24,130 research outputs found
Nicral ternary alloy having improved cyclic oxidation resistance
NiCrAl alloys are improved by the addition of zirconium. These alloys are in the Beta or gamma/gamma' + Beta region of the ternary system. Zirconium is added in a very low amount between 0.06 and 0.20 weight percent. There is a narrow optimum zirconium level at the low value of 0.13 weight percent. Maximum resistance to cyclic oxidation is achieved when the zirconium addition is at the optimum value
Population inversion of driven two-level systems in a structureless bath
We derive a master equation for a driven double-dot damped by an unstructured
phonon bath, and calculate the spectral density. We find that bath mediated
photon absorption is important at relatively strong driving, and may even
dominate the dynamics, inducing population inversion of the double dot system.
This phenomenon is consistent with recent experimental observations.Comment: 4 Pages, Added Reference [30] to Dykman, 1979, available at
http://www.pa.msu.edu/people/dykman/pub/Sov.J.LowTemp.Phys_5.pd
The Vampire and the FOOL
This paper presents new features recently implemented in the theorem prover
Vampire, namely support for first-order logic with a first class boolean sort
(FOOL) and polymorphic arrays. In addition to having a first class boolean
sort, FOOL also contains if-then-else and let-in expressions. We argue that
presented extensions facilitate reasoning-based program analysis, both by
increasing the expressivity of first-order reasoners and by gains in
efficiency
Perturbative Effective Theory in an Oscillator Basis?
The effective interaction/operator problem in nuclear physics is believed to
be highly nonperturbative, requiring extended high-momentum spaces for accurate
solution. We trace this to difficulties that arise at both short and long
distances when the included space is defined in terms of a basis of harmonic
oscillator Slater determinants. We show, in the simplest case of the deuteron,
that both difficulties can be circumvented, yielding highly perturbative
results in the potential even for modest (~6hw) included spaces.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
Building Blocks in the Economics of Mandates
The paper constructs an asymmetric information model to investigate the efficiency and equity cases for government mandated benefits. A mandate can improve workers' insurance, and may also redistribute in favour of more "deserving" workers. The risk is that it may also reduce output. The more diverse are free market contracts – separating the various worker types – the more likely it is that such output effects will on balance serve to reduce welfare. It is shown that adverse effects can be reduced by restricting mandates to larger firms. An alternative to a mandate is direct government provision. We demonstrate that direct government provision has the advantage over mandates of preserving separations.asymmetric information, labour mandates, compensation packages
X-Ray Stress Measurement in Graphite/Epoxy Composites
Small amounts (\u3c 2 mg/cm2) of Al and Nb filler powders were incorporated between the first and second plies of 6-ply unidirectional graphite/epoxy laminates. Cu Kα1 X-rays were diffracted from specific crystallographic planes in these fillers: 333 + 511 for Al and 411 + 330 for Nb, giving peaks in the back reflection region. The peak positions shifted linearly with stress applied to the laminates in the fiber direction and had stress sensitivities of 8.52 and 3.92 x 10-4 deg 2θ/MPa for Al and Nb respectively. Elastic strains in the filler particles measured by X-rays were found to be proportional to the corresponding composite strains measured by strain gages, in agreement with the model of H. T. Hahn. Residual strains and stresses in filler particles were also measured
No Signalling and Quantum Key Distribution
Standard quantum key distribution protocols are provably secure against
eavesdropping attacks, if quantum theory is correct. It is theoretically
interesting to know if we need to assume the validity of quantum theory to
prove the security of quantum key distribution, or whether its security can be
based on other physical principles. The question would also be of practical
interest if quantum mechanics were ever to fail in some regime, because a
scientifically and technologically advanced eavesdropper could perhaps use
post-quantum physics to extract information from quantum communications without
necessarily causing the quantum state disturbances on which existing security
proofs rely. Here we describe a key distribution scheme provably secure against
general attacks by a post-quantum eavesdropper who is limited only by the
impossibility of superluminal signalling. The security of the scheme stems from
violation of a Bell inequality.Comment: Clarifications and minor revisions in response to comments. Final
version; to appear in Phys. Rev. Let
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Home accidents amongst elderly people: A locality study in Scotland
Aim
The aim of this locality study was to collect information on reported and unreported accidents amongst elderly people living in one locality in Scotland.
Method
Postal Survey- A postal questionnaire was sent to 3,757 men and women aged 65+ years living in one locality. The questionnaire asked respondents to indicate how many accidents they had experienced in the past twelve months, plus to indicate type and location. Information was gathered on living arrangements, ethnicity, gender, age and deprivation. Respondents were asked if they would be willing to take part in an interview study.
Interview Study - One hundred elders who had had at least one accident in the previous twelve months were interviewed.
Results
Postal Survey - Over a third of the respondents in the postal survey reported having had an accident in the previous twelve months. Bumps and drops and falls were the most common type of accident. Most accidents happened in the kitchen. Women reported more falls than men and those living alone reported more accidents than those living with others. Age was associated with the prevalence of accidents, but the association was somewhat curvilinear, with accidents decreasing with age and then increasing again.
Interview Study – Interviewees found it hard to differentiate one accident from another. Considerable reluctance to visit the GP after an accident was noted, with many not attending even for serious accidents. Almost forty percent were ‘very’ distressed after their accident, and a quarter reported a loss of confidence. However, most did not worry about accidents. Few thought that their age, health or medications were a cause of their accidents
New results on rewrite-based satisfiability procedures
Program analysis and verification require decision procedures to reason on
theories of data structures. Many problems can be reduced to the satisfiability
of sets of ground literals in theory T. If a sound and complete inference
system for first-order logic is guaranteed to terminate on T-satisfiability
problems, any theorem-proving strategy with that system and a fair search plan
is a T-satisfiability procedure. We prove termination of a rewrite-based
first-order engine on the theories of records, integer offsets, integer offsets
modulo and lists. We give a modularity theorem stating sufficient conditions
for termination on a combinations of theories, given termination on each. The
above theories, as well as others, satisfy these conditions. We introduce
several sets of benchmarks on these theories and their combinations, including
both parametric synthetic benchmarks to test scalability, and real-world
problems to test performances on huge sets of literals. We compare the
rewrite-based theorem prover E with the validity checkers CVC and CVC Lite.
Contrary to the folklore that a general-purpose prover cannot compete with
reasoners with built-in theories, the experiments are overall favorable to the
theorem prover, showing that not only the rewriting approach is elegant and
conceptually simple, but has important practical implications.Comment: To appear in the ACM Transactions on Computational Logic, 49 page
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