing winning
rate equations and an exploration of the parameter space where the paradoxical
behaviour occurs.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figure
Neighborhood models of minority opinion spreading
We study the effect of finite size population in Galam's model [Eur. Phys. J.
B 25 (2002) 403] of minority opinion spreading and introduce neighborhood
models that account for local spatial effects. For systems of different sizes
N, the time to reach consensus is shown to scale as ln N in the original
version, while the evolution is much slower in the new neighborhood models. The
threshold value of the initial concentration of minority supporters for the
defeat of the initial majority, which is independent of N in Galam's model,
goes to zero with growing system size in the neighborhood models. This is a
consequence of the existence of a critical size for the growth of a local
domain of minority supporters
The flashing ratchet and unidirectional transport of matter
We study the flashing ratchet model of a Brownian motor, which consists in
cyclical switching between the Fokker-Planck equation with an asymmetric
ratchet-like potential and the pure diffusion equation. We show that the motor
really performs unidirectional transport of mass, for proper parameters of the
model, by analyzing the attractor of the problem and the stationary vector of a
related Markov chain.Comment: 11 page
Clinical findings and outcome of dogs with unilateral masticatory muscle atrophy
Background:
Little is known about the spectrum of underlying disorders in dogs with unilateral masticatory muscle (MM) atrophy.
Objectives:
To evaluate the clinical presentation, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings, and outcome of dogs with unilateral MM atrophy.
Animals:
Sixty‐three client‐owned dogs.
Methods:
The medical database was retrospectively reviewed for dogs that underwent MRI for evaluation of unilateral MM atrophy. Imaging studies were reviewed and follow‐up information was obtained from telephone interviews.
Results:
Presumptive trigeminal nerve sheath tumor (pTNST) was diagnosed in 30 dogs (47.6%); survival time varied from 1 day to 21 months (median, 5 months). Other extra‐axial mass lesions were observed in 13 dogs (20.6%); survival time varied from 6 days to 25 months (median, 2.5 months). In 18 dogs (28.6%), no abnormalities were observed on MRI; neurological signs only progressed in 1 dog. Diagnosis had a significant influence on the type of neurological abnormalities, with additional neurological deficits observed in most dogs with pTNST and in all dogs with other extra‐axial mass lesions. Diagnosis had a significant effect on euthanasia at the time of diagnosis and likelihood of neurological deterioration. Dogs with mass lesions were more likely to be euthanized or experience neurological deterioration, whereas these outcomes occurred less often in dogs in which no causative lesion could be identified.
Conclusions and Clinical Importance:
Trigeminal nerve sheath tumors should not be considered the only cause of unilateral MM atrophy. Our results illustrate the importance of performing a neurological examination and MRI when evaluating dogs with unilateral MM atrophy
A hydrometeorological model intercomparison as a tool to quantify the forecast uncertainty in a medium size basin
Abstract. In the framework of AMPHORE, an INTERREG III B EU project devoted to the hydrometeorological modeling study of heavy precipitation episodes resulting in flood events and the improvement of the operational hydrometeorological forecasts for the prediction and prevention of flood risks in the Western Mediterranean area, a hydrometeorological model intercomparison has been carried out, in order to estimate the uncertainties associated with the discharge predictions. The analysis is performed for an intense precipitation event selected as a case study within the project, which affected northern Italy and caused a flood event in the upper Reno river basin, a medium size catchment in the Emilia-Romagna Region. Two different hydrological models have been implemented over the basin: HEC-HMS and TOPKAPI which are driven in two ways. Firstly, stream-flow simulations obtained by using precipitation observations as input data are evaluated, in order to be aware of the performance of the two hydrological models. Secondly, the rainfall-runoff models have been forced with rainfall forecast fields provided by mesoscale atmospheric model simulations in order to evaluate the reliability of the discharge forecasts resulting by the one-way coupling. The quantitative precipitation forecasts (QPFs) are provided by the numerical mesoscale models COSMO and MM5. Furthermore, different configurations of COSMO and MM5 have been adopted, trying to improve the description of the phenomena determining the precipitation amounts. In particular, the impacts of using different initial and boundary conditions, different mesoscale models and of increasing the horizontal model resolutions are investigated. The accuracy of QPFs is assessed in a threefold procedure. First, these are checked against the observed spatial rainfall accumulations over northern Italy. Second, the spatial and temporal simulated distributions are also examined over the catchment of interest. And finally, the discharge simulations resulting from the one-way coupling with HEC-HMS and TOPKAPI are evaluated against the rain-gauge driven simulated flows, thus employing the hydrological models as a validation tool. The different scenarios of the simulated river flows – provided by an independent implementation of the two hydrological models each one forced with both COSMO and MM5 – enable a quantification of the uncertainties of the precipitation outputs, and therefore, of the discharge simulations. Results permit to highlight some hydrological and meteorological modeling factors which could help to enhance the hydrometeorological modeling of such hazardous events. Main conclusions are: (1) deficiencies in precipitation forecasts have a major impact on flood forecasts; (2) large-scale shift errors in precipitation patterns are not improved by only enhancing the mesoscale model resolution; and (3) weak differences in flood forecasting performance are found by using either a distributed continuous or a semi-distributed event-based hydrological model for this catchment
Multiple Front Propagation Into Unstable States
The dynamics of transient patterns formed by front propagation in extended
nonequilibrium systems is considered. Under certain circumstances, the state
left behind a front propagating into an unstable homogeneous state can be an
unstable periodic pattern. It is found by a numerical solution of a model of
the Fr\'eedericksz transition in nematic liquid crystals that the mechanism of
decay of such periodic unstable states is the propagation of a second front
which replaces the unstable pattern by a another unstable periodic state with
larger wavelength. The speed of this second front and the periodicity of the
new state are analytically calculated with a generalization of the marginal
stability formalism suited to the study of front propagation into periodic
unstable states. PACS: 47.20.Ky, 03.40.Kf, 47.54.+rComment: 12 page
Acoustic Emission from crumpling paper
From magnetic systems to the crust of the earth, many physical systems that
exibit a multiplicty of metastable states emit pulses with a broad power law
distribution in energy. Digital audio recordings reveal that paper being
crumpled, a system that can be easily held in hand, is such a system. Crumpling
paper both using the traditional hand method and a novel cylindrical geometry
uncovered a power law distribution of pulse energies spanning at least two
decades: (exponent 1.3 - 1.6) Crumpling initally flat sheets into a compact
ball (strong crumpling), we found little or no evidence that the energy
distribution varied systematically over time or the size of the sheet. When we
applied repetitive small deformations (weak crumpling) to sheets which had been
previously folded along a regular grid, we found no systematic dependence on
the grid spacing. Our results suggest that the pulse energy depends only weakly
on the size of the paper regions responsible for sound production.Comment: 12 pages of text, 9 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. E, additional
information availible at http://www.msc.cornell.edu/~houle/crumpling
Wound-up phase turbulence in the Complex Ginzburg-Landau equation
We consider phase turbulent regimes with nonzero winding number in the
one-dimensional Complex Ginzburg-Landau equation. We find that phase turbulent
states with winding number larger than a critical one are only transients and
decay to states within a range of allowed winding numbers. The analogy with the
Eckhaus instability for non-turbulent waves is stressed. The transition from
phase to defect turbulence is interpreted as an ergodicity breaking transition
which occurs when the range of allowed winding numbers vanishes. We explain the
states reached at long times in terms of three basic states, namely
quasiperiodic states, frozen turbulence states, and riding turbulence states.
Justification and some insight into them is obtained from an analysis of a
phase equation for nonzero winding number: rigidly moving solutions of this
equation, which correspond to quasiperiodic and frozen turbulence states, are
understood in terms of periodic and chaotic solutions of an associated system
of ordinary differential equations. A short report of some of our results has
been published in [Montagne et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 267 (1996)].Comment: 22 pages, 15 figures included. Uses subfigure.sty (included) and
epsf.tex (not included). Related research in
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