Interoperability and Standards: The Way for Innovative Design in Networked Working Environments

Organised by: Cranfield UniversityIn today’s networked economy, strategic business partnerships and outsourcing has become the dominant paradigm where companies focus on core competencies and skills, as creative design, manufacturing, or selling. However, achieving seamless interoperability is an ongoing challenge these networks are facing, due to their distributed and heterogeneous nature. Part of the solution relies on adoption of standards for design and product data representation, but for sectors predominantly characterized by SMEs, such as the furniture sector, implementations need to be tailored to reduce costs. This paper recommends a set of best practices for the fast adoption of the ISO funStep standard modules and presents a framework that enables the usage of visualization data as a way to reduce costs in manufacturing and electronic catalogue design.Mori Seiki – The Machine Tool Compan

Metal-insulator transition in Nd1−x_{1-x}Eux_{x}NiO3_{3} compounds

Polycrystalline Nd$_{1-x}$Eu$_{x}$NiO$_3$ ($0 \leq x \leq 0.5$) compounds were synthesized in order to investigate the character of the metal-insulator (MI) phase transition in this series. Samples were prepared through the sol-gel route and subjected to heat treatments at $\sim$1000 $^\circ$C under oxygen pressures as high as 80 bar. X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Neutron Powder Diffraction (NPD), electrical resistivity $\rho(T)$, and Magnetization $M(T)$ measurements were performed on these compounds. The results of NPD and XRD indicated that the samples crystallize in an orthorhombic distorted perovskite structure, space group $Pbnm$. The analysis of the structural parameters revealed a sudden and small expansion of $\sim$0.2% of the unit cell volume when electronic localization occurs. This expansion was attributed to a small increase of $\sim$0.003 \AA{} of the average Ni-O distance and a simultaneous decrease of $\sim$$- 0.5^\circ$ of the Ni-O-Ni superexchange angle. The $\rho(T)$ measurements revealed a MI transition occurring at temperatures ranging from $T_{\rm MI}\sim 193$ to 336 K for samples with $x = 0$ and 0.50, respectively. These measurements also show a large thermal hysteresis in NdNiO$_{3}$ during heating and cooling processes suggesting a first-order character of the phase transition at $T_{\rm MI}$. The width of this thermal hysteresis was found to decrease appreciably for the sample Nd$_{0.7}$Eu$_{0.3}$NiO$_{3}$. The results indicate that cation disorder associated with increasing substitution of Nd by Eu is responsible for changing the first order character of the transition in NdNiO$_{3}$.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figure

Heterotic Compactification, An Algorithmic Approach

We approach string phenomenology from the perspective of computational algebraic geometry, by providing new and efficient techniques for proving stability and calculating particle spectra in heterotic compactifications. This is done in the context of complete intersection Calabi-Yau manifolds in a single projective space where we classify positive monad bundles. Using a combination of analytic methods and computer algebra we prove stability for all such bundles and compute the complete particle spectrum, including gauge singlets. In particular, we find that the number of anti-generations vanishes for all our bundles and that the spectrum is manifestly moduli-dependent.Comment: 36 pages, Late

Anelastic spectroscopy study of the metal-insulator transition of Nd(1-x)EuxNiO3

Measurements are presented of the complex dynamic Young's modulus of NdNiO3 and Nd0.65Eu0.35NiO3 through the Metal-Insulator Transition (MIT). On cooling, the modulus presents a narrow dip at the MIT followed by an abrupt stiffening of ~6%. The anomaly is reproducible between cooling and heating in Nd0:65Eu0:35NiO3 but only appears as a slow stiffening during cooling in undoped NdNiO3, conformingly with the fact that the MIT in RNiO3 changes from strongly first order to second order when the mean R size is decreased. The elastic anomaly seems not to be associated with the antiferromagnetic transition, which is distinct from the MIT in Nd0.65Eu0.35NiO3. It is concluded that the steplike stiffening is due to the disappearance or freezing of dynamic Jahn- Teller (JT) distortions through the MIT, where the JT active Ni3+ is disproportionated into alternating Ni3+d and Ni3-d. The fluctuating octahedral JT distortion necessary to justify the observed jump in the elastic modulus is estimated as ~3%, but does not have a role in determining the MIT, since the otherwise expected precursor softening is not observed.Comment: 11 pages, accepted by Phys. Rev.

Instability of scalar perturbation in a phantomic cosmological scenario

Scalar perturbations can grow during a phantomic cosmological phase as the big rip is approached, in spite of the high accelerated expansion regime, if the equation of state is such that $\frac{p}{\rho} = \alpha < - {5/3}$. It is shown that such result is independent of the spatial curvature. The perturbed equations are exactly solved for any value of the curvature parameter $k$ and of the equation of state parameter $\alpha$. Growing modes are found asymptotically under the condition $\alpha < - {5/3}$. Since the Hubble radius decreases in a phantom universe, such result indicates that a phantom scenario may not survive longtime due to gravitational instability.Comment: Latex file, 6 page

Tuberculosis and airflow obstruction: evidence from the PLATINO study in Latin America

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the association between history of tuberculosis and airflow obstruction.A population-based, multicentre study was carried out and included 5,571 subjects aged >= 40 yrs living in one of five Latin American metropolitan areas: São Paulo (Brazil); Montevideo (Uruguay); Mexico City (Mexico); Santiago (Chile); and Caracas (Venezuela). Subjects performed pre- and post-bronchodilator spirometry and were asked whether they had ever been diagnosed with tuberculosis by a physician.The overall prevalence of airflow obstruction (forced expiratory volume in one second/forced vital capacity post-bronchodilator < 0.7) was 30.7% among those with a history of tuberculosis, compared with 13.9% among those without a history. Males with a medical history of tuberculosis were 4.1 times more likely to present airflow obstruction than those without such a diagnosis. This remained unchanged after adjustment for confounding by age, sex, schooling, ethnicity, smoking, exposure to dust and smoke, respiratory morbidity in childhood and current morbidity. Among females, the unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios were 2.3 and 1.7, respectively.In conclusion, history of tuberculosis is associated with airflow obstruction in Latin American middle-aged and older adults.Univ Fed Pelotas, BR-96020220 Pelotas, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, BrazilNatl Inst Resp Dis, Mexico City, DF, MexicoUniv Republica, Montevideo, UruguayCatholic Univ Chile, Santiago, ChileCent Univ Venezuela, Caracas, VenezuelaUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

CAG Repeat Size Influences the Progression Rate of Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 3

Objective: In spinocerebellar ataxia type 3/Machado-Joseph disease (SCA3/MJD), the expanded cytosine adenine guanine (CAG) repeat in ATXN3 is the causal mutation, and its length is the main factor in determining the age at onset (AO) of clinical symptoms. However, the contribution of the expanded CAG repeat length to the rate of disease progression after onset has remained a matter of debate, even though an understanding of this factor is crucial for experimental data on disease modifiers and their translation to clinical trials and their design. Methods: Eighty-two Dutch patients with SCA3/MJD were evaluated annually for 15 years using the International Cooperative Ataxia Rating Scale (ICARS). Using linear growth curve models, ICARS progression rates were calculated and tested for their relation to the length of the CAG repeat expansion and to the residual age at onset (RAO): The difference between the observed AO and the AO predicted on the basis of the CAG repeat length. Results: On average, ICARS scores increased 2.57 points/year of disease. The length of the CAG repeat was positively correlated with a more rapid ICARS progression, explaining 30% of the differences between patients. Combining both the length of the CAG repeat and RAO as comodifiers explained up to 47% of the interpatient variation in ICARS progression. Interpretation: Our data imply that the length of the expanded CAG repeat in ATXN3 is a major determinant of clinical decline, which suggests that CAG-dependent molecular mechanisms similar to those responsible for disease onset also contribute to the rate of disease progression in SCA3/MJD. ANN NEUROL 2020