Nonlinear delamination buckling and expansion of functionally graded laminated piezoelectric composite shells

AbstractIn this paper, an analytical method is presented to investigate the nonlinear buckling and expansion behaviors of local delaminations near the surface of functionally graded laminated piezoelectric composite shells subjected to the thermal, electrical and mechanical loads, where the mid-plane nonlinear geometrical relation of delaminations is considered. In examples, the effects of thermal loading, electric field strength, the stacking patterns of functionally graded laminated piezoelectric composite shells and the patterns of delaminations on the critical axial loading of locally delaminated buckling are described and discussed. Finally, the possible growth directions of local buckling for delaminated sub-shells are described by calculating the expanding forces along the length and short axis of the delaminated sub-shells

Effect of selective post-aging treatment on subsurface damage of quasicrystal reinforced Al composite manufactured by selective laser melting

In this work, Al-Fe-Cr quasicrystal reinforced Al matrix composite was in-situ prepared by using selective laser melting from powder mixture of Al-Cu-Fe-Cr quasicrystal and pure Al. The effect of selective post-aging treatment on microstructure and mechanical properties were determined with focus on the metastable phases. The microstructural analysis, which was determined by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy, indicates that the Al-based intermetallic is precipitated from supersaturated α-Al after the aging process. Moreover, the compression tests were performed on the samples in form of dense and lattice structures (50% porosity). The elastic modules of dense and lattice structural samples reduce from 21.3 GPa and 4.4–14.6 GPa and 3.6 GPa by using a low cooling-rated aging process. After aging process, the compressive deformation behavior of dense part changes from elastic-plastic-fracture mode to elastic-plastic-densification mode. On the other hand, the failure mechanism of lattice structural sample changes from rapid-single-stage to slow-double-stage with an improvement of the strain at failure

Reactivity of young chars via energetic distribution measurements

We have developed what we believe to be the very first a priori prediction technique for the gasification reactivity of coal char. With this method the gasification reactivity of a coal char as function of temperature can be predicted from a single temperature programmed desorption (TPD) experiment following mild gasification at a single temperature (Calo et al., 1989; Hall and Calo, 1990a). This approach has been demonstrated for C0{sub 2} gasification of coal chars where the gasification reactivity is controlled by the thermal desorption of oxygen surface complexes formed during gasification. This approach may be extended to other oxidant species, such as steam, and carbon-hydrogen complexes for hydrogen gasification as well. In the current report, we present a summary of the work that has been conducted to date in constructing a new TGA/TPD-MS experimental system which provides us with the capability of simultaneous monitoring of transient sample mass data, as well as gas phase composition during thermal desorption experiments. In addition, we present some steam reactivity data obtained with another TGA (Cahn 113 system) which has been modified for steam gasification experiments

Localization of interacting electrons in quantum dot arrays driven by an ac-field

We investigate the dynamics of two interacting electrons moving in a one-dimensional array of quantum dots under the influence of an ac-field. We show that the system exhibits two distinct regimes of behavior, depending on the ratio of the strength of the driving field to the inter-electron Coulomb repulsion. When the ac-field dominates, an effect termed coherent destruction of tunneling occurs at certain frequencies, in which transport along the array is suppressed. In the other, weak-driving, regime we find the surprising result that the two electrons can bind into a single composite particle -- despite the strong Coulomb repulsion between them -- which can then be controlled by the ac-field in an analogous way. We show how calculation of the Floquet quasienergies of the system explains these results, and thus how ac-fields can be used to control the localization of interacting electron systems.Comment: 7 pages, 6 eps figures V2. Minor changes, this version to be published in Phys. Rev.

Bergman Kernel from Path Integral

We rederive the expansion of the Bergman kernel on Kahler manifolds developed by Tian, Yau, Zelditch, Lu and Catlin, using path integral and perturbation theory, and generalize it to supersymmetric quantum mechanics. One physics interpretation of this result is as an expansion of the projector of wave functions on the lowest Landau level, in the special case that the magnetic field is proportional to the Kahler form. This is relevant for the quantum Hall effect in curved space, and for its higher dimensional generalizations. Other applications include the theory of coherent states, the study of balanced metrics, noncommutative field theory, and a conjecture on metrics in black hole backgrounds. We give a short overview of these various topics. From a conceptual point of view, this expansion is noteworthy as it is a geometric expansion, somewhat similar to the DeWitt-Seeley-Gilkey et al short time expansion for the heat kernel, but in this case describing the long time limit, without depending on supersymmetry.Comment: 27 page

Confirmation of a pi_1^0 Exotic Meson in the \eta \pi^0 System

The exclusive reaction $\pi^- p \to \eta \pi^0 n$, $\eta \to \pi^+ \pi^- \pi^0$ at 18 GeV$/c$ has been studied with a partial wave analysis on a sample of 23~492 $\eta \pi^0 n$ events from BNL experiment E852. A mass-dependent fit is consistent with a resonant hypothesis for the $P_+$ wave, thus providing evidence for a neutral exotic meson with $J^{PC} = 1^{-+}$, a mass of $1257 \pm 20 \pm 25$ MeV$/c^2$, and a width of $354 \pm 64 \pm 60$ MeV$/c^2$. New interpretations of the meson exotics in neutral $\eta \pi^0$ system observed in E852 and Crystal Barrel experiments are discussed.Comment: p3, rewording the paragraph (at the bottom) about the phase variations. p4, rewording paragrath "The second method ..." . p4, at the bottom of paragrath "The third method ..." added consistent with the results of methods 1 and 2

Cosmological Non-Linearities as an Effective Fluid

The universe is smooth on large scales but very inhomogeneous on small scales. Why is the spacetime on large scales modeled to a good approximation by the Friedmann equations? Are we sure that small-scale non-linearities do not induce a large backreaction? Related to this, what is the effective theory that describes the universe on large scales? In this paper we make progress in addressing these questions. We show that the effective theory for the long-wavelength universe behaves as a viscous fluid coupled to gravity: integrating out short-wavelength perturbations renormalizes the homogeneous background and introduces dissipative dynamics into the evolution of long-wavelength perturbations. The effective fluid has small perturbations and is characterized by a few parameters like an equation of state, a sound speed and a viscosity parameter. These parameters can be matched to numerical simulations or fitted from observations. We find that the backreaction of small-scale non-linearities is very small, being suppressed by the large hierarchy between the scale of non-linearities and the horizon scale. The effective pressure of the fluid is always positive and much too small to significantly affect the background evolution. Moreover, we prove that virialized scales decouple completely from the large-scale dynamics, at all orders in the post-Newtonian expansion. We propose that our effective theory be used to formulate a well-defined and controlled alternative to conventional perturbation theory, and we discuss possible observational applications. Finally, our way of reformulating results in second-order perturbation theory in terms of a long-wavelength effective fluid provides the opportunity to understand non-linear effects in a simple and physically intuitive way.Comment: 84 pages, 3 figure

Rare functional variants associated with antidepressant remission in Mexican-Americans: short title: antidepressant remission and pharmacogenetics in Mexican-Americans

Introduction: Rare genetic functional variants can contribute to 30-40% of functional variability in genes relevant to drug action. Therefore, we investigated the role of rare functional variants in antidepressant response. Method: Mexican-American individuals meeting the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-IV criteria for major depressive disorder (MDD) participated in a prospective randomized, double-blind study with desipramine or fluoxetine. The rare variant analysis was performed using whole-exome genotyping data. Network and pathway analyses were carried out with the list of significant genes. Results: The Kernel-Based Adaptive Cluster method identified functional rare variants in 35 genes significantly associated with treatment remission (False discovery rate, FDR <0.01). Pathway analysis of these genes supports the involvement of the following gene ontology processes: olfactory/sensory transduction, regulation of response to cytokine stimulus, and meiotic cell cycleprocess. Limitations: Our study did not have a placebo arm. We were not able to use antidepressant blood level as a covariate. Our study is based on a small sample size of only 65 Mexican-American individuals. Further studies using larger cohorts are warranted. Conclusion: Our data identified several rare functional variants in antidepressant drug response in MDD patients. These have the potential to serve as genetic markers for predicting drug response. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00265291.Ma-Li Wong, Mauricio Arcos-Burgos, Sha Liu, Alice W. Licinio, Chenglong Yu, Eunice W.M. Chin, Wei-Dong Yao, Xin-Yun Lu, Stefan R. Bornstein, Julio Licini

Exotic Meson Production in the f1(1285)π−f_{1}(1285)\pi^{-} System observed in the Reaction π−p→ηπ+π−π−p\pi^{-} p \to \eta\pi^{+}\pi^{-}\pi^{-} p at 18 GeV/c

This letter reports results from the partial wave analysis of the $\pi^{-}\pi^{-}\pi^{+}\eta$ final state in $\pi^{-}p$ collisions at 18GeV/c. Strong evidence is observed for production of two mesons with exotic quantum numbers of spin, parity and charge conjugation, $J^{PC} = 1^{-+}$ in the decay channel $f_{1}(1285)\pi^{-}$. The mass $M = 1709 \pm 24 \pm 41$ MeV/c^2 and width $\Gamma = 403 \pm 80 \pm 115$ MeV/c^2 of the first state are consistent with the parameters of the previously observed $\pi_{1}(1600)$. The second resonance with mass $M = 2001 \pm 30 \pm 92$ MeV/c^2 and width $\Gamma = 333 \pm 52 \pm 49$ MeV/c^2 agrees very well with predictions from theoretical models. In addition, the presence of $\pi_{2}(1900)$ is confirmed with mass $M = 2003 \pm 88 \pm 148$ MeV/c^2 and width $\Gamma = 306 \pm 132 \pm 121$ MeV/c^2 and a new state, $a_{1}(2096)$, is observed with mass $M = 2096 \pm 17 \pm 121$ MeV/c^2 and width $\Gamma = 451 \pm 41 \pm 81$ MeV/c^2. The decay properties of these last two states are consistent with flux tube model predictions for hybrid mesons with non-exotic quantum numbers