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

The Characteristics and Applications of Ceramic Laser Fusion and Ceramic Laser Sintering

The aim of present study is to investigate the possible application of the ceramic parts which are fabricated with the process of Ceramic Laser Fusion or Ceramic Laser Sintering. The experimental results reveal: (1) CLF can lead to a reduction in the porosity of the ceramic part but also can induce micro-cracks. Therefore, this process cannot produce a part with the required strength by a post-process of infiltration; (2) CLS is capable of fabricating a ceramic part with high porosity. By adjusting the slurry formulation and varying the scanning energy, the open porosity can be over 90vol% of the total porosity. After a post-process of infiltration, the density can be increased to 95%; therefore, CLS can apply to produce a part with high strength. Because the high open porosity leads to a good permeability, the process of CLS is suitable for the fabrication of ceramic shell mold.Mechanical Engineerin

On computations of the integrated space shuttle flowfield using overset grids

Numerical simulations using the thin-layer Navier-Stokes equations and chimera (overset) grid approach were carried out for flows around the integrated space shuttle vehicle over a range of Mach numbers. Body-conforming grids were used for all the component grids. Testcases include a three-component overset grid - the external tank (ET), the solid rocket booster (SRB) and the orbiter (ORB), and a five-component overset grid - the ET, SRB, ORB, forward and aft attach hardware, configurations. The results were compared with the wind tunnel and flight data. In addition, a Poisson solution procedure (a special case of the vorticity-velocity formulation) using primitive variables was developed to solve three-dimensional, irrotational, inviscid flows for single as well as overset grids. The solutions were validated by comparisons with other analytical or numerical solution, and/or experimental results for various geometries. The Poisson solution was also used as an initial guess for the thin-layer Navier-Stokes solution procedure to improve the efficiency of the numerical flow simulations. It was found that this approach resulted in roughly a 30 percent CPU time savings as compared with the procedure solving the thin-layer Navier-Stokes equations from a uniform free stream flowfield

Sugar additives for MALDI matrices improve signal allowing the smallest nucleotide change (A:T) in a DNA sequence to be resolved

Sample preparation for matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry (MS) of DNA is critical for obtaining high quality mass spectra. Sample impurity, solvent content, substrate surface and environmental conditions (temperature and humidity) all affect the rate of matrix–analyte co-crystallization. As a result, laser fluence threshold for desorption/ionization varies from spot to spot. When using 3-hydroxypicolinic acid (3-HPA) as the matrix, laser fluence higher than the threshold value reduces mass resolution in time-of-flight (TOF) MS as the excess energy transferred to DNA causes metastable decay. This can be overcome by either searching for ‘hot’ spots or adjusting the laser fluence. However, both solutions may require a significant amount of operator manipulation and are not ideal for automatic measurements. We have added various sugars for crystallization with the matrix to minimize the transfer of excess laser energy to DNA molecules. Fructose and fucose were found to be the most effective matrix additives. Using these additives, mass resolution for DNA molecules does not show noticeable deterioration as laser energy increases. Improved sample preparation is important for the detection of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) using primer extension with a single nucleotide. During automatic data acquisition it is difficult to routinely detect heterozygous A/T mutations, which requires resolving a mass difference of 9 Da, unless a sugar is added during crystallization

Quenched chiral logarithms in lattice QCD with exact chiral symmetry

We examine quenched chiral logarithms in lattice QCD with overlap Dirac quark. For 100 gauge configurations generated with the Wilson gauge action at $\beta = 5.8$ on the $8^3 \times 24$ lattice, we compute quenched quark propagators for 12 bare quark masses. The pion decay constant is extracted from the pion propagator, and from which the lattice spacing is determined to be 0.147 fm. The presence of quenched chiral logarithm in the pion mass is confirmed, and its coefficient is determined to be $\delta = 0.203 \pm 0.014$, in agreement with the theoretical estimate in quenched chiral perturbation theory. Further, we obtain the topological susceptibility of these 100 gauge configurations by measuring the index of the overlap Dirac operator. Using a formula due to exact chiral symmetry, we obtain the $\eta'$ mass in quenched chiral perturbation theory, $m_{\eta'} = (901 \pm 64)$ Mev, and an estimate of $\delta = 0.197 \pm 0.027$, which is in good agreement with that determined from the pion mass.Comment: 24 pages, 6 EPS figures; v2: some clarifications added, to appear in Physical Review

Chiral fermions on the lattice and index relations

Comparing recent lattice results on chiral fermions and old continuum results for the index puzzling questions arise. To clarify this issue we start with a critical reconsideration of the results on finite lattices. We then work out various aspects of the continuum limit. After determining bounds and norm convergences we obtain the limit of the anomaly term. Collecting our results the index relation of the quantized theory gets established. We then compare in detail with the Atiyah-Singer theorem. Finally we analyze conventional continuum approaches.Comment: 34 pages; a more detaild introduction and a subsection with remarks on literature adde

Seasonal Snow Extent and Snow Mass in South America Using SMMR and SSM/I Passive Microwave Data (1979-2003)

Seasonal snow cover in South America was examined in this study using passive microwave satellite data from the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SMMR) on board the Nimbus-satellite and the Special Sensor Microwave Imagers (SSM/I) on board Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites. For the period from 1979-2003, both snow cover extent and snow depth (snow mass) were investigated during coldest months (May-September), primarily in the Patagonia area of Argentina and in Chile. Most of the seasonal snow in South America is in the Patagonia region of Argentina. Since winter temperatures in this region are often above freezing, the coldest winter month was found to be the month having the most extensive snow cover and also usually the month having the deepest snow cover as well. Sharp year-to-year differences were recorded using the passive microwave observations. The average snow cover extent for July, the month with the greatest average snow extent during the 25-year period of record, is 320,700 km(exp 2). In July of 1984, the average monthly snow cover was 701,250 km(exp 2) - the most extensive coverage observed between 1979 and 2003. However, in July of 1989, snow cover extent was only 120 km(exp 2). The 25-year period of record shows a sinusoidal like pattern, though there appears to be no obvious trend in either increasing or decreasing snow extent or snow mass between 1979 and 2003

Demonstration of the asymmetric lateral Casimir force between corrugated surfaces in the nonadditive regime

The measurement of the lateral Casimir force between two aligned sinusoidally corrugated Au-coated surfaces has been performed in the nonadditive regime. The use of deeper corrugations also allowed to demonstrate an asymmetry in the phase dependences of the lateral Casimir force, as predicted earlier. The measurement data are found to be in excellent agreement with the exact theoretical results computed at T=300 K including effect of real material properties. The deviations between the exact theory and the proximity force approximation are quantified. The obtained results are topical for applications in nanomachines.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

Axial anomaly with the overlap-Dirac operator in arbitrary dimensions

We evaluate for arbitrary even dimensions the classical continuum limit of the lattice axial anomaly defined by the overlap-Dirac operator. Our calculational scheme is simple and systematic. In particular, a powerful topological argument is utilized to determine the value of a lattice integral involved in the calculation. When the Dirac operator is free of species doubling, the classical continuum limit of the axial anomaly in various dimensions is combined into a form of the Chern character, as expected.Comment: 9 pages, uses JHEP.cls and amsfonts.sty, the final version to appear in JHE

The prevalence of insomnia in the general population in China: A meta-analysis

This is the first meta-analysis of the pooled prevalence of insomnia in the general population of China. A systematic literature search was conducted via the following databases: PubMed, PsycINFO, EMBASE and Chinese databases (China National Knowledge Interne (CNKI), WanFang Data and SinoMed). Statistical analyses were performed using the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis program. A total of 17 studies with 115,988 participants met the inclusion criteria for the analysis. The pooled prevalence of insomnia in China was 15.0% (95% Confidence interval [CI]: 12.1%-18.5%). No significant difference was found in the prevalence between genders or across time period. The pooled prevalence of insomnia in population with a mean age of 43.7 years and older (11.6%; 95% CI: 7.5%-17.6%) was significantly lower than in those with a mean age younger than 43.7 years (20.4%; 95% CI: 14.2%-28.2%). The prevalence of insomnia was significantly affected by the type of assessment tools (Q = 14.1, P = 0.001). The general population prevalence of insomnia in China is lower than those reported in Western countries but similar to those in Asian countries. Younger Chinese adults appear to suffer from more insomnia than older adults