Scale-free network growth by ranking

Network growth is currently explained through mechanisms that rely on node prestige measures, such as degree or fitness. In many real networks those who create and connect nodes do not know the prestige values of existing nodes, but only their ranking by prestige. We propose a criterion of network growth that explicitly relies on the ranking of the nodes according to any prestige measure, be it topological or not. The resulting network has a scale-free degree distribution when the probability to link a target node is any power law function of its rank, even when one has only partial information of node ranks. Our criterion may explain the frequency and robustness of scale-free degree distributions in real networks, as illustrated by the special case of the Web graph.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. We extended the model to account for ranking by arbitrarily distributed fitness. Final version to appear on Physical Review Letter

Fabrication of Thin Walls with and without Close Loop Control as a Function of Scan Strategy Via Direct Energy Deposition

Direct Energy Deposition (DED) is a technique used to fabricate metallic parts and is a subcategory of metal additive manufacturing. Despite of its vast advantages over traditional manufacturing the deployment at industrial level is still limited due to underlaying concerns of process stability and repeatability. In-situ monitor- ing, therefore, is indispensable while depositing via DED. The present experiment is a step towards enhancing our current understanding of the DED when coupled with a closed loop control system to control melt pool width for deposition of thin- walled structures, and as a function of scan strategy. 316L stainless steel powder was deposited on S235JR substrate. A total of 6 iterations are reported, out of many performed, of which 3 were without the closed loop control. Also, to understand the effect of scan strategy as a function of laser power. Two different scan strategies were employed for understanding of the issue i.e., unidirectional, and bidirectional. Apart from the geometrical consistency of the wall, microhardness, density calcula- tions and microstructure were investigated. The geometric consistency was found to be almost perfect with the bidirectional scan strategy. In case of unidirectional scan strategy, the wall shows a negative slope along the other extreme regardless of the closed loop control system. Dilution zone shows the hardness greater than both the substrate and the wall. The specimens fabricated without the use of closed loop con- trol were found to be denser than their counterparts. This was found to be true also in case of manual reduction of power during each layer

Aging Behaviour of a 12.2Cr-10Ni-1Mo-1Ti-0.6Al Precipitation-Hardening Stainless Steel Manufactured via Laser Powder Bed Fusion

The combination of precipitation-hardening stainless steels (PH-SS) and laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) enables the manufacturing of tools for plastic injection moulding with optimised geometry and conformal cooling channels, with potential benefits in terms of productivity, part quality, and tool duration. Moreover, the suitability of LPBF-manufactured PH-SS in the as-built (AB) condition to be age-hardened through a direct aging (DA) treatment enables a great heat treatment simplification with respect to the traditional solution annealing and aging treatment (SA). However, plastic injection moulding tools experience severe thermal cycles during their service, which can lead to over-aging of PH-SS and thus shorten tool life. Therefore, proper thermal stability is required to ensure adequate tool life and reliability. The aim of the present work is to investigate the aging and over-aging behaviour of a commercially available PH-SS (AMPO M789) manufactured by LPBF in the AB condition and after a solution-annealing treatment in order to evaluate the effect of the heat treatment condition on the microstructure and the aging and over-aging response, aiming at assessing its feasibility for plastic injection moulding applications. The AB microstructure features melt pool borders, oriented martensite grains, and a cellular solidification sub-structure, and was retained during aging and over-aging. On the other hand, a homogeneous and isotropic martensite structure was present after solution annealing and quenching, with no melt pool borders, cellular structure, or oriented grains. The results indicate no significant difference between AB and solution-annealed and quenched specimens in terms of aging and over-aging behaviour and peak hardness (in the range 580–600 HV), despite the considerably different microstructures. Over-aging was attributed to both the coarsening of strengthening precipitates and martensite-to-austenite reversion (up to ~11 vol.%) upon prolonged exposure to high temperature. Based on the results, guidelines to aid the selection of the most suitable heat treatment procedure are proposed

Diffusion of scientific credits and the ranking of scientists

Recently, the abundance of digital data enabled the implementation of graph based ranking algorithms that provide system level analysis for ranking publications and authors. Here we take advantage of the entire Physical Review publication archive (1893-2006) to construct authors' networks where weighted edges, as measured from opportunely normalized citation counts, define a proxy for the mechanism of scientific credit transfer. On this network we define a ranking method based on a diffusion algorithm that mimics the spreading of scientific credits on the network. We compare the results obtained with our algorithm with those obtained by local measures such as the citation count and provide a statistical analysis of the assignment of major career awards in the area of Physics. A web site where the algorithm is made available to perform customized rank analysis can be found at the address http://www.physauthorsrank.orgComment: Revised version. 11 pages, 10 figures, 1 table. The portal to compute the rankings of scientists is at http://www.physauthorsrank.or

Long Pulse Laser Micro Welding of Commercially Pure Titanium Thin Sheets

Abstract The paper deals with the application of a long pulse, lamp pumped Nd:YAG laser source in welding thin sheets of commercially pure titanium. An experimental campaign was designed and planned by means of the Response Surface Method (RSM) in order to assess the effect of the main process parameters on the weld bead penetration depth, width and general morphology. In particular the role of pulse duration, pulse peak power and pulse frequency was determined by means of optical observations and statistical analyses. Weld bead penetration depth, width and overall geometry were measured and related to the process parameters, in order to assess optimized operating process windows. The results point out, in particular, that pulse peak power is responsible for weld bead penetration depth. Pulse duration, on the other hand dominates weld bead width: by means of an in-depth analysis of these results it was pointed out that sound weld beads, characterized by the proper morphology, can only be achieved by means of a proper balance between these two parameters. A too high peak power, in fact, easily leads to the right penetration depth, but it tends to produce spatters, porosities and drop-through in the weld bead, while acting on the pulse duration the right morphology of the weld bead can be achieved

Robust inference of causality in high-dimensional dynamical processes from the Information Imbalance of distance ranks

We introduce an approach which allows inferring causal relationships between variables for which the time evolution is available. Our method builds on the ideas of Granger Causality and Transfer Entropy, but overcomes most of their limitations. Specifically, our approach tests whether the predictability of a putative driven system Y can be improved by incorporating information from a potential driver system X, without making assumptions on the underlying dynamics and without the need to compute probability densities of the dynamic variables. Causality is assessed by a rigorous variational scheme based on the Information Imbalance of distance ranks, a recently developed statistical test capable of inferring the relative information content of different distance measures. This framework makes causality detection possible even for high-dimensional systems where only few of the variables are known or measured. Benchmark tests on coupled dynamical systems demonstrate that our approach outperforms other model-free causality detection methods, successfully handling both unidirectional and bidirectional couplings, and it is capable of detecting the arrow of time when present. We also show that the method can be used to robustly detect causality in electroencephalography data in humans.Comment: Extended acknowledgments Sectio