Fractal capacitors

A linear capacitor structure using fractal geometries is described. This capacitor exploits both lateral and vertical electric fields to increase the capacitance per unit area. Compared to standard parallel-plate capacitors, the parasitic bottom-plate capacitance is reduced. Unlike conventional metal-to-metal capacitors, the capacitance density increases with technology scaling. A classic fractal structure is implemented with 0.6-μm metal spacing, and a factor of 2.3 increase in the capacitance per unit area is observed. It is shown that capacitance boost factors in excess of ten may be possible as technology continues to scale. A computer-aided-design tool to automatically generate and analyze custom fractal layouts has been developed

Diffusion of a Janus nanoparticle in an explicit solvent: A molecular dynamics simulation study

Molecular dynamics simulations are carried out to study the translational and rotational diffusion of a single Janus particle immersed in a dense Lennard-Jones fluid. We consider a spherical particle with two hemispheres of different wettability. The analysis of the particle dynamics is based on the time-dependent orientation tensor, particle displacement, as well as the translational and angular velocity autocorrelation functions. It was found that both translational and rotational diffusion coefficients increase with decreasing surface energy at the nonwetting hemisphere, provided that the wettability of the other hemisphere remains unchanged. We also observed that in contrast to homogeneous particles, the nonwetting hemisphere of the Janus particle tends to rotate in the direction of the displacement vector during the rotational relaxation time.Comment: Web reference added for animations:http://www.wright.edu/~nikolai.priezjev/janus/janus.htm

Matrix Gravity and Massive Colored Gravitons

We formulate a theory of gravity with a matrix-valued complex vierbein based on the SL(2N,C)xSL(2N,C) gauge symmetry. The theory is metric independent, and before symmetry breaking all fields are massless. The symmetry is broken spontaneously and all gravitons corresponding to the broken generators acquire masses. If the symmetry is broken to SL(2,C) then the spectrum would correspond to one massless graviton coupled to $2N^2 -1$ massive gravitons. A novel feature is the way the fields corresponding to non-compact generators acquire kinetic energies with correct signs. Equally surprising is the way Yang-Mills gauge fields acquire their correct kinetic energies through the coupling to the non-dynamical antisymmetric components of the vierbeins.Comment: One reference adde

Additional spectra of asteroid 1996 FG3, backup target of the ESA MarcoPolo-R mission

Near-Earth binary asteroid (175706) 1996 FG3 is the current backup target of the ESA MarcoPolo-R mission, selected for the study phase of ESA M3 missions. It is a primitive (C-type) asteroid that shows significant variation in its visible and near-infrared spectra. Here we present new spectra of 1996 FG3 and we compare our new data with other published spectra, analysing the variation in the spectral slope. The asteroid will not be observable again over the next three years at least. We obtained the spectra using DOLORES and NICS instruments at the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG), a 3.6m telescope located at El Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in La Palma, Spain. To compare with other published spectra of the asteroid, we computed the spectral slope S', and studied any plausible correlation of this quantity with the phase angle (alpha). In the case of visible spectra, we find a variation in spectral slope of Delta S' = 0.15 +- 0.10 %/10^3 A/degree for 3 < alpha < 18 degrees, in good agreement with the values found in the literature for the phase reddening effect. In the case of the near-infrared, we find a variation in the slope of Delta S' = 0.04 +- 0.08 %/10^3 A/degree for 6 < alpha < 51 degrees. Our computed variation in S' agrees with the only two values found in the literature for the phase reddening in the near-infrared. The variation in the spectral slope of asteroid 1996 FG3 shows a trend with the phase angle at the time of the observations, both in the visible and the near-infrared. It is worth noting that, to fully explain this spectral variability we should take into account other factors, like the position of the secondary component of the binary asteroid 1999 FG3 with respect to the primary, or the spin axis orientation at the time of the observations. More data are necessary for an analysis of this kind.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, Accepted in A&A 25 June 201

Analisis Lalu Lintas Pada Jl. Abd. Dg. Sirua Akibat Pembangunan Jalan Alternatif Di Kota Makassar

Kota Makassar, sebagai pintu gerbang kawasan Indonesia Timur, perlu menyediakan segala sarana dan prasarana kota, termasuk jalan akses menuju ke pusat kota. Salah satu jalan alternatif yang akan dibangun di Makassar adalah Jl. Abd. Dg. Sirua, yang dapat menghubungkan pusat kota dengan daerah di bagian selatan. Dalam membangun jalan alternatif tersebut perlu diindentifikasi pengaruhnya terhadap kinerja sistem lalu lintas. Studi ini bertujuan memprakirakan dampak pembangunanan jalan alternatif terhadap kinerja sistem lalu lintas. Pengambilan data meliputi data primer, yang diperoleh melalui survey lapangan, dan data sekunder, yang diperoleh melalui survey institusional. Analisis dilakukan dengan membandingkan karakteristik lalu lintas sebelum dan sesuadah jalan alternatid beroperasi. Hasil yang diperoleh menunjukkan bahwa terjadi Perubahan karakteristik lalu lintas setelah jalan alternatif beroperasi., yaitu derajat kejenuhan berubah dari 0,67 menjadi 0,33, tingkat pelayanan dari C menjadi A, dan kecepatan lalu lintas dari 29 km/jam menjadi 48 km/jam. Kata

Investigating the Effect of Stratospheric Radiation on Seed Germination and Growth

Three seed types: bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), corn (Zea mays) and radish (Raphanus sativus) were flown in a high altitude weather balloon into the mid-stratosphere to investigate the effects of high altitude radiation on germination success and seedling growth. After recovering and planting the seeds, the bean seeds showed lower germination success with exposure to high altitude radiation, and consequently stunted seedling growth. Cord and radish seeds experienced a statistically significant positive effect on germination success form radiation exposure compared to control seeds, but negative effect on seedling growth. Overall, the field experiments presented here support laboratory studies that show radiation exposure on vegetable seeds has a mixed effect on the germination success and negative effect on seedling growth on investigated seed types

Does digital transformation matter for operational risk exposure?

Basel Committee recommends banks maintain a capital buffer for operational risk exposure based on business volumes, assuming aggressive actions for quicker business growth could increase risk exposures. We argue that technological innovations expose banks to more operational risk because technology helps increase business volume, but system failure, problems with internal processes, and disruptions from external and internal security threats are inherent to technology. Based on 10 years of data for 264 banks from 43 countries, we find that digitalized banking operation is an underlying driver of operational risk that comes with increased business volume. Banks proactively take more operational risks by increasing cyber spending to tackle FinTech competition in the digitalized economy. Digitalization could generally matter for operational risk exposure, but the natural experiment does not find cybersecurity threats per se could increase operational risks even though cybersecurity appears to be a serious threat to digital banking. The study creates new avenues for future research