7,209 research outputs found
Velocity weakening and possibility of aftershocks in nanofriction experiments
We study the frictional behavior of small contacts as those realized in the
atomic force microscope and other experimental setups, in the framework of
generalized Prandtl-Tomlinson models. Particular attention is paid to
mechanisms that generate velocity weakening, namely a decreasing average
friction force with the relative sliding velocity.The mechanisms studied model
the possibility of viscous relaxation, or aging effects in the contact. It is
found that, in addition to producing velocity weakening, these mechanisms can
also produce aftershocks at sufficiently low sliding velocities. This provides
a remarkable analogy at the microscale, of friction properties at the
macroscale, where aftershocks and velocity weakening are two fundamental
features of seismic phenomena.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure
Local spectroscopy and atomic imaging of tunneling current, forces and dissipation on graphite
Theory predicts that the currents in scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and
the attractive forces measured in atomic force microscopy (AFM) are directly
related. Atomic images obtained in an attractive AFM mode should therefore be
redundant because they should be \emph{similar} to STM. Here, we show that
while the distance dependence of current and force is similar for graphite,
constant-height AFM- and STM images differ substantially depending on distance
and bias voltage. We perform spectroscopy of the tunneling current, the
frequency shift and the damping signal at high-symmetry lattice sites of the
graphite (0001) surface. The dissipation signal is about twice as sensitive to
distance as the frequency shift, explained by the Prandtl-Tomlinson model of
atomic friction.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted at Physical Review Letter
Assessing the sociology of sport: On sports mega-events and capitalist modernity
On the 50th anniversary of the ISSA and IRSS, one of the leading international scholars on sport and consumer culture, John Horne, considers the trajectory and challenges of research on sports mega-events and their place in capitalist modernity. In anchoring work on this topic in Roche’s definition of mega-events, Horne notes that sports mega-events are important symbolic, economic, and political elements in the orientation of nations to stake their place in global society. Fundamental issues about the concept of ‘mega-event’ pose challenges for scholars as questions remain over what qualifies as a sports mega-event and how ‘lived experience’ with such events transacts with media spectacularization and characterization. The essay closes by posing broader questions for further investigation about the economic, political, and social risks and benefits of sports mega-events and how these events may portend and relate to changing relations of economic and political power on a global scale
Design, fabrication, and delivery of a charge injection device as a stellar tracking device
Six 128 x 128 CID imagers fabricated on bulk silicon and with thin polysilicon upper-level electrodes were tested in a star tracking mode. Noise and spectral response were measured as a function of temperature over the range of +25 C to -40 C. Noise at 0 C and below was less than 40 rms carriers/pixel for all devices at an effective noise bandwidth of 150 Hz. Quantum yield for all devices averaged 40% from 0.4 to 1.0 microns with no measurable temperature dependence. Extrapolating from these performance parameters to those of a large (400 x 400) array and accounting for design and processing improvements, indicates that the larger array would show a further improvement in noise performance -- on the order of 25 carriers. A preliminary evaluation of the projected performance of the 400 x 400 array and a representative set of star sensor requirements indicates that the CID has excellent potential as a stellar tracking device
Dynamics of Phononic Dissipation at the Atomic Scale: Dependence on Internal Degrees of Freedom
Dynamics of dissipation of a local phonon distribution to the substrate is a
key issue in friction between sliding surfaces as well as in boundary
lubrication. We consider a model system consisting of an excited nano-particle
which is weakly coupled with a substrate. Using three different methods we
solve the dynamics of energy dissipation for different types of coupling
between the nano-particle and the substrate, where different types of
dimensionality and phonon densities of states were also considered for the
substrate. In this paper, we present our analysis of transient properties of
energy dissipation via phonon discharge in the microscopic level towards the
substrate. Our theoretical analysis can be extended to treat realistic
lubricant molecules or asperities, and also substrates with more complex
densities of states. We found that the decay rate of the nano-particle phonons
increases as the square of the interaction constant in the harmonic
approximation.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Tawney and the third way
From the 1920s to the 1950s R. H. Tawney was the most influential socialist thinker in Britain. He articulated an ethical socialism at odds with powerful statist and mechanistic traditions in British socialist thinking. Tawney's work is thus an important antecedent to third way thinking. Tawney's religiously-based critique of the morality of capitalism was combined with a concern for detailed institutional reform, challenging simple dichotomies between public and private ownership. He began a debate about democratizing the enterprise and corporate governance though his efforts fell on stony ground. Conversely, Tawney's moralism informed a whole-hearted condemnation of market forces in tension with both his concern with institutional reform and modern third way thought. Unfortunately, he refused to engage seriously with emergent welfare economics which for many social democrats promised a more nuanced understanding of the limits of market forces. Tawney's legacy is a complex one, whose various elements form a vital part of the intellectual background to current third way thinking
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and Hyperfine Structure
Contains reports on three research projects
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