Minimal energy control of a nanoelectromechanical memory element

The Pontryagin minimal energy control approach has been applied to minimise the switching energy in a nanoelectromechanical memory system and to characterise global stability of the oscillatory states of the bistable memory element. A comparison of two previously experimentally determined pulse-type control signals with Pontryagin control function has been performed, and the superiority of the Pontryagin approach with regard to power consumption has been demonstrated. An analysis of global stability shows how values of minimal energy can be utilized in order to specify equally stable states

Mixtures of Bose gases confined in concentrically coupled annular traps

A two-component Bose-Einstein condensate confined in an axially-symmetric potential with two local minima, resembling two concentric annular traps, is investigated. The system shows a number of quantum phase transitions that result from the competition between phase coexistence, and radial/azimuthal phase separation. The ground-state phase diagram, as well as the rotational properties, including the (meta)stability of currents in this system, are analysed.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, minor revision

Patterned superhydrophobic paper for microfluidic devices obtained by writing and printing

Published online: 26 July 2013This work outlines inexpensive patterning methodologies to create open-air microfluidic paperbased devices. A phase-separation methodology was used to obtain biomimetic superhydrophobic paper, hierarchically composed by micro and nano topographies. Writing and printing are simple actions that can be used to pattern flat superhydrophobic paper with more wettable channels. In particular, inkjet printing permits controlling the wettability of the surface by changing the darkness of the printed regions. The difference between capillary forces provides the possibility to control and drive liquid flows through the open path lines, just by titling the piece of paper. Additionally, maintaining a continuous flow, it is possible to direct the liquid at different volumetric rates in a horizontal position along non-linear channel paths printed/written over the surface

Enron And Continental Vending: A Comparison

We have all heard it said that if we don’t learn from history, we are condemned to repeat it.  It appears that we, as the accounting profession, failed to learn from the Continental Vending case that occurred about four decades ago and thus repeated our mistakes in the Enron case.  First, we will give a brief review of the basics of the Continental Vending case since few of us seem to remember it

Molecular dynamics in polymeric systems

It is well known that the properties of polymeric materials depend strongly upon their chemical structure. Other more specific factors that may be related to the chemical structure also determine the macroscopic behaviour of such materials, namely the relative position of the different segments of the polymeric chain, the molecular architecture (molecular weight distribution, branching, copoly-mer organisation, cross-linking extent, etc.), the crystalline environment and the pressure/temperature conditions. All these factors have a common impact in the material: they are strongly correlated to the mobility on the molecular level. That is why a huge amount of work has been devoted to the study of translational/rota-tional mobility that occurs within the polymeric chains. This review is intended to provide a brief survey on such kinds of mobilities, how they can be studied and what are their main characteristics. Examples on systems studied in our groups will be provided, obtained by dielectric and mechanical spectroscopies and differential scanning calorimetry. It will be mainly focused on molecular motions that occur in the solid phase (i.e., to temperatures up to the rubbery plateau). The dynamics in blends or copolymers will be avoided here, as they would deserve a special dis-cussion in their own context. Special attention will be paid to the glass transition and the mobility that occurs below and above it. The dynamics that are observed in peculiar systems, such as semi-crystalline or liquid crystalline polymers, will be addressed

Randomly Diluted e_g Orbital-Ordered Systems

Dilution effects on the long-range ordered state of the doubly degenerate $e_g$ orbital are investigated. Quenched impurities without the orbital degree of freedom are introduced in the orbital model where the long-range order is realized by the order-from-disorder mechanism. It is shown by the Monte-Carlo simulation and the cluster-expansion method that a decrease in the orbital ordering temperature by dilution is remarkable in comparison with that in the randomly diluted spin models. Tiltings of orbitals around impurity cause this unique dilution effects on the orbital systems. The present theory provides a new view point for the recent experiments in KCu$_{1-x}$Zn$_x$F$_3$.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Plagiarism Deterrence in CS1 Through Keystroke Data

Recent work in computing education has explored the idea of analyzing and grading using the process of writing a computer program rather than just the final submitted code. We build on this idea by investigating the effect on plagiarism when the process of coding, in the form of keystroke logs, is submitted for grading in addition to the final code. We report results from two terms of a university CS1 course in which students submitted keystroke logs. We find that when students are required to submit a log of keystrokes together with their written code they are less likely to plagiarize. In this paper we explore issues of implementation, adoption, deterrence, anxiety, and privacy. Our keystroke logging software is available in the form of an IDE plugin in a public plugin repository

Drug release of pH/temperature-responsive calcium alginate/poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) semi IPN beads

A series of semi-interpenetrating, polymer network (semi-IPN), hydrogel beads, composed of calcium alginate (Ca-alginate) and poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAM), were prepared for a pH/temperature-sensitive drug delivery study. The equilibrium swelling showed the independent pH- and thermo- responsive nature of the developed materials. At pH¼2.1, the release amount of indomethacin incorporated into these beads was about 10% within 400 min, while this value approached to 95% at pH¼7.4. The release rate of the drug was higher at 37 8Cthan that at 25 8C and increased slightly with increasing PNIPAAM content. These results suggest that the Caalginate/ PNIPAAM beads have the potential to be used as an effective pH/temperature sustainable delivery system of bioactive agents

Towards bioinspired superhydrophobic poly(L-lactic acid) surfaces using phase inversion-based methods

The water repellency and self-cleaning ability of many biological surfaces has inspired many fundamental and practical studies related to the development of synthetic superhydrophobic surfaces. However, the investigation of such substrates made of biodegradable polymers has been scarce. Simple approaches based on a single step, performed at room temperature (and pressure), were implemented to obtain superhydrophobic poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) surfaces via phase inversion-based methods, without addition of low-surface-energy compounds. Water contact angles above 150◦ were obtained using some processing conditions. In such cases scanning electronic microscopy micrographs of such surfaces revealed a clear rough texture composed by leafy clusters with micro-nano binary structures. Such materials could be used in specific environmental and biomedical applications, namely in implantable materials or in antibacterial or antithrombogenic surfaces