Improved measurement of electron antineutrinodisappearance at Daya Bay

We report an improved measurement of the neutrino mixing angle θ₁₃ from the Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment. We exclude a zero value for sin² θ₁₃ with a significance of 7.7 standard deviations. Electron antineutrinos from six reactors of 2.9 GW_th were detected in six antineutrino detectors deployed in two near （flux-weighted baselines of 470 m and 576 m） and one far （1648 m） underground experimental halls. Using 139 days of data, 28909 （205308） electron antineutrino candidates were detected at the far hall （near halls）. The ratio of the observed to the expected number of antineutrinos assuming no oscillations at the far hall is 0.944±0.007（stat.）±0.003（syst.）. An analysis of the relative rates in six detectors finds sin² θ₁₃ =0.089±0.010（stat.）±0.005（syst.） in a three-neutrino framework.     

DIC Challenge 2.0: Developing Images and Guidelines for Evaluating Accuracy and Resolution of 2D Analyses

Experimental Mechanics - The DIC Challenge 2.0 follows on from the work accomplished in the first Digital Image Correlation (DIC) Challenge Reu et al. (Experimental Mechanics 58(7):1067, 1). The...     

Hydrodynamic interaction between a pair of bubbles ascending in shear-thinning inelastic fluids

The interaction of two bubbles rising in shear-thinning inelastic fluids was studied. The experimental results were complemented by numerical simulations conducted with the arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian technique. Different initial alignments of the bubble pair were considered. Similarities and differences with the Newtonian fluids were found. The most noticeable difference is the so-called drafting–kissing–tumbling (DKT) process: for the case of bubbles rising in thinning fluids, the tumbling phase does not occur and the pair tends to form a stable doublet. The DKT process is also influenced by the amount of inertia and deformability of the individual bubbles and the initial angle between them. The experimental and numerical results suggest that the thinning wake formed behind the bubbles plays an important role in the speed of the pair and the formation of clusters in thinning fluids.     

Interpretation of transport measurements in ZnO-thin films

In order to interpret results of temperature dependent Hall measurements in heteroepitaxial ZnO-thin films, we adopted a multilayer conductivity model considering carrier-transport through the interfacial layer with degenerate electron gas as well as the upper part of ZnO layers with lower conductivity. This model was applied to the temperature dependence of the carrier concentration and mobility measured by Hall effect in a ZnO-layer grown on c-sapphire with conventional high-temperature MgO and low-temperature ZnO buffer. We also compared our results with the results of maximum entropy mobility-spectrum analysis (MEMSA). The formation of the highly conductive interfacial layer was explained by analysis of transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images taken from similar layers.     

Contact of a rigid cylinder indenting an elastic layer sliding over a rigid substrate

Details of the integral transform solution of the state of stress in a layer resting on but sliding over a rigid substrate, in the presence of interfacial friction, is studied. The free surface of the layer is subject to a localised contact, which is represented as a piecewise linear distribution of tractions, using the Bentall–Johnson procedure. The influence functions needed are derived and their properties discussed and compared with those already available for other interface conditions. Lastly, the procedure is applied to the problem of a shrink fit tyre which, under severe tyre/road tangential loading, can be ‘torn’ around the wheel (here, the substrate).     

Lower Bounds to Eigenvalues for Vibrations and Buckling of Structures by Analytical Applications of a-priori Known Qualitative Information

Two methods to obtain lower bounds to eigenvalues are presented for cases which have equivalent minimum variational formulations. One method is an extension and elaboration of a theorem presented by the author in 1972, which affected the transfer of a weight function from one location to another over the physical system considered. The extension relies on information known a-priori about the exact solution of the problem, although the exact solution is not obtained. The other method is akin to the Rayleigh–Ritz method but yields lower bounds. The two methods are applied to various physical examples of vibrations and of buckling with rather good results. The application to other examples is direct and may be performed in a way quite similar to those examples shown.     

Towards predicting the encoding capability of MR fingerprinting sequences

Sequence optimization and appropriate sequence selection is still an unmet need in magnetic resonance fingerprinting (MRF). The main challenge in MRF sequence design is the lack of an appropriate measure of the sequence's encoding capability. To find such a measure, three different candidates for judging the encoding capability have been investigated: local and global dot-product-based measures judging dictionary entry similarity as well as a Monte Carlo method that evaluates the noise propagation properties of an MRF sequence. Consistency of these measures for different sequence lengths as well as the capability to predict actual sequence performance in both phantom and in vivo measurements was analyzed. While the dot-product-based measures yielded inconsistent results for different sequence lengths, the Monte Carlo method was in a good agreement with phantom experiments. In particular, the Monte Carlo method could accurately predict the performance of different flip angle patterns in actual measurements. The proposed Monte Carlo method provides an appropriate measure of MRF sequence encoding capability and may be used for sequence optimization.     

Combined experimental and computational study of W(II), Ru(II), Pt(IV) and Cu(I) amine and amido complexes using 15N NMR spectroscopy

Using 2D proton-coupled gHSQC pulse sequences in addition to 1D ¹⁵N NMR experiments of ¹⁵N labeled systems, ¹⁵N NMR chemical shifts of a range of transition metal amido and amine complexes were determined. Tungsten(II), ruthenium(II), platinum(IV) and copper(I) complexes with aniline and their anilido variants were studied and compared to free aniline, lithium anilido and anilinium tetrafluoroborate. Upon coordination of aniline to transition metals, upfield chemical shifts of 20–60 ppm were observed. Deprotonation of the amine complexes to form amido complexes resulted in downfield chemical shifts of 40–60 ppm for all of the complexes except for the tungsten d⁴ system. For the tungsten(II) complexes, the cationic aniline complex displayed a downfield shift of approximately 56 ppm relative to the neutral anilido complex. The change in chemical shift for amine to amido conversion is proposed to depend on the ability of the amido ligand to π-bond with the metal center, which influences the magnitude of the paramagnetic screening term.     

Chaotic Dynamics in an Electronic Model of a Genetic Network

We consider dynamics in a class of piecewise-linear ordinary differential equations and in an electronic circuit that model genetic networks. In these models, gene activity varies continuously in time. However, as in Boolean or discrete-time switching networks, gene activity is driven high or low based only on whether the activities of the regulating genes are high or low (i.e., above or below certain thresholds). Depending on the “regulatory logic”, these models can exhibit simple dynamics, like stable fixed points or oscillation, or chaotic dynamics. The observed qualitative and quantitative differences between the dynamics in the idealized equations and the dynamics in the electronic circuit lead us to focus attention on the analysis of the dynamics as a function of parameter values. We propose new techniques for solving the inverse problem – the problem of inferring the regulatory logic and parameters from time series data. We also give new symbolic and statistical methods for characterizing dynamics in these networks.