Effects of hydrogen on metals

Several rules to guide choice of materials, and methods of welding, electroplating, and heat treatment will provide a method for minimizing failures in storage tanks and related hardware. Failures are caused by high-pressure hydrogen effects, the formation of hydrides in titanium, and hydrogen absorption through various metals processing techniques

Lightweight magnesium-lithium alloys show promise

Evaluation tests show that magnesium-lithium alloys are lighter and more ductile than other magnesium alloys. They are being used for packaging, housings, containers, where light weight is more important than strength

The client-oriented model of cultural competence in healthcare organizations

The paper aims to propose a new model of cultural competence in health organizations based on the paradigm of client orientation. Starting from a literature review, this study takes inspiration from dimensions that characterize the cultural competence of health organizations, and re-articulates them in more detail by applying a client orientation view. The resulting framework is articulated into six dimensions (formal references; procedures and practices; cultural competences of human resources; cultural orientation toward client; partnership with community; and self-assessment) that define the ability of a health organization to achieve its mission, acknowledging, understanding, and valorizing cultural differences of internal clients (staff) and external clients (consumers). This study makes an effort to address the paucity of studies linking approaches to managing cultural diversity in health organizations with cultural competence within the framework of client orientation

On the Schwarzschild Solution: a Review

In this paper the well-known Schwarzschild Solution is discussed. In the first section, by resorting, as usual, to the Einstein Field Equations, a short summary of the conventional derivation is provided. In the second section, we carry out an alternative derivation of the Schwarzschild Metric. The above-mentioned procedureis based upon several noteworthy hypotheses, among which the existence of a further spatial dimension stands out. Initially, we postulate a Universe identifiable with a 4-ball, homogeneously filled with matter, whose radius equates the Schwarzschild Radius. Then, in order to obtain the vacuum field, all the available mass is ideally concentrated in a single point.By imposing a specific condition concerning the measured radius, we deduce a metric that, if subjected to an appropriate parametrization, allows us to finally obtain the Schwarzschild solution

The “Light Clocks” Thought Experiment and the “Fake” Lorentz Transformations

In this paper an alternative version of the well-known “light clocks” experiment is discussed. The so-called Lorentz transformations, backbone of the Special Relativity theory, are herein deduced by resorting to the above-mentioned experiment, albeit with a different meaning. Time dilation and length contraction are not considered as being real phenomena. Time, in fact, is peremptorily postulated as being absolute. Nonetheless, this strong assumption does not imply that instruments and devices of whatever kind, finalized to measure time, are not influenced by motion. In particular, although the “light clock” in the mobile frame ticks, so to say, more slowly than the one at rest, it can be easily shown how no time dilation actually occurs. The apparent length contraction is considered as being nothing but a banal consequence of a deceptive time measurement

Music Algebra: Harmonic Progressions Analysis and CAT (Cataldo Advanced Transformations)

In this article we formally introduce an original method, the purpose of which fundamentally lies in providing musicians with a reliable instrument that may effectively assist them in carrying out, as simply and intuitively as possible, the analysis of whatever chord progression, without resorting to the so-called "modal interchange". Net of a single exception (a routine named "structure reduction"), the whole method is based on a series of harmonic transformations. The above-mentioned transformations, named CAT (the acronym stands for Cataldo Advanced Transformations), turn out to be nothing but inverse chord substitutions characterized by specific conditions and restrictions. The method arises from the analysis of a considerable number of chord progressions, devoting particular (although not exclusive) attention to traditional jazz compositions: in this regard, it is worth highlighting how a significant improvement of CAT has been achieved by conducting an extremely thorough analysis of the so-called LEGO Bricks (public domain harmonic patterns)

A Simplified Introduction to Music Algebra: from the Scale Vectors to the Modal Tensor

In this paper we take a step forward towards the attainment of a formalism that allows to establish a deeper connection between Music and Algebra. Starting from the writing of the Ionian Scale as a Vector, we define the Ionian Modal Tensor. We prove that all the Scales that derive from the Ionian Mode, as well as all the corresponding Seventh Chords, herein considered as being Scalars, can be obtained from the above-mentioned Tensor by resorting to the concepts of Standard Basis and Dot Product.Moreover, by opportunely summing the Vectors of the Standard Basisto each other, we define some interesting Fundamental Vectors such as the "Monk – Powell" Vector and the "Guide Notes" one

Towards a Music Algebra: Fundamental Harmonic Substitutions in Jazz

In this paper the most common harmonic substitutions, at least as far as jazz music is concerned, are unconventionally addressed. The novelty consists in introducing a new method finalized to formally defining and logically applyingall the fundamental harmonic substitutions, by exploiting anunusually rigorous notation. After defining the substitutions and discussing their applicability, we resort to them in order to modify some simple harmonic progressions substantially based upon a banal major turnaround. As explicitly suggested by the title, the modifications are carried out by following an extremely formal line of reasoning: all the logic passages are accurately described by resorting to a notation so similar to the one commonly employed in mathematics and physics, that the harmonic analysis of a song turns out to be de facto comparable to the demonstration of a theorem

Is the EM-Drive a Closed System?

Since its disclosure, the so-called EM-Drive, an apparently reactionless electromagnetic thruster conceived by Roger Shawyer, has simultaneously caused wide scepticism, related to the physical principles that may allow its functioning, and understandable enthusiasm, by virtue of the astonishing scenarios potentially offered by such a device. On the one hand, thrust without exhaust is de facto impossible, unless we deny the Law of Action-Reaction, whose evident violation would result in acknowledging the concrete need for a new Physics; on the other hand, it would appear that opportunely shaped resonant cavities, when fuelled with microwaves, deliver a certain thrust, apparently without a detectable exhaust. In this paper, instead of discussing the validity of the various tests to date independently carried out, speculating about misleading side-effects or inadequate instrumental precision, we simply suppose that the thrust may be an actual phenomenon. Therefore, we try to provide a qualitative explanation to the functioning of the alleged reactionless device, by resorting to a theory elsewhere proposed and herein briefly discussed

Stability of a hard-sphere binary quasicrystal

The stability of a quasicrystalline structure, recently obtained in a molecular-dynamics simulation of rapid cooling of a binary melt, is analyzed for binary hard-sphere mixtures within a density-functional approach. It is found that this quasicrystal is metastable relative to crystalline and fluid phases for diameter ratios above 0.83. Such trend is partially reversed for lower diameter ratios, since the quasicrystal becomes stable with respect to the crystal but does not reach a coexistence with the fluid.Comment: 14 pages, 6 eps figures included. Revised version to appear in Phil. Mag.