Linear magnetoresistance and structural distortion in layered SrCu_(4-x)P_(2) single crystals

We report a systematic study on layered metal SrCu_(4-x)P_(2) single crystals via transport, magnetization, thermodynamic measurements and structural characterization. We find that the crystals show large linear magnetoresistance without any sign of saturation with a magnetic field up to 30T. We also observe a phase transition with significant anomalies in resistivity and heat capacity at T_(p)~140 K. Thermal expansion measurement reveals a subtle lattice parameter variation near Tp, i.e.,?L_(c)/L_(c)~0.062%. The structural characterization confines that there is no structure transition below and above T_(p). All these results suggest that the nonmagnetic transition of SrCu_(4-x)P_(2) could be associated with structural distortion.

Bulging Distortion of Austenitic Stainless Steel Sheet on the Partially Penetrated Side of Non-Penetration Lap Laser Welding Joint

Non-penetration laser welding of lap joints in austenitic stainless steel sheets is commonly preferred in fields where the surface quality is of utmost importance.However,the application of non-penetration welded austenitic stainless steel parts is limited owing to the micro bulging distortion that occurs on the back surface of the partial penetration side.In this paper,non-penetration lap laser welding experiments,were conducted on galvanized and SUS304 austenitic stainless steel plates using a fiber laser,to investigate the mechanism of bulging distortion.A comparative experiment of DC01 galvanized steel-Q235 carbon steel lap laser welding was carried out,and the deflection and distortion profile of partially penetrated side of the sheets were measured using a noncontact laser interferometer.In addition,the cold-rolled SUS304 was subjected to heat holding at different temperatures and water quenching after bending to characterize its microstructure under tensile and compressive stress.The results show that,during the heating stage of the thermal cycle of laser lap welding,the partial penetration side of the SUS304 steel sheet generates compressive stress,which extrudes the material in the heat-affected zone to the outside of the back of the SUS304 steel sheet,thereby forming a bulge.The findings of these experiments can be of great value for controlling the distortion of the partial penetrated side of austenitic stainless steel sheet during laser non-penetration lap welding.

Computational Quantification of Map Projection Distortion by Fractal Dimension of Coastlines

Maps, essential tools for portraying the Earth’s surface, inherently introduce distortions to geographical features. While various quantification methods exist for assessing these distortions, they often fall short when evaluating actual geographic features. In our study, we took a novel approach by analyzing map projection distortion from a geometric perspective. We computed the fractal dimensions of different stretches of coastline before and after projection using the divide-and-conquer algorithm and image processing. Our findings revealed that map projections, even when preserving basic shapes, inevitably stretch and compress coastlines in diverse directions. This analysis method provides a more realistic and practical way to measure map-induced distortions, with significant implications for cartography, geographic information systems (GIS), and geomorphology. By bridging the gap between theoretical analysis and real-world features, this method greatly enhances accuracy and practicality when evaluating map projections.

Investigation of Induced Distortions in a-Si∶H/a-SiN_x∶H Multilayers by Raman Scattering Technique

The a Si∶H/SiN x ∶H sample series are investigated by means of Raman scattering technique(RST). The result shows that due to the structural mismatch between a Si∶H and a SiN x ∶H, severe induced distortions are produced in the interface of the heterojunction, and these induced distortions tend towards a certain energy state. The ordering of the interface structure depends on the periodic number of multilayer thin films.

Price distortions and municipal bonds premiums:evidence from Switzerland

This study examines the pricing of municipal bonds before and after a currency shock in Switzerland.Two approaches are used to decompose the municipal to treasuries bond spreads into liquidity,maturity,and default risk premiums.The first approach is the model of the cross-sectional instrumental variables,and the second approach is the model of the instrumental variables with panel data.This study examines the composition of spreads for both approaches,in three scenarios:before,throughout,and after the currency shock.The study performed Durbin-Wu-Hausman tests for each decisive model to verify endogeneity issues,including the Lagrangian Multiplier test,the Cragg-Donald Wald F statistic to confirm the relationship of instrumental and endogenous variables,and the structural break test(Bai-Perron test)to determine the existence of structural breaks in bond distortions.This study finds that the currency price distortions of the Swiss franc in January 2015 made long-run changes in the composition of the municipal bond spreads.This research contributes to the understanding of municipal bond pricing by showing that default risk accounts for a large portion of the municipal bond spread,while maturity risk plays a lesser role.According to our empirical findings,unexpected large currency price shocks may have long-term implications on the municipal bond spreads.

Three-Dimensional Thermo-Elastic-Plastic Finite Element Method Modeling for Predicting Weld-Induced Residual Stresses and Distortions in Steel Stiffened-Plate Structures

The objective of the present paper is to develop nonlinear finite element method models for predicting the weld-induced initial deflection and residual stress of plating in steel stiffened-plate structures. For this purpose, three-dimensional thermo-elastic-plastic finite element method computations are performed with varying plate thickness and weld bead length (leg length) in welded plate panels, the latter being associated with weld heat input. The finite element models are verified by a comparison with experimental database which was obtained by the authors in separate studies with full scale measurements. It is concluded that the nonlinear finite element method models developed in the present paper are very accurate in terms of predicting the weld-induced initial imperfections of steel stiffened plate structures. Details of the numerical computations together with test database are documented.

Structural distortions and magnetisms in Fe-doped LaMn_(1-x) Fe_x O_3(0

X-ray absorption spectra （XAS） at Mn K-edge and Fe K-edge in LaMnl-xFexO3 show that with the increase of Fe substitution the chemical valence of Mn4＋ decreases, while the chemical valence of Fe3＋ remains unchanged. Structural distortions, such as the rotating and tilting for oxygen octahedron in the unit cell vary with iron content. A phase transition occurs at the Fe content values of 0.2~0.3. The evolutions of rotation and tilting angle of FeO6/MnO6 octahedral may be the vital factors to the structure and magnetism. We believe that the spin configuration of Fe3＋ may vary from the intermediate spin t2g4eg1 （S = 3/2） to the higher spin t2g3eg2 （S = 5/2） near the phase transition.

Distortions and Deformations of Metaled Meso-Substituted and Unsubstituted Porphyrins and Derivatives in Crystal Structures

Experimental crystallographic structural parameters of a range of metaled meso-substituted and unsubstituted porphyrins were reviewed to show how far the meso-substitution by any functional group and the insertion of metal in the porphyrins core macrocycle may affect the geometry. The analysis of twists and angles has shown two kinds of distortions: external [T(Cβ-Cα-Cmeso-Xn) and T(Cβ-Cα-Cmeso-Cα)] and internal [T(Nm-Cα-Cmeso-Xn) and T(Nn-Cα-Cmeso-Cα)] with averages of [+6°and –6°] and [–5°and +5°], respectively. In the meso-substituted case, the external and internal twists Cβ-Cα-Cmeso-X and N-Cα-Cmeso-X, respectively are oppositely orientated. Similar effect is observed in meso-unsubstituted of Cβ-Cα- Cmeso-H and N-Cα-Cmeso-H. However, the external distortions are more significant than internal. Considering the same order, the limit of distortions is [97°and 132°(–48°)] for external and [91°(–89°) and 52°] for internal. In the two cases, the substituents have opposite directions of distortions. The meso-substituted porphyrins have a high limit of twisting than usubstituted one, depending of the weight of substituents. The average of the bond angular deformations is 168°, almost planar. However, the limit of angular deformation is 94°.

Correction of distorted X-ray absorption spectra collected with capillary sample cell

In certain exceptional cases,capillary samples must be used to measure X-ray absorption spectra(XAS).However,the inho-mogeneous thickness of capillary samples causes XAS distortion.This study discusses the distortion and correction of the XAS curve caused by the inhomogeneous thickness of capillary samples.The relationship between the distorted XAS curveμ′d_(eq)(measured values)and the real absorption coefficientμ_(s)d_(eq)(true values)of the sample was established.The distortion was slight and negligible when the vertical size(2h)of the X-ray beam spot was smaller than 60%of the capillary tube’s inner diameter(2R_(in)).When h/R_(in)>1,X-ray leakage is inevitable and should be avoided during measurement.Partial X-ray leakage caused by an X-ray beam spot size larger than the inner diameter of the capillary tube leads to serious compressed distortion of the XAS curve.When h/R_(in)<1,the distorted XAS data were well corrected.Possible errors and their influence on the corrected XAS are also discussed.Simulations and corrections for distortions verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the corrected method.

Distortions, Growth Catch-up, and Sustainable Growth

A distortion is a departure from the allocation of economic resources from the state in which each agent maximizes his/her own welfare. Distortions can be divided into endogenous distortion(i.e. market imperfections) and policy-imposed distortion. The relationship between distortion and development is complex, thus favorable distortion would only be possible under certain conditions, where, as argued in this paper, four crucial mechanisms may play roles — advantage of backwardness, second-best principle, coordination failure and political economy perspective. Empirically, both international experience and evidence from China suggest that distortions have a positive effect on total factor productivity(TFP) in the early stages of development, but with increasing income levels this role gradually diminishes. Especially in the phases of middle and high income, the negative effects of distortions are significant and become an important factor leading to the middle-income trap. Therefore, reducing and correcting distortions is the key to achieving sustainable growth. Regarding China, it is necessary to eliminate the distortions in a clear way and let the market play the decisive role in resource allocation. Otherwise, in the name of "growth catch-up," the policy-imposed distortion will occur frequently, and the direction of market-oriented reform will become blurred and swing. Mitigating unfavorable distortions is largely a process of exploring the favorable borderline of government and market, which constitutes a major challenge for all economies.

Computerized Scheme for Histological Classification of Masses with Architectural Distortions in Ultrasonographic Images

Architectural distortion is an important ultrasonographic indicator of breast cancer. However, it is difficult for clinicians to determine whether a given lesion is malignant because such distortions can be subtle in ultrasonographic images. In this paper, we report on a study to develop a computerized scheme for the histological classification of masses with architectural distortions as a differential diagnosis aid. Our database consisted of 72 ultrasonographic images obtained from 47 patients whose masses had architectural distortions. This included 51 malignant (35 invasive and 16 non-invasive carcinomas) and 21 benign masses. In the proposed method, the location of the masses and the area occupied by them were first determined by an experienced clinician. Fourteen objective features concerning masses with architectural distortions were then extracted automatically by taking into account subjective features commonly used by experienced clinicians to describe such masses. The k-nearest neighbors (k-NN) rule was finally used to distinguish three histological classifications. The proposed method yielded classification accuracy values of 91.4% (32/35) for invasive carcinoma, 75.0% (12/16) for noninvasive carcinoma, and 85.7% (18/21) for benign mass, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity values were 92.2% (47/51) and 85.7% (18/21), respectively. The positive predictive values (PPV) were 88.9% (32/36) for invasive carcinoma and 85.7% (12/14) for noninvasive carcinoma whereas the negative predictive values (NPV) were 81.8% (18/22) for benign mass. Thus, the proposed method can help the differential diagnosis of masses with architectural distortions in ultrasonographic images.

Influence of Electrical Field Distortions Induced by Water Droplets on the Contamination Characteristics of an Insulator

When separated water droplets condense on the surface of a composite insulator,the electrical field on the insulator surface is distorted.In turn,such distortions change the trajectories of pollution particles.In this study,the COMSOL software is used to simulate such a process for the FXBW4-10/100 composite insulator with or without water droplets condensation under a 10 kV DC voltage.The influence of the wind speed and particles concentration on the contamination characteristics of the considered 110 kV insulator is analyzed.The results show that:1)in the presence of water droplets on the insulator surface,the ratio of electrical field force and gravity acting on the particles is large;2)the contamination on the insulator surface increases with the wind speed;3)when the wind speed is small,the relationship between the contamination amount and the pollution concentration is essentially linear.

Active Anomalous Transmission and Its Application in Compensating Waveform Distortions

In theoty, engineered anomalous transmission in passive materials and waveguide devices can be used to compensate for wavetorm distortions. However, they suffer from inherent dissipation. Recently, active non-Foster elements with imaginary immittance monotonically decreasing with frequency have shown important potentials in broadening bandwidths of electromagnetic devices. So far, they are implemented besed on negative impedance convertors （NICs） loaded with Foster devices. This makes them intrinsically one-port elements and thus cannot be used to compensate for distortions of signals. We construct a two-port network with a non-Foster transmission coefticient based on an unconventional use of NICs. Simulation and experiments show that it can compensate for extremely distorted signals. The proposed method can be used to broaden existing applications in different areas such as antennas, circuits and systems, and physical-layer signal processing.

Truth Discovery from Conflicting Data: A Survey

With the rocketing progress of the Internet, it is easier for people to get information about the objects that they are interested in. However, this information usually has conflicts. In order to resolve conflicts and get the true information, truth discovery has been proposed and received widespread attention. Many algorithms have been proposed to adapt to different scenarios. This paper aims to investigate these algorithms and summarize them from the perspective of algorithm models and specific concepts. Some classic datasets and evaluation metrics are given in this paper. Some future directions for readers are also provided to better understand the field of truth discovery.

DISTORTION THEOREMS FOR CLASSES OF g-PARAMETRIC STARLIKE MAPPINGS OF REAL ORDER IN C^(n)

In this paper,we define the class S_(g)^(BX)of g-parametric starlike mappings of real order γ on the unit ball BX in a complex Banach space X,where g is analytic and satisfies certain conditions.By establishing the distortion theorem of the Fr´echet-derivative type of S_(g)^(BX)with a weak restrictive condition,we further obtain the distortion results of the Jacobi-determinant type and the Fr´echet-derivative type for the corresponding classes(compared with S_(g)^(BX))defined on the unit polydisc(resp.unit ball with the arbitrary norm)in the space of n-dimensional complex variables,n≥2.Our results extend the classic distortion theorem of holomorphic functions from the case in one-dimensional complex space to the case in the higher dimensional complex space.The main theorems also generalize and improve some recent works.

Lightweight privacy-preserving truth discovery for vehicular air quality monitoring

Air pollution has become a global concern for many years.Vehicular crowdsensing systems make it possible to monitor air quality at a fine granularity.To better utilize the sensory data with varying credibility,truth discovery frameworks are introduced.However,in urban cities,there is a significant difference in traffic volumes of streets or blocks,which leads to a data sparsity problem for truth discovery.Protecting the privacy of participant vehicles is also a crucial task.We first present a data masking-based privacy-preserving truth discovery framework,which incorporates spatial and temporal correlations to solve the sparsity problem.To further improve the truth discovery performance of the presented framework,an enhanced version is proposed with anonymous communication and data perturbation.Both frameworks are more lightweight than the existing cryptography-based methods.We also evaluate the work with simulations and fully discuss the performance and possible extensions.

Thermal Tensioning Effects to Prevent Welding Buckling Distortions in Manufacturing of Thin-Walled Aerospace Shells and Panels

To prevent buckling distortions of thin-walled elements, Low Stress No Distortion welding techniques have been pioneered and developed for product engineering and component manufacturing of aerospace structures with material thickness less than 4 mm. In this paper, the nature of Low Stress No Distortion (LSND) welding techniques using thermal tensioning effects is described and special emphases are given to the mechanism of localized thermal tensioning effect. The fundamental principle of Low Stress No Distortion welding is to create active in-process control of incompatible (inherent) plastic strains and stresses formation during welding to achieve distortion-free results implying that no post weld costly reworking operations for distortion correction is required. Finite element analysis is applied to predict and optimize the localized thermal tensioning technique with a trailing spot heat sink coupled to the welding heat source. Comparisons of the thermal elastic-plastic stress-strain cycles are given between conventional gas tungsten arc welding and GTAW with a trailing spot heat sink.

Out-of-plane weak ferromagnetism at room temperature in lattice-distortion non-collinear antiferromagnet of single-crystal Mn_(3)Sn

Out-of-plane weak ferromagnetic(OWFM)spin arrangements with topological properties can realize a series of interesting physical properties.However,this spin structure tends to exist at low temperatures.The OWFM structure can also be induced at room temperature by hydrostatic pressure,whereas this isotropic approach tends to form helical AFM structures.We report the OWFM spin arrangement in single crystal Mn_(3)Sn by an anisotropic strategy of high-stressconstrained compression deformation at room temperature.Both experimental and theoretical simulation results show that the alignment of the OWFM spin structure is due to the distortion of the atomic scale caused by the strain energy during deformation.The OWFM spin arrangement can significantly change the magnetic property of Mn_(3)Sn.As a result,the remanent magnetization M_(r)for the deformed sample(0.056μ_(B)/f.u.)is about eleven times that for the pre-deformed sample(0.005μ_(B)/f.u.),and the coercivity(H_(c))increases from 0 k Oe(pre-deformed sample)to 6.02 k Oe(deformed sample).Our findings provide a way to generate the OWFM spin structure at room temperature and may give fresh ideas for creating antiferromagnetic materials with excellent physical properties.

Distortion Evaluation of EMP Sensors Using Associated-Hermite Functions

Electromagnetic pulse(EMP)is a kind of transient electromagnetic phenomenon with short rise time of the leading edge and wide spectrum,which usually disrupts communications and damages electronic equipment and system.It is challenging for an EMP sensor to measure a wideband electromagnetic pulse without distortion for the whole spectrum.Therefore,analyzing the distortion of EMP measurement is crucial to evaluating the sensor distortion characteristics and correcting the measurement results.Waveform fidelity is usually employed to evaluate the distortion of an antenna.However,this metric depends on specific signal waveforms,thus is unsuitable for evaluating and analyzing the distortion of EMP sensors.In this paper,an associated-hermite-function based distortion analysis method including system transfer matrices and distortion rates is proposed,which is general and independent from individual waveforms.The system transfer matrix and distortion rate can be straightforwardly calculated by the signal orthogonal transformation coefficients using associated-hermite functions.Distortion of a sensor vs.frequency is then visualized via the system transfer matrix,which is convenient in quantitative analysis of the distortion.Measurement of a current probe,a coaxial pulse voltage probe and a B-field sensor were performed,based on which the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed distortion analysis method is successfully verified.