Table of Contents

Abstract: In a series of papers [1,2,3], Lawrence Schulman presented examples which demonstrate the compatibility of opposite arrows of time in various situations. In a previous letter to this journal [4] I questioned some of them for not being realistic in spite of being logically correct. Schulman replied [5] to these objections in a letter directly succeeding my one. I am here trying to clarify some aspects of the dispute, thereby further explaining and supporting my previous conclusions.

Abstract: The present paper is concerned with an analytical study of entropy generation in viscous, incompressible Couette flow between a stationary plate and a moving plate. The flow induced by the moving plate is assisted by a constant pressure gradient along the flow direction. Four different combinations of thermal boundary conditions are investigated: (a) plates at different temperatures, (b) stationary plate at a fixed temperature and moving plate subjected to a constant heat flux, (c) stationary plate at a fixed temperature and convection at the moving plate, and (d) convection at both plates. Besides the velocity and temperature profiles, dimensionless results are presented for the entropy generated due to heat transfer, the entropy generated due to viscous dissipation, and the total entropy generation. These results illustrate the effect of pressure gradient, temperature asymmetry, heat flux, convection Biot numbers, and ambient temperatures. For certain combinations of thermal variables, the total entropy generated is minimized.

Abstract: On the basis of the classical axioms of non relativistic quantum mechanics, we develop a model for the interplay between energy and entropy in the process of quantum measurement and shed light on the scope of some of the axioms with regard to the measurement problem.

Abstract: We consider the problem of inference on one of the two parameters of a probability distribution when we have some prior information on a nuisance parameter. When a prior probability distribution on this nuisance parameter is given, the marginal distribution is the classical tool to account for it. If the prior distribution is not given, but we have partial knowledge such as a fixed number of moments, we can use the maximum entropy principle to assign a prior law and thus go back to the previous case. In this work, we consider the case where we only know the median of the prior and propose a new tool for this case. This new inference tool looks like a marginal distribution. It is obtained by first remarking that the marginal distribution can be considered as the mean value of the original distribution with respect to the prior probability law of the nuisance parameter, and then, by using the median in place of the mean.

Abstract: This paper describes a group-theoretic method for decomposing the entropy of a finite ensemble when symmetry considerations are of interest. The cases in which the elements in the ensemble are indexed by {1,2,...,n} and by the permutations of a finite set are considered in detail and interpreted as particular cases of ensembles with elements indexed by a set subject to the actions of a finite group. Decompositions for the entropy in binary ensembles and in ensembles indexed by short DNA words are discussed. Graphical descriptions of the decompositions of the entropy in geological samples are illustrated. The decompositions derived in the present cases follow from a systematic data analytic tool to study entropy data in the presence of symmetry considerations.

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