119,175 research outputs found
A magnetically driven origin for the low luminosity GRB 170817A associated with GW170817
The gamma-ray burst GRB 170817A associated with GW170817 is subluminous and
subenergetic compared with other typical short GRBs. It may be due to a
relativistic jet viewed off-axis, or a structured jet, or cocoon emission.
Giant flares from magnetars may possibly be ruled out. However, the luminosity
and energetics of GRB 170817A is coincident with that of magnetar giant flares.
After the coalescence of the binary neutron star, a hypermassive neutron star
may be formed. The hypermassive neutron star may have magnetar-strength
magnetic field. During the collapse of the hypermassive neutron star, the
magnetic field energy will also be released. This giant-flare-like event may
explain the the luminosity and energetics of GRB 170817A. Bursts with similar
luminosity and energetics are expected in future neutron star-neutron star or
neutron star-black hole mergers.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, accepted in Research in Astronomy and Astrophysic
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A New Layer Casting System for Ceramic Laser Rapid Prototyping Apparatus
In the existing Ceramic Laser Fusion system, slurry is fed on the high
temperature surface of the green part; therefore, a part of water infiltrates into the
green block and vaporizes before the process of layer casting. As a result, the slurry
viscosity rises gradually; the quality of the layer surface is not uniform, and the green
part density is uneven. The aim of present study is to develop a new layer casting
system which can solve the problems mentioned above to obtain a green part with
uniform surface quality and density, and to shorten the time-taken of part fabrication.
The first part of the paper illustrates the major requirements and parameters of a slurry
distributor; the second part describes the integration of the slurry feeding device and
layer casting system. The integrated system can feed slurry and cast thin layer
simultaneously; consequently, the drawbacks of the existing system can be eliminated
and the time-taken of the layer casting can be shortened. A variable-frequency drive
(inverter) is used to control the motor speed. The relation between the frequency and
the slurry delivery can be included in the process control program to adjust the
quantity in accordance with the layer thickness; hence, the waste of the slurry can be
reduced.Mechanical Engineerin
Coupled structural/thermal/electromagnetic analysis/tailoring of graded composite structures
Accomplishments are described for the first year effort of a 5-year program to develop a methodology for coupled structural/thermal/electromagnetic analysis/tailoring of graded composite structures. These accomplishments include: (1) the results of the selective literature survey; (2) 8-, 16-, and 20-noded isoparametric plate and shell elements; (3) large deformation structural analysis; (4) eigenanalysis; (5) anisotropic heat transfer analysis; and (6) anisotropic electromagnetic analysis
Real time hand gesture recognition including hand segmentation and tracking
In this paper we present a system that performs automatic gesture recognition. The system consists of two main components: (i) A unified technique for segmentation and tracking of face and hands using a skin detection algorithm along with handling occlusion between skin objects to keep track of the status of the occluded parts. This is realized by combining 3 useful features, namely, color, motion and position. (ii) A static and dynamic gesture recognition system. Static gesture recognition is achieved using a robust hand shape classification, based on PCA subspaces, that is invariant to scale along with small translation and rotation transformations. Combining hand shape classification with position information and using DHMMs allows us to accomplish dynamic gesture recognition
Anomalous Magnetic and Thermal Behavior in Some RMn2O5 Oxides
The RMn2O5 (R=Pr, Nd, Sm, and Eu) oxides showing magnetoelectric (ME)
behavior have been prepared in polycrystalline form by a standard citrate
route. The lattice parameters, obtained from the powder XRD analysis, follow
the rare-earth contraction indicating the trivalent character of the R ions.
Cusp-like anomalies in the magnetic susceptibility curve and sharp peaks in the
specific heat were reported at the corresponding temperatures in RMn2O5 (R=Pr,
Nd, Sm, and Eu) indicating the magnetic or electric ordering transitions.Comment: 2 pages, 1 table, 3 figures, will be published in the Proceedings of
the 24th International Conference on Low Temperature Physic
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 ) exerted
on the system, while the other corresponds to the coupling constant between the
subsystems (characterized by ). 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 ), whereas the subsystem's cycle is of quantum Otto in another Brayton
cycle (characterized by ). 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 , 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.
Subtle pH differences trigger single residue motions for moderating conformations of calmodulin
This study reveals the essence of ligand recognition mechanisms by which calmodulin (CaM) controls a variety of Ca2+ signaling processes. We study eight forms of calcium-loaded CaM each with distinct conformational states. Reducing the structure to two degrees of freedom conveniently describes main features of the conformational changes of CaM via simultaneous twist-bend motions of the two lobes. We utilize perturbation-response scanning (PRS) technique, coupled with molecular dynamics simulations. PRS is based on linear response theory, comprising sequential application of directed forces on selected residues followed by recording the resulting protein coordinates. We analyze directional preferences of the perturbations and resulting conformational changes. Manipulation of a single residue reproduces the structural change more effectively than that of single/pairs/triplets of collective modes of motion. Our findings also give information on how the flexible linker acts as a transducer of binding information to distant parts of the protein. Furthermore, by perturbing residue E31 located in one of the EF hand motifs in a specific direction, it is possible to induce conformational change relevant to five target structures. Independently, using four different pKa calculation strategies, we find this particular residue to be the charged residue (out of a total of 52), whose ionization state is most sensitive to subtle pH variations in the physiological range. It is plausible that at relatively low pH, CaM structure is less flexible. By gaining charged states at specific sites at a pH value around 7, such as E31 found in the present study, local conformational changes in the protein will lead to shifts in the energy landscape, paving the way to other conformational states. These findings are in accordance with Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) measured shifts in conformational distributions towards more compact forms with decreased pH. They also corroborate mutational studies and proteolysis results which point to the significant role of E31 in CaM dynamics
An econometric analysis of SARS and Avian flu on international tourist arrivals to Asia
This paper compares the impacts of SARS and human deaths arising from Avian Flu on international tourist arrivals to Asia. The effects of SARS and human deaths from Avian Flu will be compared directly according to human deaths. The nature of the short run and long run relationship is examined empirically by estimating a static line fixed effect model and a difference transformation dynamic model, respectively. Empirical results from the static fixed effect and difference transformation dynamic models are consistent, and indicate that both the short run and long run SARS effect have a more significant impact on international tourist arrivals than does Avian Flu. In addition, the effects of deaths arising from both SARS and Avian Flu suggest that SARS is more important to international tourist arrivals than is Avian Flu. Thus, while Avian Flu is here to stay, its effect is currently not as significant as that of SARS.Avian flu;international tourism;SARS;dynamic panel data model;static fixed effects model
Nonpolar resistive switching in Cu/SiC/Au non-volatile resistive memory devices
Amorphous silicon carbide (a-SiC) based resistive memory (RM) Cu/a-SiC/Au devices were fabricated and their resistive switching characteristics investigated. All four possible modes of nonpolar resistive switching were achieved with ON/OFF ratio in the range 10 6-10 8. Detailed current-voltage I-V characteristics analysis suggests that the conduction mechanism in low resistance state is due to the formation of metallic filaments. Schottky emission is proven to be the dominant conduction mechanism in high resistance state which results from the Schottky contacts between the metal electrodes and SiC. ON/OFF ratios exceeding 10 7 over 10 years were also predicted from state retention characterizations. These results suggest promising application potentials for Cu/a-SiC/Au RM
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