An approach to a real-time distribution system

The requirements of a real-time data distribution system are to provide fast, reliable delivery of data from source to destination with little or no impact to the data source. In this particular case, the data sources are inside an operational environment, the Mission Control Center (MCC), and any workstation receiving data directly from the operational computer must conform to the software standards of the MCC. In order to supply data to development workstations outside of the MCC, it is necessary to use gateway computers that prevent unauthorized data transfer back to the operational computers. Many software programs produced on the development workstations are targeted for real-time operation. Therefore, these programs must migrate from the development workstation to the operational workstation. It is yet another requirement for the Data Distribution System to ensure smooth transition of the data interfaces for the application developers. A standard data interface model has already been set up for the operational environment, so the interface between the distribution system and the application software was developed to match that model as closely as possible. The system as a whole therefore allows the rapid development of real-time applications without impacting the data sources. In summary, this approach to a real-time data distribution system provides development users outside of the MCC with an interface to MCC real-time data sources. In addition, the data interface was developed with a flexible and portable software design. This design allows for the smooth transition of new real-time applications to the MCC operational environment

Quantum Brayton cycle with coupled systems as working substance

We explore the quantum version of Brayton cycle with a composite system as the working substance. The actual Brayton cycle consists of two adiabatic and two isobaric processes. Two pressures can be defined in our isobaric process, one corresponds to the external magnetic field (characterized by $F_x$) exerted on the system, while the other corresponds to the coupling constant between the subsystems (characterized by $F_y$). As a consequence, we can define two types of quantum Brayton cycle for the composite system. We find that the subsystem experiences a quantum Brayton cycle in one quantum Brayton cycle (characterized by $F_x$), whereas the subsystem's cycle is of quantum Otto in another Brayton cycle (characterized by $F_y$). The efficiency for the composite system equals to that for the subsystem in both cases, but the work done by the total system are usually larger than the sum of work done by the two subsystems. The other interesting finding is that for the cycle characterized by $F_y$, the subsystem can be a refrigerator while the total system is a heat engine. The result in the paper can be generalized to a quantum Brayton cycle with a general coupled system as the working substance.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, accepted by Phys. Rev.

Electronic structure and electric-field gradients analysis in CeIn3CeIn_3

Electric field gradients (EFG's) were calculated for the $CeIn_3$ compound at both $^{115}In$ and $^{140}Ce$ sites. The calculations were performed within the density functional theory (DFT) using the augmented plane waves plus local orbital (APW+lo) method employing the so-called LDA+U scheme. The $CeIn_3$ compound were treated as nonmagnetic, ferromagnetic, and antiferromagnetic cases. Our result shows that the calculated EFG's are dominated at the $^{140}Ce$ site by the Ce-4f states. An approximately linear relation is intuited between the main component of the EFG's and total density of states (DOS) at Fermi level. The EFG's from our LDA+U calculations are in better agreement with experiment than previous EFG results, where appropriate correlations had not been taken into account among 4f-electrons. Our result indicates that correlations among 4f-electrons play an important role in this compound and must be taken into account

Coded aperture compressive temporal imaging.

We use mechanical translation of a coded aperture for code division multiple access compression of video. We discuss the compressed video's temporal resolution and present experimental results for reconstructions of > 10 frames of temporal data per coded snapshot

Intrinsic Electric Dipole Moments of Paramagnetic Atoms: Rubidium and Cesium

The electric dipole moment (EDM) of paramagnetic atoms is sensitive to the intrinsic EDM contribution from that of its constituent electrons and a scalar--pseudo-scalar (S-PS) electron-nucleus interactions. The electron EDM and the S-PS EDM contribution to atomic EDM scales as Z^3. Thus, the heavy paramagnetic atomic systems will exhibit large enhancement factors. However, the nature of the coupling is so small that it becomes an interest of high precision atomic experiments. In this work, we have computed the EDM enhancement factors of the ground states of Rb and Cs due to both the electron EDM and the S-PS EDM using the relativistic coupled-cluster (RCC) theory. The importance of obtaining the precise enhancement factors and the experimental results in deducing a reliable limit on the electron EDM is emphasized.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Quantum Thermodynamic Cycles and quantum heat engines

In order to describe quantum heat engines, here we systematically study isothermal and isochoric processes for quantum thermodynamic cycles. Based on these results the quantum versions of both the Carnot heat engine and the Otto heat engine are defined without ambiguities. We also study the properties of quantum Carnot and Otto heat engines in comparison with their classical counterparts. Relations and mappings between these two quantum heat engines are also investigated by considering their respective quantum thermodynamic processes. In addition, we discuss the role of Maxwell's demon in quantum thermodynamic cycles. We find that there is no violation of the second law, even in the existence of such a demon, when the demon is included correctly as part of the working substance of the heat engine.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, 4 table

Comparisons of Aerosol Generation Across Different Musical Instruments and Loudness

Highlights•Aerosol number and mass concentrations measured during musical instrument playing.•A 1 dBA increase in sound pressure level yields ∼10% increase in number concentration.•Loudness of playing explains some but not all differences across instruments.•Musical instrument playing size distributions are consistent with those of breathing.•Simple songs sufficient to characterise aerosol emission during actual performance.AbstractRespiratory aerosols can serve as vectors for disease transmission, and aerosol emission is highly activity-dependent. COVID-19 severely impacted the performing arts due to concerns about disease spread by respiratory aerosols and droplets generated during singing and playing musical instruments. Aerosol generation from woodwind and brass performance is less understood compared to singing due to uncertainty about how the diverse range of musical instruments may impact respiratory aerosol concentrations and size distributions. Here, aerosol number and mass concentrations along with size distributions were measured for breathing, speaking, and playing four different woodwind and brass instruments by 23 professional instrumentalists. We find that a 1 dBA increase in sound pressure level corresponds to a ∼10% increase in aerosol number concentration. The aerosol size distribution is consistent with that of breathing. Differences in aerosol emission across musical instruments can be partly explained by the loudness of performance. Measuring aerosol generation from single notes or simple songs may be sufficient to characterise the aerosol emission range during actual performance, provided a range of loudnesses are accessed. These results provide insight into the factors contributing to aerosol emission during musical performance and facilitate risk assessments associated with infectious respiratory disease transmission in the performing arts

Low-energy electronic states of carbon nanocones in an electric field

«Non v’è salvezza al di fuori del mostruoso»; «la diserzione, intrinseca alla letteratura, diventa nel fantastico sfida blasfema, obiezione, tradimento»: in questi passi, lo scrittore italiano Giorgio Manganelli (1922-1990) riafferma la portata trasgressiva della sua opera, indicando nel superamento dei limiti razionali, del verosimile, dell’accettabile o, in altre parole, del narrabile la via per sottrarre la letteratura ad una funzione strumentale. Così, nel privilegiarla come atto di linguaggio e nel disimpegnarla da mansioni mimetico-realistiche, Manganelli la popola di esseri informi e metamorfici. Ad esempio, in opere quali Hilarotragoedia (1964) e Dall’inferno (1985) il mostruoso non si presenta come qualcosa di aberrante, ma piuttosto come il risultato di una sorta di teologia paradossale, in grado di sovvertire o burlare le grandi convenzioni umane. Partendo da tali questioni, l’articolo affronterà il tema del mostro quale infrazione e sovversione essenziali allo scardinamento di un orizzonte ermeneutico antropocentrico, come voleva, tra gli altri, Foucault. «There is no salvation beyond the monstrous»; «desertion, intrinsic to literature, becomes in the Fantastic a blasphemous challenge, objection and betrayal»: with these words, the Italian writer Giorgio Manganelli (1922-1990) reaffirms the transgression of his work. With the overcoming of rational limits, of the plausible, of the acceptable or, in other words, of the tellable, the writer illustrates the way to prevent the use of literature as an instrumental function. Therefore, by using literature as an act of speech and by disengaging it from its mimetic-realistic responsibilities, Manganelli populates it with shapeless and metamorphic beings. In works such as Hilarotragoedia (1964) and From Hell (1985), for example, the monstrous does not resemble something aberrant, but rather it represents a kind of paradoxical theology, capable of subverting or mocking the great human convictions. Starting from these questions, this paper will approach the subject of the monster as infringement and subversion essential for the disruption of a hermeneutic and anthropocentric horizon, as Foucault, among others, wished

Engineering naturally occurring trans-acting non-coding RNAs to sense molecular signals

Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are versatile regulators in cellular networks. While most trans-acting ncRNAs possess well-defined mechanisms that can regulate transcription or translation, they generally lack the ability to directly sense cellular signals. In this work, we describe a set of design principles for fusing ncRNAs to RNA aptamers to engineer allosteric RNA fusion molecules that modulate the activity of ncRNAs in a ligand-inducible way in Escherichia coli. We apply these principles to ncRNA regulators that can regulate translation (IS10 ncRNA) and transcription (pT181 ncRNA), and demonstrate that our design strategy exhibits high modularity between the aptamer ligand-sensing motif and the ncRNA target-recognition motif, which allows us to reconfigure these two motifs to engineer orthogonally acting fusion molecules that respond to different ligands and regulate different targets in the same cell. Finally, we show that the same ncRNA fused with different sensing domains results in a sensory-level NOR gate that integrates multiple input signals to perform genetic logic. These ligand-sensing ncRNA regulators provide useful tools to modulate the activity of structurally related families of ncRNAs, and building upon the growing body of RNA synthetic biology, our ability to design aptamer–ncRNA fusion molecules offers new ways to engineer ligand-sensing regulatory circuits

Has land use pushed terrestrial biodiversity beyond the planetary boundary? A global assessment

Land use and related pressures have reduced local terrestrial biodiversity, but it is unclear how the magnitude of change relates to the recently proposed planetary boundary (“safe limit”). We estimate that land use and related pressures have already reduced local biodiversity intactness—the average proportion of natural biodiversity remaining in local ecosystems—beyond its recently proposed planetary boundary across 58.1% of the world’s land surface, where 71.4% of the human population live. Biodiversity intactness within most biomes (especially grassland biomes), most biodiversity hotspots, and even some wilderness areas is inferred to be beyond the boundary. Such widespread transgression of safe limits suggests that biodiversity loss, if unchecked, will undermine efforts toward long-term sustainable development