Stacked High-Impedance Surface (HIS) for 5 GHz WLAN Applications

In this work we present a stacked high-impedance surface (HIS) for low-profile, high-gain, 5 GHz WLAN antennas. The structure consists of two layers: a lower mushroom layer and an upper planar layer. We demonstrate that the stacked geometry has much better properties than conventional single-layer structures for achieving simultaneously surface-wave suppression and zero reflection phase at a given frequency. We show by measurements that the designed stacked HIS exhibits both a large band gap and in-phase wave reflection over the entire range from 4.6 GHz to 6.4 GHz. The structure is realized on FR4 substrate using standard etching technology to make fabrication easy and cheap

Influence of the isospin and hypercharge chemical potentials on the location of the CEP in the mu_B-T phase diagram of the SU(3)_L x SU(3)_R chiral quark model

We investigate the influence of the asymmetric quark matter (rho_u\ne rho_d\ne rho_s) on the mass of the quasiparticles and the phase diagram of the chiral quark model parametrized at one-loop level of the renormalized theory, using the optimized perturbation theory for the resummation of the perturbative series. The effect of various chemical potentials introduced in the grand canonical ensemble is investigated with the method of relativistic many-body theory. The temperature dependence of the topological susceptibility is estimated with the help of the Witten-Veneziano mass formula.Comment: RevTeX4, 13 pages, 6 figures, version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Chopped basalt fibres: A new perspective in reinforcing poly(lactic acid) to produce injection moulded engineering composites from renewable and natural resources

This paper focuses on the reinforcing of Poly(lactic acid) with chopped basalt fibres by using silane treated and untreated basalt fibres. Composite materials with 5–10–15–20–30–40 wt% basalt fibre contents were prepared from silane sized basalt fibres using extrusion, and injection moulding, while composites with 5–10–15 wt% basalt fibre contents were also prepared by using untreated basalt fibres as control. The properties of the injection moulded composites were extensively examined by using quasi-static (tensile, three-point bending) and dynamic mechanical tests (notched and unnotched Charpy impact tests), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), heat deflection temperature (HDT) analysis, dimensional stability test, as well as melt flow index (MFI) analysis and scanning electron microscopic (SEM) observations. It was found that silane treated chopped basalt fibres are much more effective in reinforcing Poly(lactic acid) than natural fibres; although basalt fibres are not biodegradable but they are still considered as natural (can be found in nature in the form of volcanic rocks) and biologically inert. It is demonstrated in this paper that by using basalt fibre reinforcement, a renewable and natural resource based composite can be produced by injection moulding with excellent mechanical properties suitable even for engineering applications. Finally it was shown that by using adequate drying of the materials, composites with higher mechanical properties can be achieved compared to literature data

Zero temperature properties of mesons in a vector meson extended linear sigma model

A three flavor linear sigma model with vector and axial-vector mesons is discussed. Preliminary results concerning on the symmetry breaking pattern, the question of parameterization, as well as the resulting meson masses are presented.Comment: 4 pages, 0 figures, submitted to the Hot and Cold Baryonic Matter (HCBM 2010) conference proceeding

Scalar mesons in a linear sigma model with (axial-)vector mesons

The structure of the scalar mesons has been a subject of debate for many decades. In this work we look for $\bar{q}q$ states among the physical resonances using an extended Linear Sigma Model that contains scalar, pseudoscalar, vector, and axial-vector mesons both in the non-strange and strange sectors. We perform global fits of meson masses, decay widths and amplitudes in order to ascertain whether the scalar $\bar{q}q$ states are below or above 1 GeV. We find the scalar states above 1 GeV to be preferred as $\bar{q}q$ states.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, To appear in the proceedings of the XII. Hadron Physics Conference, Bento Goncalves, Brasil, April, 22 - 27, 201

Global Evolutionary Algorithms in the Design of Electromagnetic Band Gap Structures with Suppressed Surface Waves Propagation

The paper is focused on the automated design and optimization of electromagnetic band gap structures suppressing the propagation of surface waves. For the optimization, we use different global evolutionary algorithms like the genetic algorithm with the single-point crossover (GAs) and the multi-point (GAm) one, the differential evolution (DE) and particle swarm optimization (PSO). The algorithms are mutually compared in terms of convergence velocity and accuracy. The developed technique is universal (applicable for any unit cell geometry). The method is based on the dispersion diagram calculation in CST Microwave Studio (CST MWS) and optimization in Matlab. A design example of a mushroom structure with simultaneous electromagnetic band gap properties (EBG) and the artificial magnetic conductor ones (AMC) in the required frequency band is presented

The Spontaneous Emergence of Social Influence in Online Systems

Social influence drives both offline and online human behaviour. It pervades cultural markets, and manifests itself in the adoption of scientific and technical innovations as well as the spread of social practices. Prior empirical work on the diffusion of innovations in spatial regions or social networks has largely focused on the spread of one particular technology among a subset of all potential adopters. It has also been difficult to determine whether the observed collective behaviour is driven by natural influence processes, or whether it follows external signals such as media or marketing campaigns. Here, we choose an online context that allows us to study social influence processes by tracking the popularity of a complete set of applications installed by the user population of a social networking site, thus capturing the behaviour of all individuals who can influence each other in this context. By extending standard fluctuation scaling methods, we analyse the collective behaviour induced by 100 million application installations, and show that two distinct regimes of behaviour emerge in the system. Once applications cross a particular threshold of popularity, social influence processes induce highly correlated adoption behaviour among the users, which propels some of the applications to extraordinary levels of popularity. Below this threshold, the collective effect of social influence appears to vanish almost entirely in a manner that has not been observed in the offline world. Our results demonstrate that even when external signals are absent, social influence can spontaneously assume an on-off nature in a digital environment. It remains to be seen whether a similar outcome could be observed in the offline world if equivalent experimental conditions could be replicated

The Metallicity Dependence of the Fourier Components of RR Lyrae Light Curves is the Oosterhoff/Arp/Preston Period Ratio Effect in Disguise

The correlation of particular Fourier components of the light curves of RR Lyrae variables with metallicity, discovered by Simon and later by Kovacs and his coworkers, is shown to have the same explanation as the period ratios (period shifts in log P) between RRab Lyrae variables that have the same colors, amplitudes, and light-curve shapes but different metallicities. A purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the model which predicts the period-metallicity relations is the mediating parameters of colors, amplitudes, and light-curve shapes also explains the Simon/Kovacs et al. correlation between period, Phi_31, and metallicity. The proof is made by demonstrating that the combination of the first and third phase terms in a Fourier decomposition of RRab light curves, called Phi_31 by Simon and Lee, varies monotonically across the RR Lyrae instability strip in the same way that amplitude, color, and rise time vary with period within the strip. The premise of the model is that if horizontal branches at the RR Lyrae strip are stacked in luminosity according to the metallicity, then there necessarily must be a log period shift between RR Lyraes with different metallicities at the same Phi_31 values. However, there are exceptions to the model. (...)Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in The A

Critical surface of the SU(3)(L) x SU(3)(R) chiral quark model at nonzero baryon density

The boundary of the first order chiral phase transition region is studied in the m(pi)-m(K)-mu(B) space using the one-loop optimized perturbation theory for the resummation of the perturbative series. Chiral perturbation theory for mesons and baryons is used for the T=0 parametrization of the model. The surface of second order transition points bends with increasing mu(B) towards the physical point of the m(pi)-m(K) mass plane allowing for the existence of the critical end point in the mu(B)-T plane at the physical point. The location and scaling region of the CEP is explored