PoN-S : a systematic approach for applying the Physics of Notation (PoN)

Visual Modeling Languages (VMLs) are important instruments of communication between modelers and stakeholders. Thus, it is important to provide guidelines for designing VMLs. The most widespread approach for analyzing and designing concrete syntaxes for VMLs is the so-called Physics of Notation (PoN). PoN has been successfully applied in the analysis of several VMLs. However, despite its popularity, the application of PoN principles for designing VMLs has been limited. This paper presents a systematic approach for applying PoN in the design of the concrete syntax of VMLs. We propose here a design process establishing activities to be performed, their connection to PoN principles, as well as criteria for grouping PoN principles that guide this process. Moreover, we present a case study in which a visual notation for representing Ontology Pattern Languages is designed

Tear ferning in normal dogs and dogs with keratoconjunctivitis sicca

This study evaluates tear ferning as an ancillary technique for the evaluation of the canine tear film in normal eyes and eyes affected by keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS). Thirty dogs with KCS and 50 control dogs with normal tear film were evaluated with a full ophthalmoscopic examination and a Schirmer tear test type 1 (STT) determined before tear samples were obtained from the medial canthus with a microhaematocrit capillary tube. 10ul of tear was placed on a microscope slide and the time to first formation of a fern of crystallised tear solute was determined. The appearance of the ferning pattern was graded and correlated with the STT value. All eyes with KCS had abnormal ferning patterns while 39 out of the 50 normal dogs (78%) had so-called ‘normal’ ferning patterns. The mean STT for dogs showing ‘normal’ ferning patterns was 20.6mm/min for the left eye and 21.3mm/min for the right eye. STT values for eyes with ‘abnormal’ ferning patterns were 10.9mm/min and 12.4mm/min, these differing from the normal eyes with STT above 15mm/min significantly. These findings suggest that tear ferning could be a valuable technique for assessment of the tear film in dogs with KCS

Laser Generation and Detection of Lamb Waves in Graphite/Polymer Composite Laminates

Laser generation and detection of ultrasound has the obvious advantage of requiring no mechanical contact with the materials under investigation. Detection systems based on confocal Fabry-Perot interferometers can be used on surfaces that are rough, moving, and at elevated temperatures. This work describes the use of a laser-ultrasonic system for investigation of surface acoustic waves (SAWs) in composite laminates. SAWs in thick samples, also called Rayleigh waves, have displacement components both parallel and perpendicular to the surface. These components decay exponentially with distance from the surface, thus the wave motion is confined to a layer with thickness equal to about one wavelength. Because the wave propagation is mainly dependent upon material properties (including defects) near the surface, SAWs are an excellent tool for testing materials near the surface. Lamb waves are the counterparts of Rayleigh waves in thin samples with two free surfaces. A detailed discussion of Rayleigh and Lamb waves can be found in the treatise by Viktorov [1]

Spin-lattice instability to a fractional magnetization state in the spinel HgCr2O4

Magnetic systems are fertile ground for the emergence of exotic states when the magnetic interactions cannot be satisfied simultaneously due to the topology of the lattice - a situation known as geometrical frustration. Spinels, AB2O4, can realize the most highly frustrated network of corner-sharing tetrahedra. Several novel states have been discovered in spinels, such as composite spin clusters and novel charge-ordered states. Here we use neutron and synchrotron X-ray scattering to characterize the fractional magnetization state of HgCr2O4 under an external magnetic field, H. When the field is applied in its Neel ground state, a phase transition occurs at H ~ 10 Tesla at which each tetrahedron changes from a canted Neel state to a fractional spin state with the total spin, Stet, of S/2 and the lattice undergoes orthorhombic to cubic symmetry change. Our results provide the microscopic one-to-one correspondence between the spin state and the lattice distortion

Interacting fermions and N=2 Chern-Simons-matter theories

The partition function on the three-sphere of N=3 Chern-Simons-matter theories can be formulated in terms of an ideal Fermi gas. In this paper we show that, in theories with N=2 supersymmetry, the partition function corresponds to a gas of interacting fermions in one dimension. The large N limit is the thermodynamic limit of the gas and it can be analyzed with the Hartree and Thomas-Fermi approximations, which lead to the known large N solutions of these models. We use this interacting fermion picture to analyze in detail N=2 theories with one single node. In the case of theories with no long-range forces we incorporate exchange effects and argue that the partition function is given by an Airy function, as in N=3 theories. For the theory with g adjoint superfields and long-range forces, the Thomas-Fermi approximation leads to an integral equation which determines the large N, strongly coupled R-charge.Comment: 29 pages, 4 figure

Quantifying Bar Strength: Morphology Meets Methodology

A set of objective bar-classification methods have been applied to the Ohio State Bright Spiral Galaxy Survey (Eskridge et al. 2002). Bivariate comparisons between methods show that all methods agree in a statistical sense. Thus the distribution of bar strengths in a sample of galaxies can be robustly determined. There are very substantial outliers in all bivariate comparisons. Examination of the outliers reveals that the scatter in the bivariate comparisons correlates with galaxy morphology. Thus multiple measures of bar strength provide a means of studying the range of physical properties of galaxy bars in an objective statistical sense.Comment: LaTeX with Kluwer style file, 5 pages with 3 embedded figures. edited by Block, D.L., Freeman, K.C., Puerari, I., & Groess,