Limits to phase resolution in matter-wave interferometry

We study the quantum dynamics of a two-mode Bose-Einstein condensate in a time-dependent symmetric double-well potential using analytical and numerical methods. The effects of internal degrees of freedom on the visibility of interference fringes during a stage of ballistic expansion are investigated varying particle number, nonlinear interaction sign and strength, as well as tunneling coupling. Expressions for the phase resolution are derived and the possible enhancement due to squeezing is discussed. In particular, the role of the superfluid-Mott insulator crossover and its analog for attractive interactions is recognized.

Guides of the Falu Mine : Perceptions of Differences and Similarities onDomestic and International Visitors

Industrial heritage tourism has been in focus for many academic studies and tourism is an alternative developmental tool for mines and contributes to their economic success. This thesis is about the Falu Mine in Dalarna, Sweden, which has World Heritage status since 2001 and is one of the biggest attractions in the region. Its history and cultural importance are reasons for the importance of preserving the heritage. The Falu Mine is under the management of the Great Copper Mountain Trust and one of their ambitions is to ensure the continuous popularity among domestic and international visitors. In order to gain a better understanding of the visitors and to find strategies to improve performance, a visitor survey has been conducted in the summer of 2011. It is the authors believe that the guides of the Falu Mine have the best available insight and that their perceptions help to add to the understanding about the visitors. Therefore, this thesis aims to explore the perceptions of the guides about their visitors, to investigate how the perceptions correspond to the statistical results and to study if there are any differences between domestic and international visitors. The mixed methods approach will increase the depth and accuracy of the results, by linking qualitative with quantitative data. The results show that differences between domestic and international visitors exist, both proven by interviews with the guides and the visitor survey. These differences occur in the factors, such as level of education of the visitors, group size and number of children in the group, knowledge of the visitors prior to and after the visit, sources of information and the fulfillment of the visitor expectations. The perceptions emphasize how these differences impact the guided tours. The guides of the Falu Mine have to be aware of those differences in order to adjust the tour accordingly, as well as the management of the Falu Mine can use this knowledge in order to identify strategies for improving performance.

Opting out of oppositionality : toward an informed and engaged "third wave" feminism

I begin by citing a definition of "third wave" from the glossary in Turbo Chicks: Talking Young Feminisms at length because it communicates several key issues that I develop in this project. The definition introduces a tension within "third wave" feminism of building and differentiating itself from second wave feminism, the newness of the term "third wave," its association with "young" women, complexity of contemporary feminisms, and attention to multiple identities and oppressions. Uncovering explanations of "third wave" feminism that go beyond, like this one, generational associations, is not an easy task. Authors consistently group new feminist voices together by age under the label "third wave" feminists without questioning the accuracy of the designation. Most explorations of "third wave" feminism overlook the complexities and distinctions that abound among "young" feminists ; not all young feminists espouse similar ideas, tactics, and actions; and for various reasons, not all young feminists identify with a "third wave" of feminism. Less than a year after I began to learn about feminism I discovered Barbara Findlen's Listen Up: Voices From the Next Feminist Generation. Although the collection nor its contributors declare association with "third wave" feminism, consequent reviews and citations in articles identify it, along with Rebecca Walker's To Be Real: Telling the Truth and Changing the Voice of Feminism, as a major text of "third wave" feminism. Re-reading Listen Up since beginning to research "third wave" feminism, I now understand its fundamental influence on my research questions as a starting point for assessing persistent exclusion in contemporary feminism, rather than as a revolutionary text (as it is claimed to be in many reviews). Findlen begins the introduction with the bold claim, "My feminism wasn't shaped by antiwar or civil rights activism ..." (xi). Framing the collection with a disavowal of the influence women of color's organizational efforts negates, for me, the project's proclaimed commitment to multivocality. Though several contributions examine persistent exclusion within contemporary feminist movement, the larger project seems to rely on these essays to reflect this commitment, suggesting that Listen Up does not go beyond the "add and stir" approach to "diversity." Interestingly, this statement does not appear in the new edition of Listen Up published in 2001. And the content has changed with this new edition, including several more Latina contributors and other "corrective" additions.

Monitoramento morfológico do xerogel híbrido 3-(1,4-fenilenodiamina)propil/silica obtido sob diferentes condições de síntese

Neste trabalho, foi obtido o xerogel híbrido 3-(1,4-fenilenodiamina) propil/sílica, usando-se o método sol-gel de síntese, variando-se as condições experimentais de síntese. Foram usados como reagentes precursores o tetraetilortosilicato (TEOS) e o 3-[(1,4-fenilenodiamina)propil]trimetoxisilano (FDAPS) sintetizado em nosso laboratório. As condições experimentais de síntese variadas foram: a concentração de precursor orgânico (FDAPS), a temperatura de gelificação, o tipo de solvente e o pH do meio reacional. O trabalho foi dividido em duas etapas: na primeira, foram obtidas duas séries de materiais onde se variou a temperatura de gelificação (5, 25, 50 e 70 °C), além da quantidade de precursor orgânico (FDAPS), adicionado à síntese (1,5 e 5,0 mmol). Na segunda etapa variou-se o pH do meio reacional (4, 7 e 10) além do tipo de solvente (etanol, butanol e octanol), mantendo-se a quantidade de precursor orgânico adicionado e a temperatura de gelificação constantes em 5,0 mmol e 25 oC, respectivamente. Em ambas etapas utilizou-se HF como catalisador e manteve-se o sistema fechado, porém não vedado, durante a gelificação. Na caracterização dos xerogéis híbridos foram usadas as seguintes técnicas: a) termoanálise no infravermelho, para estimar a estabilidade térmica do componente orgânico além da fração de orgânicos dispersos na superfície; b) isotermas de adsorção e dessorção de nitrogênio, para determinação da área superficial específica, do volume e da distribuição de tamanho de poros; c) análise elementar para estimar a fração de componente orgânico presente no xerogel e d) microscopia eletrônica de varredura onde foi possível observar textura, compactação e presença de partículas primárias nos xerogéis. A partir dos resultados de caracterização foi possível avaliar a influência dos parâmetros experimentais de síntese nas características dos xerogéis híbridos obtidos. Xerogéis híbridos com maior teor de orgânicos foram mais influenciados pela variação da temperatura de gelificação. Um aumento na temperatura de gelificação produz xerogéis com menor porosidade, entretanto, com maior estabilidade térmica do componente orgânico. Considerando-se estabilidade térmica e porosidade, as amostras gelificadas a 25 oC apresentaram os melhores resultados. Em relação à variação de pH e solvente, as amostras gelificadas em pH ácido foram as que apresentaram maior porosidade, enquanto que a maior estabilidade térmica foi alcançada usando-se etanol como solvente.

Contribuição ao estudo da argamassa com adição de silica ativa em reforços de elementos comprimidos de concreto

VASKE, N.R. Contribuição ao Estudo da Argamassa com Adição de Sílica Ativa em Reforços de Elementos Comprimidos de Concreto. 2004. Dissertação (Mestrado em Engenharia) – Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Civil, UFRGS, Porto Alegre. No uso de argamassa com adição de sílica ativa como material de reforço, adotam-se valores de resistência à compressão provenientes de ensaios normatizados, cujos valores não são representativos da técnica adotada. Na execução de um reforço, cada porção de argamassa que é lançada sofre um adensamento que varia em função da energia com que colide com o substrato, gerando, desta forma, pontos de diferentes resistências por toda a extensão do reforço, refletindo diretamente sobre a resistência do reforço como um todo, que por sua vez define a nova capacidade de carga do elemento estrutural em questão. Procurando verificar o comportamento “in loco” da argamassa de reforço, executou-se uma placa de argamassa com adição de sílica ativa com dimensões iguais a um reforço de uma das faces de um pilar, sendo extraídas amostras prismáticas desta placa e ensaiadas à compressão e determinada uma resistência média que, comparada com a resistência média obtida de corpos-de-prova cilíndricos, moldados com a mesma argamassa com que foi executada a placa demonstrou que a resistência média à compressão das amostras prismáticas extraídas da placa apresenta, particularmente neste estudo, uma redução em relação à resistência média à compressão resultante dos corpos-de-prova cilíndricos da ordem de 35%. Em seqüência foram moldados seis pilares de concreto, sendo três reforçados com argamassa com adição de sílica ativa e os outros três como testemunhos. Após a ruptura dos pilares foram analisados os resultados teóricos e resultados experimentais das cargas de ruptura, aderência entre o substrato e a argamassa de reforço e a redução de resistência à compressão observada nos ensaios preliminares da argamassa. Pelas análises realizadas verificou-se a eficiência da técnica de reforço quanto ao aumento da capacidade de carga, da ordem de 72 %, aderência adequada entre o substrato e a argamassa de reforço e confirmação da redução da resistência à compressão da argamassa nos níveis propostos.

Analysis of the four wave mixing effect (FWM) in a dispersion decreasing fiber (DDF) for a WDM system

We did a numerical investigation of the propagation of short light pulses in the region of 1.55 mu m and the conversion efficiency (CE) for the four wave mixing generation (FWM) of ordinary and dispersion decreasing fibers for use in wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) systems, Our simulations studies three different profiles, linear, hyperbolic. and constant, One conclude that for all the profiles there is decrease of the conversion efficiency with the increase in the channel separation. The hyperbolic profile present a higher efficiency of around 1000 above in magnitude compared with the others profiles at 0.2 nm of channel separation. We calculate the conversion efficiency versus the fiber length for the three profiles. The conversion efficiency for the hyperbolic profile is higher when compared to the constant and linear profiles. The other interesting point of the hyperbolic profile is that the increase of the CE in the beginning of the fiber does not show my oscillation in the CE value (log eta), which was observed for the constant and linear profiles. For all the profiles there is an increase of the conversion efficiency with the increase of the pump power. The compression factor C-i for the generated FWM signal at omega(3) was measured along the DDF's and the constant profile fibers. One can conclude that with the use of decreasing dispersion profile (DDF) fibers one can have a control of the (CE) conversion efficiency and the compression factor of the four wave mixing (FWM) generation in WDM systems. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Abundance of sedentary consumers and sessile organisms along the wave exposure gradient of subtropical rocky shores of the south-west Atlantic

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Mestres e aprendiz: perambulando por ilhas de resistência

Monoculture of mind This idea, presented by Vandana Shiva, reflects the phase that we have experienced in the world: a notion of civilization that, since many decades, characterized by a technocratic big trend, has been shown as dominant and hegemonic. Based on a thinking and acting, felling and whishing standardization, this wave ends implying in what can be called of humanity‟s crisis at civilizational process. Destruction of simpler and more harmonious lifestyles with nature, human relations increasingly distant, values embrittlement, as respect, goodness and love, are some consequences of that behavioral homogenization. In the other hand, appears an archipelago of cultural and cognitive resistance against this devastating wave. Edgar Morin and Ceiça Almeida refer to this archipelago as a South Thought , what is not just a geographic question. Report, therefore, to some places, peoples, island that keep ancient costumes and knowledge, orally transmitted, for instance, from elders to younger, or vice versa, in an almost constant flow. Particular ways of experiencing the world around themselves, the men, animals, plants, rocks, or even not alive beings, masters or enchanted, spiritual guides. Next to a logic of sensitive, as Claude Levi-Strauss proposes, this reading, which is a more attentive, observer and wiser posture of surroundings, is based on touching, smelling, eating, seeing, and, I would add, felling. In light of this, I try to expatiate about certain experiences that I had the pleasure of living in some of these islands of resistance. Talks, perceptions, observations, sensations Stories, prose, poetries, music, photos, graphics Whatever could serve to portray even a bit of the reflections and forms to understand (ourselves) and produce knowledge, such as from a formation/Education to life, was well used at this ethnographic work. Space to the subjectivity and emotions I had, have, and will have a lot Everything for the dear reader may fell traveling around the world of tradition, resistance

Medição da densidade óssea através de ondas eletromagnéticas e classificação por MVS

This work holds the purpose of presenting an auxiliary way of bone density measurement through the attenuation of electromagnetic waves. In order to do so, an arrangement of two microstrip antennas with rectangular configuration has been used, operating in a frequency of 2,49 GHz, and fed by a microstrip line on a substrate of fiberglass with permissiveness of 4.4 and height of 0,9 cm. Simulations were done with silica, bone meal, silica and gypsum blocks samples to prove the variation on the attenuation level of different combinations. Because of their good reproduction of the human beings anomaly aspects, samples of bovine bone were used. They were subjected to weighing, measurement and microwave radiation. The samples had their masses altered after mischaracterization and the process was repeated. The obtained data were inserted in a neural network and its training was proceeded with the best results gathered by correct classification on 100% of the samples. It comes to the conclusion that through only one non-ionizing wave in the 2,49 GHz zone it is possible to evaluate the attenuation level in the bone tissue, and that with the appliance of neural network fed with obtained characteristics in the experiment it is possible to classify a sample as having low or high bone density

Crystallization of SiO2-CaO-Na2O Glass Using Sugarcane Bagasse Ash as Silica Source

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Up-converter nanophosphor Y2O2S:Er,Yb aminofunctionalized containing or not spherical silica conjugated with BSA

This work reports on the study of the nanophosphor. Y2O2S:Er(2%),Yb(1%) obtained from polymeric resin to be evaluated as fluorescent label with Suitable features to conjugate with bio-molecules for bioassay up-converting phosphor technology (UPT) application A conjugation protocol between bovine serum albumin (BSA) and the aminofunctionalized nanophosphor containing or not spherical silica was established UV-vis results indicated an effective conjugation between nanophosphor particles and the protein up-conversion measurements under 980 nm excitation performed for samples before and after aminofunctionalization showed that nanophosphor particles luminescence features keep unchanged in all cases All results suggest that the adapted protocol is feasible to provide a nanoparticle-protein effective conjugation preserving nanophosphor optical features The presence of spherical silica can be considered advantageous to increase conjugation efficiency Therefore. the developed procedure is applicable for future conjugations between the chosen nanophosphor and the streptavidin protein chat takes part in the well known self-recognition system avidin-biotin. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.

Incommensurate spin-density-wave and metal-insulator transition in the one-dimensional periodic Anderson model

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Tunable visible photoluminescence of powdered silica glass

intense photoluminescence in the visible region was observed at room temperature in standard soda-lime-silica glass powder, mechanically milled in a high-energy attrition mill. The emission band maximum shows an interesting dependence on the exciting wavelength, suggesting the possibility to tune the PL emission. These findings indicate that the photoluminescence may be directly related to unsatisfied chemical bonds correlated with the high surface area. The Raman scattering and ultraviolet-visible optical reflectance measurements corroborate this assertion. Transmission electron microscopy measurements indicate that samples milled more than 10 h present the formation of nanocrystallites with about 10-20 nm. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Material processing by plasma shock wave generated in an inverse Z-pinch plasma expander

The applicability of plasma shock wave for material processing was investigated using modified inverse Z-pinch device. Shock wave expanding speed and plasma spectral analysis were studied using an internal magnetic,probe and spatially collimated light spectroscopy. The material processing capability of the device was shown by many different surface analysis techniques such as AES, IRS, EPM and SEM. The interactions between a plasma shock wave of similar to4x10(6) cm/s speed with a Si substrate surface shows some ion implantation capability using a nitrogen plasma and thin film formation using a methane plasma.