6,976 research outputs found
Effect of Al doping on the optical phonon spectrum in Mg(1-x)Al(x)B(2)
Raman and infrared absorption spectra of Mg(1-x)Al(x)B(2) have been collected
for 0<x<0.5 in the spectral range of optical phonons. The x-dependence of the
peak frequency, the width and the intensity of the observed Raman lines has
been carefully analized. A peculiar x-dependence of the optical modes is
pointed out for two different Al doping ranges. In particular the onset of the
high-doping structural phase previously observed in diffraction measurements is
marked by the appearence of new spectral components at high frequencies. A
connection between the whole of our results and the observed suppression of
superconductivity in the high doping region is established
Techno-Economic Analysis of Dimethyl Ether Biofuel Production Plant Based on Sewage Sludge Gasification
Bio-dimethyl ether (bio-DME) is an environmentally friendly alternative fuel for diesel engines that has several advantages over conventional fossil diesel fuel, such as lower emissions of particulate matter, hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides. The purpose of this paper is to perform a techno-economic analysis of a novel bio-DME production plant based on sewage sludge gasification. The first part of the work is centred around the modelling of a fixed bed, updraft gasification reactor, which is performed using a multi-scale, multiphase methodology already tested and validated on biomass feedstock using the GasDS suite, a property package developed at Politecnico di Milano. The gas-solid kinetic model is coupled with a detailed gas-phase kinetic scheme including more than 200 species, and more than 2,000 reactions. The work then illustrates a new process scheme that undergoes techno-economic and sensitivity analyses to understand the most impacting parameters on the feasibility of the process. This procedure is useful to understand if sludge gasification could be considered as an alternative feedstock and a viable option for the future development of a sustainable supply chain for the production of bio-DME. The obtained results are promising, showing productivity of 19.3 kg/h of fuel-grade bio-DME from 100 kg/h of hydrochar with a market-competitive production cost ranging from -0.370 and 0.924 €/kgDME, and an average value of 0.277 €/kgDME
What makes spatial data big? A discussion on how to partition spatial data
The amount of available spatial data has significantly increased in the last years so that traditional analysis tools have become inappropriate to effectively manage them. Therefore, many attempts have been made in order to define extensions of existing MapReduce tools, such as Hadoop or Spark, with spatial capabilities in terms of data types and algorithms. Such extensions are mainly based on the partitioning techniques implemented for textual data where the dimension is given in terms of the number of occupied bytes. However, spatial data are characterized by other features which describe their dimension, such as the number of vertices or the MBR size of geometries, which greatly affect the performance of operations, like the spatial join, during data analysis. The result is that the use of traditional partitioning techniques prevents to completely exploit the benefit of the parallel execution provided by a MapReduce environment. This paper extensively analyses the problem considering the spatial join operation as use case, performing both a theoretical and an experimental analysis for it. Moreover, it provides a solution based on a different partitioning technique, which splits complex or extensive geometries. Finally, we validate the proposed solution by means of some experiments on synthetic and real datasets
No measure for culture? Value in the new economy
This paper explores articulations of the value of investment in culture and the arts through a critical discourse analysis of policy documents, reports and academic commentary since 1997. It argues that in this period, discourses around the value of culture have moved from a focus on the direct economic contributions of the culture industries to their indirect economic benefits. These indirect benefits are discussed here under three main headings: creativity and innovation, employability, and social inclusion. These are in turn analysed in terms of three forms of capital: human, social and cultural. The paper concludes with an analysis of this discursive shift through the lens of autonomist Marxist concerns with the labour of social reproduction. It is our argument that, in contemporary policy discourses on culture and the arts, the government in the UK is increasingly concerned with the use of culture to form the social in the image of capital. As such, we must turn our attention beyond the walls of the factory in order to understand the contemporary capitalist production of value and resistance to it. </jats:p
Linear resolutions of powers and products
The goal of this paper is to present examples of families of homogeneous
ideals in the polynomial ring over a field that satisfy the following
condition: every product of ideals of the family has a linear free resolution.
As we will see, this condition is strongly correlated to good primary
decompositions of the products and good homological and arithmetical properties
of the associated multi-Rees algebras. The following families will be discussed
in detail: polymatroidal ideals, ideals generated by linear forms and Borel
fixed ideals of maximal minors. The main tools are Gr\"obner bases and Sagbi
deformation
Automating Agential Reasoning: Proof-Calculi and Syntactic Decidability for STIT Logics
This work provides proof-search algorithms and automated counter-model extraction for a class of STIT logics. With this, we answer an open problem concerning syntactic decision procedures and cut-free calculi for STIT logics. A new class of cut-free complete labelled sequent calculi G3LdmL^m_n, for multi-agent STIT with at most n-many choices, is introduced. We refine the calculi G3LdmL^m_n through the use of propagation rules and demonstrate the admissibility of their structural rules, resulting in auxiliary calculi Ldm^m_nL. In the single-agent case, we show that the refined calculi Ldm^m_nL derive theorems within a restricted class of (forestlike) sequents, allowing us to provide proof-search algorithms that decide single-agent STIT logics. We prove that the proof-search algorithms are correct and terminate
Asymmetrical copper root pruning may improve root traits for reforesting steep and/or windy sites
Our research demonstrates that plant material can be produced in the nursery with asymmetrical root systems, which may have utility for reforestation of difficult planting sites characterized by steep slopes and/or windy conditions. Such a root system can be generated using chemical root pruning by applying cupric carbonate (Cu) that can arrest the development of, or cause mortality to, root apical meristems resulting in the formation of new lateral roots with an overall increase in the biomass, length, and volume of the root system. Our objective was to investigate the effect of chemical root pruning on the morphological and architectural traits of adventitious roots produced by poplar cuttings (Populus nigra L.) grown in containers coated with Cu in various symmetrical (Side, Bottom, Side + Bottom) and asymmetrical (half side + half bottom) patterns. After six weeks, roots of the cuttings were extracted from different container depths (Top, Middle, and Bottom) and portions (non-coated, Cu-coated), and analyzed. The root systems reacted to all coating patterns by increasing length, biomass, volume, and average diameters, but magnitude of increase was further affected by depth. In particular, root growth was unaffected at the Top of the container, and length was the highest at the Bottom depth. The Middle depth had a significant increment in both biomass and volume. Also, the root population increased in diameter as a possible response to Cu exposure. Interestingly, in the asymmetrically coated containers this depth response in the non-coated portions was of higher magnitude than in the Cu-coated portions
On Deriving Nested Calculi for Intuitionistic Logics from Semantic Systems
This paper shows how to derive nested calculi from labelled calculi for propositional intuitionistic logic and first-order intuitionistic logic with constant domains, thus connecting the general results for labelled calculi with the more refined formalism of nested sequents. The extraction of nested calculi from labelled calculi obtains via considerations pertaining to the elimination of structural rules in labelled derivations. Each aspect of the extraction process is motivated and detailed, showing that each nested calculus inherits favorable proof-theoretic properties from its associated labelled calculus
A Superconductor Made by a Metal Heterostructure at the Atomic Limit Tuned at the "Shape Resonance": MgB2
We have studied the variation of Tc with charge density and lattice
parameters in Mg1-xAlxB2 superconducting samples at low Al doping x<8%. We show
that high Tc occurs where the chemical potential is tuned at a "superconducting
shape resonance" near the energy Ec of the quantum critical point (QCP) for the
dimensional transition from 2D to 3D electronic structure in a particular
subband of the natural superlattice of metallic atomic boron layers. At the
"shape resonance" the electrons pairs see a 2D Fermi surface at EF-w0 and a 3D
Fermi surface at EF+wo, where wo is the energy cut off of the pairing
interaction. The resonant amplification occurs in a narrow energy range where
EF-Ec is in the range of 2wo.Comment: 16 page
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