2,744 research outputs found
Noncooperatively Optimized Tolerance: Decentralized Strategic Optimization in Complex Systems
We introduce noncooperatively optimized tolerance (NOT), a generalization of
highly optimized tolerance (HOT) that involves strategic (game theoretic)
interactions between parties in a complex system. We illustrate our model in
the forest fire (percolation) framework. As the number of players increases,
our model retains features of HOT, such as robustness, high yield combined with
high density, and self-dissimilar landscapes, but also develops features of
self-organized criticality (SOC) when the number of players is large enough.
For example, the forest landscape becomes increasingly homogeneous and
protection from adverse events (lightning strikes) becomes less closely
correlated with the spatial distribution of these events. While HOT is a
special case of our model, the resemblance to SOC is only partial; for example,
the distribution of cascades, while becoming increasingly heavy-tailed as the
number of players increases, also deviates more significantly from a power law
in this regime. Surprisingly, the system retains considerable robustness even
as it becomes fractured, due in part to emergent cooperation between
neighboring players. At the same time, increasing homogeneity promotes
resilience against changes in the lightning distribution, giving rise to
intermediate regimes where the system is robust to a particular distribution of
adverse events, yet not very fragile to changes
Generation of Circular Polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background
The standard cosmological model, which includes only Compton scattering
photon interactions at energy scales near recombination, results in zero
primordial circular polarization of the cosmic microwave background. In this
paper we consider a particular renormalizable and gauge-invariant standard
model extension coupling photons to an external vector field via a Chern-Simons
term, which arises as a radiative correction if gravitational torsion couples
to fermions. We compute the transport equations for polarized photons from a
Boltzmann-like equation, showing that such a coupling will source circular
polarization of the microwave background. For the particular coupling
considered here, the circular polarization effect is always negligible compared
to the rotation of the linear polarization orientation, also derived using the
same formalism. We note the possibility that limits on microwave background
circular polarization may probe other photon interactions and related
fundamental effects such as violations of Lorentz invariance.Comment: 20 pages. Revised version includes an explicit calculation of gauge
invariance. Text reorganized to improve clarity, and references adde
Chronicity and Mental Health Service Utilization for Anxiety, Mood, and Substance Use Disorders among Black Men in the United States; Ethnicity and Nativity Differences.
This study investigated ethnic and nativity differences in the chronicity and treatment of psychiatric disorders of African American and Caribbean Black men in the U.S. Data were analyzed from the National Survey of American Life, a population-based study which included 1859 self-identified Black men (1222 African American, 176 Caribbean Black men born within the U.S., and 461 Caribbean Black men born outside the U.S.). Lifetime and twelve-month prevalence of DSM-IV mood, anxiety, and substance use disorders (including Bipolar I and Dysthmia), disorder chronicity, and rate of mental health services use among those meeting criteria for a lifetime psychiatric disorder were examined. Logistic regression models were employed to determine ethnic differences in chronicity, and treatment utilization for disorders. While rates of DSM-IV disorders were generally low in this community sample of Black men, their disorders were chronic and remained untreated. Caribbean Black men born in the U.S. had higher prevalence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, and Alcohol Abuse Disorder compared with African American men. Foreign born Caribbean Black men experienced greater chronicity in Social Phobia and Generalized Anxiety Disorder compared to other Black Men. Utilization of mental health service was low for all groups of Black Men, but lowest for the foreign born Caribbean Black men. Results underscore the large unmet needs of both African American and Caribbean Black men in the United States. Results also highlight the role of ethnicity and nativity in mental disorder chronicity and mental health service utilization patterns of Black men
Nucleus-Nucleus Bremsstrahlung from Ultrarelativistic Collisions
The bremsstrahlung produced when heavy nuclei collide is estimated for
central collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. Soft photons can be
used to infer the rapidity distribution of the outgoing charge. An experimental
design is outlined.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, uses revte
Synthesis of Nm-PHB (nanomelanin-polyhydroxy butyrate) nanocomposite film and its protective effect against biofilm-forming multi drug resistant Staphylococcus aureus
Melanin is a dark brown ubiquitous photosynthetic pigment which have many varied and ever expanding applications in fabrication of radio-protective materials, food packaging, cosmetics and in medicine. In this study, melanin production in a Pseudomonas sp. which was isolated from the marine sponge Tetyrina citirna was optimized employing one-factor at a time experiments and characterized for chemical nature and stability. Following sonication nucleated nanomelanin (Nm) particles were formed and evaluated for antibacterial and antioxidant properties. Nanocomposite film was fabricated using combinations (% w/v) of polyhydroxy butyrate-nanomelanin (PHB: Nm) blended with 1% glycerol. The Nm was found to be spherical in shape with a diameter of 100-140 nm and showed strong antimicrobial activity against both Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria. The Nm-PHB nanocomposite film was homogeneous, smooth, without any cracks, and flexible. XRD and DSC data indicated that the film was crystalline in nature, and was thermostable up to 281.87 degrees C. This study represents the first report on the synthesis of Nm and fabrication of Nm-PHB nanocomposite film which show strong protective effect against multidrug resistant Staphyloccoccus aureus. Thus this Nm-PHB nanocomposite film may find utility as packaging material for food products by protecting the food products from oxidation and bacterial contamination
Inadequacies in the conventional treatment of the radiation field of moving sources
There is a fundamental difference between the classical expression for the
retarded electromagnetic potential and the corresponding retarded solution of
the wave equation that governs the electromagnetic field. While the boundary
contribution to the retarded solution for the {\em potential} can always be
rendered equal to zero by means of a gauge transformation that preserves the
Lorenz condition, the boundary contribution to the retarded solution of the
wave equation governing the {\em field} may be neglected only if it diminishes
with distance faster than the contribution of the source density in the far
zone. In the case of a source whose distribution pattern both rotates and
travels faster than light {\em in vacuo}, as realized in recent experiments,
the boundary term in the retarded solution governing the field is by a factor
of the order of {\em larger} than the source term of this solution in
the limit that the distance of the boundary from the source tends to
infinity. This result is consistent with the prediction of the retarded
potential that part of the radiation field generated by a rotating superluminal
source decays as , instead of , a prediction that is
confirmed experimentally. More importantly, it pinpoints the reason why an
argument based on a solution of the wave equation governing the field in which
the boundary term is neglected (such as appears in the published literature)
misses the nonspherical decay of the field
Resilin distribution and sexual dimorphism in the midge antenna and their influence on frequency sensitivity
Small-scale bioacoustic sensors, such as antennae in insects, are often considered, biomechanically, to be not much more than the sum of their basic geometric features. Therefore, little is known about the fine structure and material properties of these sensors—even less so about the degree to which the well-known sexual dimorphism of the insect antenna structure affects those properties. By using confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), we determined material composition patterns and estimated distribution of stiffer and softer materials in the antennae of males and females of the non-biting midge Chironomus riparius. Using finite element modelling (FEM), we also have evidence that the differences in composition of these antennae can influence their mechanical responses. This study points to the possibility that modulating the elastic and viscoelastic properties along the length of the antennae can affect resonant characteristics beyond those expected of simple mass-on-a-spring systems—in this case, a simple banded structure can change the antennal frequency sensitivity. This constitutes a simple principle that, now demonstrated in another Dipteran group, could be widespread in insects to improve various passive and active sensory performances
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