Development of a whole life cycle cost model for electrification options on the UK rail system

Projects to deliver Overhead Line Equipment (OLE) electrification on the UK rail infrastructure system presents technical challenges which the rail industry in Britain have not traditionally had to consider. Whole Life Cycle assessment provides decision makers with cost estimates for the installation phase and over the entire service life of the system, including disposal. The OLE projects face a particular problem when analysing the best option for overbridges. Much of the rail infrastructure has not traditionally had to consider overhead clearances and therefore many of the bridges are only a little taller than the rolling stock. In addition to the difficulties in assessing the Life-Cycle costs of assets that have historically been used in very limited scales, the Whole Life Cycle assessment must consider the various engineering options that are available for projects. The three competing options (bridge rebuild, track lowering, reduced clearance) are all going to have very different capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operating expenditure (OPEX) costs. This work presents a model created to predict these costs over the anticipated assessment period. The developed model predicts capital expenditures, maintenance and service disruption costs and links them to the three major assets options involved in OLE underbridges

A quantum computational semantics for epistemic logical operators. Part I: epistemic structures

Some critical open problems of epistemic logics can be investigated in the framework of a quantum computational approach. The basic idea is to interpret sentences like “Alice knows that Bob does not understand that π is irrational” as pieces of quantum information (generally represented by density operators of convenient Hilbert spaces). Logical epistemic operators (to understand, to know. . .) are dealt with as (generally irreversible) quantum operations, which are, in a sense, similar to measurement-procedures. This approach permits us to model some characteristic epistemic processes, that concern both human and artificial intelligence. For instance, the operation of “memorizing and retrieving information” can be formally represented, in this framework, by using a quantum teleportation phenomenon

Short‐term effects of a modified A lt‐ RAMEC protocol for early treatment of C lass III malocclusion: a controlled study

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/109361/1/ocr12051.pd

Native NIR-emitting single colour centres in CVD diamond

Single-photon sources are a fundamental element for developing quantum technologies, and sources based on colour centres in diamonds are among the most promising candidates. The well-known NV centres are characterized by several limitations, thus few other defects have recently been considered. In the present work, we characterize in detail native efficient single colour centres emitting in the near infra-red in both standard IIa single-crystal and electronic-grade polycrystalline commercial CVD diamond samples. In the former case, a high-temperature annealing process in vacuum is necessary to induce the formation/activation of luminescent centres with good emission properties, while in the latter case the annealing process has marginal beneficial effects on the number and performances of native centres in commercially available samples. Although displaying significant variability in several photo physical properties (emission wavelength, emission rate instabilities, saturation behaviours), these centres generally display appealing photophysical properties for applications as single photon sources: short lifetimes, high emission rates and strongly polarized light. The native centres are tentatively attributed to impurities incorporated in the diamond crystal during the CVD growth of high-quality type IIa samples, and offer promising perspectives in diamond-based photonics.Comment: 27 pages, 10 figures. Submitted to "New Journal of Phsyics", NJP-100003.R

Micro-beam and pulsed laser beam techniques for the micro-fabrication of diamond surface and bulk structures

Micro-fabrication in diamond is involved in a wide set of emerging technologies, exploiting the exceptional characteristics of diamond for application in bio-physics, photonics, radiation detection. Micro ion-beam irradiation and pulsed laser irradiation are complementary techniques, which permit the implementation of complex geometries, by modification and functionalization of surface and/or bulk material, modifying the optical, electrical and mechanical characteristics of the material. In this article we summarize the work done in Florence (Italy) concerning ion beam and pulsed laser beam micro-fabrication in diamond.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figure

Flexible synthesis of cationic peptide-porphyrin derivatives for light-triggered drug delivery and photodynamic therapy

Efficient syntheses of cell-penetrating peptide-porphyrin conjugates are described using a variety of bioconjugation chemistries. This provides a flexible means to convert essentially hydrophobic tetrapyrolle photosensitisers into amphiphilic derivatives which are well-suited for use in light-triggered drug delivery by photochemical internalisation (PCI) and targeted photodynamic therapy (PDT)

Paper Session II-A - A New Commercial Space Furnace- Developed on the Fast Track

A new space payload was recently developed which provides the capability for processing advanced metals and alloys. This payload features a high temperature sintering furnace which has successfully flown on the first two missions of the commercial SPACEHAB payload carrier (STS Mission 57 and 60), This paper describes the technical and programmatic approaches used to deliver the rack-mounted equipment in less than ten months from program initiation, and at a cost of less than $3,000/pound (compared to some$100,000/pound for comparable astronaut-rated payloads). A key to the efficient and cost-effective approach was the use of the Universal Small Experiment Container or USEC developed by Wyle Laboratories. This commercially-developed product was used to incorporate the furnace, vacuum system, computer/controller, power conditioning, cooling system, pressurized gas purge system, gravity sensor, and other elements into a compact 220-pound package. The project has established a new milestone by demonstrating how more cost-effective payloads can be developed and flown on the Space Shuttle

Refractive index variation in a free-standing diamond thin film induced by irradiation with fully transmitted high-energy protons

Ion irradiation is a widely employed tool to fabricate diamond micro- and nano-structures for applications in integrated photonics and quantum optics. In this context, it is essential to accurately assess the effect of ion-induced damage on the variation of the refractive index of the material, both to control the side effects in the fabrication process and possibly finely tune such variations. Several partially contradictory accounts have been provided on the effect of the ion irradiation on the refractive index of single crystal diamond. These discrepancies may be attributable to the fact that in all cases the ions are implanted in the bulk of the material, thus inducing a series of concurrent effects (volume expansion, stress, doping, etc.). Here we report the systematic characterization of the refractive index variations occurring in a 38 µm thin artificial diamond sample upon irradiation with high-energy (3 MeV and 5 MeV) protons. In this configuration the ions are fully transmitted through the sample, while inducing an almost uniform damage profile with depth. Therefore, our findings conclusively identify and accurately quantify the change in the material polarizability as a function of ion beam damage as the primary cause for the modification of its refractive index