Silicon carbide resonant tuning fork for microsensing applications in high temperature and high G shock environments

We present the fabrication and testing of a silicon carbide(SiC)balanced mass double-ended tuning fork that survives harsh environments without compromising the device strain sensitivity and resolution bandwidth.The device features a material stack that survives corrosive environments and enables high-temperature operation.To perform high-temperature testing,a specialized setup was constructed that allows the tuning fork to be characterized using traditional silicon electronics.The tuning fork has been operated at 600 ℃ in the presence of dry steam for short durations.This tuning fork has also been tested to 64 000 G using a hard-launch,soft-catch shock implemented with a light gas gun.However,the device still has a strain sensitivity of 66 Hz/με and strain resolution of 0.045 με in a 10 kHz bandwidth.As such,this balanced-mass double-ended tuning fork can be used to create a variety of different sensors including strain gauges,accelerometers,gyroscopes,and pressure transducers.Given the adaptable fabrication process flow,this device could be useful to micro-electro-mechanical systems(MEMS) designers creating sensors for a variety of different applications.     

世界科技领军地位之争：国家发展状况与趋势分祈

科技领域领军地位之争,一直以来都是美国和欧盟的龙虎斗,但现在中国大有争霸之势。目前,在大多数投入指标上美国处于领先地位,欧盟领先于一些重要的产出指标,而中国却从文化大革命时期贫穷落后的不发达状态飞速发展起来,在大多数科技指标方面紧跟美国和欧盟,成为世界科技领域的有力竞争者。依据近年来专家的分析研究,对世界研发领域发展水平的评估表明,许多中国实验室的整体性能正得到快速提升。当前的科技发展状况以及许多相应表征指标的变化都预示着——在不久的将来,中国会在许多指标上超越其他国家,成为科技领域里的超级大国。本文所做的预测是基于国家论文份额的变化,其中投入指标应用的是某国研发经费的世界份额。如果世界各国在投资方面仍保持当前的趋势,那么今后美国与欧盟在SCI数据库中的论文份额将会继续降低,而中国将在十年之内迎头赶上。中国在Inspec与Compendex数据库的数据已经超过美国这一事实对此预测也提供了有力的支持。     

Magnetic and flotation studies of banded hematite quartzite (BHQ) ore for the production of pellet grade concentrate

To identify and establish beneficiation techniques for banded hematite quartzite (BHQ) iron ore, a comprehensive research on BHQ ore treatment was carried out. The BHQ ore was assayed as 38.9wt% Fe, 42.5wt% SiO₂, and 1.0wt% Al₂O₃. In this ore, hematite and quartz are present as the major mineral phases where goethite, martite, and magnetite are present in small amounts. The liberation of hematite particles can be enhanced to about 82% by reducing the particle size to below 63 μm. The rejection of silica particles can be obtained by magnetic and flotation separation techniques. Overall, the BHQ ore can be enriched to 65.3wt% Fe at 61.9% iron recovery. A flowsheet has been suggested for the commercial exploitation of the BHQ ore.     

坡度与雨强对磷和稀土元素径流输出的影响研究

通过系列室内人工降雨模拟试验,观察了不同坡度(5°、10°、15°、20°、25°)和不同降雨强度(43mm/h、83mm/h、115mm/h)组合条件下,3种外源稀土元素Nd、Ce、La和磷素随土槽坡面径流输出的特征.结果表明,92%以上的外源稀土元素和磷素都是以径流颗粒物形式输出,且3种外源稀土元素与磷素随径流输出的总量均呈极显著的相关性;在不同雨强下,外源稀土元素和磷素随径流流失总量与坡度呈二次抛物线型关系,即随坡度增大而增大,但土槽坡度增加到一定程度时存在转折点,临界坡度的变化范围为22—26°.     

Asymptotic limits and stabilization for the 1D nonlinear Mindlin-Timoshenko system

<正> This paper shows how the so called von Karman model can be obtained as a singular limitof a modified Mindlin-Timoshenko system when the modulus of elasticity in shear k tends to infinity,provided a regularizing term through a fourth order dispersive operator is added.Introducing dampingmechanisms,the authors also show that the energy of solutions for this modified Mindlin-Timoshenkosystem decays exponentially,uniformly with respect to the parameter k.As k→∞,the authors obtainthe damped von Karman model with associated energy exponentially decaying to zero as well.     

Latent ancestral graph of structure vector autoregressive models

A class of latent ancestral graph for modelling the dependence structure of structural vector autoregressive (VAR) model affected by latent variables is proposed.The graphs are mixed graphs with possibly two kind of edges,namely directed and bidirected edges.The vertex set denotes random variables at difforent times.In Gaussian case,the latent ancestral graph leads to a simple parameterization model.A modified iterative conditional fitting algorithm is presented to obtain maximum likelihood estimation of the parameters.Furthermore,a log-likelihood criterion is used to select the most appropriate models.Simulations are performed using illustrative examples and results are provided to demonstrate the validity of the methods.     

Structure and mechanism of the S component of a bacterial ECF transporter

The energy-coupling factor (ECF) transporters, responsible for vitamin uptake in prokaryotes, are a unique family of membrane transporters. Each ECF transporter contains a membrane-embedded, substrate-binding protein (known as the S component), an energy-coupling module that comprises two ATP-binding proteins (known as the A and A' components) and a transmembrane protein (known as the T component). The structure and transport mechanism of the ECF family remain unknown. Here we report the crystal structure of RibU, the S component of the ECF-type riboflavin transporter from Staphylococcus aureus at 3.6-? resolution. RibU contains six transmembrane segments, adopts a previously unreported transporter fold and contains a riboflavin molecule bound to the L1 loop and the periplasmic portion of transmembrane segments 4-6. Structural analysis reveals the essential ligand-binding residues, identifies the putative transport path and, with sequence alignment, uncovers conserved structural features and suggests potential mechanisms of action among the ECF transporters.     

Hidden magnetic excitation in the pseudogap phase of a high-T(c) superconductor

The elucidation of the pseudogap phenomenon of the high-transition-temperature (high-T(c)) copper oxides-a set of anomalous physical properties below the characteristic temperature T* and above T(c)-has been a major challenge in condensed matter physics for the past two decades. Following initial indications of broken time-reversal symmetry in photoemission experiments, recent polarized neutron diffraction work demonstrated the universal existence of an unusual magnetic order below T* (refs 3, 4). These findings have the profound implication that the pseudogap regime constitutes a genuine new phase of matter rather than a mere crossover phenomenon. They are furthermore consistent with a particular type of order involving circulating orbital currents, and with the notion that the phase diagram is controlled by a quantum critical point. Here we report inelastic neutron scattering results for HgBa(2)CuO(4+δ) that reveal a fundamental collective magnetic mode associated with the unusual order, and which further support this picture. The mode's intensity rises below the same temperature T* and its dispersion is weak, as expected for an Ising-like order parameter. Its energy of 52-56?meV renders it a new candidate for the hitherto unexplained ubiquitous electron-boson coupling features observed in spectroscopic studies.     

Subtypes of medulloblastoma have distinct developmental origins

Medulloblastoma encompasses a collection of clinically and molecularly diverse tumour subtypes that together comprise the most common malignant childhood brain tumour. These tumours are thought to arise within the cerebellum, with approximately 25% originating from granule neuron precursor cells (GNPCs) after aberrant activation of the Sonic Hedgehog pathway (hereafter, SHH subtype). The pathological processes that drive heterogeneity among the other medulloblastoma subtypes are not known, hindering the development of much needed new therapies. Here we provide evidence that a discrete subtype of medulloblastoma that contains activating mutations in the WNT pathway effector CTNNB1 (hereafter, WNT subtype) arises outside the cerebellum from cells of the dorsal brainstem. We found that genes marking human WNT-subtype medulloblastomas are more frequently expressed in the lower rhombic lip (LRL) and embryonic dorsal brainstem than in the upper rhombic lip (URL) and developing cerebellum. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and intra-operative reports showed that human WNT-subtype tumours infiltrate the dorsal brainstem, whereas SHH-subtype tumours are located within the cerebellar hemispheres. Activating mutations in Ctnnb1 had little impact on progenitor cell populations in the cerebellum, but caused the abnormal accumulation of cells on the embryonic dorsal brainstem which included aberrantly proliferating Zic1(+) precursor cells. These lesions persisted in all mutant adult mice; moreover, in 15% of cases in which Tp53 was concurrently deleted, they progressed to form medulloblastomas that recapitulated the anatomy and gene expression profiles of human WNT-subtype medulloblastoma. We provide the first evidence, to our knowledge, that subtypes of medulloblastoma have distinct cellular origins. Our data provide an explanation for the marked molecular and clinical differences between SHH- and WNT-subtype medulloblastomas and have profound implications for future research and treatment of this important childhood cancer.     

A collision in 2009 as the origin of the debris trail of asteroid P/2010 A2

The peculiar object P/2010?A2 was discovered in January 2010 and given a cometary designation because of the presence of a trail of material, although there was no central condensation or coma. The appearance of this object, in an asteroidal orbit (small eccentricity and inclination) in the inner main asteroid belt attracted attention as a potential new member of the recently recognized class of main-belt comets. If confirmed, this new object would expand the range in heliocentric distance over which main-belt comets are found. Here we report observations of P/2010?A2 by the Rosetta spacecraft. We conclude that the trail arose from a single event, rather than a period of cometary activity, in agreement with independent results. The trail is made up of relatively large particles of millimetre to centimetre size that remain close to the parent asteroid. The shape of the trail can be explained by an initial impact ejecting large clumps of debris that disintegrated and dispersed almost immediately. We determine that this was an asteroid collision that occurred around 10 February 2009.