Optimisation of post-drawing treatments by means of neutron diffraction

The mechanical properties and the durability of cold-drawn eutectoid wires (especially in aggressive environments) are influenced by the residual stresses generated during the drawing process. Steelmakers have devised procedures (thermomechanical treatments after drawing) attempting to relieve them in order to improve wire performance. In thiswork neutron diffraction measurements have been used to ascertain the role of temperature and applied force – during post-drawing treatments – on the residual stresses of five rod batches with different treatments. The results show that conventional thermomechanical treatments are successful in relieving the residual stresses created by cold-drawing, although these procedures can be improved by changing the temperature or the stretching force. Knowledge of the residual stress profiles after these changes is a useful tool to improve the thermomechanical treatments instead of the empirical procedures used currently

Plastically-Induced Volume Deformation of Nanocrystalline α-Fe with a '110' Columnar Structure

Volume changes accompanying the plastic deformation at 300 K of nanocrystalline samples of α-Fe with a columnar grain structure possessing a ⟨11¯0⟩ random fiber texture has been obtained from molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The samples were strained in tension along the common axial direction of the columnar grains. After removal of the elastic volume change, the evolution of plastic volume strain was obtained. Small but non-negligible volume dilations or contractions are observed depending on size (samples of very small grain size show volume contraction). The rate of volume change is high during the first 10% plastic deformation and continues at a low pace thereafter; the first 10% deformation represents a transient in the stress–strain behavior too. The complex behavior observed is reasonably explained by the superposition of contributions from different plastically-induced structural changes to the mass density change: Mainly from changes of grain size, grain boundary structure, dislocation density and density of point-defects. The results are of interest for the development of crystal plasticity theories not restricted by the volume conserving assumption

Monitoring the Condition of a Bridge using a Traffic Speed Deflectometer Vehicle Travelling at Highway Speed

The Traffic Speed Deflectometer (TSD) is a vehicle incorporating a set of laser Doppler vibrometers on a straight beam to measure the relative velocity between the beam and the pavement surface. This paper describes a numerical study to see if a TSD could be used to detect damage in a bridge. From this measured velocity it is possible to obtain the curvature of the bridge, from whose analysis, it will be demonstrate that information on damage can be extracted. In this paper a Finite Element model is used to simulate the vehicle crossing a single span bridge, for which deflections and curvatures are calculated. From these numerical simulations, it is possible to predict the change in the curvature signal when the bridge is damaged. The method looks promising and it suggests that this drive-by approach is more sensitive to damage than sensors installed on the bridge itself

On the Design of Ambient Intelligent Systems in the Context of Assistive Technologies

The design of Ambient Intelligent Systems (AISs) is discussed in the context of assistive technologies. The main issues include ubiquitous communications, context awareness, natural interactions and heterogeneity, which are analyzed using some examples. A layered architecture is proposed for heterogeneous sub-systems integration with three levels of interactions that may be used as a framework to design assistive AISs.Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología TIC2001-1868-C0

Improved photoenergy properties of low-emissivity coatings deposited by sputtering with an ion gun treatment

This work studies the effect of ion treatment on low-emissivity (low-e) coatings deposited by magnetron sputtering. Specifically, we have investigated the application of an ion treatment in the dielectric layer before deposition of a layer of silver. This reduces layer roughness which means the silver layer can be deposited with enhanced characteristics. We have also evaluated the etching rate on the SnOx layer due to the ion treatment on already deposit coatings of equal thicknesses. Subsequently, we studied the effects on the coating's photoenergy properties. For equivalent coatings, we found that those treated with ions were more transparent in the visible region, more reflective, and had a lower emissivity, which are essential requirements for low-e coatings applied in architectural glass

FeynMG:a FeynRules extension for scalar-tensor theories of gravity

The ability to represent perturbative expansions of interacting quantum field theories in terms of simple diagrammatic rules has revolutionized calculations in particle physics (and elsewhere). Moreover, these rules are readily automated, a process that has catalyzed the rise of symbolic algebra packages. However, in the case of extended theories of gravity, such as scalar-tensor theories, it is necessary to precondition the Lagrangian to apply this automation or, at the very least, to take advantage of existing software pipelines. We present a Mathematica code FeynMG, which works in conjunction with the well-known package FeynRules, to do just that: FeynMG takes as inputs the FeynRules model file for a non-gravitational theory and a user-supplied gravitational Lagrangian. FeynMG provides functionality that inserts the minimal gravitational couplings of the degrees of freedom specified in the model file, determines the couplings of the additional tensor and scalar degrees of freedom (the metric and the scalar field from the gravitational sector), and preconditions the resulting Lagrangian so that it can be passed to FeynRules, either directly or by outputting an updated FeynRules model file. The Feynman rules can then be determined and output through FeynRules, using existing universal output formats and interfaces to other analysis packages

Scaling solutions as Early Dark Energy resolutions to the Hubble tension

A wide class of scalar field models including Quintessence and K-essence have the attractive property of tracker regimes, where the energy density stored in the field evolves so as to mimic that of the dominant background component. During this evolution, for a brief period of time, there is an increase in the energy density of the field as it spirals in towards its attractor solution. We show that when the peak of this energy density occurs around the epoch of equality, we can address a key requirement of early dark energy (EDE), postulated as a solution to the Hubble tension. In particular we demonstrate how this can occur in a wide class of Quintessence, axion and K-essence models, before showing that the Quintessence models suffer in that they generally lead to sound speeds incompatible with the requirements of EDE, whereas the K-essence and axion models can do a better job of fitting the data

Monitorización de parámetros de calidad de redes de transmisión mediante alta resolución espectral en dominio óptico

La creciente demanda de mayor ancho de banda en los sistemas de comunicación globales exige una arquitectura cada vez mas compleja donde toman fuerza aquellas redes en las cuales se prescinde de puntos de regeneración intermedios. Los sistemas con multiplexación densa en longitud de onda (DWDM) de camino reconfigurable exigen una revisión de los estándares de medida de parámetros de calidad como la dispersión del modo de polarización (PMD) o la relación señal a ruido óptica (OSNR). Se describen en este trabajo las posibilidades que ofrece el análisis de espectros mediante difusión Brillouin estimulada para la monitorización de PMD y OSNR frente a métodos convencionales. El uso de la difusión Brillouin estimulada como filtro en un analizador de espectros ópticos permite obtener valores de densidad de potencia en intervalos espectrales suficientemente estrechos como para no verse alterados por la proximidad entre canales. El análisis espectral de alta resolución introduce mejoras significativas en los métodos de medida de OSNR basados en la supresión de señal por polarización, al hacerlos compatibles con variaciones del estado de polarización a lo largo del ancho de banda de la señal. Además, la coherencia intrínseca del efecto de dispersión Brillouin permite monitorizar diferencias en estado de polarización entre componentes espectrales de la señal, y caracterizar de esta manera en dominio óptico la degradación por PMD presente en cada uno de los canales de una señal problema sin necesidad de recurrir a métodos en detección como el diagrama de ojo o la tasa de error de bit

Towards a cloud‑based automated surveillance system using wireless technologies

Cloud Computing can bring multiple benefits for Smart Cities. It permits the easy creation of centralized knowledge bases, thus straightforwardly enabling that multiple embedded systems (such as sensor or control devices) can have a collaborative, shared intelligence. In addition to this, thanks to its vast computing power, complex tasks can be done over low-spec devices just by offloading computation to the cloud, with the additional advantage of saving energy. In this work, cloud’s capabilities are exploited to implement and test a cloud-based surveillance system. Using a shared, 3D symbolic world model, different devices have a complete knowledge of all the elements, people and intruders in a certain open area or inside a building. The implementation of a volumetric, 3D, object-oriented, cloud-based world model (including semantic information) is novel as far as we know. Very simple devices (orange Pi) can send RGBD streams (using kinect cameras) to the cloud, where all the processing is distributed and done thanks to its inherent scalability. A proof-of-concept experiment is done in this paper in a testing lab with multiple cameras connected to the cloud with 802.11ac wireless technology. Our results show that this kind of surveillance system is possible currently, and that trends indicate that it can be improved at a short term to produce high performance vigilance system using low-speed devices. In addition, this proof-of-concept claims that many interesting opportunities and challenges arise, for example, when mobile watch robots and fixed cameras would act as a team for carrying out complex collaborative surveillance strategies.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TEC2016-77785-PJunta de Andalucía P12-TIC-130