58 research outputs found
A molecular and thermodynamic view of the assembly of gold nanoparticles in nematic liquid crystal
No full textThe molecular interactions driving the assembly of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) in a nematic liquid crystal (LC) are directly detected by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and thermodynamically analyzed. The orientational orders of the selectively deuterated LC matrix and AuNP ligands, each separately followed by variable temperature 2H NMR as a function of particle concentration, were observed to be strongly correlated. The mechanism of the reversible formation of long-range, quasi-periodic nanoparticle structures is attributed to the coupling of the AuNP ligands to the LC matrix, inducing an isotropic–nematic biphasic state. Experimentally validated thermodynamic modeling shows that, in contrast to colloidal nematics that are dominated by elastic forces, nematic dispersions of nanoparticles self-organize through a subtle balance of entropic forces and excluded volume, interface-mediated mesogen and nanoparticle molecular interactions, and couplings between conserved and nonconserved order parameters. Fine-tuning of these interactions through ligand and mesogen chemistry, together with mesoscale modeling, provides a route for materials innovations by merging structured fluid physics and nanoscience.Fil: Milette, Jonathan. McGill University. Centre for Self-assembled Chemical Structures; Canadá;Fil: Toader, Violeta. McGill University. Centre for Self-assembled Chemical Structures; Canadá;Fil: Soulé, Ezequiel Rodolfo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigación en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales (i); Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingenieria; ArgentinaFil: Lennox, R. Bruce. McGill University. Centre for Self-assembled Chemical Structures; Canadá;Fil: Rey, Alejandro D.. McGill University. Department of Chemical Engineering; Canadá;Fil: Reven, Linda. McGill University. Centre for Self-assembled Chemical Structures; Canadá
Polymer functionalized nanoparticles in liquid crystals: Combining PDLCs with LC nanocomposites
No full textLiquid crystal (LC)-polymer blends are important stimuli responsive materials already employed in a wide range of applications whereas nanoparticle (NP)-LC blends are an emerging class of nanocomposites. Polymer ligands offer the advantages of synthetic simplicity along with chemical and molecular weight tunability. Here we compare the phase behavior of 5CB blended with poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and with gold NPs functionalized with thiolated PEO (AuNP-PEO) as a function of PEO concentration by DSC, POM and 13C NMR spectroscopy. Both PEO and the AuNP-PEO form uniform dispersions in isotropic 5CB and phase separate below the I-N phase transition temperature. Above the PEO crystallization temperature, the PEO/5CB blends show the expected biphasic state of PEO rich-isotropic liquid co-existing with PEO-poor nematic droplets. At PEO concentrations above 10 wt%, nematic 5CB nucleates with PEO crystallization. Both PEO and AuNP-PEO induce homeotropic alignment of the 5CB matrix immediately below TNI. The AuNP-PEO/5CB blends form thermally reversible cellular networks similar to AuNPs functionalized with low molecular weight mesogenic ligands. A thermodynamic model to account for the observed phase behavior is presented.Fil: Allie, Safiya. McGill University; CanadáFil: Hegoburu, Ignacio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales; ArgentinaFil: Shin, Min Jeong. McGill University; CanadáFil: Jung, Jung Young. McGill University; CanadáFil: Toader, Violeta. McGill University; CanadáFil: Rey, Alejandro D.. McGill University; CanadáFil: Soulé, Ezequiel Rodolfo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales; ArgentinaFil: Reven, Linda. McGill University; Canad
Depth Light Field Training (DeLFT): NeRF as a rendering primitive
No full textNeural radiance fields (NeRF) based solutions for novel view synthesis can achieve state of the art results. Recent work proposes models that take less time to render, need less training data or take up less space. However, few papers explore the use of NeRFs in classic rendering scenarios such as rasterization, which could contribute to wider adoption. Our paper tackles the issue of shadow generation and proposes a deep residual MLP network with fast evaluation times, that generates view-dependent shadow maps. The network distills the knowledge of an existing NeRF model and achieves the speedup through the use of neural light fields, by only doing one network forward per ray.CSE3000 Research ProjectComputer Science and Engineerin
Machine-Learning for Optimal Fitness Function Selection in Automated Testing
No full textThe perpetual desire for more qualitative software has been an excellent incentive for software engineers to create automated tools to ease and improve the process of software testing. EvoSuite is an example of a state-of-the-art tool that synthesises test cases automatically. It uses a genetic algorithm to produce test cases based on given search targets. Previous studies have analysed the performance of single or combinations of targets but have not yet explored the differences between various combinations. In this research, we compare the Weak Mutation + Branch setting to Branch and the Default (combination of eight separate targets) of EvoSuite. We aim to provide insightful information about their differences in branch coverage and mutation scores. Moreover, we discuss machine-learning models that can predict which combination has the highest score (i.e., branch coverage, mutation score) based on characteristics of the tested classes, such as the number of lines of code. Our results highlight that the Weak Mutation + Branch combination outperforms Branch for the mutation score metric and Default for the branch coverage metric. They also show that Weak Mutation + Branch is outperformed by the branch criterion for Branch Coverage and by the Default combination for mutation score. Our findings also cover the performance of the models, having concluded that the Random Forest and Decision Tree classifiers produce the best results and are feasible options for predicting the best combinations from the ones analysed. Finally, static code metrics such as 'wmc', 'loc', and 'mathOperationsOty' often appear as relevant features for our models. We visualise how they influence the most suitable combination of criteria through our Decision Trees.CSE3000 Research ProjectComputer Science and Engineerin
INFLUENCE OF THE SIZE OF METHYLENE SPACERS ON THE THERMAL BEHAVIOR OF SEVERAL ALIPHATIC-AROMATIC POLYESTERS
No full textPolyesters have a wide range of technical applications and therefore their processing is of the utmost importance. Since polyesters are usually processed by melting, their thermal stability is an extremely important characteristic for the exact determination of the operational parameters. The thermal analysis was carried out using a MOM-Budapest derivatograph at the 10 C/min heating speed, aluminum oxide the reference material, and the air conditions were static. The study lead to conclusions on the thermal stability and degradation mechanism depending on the number of methylene groups in the spacer. Thermal stability is supported by the increase in the number of methylene groups in the spacer. The degradation mechanism is complex through successive reactions. The spacer size influences the nature of the micromolecules formed by spacer fragmenting and by the number of carbon atoms, respectively
A possible slow-slip-event in the Vrancea seismic active region of Romania
No full textIn the last 300 years the window of time for two consecutive large and destructive intermediate-depth earthquakes in Vrancea (Romania) was between 36 and 102 years. An explanation for the larger window of time might be a release of stress produced by a slow-slip-event (SSE). In a vertical sinking slab slightly attached from the Earth’s crust both large earthquakes and SSE are expected to generate a downward movement in the vertical displacements of GPS data. The building-up of stress in the asperity preventing a steady aseismic sinking was expected to be transmitted upwards to faults in the crust and recorded based on a magnetotelluric phase splitting effect. A large stress build-up has been suggested around a fault in the years 2012–2013, but no large earthquake was recorded. We supposed a large SSE in the year 2013–2014 with a duration of 13 months released the accumulated stress. GPS stations in the epicentral region of Vrancea seismic active region supported our suggestion by showing a downward displacement of vertical data obtained for the year 2014. However, the vertical displacements are small and other possible causes than SSE need to be taken into account.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Astrodynamics & Space Mission
Review of ”Brand-urile în era Web 2.0. Conținutul generat de consumatori” [Web 2.0 Brands. User-generated Content] by Rodica Săvulescu, Bucharest: Tritonic, 2016, 252 pages
No full textThe web 2.0 era has shifted brand ownership from communication specialists towards consumers. This is the main idea on which Rodica Săvulescu builds her argumentation in her recently published book, Web 2.0 Brands. User-generated content (2016). The emergence of new technologies blurs the lines between content producers and consumers. In this book, the author addresses the topic of democratization of content in relation with brand communication
- …
