Effects of Scratching Parameters on Fabrication of Polymer Nanostructures in Atomic Force Microscope Tapping Mode

AbstractThe nano scratching with an oscillating Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) tip in tapping mode is called as the dynamic ploughing. The tip is vibrated in a high frequency and scratches the surface which is similar to the conventional vibration-assistant machining process. In the present study, the dynamic ploughing technique is utilized to scratch PolymethylMethacrylate (PMMA) polymer surfaces forming nanostructures with a commercial AFM system and two kinds of cantilevers. Effects of scratching parameters of the dynamic ploughing including scratching velocity, driving amplitude, pitch and the cantilever's elastic constant on the machined results are studied in detail. Finally nano ring structures with different radius are achieved successfully.Video abstrac

Interplanetary and Geomagnetic Consequences of Interacting CMEs of 13-14 June 2012

We report on the kinematics of two interacting CMEs observed on 13 and 14 June 2012. Both CMEs originated from the same active region NOAA 11504. After their launches which were separated by several hours, they were observed to interact at a distance of 100 Rs from the Sun. The interaction led to a moderate geomagnetic storm at the Earth with Dst index of approximately, -86 nT. The kinematics of the two CMEs is estimated using data from the Sun Earth Connection Coronal and Heliospheric Investigation (SECCHI) onboard the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO). Assuming a head-on collision scenario, we find that the collision is inelastic in nature. Further, the signatures of their interaction are examined using the in situ observations obtained by Wind and the Advance Composition Explorer (ACE) spacecraft. It is also found that this interaction event led to the strongest sudden storm commencement (SSC) (approximately 150 nT) of the present Solar Cycle 24. The SSC was of long duration, approximately 20 hours. The role of interacting CMEs in enhancing the geoeffectiveness is examined.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures, Accepted in Solar Physics Journa

A failure study of the railway rail serviced for heavy cargo trains

AbstractIn this case study, a failed railway rail which was used for heavy cargo trains was investigated in order to find out its root cause. The macroscopic beach marks and microscopic fatigue striations were not observed by macro and microscopic observations. The chevron patterns were observed by macro observations. The crack origin was at the tip of chevron patterns. The fan-shaped patterns, cleavage step and the river patterns were observed at the crack origin, which demonstrated the feature of cleavage fracture. The metallurgical structures at the crack origin were pearlite and ferrite networks. The crack is supposed to be initiated from the weaker ferrite networks. Given all of that, the failed railway rail is considered to be caused by overload. It is of great importance to improve the welding technology, and control the load of train in order to prevent similar failure in future

Composition and structure of the RuO2(110) surface in an O2 and CO environment: implications for the catalytic formation of CO2

The phase diagram of surface structures for the model catalyst RuO2(110) in contact with a gas environment of O2 and CO is calculated by density-functional theory and atomistic thermodynamics. Adsorption of the reactants is found to depend crucially on temperature and partial pressures in the gas phase. Assuming that a catalyst surface under steady-state operation conditions is close to a constrained thermodynamic equilibrium, we are able to rationalize a number of experimental findings on the CO oxidation over RuO2(110). We also calculated reaction pathways and energy barriers. Based on the various results the importance of phase coexistence conditions is emphasized as these will lead to an enhanced dynamics at the catalyst surface. Such conditions may actuate an additional, kinetically controlled reaction mechanism on RuO2(110).Comment: 12 pages including 8 figure files. Submitted to Phys. Rev. B. Related publications can be found at http://www.fhi-berlin.mpg.de/th/paper.htm

Revisión sobre métodos de preparación, mecanismos y aplicaciones de péptidos antioxidantes en aceites

Natural antioxidants, especially those used in edible oil, are safer compared to chemically synthesized antioxidants. Therefore, research on natural antioxidants has become prevelant. Antioxidant peptides derived from food protein can effectively prevent oil oxidation. Protein hydrolyzation is widely applied for the production of antioxidant peptides in industry, and bioinformatics is employed nowadays to generate the desired peptide sequence. Furthermore, the mechanism of antioxidant peptides in the oil system is still controversial, which limits the further development of antioxidant peptides as food antioxidants. This review introduces the preparation method of antioxidant peptides and their mechanisms as well as applications in the oil. It will help to comprehensively understand the function of antioxidant peptides and promote their development in the oil field.Los antioxidantes naturales, especialmente utilizados en aceites comestibles, son más seguros en comparación con los antioxidantes sintetizados químicamente. Por lo tanto, la investigación sobre antioxidantes naturales se convierte en un punto de interés. Los péptidos antioxidantes derivados de las proteínas alimentarias pueden prevenir eficazmente la oxidación del aceite. La hidrolización de proteínas se usa ampliamente en la industria para la producción de péptidos antioxidantes y la bioinformática se emplea hoy en día para generar la secuencia de péptidos deseada. Además, el mecanismo de los péptidos antioxidantes en el sistema oleoso sigue siendo controvertido, lo que limita el desarrollo posterior de péptidos antioxidantes como antioxidantes alimentarios. Esta revisión presenta el método de preparación de péptidos antioxidantes y su mecanismo, así como las aplicaciones en aceite, lo que ayudará a comprender de manera integral la función de los péptidos antioxidantes y promoverá su desarrollo en el campo petrolero

Low-Complexity Direction-of-Arrival Estimation Based on Wideband Co-Prime Arrays

A class of low-complexity compressive sensing-based direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation methods for wideband co-prime arrays is proposed. It is based on a recently proposed narrowband estimation method, where a virtual array model is generated by directly vectorizing the covariance matrix and then using a sparse signal recovery method to obtain the estimation result. As there are a large number of redundant entries in both the auto-correlation and cross-correlation matrices of the two sub-arrays, they can be combined together to form a model with a significantly reduced dimension, thereby leading to a solution with much lower computational complexity without sacrificing performance. A further reduction in complexity is achieved by removing noise power estimation from the formulation. Then, the two proposed low-complexity methods are extended to the wideband realm utilizing a group sparsity based signal reconstruction method. A particular advantage of group sparsity is that it allows a much larger unit inter-element spacing than the standard co-prime array and therefore leads to further improved performance

Elastic and electronic properties of fluorite RuO₂ from first principle

The elastic, thermodynamic, and electronic properties of fluorite RuO₂ under high pressure are investigated by plane-wave pseudopotential density functional theory. The optimized lattice parameters, elastic constants, bulk modulus, and shear modulus are consistent with other theoretical values. The phase transition from modified fluorite-type to fluorite is 88 GPa (by localized density approximation, LDA) or 115.5 GPa (by generalized gradient approximation, GGA). The Young's modulus and Lamé's coefficients are also studied under high pressure. The structure turned out to be stable for the pressure up to 120 GPa by calculating elastic constants. In addition, the thermodynamic properties, including the Debye temperature, heat capacity, thermal expansion coefficient, Grüneisen parameter, and Poisson's ratio, are investigated. A small band gap is found in the electronic structure of fluorite RuO₂ and the bandwidth increases with the pressure. Also, the present mechanical and electronic properties demonstrate that the bonding nature is a combination of covalent, ionic, and metallic contributions.Пружнi, термодинамiчнi та електричнi властивостi флюориту RuO₂ при високому тиску дослiджуються за допомогою теорiї функцiоналу густини з плоскохвильовим псевдопотенцiалом. Оптимiзованi параметри гратки, пружнi сталi, об’ємний модуль i модуль зсуву узгоджуються з iншими теоретичними значеннями. Фазовий перехiд з модифiкованого флюориту до флюориту є при 88 GPa (наближення локальної густини, LDA), чи при 115.5 GPa (узагальнене градiєнтне наближення, GGA). Також дослiджено модуль Юнга i коефiцiєнти Ламе при високих тисках. Структура є стабiльною для тискiв до 120 GPa, якщо обчислювати пружнi сталi. Крiм того, дослiджено термодинамiчнi властивостi, включаючи температуру Дебая, теплоємнiсть, коефiцiєнт теплового розширення, параметр Грюнайзена i коефiцiєнт Пуассона. В електроннiй структурi флюориту RuO₂ знайдено малу зонну щiлину i ширина зони зростає iз тиском. Також, представленi механiчнi та електроннi властивостi демонструють, що природа зв’язування є комбiнацiєю ковалентного, iонного i металiчного вкладiв

Scintillation-only Based Pulse Shape Discrimination for Nuclear and Electron Recoils in Liquid Xenon

In a dedicated test setup at the Kamioka Observatory we studied pulse shape discrimination (PSD) in liquid xenon (LXe) for dark matter searches. PSD in LXe was based on the observation that scintillation light from electron events was emitted over a longer period of time than that of nuclear recoil events, and our method used a simple ratio of early to total scintillation light emission in a single scintillation event. Requiring an efficiency of 50% for nuclear recoil retention we reduced the electron background to 7.7\pm1.1(stat)\pm1.2 0.6(sys)\times10-2 at energies between 4.8 and 7.2 keVee and to 7.7\pm2.8(stat)\pm2.5 2.8(sys)\times10-3 at energies between 9.6 and 12 keVee for a scintillation light yield of 20.9 p.e./keV. Further study was done by masking some of that light to reduce this yield to 4.6 p.e./keV, the same method results in an electron event reduction of 2.4\pm0.2(stat)\pm0.3 0.2(sys)\times10-1 for the lower of the energy regions above. We also observe that in contrast to nuclear recoils the fluctuations in our early to total ratio for electron events are larger than expected from statistical fluctuations.Comment: 25 pages, 15 figure

Search for solar axions in XMASS, a large liquid-xenon detector

XMASS, a low-background, large liquid-xenon detector, was used to search for solar axions that would be produced by bremsstrahlung and Compton effects in the Sun. With an exposure of 5.6ton days of liquid xenon, the model-independent limit on the coupling for mass $\ll$ 1keV is $|g_{aee}|< 5.4\times 10^{-11}$ (90% C.L.), which is a factor of two stronger than the existing experimental limit. The bounds on the axion masses for the DFSZ and KSVZ axion models are 1.9 and 250eV, respectively. In the mass range of 10-40keV, this study produced the most stringent limit, which is better than that previously derived from astrophysical arguments regarding the Sun to date