9,795 research outputs found
Rubber friction on (apparently) smooth lubricated surfaces
We study rubber sliding friction on hard lubricated surfaces. We show that
even if the hard surface appears smooth to the naked eye, it may exhibit short
wavelength roughness, which may give the dominant contribution to rubber
friction. That is, the observed sliding friction is mainly due to the
viscoelastic deformations of the rubber by the substrate surface asperities.
The presented results are of great importance for rubber sealing and other
rubber applications involving (apparently) smooth surfaces.Comment: 7 pages, 15 figure
Self-Policing: Dissemination and Adoption of Police Eyewitness Policies in Virginia
Professional policing organizations emphasize the importance of the adoption of sound police policies and procedures, but traditionally doing so has been left to individual agencies. State and local government typically does not closely regulate police, and neither federal constitutional rulings nor state law typically sets out in any detail the practices that police should follow. Thus, law enforcement agencies must themselves draft and disseminate policy. This paper presents the results of studies used to assess the adoption of eyewitness identification policies by law enforcement agencies in Virginia. Policymakers were focused on this problem because Virginia experienced a series of DNA exonerations in cases involving eyewitness misidentifications. In 2005, lawmakers enacted a law that required agencies to have some written policy in place. However, there was little guidance on what that policy should be. To remedy this problem, the state law enforcement policy agency, the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) promulgated, in 2011, a detailed model policy on eyewitness procedure. Nevertheless, as reported in a 2013 study, those model practices were only haltingly adopted. In particular, many agencies did not use blind or blinded lineups, in which the administrator does not know which photo is that of a suspect or cannot view which photo the eyewitness is examining. In Fall 2018, all of the over-three hundred law enforcement agencies in Virginia had their policies on this subject requested, using the state freedom of information law. The results show that there has now been widespread adoption of the DCJS model policy. Improved eyewitness identification practices have been adopted by the vast majority of agencies, including large and small agencies. This Article concludes by asking what contributed to the extensive dissemination of a model police policy, and what its implications are for improving police policy and practice without the use of regulation
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From Waste-Heat Recovery to Refrigeration: Compositional Tuning of Magnetocaloric Mn 1+ x Sb
A Note on Asymptotic Freedom at High Temperatures
This short note considers, within the external field approach outlined in
hep-ph/0202026, the role of the lowest lying gluon Landau mode in QCD in the
high temperature limit. Its influence on a temperature- and field-dependent
running coupling constant is examined. The thermal imaginary part of the mode
is temperature-independent in our approach and exactly cancels the well-known
zero temperature imaginary part, thus rendering the Savvidy vacuum stable.
Combining the real part of the mode with the contributions from the higher
lying Landau modes and the vacuum contribution, a field-independent coupling
alpha_s(T) is obtained. It can be interpreted as the ordinary zero temperature
running coupling constant with average thermal momenta \approx 2pi T for
gluons and \approx pi T for quarks.Comment: 4 pages; minor changes, version to appear in Phys. Rev.
The Y-Band at 1.035 um: Photometric Calibration and the Dwarf Stellar/Sub-Stellar Color Sequence
We define and characterize a photometric bandpass (called "Y") that is
centered at 1.035 um, in between the traditionally classified ``optical'' and
``infrared'' spectral regimes. We present Y magnitudes and Y-H and Y-K colors
for a sample consisting mostly of photometric and spectral standards, spanning
the spectral type range sdO to T5V. Deep molecular absorption features in the
near-infrared spectra of extremely cool objects are such that the Y-H and Y-K
colors grow rapidly with advancing spectral type especially from late M through
mid L, substantially more rapidly than J-H or H-K which span a smaller total
dynamic range. Consistent with other near-infrared colors, however, Y-H and Y-K
colors turn blueward in the L6-L8 temperature range with later T-type objects
having colors similar to those of warmer M and L stars. Use of the Y-band
filter is nonetheless promising for easy identification of low-mass stars and
brown dwarfs, especially at young ages. The slope of the interstellar reddening
vector within this filter is A_Y = 0.38 x A_V. Reddening moves stars nearly
along the YHK dwarf color sequence making it more difficult to distinguish
unambiguously very low mass candidate brown dwarf objects from higher mass
stars seen, e.g. through the galactic plane or towards star-forming regions.
Other diagrams involving the Y-band may be somewhat more discriminating.Comment: accepted at PAS
Fluid flow at the interface between elastic solids with randomly rough surfaces
I study fluid flow at the interface between elastic solids with randomly
rough surfaces. I use the contact mechanics model of Persson to take into
account the elastic interaction between the solid walls and the Bruggeman
effective medium theory to account for the influence of the disorder on the
fluid flow. I calculate the flow tensor which determines the pressure flow
factor and, e.g., the leak-rate of static seals. I show how the perturbation
treatment of Tripp can be extended to arbitrary order in the ratio between the
root-mean-square roughness amplitude and the average interfacial surface
separation. I introduce a matrix D(Zeta), determined by the surface roughness
power spectrum, which can be used to describe the anisotropy of the surface at
any magnification Zeta. I present results for the asymmetry factor Gamma(Zeta)
(generalized Peklenik number) for grinded steel and sandblasted PMMA surfaces.Comment: 16 pages, 14 figure
Rubber friction on wet and dry road surfaces: the sealing effect
Rubber friction on wet rough substrates at low velocities is typically 20-30%
smaller than for the corresponding dry surfaces. We show that this cannot be
due to hydrodynamics and propose a novel explanation based on a sealing effect
exerted by rubber on substrate "pools" filled with water. Water effectively
smoothens the substrate, reducing the major friction contribution due to
induced viscoelastic deformations of the rubber by surface asperities. The
theory is illustrated with applications related to tire-road friction.Comment: Format Revtex 4; 8 pages, 11 figures (no color); Published on Phys.
Rev. B (http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRB/v71/e035428); previous work on the
same topic: cond-mat/041204
FeederAnt - An autonomous mobile unit feeding outdoor pigs
Small robots and the concept of decentralized animal husbandry make it possible to renew the principles of organic agriculture. The farm animals will be able to use the same type of housing and are placed integrated with the fields. This is expected to achieve a better utilization of nutrients and a better survival rate for useful insects and micro organisms. The small fields are flexible and could fit to the variation in soil structure topography. This type of precision agriculture has the possibility of increasing biodiversity.
The paper presents the concept of an autonomic feeding system for outdoor piglets. Initial results are presented using a remote controlled feeding unit (a prototype of the FeederAnt) to feed several pens with piglets. The FeederAnt drives into the grass paddocks twice a day and position itself in a new location for each feeding. This will help to distribute the manure from the animals evenly over the grass paddock to prevent point leaching of nutrients. The FeederAnt replaces many stationary feeding tables and reduce the amount of daily manual feeding routines. Further, it is expected that the problem with vermins will be solved since no feed residues will be left within the pens.
On the nature of surface roughness with application to contact mechanics, sealing, rubber friction and adhesion
Surface roughness has a huge impact on many important phenomena. The most
important property of rough surfaces is the surface roughness power spectrum
C(q). We present surface roughness power spectra of many surfaces of practical
importance, obtained from the surface height profile measured using optical
methods and the Atomic Force Microscope. We show how the power spectrum
determines the contact area between two solids. We also present applications to
sealing, rubber friction and adhesion for rough surfaces, where the power
spectrum enters as an important input.Comment: Topical review; 82 pages, 61 figures; Format: Latex (iopart). Some
figures are in Postscript Level
Commercially Available Antibodies to Human Tumour Necrosis Factor-α Tested for Cross-Reactivity with Ovine and Bovine Tumour Necrosis Factor-α using Flow Cytometric Assays
A thorough understanding of the immune system, including the role of different cytokines, during inflammatory diseases in ruminants could lead to the development of new diagnostic methods and treatments. Tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) is an important cytokine in the onset of the inflammatory responses. Unfortunately, the number of studies on cytokines, like TNF-α, in ruminants is limited due to a lack of species-specific reagents. As cytokines have remained rather conserved during evolution, cross-reactivity between animal species may occur. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate 5 commercially available antibodies against human TNF-α for their ability to cross-react with ovine and/or bovine TNF-α, using a bead-based flow cytometric method. Two of the antibody clones (Mab 11 and 6401.1111) showed cross reactivity with ovine recombinant TNF-α in concentrations above 2.5 ng/ml. However, none of the antibodies detected TNF-α in bovine milk, or serum containing known concentrations of bovine TNF-α, as earlier determined with ELISA. The results could be due to inability of the antibodies to cross-react between species, but quenching of the signal by matrix proteins might also have lowered the response
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