Causality and replication in concurrent processes

The replication operator was introduced by Milner for obtaining a simplified description of recursive processes. The standard interleaving semantics denotes the replication of a process P, written !P, a shorthand for its unbound parallel composition, operationally equivalent to the process P | P | …, with P repeated as many times as needed. Albeit the replication mechanism has become increasingly popular, investigations on its causal semantics has been scarce. In fact, the correspondence between replication and unbound parallelism makes it difficult to recover basic properties usually associated with these semantics, such as the so-called concurrency diamond. In this paper we consider the interleaving semantics for the operator proposed by Sangiorgi and Walker, and we show how to refine it in order to capture causality. Furthermore, we prove it coincident with the standard causal semantics for recursive process studied in the literature, for processes defined by means of constant invocations

Development and Optimisation of an HPLC-DAD-ESI-QToF Method for the Determination of Phenolic Acids and Derivatives

A method for the HPLC-MS/MS analysis of phenols, including phenolic acids and naphtoquinones, using an amide embedded phase column was developed and compared to the literature methods based on classical C18 stationary phase columns. RP-Amide is a recently developed polar embedded stationary phase, whose wetting properties mean that up to 100% water can be used as an eluent. The increased retention and selectivity for polar compounds and the possibility of working in 100% water conditions make this column particularly interesting for the HPLC analysis of phenolic acids and derivatives. In this study, the chromatographic separation was optimised on an HPLC-DAD, and was used to separate 13 standard phenolic acids and derivatives. The method was validated on an HPLC-ESI-Q-ToF. The acquisition was performed in negative polarity and MS/MS target mode. Ionisation conditions and acquisition parameters for the Q-ToF detector were investigated by working on collision energies and fragmentor potentials. The performance of the method was fully evaluated on standards. Moreover, several raw materials containing phenols were analysed: walnut, gall, wine, malbec grape, French oak, red henna and propolis. Our method allowed us to characterize the phenolic composition in a wide range of matrices and to highlight possible matrix effects

Two Algebraic Process Semantics for Contextual Nets

We show that the so-called 'Petri nets are monoids' approach initiated by Meseguer and Montanari can be extended from ordinary place/transition Petri nets to contextual nets by considering suitable non-free monoids of places. The algebraic characterizations of net concurrent computations we provide cover both the collective and the individual token philosophy, uniformly along the two interpretations, and coincide with the classical proposals for place/transition Petri nets in the absence of read-arcs

The analysis of the Saltzman Collection of Peruvian dyes by high performance liquid chromatography and ambient ionisation mass spectrometry

Yarn samples from the Saltzman Collection of Peruvian dyes were characterized by several different analytical techniques: high performance liquid chromatography with both diode array detection (HPLC-DAD) and electrospray ionisation with tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-Q-ToF), direct analysis in real time (DART) mass spectrometry and paper spray mass spectrometry. This report serves primarily as a database of chemical information about the colorants in these dye materials for those studying ancient South American textiles and their colorants. We also provide a comparison of the results obtained by currently widespread HPLC techniques with those of two different ambient ionisation direct mass spectrometry methods to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of these approaches

Revealing the organic dye and mordant composition of Paracas textiles by a combined analytical approach

The object of this study is a wide selection of dyed cotton and camelid samples from an important collection of 2000-year-old Paracas textiles, now at the Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Antropología e Historia del Perú (MNAAHP; Lima; Peru) and at the National Museum of World Culture (NMWC; Gothenburg; Sweden). The threads, chosen as representative of the whole palette, were selected from eighteen different textiles. A combined spectroscopic and spectrometric analytical approach was selected to characterize the organic and inorganic composition of this wide set of samples. In particular, technical photography was used to gain a general overview of the samples, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) was employed for identifying the mordants and mapping the elemental distribution in the threads, while liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detector and with high-resolution mass spectrometry (HPLC–DAD, HPLC–HRMS) were used for characterizing organic dye composition. This study provides fundamental information on the mordants or other inorganic auxiliaries used in the dyeing processes, rarely investigated up to now, and to the varieties of vegetal sources employed in Paracas textiles. The widening of the Andean dyestuff database is highly important not only to acquire knowledge on Paracas culture, but also to ease the dye characterization of archaeological textiles from the Peruvian region and South American area in general.[Figure not available: see fulltext.]

Distributed current control for multi-three phase synchronous machines in fault conditions

Among challenges and requirements of on-going electrification process and future transportation systems there is demand for arrangements with both increased fault tolerance and reliability. Next aerospace, power-train and automotive systems exploiting new technologies are delving for new features and functionalities. Multi-three phase arrangements are one of these novel approaches where future implementation of aforementioned applications will benefit from. This paper presents and analyses distributed current control design for asymmetrical split-phase schemes composed by symmetrical three phase sections with even number of phases. The proposed design within the dq0 reference frame in nominal, open and short circuit condition of one three-phase system is compared with the vector space decomposition technique and further validated by mean of Matlab/Simulink ~R simulations

Comparison between fermentation and ultrasound‐assisted extraction: Which is the most efficient method to obtain antioxidant polyphenols from sambucus nigra and punicagranatum fruits?

Fruit extracts of Sambucus nigra L. (elderberry) and Punica granatum L. (pomegranate) have several applications in nutraceutical, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industries thanks to their richness in antioxidant polyphenols, whose composition changes with the extraction method applied. We aimed to compare the efficiency of the fermentation extraction, recently applied by industries, with the ultrasound‐assisted extraction–UAE, a well‐known and efficient technique, on the yield of antioxidant polyphenols from elderberry fruits and pomegranate fruit‐peels. Extracts were obtained by both methods, analyzed by high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and the antioxi-dant capacities were evaluated using 2,2‐diphenyl‐1‐picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and Hydroxyl Radical Scavenging (HRS) assays. The main compounds detected in elderberry were caffeoyl and quercetin derivatives, present in higher amounts in UAE extracts. In pomegranate, punicalagin were the main constituents, also detected in higher contents in the UAE extracts compared to fermented ones. The UAE was more suitable for extracting anthocyanins from pomegranate. In addition, higher antiox-idant capacities were observed in UAE extracts, possibly due to their richness in polyphenols. Therefore, despite the recent wide applicability and the good performance of the fermentation pro-cess, the UAE may be considered more efficient for the extraction of polyphenols from S. nigra and P. granatum fruits and may be used to obtain polyphenolic antioxidant extracts to be applied by several industries

Considerations on the effects that core material machining has on an electrical machine's performance

An often-overlooked aspect during the development process of electrical machines, is the validity and accuracy of the machine material properties being used at the design stage. Designers usually consider the data provided by the materials supplier, which is measured on material in an unprocessed state. However, the fact that the machining processes required to produce the finished product (e.g. the stator core) can permanently vary the material properties is very often neglected. This paper therefore deals with and investigates the effects that such processes can have on the overall machine performance. To do this, three sets of material data, based on 1) the materials suppliers’ data, 2) materials data based on conventional characterization methods and 3) materials data based on test samples that include the manufacturing processes, are used to develop three versions of the same baseline machine. The results of these three machines are then compared and the resulting variations of the machine’s performance presented and described. The chosen baseline machine is a high performance and relatively high speed, aerospace, electrical machine. Special attention is focused on the efficiency maps of the machine as this aspect is highly dependent on the material properties that are the most sensitive to manufacturing processes such as the material’s anhysteretic BH curve and its specific core loss

Axial eccentric SynRel and SPM Motors analytical models validation using 3D finite element

This paper deals with the uniform and non-uniform axial eccentricity analyses of the surface mounted permanent magnet and synchronous reluctance machines. The analyses are carried out using an analytical model for each considered machine. Being the axial eccentricity a 3D physical phenomenon, the standard sliding approach used in the analytical models has been validated through accurate 3D FE simulations. The results presented in this paper verify the effectiveness of the analytical approaches quantifying the results deviations respect to the computational expensive 3D FE simulations. The results also confirms that synchronous reluctance machines show higher radial forces compared to the surface permanent magnet machines for the same eccentricity level, main geometry and operating condition

Application of a low-cost camera on a UAV to estimate maize nitrogen-related variables

The development of small unmanned aerial vehicles and advances in sensor technology have made consumer digital cameras suitable for the remote sensing of vegetation. In this context, monitoring the in-field variability of maize (Zea mays L.), characterized by high nitrogen fertilization rates, with a low-cost color-infrared airborne system could be the basis for a site-specific nitrogen (N) fertilization support system. An experimental field with different N treatments applied to silage maize was monitored during the years 2014 and 2015. Images of the field and reference destructive measurements of above ground biomass, its N concentration and N uptake were taken at V6 and V9 development stages. Classical normalized difference vegetation indices (NDVI) and the indices adjusted by crop ground cover were calculated and regressed against the measured variables. Finally, image colorgrams were used to explore the potential of band-related information in variable estimation. A colorgram is a linear signal that summarizes the color content of each digital image. It is composed of a sequence of the frequency distribution curves of the camera bands, of their related parameters and of results of the principal components analysis applied to each image. The best predictors were found to be the ground cover and the adjusted green-based NDVI: regression equation at V9 resulted in R2 of 0.7 and RRMSE < 25% in external validation. Colorgrams did not improve prediction performance due to the spectral limitations of the camera. Therefore, the feasibility of the method should be tested in future research. In spite of limitations of sensor setup, the modified camera was able to estimate maize biomass due to the very high spatial resolution. Since the above ground biomass is a robust proxy of N status, the modified camera could be a promising tool for a low-cost N fertilization support system