A strategy for delivering high torsionality in longitudinal-torsional ultrasonic devices

A composite longitudinal-torsional vibration mode has applications in ultrasonic motors, ultrasonic welding and ultrasonic drilling. There are two ways to obtain this vibration behaviour using a single transducer, namely (i) coupling of a longitudinal and a torsional mode, which is known to be difficult; and (ii) degenerating a longitudinal mode to deliver longitudinal-torsional behaviour at the horn tip. A mode-degenerating horn is achieved by incorporating helical or diagonal slits in an otherwise traditional exponential horn driven by a Langevin transducer. However, it is often difficult with this configuration to avoid coupling of unwanted bending modes, low responsiveness, and loss of ultrasonic energy due to boundaries between tuned components. Therefore, in this study the mode-degenerating characteristics are achieved by incorporating the helical slits and exponential geometry features in the front mass of the transducer itself. Finite element analysis and vibration experimental analysis show that this strategy prevents coupling of bending modes, increases responsiveness, and reduces energy losses. Most importantly the transducer delivers a very high torsionality

New ways of being public: the experience of foundation degrees

This article explores the recent development of new spheres of public engagement within UK higher education through an analysis of the foundation degree qualification. These, according to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), were designed to equip students with the combination of technical skills, academic knowledge, and transferable skills increasingly being demanded by employers, and they have been identified as being at the forefront of educational agendas aimed at increasing employer engagement in the higher education (HE) sector. As such, they might be regarded as an expression of the 'increasing privatisation' of HE. However, this article argues that, on the contrary, they have enabled the development of new areas of public engagement relating to the design and delivery of courses as well as providing new opportunities for the pursuit of public policy goals such as widening participation. Such outcomes, it is argued, are the result of a number of factors that explain the 'publicness' of the qualification and that should be sustained to ensure the implementation of the 2006 Leitch Report in a manner that further develops public engagement

Use of cohesive elements in fatigue analysis

Cohesive laws describe the resistance to incipient separation of material surfaces. A cohesive finite element is formulated on the basis of a particular cohesive law. Cohesive elements are placed at the boundary between adjacent standard volume finite elements to model fatigue damage that leads to fracture at the separation of the element boundaries per the cohesive law. In this work, a cohesive model for fatigue crack initiation is taken to be the irreversible loadingunloading hysteresis that represents fatigue damage occuring due to cyclic loads leading to the initiation of small cracks. Various cohesive laws are reviewed and one is selected that incorporates a hysteretic cyclic loading that accounts for energetic dissipative mechanisms. A mathematical representation is developed based on an exponential effective load-separation cohesive relationship. A three-dimensional cohesive element is defined using this compliance relationship integrated at four points on the mid-surface of the area element. Implementation into finite element software is discussed and particular attention is applied to numerical convergence issues as the inflection point between loading and 'unloading in the cohesive law is encountered. A simple example of a displacementcontrolled fatigue test is presented in a finite element simulation. Comments are made on applications of the method to prediction of fatigue life for engineering structures such as pressure vessels and piping

High-fidelity quantum logic gates using trapped-ion hyperfine qubits

We demonstrate laser-driven two-qubit and single-qubit logic gates with fidelities 99.9(1)% and 99.9934(3)% respectively, significantly above the approximately 99% minimum threshold level required for fault-tolerant quantum computation, using qubits stored in hyperfine ground states of calcium-43 ions held in a room-temperature trap. We study the speed/fidelity trade-off for the two-qubit gate, for gate times between 3.8$\mu$s and 520$\mu$s, and develop a theoretical error model which is consistent with the data and which allows us to identify the principal technical sources of infidelity.Comment: 1 trap, 2 ions, 3 nines. Detailed write-up of arXiv:1406.5473 including single-qubit gate data als

Forward acoustic performance of a shock-swallowing high-tip-speed fan (QF-13)

Forward noise and overall aerodynamic performance data are presented for a high-tip-speed fan having rotor blade airfoils designed to alter the conventional leading-edge bow shocks to weak, oblique shocks which are swallowed within the interblade channels. It was anticipated that the swallowed shocks would minimize the generation of multiple-pure-tone noise. In the speed range where the shocks presumably were swallowed, the multiple-tone noise was lowered only about 3 decibels. Comparison with several high-speed fans on a thrust-corrected basis indicates that the present fan was the quietest in total forward noise at low speeds but offered no advantage at high speeds

Acoustic evaluation of a novel swept-rotor fan

Inlet noise and aerodynamic performance are presented for a high tip speed fan designed with rotor blade leading edge sweep that gives a subsonic component of inlet Mach number normal to the edge at all radii. The intent of the design was to minimize the generation of rotor leading edge shock waves thereby minimizing multiple pure tone noise. Sound power level and spectral comparisons are made with several high-speed fans of conventional design. Results show multiple pure tone noise at levels below those of some of the other fans and this noise was initiated at a higher tip speed. Aerodynamic performance of the fan did not meet design goals for this first build which applied conventional design procedures to the swept fan geometry

On the Variation of Fourier Parameters for Galactic and LMC Cepheids at Optical, Near-Infrared and Mid-Infrared Wavelengths

We present a light curve analysis of fundamental-mode Galactic and Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) Cepheids based on the Fourier decomposition technique. We have compiled light curve data for Galactic and LMC Cepheids in optical ({\it VI}), near-infrared ({\it JHK}$_s$) and mid-infrared (3.6 $\&$ 4.5-$\mu$m) bands from the literature and determined the variation of their Fourier parameters as a function of period and wavelength. We observed a decrease in Fourier amplitude parameters and an increase in Fourier phase parameters with increasing wavelengths at a given period. We also found a decrease in the skewness and acuteness parameters as a function of wavelength at a fixed period. We applied a binning method to analyze the progression of the mean Fourier parameters with period and wavelength. We found that for periods longer than about 20 days, the values of the Fourier amplitude parameters increase sharply for shorter wavelengths as compared to wavelengths longer than the $J$-band. We observed the variation of the Hertzsprung progression with wavelength. The central period of the Hertzsprung progression was found to increase with wavelength in the case of the Fourier amplitude parameters and decrease with increasing wavelength in the case of phase parameters. We also observed a small variation of the central period of the progression between the Galaxy and LMC, presumably related to metallicity effects. These results will provide useful constraints for stellar pulsation codes that incorporate stellar atmosphere models to produce Cepheid light curves in various bands.Comment: 22 pages, 19 figures, Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Main Journa