2,172 research outputs found
Erosion resistance of laser clad Ti-6Al-4V/WC composite for waterjet tooling
AbstractIn waterjet operations, milled surfaces are left with some undesirable dimensional artefacts, thus the use of abrasion resistant mask has been proposed to improve the surface quality of machined components. In this study, the erosion performance of laser clad Ti-6Al-4V/WC composite coating subjected to plain water jet (PWJ) and abrasive water jet (AWJ) impacts to evaluate its potentials for use as waterjet impact resistant mask material and coating on components was investigated. Results showed that composite with 76wt.% WC composition subjected to PWJ and AWJ impacts offered resistance to erosion up to 13 and 8 times that of wrought Ti-6Al-4V respectively. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) examination of the eroded composite surfaces showed that the erosion mechanism under PWJ impacts is based on the formation of erosion pits, tunnels and deep cavities especially in the interface between the WC particles and the composite matrix owing to lateral outflow jetting and hydraulic penetration. Composite suffered ploughing of the composite matrix, lateral cracking and chipping of embedded WC particles and WC pull-out under AWJ impacts. The composite performance is attributed to the embedded WC particles and the uniformly distributed nano-sized reaction products (TiC and W) reinforcing the ductile β-Ti composite matrix, with its mean hardness enhanced to 6.1GPa. The capability of the Ti-6Al-4V/WC composite coating was demonstrated by effective replication of a pattern on a composite mask to an aluminium plate subjected to selective milling by PWJ with an overall depth of 344μm. Thus, composite cladding for tooling purpose would make it possible to enhance the lifetime of jigs and fixtures and promote rapid machining using the water jet technique
Current status of research and application in vascular stents
Cardiovascular diseases have been the leading cause of death in modern society. Using vascular stents to treat these coronary and peripheral artery diseases has been one of the most effective and rapidly adopted medical interventions. During the twenty-five years' development of vascular stents, revolutionary cardiovascular stents like drug eluting stents and endothelial progenitor cells capture stents have emerged. In this review, the evolution of vascular stents is summarized, aiming to provide a glimpse into the future of vascular stents. Advanced designs, focusing on the investigations of new substrates, new platforms, new drugs and new biomolecules are currently under evaluation with promising clinical studies. The concept of "time sequence functional stent" has been raised in this paper. It presents anti-proliferative properties in the first phase after implantation and subsequently support endothelialization. It also shows long-term inertness without release of toxic ions or toxic degradation products. The success of this concept is briefly presented with a clinical study in this model stents
POSTURAL CONTROL IN ELITE ARCHERS DURING SHOOTING
Archery is described as a static sport requiring fine movement control and proper endurance strength of the upper body (Soylu, Ertan, & Korkusuz, 2006).To investigate the differences of postural control (PC) between elite and general collegiate archers during static and shooting conditions
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Scale-invariant moving finite elements for nonlinear partial differential equations in two dimensions
A scale-invariant moving finite element method is proposed for the adaptive solution of nonlinear partial differential equations. The mesh movement is based on a finite element discretisation of a scale-invariant conservation principle incorporating a monitor function, while the time discretisation of the resulting system of ordinary differential equations is carried out using a scale-invariant time-stepping which yields uniform local accuracy in time.
The accuracy and reliability of the algorithm are successfully tested against exact self-similar solutions where available, and otherwise against a state-of-the-art h-refinement scheme for solutions of a two-dimensional porous medium equation problem with a moving boundary. The monitor functions used are the dependent variable and a monitor related to the surface area of the solution manifold
A novel approach to Isoscaling: the role of the order parameter m = (N-Z)/A
Isoscaling is derived within a recently proposed modified Fisher model where
the free energy near the critical point is described by the Landau O(m^6)
theory. In this model m = (N-Z)/A is the order parameter, a consequence of (one
of) the symmetries of the nuclear Hamiltonian. Within this framework we show
that isoscaling depends mainly on this order parameter through the 'external
(conjugate) field' H. The external field is just given by the difference in
chemical potentials of the neutrons and protons of the two sources. To
distinguish from previously employed isoscaling relationships, this approach is
dubbed: m - scaling. We discuss the relationship between this framework and the
standard isoscaling formalism and point out some substantial differences in
interpretation of experimental results which might result. These should be
investigated further both theoretically and experimentally.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figure
The Need to Shift from Morphological to Structural Assessment for Carotid Plaque Vulnerability
Degree of luminal stenosis is generally considered to be an important indicator for judging the risk of atherosclerosis burden. However, patients with the same or similar degree of stenosis may have significant differences in plaque morphology and biomechanical factors. This study investigated three patients with carotid atherosclerosis within a similar range of stenosis. Using our developed fluid–structure interaction (FSI) modelling method, this study analyzed and compared the morphological and biomechanical parameters of the three patients. Although their degrees of carotid stenosis were similar, the plaque components showed a significant difference. The distribution range of time-averaged wall shear stress (TAWSS) of patient 2 was wider than that of patient 1 and patient 3. Patient 2 also had a much smaller plaque stress compared to the other two patients. There were significant differences in TAWSS and plaque stresses among three patients. This study suggests that plaque vulnerability is not determined by a single morphological factor, but rather by the combined structure. It is necessary to transform the morphological assessment into a structural assessment of the risk of plaque rupture
Generation of continuous variable squeezing and entanglement of trapped ions in time-varying potentials
We investigate the generation of squeezing and entanglement for the motional
degrees of freedom of ions in linear traps, confined by time-varying and
oscillating potentials, comprised of an DC and an AC component. We show that
high degrees of squeezing and entanglement can be obtained by controlling
either the DC or the AC trapping component (or both), and by exploiting
transient dynamics in regions where the ions' motion is unstable, without any
added optical control. Furthermore, we investigate the time-scales over which
the potentials should be switched in order for the manipulations to be most
effective.Comment: 10 pages, submitted to Quantum Information Processing (special issue
on Quantum Decoherence and Entanglement
Experimental preparation of Werner state via spontaneous parametric down-conversion
We present an experiment of preparing Werner state via spontaneous parametric
down-conversion and controlled decoherence of photons in this paper. In this
experiment two independent BBO (beta-barium borate) crystals are used to
produce down-conversion light beams, which are mixed to prepare Werner state.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures and 2 table
Non-Perturbative Corrections and Modularity in N=1 Type IIB Compactifications
Non-perturbative corrections and modular properties of four-dimensional type
IIB Calabi-Yau orientifolds are discussed. It is shown that certain
non-perturbative alpha' corrections survive in the large volume limit of the
orientifold and periodically correct the Kahler potential. These corrections
depend on the NS-NS two form and have to be completed by D-instanton
contributions to transform covariantely under symmetries of the type IIB
orientifold background. It is shown that generically also the D-instanton
superpotential depends on the two-form moduli as well as on the complex
dilaton. These contributions can arise through theta-functions with the dilaton
as modular parameter. An orientifold of the Enriques Calabi-Yau allows to
illustrate these general considerations. It is shown that this compactification
leads to a controlled four-dimensional N=1 effective theory due to the absence
of various quantum corrections. Making contact to the underlying topological
string theory the D-instanton superpotential is proposed to be related to a
specific modular form counting D3, D1, D(-1) degeneracies on the Enriques
Calabi-Yau.Comment: 35 page
The effect of scale-free topology on the robustness and evolvability of genetic regulatory networks
We investigate how scale-free (SF) and Erdos-Renyi (ER) topologies affect the
interplay between evolvability and robustness of model gene regulatory networks
with Boolean threshold dynamics. In agreement with Oikonomou and Cluzel (2006)
we find that networks with SFin topologies, that is SF topology for incoming
nodes and ER topology for outgoing nodes, are significantly more evolvable
towards specific oscillatory targets than networks with ER topology for both
incoming and outgoing nodes. Similar results are found for networks with SFboth
and SFout topologies. The functionality of the SFout topology, which most
closely resembles the structure of biological gene networks (Babu et al.,
2004), is compared to the ER topology in further detail through an extension to
multiple target outputs, with either an oscillatory or a non-oscillatory
nature. For multiple oscillatory targets of the same length, the differences
between SFout and ER networks are enhanced, but for non-oscillatory targets
both types of networks show fairly similar evolvability. We find that SF
networks generate oscillations much more easily than ER networks do, and this
may explain why SF networks are more evolvable than ER networks are for
oscillatory phenotypes. In spite of their greater evolvability, we find that
networks with SFout topologies are also more robust to mutations than ER
networks. Furthermore, the SFout topologies are more robust to changes in
initial conditions (environmental robustness). For both topologies, we find
that once a population of networks has reached the target state, further
neutral evolution can lead to an increase in both the mutational robustness and
the environmental robustness to changes in initial conditions.Comment: 16 pages, 15 figure
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