2,776 research outputs found
Recent advances in metallic glass nanostructures: synthesis strategies and electrocatalytic applications
Recent advances in metallic glass nanostructures (MGNs) are reported, covering a wide array of synthesis strategies, computational discovery, and design solutions that provide insight into distinct electrocatalytic applications. A brief introduction to the development and unique features of MGNs with an overview of top-down and bottom-up synthesis strategies is presented. Specifically, the morphology and structural analysis of several examples applying MGNs as electrodes are highlighted. Subsequently, a comprehensive discussion of commonly employed kinetic parameters and their connection with the unique material structures of MGNs on individual electrocatalytic reactions is made, including the hydrogen evolution reaction, oxygen reduction reaction, and alcohol (methanol or ethanol) oxidation reaction. Finally, a summary of the challenges and perspective on the future research and development relevant to MGNs as electrocatalysts is provided.317FAPESP – FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO2017/11958‐
The Molecular Condensations Ahead of Herbig-Haro Objects. III. Radiative and dynamical perturbations of the HH 2 condensation
We have carried out an extensive observational study (from BIMA data) and
made a preliminary theoretical investigation of the molecular gas around HH2.
The molecular maps show a very complex morphological, kinematical and chemical
structure. The overall main conclusion of this work confirms the findings of
Paper I and II, by demonstrating that in addition to the strong photochemical
effects caused by penetration of the UV photons from HH2 into molecular cloud,
a range of complex radiative and dynamical interactions occur. Thus, despite
the apparent `quiescent' nature of the molecular cloud ahead of HH2, the
kinematical properties observed within the field of view suggest that it is
possibly being driven out by powerful winds from the VLA 1 protostar.Comment: 20 pages. Accepted for publication to Astronomy & Astrophysic
The prestellar and protostellar population of R Coronae Australis
We present 450 and 850 um maps of R Coronae Australis. We compare the maps to
previous surveys of the region, and shed new light on the previously unknown
nature of the protostellar sources at the centre of the cloud. We clarify the
nature of two millimetre sources previously discovered in lower resolution
data. We identify one new Class 0 protostar that we label SMM 1B, and we
measure the envelope masses of a number of more evolved protostars. We identify
two new prestellar cores that we call SMM 1A and SMM 6.Comment: 8 page
Receptivity to freestream acoustic noise in hypersonic flow over a generic forebody
Direct numerical simulations of the Navier–Stokes equations have been performed to investigate the receptivity and breakdown mechanisms in a Mach 6 flow over a generic forebody geometry with freestream acoustic disturbances. The simulations are based on transition experiments carried out in April 2015 in the Boeing/U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research Mach 6 facility at Purdue University. A three-dimensional model for both fast and slow freestream acoustic waves with multiple frequencies and spanwise wave numbers has been adopted in the numerical simulations, for which high-amplitude disturbances have been considered in order to simulate noisy wind-tunnel conditions. The numerical results revealed similarities in comparison to the experimental observations, especially when slow acoustic waves were considered as freestream disturbances. In particular, slow acoustic waves have been found to induce the breakdown process via crossflow instabilities located in the off-centerline region, with formation of streamwise streaks. Fast acoustic waves, in contrast, appeared more efficient in inducing earlier nonlinear growth through destabilization of the boundary layer along the symmetry plane of the body.Published versio
Visualizing sound emission of elephant vocalizations: evidence for two rumble production types
Recent comparative data reveal that formant frequencies are cues to body size in animals, due to a close relationship between formant frequency spacing, vocal tract length and overall body size. Accordingly, intriguing morphological adaptations to elongate the vocal tract in order to lower formants occur in several species, with the size exaggeration hypothesis being proposed to justify most of these observations. While the elephant trunk is strongly implicated to account for the low formants of elephant rumbles, it is unknown whether elephants emit these vocalizations exclusively through the trunk, or whether the mouth is also involved in rumble production. In this study we used a sound visualization method (an acoustic camera) to record rumbles of five captive African elephants during spatial separation and subsequent bonding situations. Our results showed that the female elephants in our analysis produced two distinct types of rumble vocalizations based on vocal path differences: a nasally- and an orally-emitted rumble. Interestingly, nasal rumbles predominated during contact calling, whereas oral rumbles were mainly produced in bonding situations. In addition, nasal and oral rumbles varied considerably in their acoustic structure. In particular, the values of the first two formants reflected the estimated lengths of the vocal paths, corresponding to a vocal tract length of around 2 meters for nasal, and around 0.7 meters for oral rumbles. These results suggest that African elephants may be switching vocal paths to actively vary vocal tract length (with considerable variation in formants) according to context, and call for further research investigating the function of formant modulation in elephant vocalizations. Furthermore, by confirming the use of the elephant trunk in long distance rumble production, our findings provide an explanation for the extremely low formants in these calls, and may also indicate that formant lowering functions to increase call propagation distances in this species'
Strong-coupling study of the Gribov ambiguity in lattice Landau gauge
We study the strong-coupling limit beta=0 of lattice SU(2) Landau gauge
Yang-Mills theory. In this limit the lattice spacing is infinite, and thus all
momenta in physical units are infinitesimally small. Hence, the infrared
behavior can be assessed at sufficiently large lattice momenta. Our results
show that at the lattice volumes used here, the Gribov ambiguity has an
enormous effect on the ghost propagator in all dimensions. This underlines the
severity of the Gribov problem and calls for refined studies also at finite
beta. In turn, the gluon propagator only mildly depends on the Gribov
ambiguity.Comment: 14 pages, 22 figures; minor changes, matches version to appear in
Eur. Phys. J.
Infrared exponents and the strong-coupling limit in lattice Landau gauge
We study the gluon and ghost propagators of lattice Landau gauge in the
strong-coupling limit beta=0 in pure SU(2) lattice gauge theory to find
evidence of the conformal infrared behavior of these propagators as predicted
by a variety of functional continuum methods for asymptotically small momenta
. In the strong-coupling limit, this same
behavior is obtained for the larger values of a^2q^2 (in units of the lattice
spacing a), where it is otherwise swamped by the gauge field dynamics.
Deviations for a^2q^2 < 1 are well parameterized by a transverse gluon mass
. Perhaps unexpectedly, these deviations are thus no finite-volume
effect but persist in the infinite-volume limit. They furthermore depend on the
definition of gauge fields on the lattice, while the asymptotic conformal
behavior does not. We also comment on a misinterpretation of our results by
Cucchieri and Mendes in Phys. Rev. D81 (2010) 016005.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures. Revised version (mainly sections I and II);
references and comments on subsequent work on the subject added
Measured optical constants of Pd_(77.5)Cu_6Si_(16.5) bulk metallic glass
Optical constants of Pd_(77.5)Cu_6Si_(16.5) alloy were determined experimentally using spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements on bulk specimens. Values of the complex refractive index of the glassy metallic alloys are compared to their crystalline counterparts and to pure crystalline Pd. The presence of Cu and Si increase the occurrence of defects in the crystal lattice resulting in reduced refractive index in the crystalline alloy when compared to pure crystalline Pd. Moreover, we show the conduction band energy of each specimen using Tauc’s plot. The obtained complex refractive index across the spectrum (250 – 1500nm) allows for accurate prediction of optical performance within the investigated spectral range providing optimal design for optical devices
Can a CPT Violating Ether Solve ALL Electron (Anti)Neutrino Puzzles?
Assuming that CPT is violated in the neutrino sector seems to be a viable
alternative to sterile neutrinos when it comes to reconciling the LSND anomaly
with the remainder of the neutrino data. There are different (distinguishable)
ways of incorporating CPT violation into the standard model, including
postulating m different from \bar{m}. Here, I investigate the possibility of
introducing CPT violation via Lorentz-invariance violating effective operators
(``Ether'' potentials) which modify neutrino oscillation patterns like ordinary
matter effects. I argue that, within a simplified two-flavor like oscillation
analysis, one cannot solve the solar neutrino puzzle and LSND anomaly while
still respecting constraints imposed by other neutrino experiments, and comment
on whether significant improvements should be expected from a three-flavor
analysis. If one turns the picture upside down, some of the most severe
constrains on such CPT violating terms can already be obtained from the current
neutrino data, while much more severe constraints can arise from future
neutrino oscillation experiments.Comment: 10 pages, 1 eps figure; version to appear in PRD. Comment added,
mistake corrected, results and conclusions unchange
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