1,084 research outputs found
PLA/WOOD BIOCOMPOSITES: IMPROVING COMPOSITE STRENGTH BY CHEMICAL TREATMENT OF THE FIBERS
A resol type phenolic resin was prepared for the impregnation of wood particles used for the reinforcement of PLA. A preliminary study showed that the resin penetrates wood with rates depending on the concentration of the solution and on temperature. Treatment with a solution of 1 wt% resin resulted in a considerable increase of composite strength and decrease of water absorption. Composite strength improved as a result of increased inherent strength of the wood, but interfacial adhesion might be modified as well. When wood was treated with resin solutions of larger concentrations, the strength of the composites decreased, first slightly, then drastically to a very small value. A larger amount of resin results in a thick coating on wood with inferior mechanical properties. At large resin contents the mechanism of deformation changes; the thick coating breaks very easily leading to the catastrophic failure of the composites at very small loads
Influence of electrical stimulation on regeneration of the radial nerve in dogs
The effects of biphasic electric fields on nerve regeneration that follows injury to the left radial nerve were studied in dogs by electromyography (EMG). Left and right radial nerves were crushed with a serrated haemostat. Stimulating electrodes were positioned proximally and distally to the site of the injury. The left nerves received rectangular, biphasic and current pulses (30 µA, 0.5 Hz) through the injury for two months. The right radial nerves were treated as controls and regenerated without electrical stimulation. EMG activities were recorded intramuscularly from the left and right musculus extensor digitalis communis (MEDC). Results obtained at the end of the two-month stimulation period showed a significant difference in EMG activity between the left (stimulated) and the right (non-stimulated) MEDC, suggesting that electrical treatment enhanced nerve regeneration
Composite absorbing potentials
The multiple scattering interferences due to the addition of several
contiguous potential units are used to construct composite absorbing potentials
that absorb at an arbitrary set of incident momenta or for a broad momentum
interval.Comment: 9 pages, Revtex, 2 postscript figures. Accepted in Phys. Rev. Let
Parallel updating cellular automaton models of driven diffusive Frenkel-Kontorova-type systems
Three cellular automaton (CA) models of increasing complexity are introduced
to model driven diffusive systems related to the generalized Frenkel-Kontorova
(FK) models recently proposed by Braun [Phys.Rev.E58, 1311 (1998)]. The models
are defined in terms of parallel updating rules. Simulation results are
presented for these models. The features are qualitatively similar to those
models defined previously in terms of sequentially updating rules. Essential
features of the FK model such as phase transitions, jamming due to atoms in the
immobile state, and hysteresis in the relationship between the fraction of
atoms in the running state and the bias field are captured. Formulating in
terms of parallel updating rules has the advantage that the models can be
treated analytically by following the time evolution of the occupation on every
site of the lattice. Results of this analytical approach are given for the two
simpler models. The steady state properties are found by studying the stable
fixed points of a closed set of dynamical equations obtained within the
approximation of retaining spatial correlations only upto two nearest
neighboring sites. Results are found to be in good agreement with numerical
data.Comment: 26 pages, 4 eps figure
Tunable linear and quadratic optomechanical coupling for a tilted membrane within an optical cavity: theory and experiment
We present an experimental study of an optomechanical system formed by a
vibrating thin semi-transparent membrane within a high-finesse optical cavity.
We show that the coupling between the optical cavity modes and the vibrational
modes of the membrane can be tuned by varying the membrane position and
orientation. In particular we demonstrate a large quadratic dispersive
optomechanical coupling in correspondence with avoided crossings between
optical cavity modes weakly coupled by scattering at the membrane surface. The
experimental results are well explained by a first order perturbation treatment
of the cavity eigenmodes.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure
A single-mode quantum transport in serial-structure geometric scatterers
We study transport in quantum systems consisting of a finite array of N
identical single-channel scatterers. A general expression of the S matrix in
terms of the individual-element data obtained recently for potential scattering
is rederived in this wider context. It shows in particular how the band
spectrum of the infinite periodic system arises in the limit . We
illustrate the result on two kinds of examples. The first are serial graphs
obtained by chaining loops or T-junctions. A detailed discussion is presented
for a finite-periodic "comb"; we show how the resonance poles can be computed
within the Krein formula approach. Another example concerns geometric
scatterers where the individual element consists of a surface with a pair of
leads; we show that apart of the resonances coming from the decoupled-surface
eigenvalues such scatterers exhibit the high-energy behavior typical for the
delta' interaction for the physically interesting couplings.Comment: 36 pages, a LaTeX source file with 2 TeX drawings, 3 ps and 3 jpeg
figures attache
The Generalized Star Product and the Factorization of Scattering Matrices on Graphs
In this article we continue our analysis of Schr\"odinger operators on
arbitrary graphs given as certain Laplace operators. In the present paper we
give the proof of the composition rule for the scattering matrices. This
composition rule gives the scattering matrix of a graph as a generalized star
product of the scattering matrices corresponding to its subgraphs. We perform a
detailed analysis of the generalized star product for arbitrary unitary
matrices. The relation to the theory of transfer matrices is also discussed
Time-Resolved Studies of Stick-Slip Friction in Sheared Granular Layers
Sensitive and fast force measurements are performed on sheared granular
layers undergoing stick-slip motion, along with simultaneous imaging. A full
study has been done for spherical particles with a +-20% size distribution.
Stick-slip motion due to repetitive fluidization of the layer occurs for low
driving velocities. Between major slip events, slight creep occurs that is
variable from one event to the next. The effects of changing the stiffness k
and velocity V of the driving system are studied in detail. The stick-slip
motion is almost periodic for spherical particles over a wide range of
parameters, but becomes irregular when k is large and V is relatively small. At
larger V, the motion becomes smoother and is affected by the inertia of the
upper plate bounding the layer. Measurements of the period T and amplitude A of
the relative motion are presented as a function of V. At a critical value Vc, a
transition to continuous sliding motion occurs that is discontinuous for k not
too large. The time dependence of the instantaneous velocity of the upper plate
and the frictional force produced by the granular layer are determined within
individual slipping events. The force is a multi-valued function of the
instantaneous velocity, with pronounced hysteresis and a sudden drop prior to
resticking. Measurements of vertical displacement reveal a small dilation of
the material (about one tenth of the mean particle size in a layer 20 particles
deep) associated with each slip event. Finally, optical imaging reveals that
localized microscopic rearrangements precede (and follow) each slip event. The
behavior of smooth particles is contrasted with that of rough particles.Comment: 20, pages, 17 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.
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