20,715 research outputs found
A simulation of solar convection at supergranulation scale
We present here numerical simulations of surface solar convection which cover
a box of 303.2 Mm with a resolution of
31582, which is used to investigate the dynamics of scales
larger than granulation. No structure resembling supergranulation is present;
possibly higher Reynolds numbers (i.e. higher numerical resolution), or
magnetic fields, or greater depth are necessary. The results also show
interesting aspects of granular dynamics which are briefly presented, like
extensive p-mode ridges in the k- diagram and a ringlike distribution
of horizontal vorticity around granules. At large scales, the horizontal
velocity is much larger than the vertical velocity and the vertical motion is
dominated by p-mode oscillations.Comment: Contribution to the proceedings of the workshop entitled "THEMIS and
the new frontiers of solar atmosphere dynamics" (March 2001), 6 pages, to
appear in Nuovo Cimento
Magnetoelastic coupling in RETiO3 (RE = La, Nd, Sm, Gd, Y)
A detailed analysis of the crystal structure in RETiO3 with RE = La, Nd, Sm,
Gd, and Y reveals an intrinsic coupling between orbital degrees of freedom and
the lattice which cannot be fully attributed to the structural deformation
arising from bond-length mismatch. The TiO6 octahedra in this series are all
irregular with the shape of the distortion depending on the RE ionic radius.
These octahedron distortions vary more strongly with temperature than the tilt
and rotation angles. Around the Ti magnetic ordering all compounds exhibit
strong anomalies in the thermal-expansion coefficients, these anomalies exhibit
opposite signs for the antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic compounds.
Furthermore the strongest effects are observed in the materials close to the
magnetic cross-over from antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic order
Flexible provisioning of Web service workflows
Web services promise to revolutionise the way computational resources and business processes are offered and invoked in open, distributed systems, such as the Internet. These services are described using machine-readable meta-data, which enables consumer applications to automatically discover and provision suitable services for their workflows at run-time. However, current approaches have typically assumed service descriptions are accurate and deterministic, and so have neglected to account for the fact that services in these open systems are inherently unreliable and uncertain. Specifically, network failures, software bugs and competition for services may regularly lead to execution delays or even service failures. To address this problem, the process of provisioning services needs to be performed in a more flexible manner than has so far been considered, in order to proactively deal with failures and to recover workflows that have partially failed. To this end, we devise and present a heuristic strategy that varies the provisioning of services according to their predicted performance. Using simulation, we then benchmark our algorithm and show that it leads to a 700% improvement in average utility, while successfully completing up to eight times as many workflows as approaches that do not consider service failures
Conservative Quantum Computing
Conservation laws limit the accuracy of physical implementations of
elementary quantum logic gates. If the computational basis is represented by a
component of spin and physical implementations obey the angular momentum
conservation law, any physically realizable unitary operators with size less
than n qubits cannot implement the controlled-NOT gate within the error
probability 1/(4n^2), where the size is defined as the total number of the
computational qubits and the ancilla qubits. An analogous limit for bosonic
ancillae is also obtained to show that the lower bound of the error probability
is inversely proportional to the average number of photons. Any set of
universal gates inevitably obeys a related limitation with error probability
O(1/n^2)$. To circumvent the above or related limitations yielded by
conservation laws, it is recommended that the computational basis should be
chosen as the one commuting with the additively conserved quantities.Comment: 5 pages, RevTex. Corrected to include a new statement that for
bosonic ancillae the lower bound of the error probability is inversely
proportional to the average number of photons, kindly suggested by Julio
Gea-Banacloch
Heat kernel estimates and spectral properties of a pseudorelativistic operator with magnetic field
Based on the Mehler heat kernel of the Schroedinger operator for a free
electron in a constant magnetic field an estimate for the kernel of E_A is
derived, where E_A represents the kinetic energy of a Dirac electron within the
pseudorelativistic no-pair Brown-Ravenhall model. This estimate is used to
provide the bottom of the essential spectrum for the two-particle
Brown-Ravenhall operator, describing the motion of the electrons in a central
Coulomb field and a constant magnetic field, if the central charge is
restricted to Z below or equal 86
Conservation laws, uncertainty relations, and quantum limits of measurements
The uncertainty relation between the noise operator and the conserved
quantity leads to a bound for the accuracy of general measurements. The bound
extends the assertion by Wigner, Araki, and Yanase that conservation laws limit
the accuracy of ``repeatable'', or ``nondisturbing'', measurements to general
measurements, and improves the one previously obtained by Yanase for spin
measurements. The bound also sets an obstacle to making a small quantum
computer.Comment: 4 pages, RevTex, to appear in PR
Fine properties of self-similar solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations
We study the solutions of the nonstationary incompressible Navier--Stokes
equations in , , of self-similar form , obtained from small and homogeneous initial
data . We construct an explicit asymptotic formula relating the
self-similar profile of the velocity field to its corresponding initial
datum
Young Individuals Are More Stable and Stand More Upright When Using Rollator Assistance During Standing up and Sitting Down
Four-wheeled walkers or rollators are often used to assist older individuals in maintaining an independent life by compensating for muscle weakness and reduced movement stability. However, limited biomechanical studies have been performed to understand how rollator support affects posture and stability, especially when standing up and sitting down. Therefore, this study examined how stability and posture change with varying levels of rollator support and on an unstable floor. The aim was to collect comprehensive baseline data during standing up and sitting down in young participants. In this study, 20 able-bodied, young participants stood up and sat down both 1) unassisted and assisted using a custom-made robot rollator simulator under 2) full support and 3) touch support. Unassisted and assisted performances were analyzed on normal and unstable floors using balance pads with a compliant surface under each foot. Using 3D motion capturing and two ground-embedded force plates, we compared assistive support and floor conditions for movement duration, the relative timing of seat-off, movement stability (center of pressure (COP) path length and sway area), and posture after standing up (lower body sagittal joint angles) using ANOVA analysis. The relative event of seat-off was earliest under full support compared to touch and unassisted conditions under normal but not under unstable floor conditions. The duration of standing up and sitting down did not differ between support conditions on normal or unstable floors. COP path length and sway area during both standing up and sitting down were lowest under full support regardless of both floor conditions. Hip and knee joints were least flexed under full support, with no differences between touch and unassisted in both floor conditions. Hence, full rollator support led to increased movement stability, while not slowing down the movement, during both standing up and sitting down. During standing up, the full support led to an earlier seat-off and a more upright standing posture when reaching a stable stance. These results indicate that rollator support when handles are correctly aligned does not lead to the detrimental movement alterations of increased forward-leaning. Future research aims to verify these findings in older persons with stability and muscle weakness deficiencies
Are granules good tracers of solar surface velocity fields?
Using a numerical simulation of compressible convection with radiative
transfer mimicking the solar photosphere, we compare the velocity field derived
from granule motions to the actual velocity field of the plasma. We thus test
the idea that granules may be used to trace large-scale velocity fields at the
sun's surface. Our results show that this is indeed the case provided the scale
separation is sufficient. We thus estimate that neither velocity fields at
scales less than 2500 km nor time evolution at scales shorter than 0.5 hr can
be faithfully described by granules. At larger scales the granular motions
correlate linearly with the underlying fluid motions with a slope of ~< 2
reaching correlation coefficients up to ~0.9.Comment: 4 pages - accepted in Astronomy and Astrophysic
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