Evidence for a chemical-thermal structure at base of mantle from sharp lateral P-wave variations beneath Central America

Compressional waves that sample the lowermost mantle west of Central America show a rapid change in travel times of up to 4 s over a sampling distance of 300 km and a change in waveforms. The differential travel times of the PKP waves (which traverse Earth's core) correlate remarkably well with predictions for S-wave tomography. Our modeling suggests a sharp transition in the lowermost mantle from a broad slow region to a broad fast region with a narrow zone of slowest anomaly next to the boundary beneath the Cocos Plate and the Caribbean Plate. The structure may be the result of ponding of ancient subducted Farallon slabs situated near the edge of a thermal and chemical upwelling

Design, implementation, and testing of advanced virtual coordinate-measuring machines

Copyright @ 2011 IEEE. This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Advanced virtual coordinate-measuring machines (CMMs) (AVCMMs) have recently been developed at Brunel University, which provide vivid graphical representation and powerful simulation of CMM operations, together with Monte-Carlo-based uncertainty evaluation. In an integrated virtual environment, the user can plan an inspection strategy for a given task, carry out virtual measurements, and evaluate the uncertainty associated with the measurement results, all without the need of using a physical machine. The obtained estimate of uncertainty can serve as a rapid feedback for the user to optimize the inspection plan in the AVCMM before actual measurements or as an evaluation of the measurement results performed. This paper details the methodology, design, and implementation of the AVCMM system, including CMM modeling, probe contact and collision detection, error modeling and simulation, and uncertainty evaluation. This paper further reports experimental results for the testing of the AVCMM

The spin-polarized ν=0\nu=0 state of graphene: a spin superconductor

We study the spin-polarized $\nu=0$ Landau-level state of graphene. Due to the electron-hole attractive interaction, electrons and holes can bound into pairs. These pairs can then condense into a spin-triplet superfluid ground state: a spin superconductor state. In this state, a gap opens up in the edge bands as well as in the bulk bands, thus it is a charge insulator, but it can carry the spin current without dissipation. These results can well explain the insulating behavior of the spin-polarized $\nu=0$ state in the recent experiments.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

A 0.18μm CMOS 9mW current-mode FLF linear phase filter with gain boost

“This material is presented to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by authors or by other copyright holders. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and constraints invoked by each author's copyright. In most cases, these works may not be reposted without the explicit permission of the copyright holder." “Copyright IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE.”The design and implementation of a CMOS continuous-time follow-the-leader-feedback (FLF) filter is described. The filter is implemented using a fully-differential linear, low voltage and low power consumption operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) based on a source degeneration topology. PSpice simulations using a standard TSMC 0.18 mum CMOS process with 2 V power supply have shown that the cut-off frequency of the filter ranges from 55 MHz to 160 MHz and dynamic range is about 45 dB. The group delay is less than 5% over the whole tuning range; the power consumption is only 9 mW

Theoretical limit of the minimal magnetization switching field and the optimal field pulse for Stoner particles

The theoretical limit of the minimal magnetization switching field and the optimal field pulse design for uniaxial Stoner particles are investigated. Two results are obtained. One is the existence of a theoretical limit of the smallest magnetic field out of all possible designs. It is shown that the limit is proportional to the damping constant in the weak damping regime and approaches the Stoner-Wohlfarth (SW) limit at large damping. For a realistic damping constant, this limit is more than ten times smaller than that of so-called precessional magnetization reversal under a non-collinear static field. The other is on the optimal field pulse design: If the magnitude of a magnetic field does not change, but its direction can vary during a reversal process, there is an optimal design that gives the shortest switching time. The switching time depends on the field magnitude, damping constant, and magnetic anisotropy. However, the optimal pulse shape depends only on the damping constant.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure