Composite indicator for railway infrastructure management

Railway Engineering Science - The assessment and analysis of railway infrastructure capacity is an essential task in railway infrastructure management carried out to meet the required quality and...     

Josephson effect of a superconducting ferromagnet

A point contact tunneling technique has been used to investigate the existence of superconductivity in a long-range, magnetically ordered phase in the reentrant pseudoternary system (Er_{1 – x}Ho_x)Rh₄B₄ in the vicinity of the lower critical temperature T _{c 2}. In this experiment, Josephson-like current-voltage characteristics could be observed in a Nb-Nb oxide-(Er_0.58Ho_0.42)Rh₄B₄ junction even in a temperature region below T _{c 2} (1.8–1.96 K), that is, in the magnetically ordered phase.This work was carried out while on leave of absence.Sponsored by Suisse National Science Foundation.Work in La Jolla sponsored by the National Science Foundation under contract No. NSF/DMR77-08469.     

Cover Picture: Metallodielectric Two‐Dimensional Photonic Structures Made by Electric‐Field Microstructuring of Nanocomposite Glasses (Adv. Mater. 24/2005)

Nanocomposite glasses containing metallic nanoparticles can be microstructured by electric‐field assisted dissolution of the embedded particles. As reported by Graener and co‐workers on p. 2983, any pattern of the electrode—down to the nanoscale—can be transferred onto the nanocomposite glass, giving 2D metallodielectric microstructures. The cover image shows as the background a regular array of squares with 2 μm periodicity produced using macroporous silicon as an electrode. The insets show the base material, the electrode, a representation of the dissolution process, and an enlarged view of the remaining silver nanoparticles.     

Towards Efficient Execution of MPI Applications on the Grid: Porting and Optimization Issues

The message passing interface (MPI) is a standard used by many parallel scientific applications. It offers the advantage of a smoother migration path for porting applications from high performance computing systems to the Grid. In this paper Grid-enabled tools and libraries for developing MPI applications are presented. The first is MARMOT, a tool that checks the adherence of an application to the MPI standard. The second is PACX-MPI, an implementation of the MPI standard optimized for Grid environments. Besides the efficient development of the program, an optimal execution is of paramount importance for most scientific applications. We therefore discuss not only performance on the level of the MPI library, but also several application specific optimizations, e.g., for a sparse, parallel equation solver and an RNA folding code, like latency hiding, prefetching, caching and topology-aware algorithms.     

Are Reviews an Alternative to Pair Programming?

From the first presentation of extreme programming on, pair programming has attracted a wide range of programmers to work together in front of one display. The proposed advantages of pair programming are a faster development cycle and code with higher quality. However, the nearly doubled personnel cost when compared to single developers seems to outweigh these advantages. Instead of showing the superiority of pair programming, we seek an alternative. Can a single developer be assisted by an already known technique with which he produces the quality of pairs with only a fraction of the cost? The answer with some restrictions is: yes, he can. Reviews are a reasonable candidate with respect to code quality and cost.     

Probabilistic risk analysis of corrosion associated failures in cast iron water mains

This paper proposes a method using probabilistic risk analysis for application to corrosion associated failures in grey cast iron water mains. External corrosion reduces the capacity of the pipeline to resist stresses. When external stresses exceed the residual ultimate strength, pipe breakage becomes imminent, and the overall reliability of a water distribution network is reduced. Modelling stresses and external corrosion acting on a pipe involves uncertainties inherent in the mechanistic/statistical models and their input parameters. Monte Carlo (MC) simulations were used to perform the probabilistic analysis. The reduction in the factor of safety (FOS) of water mains over time was computed, with a failure defined as a situation in which FOS becomes smaller than 1. The MC simulations yielded an empirical probability density function of time to failure, to which a lognormal distribution was fitted leading to the derivation of a failure hazard function. A sensitivity analysis revealed that the contribution of corrosion parameters to the variability of time to failure was more significant than the combined contributions of all other parameters. Areas where more research is needed are identified.     

Multipurpose modular experimental station for the DiProI beamline of Fermi@Elettra free electron laser

We present a compact modular apparatus with a flexible design that will be operated at the DiProI beamline of the Fermi@Elettra free electron laser (FEL) for performing static and time-resolved coherent diffraction imaging experiments, taking advantage of the full coherence and variable polarization of the short seeded FEL pulses. The apparatus has been assembled and the potential of the experimental setup is demonstrated by commissioning tests with coherent synchrotron radiation. This multipurpose experimental station will be open to general users after installation at the Fermi@Elettra free electron laser in 2011.     

Age and individual differences in prospective memory during a "Virtual Week": The roles of working memory, vigilance, task regularity, and cue focality.

Young (ages 18–22 years) and older (ages 61–87 years) adults (N = 106) played the Virtual Week board game, which involves simulating common prospective memory (PM) tasks of everyday life (e.g., taking medication), and performed working memory (WM) and vigilance tasks. The Virtual Week game includes regular (repeated) and irregular (nonrepeated) PM tasks with cues that are either more or less focal to other ongoing activities. Age differences in PM were reduced for repeated tasks, and performance improved over the course of the week, suggesting retrieval was more spontaneous or habitual. Correlations with WM within each age group were reduced for PM tasks that had more regular or focal cues. WM (but not vigilance) ability was a strong predictor of irregular PM tasks with less focal cues. Taken together, these results support the hypothesis that habitual and focally cued PM tasks are less demanding of attentional resources (specifically, WM), whereas tasks that are more demanding of controlled attentional processes produce larger age differences, which may be attributable to individual differences in WM. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Topography simulation of sputtering using an algorithm with second order approximation in space

For the efficient simulation of topography evolution due to, e.g., focused ion beam processes, continuum surface advancement algorithms are commonly used. In this work we present a two-dimensional surface advancement algorithm that uses circular arcs between nodes and allows kinks in the surface. The algorithm is based on the method of characteristics, which yields the motion of the points and the slope of the surface. By the interpolation with circular arcs not only the final result is better represented, but also more accurate simulation is possible after insertion of new points as the surface evolves. Kinks in the surface (shocks) are detected by the generation of loops in the surface string or by a new criterion based on the analysis of infinitesimally separated characteristics. It requires the curvature of the surface, which may readily be determined from the radii of the circular arcs. The proposed algorithm uses a second order approximation in space and therefore requires fewer data points during calculation than first order methods. It is shown to converge with third order as a function of node number. The method is demonstrated by examples of trench formation including the effect of redeposition and of facet formation from a step-like surface.     

Design, Development, and Deployment of a Rapid Universal Safety and Health System for Construction

Rapid construction projects and processes will become increasingly important as customers demand better project management performance and globally, as countries plan for and respond to the aftermath of natural and/or unnatural disasters. For use in expedited projects (as well as traditional projects), a rapid universal safety and health system (RUSH) was designed, developed, deployed, and evaluated. For its inaugural application, the RUSH was applied to a 106-hour construction project. Results from an initial application included a safe build in approximately 5?days without recordable incidents. More importantly, lessons were learned by a multidisciplinary team of researchers who observed safety 24/5 for the life of the project. Lessons learned and recommendations for future research are provided as a result of this experience.