A new locking-free formulation for planar,shear deformable,linear and quadratic beam finite elements based on the absolute nodal coordinate formulation

Many widely used beam finite element formulations are based either on Reissner’s classical nonlinear rod theory or the absolute nodal coordinate formulation (ANCF). Advantages of the second method have been pointed out by several authors; among the benefits are the constant mass matrix of ANCF elements, the isoparametric approach and the existence of a consistent displacement field along the whole cross section. Consistency of the displacement field allows simpler, alternative formulations for contact problems or inelastic materials. Despite conceptional differences of the two formulations, the two models are unified in the present paper.     

Evaluation of the OQuaRE framework for ontology quality

The increasing importance of ontologies has resulted in the development of a large number of ontologies in both coordinated and non-coordinated efforts. The number and complexity of such ontologies make hard to ontology and tool developers to select which ontologies to use and reuse. So far, there are no mechanism for making such decisions in an informed manner. Consequently, methods for evaluating ontology quality are required. OQuaRE is a method for ontology quality evaluation which adapts the SQuaRE standard for software product quality to ontologies. OQuaRE has been applied to identify the strengths and weaknesses of different ontologies but, so far, this framework has not been evaluated itself. Therefore, in this paper we present the evaluation of OQuaRE, performed by an international panel of experts in ontology engineering. The results include the positive and negative aspects of the current version of OQuaRE, the completeness and utility of the quality metrics included in OQuaRE and the comparison between the results of the manual evaluations done by the experts and the ones obtained by a software implementation of OQuaRE.     

Atom Probe Tomography for 3D Structural and Chemical Analysis of Individual Proteins

Determination of the 3D structure of proteins and other biomolecules is a major goal in structural biology, to provide insights to their biological function. Such structures are historically unveiled experimentally by X‐ray crystallography or NMR spectroscopy, and in recent years using cryo‐electron microscopy. Here, a method for structural analysis of individual proteins on the sub‐nanometer scale using atom probe tomography is described. This technique offers a combination of high‐resolution analysis of biomolecules in 3D, and the chemical sensitivity of mass spectrometry. As a model protein, the well‐characterized antibody IgG is used. IgG is encapsulated in an amorphous solid silica matrix via a sol–gel process to provide the requisite support for atom probe analysis. The silica synthesis is tuned to resemble physiological conditions. The 3D reconstructions show good agreement with the protein databank IgG crystal structure. This suggests that the silica‐embedding strategy can open the field of atom probe tomography to the analysis of biological molecules. In addition to high‐resolution structural information, the technique may potentially provide chemical information on the atomic scale using isotopic labeling. It is envisaged that this method may constitute a useful complement to existing tools in structural biology, particularly for the examination of proteins with low propensity for crystallization.     

Polygon Laplacian Made Simple

The discrete Laplace-Beltrami operator for surface meshes is a fundamental building block for many (if not most) geometry processing algorithms. While Laplacians on triangle meshes have been researched intensively, yielding the cotangent discretization as the de-facto standard, the case of general polygon meshes has received much less attention. We present a discretization of the Laplace operator which is consistent with its expression as the composition of divergence and gradient operators, and is applicable to general polygon meshes, including meshes with non-convex, and even non-planar, faces. By virtually inserting a carefully placed point we implicitly refine each polygon into a triangle fan, but then hide the refinement within the matrix assembly. The resulting operator generalizes the cotangent Laplacian, inherits its advantages, and is empirically shown to be on par or even better than the recent polygon Laplacian of Alexa and Wardetzky [AW11] — while being simpler to compute.     

Knowledge,meaning and identity: Key characteristics of entrepreneurship in cultural and creative industries

This article introduces the Special Issue, “Varieties of entrepreneurship: Exploring whether, how and why cultural and creative entrepreneurship differs from other varieties”. The aim of the Special Issue is to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of how this particular variety of entrepreneurship emerges, is affected and develops over time. We present the three broad topics addressed in the Special Issue—knowledge, meaning and identity—and position them in the wider academic context of understanding value realization through entrepreneurship in the cultural and creative industries. The six articles presented in the Special Issue come from and combine different streams of literatures, yet jointly they gradually develop their own, hopefully complementary, interpretations, which provide inspiration for a promising agenda for further research.     

High-Temperature Proton-Conducting LaNbO4-Based Materials: Powder Synthesis by Spray Pyrolysis

Submicrometer lanthanum ortho-niobate (LaNbO₄ (LN))-based powders have been prepared by spray pyrolysis of an aqueous solution containing stable La–EDTA and Nb–malic acid complexes. The powders had a particle size of ∼0.1 μm, a narrow particle size distribution, and high purity after calcination above 800°C. The powders possessed excellent sintering properties resulting in >98% dense materials at 1200°C. The present route is shown to be excellent for the large-scale preparation of high-quality LaNbO₄-based powders.     

The linguistic status of text message abbreviations: An exploration using a Stroop task

The aim of this paper is to assess whether there is firm evidence for the informal observation that text message abbreviations have been absorbed into every day language use. Such abbreviations are most frequently used on mobile telephones and in electronic communication. We report data from a study investigating the linguistic status of text abbreviations. We tested this using a modified Stroop task. Participants were regular text message users. To-be-ignored stimuli of interest were text message abbreviations, chosen for high recognition rates among users (e.g. CUL8R for “See you later”). We also used real words, non-words (pronounceable and non-pronounceable) and non-alphanumeric symbol strings. Text abbreviations led to increased colour-naming latencies when compared to words and non-words, while all alphanumeric stimuli led to slower response times than non-alphanumeric symbol strings. The findings show that reading text message abbreviations is unavoidable to those who have adapted to their use. Therefore they are likely to have been absorbed into the language. We explore the possible reasons for the increased Stroop interference we observed with text message abbreviations. We also suggest that using text abbreviations in research can enhance understanding of word recognition processes.     

Quantitative representation of the anisotropy and tension/compression asymmetry of the critical resolved shear stress of an L12-ordered intermetallic

The anomalous anisotropy and tension (t)/compression (c)-asymmetry of the critical resolved shear stress τ_o of the L1₂-long-range ordered intermetallic γ′_NIM are analysed in the light of a published (Miner RV, Gabb TP, Gayda J, Hember, KJ. Met Trans A 1986; 17A: 507) analytical expression

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. Particles of γ′_NIM strengthen the commercial nickel-base superalloy NIMONIC 105. characterises the orientation of the specimen, and T_o≈300 K and T_peak≈ 1000 K mark the temperature (T) range in which τ_o is anomalous. Except for γ′_NIM-single crystals with the [011]-orientation, the formula describes the anisotropy and (t/c)-asymmetry of the critical resolved shear stress satisfactorily.