Emerging urban markets in the Midwest

Chicago (Ill.) ; Community development ; Middle West

Multiscale model of global inner-core anisotropy induced by hcp-alloy plasticity

$\bullet$ Multiscale model of inner-core anisotropy produced by hcp alloy deformation$\bullet$ 5 to 20% single-crystal elastic anisotropy and plastic deformation by pyramidal slip $\bullet$ Low-degree inner-core formation model with faster crystallization at the equatorThe Earth's solid inner-core exhibits a global seismic anisotropy of several percents. It results from a coherent alignment of anisotropic Fe-alloy crystals through the inner-core history that can be sampled by present-day seismic observations. By combining self-consistent polycrystal plasticity, inner-core formation models, Monte-Carlo search for elastic moduli, and simulations of seismic measurements, we introduce a multiscale model that can reproduce a global seismic anisotropy of several percents aligned with the Earth's rotation axis. Conditions for a successful model are an hexagonal-close-packed structure for the inner-core Fe-alloy, plastic deformation by pyramidal \textless{}c+a\textgreater{} slip, and large-scale flow induced by a low-degree inner-core formation model. For global anisotropies ranging between 1 and 3%, the elastic anisotropy in the single crystal ranges from 5 to 20% with larger velocities along the c-axis

Electric field distortions in structures of the twist bend nematic (NTB) phase of a bent-core liquid crystal

Dielectric spectroscopy of a twist bend nematic phase of an achiral bent core liquid crystalline compound under DC bias is used to investigate its response to electric field. Two collective relaxation processes are revealed, these are assigned to distortions of helicoidal structure by the external bias field. Frequency of the mode depends primarily on the helicoidal angle and has anomalous, softening- like behaviour at the nematic to the twist bend nematic transition. A coupling of dielectric anisotropy with electric field gives rise to a new equilibrium periodic structure in the time scale involved. The modulus of the wave vector gradually vanishes on increasing the bias field (except for the initial behaviour, which is just the opposite). Transition from the twist bend to the splay bend structure is clearly observed by a sudden drop in the frequency of this mode, which decreases almost linearly with increasing field. Results agree with predictions from current models for the periodically distorted a twist bend nematic phase.Comment: 14 PAGES, 7 FIGURES, submitted to Physical Review Letter

The binational Great Lakes economy

Great Lakes ; North American Free Trade Agreement ; Canada ; Manufactures

From Bare Metal to Virtual: Lessons Learned when a Supercomputing Institute Deploys its First Cloud

As primary provider for research computing services at the University of Minnesota, the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute (MSI) has long been responsible for serving the needs of a user-base numbering in the thousands. In recent years, MSI---like many other HPC centers---has observed a growing need for self-service, on-demand, data-intensive research, as well as the emergence of many new controlled-access datasets for research purposes. In light of this, MSI constructed a new on-premise cloud service, named Stratus, which is architected from the ground up to easily satisfy data-use agreements and fill four gaps left by traditional HPC. The resulting OpenStack cloud, constructed from HPC-specific compute nodes and backed by Ceph storage, is designed to fully comply with controls set forth by the NIH Genomic Data Sharing Policy. Herein, we present twelve lessons learned during the ambitious sprint to take Stratus from inception and into production in less than 18 months. Important, and often overlooked, components of this timeline included the development of new leadership roles, staff and user training, and user support documentation. Along the way, the lessons learned extended well beyond the technical challenges often associated with acquiring, configuring, and maintaining large-scale systems.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, PEARC '18: Practice and Experience in Advanced Research Computing, July 22--26, 2018, Pittsburgh, PA, US

Generation and detection of NOON states in superconducting circuits

NOON states, states between two modes of light of the form $|N,0\rangle+e^{i\phi}|0,N\rangle$ allow for super-resolution interformetry. We show how NOON states can be efficiently produced in circuit quntum electrodynamics using superconducting phase qubits and resonators. We propose a protocol where only one interaction between the two modes is required, creating all the necessary entanglement at the start of the procedure. This protocol makes active use of the first three states of the phase qubits. Additionally, we show how to efficiently verify the success of such an experiment, even for large NOON states, using randomly sampled measurements and semidefinite programming techniques.Comment: 15 pages and 3 figure