The Universe as a Diesel Engine -- RE: Friam Digest, Vol 11, Issue 9

[Mike Oliker]

Responding to Mark Nishimura about acceleration

The gas in the universe is reacting to form galaxies and stars, growing
hotter.  As thin as the interstellar gas is, does it exert any differential
pressure?  The hot reactive stars are throwing off hot gas and light and
other radiations, e.g. cosmic rays.  Do these add a repulsive element to
counteract gravity?

Setting acceleration aside, one could look at the universe as a diesel
engine.  The initial high gravity compressed the hydrogen enough to ignite
it in nuclear fusion, raising the entropy considerably.  To recompress the
universe it would need to do more work than the compressive energy released
during expansion.  That may be possible, however since the heating also
pushed the universe out more as well.  If the expansion had some inertia it
might have stored the released work like a flywheel in an engine, available
to help with the compression.  

It does become a puzzle if the final state of the universe is the same as
it's initial state.  The logic above has the final universe having some more
fused matter than the initial one.

The deeper curious point for me is how expansion could ever overcome the
initial gravity at all.  Black holes are less dense than the initial state
of the universe must have been.  How could it expand?  

The thermodynamic question centers around free energy -- where did the free
energy come from to expand against gravity?  Will it be there, in the end,
to recompress a hotter (higher entropy) universe?

Of course, acceleration makes the crunch hypothetical, but it is an
interesting question.

-Mike Oliker

-----Original Message-----
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Sent: Thursday, May 27, 2004 12:11 PM
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Subject: Friam Digest, Vol 11, Issue 9


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Today's Topics:

   1. RE: Big Bang, Big Crunch: Decrease in Entropy? (Mark Nishimura)
   2. Food for Complex System Scientists  (Jochen Fromm)
   3. Chiropractors? (Tim Densmore)
   4. Re: Chiropractors? (Randy Burge)
   5. Re: Chiropractors? (rcparks)
   6. Department of Peace Studies, University of Bradford (Randy Burge)
   7. biometrics (Sven Gato Redsun)
   8. should be called thinkengineer (Sven Gato Redsun)
   9. Fuel cell from human waste? No sh--! (Belinda Wong-Swanson)
  10. ICCS2004 Videos (Jochen Fromm)


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Message: 1
Date: Wed, 26 May 2004 12:43:05 -0600
From: "Mark Nishimura" <[hidden email]>
Subject: RE: [FRIAM] Big Bang, Big Crunch: Decrease in Entropy?
To: "The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group"
        <[hidden email]>
Message-ID:
        <[hidden email]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

In the 1990's two groups of astronomers, one led by Saul Perlmutter at the
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the other led by Brian Schmidt at
the Australian National University, set out to determine by measuring the
recession speeds of type Ia supernovae.  After painstakingly determining the
distance and recessional velocities of each, both groups came to a totally
unexpected conclusion: ever since the universe was about 7 billion years
old, its expansion rate has not been decelerating.  Instead, the expansion
rate has been speeding up. This observational data would coincide with
Albert Einstein's 1917 introduction of the cosmological constant.  As
ordinary matter spread out and its gravitational pull diminished, the
repulsive push of the cosmological constant ( whose strength does not change
as matter spreads
out) would have gradually gained the upper hand, and the era of decelerated
spatial expansion would have given way to a new era of accelerated
expansion.

About 100 billion years from now, all but the closest of galaxies will be
dragged away by the swelling space at faster-then-light speed and so would
be impossible for us to see, regardless of the power of telescopes used.

See also works by Jim Peebles at Princeton, and also Lawrence Krauss of Case
Western and Michael Turner of the University of Chicago, and Gary Steigman
of Ohio State, all had suggested that the universe might have a small
nonzero cosmological constant.

Dark energy is the most widely accepted explanation for the observed
acceleration expansion, but other theories have been put forward.

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf
Of Carl
Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 2004 12:18 PM
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
Subject: RE: [FRIAM] Big Bang, Big Crunch: Decrease in Entropy?


No.  Well, maybe.  Depends.
See http://www.math.ucr.edu/home/baez/open.questions.html
question #5.

Most of the recent stuff I read (granted, a small part and rather
opinionated portion of the total literature) says the expansion
appears to be speeding up, so I don't think this will be a worry.

carl

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email] [mailto:[hidden email]]On
Behalf Of Owen Densmore
Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 2004 10:31 AM
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
Subject: [FRIAM] Big Bang, Big Crunch: Decrease in Entropy?


During a conversation yesterday with Stephen, it occurred to me that
the second law would be violated at the turning point to the big
crunch, right?

I.e. if the universe begins to shrink back to a singularity (well, not
quite if you think the string theory picture is right), wouldn't order
increase in that era?

        -- Owen

Owen Densmore         908 Camino Santander   Santa Fe, NM 87505
Cell: 505-570-0168    Home: 505-988-3787     http://backspaces.net


============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9AM @ Jane's Cafe
Lecture schedule, archives, unsubscribe, etc.: http://www.friam.org


============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9AM @ Jane's Cafe
Lecture schedule, archives, unsubscribe, etc.: http://www.friam.org



------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Wed, 26 May 2004 21:20:52 +0200
From: [hidden email] (Jochen Fromm)
Subject: [FRIAM] Food for Complex System Scientists
To: <[hidden email]>
Message-ID: <002c01c44356$9498b220$ea47fea9@computer>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

New and maybe interesting arXiv articles
from cond-mat, q-bio.PE, nlin.AO and cs.RO

Effects of neighbourhood size and connectivity on spatial Continuous
Prisoner's Dilemma Margarita Ifti, Timothy Killingback, Michael Doebeli
http://arxiv.org/abs/q-bio.PE/0405018

Identifying the role that individual animals play in their social network
David Lusseau, M.E.J. Newman http://arxiv.org/abs/q-bio.PE/0403029

The Minority Game: an introductory guide
Esteban Moro
http://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0402651

The statistical mechanics of networks
Juyong Park, M. E. J. Newman http://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0405566

How can we think the complex?
Carlos Gershenson, Francis Heylighen http://arxiv.org/abs/nlin.AO/0402023

Spontaneous Emergence of Complex Optimal Networks through Evolutionary
Adaptation Venkat Venkatasubramanian, Santhoji Katare, Priyan R. Patkar,
Fangping Mu http://arxiv.org/abs/nlin.AO/0402046

Cellular Automata: Wolfram's Metaphors for Complex Systems Pratip
Bhattacharyya http://arxiv.org/abs/nlin.CG/0404003

Ecolab, Webworld and self-organisation
Russell K. Standish
http://arxiv.org/abs/nlin.AO/0404011

The shortest path to complex networks
S.N. Dorogovtsev, J.F.F. Mendes http://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0404593

Self-organization of collaboration networks
Jose J. Ramasco, S. N. Dorogovtsev, Romualdo Pastor-Satorras
http://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0403438

The case of the missing neutrality
Russell K. Standish
http://arxiv.org/abs/nlin.AO/0401039

Mathematical Analysis of Multi-Agent Systems
Kristina Lerman, Aram Galstyan, Tad Hogg http://arxiv.org/abs/cs.RO/0404002



New Papers from Martin A. Nowak, Harvard University

Nowak MA, Sasaki A, Taylor C, Fudenberg D
Emergence of cooperation and evolutionary stability in finite populations,
Nature 428 (2004) 646-650.
http://www.ped.fas.harvard.edu/pdf_files/Nature04a.pdf

Nowak MA, Sigmund K
Evolutionary Dynamics of Biological Games,
Science 303 (2004) 793-799
http://www.ped.fas.harvard.edu/pdf_files/Science04.pdf

Michor F, Iwasa Y, Nowak MA
Dynamics of cancer progression,
Nature Reviews Cancer, 4 (2004) 197-205
http://www.ped.fas.harvard.edu/pdf_files/nrc04.pdf





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Message: 3
Date: Wed, 26 May 2004 15:47:46 -0600
From: Tim Densmore <[hidden email]>
Subject: [FRIAM] Chiropractors?
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
        <[hidden email]>
Message-ID: <[hidden email]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed

Anyone have a recommendation for local chiropractors?  I'm looking for
someone who also does trigger point therapy and perhaps (and this is a
stretch, I realize) dry needling.  In my case, the trigger point is
probably more important than adjustments would be.

Thanks,

Tim Densmore




------------------------------

Message: 4
Date: Wed, 26 May 2004 16:18:51 -0600
From: Randy Burge <[hidden email]>
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Chiropractors?
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
        <[hidden email]>
Message-ID: <BCDA73EB.D8D8%[hidden email]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

Tim...

As a place to start, I can generally recommend Dr. Steve Hazen D.C. at the
Hazen Chiropractic Health Center, 2932 Richards Avenue, off Rodeo Road
towards the Santa Fe Community College. 473-0000. I know Steve from civic
activities in town going back years (Rotary Club in days gone by).

He should be helpful in referring you should he not provide the types of
treatments you seek.

You can also inquire at Ten Thousand Waves for a referral perhaps. Ask for
Duke, the owner. 505-992-5007

Randy Burge

> From: Tim Densmore <[hidden email]>
> Reply-To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
> <[hidden email]>
> Date: Wed, 26 May 2004 15:47:46 -0600
> To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
> <[hidden email]>
> Subject: [FRIAM] Chiropractors?
>
> Anyone have a recommendation for local chiropractors?  I'm looking for
> someone who also does trigger point therapy and perhaps (and this is a
> stretch, I realize) dry needling.  In my case, the trigger point is
> probably more important than adjustments would be.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Tim Densmore
>
>
> ============================================================
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Meets Fridays 9AM @ Jane's Cafe
> Lecture schedule, archives, unsubscribe, etc.: http://www.friam.org
>

------------------------------

Message: 5
Date: Wed, 26 May 2004 18:17:15 -0600
From: rcparks <[hidden email]>
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Chiropractors?
To: "The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group"
        <[hidden email]>
Message-ID: <[hidden email]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed

Tim Densmore wrote:

> Anyone have a recommendation for local chiropractors?  I'm looking for
> someone who also does trigger point therapy and perhaps (and this is a
> stretch, I realize) dry needling.  In my case, the trigger point is
> probably more important than adjustments would be.

   If you can get to Albuquerque, I recommend Brad Walters of Walters
Chiropractic on Coors Boulevard.  His father practices with him and does
acupuncture therapy.

--
Ray Parks                   [hidden email]
IDART Project Lead          Voice:505-844-4024
IORTA Department            Fax:[phone]
http://www.sandia.gov/idart Pager:800-690-5288





------------------------------

Message: 6
Date: Wed, 26 May 2004 18:53:52 -0600
From: Randy Burge <[hidden email]>
Subject: [FRIAM] Department of Peace Studies, University of Bradford
To: FRIAM <[hidden email]>
Message-ID: <BCDA9840.D8E4%[hidden email]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"

http://www.bradford.ac.uk/acad/peace/new/new.htm

Peace Studies at Bradford chosen as Rotary Centre for International Studies
in Peace and Conflict Resolution

This autumn has seen the establishment of the Rotary International Studies
Centre in Peace and Conflict Resolution in the Department as we welcome 12
postgraduate students to Bradford from eight countries. The Rotary World
Peace Scholars will spend two years in the Department, taking an MA in their
first year and proceeding to an MPhil. They are from Argentina, Canada,
Iceland, Japan, Mauritius, Nigeria, Sri Lanka and the United States, many of
them with extensive experience of working in areas in conflict.

The Centre at Bradford is one of seven that have been established by the
Rotary Foundation at universities in Japan, Australia, Argentina, France the
UK and the USA. The initial scheme is for six years but the hope is that the
whole programme will become permanent and might eventually include new
centres in regions such as Eastern Europe, the Middle East, South Asia and
Africa. In all, seventy students each year are being selected from hundreds
of candidates world-wide, with this year's group including scholars from 35
countries.

Rotary's hope is that the programme will add substantially to the number of
people trained in conflict resolution, who may then go on to work for the
UN? NGOs and governments, providing both expertise and experience in areas
in conflict

The Department of Peace Studies will subsequently, each year, enrol
approximately 20 international postgraduate students. The students will take
one of the Department's 3 postgraduate courses. Also selected to host Rotary
Centres in International Studies in Peace and Conflict Resolution are
following universities: Universidad del Salvador, Buenos Aires, Argentina;
University of Queensland, Brasbane, Australia; Institut d'Etudes Politiques
de Paris, Paris, France; International Christian Univesity, Mitaka, Tokyo,
Japan; University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, United States of America
(USA); and, Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill, North Carolina, USA.




------------------------------

Message: 7
Date: Thu, 27 May 2004 01:13:59 -0400
From: Sven Gato Redsun <[hidden email]>
Subject: [FRIAM] biometrics
To: Friam Group <[hidden email]>
Message-ID: <[hidden email]>
Content-Type: text/plain;  charset="us-ascii"

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/about/ac123/ac147/current_issue/
lures_of_biometrics.html




------------------------------

Message: 8
Date: Thu, 27 May 2004 01:15:45 -0400
From: Sven Gato Redsun <[hidden email]>
Subject: [FRIAM] should be called thinkengineer
To: Friam Group <[hidden email]>
Message-ID: <[hidden email]>
Content-Type: text/plain;  charset="iso-8859-1"

Many interesting items.
? ?http://www.thinkgeek.com




------------------------------

Message: 9
Date: Thu, 27 May 2004 06:20:43 -0600
From: "Belinda Wong-Swanson" <[hidden email]>
Subject: [FRIAM] Fuel cell from human waste? No sh--!
To: <[hidden email]>
Message-ID: <[hidden email]>


FUEL CELL TECHNOLOGY
Right now, astronaut waste gets shipped back to Earth. But for long-term
exploration, you'd want to recycle it, because it holds resources that
astronauts will need. It will provide pure drinking water, fertilizer, and,
with the help of a recently discovered microbe, it will also provide
electricity.

A NASA-funded research team led by Dr. Bruce Rittmann, a professor at
Northwestern University, is currently developing a membrane microbial fuel
cell, which obtain their electrons from organic waste. The bacteria at the
heart of the device -- Geobacter microbes -- feed on the waste, and, as part
of their digestive process, they pull electrons from the material. These
microbes can be coaxed to deliver the electrons directly to a fuel cell
electrode, which conducts them into a circuit. As they flow through the
circuit, they generate electricity.

The membrane microbial fuel cell is still in the early stages of its
development. Yet, if the project succeeds, these devices may not only be
used in space, but also in our own homes. "You have to treat the wastes
anyway," said Rittmann. "So why not make the process an energy gainer,
instead of an energy loser? By producing electricity, microbial fuel cells
would make the process of purifying waste streams much more economical."

For more information, visit: http://link.abpi.net/l.php?20040527A2


Belinda Wong-Swanson, Principal
Innov8 LLC, 624 Agua Fria, Santa Fe, NM 87501
www.innov8llc.com
email: [hidden email]
tel: [phone]
fax: [phone]





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Message: 10
Date: Thu, 27 May 2004 21:12:18 +0200
From: [hidden email] (Jochen Fromm)
Subject: [FRIAM] ICCS2004 Videos
To: <[hidden email]>
Message-ID: <001e01c4441e$9057d740$ea47fea9@computer>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Videos of various interviews from the
International Conference on Complex Systems 2004
(ICCS2004) can be found at the Comdig site:
http://www.comdig2.de/Conf/ICCS04/

The Quality is not very high, but at least
you can see many of the famous researchers
in the sciences of complexity.







------------------------------

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End of Friam Digest, Vol 11, Issue 9
************************************