9,154 research outputs found
Slip energy barriers in aluminum and implications for ductile versus brittle behavior
We conisder the brittle versus ductile behavior of aluminum in the framework
of the Peierls-model analysis of dislocation emission from a crack tip. To this
end, we perform first-principles quantum mechanical calculations for the
unstable stacking energy of aluminum along the Shockley partial
slip route. Our calculations are based on density functional theory and the
local density approximation and include full atomic and volume relaxation. We
find that in aluminum J/m. Within the Peierls-model
analysis, this value would predict a brittle solid which poses an interesting
problem since aluminum is typically considered ductile. The resolution may be
given by one of three possibilites: (a) Aluminum is indeed brittle at zero
temperature, and becomes ductile at a finite temperature due to motion of
pre-existing dislocations which relax the stress concentration at the crack
tip. (b) Dislocation emission at the crack tip is itself a thermally activated
process. (c) Aluminum is actually ductile at all temperatures and the
theoretical model employed needs to be significantly improved in order to
resolve the apparent contradiction.Comment: 4 figures (not included; send requests to [email protected]
Measurement of Linear Stark Interference in 199Hg
We present measurements of Stark interference in the 6
6 transition in Hg, a process whereby a static electric field
mixes magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole couplings into an electric
dipole transition, leading to -linear energy shifts similar to those
produced by a permanent atomic electric dipole moment (EDM). The measured
interference amplitude, = = (5.8 1.5) (kV/cm), agrees with relativistic, many-body predictions and
confirms that earlier central-field estimates are a factor of 10 too large.
More importantly, this study validates the capability of the Hg EDM
search apparatus to resolve non-trivial, controlled, and sub-nHz Larmor
frequency shifts with EDM-like characteristics.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, 1 table; revised in response to reviewer comment
Welsh students at Oxford, Cambridge and the inns of court during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.
Between c.1540 and 1640 at least 2500 Welsh students entered
Oxford and Cambridge universities and the inns of court in London.
Oxford had attracted many Welshmen in the middle ages, and continued
to receive the majority, who were at their greatest proportion to the
total student body in the 1590s. The popularity of Cambridge and
the inns emerged after 1600, centring on the admission of wealthier
students. Relative to population, North Wales counties were better
represented. Approximately two—fifths of registered university
Welsh entrants graduated B.A. or higher, and about one—fifth of the
inns' Welsh intake became barristers.
Areal affinities figured significantly in Welsh associations
with particular inns and colleges. Some colleges offered scholarships
and fellowships to the Welsh, and new endowments strengthened
these links. The presence of Welsh officials represented another
bond, while the cautions and guarantor schemes, especially at the
inns, further embodied areal ties. Kindred loyalties also counted.
This influx in admissions coincided with advances in Welsh
schooling, which leading social groups supported. Important
university bequests followed to assist Welsh students, notably at
Jesus College, Oxford, and St. John's College, Cambridge. Informal
financial contributions to the inns helped Welshmen there.
Interest in higher education was reflected in the professions.
The quality of the Welsh clergy improved by the early seventeenth
century, though there was still a dearth of divinity graduates,
and many Welsh students gained better preferment in England. The
traditional Welsh association with ecclesiastical and civil law
was superseded by the superior attraction of the common law, many
barristers benefiting from the new Welsh courts system.
University and inn alumni were prominent among Welsh members
of Parliament and among justices of the peace by the 1630s. The
educational experience contributed to Welsh cultural change, challenging
the preconceptions of bardic learning and promoting new
literature and values
Soil stabilisation for DNA metabarcoding of plants and fungi. Implications for sampling at remote locations or via third-parties
Storage of soil samples prior to metagenomic analysis presents a problem. If field sites are remote or if samples are collected by third parties, transport to analytical laboratories may take several days or even weeks. The bulk of such samples and requirement for later homogenisation precludes the convenient use of a stabilisation buffer, so samples are usually cooled or frozen during transit. There has been limited testing of the most appropriate storage methods for later study of soil organisms by eDNA approaches. Here we tested a range of storage methods on two contrasting soils, comparing these methods to the control of freezing at -80 °C, followed by freeze-drying. To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the effect of storage conditions on eukaryote DNA in soil, including both viable organisms (fungi) and DNA contained within dying/dead tissues (plants). For fungi, the best storage regimes (closest to the control) were storage at 4 °C (for up to 14 d) or active air-drying at room temperature. The worst treatments involved initial freezing, followed by thawing which led to significant later spoilage. The key spoilage organisms were identified as Metarhizium carneum and Mortierella spp., with a general increase in saprotrophic fungi and reduced abundances of mycorrhizal/biotrophic fungi. Plant data showed a similar pattern, but with greater variability in community structure, especially in the freeze-thaw treatments, probably due to stochastic variation in substrates for fungal decomposition, algal proliferation and some seed germination. In the absence of freeze drying facilities, samples should be shipped refrigerated, but not frozen if there is any risk of thawing
Improved limit on the permanent electric dipole moment of 199Hg
We report the results of a new experimental search for a permanent electric
dipole moment of 199Hg utilizing a stack of four vapor cells. We find d(199Hg)
= (0.49 \pm 1.29_stat \pm 0.76_syst) x 10^{-29} e cm, and interpret this as a
new upper bound, |d(199Hg)| < 3.1 x 10^{-29} e cm (95% C.L.). This result
improves our previous 199Hg limit by a factor of 7, and can be used to set new
constraints on CP violation in physics beyond the standard model.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. additional reference, minor edits in response to
reviewer comment
Incorporating Inductances in Tissue-Scale Models of Cardiac Electrophysiology
In standard models of cardiac electrophysiology, including the bidomain and
monodomain models, local perturbations can propagate at infinite speed. We
address this unrealistic property by developing a hyperbolic bidomain model
that is based on a generalization of Ohm's law with a Cattaneo-type model for
the fluxes. Further, we obtain a hyperbolic monodomain model in the case that
the intracellular and extracellular conductivity tensors have the same
anisotropy ratio. In one spatial dimension, the hyperbolic monodomain model is
equivalent to a cable model that includes axial inductances, and the relaxation
times of the Cattaneo fluxes are strictly related to these inductances. A
purely linear analysis shows that the inductances are negligible, but models of
cardiac electrophysiology are highly nonlinear, and linear predictions may not
capture the fully nonlinear dynamics. In fact, contrary to the linear analysis,
we show that for simple nonlinear ionic models, an increase in conduction
velocity is obtained for small and moderate values of the relaxation time. A
similar behavior is also demonstrated with biophysically detailed ionic models.
Using the Fenton-Karma model along with a low-order finite element spatial
discretization, we numerically analyze differences between the standard
monodomain model and the hyperbolic monodomain model. In a simple benchmark
test, we show that the propagation of the action potential is strongly
influenced by the alignment of the fibers with respect to the mesh in both the
parabolic and hyperbolic models when using relatively coarse spatial
discretizations. Accurate predictions of the conduction velocity require
computational mesh spacings on the order of a single cardiac cell. We also
compare the two formulations in the case of spiral break up and atrial
fibrillation in an anatomically detailed model of the left atrium, and [...].Comment: 20 pages, 12 figure
WHAT TASKS TO AUTOMATE? AN INVESTIGATION OF WHAT TASKS MAKE SENSE TO AUTOMATE FOR FUTURE AVIATION PLATFORMS
The Army is developing a new generation of aircraft called Future Vertical Lift (FVL). These aircraft will integrate new technologies that change Army Aviation’s machinery, methods, and aircrew domains. Key to this effort is the development of automation to reduce pilot cognitive workload and prevent cognitive overload.
The purpose of this research was to develop an understanding of the factors that influence pilot cognitive workload and to provide insight into what tasks make sense to automate for FVL. Researchers used a mixed methods approach, relying on scholarly literature and semi-structured interviews to elicit cognitive workload data from Army rotary-wing pilots. Researchers used the data from a simple and a complex MEDEVAC flight scenario to develop an influence diagram that models pilot cognitive workload based on influencing factors and subfactors.
At a high level, the data indicate that pilot task demand and environmental factors have the most influence on cognitive workload during complex missions in challenging conditions. At a low level, the data indicate that light factors, intra-flight coordination, and task complexity are most influential on cognitive workload. The results suggest that tasks impacting these factors should be considered for automation to prevent pilot cognitive overload in FVL.DEVCOM AvMCCaptain, United States ArmyMajor, United States ArmyCaptain, United States ArmyMajor, United States ArmyApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited
Derivation of tropospheric methane from TCCON CHâ‚„ and HF total column observations
The Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) is a global ground-based network of Fourier transform spectrometers that produce precise measurements of column-averaged dry-air mole fractions of atmospheric methane (CHâ‚„). Temporal variability in the total column of CHâ‚„ due to stratospheric dynamics obscures fluctuations and trends driven by tropospheric transport and local surface fluxes that are critical for understanding CHâ‚„ sources and sinks. We reduce the contribution of stratospheric variability from the total column average by subtracting an estimate of the stratospheric CHâ‚„ derived from simultaneous measurements of hydrogen fluoride (HF). HF provides a proxy for stratospheric CHâ‚„ because it is strongly correlated to CHâ‚„ in the stratosphere, has an accurately known tropospheric abundance (of zero), and is measured at most TCCON stations. The stratospheric partial column of CHâ‚„ is calculated as a function of the zonal and annual trends in the relationship between CHâ‚„ and HF in the stratosphere, which we determine from ACE-FTS satellite data. We also explicitly take into account the CHâ‚„ column averaging kernel to estimate the contribution of stratospheric CHâ‚„ to the total column. The resulting tropospheric CHâ‚„ columns are consistent with in situ aircraft measurements and augment existing observations in the troposphere
Reading Chaucer in New College, Oxford, in the 1630s: The Commendatory Verses to Francis Kynaston’s Amorum Troili et Creseidae
The Latin translation of Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde by Sir Francis Kynaston or Kinaston, published in part in 1635 as Amorum Troili et Creseidæ libri duo priores Anglico-Latini (‘The two first books of the Loves of Troilus and Criseyde, in English and Latin’), has long been acknowledged as a particularly sensitive and detailed example of the seventeenth century’s scholarly engagement with Middle English poetry. Kynaston’s work was published not in London, as we might expect, but in Oxford, by the printer to the university, John Lichfield, and the fifteen commendatory poems that appear in the volume offer a multitude of perspectives not only on Kynaston’s project, but also on Chaucer and his writings. Among the authors of these prefatory verses there is a peculiar dominance of fellows of New College, and the detailed knowledge of Chaucer’s works that they reveal gives a suggestive insight into how groups of Oxford scholars engaged with Kynaston’s activities as a translator through their own reading of Chaucer. In this article we investigate these commendatory verses, a narrow but rich seam of evidence for a variety of attitudes to Chaucer in the seventeenth century that occupy an unusual position in the history of Chaucer’s reception. Taken as a whole, we argue, the poems suggest a peculiar concentration of Chaucerian enthusiasm in New College, Oxford in the period
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