11,165 research outputs found
DFM synthesis approach based on product-process interface modelling. Application to the peen forming process.
Engineering design approach are curently CAD-centred design process. Manufacturing information is selected and assessed very late in the design process and above all as a reactive task instead of being proactive to lead the design choices. DFM appraoches are therefore assesment methods that compare several design alternatives and not real design approaches at all. Main added value of this research work concerns the use of a product-process interface model to jointly manage both the product and the manufacturing data in a proactive DFM way. The DFM synthesis approach and the interface model are presented via the description of the DFM software platform
Super-resolving phase measurements with a multi-photon entangled state
Using a linear optical elements and post-selection, we construct an entangled
polarization state of three photons in the same spatial mode. This state is
analogous to a ``photon-number path entangled state'' and can be used for
super-resolving interferometry. Measuring a birefringent phase shift, we
demonstrate two- and three-fold improvements in phase resolution.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Social network market: Storytelling on a web 2.0 original literature site
This article looks at a Chinese Web 2.0 original literature site, Qidian, in order to show the coevolution of market and non-market initiatives. The analytic framework of social network markets (Potts et al., 2008) is employed to analyse the motivations of publishing original literature works online and to understand the support mechanisms of the site, which encourage readersâ willingness to pay for user-generated content. The co-existence of socio-cultural and commercial economies and their impact on the successful business model of the site are illustrated in this case. This article extends the concept of social network markets by proposing the existence of a ripple effect of social network markets through convergence between PC and mobile internet, traditional and internet publishing, and between publishing and other cultural industries. It also examines the side effects of social network markets, and the role of market and non-market strategies in addressing the issues
The low level of debris disk activity at the time of the Late Heavy Bombardment: a Spitzer study of Praesepe
We present 24 micron photometry of the intermediate-age open cluster
Praesepe. We assemble a catalog of 193 probable cluster members that are
detected in optical databases, the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), and at 24
micron, within an area of ~ 2.47 square degrees. Mid-IR excesses indicating
debris disks are found for one early-type and for three solar-type stars.
Corrections for sampling statistics yield a 24 micron excess fraction (debris
disk fraction) of 6.5 +- 4.1% for luminous and 1.9 +- 1.2% for solar-type
stars. The incidence of excesses is in agreement with the decay trend of debris
disks as a function of age observed for other cluster and field stars. The
values also agree with those for older stars, indicating that debris generation
in the zones that emit at 24 micron falls to the older 1-10 Gyr field star
sample value by roughly 750 Myr.
We discuss our results in the context of previous observations of excess
fractions for early- and solar-type stars. We show that solar-type stars lose
their debris disk 24 micron excesses on a shorter timescale than early-type
stars. Simplistic Monte Carlo models suggest that, during the first Gyr of
their evolution, up to 15-30% of solar-type stars might undergo an orbital
realignment of giant planets such as the one thought to have led to the Late
Heavy Bombardment, if the length of the bombardment episode is similar to the
one thought to have happened in our Solar System.
In the Appendix, we determine the cluster's parameters via boostrap Monte
Carlo isochrone fitting, yielding an age of 757 Myr (+- 36 Myr at 1 sigma
confidence) and a distance of 179 pc (+- 2 pc at 1 sigma confidence), not
allowing for systematic errors.Comment: 22 pages, 14 figures, 9 tables, emulateapj format; Accepted for
publication in The Astrophysical Journa
DFM synthesis approach based on product-process interface modelling. Application to the peen forming process.
International audienceEngineering design approach are curently CAD-centred design process. Manufacturing information is selected and assessed very late in the design process and above all as a reactive task instead of being proactive to lead the design choices. DFM appraoches are therefore assesment methods that compare several design alternatives and not real design approaches at all. Main added value of this research work concerns the use of a product-process interface model to jointly manage both the product and the manufacturing data in a proactive DFM way. The DFM synthesis approach and the interface model are presented via the description of the DFM software platform
Harmonic QPOs and Thick Accretion Disk Oscillations in BL Lac Object AO 0235+164
Periodic outbursts are observed in many AGNs and usually explained with a
supermassive black hole binary (SMBHB) scenario. However, multiple periods are
observed in some AGNs and cannot be explained with it. Here we analyze the
periodicity of the radio light curves of AO 0235+164 at multi-frequencies and
report the discovery of six QPOs in integer ratio 1:2:3:4:5:6 of QPO
frequencies, of which the second with period
is the strongest. We fit the radio light curves and show that the initial
phases of six QPOs have zero or differences relative to each other. We
suggest a harmonic relationship of QPOs. The centroid frequency, relative
strength, harmonic relationship and relative initial phases of QPOs are
independent of radio frequency. The harmonic QPOs are likely due to the
quasi-periodic injection of plasma from an oscillating accretion disk into the
jet. We estimate the supermassive black hole mass and the accretion rate . With
the knowledge of accretion disk, it implies that the inner region of accretion
disk of AO 0235+164 is a radiatively inefficient accretion flow. The
oscillation accretion is due to the p-mode oscillation of the thick disk
probably excited by a SMBHB. The theoretical predications of fundamental
oscillation frequency and the harmonics are well consistent with the
observations. Harmonic QPOs would be absent when the thick disk becomes
geometrically thin due to the increase of accretion rate. We discuss the
observations of AO 0235+164 basing on the SMBHB-thick disk oscillation
scenario.Comment: 40 pages, 10 figures, 1 table; accepted for publication in Ap
Heavy Quarkonium Physics
This report is the result of the collaboration and research effort of the
Quarkonium Working Group over the last three years. It provides a comprehensive
overview of the state of the art in heavy-quarkonium theory and experiment,
covering quarkonium spectroscopy, decay, and production, the determination of
QCD parameters from quarkonium observables, quarkonia in media, and the effects
on quarkonia of physics beyond the Standard Model. An introduction to common
theoretical and experimental tools is included. Future opportunities for
research in quarkonium physics are also discussed.Comment: xviii + 487 pages, 260 figures. The full text is also available at
the Quarkonium Working Group web page: http://www.qwg.to.infn.i
Rational Redesign of Glucose Oxidase for Improved Catalytic Function and Stability
Glucose oxidase (GOx) is an enzymatic workhorse used in the food and wine industries to combat microbial contamination, to produce wines with lowered alcohol content, as the recognition element in amperometric glucose sensors, and as an anodic catalyst in biofuel cells. It is naturally produced by several species of fungi, and genetic variants are known to differ considerably in both stability and activity. Two of the more widely studied glucose oxidases come from the species Aspergillus niger (A. niger) and Penicillium amagasakiense (P. amag.), which have both had their respective genes isolated and sequenced. GOx from A. niger is known to be more stable than GOx from P. amag., while GOx from P. amag. has a six-fold superior substrate affinity (KM) and nearly four-fold greater catalytic rate (kcat). Here we sought to combine genetic elements from these two varieties to produce an enzyme displaying both superior catalytic capacity and stability. A comparison of the genes from the two organisms revealed 17 residues that differ between their active sites and cofactor binding regions. Fifteen of these residues in a parental A. niger GOx were altered to either mirror the corresponding residues in P. amag. GOx, or mutated into all possible amino acids via saturation mutagenesis. Ultimately, four mutants were identified with significantly improved catalytic activity. A single point mutation from threonine to serine at amino acid 132 (mutant T132S, numbering includes leader peptide) led to a three-fold improvement in kcat at the expense of a 3% loss of substrate affinity (increase in apparent KM for glucose) resulting in a specify constant (kcat/KM) of 23.8 (mMâ1 · sâ1) compared to 8.39 for the parental (A. niger) GOx and 170 for the P. amag. GOx. Three other mutant enzymes were also identified that had improvements in overall catalysis: V42Y, and the double mutants T132S/T56V and T132S/V42Y, with specificity constants of 31.5, 32.2, and 31.8 mMâ1 · sâ1, respectively. The thermal stability of these mutants was also measured and showed moderate improvement over the parental strain
Graphite and Hexagonal Boron-Nitride Possess the Same Interlayer Distance. Why?
Graphite and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) are two prominent members of the
family of layered materials possessing a hexagonal lattice. While graphite has
non-polar homo-nuclear C-C intra-layer bonds, h-BN presents highly polar B-N
bonds resulting in different optimal stacking modes of the two materials in
bulk form. Furthermore, the static polarizabilities of the constituent atoms
considerably differ from each other suggesting large differences in the
dispersive component of the interlayer bonding. Despite these major differences
both materials present practically identical interlayer distances. To
understand this finding, a comparative study of the nature of the interlayer
bonding in both materials is presented. A full lattice sum of the interactions
between the partially charged atomic centers in h-BN results in vanishingly
small monopolar electrostatic contributions to the interlayer binding energy.
Higher order electrostatic multipoles, exchange, and short-range correlation
contributions are found to be very similar in both materials and to almost
completely cancel out by the Pauli repulsions at physically relevant interlayer
distances resulting in a marginal effective contribution to the interlayer
binding. Further analysis of the dispersive energy term reveals that despite
the large differences in the individual atomic polarizabilities the
hetero-atomic B-N C6 coefficient is very similar to the homo-atomic C-C
coefficient in the hexagonal bulk form resulting in very similar dispersive
contribution to the interlayer binding. The overall binding energy curves of
both materials are thus very similar predicting practically the same interlayer
distance and very similar binding energies.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, 2 table
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