A new method for probing magnetic field strengths from striations in the interstellar medium

Recent studies of the diffuse parts of molecular clouds have revealed the presence of parallel, ordered low-density filaments termed striations. Flows along magnetic field lines, Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities and hydromagnetic waves are amongst the various formation mechanisms proposed. Through a synergy of observational, numerical and theoretical analysis, previous studies singled out the hydromagnetic waves model as the only one that can account for the observed properties of striations. Based on the predictions of that model, we develop here a method for measuring the temporal evolution of striations through a combination of molecular and dust continuum observations. Our method allows us to not only probe temporal variations in molecular clouds but also estimate the strength of both the ordered and fluctuating components of the magnetic field projected on the plane-of-the-sky. We benchmark our new method against chemical and radiative transfer effects through two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations coupled with non-equilibrium chemical modelling and non-local thermodynamic equilibrium line radiative transfer. We find good agreement between theoretical predictions, simulations and observations of striations in the Taurus molecular cloud. We find a value of $\rm{27 \pm 7} ~\rm{\mu G}$ for the plane-of-sky magnetic field, in agreement with previous estimates via the Davis-Chandrasekhar-Fermi method, and a ratio of fluctuating to ordered component of the magnetic field of $\sim$ 10\%.Comment: 12 pages, 14 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRA

Potential of Radiotelescopes for Atmospheric Line Observations: I. Observation Principles and Transmission Curves for Selected Sites

Existing and planned radiotelescopes working in the millimetre (mm) and sub-millimetre wavelengths range provide the possibility to be used for atmospheric line observations. To scrutinize this potential, we outline the differences and similarities in technical equipment and observing techniques between ground-based aeronomy mm-wave radiometers and radiotelescopes. Comprehensive tables summarizing the technical characteristics of existing and future (sub)-mm radiotelescopes are given. The advantages and disadvantages using radiotelescopes for atmospheric line observations are discussed. In view of the importance of exploring the sub-mm and far-infrared wavelengths range for astronomical observations and atmospheric sciences, we present model calculations of the atmospheric transmission for selected telescope sites (DOME-C/Antarctica, ALMA/Chajnantor, JCMT and CSO on Mauna Kea/Hawaii, KOSMA/Swiss Alpes) for frequencies between 0 and 2000 GHz (150 micron) and typical atmospheric conditions using the forward model MOLIERE (version~5). For the DOME-C site, the transmission over a larger range of up to 10 THz (30 micron) is calculated in order to demonstrate the quality of an earth-bound site for mid-IR observations. All results are available on a dedicated webpage (http://transmissioncurves.free.fr)Comment: Planetary and Space Science accepted (in press), see also website http://transmissioncurves.free.f

Le renoncement au féminin. Couvents et nonnes dans le bouddhisme tibétain

Les travaux antérieurs d'autres chercheurs ont montré que les nonnes tibétaines sont confrontées à un grand nombre de discriminations : elles n'ont pas accès à la hiérarchie cléricale, ne jouissent pas des mêmes faveurs économiques que les moines et, jusque très récemment, elles n'avaient droit qu'à une éducation sommaire. De ce fait, elles occupent une place subalterne dans le système monastique tibétain. Dès lors, comment peut-on expliquer l'attrait qu'exerce la vie monastique sur beaucoup ..

The monastery in a Tibetan pastoralist context. A case study from Kham Minyag

Cet article examine les monastères pastoraux et tente de déterminer de quelle façon ils sont des produits de, ainsi que des agents dans, le monde pastoral tibétain. Après avoir présenté des archives historiques, il s’appuie principalement sur des recherches de terrain effectuées dans un monastère contemporain dans le Kham Minyag qui a contribué à la fois à la fixation d’un nombre considérable de pasteurs nomades de la région et à la constitution et préservation d’une véritable communauté.This article looks into pastoral monasteries and tries to determine how they are products of, as well as agents in, a Tibetan pastoralist’s world. After presenting historical archives, it draws mainly on fieldwork conducted in a contemporary monastery in Kham Minyag, which has contributed both to the settlement of a considerable number of pastoralists from the local area and to the constitution and preservation of a genuine community

Monitoring Networks through Multiparty Session Types

In large-scale distributed infrastructures, applications are realised through communications among distributed components. The need for methods for assuring safe interactions in such environments is recognized, however the existing frameworks, relying on centralised verification or restricted specification methods, have limited applicability. This paper proposes a new theory of monitored π-calculus with dynamic usage of multiparty session types (MPST), offering a rigorous foundation for safety assurance of distributed components which asynchronously communicate through multiparty sessions. Our theory establishes a framework for semantically precise decentralised run-time enforcement and provides reasoning principles over monitored distributed applications, which complement existing static analysis techniques. We introduce asynchrony through the means of explicit routers and global queues, and propose novel equivalences between networks, that capture the notion of interface equivalence, i.e. equating networks offering the same services to a user. We illustrate our static-dynamic analysis system with an ATM protocol as a running example and justify our theory with results: satisfaction equivalence, local/global safety and transparency, and session fidelity

Regional diversity in the murine cortical vascular network is revealed by synchrotron X-ray tomography and is amplified with age

Cortical bone is permeated by a system of pores, occupied by the blood supply and osteocytes. With ageing, bone mass reduction and disruption of the microstructure are associated with reduced vascular supply. Insight into the regulation of the blood supply to the bone could enhance the understanding of bone strength determinants and fracture healing. Using synchrotron radiation-based computed tomography, the distribution of vascular canals and osteocyte lacunae was assessed in murine cortical bone and the influence of age on these parameters was investigated. The tibiofibular junction from 15-week- and 10-month-old female C57BL/6J mice were imaged post-mortem. Vascular canals and three-dimensional spatial relationships between osteocyte lacunae and bone surfaces were computed for both age groups. At 15 weeks, the posterior region of the tibiofibular junction had a higher vascular canal volume density than the anterior, lateral and medial regions. Intracortical vascular networks in anterior and posterior regions were also different, with connectedness in the posterior higher than the anterior at 15 weeks. By 10 months, cortices were thinner, with cortical area fraction and vascular density reduced, but only in the posterior cortex. This provided the first evidence of age-related effects on murine bone porosity due to the location of the intracortical vasculature. Targeting the vasculature to modulate bone porosity could provide an effective way to treat degenerative bone diseases, such as osteoporosis

A multiscale high-cycle fatigue-damage model for the stiffness degradation of fiber-reinforced materials based on a mixed variational framework

Under fatigue-loading, short-fiber reinforced thermoplastic materials typically show a progressive degradation of the stiffness tensor. The stiffness degradation prior to failure is of primary interest from an engineering perspective, as it determines when fatigue cracks nucleate. Efficient modeling of this fatigue stage allows the engineer to monitor the fatigue-process prior to failure and design criteria which ensure a safe application of the component under investigation. We propose a multiscale model for the stiffness degradation in thermoplastic materials based on resolving the fiber microstructure. For a start, we propose a specific fatigue-damage model for the matrix, and the degradation of the thermoplastic composite arises from a rigorous homogenization procedure. The fatigue-damage model for the matrix is rather special, as its convex nature precludes localization, permits a well-defined upscaling, and is thus well-adapted to model the phase of stable stiffness degradation under fatigue loading. We demonstrate the capabilities of the full-field model by comparing the predictions on fully resolved fiber microstructures to experimental data. Furthermore, we introduce an associated model-order reduction strategy to enable component-scale simulations of the local stiffness degradation under fatigue loading. With model-order reduction in mind and upon implicit discretization in time, we transform the minimization of the incremental potential into an equivalent mixed formulation, which combines two rather attractive features. More precisely, upon order reduction, this mixed formulation permits precomputing all necessary quantities in advance, yet, retains its well-posedness in the process. We study the characteristics of the model-order reduction technique, and demonstrate its capabilities on component scale. Compared to similar approaches, the proposed model leads to improvements in runtime by more than an order of magnitude

Accounting for viscoelastic effects in a multiscale fatigue model for the degradation of the dynamic stiffness of short-fiber reinforced thermoplastics

Under fatigue loading, the stiffness decrease in short-fiber reinforced polymers reflects the gradual degradation of the material. Thus, both measuring and modeling this stiffness is critical to investigate and understand the entire fatigue process. Besides evolving damage, viscoelastic effects within the polymer influence the measured dynamic stiffness. In this paper, we study the influence of a linear viscoelastic material model for the matrix on the obtained dynamic stiffness and extend an elastic multiscale fatigue-damage model to viscoelasticity. Our contribution is two-fold. First, we revisit the complex-valued elastic models known in the literature to predict the asymptotic periodic orbit of a viscoelastic material. For small phase shifts in an isotropic linear viscoelastic material, we show through numerical experiments that a real-valued computation of an “elastic” material is sufficient to approximate the dynamic stiffness of a microstructure with a generalized Maxwell material and equal Poisson’s ratios in every element as matrix, reinforced by elastic inclusions. This makes standard solvers applicable to fiber-reinforced thermoplastics. Secondly, we propose a viscoelastic fatigue-damage model for the thermoplastic matrix based on decoupling of the time scales where viscoelastic and fatigue-damage effects manifest. We demonstrate the capability of the multiscale model to predict the dynamic stiffness evolution under fatigue loading of short-fiber reinforced polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) by a validation with experimental results