Mesoamerican Polyhedral Cores and Prismatic Blades

1968 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 446-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Don E. Crabtree

AbstractThis paper deals with the results of the author"s attempts to replicate the obsidian polyhedral cores and prismatic blades of Mesoamerica. Blades have been produced by the direct percussion, indirect percussion, and pressure methods. The pressure method using a chest crutch and a clamp produces cores and blades which are true replicas of aboriginal specimens. The importance of preforming the core and of platform preparation is stressed, and it is pointed out that, usually, actual removal of the blade offers few problems. However, to produce exhausted cores which show the perfection of aboriginal specimens and a large series of nearly identical blades requires good muscular coordination, high quality material, the establishment of patterns or rhythms of motor habits, and the absence of distractions. The author also discusses the difficulties of recovering from mistakes in manufacture.High-speed photography of prismatic blade removal, at 5,000 frames per second, has helped illustrate the behavior of the material and of the stoneworker. These photographs also indicate that under the present experimental and photographic conditions the author (Crabtree) is able to remove a prismatic blade from a core in about 1,250th of a second.

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (8) ◽  
pp. 1581-1597 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xi Tong ◽  
Xin Bin-Jie

In this study, a novel approach and the related equipment of coaxial electrospinning have been developed to fabricate a new ultrafine polysulfone amide/polyurethane coaxial fibers at nanoscale, with the polysulfone amide as the core and the polyurethane as the shell of the blended fibers. As the co-spinneret has effects on the structure and properties of the spun fiber, three types of co-spinnerets with different diameters were designed to investigate its effects on the fabricated fibers in this research. Three series of polysulfone amide/polyurethane coaxial fibers were spun using the self-developed coaxial electrospinning equipment, and these fibers were characterized systematically using scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimeter and thermogravimetric. High-speed photography was used to digitalize the image of the tailor cone and jet motion of polymer fluid during the spinning process, which provides a detailed description of the electrospinning for the further theoretical analysis. The three-dimensional electric field simulation was also carried out to model the differences of electric field. Our experimental results show that the mechanical and thermal properties of the core–shell fibers fabricated in this research have been improved in the comparison with the fibers spun using the conventional single-needle electrospinning method. The composite fibers have the core–shell structure, so that it can combine the excellent thermal properties of the polysulfone amide and the excellent mechanical properties of the polyurethane. The newly developed polysulfone amide/polyurethane fiber could be used in the field of industrial textiles; it has the potential applications for the development of high-performance apparels in the future.


Author(s):  
C. O. Jung ◽  
S. J. Krause ◽  
S.R. Wilson

Silicon-on-insulator (SOI) structures have excellent potential for future use in radiation hardened and high speed integrated circuits. For device fabrication in SOI material a high quality superficial Si layer above a buried oxide layer is required. Recently, Celler et al. reported that post-implantation annealing of oxygen implanted SOI at very high temperatures would eliminate virtually all defects and precipiates in the superficial Si layer. In this work we are reporting on the effect of three different post implantation annealing cycles on the structure of oxygen implanted SOI samples which were implanted under the same conditions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 115-129
Author(s):  
Shin’ichi Aratani

High speed photography using the Cranz-Schardin camera was performed to study the crack divergence and divergence angle in thermally tempered glass. A tempered 3.5 mm thick glass plate was used as a specimen. It was shown that two types of bifurcation and branching existed as the crack divergence. The divergence angle was smaller than the value calculated from the principle of optimal design and showed an acute angle.


2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.A. Rakhimov ◽  
A.T. Akhmetov

The paper presents results of hydrodynamic and rheological studies of the inverse water hydrocarbon emulsions. The success of the application of invert emulsions in the petroleum industry due, along with the high viscosity of the emulsion, greatly exceeding the viscosity of the carrier phase, the dynamic blocking effect, which consists in the fact that the rate of flow of emulsions in capillary structures and cracks falls with time to 3-4 orders, despite the permanent pressure drop. The reported study shows an increase in viscosity with increasing concentration or dispersion of emulsion. The increase in dispersion of w/o emulsion leads to an acceleration of the onset of dynamic blocking. The use of microfluidic devices, is made by soft photolithography, along with high-speed photography (10,000 frames/s), allowed us to see in the blocking condition the deformation of the microdroplets of water in inverse emulsion prepared from simple chemical compounds.


BMC Genomics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Seth Commichaux ◽  
Kiran Javkar ◽  
Padmini Ramachandran ◽  
Niranjan Nagarajan ◽  
Denis Bertrand ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Whole genome sequencing of cultured pathogens is the state of the art public health response for the bioinformatic source tracking of illness outbreaks. Quasimetagenomics can substantially reduce the amount of culturing needed before a high quality genome can be recovered. Highly accurate short read data is analyzed for single nucleotide polymorphisms and multi-locus sequence types to differentiate strains but cannot span many genomic repeats, resulting in highly fragmented assemblies. Long reads can span repeats, resulting in much more contiguous assemblies, but have lower accuracy than short reads. Results We evaluated the accuracy of Listeria monocytogenes assemblies from enrichments (quasimetagenomes) of naturally-contaminated ice cream using long read (Oxford Nanopore) and short read (Illumina) sequencing data. Accuracy of ten assembly approaches, over a range of sequencing depths, was evaluated by comparing sequence similarity of genes in assemblies to a complete reference genome. Long read assemblies reconstructed a circularized genome as well as a 71 kbp plasmid after 24 h of enrichment; however, high error rates prevented high fidelity gene assembly, even at 150X depth of coverage. Short read assemblies accurately reconstructed the core genes after 28 h of enrichment but produced highly fragmented genomes. Hybrid approaches demonstrated promising results but had biases based upon the initial assembly strategy. Short read assemblies scaffolded with long reads accurately assembled the core genes after just 24 h of enrichment, but were highly fragmented. Long read assemblies polished with short reads reconstructed a circularized genome and plasmid and assembled all the genes after 24 h enrichment but with less fidelity for the core genes than the short read assemblies. Conclusion The integration of long and short read sequencing of quasimetagenomes expedited the reconstruction of a high quality pathogen genome compared to either platform alone. A new and more complete level of information about genome structure, gene order and mobile elements can be added to the public health response by incorporating long read analyses with the standard short read WGS outbreak response.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hitesh Agarwal ◽  
Bernat Terrés ◽  
Lorenzo Orsini ◽  
Alberto Montanaro ◽  
Vito Sorianello ◽  
...  

AbstractElectro-absorption (EA) waveguide-coupled modulators are essential building blocks for on-chip optical communications. Compared to state-of-the-art silicon (Si) devices, graphene-based EA modulators promise smaller footprints, larger temperature stability, cost-effective integration and high speeds. However, combining high speed and large modulation efficiencies in a single graphene-based device has remained elusive so far. In this work, we overcome this fundamental trade-off by demonstrating the 2D-3D dielectric integration in a high-quality encapsulated graphene device. We integrated hafnium oxide (HfO2) and two-dimensional hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) within the insulating section of a double-layer (DL) graphene EA modulator. This combination of materials allows for a high-quality modulator device with high performances: a ~39 GHz bandwidth (BW) with a three-fold increase in modulation efficiency compared to previously reported high-speed modulators. This 2D-3D dielectric integration paves the way to a plethora of electronic and opto-electronic devices with enhanced performance and stability, while expanding the freedom for new device designs.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 559
Author(s):  
Lakshminath Kundanati ◽  
Prashant Das ◽  
Nicola M. Pugno

Aquatic predatory insects, like the nymphs of a dragonfly, use rapid movements to catch their prey and it presents challenges in terms of movements due to drag forces. Dragonfly nymphs are known to be voracious predators with structures and movements that are yet to be fully understood. Thus, we examine two main mouthparts of the dragonfly nymph (Libellulidae: Insecta: Odonata) that are used in prey capturing and cutting the prey. To observe and analyze the preying mechanism under water, we used high-speed photography and, electron microscopy. The morphological details suggest that the prey-capturing labium is a complex grasping mechanism with additional sensory organs that serve some functionality. The time taken for the protraction and retraction of labium during prey capture was estimated to be 187 ± 54 ms, suggesting that these nymphs have a rapid prey mechanism. The Young’s modulus and hardness of the mandibles were estimated to be 9.1 ± 1.9 GPa and 0.85 ± 0.13 GPa, respectively. Such mechanical properties of the mandibles make them hard tools that can cut into the exoskeleton of the prey and also resistant to wear. Thus, studying such mechanisms with their sensory capabilities provides a unique opportunity to design and develop bioinspired underwater deployable mechanisms.


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