Specific heat capacity of molybdenum chalcogenides. III. Measurements of the heat capacity of Sn1 − x Ga x Mo5S6. An investigation of the singularities at low temperatures

The heat capacity of molybdenum chalcogenides with different Sn/Ga content was measured at temperatures of T 60 K. The occurrence of two phases of the chalcogenides studied could clearly be seen for higher Ga concentrations. In the miscibility gap there coexists a superconducting phase (T _c= 12.5 K) SnGa_0.25Mo₅S₆ with the ferromagnetic GaMo₅S₆ phase (T _curie = 19 K). As for the pure ternary compound GaMo₅S₆, a singularity of the heat capacity could also be observed in the range of the structural change (T = 45 K). All the singularities are discussed.     

Proximity electron tunneling spectroscopy. IV. Electron-phonon coupling and superconductivity of tantalum

An extensive superconducting electron tunneling study of Ta, using both a proximity method and an optimized conventional spectroscopy, is reported. The results for Ta confirm the electron-phonon origin of superconductivity in this element, and provide slightly improved superconducting parameters: =0.73 and _ph ^* = 0.11. The results from the PET and optimized conventional methods are in substantial agreement, although the proximity method appears to provide somewhat better resolution of structure in the Eliashberg function ² F(E).Operated for the U.S. Department of Energy by Iowa State University under contract No. W-7405-Eng-82. This research was supported by the Director for Energy Research, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, WPAS-KC-02-02-02.     

Charge exchange and the “Plateau” effect in YBa2Cu3O7?y

The superconducting properties of YBa₂Cu₃O_7- y, (YBCO) depend strongly on the oxygen content, whereas the transition temperatureT _cremains relatively constant for oxygen content between 6.8 and 7.0 (the Plateau effect) this effect has attracted considerable attention [see, e.g., D. de Fontaineet al., Nature (London) 343, 544 (1990); H. Paulsenet al., Nature (London) 349, 594 (1991); J. Jorgensen,Phys. Today 44, No. 6, 34 (1991)]. In this letter we introduce a microscopic theory of this phenomenon.     

A method to align the coordinate system of accelerometers to the axes of a human body: The depitch algorithm

One of the key problems in accelerometry based gait analyses is that it may not be possible to attach an accelerometer to the lower trunk so that its axes are perfectly aligned to the axes of the subject. In this paper we will present an algorithm that was designed to virtually align the axes of the accelerometer to the axes of the subject during walking sections. This algorithm is based on a physically reasonable approach and built for measurements in unsupervised settings, where the test persons are applying the sensors by themselves. For evaluation purposes we conducted a study with 6 healthy subjects and measured their gait with a manually aligned and a skewed accelerometer attached to the subject's lower trunk. After applying the algorithm the intra-axis correlation of both sensors was on average 0.89±0.1 with a mean absolute error of 0.05g. We concluded that the algorithm was able to adjust the skewed sensor node virtually to the coordinate system of the subject.     

Influence of particle elasticity in shear testers

Two dimensional simulations of non-cohesive granular matter in a biaxial shear tester are discussed. The effect of particle elasticity on the mechanical behavior is investigated using two complementary distinct element methods (DEM): Soft particle molecular dynamics simulations (Particle Flow Code, PFC) for elastic particles and contact dynamics simulations (CD) for the limit of perfectly rigid particles. As soon as the system dilates to form shear bands, it relaxes the elastic strains so that one finds the same stresses for rigid respectively elastic particles in steady state flow. The principal stresses in steady state flow are determined. They are proportional to each other, giving rise to an effective macroscopic friction coefficient which is about 10% smaller than the microscopic friction coefficient between the grains.     

Comment on "From the summation-by-parts algorithm to Pi"

Comments on the paper by Mosig (IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, vol.47, p.38-40, 2005 December). The paper by Mosig discussed acceleration of convergence of series. Without commenting on either the validity or efficiency of his method, the present author would like to draw attention to an existing method, published long ago by D. Shanks (1955). Briefly stated, this method takes a sequence and defines partial sums, which is described in this paper.     

Cover Picture: Closing the Gap Between Self‐Assembly and Microsystems Using Self‐Assembly,Transfer, and Integration of Particles (Adv. Mater. 20/2005)

The cover shows 100 μm diameter glass spheres covered by a grid of hexagonally packed polystyrene beads. Wolf and co‐workers placed the 500 nm diameter polystyrene beads onto the larger spheres using the self‐assembly, transfer, and integration (SATI) process that they report on p. 2438. The cover illustrates the capability of SATI to process uneven surfaces in addition to the planar substrates discussed in the article. The carrier that holds the smaller beads deforms during their transfer onto the larger spheres, so that on the larger spheres patterned “caps” are formed. Using this process, which is compatible with standard microfabrication techniques, a variety of particle assemblies can be achieved.     

Software release management for component‐based software

Software release management is the process through which software is made available to and obtained by its users. Until now, this process has been relatively straightforward. However, the emergence of component‐based software is complicating software release management. Increasingly, software is constructed via the assembly of pre‐existing, independently produced, and independently released components. Both developers and users of such software are affected by these complications. Developers need to accurately document the complex and changing dependencies among the components constituting the software. Users must be involved in locating, retrieving, and assembling components in order to appropriately bring the software into their particular environment. In this paper, we introduce the problem of release management for component‐based software and discuss SRM, a prototype software release management tool we have developed that supports both developers and users in the software release management process. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How many system architectures?

Developers often call an embedded system's hardware architecture a platform. The idea is that you select a hardware platform, then write software to fit onto it. Matters are, however, more complicated. The platform provides the computing resources required to run the embedded application, and the decisions about what hardware should go into the platform often depend on what sort of software you want to run. It is predicted that constant pressure on the cost and power consumption of embedded systems will continue to spawn a diversity of uniprocessor and multiprocessor platforms.     

Developing complex projects using XP with extensions

Using methodological extensions to adapt extreme programming (XP) for major projects offers a high security and reliability without limiting software development's advantages. The authors describe their use of XP extensions that focus on development's planning and controlling aspects, demonstrating that a suitably adapted agile development process is applicable to long-term, large-system projects.