Integral method coefficients for the ring-core technique to evaluate non-uniform residual stresses

The ring-core technique allows for the determination of non-uniform residual stresses from the surface up to relatively higher depths as compared to the hole-drilling technique. The integral method, which is usually applied to hole-drilling, can also be used for elaborating the results of the ring-core test since these two experimental techniques share the axisymmetric geometry and the 0°–45°–90° layout of the strain gage rosette. The aim of this article is to provide accurate coefficients which can be used for evaluating the residual stress distribution by the ring-core integral method. The coefficients have been obtained by elaborating the results of a very refined plane harmonic axisymmetric finite element model and verified with an independent three-dimensional model. The coefficients for small depth steps were initially provided, and then the values for multiple integer step depths were also derived by manipulating the high-resolution coefficient matrices, thus showing how the present results can be practically used for obtaining the residual stresses according to different depth sequences, even non-uniform. This analysis also allowed the evaluation of the eccentricity effect which turned out to be negligible due to the symmetry of the problem. An applicative example was reported in which the input of the experimentally measured relaxed strains was elaborated with different depth resolutions, and the obtained residual stress distributions were compared

Conservazione e valorizzazione delle grotte sarde: biodiversit\ue0 e ruolo socio-economico-culturale

Stima del valore economico del bene grotta e individuazione del target di fruitore; studio dei percorsi turistici per ottimizzare il numero dei visitatori per la salvaguardia del bene ambientale grotta, Stima della Capacit\ue0 di Carico turistica. Modello di una ottima fruizione di una grotta modello. Modello complesso di integrazione tra beni culturali, enogastronomici, ambientali e demo-etno-antropologici. Studio e creazione di network degli interessi

Sars-cov-2 detection in fecal sample from a patient with typical findings of covid-19 pneumonia on ct but negative to multiple sars-cov-2 rt-pcr tests on oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal swab samples

Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) negative results in the upper respiratory tract represent a major concern for the clinical management of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. Herein, we report the case of a 43-years-old man with a strong clinical suspicion of COVID-19, who resulted in being negative to multiple severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) RT-PCR tests performed on different oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal swabs, despite serology having confirmed the presence of SARS-CoV-2 IgM. The patient underwent a chest computed tomography (CT) that showed typical imaging findings of COVID-19 pneumonia. The presence of viral SARS-CoV-2 was confirmed only by performing a SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR test on stool. Performing of SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR test on fecal samples can be a rapid and useful approach to confirm COVID-19 diagnosis in cases where there is an apparent discrepancy between COVID-19 clinical symptoms coupled with chest CT and SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR tests’ results on samples from the upper respiratory tract

Combining roller crimpers and flaming for the termination of cover crops in herbicide-free no-till cropping systems

The termination of cover crops in conventional no-till systems is mostly conducted mechanically in combination with herbicides. Combining flaming and roller crimpers could be a viable solution to avoid using herbicides for cover crop termination in farming systems where herbicides are banned, or at least to reduce their use in an integrated management approach. This research tested the effects of flaming used in combination with three different types of roller crimpers to terminate a fall-sown cover crop mixture of winter pea and barley. The cover crop termination rate was visually assessed in terms of percentage of green cover provided by cover crop plants at different intervals from the termination date, and estimated using a log-logistic non-linear regression model with four parameters. Machine performance data are also reported. The results show that, irrespective of the roller type, flaming significantly boosted the effect of the roller crimpers. In fact, an economic threshold for cover crop suppression of 85% was reached only when the rollers were used in combination with flaming. Nevertheless, none of the methods were able to reach the 100% of cover crop suppression. In some case, the combined use of flaming and roller crimpers allowed reaching the 90% of cover crop devitalisation, which happened six weeks after the termination date. More importantly, the use of flaming in combination with rollers shortened the time needed to achieve the estimated levels of devitalisation, compared with the rollers used alone. We conclude that flaming is an effective tool to increase the effectiveness of roller crimpers. Nevertheless, further research is needed to identify solutions to overcome the barrier of the high operational costs of flaming, which is constraining its wider adoption by farmers. Future studies could focus, for instance, on the development of a new prototype of combined machine for crimping and flaming the cover crops simultaneously, which could potentially reduce the operational costs

The Random Discrete Action for 2-Dimensional Spacetime

A one-parameter family of random variables, called the Discrete Action, is defined for a 2-dimensional Lorentzian spacetime of finite volume. The single parameter is a discreteness scale. The expectation value of this Discrete Action is calculated for various regions of 2D Minkowski spacetime. When a causally convex region of 2D Minkowski spacetime is divided into subregions using null lines the mean of the Discrete Action is equal to the alternating sum of the numbers of vertices, edges and faces of the null tiling, up to corrections that tend to zero as the discreteness scale is taken to zero. This result is used to predict that the mean of the Discrete Action of the flat Lorentzian cylinder is zero up to corrections, which is verified. The ``topological'' character of the Discrete Action breaks down for causally convex regions of the flat trousers spacetime that contain the singularity and for non-causally convex rectangles.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures, Typos correcte

Hydrodynamics from charged black branes

We extend the recent work on fluid-gravity correspondence to charged black-branes by determining the metric duals to arbitrary charged fluid configuration up to second order in the boundary derivative expansion. We also derive the energy-momentum tensor and the charge current for these configurations up to second order in the boundary derivative expansion. We find a new term in the charge current when there is a bulk Chern-Simons interaction thus resolving an earlier discrepancy between thermodynamics of charged rotating black holes and boundary hydrodynamics. We have also confirmed that all our expressions are covariant under boundary Weyl-transformations as expected.Comment: 0+ 31 Pages; v2: 0+33 pages, typos corrected and new sections (in appendix) added; v3:published versio

Tree amplitudes of noncommutative U(N) Yang-Mills Theory

Following the spirit of S-matrix program, we proposed a modified Britto-Cachazo-Feng-Witten recursion relation for tree amplitudes of noncommutative U(N) Yang-Mills theory. Starting from three-point amplitudes, one can use this modified BCFW recursion relation to compute or analyze color-ordered tree amplitudes without relying on any detail information of noncommutative Yang-Mills theory. After clarifying the color structure of noncommutative tree amplitudes, we wrote down the noncommutative analogies of U(1)-decoupling, Kleiss-Kuijf and Bern-Carrasco-Johansson relations for color-ordered tree amplitudes, and proved them using the modified BCFW recursion relation.Comment: 24 pages, 3 figures. v2 References added. v3 some typos correcte

Hydrodynamics of fundamental matter

First and second order transport coefficients are calculated for the strongly coupled N=4 SYM plasma coupled to massless fundamental matter in the Veneziano limit. The results, including among others the value of the bulk viscosity and some relaxation times, are presented at next-to-leading order in the flavor contribution. The bulk viscosity is found to saturate Buchel's bound. This result is also captured by an effective single-scalar five-dimensional holographic dual in the Chamblin-Reall class and it is suggested to hold, in the limit of small deformations, for generic plasmas with gravity duals, whenever the leading conformality breaking effects are driven by marginally (ir)relevant operators. This proposal is then extended to other relations for hydrodynamic coefficients, which are conjectured to be universal for every non-conformal plasma with a dual Chamblin-Reall-like description. Our analysis extends to any strongly coupled gauge theory describing the low energy dynamics of Nc>>1 D3-branes at the tip of a generic Calabi-Yau cone. The fundamental fields are added by means of 1<<Nf<<Nc homogeneously smeared D7-branes.Comment: 24 pages. V2: Important improvements in the discussion of the results in section 1. References adde

Tree-Level Formalism

We review two novel techniques used to calculate tree-level scattering amplitudes efficiently: MHV diagrams, and on-shell recursion relations. For the MHV diagrams, we consider applications to tree-level amplitudes and focus in particular on the N=4 supersymmetric formulation. We also briefly describe the derivation of loop amplitudes using MHV diagrams. For the recursion relations, after presenting their general proof, we discuss several applications to massless theories with and without supersymmetry, to theories with massive particles, and to graviton amplitudes in General Relativity. This article is an invited review for a special issue of Journal of Physics A devoted to "Scattering Amplitudes in Gauge Theories".Comment: 40 pages, 8 figures, invited review for a special issue of Journal of Physics A devoted to "Scattering Amplitudes in Gauge Theories", R. Roiban(ed), M. Spradlin(ed), A. Volovich(ed); v2: minor corrections, references adde

On the non-planar beta-deformed N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory

The beta-deformation is one of the two superconformal deformations of the N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory. At the planar level it shares all of its properties except for supersymmetry, which is broken to the minimal amount. The tree-level amplitudes of this theory exhibit new features which depart from the commonly assumed properties of gauge theories with fields in the adjoint representation. We analyze in detail complete one-loop amplitudes and a nonplanar two-loop amplitude of this theory and show that, despite having only N=1 supersymmetry, two-loop amplitudes have a further-improved ultraviolet behavior. This phenomenon is a counterpart of a similar improvement previously observed in the double-trace amplitude of the N=4 super-Yang-Mills theory at three and four loop order and points to the existence of additional structure in both the deformed and undeformed theories.Comment: 39 pages, 8 figure