Investigation on pure shearing of cohesive limestone with true biaxial shear tester

Pure shear deformation of a bulk solid sample was performed with the True Biaxial Shear Tester. The influence of stress history on pure shearing was examined by three different consolidation procedures. Apart from the influence of the consolidation procedure, the effect of volume change, i.e. the change in the bulk solid density during consolidation, on pure shear deformation was investigated. Cohesive limestone with x₅₀ = 5 μm was used for the experiments.     

Superelasticity of NiTi Ring-Shaped Springs Induced by Aging for Cranioplasty Applications

This paper concerns the application of titanium-nickel rings in modeling the cranium. After being fixed to the osseous margins, the ring’s expansion at the same time broadens and shortens the cranium vault. The rings formed from a straight superelastic wire, flattened to an ellipse, do not show the presence of a typical force plateau but rather a pseudoelastic loop during loading-unloading in the relationship between the force and the deflection. Based on the idea that superelasticity in more complex shape-springs may be induced by the precipitation hardening process, the further studies were carried out on alloys with higher nickel contents (51.06 at.% Ni). The rings that had been formed were welded and aged at an optimal temperature and time. The improved superelastic behavior during compression and unloading the rings was obtained by introducing small deformation by drawing the quenched wires before forming the rings and aging. Very positive clinical reshaping by long-term distraction with the superelastic ring-shaped springs was achieved in young children under one year and a less spectacular effect was observed in the group of older children.     

New crystal plasticity constitutive model for large strain deformation in single crystals of magnesium

A new rate-dependent elastic–viscoplastic crystal plasticity constitutive model (CPCM) to simulate the large strain deformation in magnesium alloys is presented. The observed intragranular plastic deformation mechanisms of primary extension, primary contraction, and secondary extension (double) twinning are accounted for. The basal and non-basal slip systems in the parent grain, primary and double twins were also incorporated in the model. The crystallographic planes and directions of various slip and twinning systems are calculated. The slip-induced shear in the parent grain, as well as primary and secondary twinned regions are simulated. The twinning-induced shear from the primary and secondary twinned regions are also computed. In the model the texture evolution in the parent, as well as primary and secondary twinned regions are tracked. Separate resistance evolution functions for all the slip and twinning systems were considered. The interactions between various slip and twinning systems are accounted for in a comprehensive manner. Using the proposed CPCM, the plastic deformation in a magnesium single crystal in simple shear strain path is simulated. The contributions of various plastic deformation mechanisms to the macroscopic plastic deformation of the magnesium single crystal in this strain path are presented. The importance of identifying the active plastic deformation in a given strain path on a magnesium single crystal for a reliable model prediction was shown with an example.     

Nanofractionation spotter technology for rapid contactless and high-resolution deposition of LC eluent for further off-line analysis

The development of a contactless postcolumn spotter technology capable of rapidly and accurately depositing LC eluent onto another platform (e.g., 1536-well microtiter plates) is described. Many detection methodologies are suitable for online analysis, such as mass spectrometry, UV-vis, and fluorescence. In some cases, when online analysis is less suitable, off-line postcolumn analysis is the methodology of choice and usually relies on LC-based fractionation prior to detection (e.g., MALDI-MS, Raman spectrsocopy, biochemical assays). As fractionation generally involves loss in resolution, the technology described here allows high-resolution contactless fractionation by tailoring the fractionation frequency to the chromatographic peaks and mixing in of postcolumn reagents. Droplet ejection at frequencies of at least 6 Hz could be performed in the nanoliter to low microliter range with repeatabilities of ～6%. Furthermore, multiple droplets can be ejected at the same position thereby allowing adjustment of fractionation volume and speed. The technology was evaluated, optimized, and validated prior to two proof-of-principle demonstrations comprising off-line chemical detection of injected fluorescein and off-line postcolumn biochemical detection of acetylcholine-binding protein ligands, both based on 1536-well plate reader analysis.     

Exact synthesis of three-qubit quantum circuits from non-binary quantum gates

Because of recent nano-technological advances, nano-structured systems have become highly ordered, making it quantum computing schemas possible. We propose an approach to optimally synthesise quantum circuits from non-permutative quantum gates such as controlled-square-root-of-not (i.e., controlled-V). Our approach reduces the synthesis problem to multiple-valued optimisation and uses group theory. We devise a novel technique that transforms the quantum logic synthesis problem from a multi-valued constrained optimisation problem to a permutable representation. The transformation enables us to use group theory to exploit the symmetric properties of the synthesis problem. Assuming a cost of one for each two-qubit gate, we found all reversible circuits with quantum costs of 4, 5, 6, etc., and give another algorithm to realise these reversible circuits with quantum gates. The approach can be used for both binary permutative deterministic circuits and probabilistic circuits such as controlled random-number generators and hidden Markov models.     

Successive User Scheduling Schemes for a Multiuser MIMO System Employing Generalized Channel Inversion

Generalized channel inversion (GCI) is a precoding technique for multiuser multiple-input multiple-output system. While producing each user’s precoding matrix, GCI takes into account noise and thus it is more robust compared with alternative techniques such as block diagonalization technique in terms of sum rate capacity and frame error rate. In this paper, two suboptimal multiuser scheduling schemes for GCI are proposed that by scheduling a subset of mobile users nearly maximize the sum rate capacity. They employ an iterative approach involving a number of search steps. At each step, unselected mobile users are evaluated one by one, and only one of them is chosen according to given criteria. It is shown via computer simulations that the proposed schemes are capable of achieving a large portion of the sum rate capacity that is offered by an exhaustive search. The performance of the proposed multiuser scheduling schemes is evaluated when the antenna mutual coupling effects are taken into account at the mobile users’ sides. Numerical results reveal that the presence of antenna mutual coupling can result in an increased sum rate capacity when the array inter-element spacing is in the range of 0.3–0.4 wavelength.     

Effects of three lighting intensities during display on discolouration of beef semitendinosus muscle

This study focuses on the changes in colour parameters of beef (semitendinosus muscle) upon the light exposure. In one of the experiments (Experiment I), colour parameters were studied during 60 min of blooming. In the Experiment II, the changes of colour over 168 h of exposure were evaluated. For this purpose, the white fluorescent light of three different intensities, 500, 1,000 and 1,500 lx, was chosen. It is shown that it takes up to 16–18 min for the colour parameters to stabilize after the steak cutting, which is a consequence of increasing availability of oxygen. Beef colour is affected by the light intensity. It was observed that at the beginning of the light exposure, favourable changes took place. However, after few days of exposure to the light, meat colour deteriorates significantly. Changes are mainly related to the redness (a*). The value of a* decreased about 4–7 units (p < 0.05) after 7 days of meat exposure. This significant change of redness is also clearly evident in the visual assessment. White fluorescent light (colour temperature of 3,000 K) with intensity of 500 lx has lower impact on the beef colour than the light with intensity of 1,000 or 1,500 lx. Intensity of 500 lx is more favourable to preserve the desired beef colour, and it could be recommended to use in the retail display. However, further studies taking into account the visual evaluation of beef colour would be useful to confirm this fact.