bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Analysis of Multi-Level Simultaneous Driving Technique for Capacitive Touch Sensors
Authors: Park Jong , Lee Chang-Ju , Kim Jong
Published: September 2017

The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and driving levels of capacitive touch sensors determine the applicability of these sensors to thinner displays and sensor-integrated modules. The simultaneous driving technique has been widely applied to capacitive touch sensors to cope with various types of environmental noise. A Hadamard matrix has been used to determine the driving code and multiplex capacitive signals required to increase the SNR and responsivity of touch sensors. Using multi-level Hadamard matrices, a new driving technique for sensing concurrent capacitive elements across multiple rows of a touch panel was developed. The technique provides more effective design choices than the existing bipolar driving method by supporting a variety of orders of matrices and regular capacity. The required TX voltage can be reduced by applying the Kronecker product for higher orders of simultaneous driving. A system model is presented for multiplexing capacitive signals to extract the SNR of the existing Hadamard matrices as well as one of the proposed multi-level sequences. In addition, the corresponding multi-level drivers and receivers were implemented to verify the theoretical expectations and simulation results of the proposed technique.
A New Metre for Cheap, Quick, Reliable and Simple Thermal Transmittance (U-Value) Measurements in Buildings
Authors: Andújar Márquez José , Martínez Bohórquez Miguel , Gómez Melgar Sergio
Published: September 2017

This paper deals with the thermal transmittance measurement focused on buildings and specifically in building energy retrofitting. Today, if many thermal transmittance measurements in a short time are needed, the current devices, based on the measurement of the heat flow through the wall, cannot carry out them, except if a great amount of devices are used at once along with intensive and tedious post-processing and analysis work. In this paper, from well-known physical laws, authors develop a methodology based on three temperatures measurements, which is implemented by a novel thermal transmittance metre. The paper shows its development step by step. As a result the developed device is modular, scalable, and fully wireless; it is capable of taking as many measurements at once as user needs. The developed system is compared working together on a same test to the currently used one based on heat flow. The results show that the developed metre allows carrying out thermal transmittance measurements in buildings in a cheap, quick, reliable and simple way.
Capturing Complex 3D Human Motions with Kernelized Low-Rank Representation from Monocular RGB Camera
Authors: Wang Xuan , Wang Fei , Chen Yanan
Published: September 2017

Recovering 3D structures from the monocular image sequence is an inherently ambiguous problem that has attracted considerable attention from several research communities. To resolve the ambiguities, a variety of additional priors, such as low-rank shape basis, have been proposed. In this paper, we make two contributions. First, we introduce an assumption that 3D structures lie on the union of nonlinear subspaces. Based on this assumption, we propose a Non-Rigid Structure from Motion (NRSfM) method with kernelized low-rank representation. To be specific, we utilize the soft-inextensibility constraint to accurately recover 3D human motions. Second, we extend this NRSfM method to the marker-less 3D human pose estimation problem by combining with Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) based 2D human joint detectors. To evaluate the performance of our methods, we apply our marker-based method on several sequences from Utrecht Multi-Person Motion (UMPM) benchmark and CMU MoCap datasets, and then apply the marker-less method on the Human3.6M datasets. The experiments demonstrate that the kernelized low-rank representation is more suitable for modeling the complex deformation and the method consequently yields more accurate reconstructions. Benefiting from the CNN-based detector, the marker-less approach can be applied to more real-life applications.
A Robust Deep-Learning-Based Detector for Real-Time Tomato Plant Diseases and Pests Recognition
Authors: Fuentes Alvaro , Yoon Sook , Kim Sang , Park Dong
Published: September 2017

Plant Diseases and Pests are a major challenge in the agriculture sector. An accurate and a faster detection of diseases and pests in plants could help to develop an early treatment technique while substantially reducing economic losses. Recent developments in Deep Neural Networks have allowed researchers to drastically improve the accuracy of object detection and recognition systems. In this paper, we present a deep-learning-based approach to detect diseases and pests in tomato plants using images captured in-place by camera devices with various resolutions. Our goal is to find the more suitable deep-learning architecture for our task. Therefore, we consider three main families of detectors: Faster Region-based Convolutional Neural Network (Faster R-CNN), Region-based Fully Convolutional Network (R-FCN), and Single Shot Multibox Detector (SSD), which for the purpose of this work are called “deep learning meta-architectures”. We combine each of these meta-architectures with “deep feature extractors” such as VGG net and Residual Network (ResNet). We demonstrate the performance of deep meta-architectures and feature extractors, and additionally propose a method for local and global class annotation and data augmentation to increase the accuracy and reduce the number of false positives during training. We train and test our systems end-to-end on our large Tomato Diseases and Pests Dataset, which contains challenging images with diseases and pests, including several inter- and extra-class variations, such as infection status and location in the plant. Experimental results show that our proposed system can effectively recognize nine different types of diseases and pests, with the ability to deal with complex scenarios from a plant’s surrounding area.
Incentivizing Verifiable Privacy-Protection Mechanisms for Offline Crowdsensing Applications
Authors: Sun Jiajun , Liu Ningzhong
Published: September 2017

Incentive mechanisms of crowdsensing have recently been intensively explored. Most of these mechanisms mainly focus on the standard economical goals like truthfulness and utility maximization. However, enormous privacy and security challenges need to be faced directly in real-life environments, such as cost privacies. In this paper, we investigate offline verifiable privacy-protection crowdsensing issues. We firstly present a general verifiable privacy-protection incentive mechanism for the offline homogeneous and heterogeneous sensing job model. In addition, we also propose a more complex verifiable privacy-protection incentive mechanism for the offline submodular sensing job model. The two mechanisms not only explore the private protection issues of users and platform, but also ensure the verifiable correctness of payments between platform and users. Finally, we demonstrate that the two mechanisms satisfy privacy-protection, verifiable correctness of payments and the same revenue as the generic one without privacy protection. Our experiments also validate that the two mechanisms are both scalable and efficient, and applicable for mobile devices in crowdsensing applications based on auctions, where the main incentive for the user is the remuneration.
Energy-Efficient Optimal Power Allocation in Integrated Wireless Sensor and Cognitive Satellite Terrestrial Networks
Authors: Shi Shengchao , Li Guangxia , An Kang , Gao Bin , Zheng Gan
Published: September 2017

This paper proposes novel satellite-based wireless sensor networks (WSNs), which integrate the WSN with the cognitive satellite terrestrial network. Having the ability to provide seamless network access and alleviate the spectrum scarcity, cognitive satellite terrestrial networks are considered as a promising candidate for future wireless networks with emerging requirements of ubiquitous broadband applications and increasing demand for spectral resources. With the emerging environmental and energy cost concerns in communication systems, explicit concerns on energy efficient resource allocation in satellite networks have also recently received considerable attention. In this regard, this paper proposes energy-efficient optimal power allocation schemes in the cognitive satellite terrestrial networks for non-real-time and real-time applications, respectively, which maximize the energy efficiency (EE) of the cognitive satellite user while guaranteeing the interference at the primary terrestrial user below an acceptable level. Specifically, average interference power (AIP) constraint is employed to protect the communication quality of the primary terrestrial user while average transmit power (ATP) or peak transmit power (PTP) constraint is adopted to regulate the transmit power of the satellite user. Since the energy-efficient power allocation optimization problem belongs to the nonlinear concave fractional programming problem, we solve it by combining Dinkelbach’s method with Lagrange duality method. Simulation results demonstrate that the fading severity of the terrestrial interference link is favorable to the satellite user who can achieve EE gain under the ATP constraint comparing to the PTP constraint.
Experimental and Numerical Investigations on the Mechanical Characteristics of Carbon Fiber Sensors
Authors: Bashmal Salem , Siddiqui Mohammed , Arif Abul Fazal
Published: September 2017

Carbon fiber-based materials possess excellent mechanical properties and show linear piezoresistive behavior, which make them good candidate materials for strain measurements. They have the potential to be used as sensors for various applications such as damage detection, stress analysis and monitoring of manufacturing processes and quality. In this paper, carbon fiber sensors are prepared to perform reliable strain measurements. Both experimental and computational studies were carried out on commercially available carbon fibers in order to understand the response of the carbon fiber sensors due to changes in the axial strain. Effects of parameters such as diameter, length, and epoxy-hardener ratio are discussed. The developed numerical model was calibrated using laboratory-based experimental data. The results of the current study show that sensors with shorter lengths have relatively better sensitivity. This is due to the fact short fibers have low initial resistance, which will increase the change of resistance over initial resistance. Carbon fibers with low number of filaments exhibit linear behavior while nonlinear behavior due to transverse resistance is significant in fibers with large number of filaments. This study will allow researchers to predict the behavior of the carbon fiber sensor in real life and it will serve as a basis for designing carbon fiber sensors to be used in different applications.
Event-Driven Observer-Based Smart-Sensors for Output Feedback Control of Linear Systems
Authors: Acho Leonardo
Published: September 2017

This paper deals with a recent design of event-driven observer-based smart sensors for output feedback control of linear systems. We re-design the triggering mechanism proposed in a previously reported system with the implementation of self-sampling data smart sensors; as a result, we improve its performance. Our approach is theoretically supported by using Lyapunov theory and numerically evidenced by controlling the inverted pendulum on the cart mechanism.
Leisure for People with Disabilities in Rural Quebec
Authors: Roult Romain , Carbonneau Hélène , Belley-Ranger Émilie , St-Onge Marc , Brunet Isabelle , Adjizian Jean-Marc
Published: September 2017

Leisure is an instrument used to facilitate the social integration of people with disabilities. However, it requires significant knowledge of the needs and expectations of this clientele, who often experience isolation, especially in rural areas. The general objective of this study was to attempt to identify and understand the realities experienced by the partners of the Quebec Association for Leisure for People with Disabilities, who offer various services and leisure activities to people with disabilities in rural Quebec. Through focus groups and semi-structured interviews with seventy local stakeholders, this study highlights the fact that the needs of organizations offering recreational activities to people with disabilities are increasingly urgent, especially in terms of finances, paratransit, accessibility, specialized human resources and consultation. This study also demonstrates that recreational activities are essential for the social and identity development of people with disabilities, but also for the development of more inclusive and connected rural communities.
Images of Authentic Muslim Selves: Gendered Moralities and Constructions of Arab Others in Contemporary Indonesia
Authors: Lücking Mirjam , Eliyanah Evi
Published: September 2017

In contemporary Indonesia, Muslims increasingly define themselves by othering fellow Muslims, including Arab Muslims. This article examines how Indonesian Muslims, who have traveled to and/or resided in the Middle East, construct their social identities in relation to Arab others. Ethnographic research with labor migrants and pilgrims, and a cultural analysis of cinematic representations of Indonesian students in Cairo, show that conceptions of gendered moralities feature strongly in the ways in which these particular Indonesian Muslims define their authentic Muslim selves, as distinct from Arab others. They attribute ideal male and female characteristic features to Asian Islamic identities, while they portray objectionable ones as Arab culture. This implies that self-representations play a crucial role in the ways in which Indonesian Muslims relate to a region, culture and people long viewed as the “center” of Islamic culture. The representations of Arab others and Indonesian selves eventually lead to contestations of religious authenticity and social class.
Who Can I Turn To? Emotional Support Availability in African American Social Networks
Authors: Hood Sula , Golembiewski Elizabeth , Benbow Kyle , Sow Hadyatoullaye , Sanders Thompson Vetta
Published: September 2017

African Americans disproportionately experience psychological distress, such as feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and worthlessness and are disproportionately exposed to risk factors associated with mental illness, such as racial discrimination, violence and poverty. To effectively address African Americans’ mental health needs, it is imperative to identify who African Americans turn to when they experience stressors. The purpose of this study was to assess the extent to which emotional support is provided within African Americans’ social networks and determine the characteristics of social network members who African Americans rely upon for emotional support. Results indicate that African Americans rely on social network members for spiritual and physical health support more so than emotional support. Among both male and female participants, social network members were significantly more likely to be relied upon for emotional support if they were a non-familial network contact, had a close relationship to the participant, and if they also were someone the participant spoke to about his or her physical health. Findings have implications for the development of culturally-sensitive strategies for increasing emotional support provision within African Americans’ social networks.
Objectives for Stakeholder Engagement in Global Environmental Assessments
Authors: Garard Jennifer , Kowarsch Martin
Published: September 2017

Global environmental assessments (GEAs) are among the most large-scale, formalized processes for synthesizing knowledge at the science–policy–society interface. The successful engagement of diverse stakeholders in GEAs is often described as a crucial mechanism for increasing their legitimacy, salience and credibility. However, the diversity of perspectives on the more precise objectives for stakeholder engagement remains largely unclear. The aims of this study are to categorize and characterize the diversity of perspectives on objectives for stakeholder engagement in GEAs; to explore differences in perspectives within and between different stakeholder groups and categories; and to test whether the more practical prioritization and selection of objectives in GEAs can be linked to deliberative policy learning as a higher-level rationale for stakeholder engagement. For these purposes, we conduct a grounded theory analysis and a keyword analysis of interview material and official GEA documents relating to two GEAs: UN Environment’s Fifth Global Environment Outlook and the Working Group III contribution to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report. Based on the analysis, we identify six categories of objectives and present as hypotheses promising ways forward for prioritizing and characterizing objectives for stakeholder engagement in GEAs, as well as potential reasons for the differences between perspectives on objectives. This study draws attention to the need for future GEA processes to have more explicit discussions on the objectives for stakeholder engagement, as well as the importance of moving towards increasingly deliberative and inclusive assessment processes more broadly.
Sandor Type Fuzzy Inequality Based on the (s,m)-Convex Function in the Second Sense
Authors: Ren Haiping , Wang Guofu , Luo Laijun
Published: September 2017

Integral inequalities play critical roles in measure theory and probability theory. Given recent profound discoveries in the field of fuzzy set theory, fuzzy inequality has become a hot research topic in recent years. For classical Sandor type inequality, this paper intends to extend the Sugeno integral. Based on the (s,m)-convex function in the second sense, a new Sandor type inequality is proposed for the Sugeno integral. Examples are given to verify the conclusion of this paper.
Sample Entropy Identifies Differences in Spontaneous Leg Movement Behavior between Infants with Typical Development and Infants at Risk of Developmental Delay
Authors: Smith Beth , Vanderbilt Douglas , Applequist Bryon , Kyvelidou Anastasia
Published: September 2017

We are interested in using wearable sensor data to analyze detailed characteristics of movement, such as repeatability and variability of movement patterns, over days and months to accurately capture real-world infant behavior. The purpose of this study was to explore Sample Entropy (SampEn) from wearable sensor data as a measure of variability of spontaneous infant leg movement and as a potential marker of the development of neuromotor control. We hypothesized that infants at risk (AR) of developmental delay would present significantly lower SampEn values than infants with typical development (TD). Participants were 11 infants with TD and 20 infants AR. We calculated SampEn from 1–4 periods of data of 7200 samples in length when the infants were actively playing across the day. The infants AR demonstrated smaller SampEn values (median 0.21) than the infants with TD (median 1.20). Lower values of SampEn indicate more similarity in patterns across time, and may indicate more repetitive, less exploratory behavior in infants AR compared to infants with TD. In future studies, we would like to expand to analyze longer periods of wearable sensor data and/or determine how to optimally sample representative periods across days and months.
Recombinant Botulinum Neurotoxin Hc Subunit (BoNT Hc) and Catalytically Inactive Clostridium botulinum Holoproteins (ciBoNT HPs) as Vaccine Candidates for the Prevention of Botulism
Authors: Webb Robert P. , Smith Theresa J. , Smith Leonard A. , Wright Patrick M. , Guernieri Rebecca L. , Brown Jennifer L. , Skerry Janet C.
Published: September 2017

There are few available medical countermeasures against botulism and the discontinuation of the pentavalent botulinum toxoid vaccine by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2011 has resulted in the need for a safe and effective prophylactic alternative. Advances in genetic engineering have resulted in subsequent vaccine efforts being primarily focused on the production of highly purified recombinant protein antigens representing one or more domains of the botulinum neurotoxin. Recombinant subunit vaccines based on the carboxy one-third of the toxin (Hc) developed in our lab against serotypes A-F have been shown to be safe and effective. However, in response to the identification of an ever increasing number of BoNT subtypes with significant amino acid heterogeneity, we have developed catalytically inactive BoNT holoproteins (ciBoNT HPs) in an attempt to elicit greater protective immunity to address these toxin variants. Here we report the production of ciBoNT/B1 HP, ciBoNT/C1 HP, ciBoNT/E1 HP and ciBoNT/F1 HP and compare the immunological and protective abilities of ciBoNT HPs and BoNT/A Hc, BoNT/B Hc, BoNT/C Hc, BoNT/E Hc and BoNT/F Hc vaccines when challenged with homologous and heterologous toxins. Our results suggest the ciBoNT HP vaccines exhibit superior potency after single vaccinations but multiple vaccinations with BoNT/Hc antigens resulted in increased survival rates at the toxin challenge levels used.
Use of a Yeast tRNase Killer Toxin to Diagnose Kti12 Motifs Required for tRNA Modification by Elongator
Authors: Mehlgarten Constance , Prochaska Heike , Hammermeister Alexander , Abdel-Fattah Wael , Wagner Melanie , Krutyhołowa Rościsław , Jun Sang , Kim Gyung-Tae , Glatt Sebastian , Breunig Karin , Stark Michael , Schaffrath Raffael
Published: September 2017

Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells are killed by zymocin, a tRNase ribotoxin complex from Kluyveromyces lactis, which cleaves anticodons and inhibits protein synthesis. Zymocin’s action requires specific chemical modification of uridine bases in the anticodon wobble position (U34) by the Elongator complex (Elp1-Elp6). Hence, loss of anticodon modification in mutants lacking Elongator or related KTI (K. lactis Toxin Insensitive) genes protects against tRNA cleavage and confers resistance to the toxin. Here, we show that zymocin can be used as a tool to genetically analyse KTI12, a gene previously shown to code for an Elongator partner protein. From a kti12 mutant pool of zymocin survivors, we identify motifs in Kti12 that are functionally directly coupled to Elongator activity. In addition, shared requirement of U34 modifications for nonsense and missense tRNA suppression (SUP4; SOE1) strongly suggests that Kti12 and Elongator cooperate to assure proper tRNA functioning. We show that the Kti12 motifs are conserved in plant ortholog DRL1/ELO4 from Arabidopsis thaliana and seem to be involved in binding of cofactors (e.g., nucleotides, calmodulin). Elongator interaction defects triggered by mutations in these motifs correlate with phenotypes typical for loss of U34 modification. Thus, tRNA modification by Elongator appears to require physical contact with Kti12, and our preliminary data suggest that metabolic signals may affect proper communication between them.
Listeriolysin O Regulates the Expression of Optineurin, an Autophagy Adaptor That Inhibits the Growth of Listeria monocytogenes
Authors: Puri Madhu , La Pietra Luigi , Mraheil Mobarak , Lucas Rudolf , Chakraborty Trinad , Pillich Helena
Published: September 2017

Autophagy, a well-established defense mechanism, enables the elimination of intracellular pathogens including Listeria monocytogenes. Host cell recognition results in ubiquitination of L. monocytogenes and interaction with autophagy adaptors p62/SQSTM1 and NDP52, which target bacteria to autophagosomes by binding to microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3). Although studies have indicated that L. monocytogenes induces autophagy, the significance of this process in the infectious cycle and the mechanisms involved remain poorly understood. Here, we examined the role of the autophagy adaptor optineurin (OPTN), the phosphorylation of which by the TANK binding kinase 1 (TBK1) enhances its affinity for LC3 and promotes autophagosomal degradation, during L. monocytogenes infection. In LC3- and OPTN-depleted host cells, intracellular replicating L. monocytogenes increased, an effect not seen with a mutant lacking the pore-forming toxin listeriolysin O (LLO). LLO induced the production of OPTN. In host cells expressing an inactive TBK1, bacterial replication was also inhibited. Our studies have uncovered an OPTN-dependent pathway in which L. monocytogenes uses LLO to restrict bacterial growth. Hence, manipulation of autophagy by L. monocytogenes, either through induction or evasion, represents a key event in its intracellular life style and could lead to either cytosolic growth or persistence in intracellular vacuolar structures.
Induced Action for Conformal Higher Spins from Worldline Path Integrals
Authors: Bonezzi Roberto
Published: September 2017

Conformal higher spin (CHS) fields, yet being non unitary, provide a remarkable example of a consistent interacting higher spin theory in flat space background, that is local to all orders. The non-linear action is defined as the logarithmically UV divergent part of a one-loop scalar effective action. In this paper we take a particle model, that describes the interaction of a scalar particle to the CHS background, and compute its path integral on the circle. We thus provide a worldline representation for the CHS action, and rederive its quadratic part. We plan to come back to the subject, to compute cubic and higher vertices, in a future work.
In-orbit Calibrations of the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope
Authors: Tandon S. N. , Subramaniam Annapurni , Girish V. , Postma J. , Sankarasubramanian K. , Sriram S. , Stalin C. S. , Mondal C. , Sahu S. , Joseph P. , Hutchings J. , Ghosh S. K. , Barve I. V. , George K. , Kamath P. U. , Kathiravan S. , Kumar A. , Lancelot J. P. , Leahy D. , Mahesh P. K. , Mohan R. , Nagabhushana S. , Pati A. K. , Kameswara Rao N. , Sreedhar Y. H. , Sreekumar P.
Published: September 2017

The Ultra-Violet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) is one of the payloads in ASTROSAT, the first Indian Space Observatory. The UVIT instrument has two 375 mm telescopes: one for the far-ultraviolet (FUV) channel (1300–1800 Å), and the other for the near-ultraviolet (NUV) channel (2000–3000 Å) and the visible (VIS) channel (3200–5500 Å). UVIT is primarily designed for simultaneous imaging in the two ultraviolet channels with spatial resolution better than 1.″8, along with provisions for slit-less spectroscopy in the NUV and FUV channels. The results of in-orbit calibrations of UVIT are presented in this paper.
Improved Point-source Detection in Crowded Fields Using Probabilistic Cataloging
Authors: Portillo Stephen K. N. , Lee Benjamin C. G. , Daylan Tansu , Finkbeiner Douglas P.
Published: September 2017

Cataloging is challenging in crowded fields because sources are extremely covariant with their neighbors and blending makes even the number of sources ambiguous. We present the first optical probabilistic catalog, cataloging a crowded (∼0.1 sources per pixel brighter than 22nd mag in F606W) Sloan Digital Sky Survey r-band image from M2. Probabilistic cataloging returns an ensemble of catalogs inferred from the image and thus can capture source–source covariance and deblending ambiguities. By comparing to a traditional catalog of the same image and a Hubble Space Telescope catalog of the same region, we show that our catalog ensemble better recovers sources from the image. It goes more than a magnitude deeper than the traditional catalog while having a lower false-discovery rate brighter than 20th mag. We also present an algorithm for reducing this catalog ensemble to a condensed catalog that is similar to a traditional catalog, except that it explicitly marginalizes over source–source covariances and nuisance parameters. We show that this condensed catalog has a similar completeness and false-discovery rate to the catalog ensemble. Future telescopes will be more sensitive, and thus more of their images will be crowded. Probabilistic cataloging performs better than existing software in crowded fields and so should be considered when creating photometric pipelines in the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope era.
OGLE-2016-BLG-0263Lb: Microlensing Detection of a Very Low-mass Binary Companion through a Repeating Event Channel
Authors: Han C. , Udalski A. , Gould A. , Bond I. A. ,   and, Albrow M. D. , Chung S.-J. , Jung Y. K. , Ryu Y.-H. , Shin I.-G. , Yee J. C. , Zhu W. , Cha S.-M. , Kim S.-L. , Kim D.-J. , Lee C.-U. , Lee Y. , Park B.-G. ,   (The KMTNet Collaboration), Skowron J. , Mróz P. , Pietrukowicz P. , Kozłowski S. , Poleski R. , Szymański M. K. , Soszyński I. , Ulaczyk K. , Pawlak M. ,   (The OGLE Collaboration), Abe F. , Asakura Y. , Barry R. , Bennett D. P. , Bhattacharya A. , Donachie M. , Evans P. , Fukui A. , Hirao Y. , Itow Y. , Koshimoto N. , Li M. C. A. , Ling C. H. , Masuda K. , Matsubara Y. , Muraki Y. , Nagakane M. , Ohnishi K. , Ranc C. , Rattenbury N. J. , Saito To. , Sharan A. , Sullivan D. J. , Sumi T. , Suzuki D. , Tristram P. J. , Yamada T. , Yamada T. , Yonehara A. ,   (The MOA Collaboration)
Published: September 2017

We report the discovery of a planet-mass companion to the microlens OGLE-2016-BLG-0263L. Unlike most low-mass companions that were detected through perturbations to the smooth and symmetric light curves produced by the primary, the companion was discovered through the channel of a repeating event, in which the companion itself produced its own single-mass light curve after the event produced by the primary had ended. Thanks to the continuous coverage of the second peak by high-cadence surveys, the possibility of the repeating nature due to source binarity is excluded with a 96% confidence level. The mass of the companion estimated by a Bayesian analysis is

. The projected primary-companion separation is

au. The ratio of the separation to the snow-line distance of

corresponds to the region beyond Neptune, the outermost planet of the solar system. We discuss the importance of high-cadence surveys in expanding the range of microlensing detections of low-mass companions and future space-based microlensing surveys.
Where are the Binaries? Results of a Long-term Search for Radial Velocity Binaries in Proto-planetary Nebulae
Authors: Hrivnak Bruce J. , Steene Griet Van de , Winckel Hans Van , Sperauskas Julius , Bohlender David , Lu Wenxian
Published: September 2017

We present the results of an expanded, long-term radial velocity search (25 years) for evidence of binarity in a sample of seven bright proto-planetary nebulae (PPNe). The goal is to investigate the widely held view that the bipolar or point-symmetric shapes of planetary nebulae (PNe) and PPNe are due to binary interactions. Observations from three observatories were combined from 2007 to 2015 to search for variations on the order of a few years and then combined with earlier observations from 1991 to 1995 to search for variations on the order of decades. All seven show velocity variations due to periodic pulsation in the range of 35–135 days. However, in only one PPN, IRAS 22272+5435, did we find even marginal evidence for multi-year variations that might be due to a binary companion. This object shows marginally significant evidence of a two-year period of low semi-amplitude, which could be due to a low-mass companion, and it also displays some evidence of a much longer period of >30 years. The absence of evidence in the other six objects for long-period radial velocity variations due to a binary companion sets significant constraints on the properties of any undetected binary companions: they must be of low mass, ≤0.2 M
⊙, or long period, >30 years. Thus the present observations do not provide direct support for the binary hypothesis to explain the shapes of PNe and PPNe and severely constrains the properties of any such undetected companions.
How Does the Shape of the Stellar Spectrum Affect the Raman Scattering Features in the Albedo of Exoplanets?
Authors: Oklopčić Antonija , Hirata Christopher M. , Heng Kevin
Published: September 2017

The diagnostic potential of the spectral signatures of Raman scattering, imprinted in planetary albedo spectra at short optical wavelengths, has been demonstrated in research on planets in the solar system, and has recently been proposed as a probe of exoplanet atmospheres, complementary to albedo studies at longer wavelengths. Spectral features caused by Raman scattering offer insight into the properties of planetary atmospheres, such as the atmospheric depth, composition, and temperature, as well as the possibility of detecting and spectroscopically identifying spectrally inactive species, such as H2 and N2, in the visible wavelength range. Raman albedo features, however, depend on both the properties of the atmosphere and the shape of the incident stellar spectrum. Identical planetary atmospheres can produce very different albedo spectra depending on the spectral properties of the host star. Here we present a set of geometric albedo spectra calculated for atmospheres with H2/He, N2, and CO2 composition, irradiated by different stellar types ranging from late A to late K stars. Prominent albedo features caused by Raman scattering appear at different wavelengths for different types of host stars. We investigate how absorption due to the alkali elements sodium and potassium may affect the intensity of Raman features, and we discuss the preferred strategies for detecting Raman features in future observations.
The Relation between Cosmological Redshift and Scale Factor for Photons
Authors: Tian Shuxun
Published: September 2017

The cosmological constant problem has become one of the most important ones in modern cosmology. In this paper, we try to construct a model that can avoid the cosmological constant problem and have the potential to explain the apparent late-time accelerating expansion of the universe in both luminosity distance and angular diameter distance measurement channels. In our model, the core is to modify the relation between cosmological redshift and scale factor for photons. We point out three ways to test our hypothesis: the supernova time dilation; the gravitational waves and its electromagnetic counterparts emitted by the binary neutron star systems; and the Sandage–Loeb effect. All of this method is feasible now or in the near future.
La forge gauloise de la nation
Authors: Bourdon Étienne
Published: September 2017

L’expression « nos ancêtres les Gaulois » a longtemps eu vocation à dire, sans contestation possible, les origines de la nation française. Ce roman national commençait par un lever de rideau qui présentait ces lointains ancêtres, intelligents mais bagarreurs, joyeux mais buveurs, braves mais désunis, glorieux mais vaincus. Au-delà de son illusoire évidence, l’expression pose de nombreux problèmes historiques et épistémologiques. Cette fabrique des ancêtres révèle une conception particulière de l’identité et de la nation par un usage politique, moral et éducatif de l’histoire. Le grand historien Ernest Lavisse en est un des forgerons par ses écrits universitaires et ses célèbres manuels scolaires, les Petits Lavisse. Car il s’agit bien de faire la nation, et c’est à l’école qu’elle se forge. Il faut donc s’intéresser au façonnage de « nos ancêtres les Gaulois », aux choix et aux silences des discours scientifiques et scolaires, en les replaçant au cœur des débats archéologiques, historiques et politiques du demi-siècle lavissien (1876-1922). Instituteur de la République, Ernest Lavisse a forgé de sa plume, par l’écriture historique, une conception nationale du Gaulois, l’un des personnages majeurs dont la IIIe République naissante avait besoin. Cette histoire des savoirs montre que les propos historiques sur les origines antiques de la nation se révèlent être un discours sur le présent, qui prend la voix du passé.
Relevância da informação contábil em empresas dos Brics e EUA
Authors: Raifur Kos Sonia , Scarpin Jorge Eduardo , Kabucussa Pedro João
Published: September 2017

A busca por informações contábeis relevantes tem sido intensa pelos órgãos normalizadores nos últimos anos, os quais têm buscado estabelecer normas que tornem a informação contábil relevante e possa ser utilizada de forma segura no processo decisório, principalmente considerando as decisões relacionadas ao mercado de capitais. Nessa linha, James Ohlson propôs modelos de avaliação de empresas baseados em números contábeis. O objetivo deste estudo é verificar as diferenças na Relevância da Informação Contábil no mercado de capitais dos países Brasil, Rússia, Índia, China e África do Sul (BRICS) e Estados Unidos da América (EUA), a partir dos dados disponíveis nas Bolsa de Valores destes países, por meio dos modelos Residual Income Valuation (RIV) e Abnormal Earnings Growth (AEG) propostos por Ohlson (1995; 2005). Por meio da Regressão com Dados em Painel, concluiu-se que as variáveis de cada país apresentam comportamento diferente no tocante a influência das mesmas no mercado de capitais, pois além de apresentarem coeficientes distintos, houve extensa variação do R2, sendo 0,02 no Brasil, para o modelo AEG e 0,79 na China para o modelo RIV. Quanto à verificação de qual modelo (RIV ou AEG) melhor se adapta à realidade de cada país, observou-se que no Brasil e África do Sul o modelo AEG apresentou maior ajuste, já na Rússia e China o modelo RIV foi mais adequado, tanto para variáveis defasadas pelo Preço em t-1, quanto para as não defasadas, pois conta com R2 mais expressivo e valor mais baixo para Critério de Informação de Akaike. Para os EUA e Índia, para variáveis não defasadas, o AEG é o melhor modelo para Índia e RIV para os EUA. Já com variáveis defasadas, o resultado se inverte.
ESTUDO SOBRE O RISCO SISTEMÁTICO DAS EMPRESAS DE TECNOLOGIA NO BRASIL
Authors: Belli Marcio Marcelo , Gaio Luiz Eduardo , Poker Junior Johan Hendrik , Milani Filho Marco Antonio Figueiredo , Etulain Carlos Raul
Published: September 2017

O presente trabalho testou a hipótese de empresas de tecnologia apresentarem maior risco sistemático que as empresas tradicionais no Brasil. Para tanto foram compostas duas amostras de empresas, uma de empresas de tecnologia e outra de empresas tradicionais. Para tanto elaborou-se uma análise de regressão múltipla considerando-se uma variável dicotômica que representou o fator tecnológico e outra numérica que representou o grau de intangibilidade das empresas. Como variável dependente considerou-se o risco sistemático representado pelo beta do CAPM. Os resultados indicaram que as empresas de tecnologia possuem maior risco sistemático que as empresas tradicionais independentemente do grau de intangibilidade.
Numerical Analysis for Cracked Functionally Graded Materials by Finite Block Method
Authors: Li J. , Shi C. , Wen Pi Hua
Published: September 2017

The finite block method (FBM) is developed to determine stress intensity factors with orthotropic functionally graded materials under static and dynamic loads in this paper. The higher order derivative matrix for two and three dimensional problems can be constructed directly. For linear elastic fracture mechanics, the COD and J-integral techniques to determine the stress intensity factors are applied. Several examples are given and comparisons have been made with both analytical solutions and the finite element method in order to demonstrate the accuracy and convergence of the finite block method.
Applicability of the Critical Energy Release Rate for Predicting the Growth of a Crack in Nanoscale Materials Applying the Strain Gradient Elasticity Theory
Authors: Kotoul Michal , Skalka Petr
Published: September 2017

The paper investigates the limits of applicability of the critical energy release rate for predicting the growth of a crack in nanoscale materials applying the strain gradient elasticity theory (SGET) capable to capture size effects, nonlocal material point interactions and surface effects in the form of (phenomenological) higher-order stress/strain gradients.
Shear Mode Stress Intensity Factors for Serrated Crack Fronts
Authors: Žák Stanislav , Horníková Jana , Šandera Pavel
Published: September 2017

The paper is related to experiments on near-threshold fatigue cracks under shear modes II, III and II+III in bcc metals. Cylindrical bars with circumferential cracked notch were loaded by shear force. In-plane precracks with microtortuous geometry were created by compressive cyclic loading in mode I to measure the effective values of the remote crack driving force. Fatigue cracks in bcc metals loaded under remote shear modes II, III and II+III always grew by creation of local tongues loaded in mode II and their coalescence. Therefore, serrated precrack fronts of a linear roughness identical to those of the real fronts were modeled and the related local stress intensity factors k2 were calculated. Since such FEM calculation for various values of roughness were time consuming, a further task was to identify a lowest number of isolated teeth that produces k2 components identical with those created by the continuously serrated crack front. The results reported in this article reveal that this condition is fulfilled by only two isolated teeth.
Influence of Environment, Residual Stresses on the Fatigue Behavior of 7075-T6 Aluminum Alloy
Authors: Baragetti Sergio , Srinivasan Nedunchezhian , Lalithkumar B. , Kumar Ravi
Published: September 2017

Diamond-like coating (DLC) of 2.5 micron thick coated on the aluminum alloy samples, were subjected to rotating bending fatigue test in methanol and air environments respectively. DLC coating is X-ray amorphous in nature as revealed by grazing incidence X-ray diffraction studies. Residual stresses generated due in the coatings were measured using Raman peak shift analysis of G band of carbon. Fractographic analysis of uncoated fatigue tested samples in methanol revealed severe damage in contrast to coated samples in methanol. Diamond polished and DLC coated samples revealed better coating adherence and fatigue performance than 1200 grit polished and fatigue tested samples.
Degradation of the Strength of Grains and Grain Boundaries of Ni-Base Superalloy under Creep and Creep-Fatigue Loadings
Authors: Murakoshi Takuya , Sakamoto Hayato , Shinozaki Taichi , Suzuki Ken , Miura Hideo
Published: September 2017

The degradation process of the micro texture of Ni-base superalloys was observed under fatigue and creep-fatigue loading conditions at elevated temperatures higher than 700oC by applying electron back-scatter diffraction (EBSD) analyses. The local distribution of the crystallinity of a grain and a grain boundary was defined quantitatively by analyzing the Kikuchi pattern obtained from each electron-beam-irradiated area with a diameter of 50 nm. The calculated image quality value was used for the analysis. It was found that the crystallinity of grain boundaries degraded seriously under creep-fatigue loading conditions due to the acceleration of anisotropic strain-induced diffusion of component elements. Since the initial finely-controlled strengthened micro texture disappeared due to the anisotropic diffusion of component elements, this degradation was found to cause the drastic decrease of the strength of grains and grain boundaries and thus, lifetime of the material. The decrease of the strength of both grains and grain boundaries was measured by micro tensile test system in a scanning electron microscope by making a small sample from bulk specimen using focused ion beam. The strength of a grain and a grain boundary varied drastically depending on their crystallinity, in other words, the image quality value.
Performance of Anchors in Concrete Controlled by Splitting Failure under Dynamic Push-In Loadings
Authors: Nassr Amr A. , Khair-Eldeen Wael
Published: September 2017

Anchors in concrete are widely used to transfer any given load combination into a concrete member. The dynamic behavior of post-installed rebar anchors has been experimentally investigated in this study. The attention was focused on anchors controlled by concrete splitting failure, the case that may occur with anchors and fastenings located close to an edge or to a corner. In this regard, Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) technique has been employed to test the anchorage systems under dynamic push-in loads. The effect of loading rates, concrete compressive strengths, and embedment depths on ultimate splitting load has been studied. The results showed the loading rates had a pronounced effect on the anchor ultimate loads and total absorbed energy by the anchors. Whereas the variation of concrete compressive strength influenced the ultimate load, the increase in embedment depth had no noticeable effect on ultimate load.
Static Multiaxial Fracture Behavior of Graphite Components: A Review of Recent Results
Authors: Razavi Nima , Peron M. , Torgersen J. , Berto F.
Published: September 2017

The problem of mixed mode (I+III) brittle fracture of polycrystalline graphite is investigated systematically here for the first time. The present study considers cylindrical specimens weakened by circumferential notches characterized by different acuities. A new complete set of experimental data is provided considering different geometrical configurations by varying the notch opening angle and the notch tip radius. The multiaxial static tests have been performed considering different values of the mode mixity ratio. A criterion based on the local Strain Energy Density previously applied by the same authors only to pure modes of loading is extended here to the case of tension and torsion loadings applied in combination.
Smart Patch Repair with Low Profile PVDF Sensors
Authors: Lambinet Florian , Sharif Khodaei Zahra
Published: September 2017

Bonded repair of composite structures still remains a major concern for the airworthiness authorities because of the uncertainty about the repair quality. This work, investigates the applicability of conventional Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) techniques for monitoring of bonded repair with ring-shaped low profile sensors. A repaired composite panel has been sensorized with two Ring-Shaped Polyvinylidene fluoride piezopolymer Sensors (RSPS) and a piezoelectric (PZT) transducer. An electromechanical impedance (EMI) and Lamb wave analysis have been carried out to check the sensitivity of these sensors to detect an artificially introduced damage simulating a disbond of the repair. The state of the repair have been successfully monitored and reported by both methods.
Delamination Identification in Stiffened Composite Panels Using Surface Strain Data
Authors: Lampeas George , Katsikeros Christos , Fotopoulos Konstantinos
Published: September 2017

The structural integrity of a composite structure can be greatly compromised by damage inside the component. Invisible damage, e.g. caused by low-speed impact, can significantly reduces composite components capability to efficiently carry loads. In the present study, an innovative approach of strain-based delamination identification and localization is investigated, based on the efficient processing of full-field surface strain measurements. Surface strain data, potentially derived by full-field optical methodologies are used in the assessment of the delamination pattern, through strain field perturbations caused due to damage evolution. Relations between delamination damage and surface strain field disturbances are established by exploiting data decomposition methods using Zernike polynomial moments. The methodology is successfully demonstrated in the case of a stiffened composite panel.
Damage Detectability Model of Pitch-Catch Configuration in Composite Plates
Authors: Yue Nan , Sharif Khodaei Zahra , Aliabadi M.H.
Published: September 2017

Detectability of damage using Lamb waves depends on many factors such as size and severity of damage, attenuation of the wave and distance to the transducers. This paper presents a detectability model for pitch-catch sensors configuration for structural health monitoring (SHM) applications. The proposed model considers the physical properties of lamb wave propagation and is independent of damage detection algorithm, which provides a generic solution for probability of detection. The applicability of the model in different environmental and operational conditions is also discussed.