2,806 research outputs found
CRUDE OIL FOULING IN A PILOT-SCALE PARALLEL TUBE APPARATUS
Maya crude oil fouling reveals a seemingly straightforward dependency of initial fouling rate on surface temperature but a maximum is found in the initial fouling rate – velocity relationship which mirrors that found in a model chemical system of styrene polymerization. The linear dependency of the logarithm of the pre-exponential factor on apparent activation energy for the crude oil is also found in the styrene system. The apparent activation energy for the crude oil ranged from 26.4 kJ/mol at 1.0 m/s to 245 kJ/mol at 4.0 m/s. Such strong dependencies of apparent activation energy on velocity, even at high velocity, are consistent with Epstein’s mass transfer-reaction-attachment model. Surface temperatures at which the fouling rate becomes velocity-independent are 274°C and 77°C for Maya crude oil and styrene, respectively. For surface temperatures in excess of this isokinetic temperature, an increase in velocity would lead to an increase in the rate of fouling
Fast Purcell-enhanced single photon source in 1,550-nm telecom band from a resonant quantum dot-cavity coupling
High-bit-rate nanocavity-based single photon sources in the 1,550-nm telecom
band are challenges facing the development of fibre-based long-haul quantum
communication networks. Here we report a very fast single photon source in the
1,550-nm telecom band, which is achieved by a large Purcell enhancement that
results from the coupling of a single InAs quantum dot and an InP photonic
crystal nanocavity. At a resonance, the spontaneous emission rate was enhanced
by a factor of 5 resulting a record fast emission lifetime of 0.2 ns at 1,550
nm. We also demonstrate that this emission exhibits an enhanced anti-bunching
dip. This is the first realization of nanocavity-enhanced single photon
emitters in the 1,550-nm telecom band. This coupled quantum dot cavity system
in the telecom band thus provides a bright high-bit-rate non-classical single
photon source that offers appealing novel opportunities for the development of
a long-haul quantum telecommunication system via optical fibres.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figure
Measurement of 1.7 to 74 MeV polarised gamma rays with the HARPO TPC
Current {\gamma}-ray telescopes based on photon conversions to
electron-positron pairs, such as Fermi, use tungsten converters. They suffer of
limited angular resolution at low energies, and their sensitivity drops below 1
GeV. The low multiple scattering in a gaseous detector gives access to higher
angular resolution in the MeV-GeV range, and to the linear polarisation of the
photons through the azimuthal angle of the electron-positron pair.
HARPO is an R&D program to characterise the operation of a TPC (Time
Projection Chamber) as a high angular-resolution and sensitivity telescope and
polarimeter for {\gamma} rays from cosmic sources. It represents a first step
towards a future space instrument. A 30 cm cubic TPC demonstrator was built,
and filled with 2 bar argon-based gas. It was put in a polarised {\gamma}-ray
beam at the NewSUBARU accelerator in Japan in November 2014. Data were taken at
different photon energies from 1.7 MeV to 74 MeV, and with different
polarisation configurations. The electronics setup is described, with an
emphasis on the trigger system. The event reconstruction algorithm is quickly
described, and preliminary measurements of the polarisation of 11 MeVphotons
are shown.Comment: Proceedings VCI201
Prospects for the Search for a Standard Model Higgs Boson in ATLAS using Vector Boson Fusion
The potential for the discovery of a Standard Model Higgs boson in the mass
range m_H < 2 m_Z in the vector boson fusion mode has been studied for the
ATLAS experiment at the LHC. The characteristic signatures of additional jets
in the forward regions of the detector and of low jet activity in the central
region allow for an efficient background rejection. Analyses for the H -> WW
and H -> tau tau decay modes have been performed using a realistic simulation
of the expected detector performance. The results obtained demonstrate the
large discovery potential in the H -> WW decay channel and the sensitivity to
Higgs boson decays into tau-pairs in the low-mass region around 120 GeV.Comment: 20 pages, 13 ps figures, uses EPJ style fil
Importance of Metabolic Rate to the Relationship Between the Number of Genes in a Functional Category and Body Size in Peto\u27s Paradox for Cancer
Elucidation of tumour suppression mechanisms is a major challenge in cancer biology. Therefore, Peto\u27s paradox, or low cancer incidence in large animals, has attracted focus. According to the gene-abundance hypothesis, which considers the increase/decrease in cancer-related genes with body size, researchers evaluated the associations between gene abundance and body size. However, previous studies only focused on a few specific gene functions and have ignored the alternative hypothesis (metabolic rate hypothesis): in this hypothesis, the cellular metabolic rate and subsequent oxidative stress decreases with increasing body size. In this study, we have elected to explore the gene-abundance hypothesis taking into account the metabolic rate hypothesis. Thus, we comprehensively investigated the correlation between the number of genes in various functional categories and body size while at the same time correcting for the mass-specific metabolic rate (Bc). A number of gene functions that correlated with body size were initially identified, but they were found to be artefactual due to the decrease in Bc with increasing body size. By contrast, immune system-related genes were found to increase with increasing body size when the correlation included this correction for Bc. These findings support the gene-abundance hypothesis and emphasize the importance of also taking into account the metabolic rate when evaluating gene abundance–body size relationships. This finding may be useful for understanding cancer evolution and tumour suppression mechanisms as well as for determining cancer-related genes and functions
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