A First Mass Production of Gas Electron Multipliers

We report on the manufacture of a first batch of approximately 2,000 Gas Electron Multipliers (GEMs) using 3M's fully automated roll to roll flexible circuit production line. This process allows low-cost, reproducible fabrication of a high volume of GEMs of dimensions up to 30$\times$30 cm$^{2}$. First tests indicate that the resulting GEMs have optimal properties as radiation detectors. Production techniques and preliminary measurements of GEM performance are described. This now demonstrated industrial capability should help further establish the prominence of micropattern gas detectors in accelerator based and non-accelerator particle physics, imaging and photodetection.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures, to be submitted to Nucl. Instr. Meth.

Kepler-like Multi-Plexing for Mass Production of Microlens Parallaxes

We show that a wide-field Kepler-like satellite in Solar orbit could obtain microlens parallaxes for several thousand events per year that are identified from the ground, yielding masses and distances for several dozen planetary events. This is roughly an order of magnitude larger than previously-considered narrow-angle designs. Such a satellite would, in addition, roughly double the number of planet detections (and mass/distance determinations). It would also yield a trove of brown-dwarf binaries with masses, and distances and (frequently) full orbits, enable new probes of the stellar mass function, identify isolated black-hole candidates. We show that the actual Kepler satellite, even with degraded pointing, can demonstrate these capabilities and make substantial initial inroads into the science potential. We discuss several "Deltas" to the Kepler satellite aimed at optimizing microlens parallax capabilities. Most of these would reduce costs. The wide-angle approach advocated here has only recently become superior to the old narrow-angle approach, due to the much larger number of ground-based microlensing events now being discovered.Comment: ApJ Letters, in press, 12 pages, 4 figure

Model ingredients and peak mass production in heavy-ion collisions

We simulate the central reactions of $^{20}$Ne+$^{20}$Ne, $^{40}$Ar+$^{45}$Sc, $^{58}$Ni+$^{58}$Ni, $^{86}$Kr+$^{93}$Nb, $^{129}$Xe+$^{118}$Sn, $^{86}$Kr+$^{197}$Au, and $^{197}$Au+$^{197}$Au at different incident energies for different equations of state, different binary cross sections and different widths of Gaussians. A rise-and-fall behavior of the multiplicity of intermediate mass fragments (IMFs) is observed. The system size dependence of peak center-of-mass energy E$_{c.m.} ^{max}$ and peak IMF multiplicity $^{max}$ is also studied, where it is observed that E$_{c.m.}^{max}$ follows a linear behavior and $^{max}$ shows a power-law dependence. A comparison between two clusterization methods, the minimum spanning tree and the minimum spanning tree method with binding energy check (MSTB), is also made. We find that the MSTB method reduces the $^{max}$, especially in heavy systems. The power-law dependence is also observed for fragments of different sizes at E$_{c.m.} ^{max}$ and the power-law parameter $\tau$ is found to be close to unity in all cases except A$^{max}$.Comment: 6 Figures, 7 page

Mass Production Processes

It is always hard to set manufacturing systems to produce large quantities of standardized parts. Controlling these mass production lines needs deep knowledge, hard experience, and the required related tools as well. The use of modern methods and techniques to produce a large quantity of products within productive manufacturing processes provides improvements in manufacturing costs and product quality. In order to serve these purposes, this book aims to reflect on the advanced manufacturing systems of different alloys in production with related components and automation technologies. Additionally, it focuses on mass production processes designed according to Industry 4.0 considering different kinds of quality and improvement works in mass production systems for high productive and sustainable manufacturing. This book may be interesting to researchers, industrial employees, or any other partners who work for better quality manufacturing at any stage of the mass production processes

Microfluidic mass production of stabilized and stealthy liquid metal nanoparticles

Functional nanoparticles comprised of liquid metals, such as eutectic gallium indium (EGaIn) and Galinstan, present exciting opportunities in the fields of flexible electronics, sensors, catalysts, and drug delivery systems. Methods used currently for producing liquid metal nanoparticles have significant disadvantages as they rely on both bulky and expensive high-power sonication probe systems, and also generally require the use of small molecules bearing thiol groups to stabilize the nanoparticles. Herein, we describe an innovative microfluidics-enabled platform as an inexpensive, easily accessible method for the on-chip mass production of EGaIn nanoparticles with tunable size distributions in an aqueous medium. We also report a novel nanoparticle-stabilization approach using brushed polyethylene glycol chains with trithiocarbonate end-groups negating the requirements for thiol additives whilst imparting a ‘stealth’ surface layer. Furthermore, we demonstrate a surface modification of the nanoparticles using galvanic replacement, and conjugation with antibodies. We envision that the demonstrated microfluidic technique can be used as an economic and versatile platform for the rapid production of liquid metal-based nanoparticles for a range of biomedical applications.

“One Size Can Fit All” – On the Mass Production of Legal Transplants

Law reformers like the World Bank sometimes suggest that optimal legal rules and institutions can be recognized and then be recommended for law reform in every country in the world. Comparative lawyers have long been skeptical of such views. They point out that both laws and social problems are context-specific. What works in one context may fail in another. Instead of “one size fits all,” they suggest tailormade solutions. I challenge this view. Drawing on a comparison with IKEA’s global marketing strategy, I suggest that “one size fits all” can sometimes be not only a successful law reform strategy, but also not as objectionable as critics make it to be. First, whereas, “one size fits all” is deficient a functionalist position, it proves to be surprisingly successful as a formalist conception. Second, critics of legal transplants often insists on what can be called “best law” approach, whereas in law reform, what we sometimes need is law that is just” good enough” law. “Third, legal transplants no longer happen in isolation but rather on a global scale, so that context-specific rules are no longer necessarily local. This is not a plea for formal law, for commodification of laws, and for “one size fits all”. But it is a plea to overcome the romanticism and elitism that may lurk behind the seemingly benign suggestion that law reform must always be tailored to the specific societal context

Mass production of volume phase holographic gratings for the VIRUS spectrograph array

The Visible Integral-field Replicable Unit Spectrograph (VIRUS) is a baseline array of 150 copies of a simple, fiber-fed integral field spectrograph that will be deployed on the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET). VIRUS is the first optical astronomical instrument to be replicated on an industrial scale, and represents a relatively inexpensive solution for carrying out large-area spectroscopic surveys, such as the HET Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX). Each spectrograph contains a volume phase holographic (VPH) grating with a 138 mm diameter clear aperture as its dispersing element. The instrument utilizes the grating in first-order for 350-550 nm. Including witness samples, a suite of 170 VPH gratings has been mass produced for VIRUS. Here, we present the design of the VIRUS VPH gratings and a discussion of their mass production. We additionally present the design and functionality of a custom apparatus that has been used to rapidly test the first-order diffraction efficiency of the gratings for various discrete wavelengths within the VIRUS spectral range. This device has been used to perform both in-situ tests to monitor the effects of adjustments to the production prescription as well as to carry out the final acceptance tests of the gratings' diffraction efficiency. Finally, we present the as-built performance results for the entire suite of VPH gratings.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures, 2 tables. To be published in Proc. SPIE, 2014, "Advances in Optical and Mechanical Technologies for Telescopes and Instrumentation", 9151-53. The work presented in this article follows from arXiv:1207:448

Bellows design features low spring rate and long life

High pressure bellows has high strength rigid hoops for strength and stability and sheet stock for low spring rate effects. The simplicity of this bellows design facilitates mass production