38 research outputs found

    Ontology Evolution for Experimental Data in Food

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    International audienceThroughout its life cycle, an ontology may change in order to adapt to domain changes or to new usages. This paper presents an ontology evolution activity [1] applied to an ontology dedicated to the annotation of experimental data in food [2], and a plug-in, DynarOnto, which assists ontology engineers for carrying out the ontology changes. Our evolution method is an a priori method which takes as input an ontology in a consistent state, implements the changes selected to be applied and manages all the consequences of those changes by producing an ontology in a consistent state

    A fundamental relation between phase and group velocity, and application to the failure of perfectly matched layers in backward-wave structures

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    http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevE.79.065601We demonstrate that the ratio of group to phase velocity has a simple relationship to the orientation of the electromagnetic field. In nondispersive materials, opposite group and phase velocity corresponds to fields that are mostly oriented in the propagation direction. More generally, this relationship (including the case of dispersive and negative-index materials) offers a perspective on the phenomena of backward waves and left-handed media. As an application of this relationship, we demonstrate and explain an irrecoverable failure of perfectly matched layer absorbing boundaries in computer simulations for constant cross-section waveguides with backward-wave modes and suggest an alternative in the form of adiabatic isotropic absorbers

    Virtual photons in imaginary time: Computing exact Casimir forces via standard numerical-electromagnetism techniques

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    We describe a numerical method to compute Casimir forces in arbitrary geometries, for arbitrary dielectric and metallic materials, with arbitrary accuracy (given sufficient computational resources). Our approach, based on well-established integration of the mean stress tensor evaluated via the fluctuation-dissipation theorem, is designed to directly exploit fast methods developed for classical computational electromagnetism, since it only involves repeated evaluation of the Green's function for imaginary frequencies (equivalently, real frequencies in imaginary time). We develop the approach by systematically examining various formulations of Casimir forces from the previous decades and evaluating them according to their suitability for numerical computation. We illustrate our approach with a simple finite-difference frequency-domain implementation, test it for known geometries such as a cylinder and a plate, and apply it to new geometries. In particular, we show that a piston-like geometry of two squares sliding between metal walls, in both two and three dimensions with both perfect and realistic metallic materials, exhibits a surprising non-monotonic ``lateral'' force from the walls.Comment: Published in Physical Review A, vol. 76, page 032106 (2007

    Azo-polymers photofluidisation - a transient state of matter emulated by molecular motors

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    The generation of nanostructured azo-polymer films upon interaction with light of a certain wavelength was reported for the first time more than two decades ago. Despite continuous efforts the mechanism governing structuration remains under debate. In the present paper we propose a new phenomenological model of inscription based on a particular state of matter induced by continuous laser irradiation. The continuous trans-cis-trans motion of azo-segments, resembling molecular motors, induces polymer chain displacement (flowing) even when the irradiated polymer has a very high viscosity. Film surface deformation is the result of two simultaneous processes, one or the other being dominant, as a function of the operational conditions and the azo-polymer chemical structure; the first process, is irreversible and based on the azobenzene molecular motor action leading to polymeric chain displacement (flow) and the second one, is reversible and an elastic deformation induced by the Weigert effect

    Potential barrier increase due to Gd doping of BiFeO3 layers in Nb:SrTiO3-BiFeO3-Pt structures displaying diode-like behavior

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    The rectifying properties of Nb:SrTiO3-Bi1-xGdxFeO3-Pt structures (x = 0, 0.05, 0.1) displaying diode-like behavior were investigated via current-voltage characteristics at different temperatures. The potential barrier was estimated for negative polarity assuming a Schottky-like thermionic emission with injection controlled by the interface and the drift controlled by the bulk. The height of the potential barrier at the Nb:SrTiO3-Bi1-xGdxFeO3 interface increases with Gd doping. The results are explained by the partial compensation of the p-type conduction due to Bi vacancies with Gd doping in addition to the shift of the Fermi level towards the middle of the bandgap with increasing dopant concentration
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