Looptop Hard X-Ray Emission in Solar Flares: Images and Statistics

The discovery of hard X-ray sources near the top of a flaring loop by the HXT instrument on board the YOHKOH satellite represents a significant progress towards the understanding of the basic processes driving solar flares. In this paper we extend the previous study of limb flares by Masuda (1994) by including all YOHKOH observations up through August 1998. We report that from October 1991 to August 1998, YOHKOH observed 20 X-ray bright limb flares (where we use the same selection criteria as Masuda), of which we have sufficient data to analyze 18 events, including 8 previously unanalyzed flares. Of these 18 events, 15 show detectable impulsive looptop emission. Considering that the finite dynamic range (about a decade) of the detection introduces a strong bias against observing comparatively weak looptop sources, we conclude that looptop emission is a common feature of all flares. We summarize the observations of the footpoint to looptop flux ratio and the spectral indices. We present light curves and images of all the important newly analyzed limb flares. Whenever possible we present results for individual pulses in multipeak flares and for different loops for multiloop flares. We then discuss the statistics of the fluxes and spectral indices of the looptop and footpoint sources taking into account observational selection biases. The importance of these observations (and those expected from the scheduled HESSI satellite with its superior angular spectral and temporal resolution) in constraining acceleration models and parameters is discussed briefly.Comment: 27 pages (13 embedded figures). Accepted for publication in Ap

Knowledge discovery for friction stir welding via data driven approaches: Part 2 – multiobjective modelling using fuzzy rule based systems

In this final part of this extensive study, a new systematic data-driven fuzzy modelling approach has been developed, taking into account both the modelling accuracy and its interpretability (transparency) as attributes. For the first time, a data-driven modelling framework has been proposed designed and implemented in order to model the intricate FSW behaviours relating to AA5083 aluminium alloy, consisting of the grain size, mechanical properties, as well as internal process properties. As a result, ‘Pareto-optimal’ predictive models have been successfully elicited which, through validations on real data for the aluminium alloy AA5083, have been shown to be accurate, transparent and generic despite the conservative number of data points used for model training and testing. Compared with analytically based methods, the proposed data-driven modelling approach provides a more effective way to construct prediction models for FSW when there is an apparent lack of fundamental process knowledge

Reaction kinetic analysis of damage rate effects on defect structural evolution in Fe–Cu

In Fe–Cu alloys, Cu precipitates are formed during high-energy particle irradiation. If there exists energetic binding between vacancies and Cu atoms, vacancy clusters (voids) are formed in precipitates at an initial stage of irradiation, separate from voids in the matrix, because of the migration of Cu atoms with vacancies. In this paper, the damage rate dependence on the formation and annihilation of voids in the precipitates and in the matrix is simulated by reaction kinetic analysis. The initial formation of voids at precipitates, the annihilation of them with an increased dosage and new formation of voids in the matrix are simulated, and the results are compared with the experiments. In a high damage rate of 3.3 × 10^[−7] dpa/s, the formation of voids in Cu precipitates is not significant, but the formation of voids in the matrix is dominant, different from those in a low damage rate of 1.5 × 10^[−10] dpa/s

Scaling of soaring seabirds and its implication for the maximum size of flying pterosaurs

The flight ability of animals is restricted by the scaling effects imposed by physical and physiological factors. In comparisons of the power available from muscle and the mechanical power required to fly, theoretical studies have predicted that the margin between the powers should decrease with body size and that flying animals have a maximum body size. However, predicting an absolute value of this upper limit has been difficult because wing morphology and flight styles vary among species. Albatrosses and petrels have long, narrow, aerodynamically efficient wings and are considered to be soaring birds. Here, using animal-borne accelerometers, we show that scaling analyses of wing-flapping frequencies in these seabirds indicate that the maximum size limit for soaring animals is a body mass of 41 kg and a wingspan of 5.1 m. Soaring seabirds were observed to have two modes of flapping frequencies: vigorous flapping during takeoff and sporadic flapping during cruising flight. In these species, high and low flapping frequencies were found to scale with body mass (_mass_ ^-0.30^ and _mass_ ^-0.18^) in a manner similar to the predictions from biomechanical flight models (_mass_ ^-1/3^ and _mass_ ^-1/6^). The scaling relationships predicted that animals larger than the limit will not be able to flap fast enough to stay aloft under unfavourable wind conditions. Our result therefore casts doubt on the flying ability of large, extinct pterosaurs. The largest extant soarer, the wandering albatross, weighs about 10 kg, which might be a pragmatic limit to maintain a safety margin for sustainable flight and to survive in a variable environment

Fermi-liquid ground state in n-type copper-oxide superconductor Pr0.91Ce0.09LaCuO4-y

We report nuclear magnetic resonance studies on the low-doped n-type copper-oxide Pr_{0.91}LaCe_{0.09}CuO_{4-y} (T_c=24 K) in the superconducting state and in the normal state uncovered by the application of a strong magnetic field. We find that when the superconductivity is removed, the underlying ground state is the Fermi liquid state. This result is at variance with that inferred from previous thermal conductivity measurement and contrast with that in p-type copper-oxides with a similar doping level where high-T_c superconductivity sets in within the pseudogap phase. The data in the superconducting state are consistent with the line-nodes gap model.Comment: version to appear in Phys. Rev. Let