The effects of multiple repairs on Inconel 718 weld mechanical properties

Inconel 718 weldments were repaired 3, 6, 9, and 13 times using the gas tungsten arc welding process. The welded panels were machined into mechanical test specimens, postweld heat treated, and nondestructively tested. Tensile properties and high cycle fatigue life were evaluated and the results compared to unrepaired weld properties. Mechanical property data were analyzed using the statistical methods of difference in means for tensile properties and difference in log means and Weibull analysis for high cycle fatigue properties. Statistical analysis performed on the data did not show a significant decrease in tensile or high cycle fatigue properties due to the repeated repairs. Some degradation was observed in all properties, however, it was minimal

Quantum walks on Cayley graphs

We address the problem of the construction of quantum walks on Cayley graphs. Our main motivation is the relationship between quantum algorithms and quantum walks. In particular, we discuss the choice of the dimension of the local Hilbert space and consider various classes of graphs on which the structure of quantum walks may differ. We completely characterise quantum walks on free groups and present partial results on more general cases. Some examples are given, including a family of quantum walks on the hypercube involving a Clifford Algebra.Comment: J. Phys. A (accepted for publication

Independent evaluation of a simple clinical prediction rule to identify right ventricular dysfunction in patients with shortness of breath

BACKGROUND: Many patients have unexplained persistent dyspnea after negative computed tomographic pulmonary angiography (CTPA). We hypothesized that many of these patients have isolated right ventricular (RV) dysfunction from treatable causes. We previously derived a clinical decision rule (CDR) for predicting RV dysfunction consisting of persistent dyspnea and normal CTPA, finding that 53% of CDR-positive patients had isolated RV dysfunction. Our goal is to validate this previously derived CDR by measuring the prevalence of RV dysfunction and outcomes in dyspneic emergency department patients. METHODS: A secondary analysis of a prospective observational multicenter study that enrolled patients presenting with suspected PE was performed. We included patients with persistent dyspnea, a nonsignificant CTPA, and formal echo performed. Right ventricular dysfunction was defined as RV hypokinesis and/or dilation with or without moderate to severe tricuspid regurgitation. RESULTS: A total of 7940 patients were enrolled. Two thousand six hundred sixteen patients were analyzed after excluding patients without persistent dyspnea and those with a significant finding on CTPA. One hundred ninety eight patients had echocardiography performed as standard care. Of those, 19% (95% confidence interval [CI], 14%-25%) and 33% (95% CI, 25%-42%) exhibited RV dysfunction and isolated RV dysfunction, respectively. Patients with isolated RV dysfunction or overload were more likely than those without RV dysfunction to have a return visit to the emergency department within 45 days for the same complaint (39% vs 18%; 95% CI of the difference, 4%-38%). CONCLUSION: This simple clinical prediction rule predicted a 33% prevalence of isolated RV dysfunction or overload. Patients with isolated RV dysfunction had higher recidivism rates and a trend toward worse outcomes

Pseudo-Hermitian continuous-time quantum walks

In this paper we present a model exhibiting a new type of continuous-time quantum walk (as a quantum mechanical transport process) on networks, which is described by a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian possessing a real spectrum. We call it pseudo-Hermitian continuous-time quantum walk. We introduce a method to obtain the probability distribution of walk on any vertex and then study a specific system. We observe that the probability distribution on certain vertices increases compared to that of the Hermitian case. This formalism makes the transport process faster and can be useful for search algorithms.Comment: 13 page, 7 figure

Carbon nanotube-based sensor and method for detection of crack growth in a structure

A sensor has a plurality of carbon nanotube (CNT)-based conductors operatively positioned on a substrate. The conductors are arranged side-by-side, such as in a substantially parallel relationship to one another. At least one pair of spaced-apart electrodes is coupled to opposing ends of the conductors. A portion of each of the conductors spanning between each pair of electrodes comprises a plurality of carbon nanotubes arranged end-to-end and substantially aligned along an axis. Because a direct correlation exists between the resistance of a carbon nanotube and its strain, changes experienced by the portion of the structure to which the sensor is coupled induce a corresponding change in the electrical properties of the conductors, thereby enabling detection of crack growth in the structure

Asymptotic entanglement in a two-dimensional quantum walk

The evolution operator of a discrete-time quantum walk involves a conditional shift in position space which entangles the coin and position degrees of freedom of the walker. After several steps, the coin-position entanglement (CPE) converges to a well defined value which depends on the initial state. In this work we provide an analytical method which allows for the exact calculation of the asymptotic reduced density operator and the corresponding CPE for a discrete-time quantum walk on a two-dimensional lattice. We use the von Neumann entropy of the reduced density operator as an entanglement measure. The method is applied to the case of a Hadamard walk for which the dependence of the resulting CPE on initial conditions is obtained. Initial states leading to maximum or minimum CPE are identified and the relation between the coin or position entanglement present in the initial state of the walker and the final level of CPE is discussed. The CPE obtained from separable initial states satisfies an additivity property in terms of CPE of the corresponding one-dimensional cases. Non-local initial conditions are also considered and we find that the extreme case of an initial uniform position distribution leads to the largest CPE variation.Comment: Major revision. Improved structure. Theoretical results are now separated from specific examples. Most figures have been replaced by new versions. The paper is now significantly reduced in size: 11 pages, 7 figure

Active Learning in Persistent Surveillance UAV Missions

The performance of many complex UAV decision-making problems can be extremely sensitive to small errors in the model parameters. One way of mitigating this sensitivity is by designing algorithms that more effectively learn the model throughout the course of a mission. This paper addresses this important problem by considering model uncertainty in a multi-agent Markov Decision Process (MDP) and using an active learning approach to quickly learn transition model parameters. We build on previous research that allowed UAVs to passively update model parameter estimates by incorporating new state transition observations. In this work, however, the UAVs choose to actively reduce the uncertainty in their model parameters by taking exploratory and informative actions. These actions result in a faster adaptation and, by explicitly accounting for UAV fuel dynamics, also mitigates the risk of the exploration. This paper compares the nominal, passive learning approach against two methods for incorporating active learning into the MDP framework: (1) All state transitions are rewarded equally, and (2) State transition rewards are weighted according to the expected resulting reduction in the variance of the model parameter. In both cases, agent behaviors emerge that enable faster convergence of the uncertain model parameters to their true values

The effect of large-decoherence on mixing-time in Continuous-time quantum walks on long-range interacting cycles

In this paper, we consider decoherence in continuous-time quantum walks on long-range interacting cycles (LRICs), which are the extensions of the cycle graphs. For this purpose, we use Gurvitz's model and assume that every node is monitored by the corresponding point contact induced the decoherence process. Then, we focus on large rates of decoherence and calculate the probability distribution analytically and obtain the lower and upper bounds of the mixing time. Our results prove that the mixing time is proportional to the rate of decoherence and the inverse of the distance parameter (\emph{m}) squared. This shows that the mixing time decreases with increasing the range of interaction. Also, what we obtain for \emph{m}=0 is in agreement with Fedichkin, Solenov and Tamon's results \cite{FST} for cycle, and see that the mixing time of CTQWs on cycle improves with adding interacting edges.Comment: 16 Pages, 2 Figure

Dark Matter Direct Detection with Non-Maxwellian Velocity Structure

The velocity distribution function of dark matter particles is expected to show significant departures from a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution. This can have profound effects on the predicted dark matter - nucleon scattering rates in direct detection experiments, especially for dark matter models in which the scattering is sensitive to the high velocity tail of the distribution, such as inelastic dark matter (iDM) or light (few GeV) dark matter (LDM), and for experiments that require high energy recoil events, such as many directionally sensitive experiments. Here we determine the velocity distribution functions from two of the highest resolution numerical simulations of Galactic dark matter structure (Via Lactea II and GHALO), and study the effects for these scenarios. For directional detection, we find that the observed departures from Maxwell-Boltzmann increase the contrast of the signal and change the typical direction of incoming DM particles. For iDM, the expected signals at direct detection experiments are changed dramatically: the annual modulation can be enhanced by more than a factor two, and the relative rates of DAMA compared to CDMS can change by an order of magnitude, while those compared to CRESST can change by a factor of two. The spectrum of the signal can also change dramatically, with many features arising due to substructure. For LDM the spectral effects are smaller, but changes do arise that improve the compatibility with existing experiments. We find that the phase of the modulation can depend upon energy, which would help discriminate against background should it be found.Comment: 34 pages, 16 figures, submitted to JCAP. Tables of g(v_min), the integral of f(v)/v from v_min to infinity, derived from our simulations, are available for download at http://astro.berkeley.edu/~mqk/dmdd