1,626 research outputs found
Singular Values, Nematic Disclinations, and Emergent Biaxiality
Both uniaxial and biaxial nematic liquid crystals are defined by
orientational ordering of their building blocks. While uniaxial nematics only
orient the long molecular axis, biaxial order implies local order along three
axes. As the natural degree of biaxiality and the associated frame, that can be
extracted from the tensorial description of the nematic order, vanishes in the
uniaxial phase, we extend the nematic director to a full biaxial frame by
making use of a singular value decomposition of the gradient of the director
field instead. New defects and degrees of freedom are unveiled and the
similarities and differences between the uniaxial and biaxial phase are
analyzed by applying the algebraic rules of the quaternion group to the
uniaxial phase.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, submitted to PR
Large-Scale Flexible Membrane for Automatic Strain Monitoring of Transportation Infrastructure
Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) of transportation infrastructures is a complex task, typically conducted by visual inspection due to the technical and economical constrains of existing health monitoring technologies. It results that health monitoring is highly dependent on scheduling and on the judgment of the inspectors, which can be costly and ineffective. Thus, it is fundamental to automate the SHM process to allow timely inspection, maintenance, and management of transportation infrastructure. The authors propose a flexible membrane that can be deployed over large surfaces, at low cost, for automatic and continuous monitoring of strains. The membrane, termed sensing skin, is constituted by several patches for surface discretization. Each patch is a soft capacitor, where a measured change in capacitance has a linear correspondence with changes in strain, which allows simple data processing. This paper discusses recent advances in the sensing skin, and demonstrates its promise at smart monitoring of transportation infrastructure. The novel sensor is currently installed on a highway bridge in Ames, Iowa. Preliminary results show the sensor is still functioning as designed. Direct benefits of the proposed technology to transportation infrastructure include 1) improved cost-effectiveness; 2) increased life-span; 3) enhanced resiliency; and 4) higher confidence of the public
Towards a model managing job change : a system thinking approach
Bibliography: leaves 46-48.The background of my project was a promotion within the same company that necessitated relocation from one city to another, and also a change in job focus. Whilst both jobs remained in the technical domain, the first was rooted in quality management and improvement at a plant level, whereas the second involved specialized technical consulting across the whole organization. My notion was that a study of this change could improve my personal situation as well as my understanding and management of personal change. My notion was also that I would be able to experientially learn how to improve my practice of managing change in general
The Geometry of the Cholesteric Phase
We propose a construction of a cholesteric pitch axis for an arbitrary
nematic director field as an eigenvalue problem. Our definition leads to a
Frenet-Serret description of an orthonormal triad determined by this axis, the
director, and the mutually perpendicular direction. With this tool we are able
to compare defect structures in cholesterics, biaxial nematics, and smectics.
Though they all have similar ground state manifolds, the defect structures are
different and cannot be, in general, translated from one phase to the other.Comment: 5 pages, the full catastroph
Geometry of the cholesteric phase
We propose a construction of a cholesteric pitch axis for an arbitrary nematic director field as an eigenvalue problem. Our definition leads to a Frenet-Serret description of an orthonormal triad determined by this axis, the director, and the mutually perpendicular direction. With this tool, we are able to compare defect structures in cholesterics, biaxial nematics, and smectics. Though they all have similar ground state manifolds, the defect structures are different and cannot, in general, be translated from one phase to the other
An investigation of processes which mediate the mobility of arsenic, cadmium, and chromium in soils and sediments.
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