Counting the microstates of a Kerr black hole in M theory

We show that an extremal Kerr black hole, appropriately lifted to M theory, can be transformed to a Kaluza-Klein black hole in M theory, or a D0-D6 charged black hole in string theory. Since all the microstates of the latter have recently been identified, one can exactly reproduce the entropy of an extremal Kerr black hole. We also show that the topology of the event horizon is not well defined in M theory.     

Ultrasound pasteurization: the effects of temperature, soluble solids, organic acids and pH on the inactivation of Escherichia coli ATCC 25922

The objectives of this research were to study the effects of temperature, sugar concentration (8, 12, and 16 g/100ml), organic acids (citric and malic acids) and pH (2.5 and 4.0) on ultrasound pasteurization. The model organism used for the research was Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, and ultrasound treatment times were conducted to achieve a 5 log (base 10) reduction. Ultrasound generates heat, therefore the study involved removing the heat using a jacketed beaker with refrigerant (-30 degrees C) to maintain processing temperature at or below 30 degrees C and eliminate the thermal inactivation effects. Overall, ultrasound increased the sensitivity of E. coli to thermal inactivation. The presence of soluble solids had a protective effect where the sonication time requirement increased. Similar to heat sensitivity, the lower pH environment resulted in E. coli having less resistance to sonication. The type of organic acid had the least significant effect on ultrasound inactivation of E. coli.     

Scalable subspace methods for derivative-free nonlinear least-squares optimization

Mathematical Programming - We introduce a general framework for large-scale model-based derivative-free optimization based on iterative minimization within random subspaces. We present a...     

A study of pulsating flow in automotive catalyst systems

Conversion efficiency, durability and pressure drop of automotive exhaust catalysts are dependent on the flow distribution within the substrate. This study examines the effect of pulsating flow on the flow distribution within these systems. The flow distribution was measured for a range of flow rates at pulsation frequencies of 16, 32, 64 and 100 Hz. It was shown that the flow uniformity at 16 Hz was similar to the steady equivalent whereas improved uniformity was seen at the higher frequencies resulting in a reduced pressure drop. It was further found that flow maldistribution under pulsating conditions was less sensitive to increases in flow rate compared to steady-state flow. Downstream of the monolith strong pulses were observed although the pulse shapes changed across the substrate diameter. Flow maldistribution correlated well with a non-dimensional parameter derived from the inlet flow velocity, pulsation frequency and diffuser length.     

Synthesis of an [(NHC)2Pd(SiMe3)2] Complex and Catalytic cis‐Bis(silyl)ations of Alkynes with Unactivated Disilanes

The novel complex cis‐[(ITMe)₂Pd(SiMe₃)₂ (ITMe=1,3,4,5‐tetramethylimidazol‐2‐ylidene) has been synthesized by mild oxidative cleavage of Me₃SiSiMe₃ using [(ITMe)₂Pd⁰]. The use of this complex as precatalyst for the cis‐bis(silyl)ation of alkynes using unactivated disilanes is reported.     

Partite Saturation Problems

We look at several saturation problems in complete balanced blow‐ups of graphs. We let denote the blow‐up of H onto parts of size n and refer to a copy of H in as partite if it has one vertex in each part of . We then ask how few edges a subgraph G of can have such that G has no partite copy of H but such that the addition of any new edge from creates a partite H. When H is a triangle this value was determined by Ferrara, Jacobson, Pfender, and Wenger in  5 . Our main result is to calculate this value for when n is large. We also give exact results for paths and stars and show that for 2‐connected graphs the answer is linear in n whilst for graphs that are not 2‐connected the answer is quadratic in n. We also investigate a similar problem where G is permitted to contain partite copies of H but we require that the addition of any new edge from creates an extra partite copy of H. This problem turns out to be much simpler and we attain exact answers for all cliques and trees.     

Elastic properties of model random three-dimensional open-cell solids

Most cellular solids are random materials, while practically all theoretical structure-property relations are for periodic models. To generate theoretical results for random models the finite element method (FEM) was used to study the elastic properties of open-cell solids. We have computed the density (ρ) and microstructure dependence of the Young's modulus (E) and Poisson's ratio (ν) for four different isotropic random models. The models were based on Voronoi tessellations, level-cut Gaussian random fields, and nearest neighbour node-bond rules. These models were chosen to broadly represent the structure of foamed solids and other (non-foamed) cellular materials. At low densities, the Young's modulus can be described by the relation E∝ρⁿ. The exponent n and constant of proportionality depend on microstructure. We find 1.3<n<3, indicating a more complex dependence than indicated by periodic cell theories, which predict n=1 or 2. The observed variance in the exponent was found to be consistent with experimental data. At low densities we found that ν≈0.25 for three of the four models studied. In contrast, the Voronoi tessellation, which is a common model of foams, became approximately incompressible (ν≈0.5). This behaviour is not commonly observed experimentally. Our studies showed the result was robust to polydispersity and that a relatively large number (15%) of the bonds must be broken to significantly reduce the low-density Poission's ratio to ν≈0.33.     

Oscillations of a wedge in a free stream with particular reference to parachutes

The phenomenon of coupled breathing and longitudinal oscillations of a wedge-mass system in a free stream is examined. As a first step the unsteady pressure distribution on the surface of the oscillating wedge is calculated. For dynamic equilibrium of the wedge-mass system, the moment about the apex of the wedge must be zero. This condition establishes the amplitude and phase relation between breathing and longitudinal oscillations. As a final step the equation of motion of the store is used to calculate the frequency of the breathing oscillations. This frequency is shown to be dependent on four parameters. These parameters include the Froude number, the rigging line length to wedge breadth ratio and the rigging line stiffness and damping. Current results are compared with Hume and Stevens [1] experimental results.     

A test fixture for mapping thermal conduction in composites under transient and steady-state conditions

A test fixture has been designed that allows the measurement of steady-state and transient temperature profiles in composites or other types of anisotropic or orthotropic materials under pure conduction in a vacuum. The uniqueness of this approach is the ability to study heat source to composite interface techniques by comparison of surface temperature contours and temperature versus time profiles. Localized changes in these conditions can be evaluated and the most successful technique can be adapted to larger parts, i.e., printed wiring boards (PWBs), electronic enclosure thermal walls, etc.