The atomic recombination process leads to a softening of the matter equation of state as reflected by a reduced generalized adiabatic index, with accompanying heat release. We study the effects of this recombination softening and reheating of the cosmic plasma on the ionization history, visibility function, Cold Dark Matter (CDM) transfer function, and the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) spec...

The mechanisms of gelation, proteinase effects on gel softening and the nature of changes associated with surimi quality are complex. Based on the results thus far studied, this review will focus on the proteinases/inhibitors and transglutaminase (TGase and MTGase) effects on the quality of surimi. Seafood industry might be interested in how to prevent the deterioration of protein gels and cons...

It has long been a puzzle that the Raman optical modes shift to lower frequency or termed optical mode softening or redshift associated with the creation of Raman acoustic modes that shift to higher energy or called acoustic hardening or blueshift upon a nanosolid being formed and its size being reduced. Understandings of the mechanism behind the size-induced Raman shifts have been quite contro...

Localization of plastic strain induced by softening can be objectively described by a regularized plasticity model that postulates a dependence of the current yield stress on a nonlocal softening variable defined by a differential (gradient) expression. This paper presents analytical solutions of the one-dimensional localization problem under certain special nonuniform stress distributions. The...

BlastAlloy 160 (BA160) is a low-carbon martensitic steel strengthened by copper and M2C precipitates. Heat-affected zone (HAZ) microstructure evaluation of BA160 exhibited softening in samples subjected to the coarse-grained HAZ thermal simulations of this steel. This softening is partially attributed to dissolution of copper precipitates and metal carbides. After subjecting these coarse-graine...

1 Abstract We present results of self-consistent experiments of basin formation by extension and basin inversion through subsequent contraction. Our viscous-plastic finite element models include feedback interactions between crustal deformation, the development of local shear zones, and sedimentation and erosion. The extensional basins show a high degree of sensitivity to crustal strain softeni...

Softening and dropping point determination are established analytical tests that provide quality control for petrochemical products such as bitumen (asphalt). However, to be accurate, manual/semi-automated quality tests prescribed in ASTM standards must be performed in a standardized fashion. Unfortunately, manual processing bears inherent process risks that affect repeatability, which in turn ...

We use the modified smoothed-particle hydrodynamics (MSPH) method to analyze shear strain localization in elasto-thermo-viscoplastic materials that exhibit strainand strain-rate hardening and thermal softening. A homogeneous solution of simple shearing deformations of the body is perturbed and the resulting initial-boundary-value problem analyzed by the MSPH method. It is found that the deforma...

Two questions that naturally arise in N -body simulations of stellar systems are: 1. How can we compare experiments that employ different types of softened gravity? 2. Given a particular type of softened gravity, which choices of the softening length optimize the faithfulness of the experiments to the Newtonian dynamics? We devise a method for exploring the dynamical effects of softening, which...