A New Genetic Algorithm for Loop Tiling

Tiling is a known problem especially in the field of computational geometry and its related engineering branches. In fact, a tile is a set of points in the Cartesian space. The goal is to partition the space of the points as tiles with optimal dimensions and shapes such that a number of predefined semantic relations holds amongst the tiles. So far, this problem has been solved in special cases with two or three dimensions. The problem of determining the optimal tile is an NP-Hard problem. Presenting a novel constraint genetic algorithm in this paper, we have been able to solve the tiling problem in Cartesian spaces with more than two dimensions, for the loop parallelization problem.     

Duplex n- and p-Type Chromia Grown on Pure Chromium: A Photoelectrochemical and Microscopic Study

Chromia grown on pure chromium at 900 °C for 30 min at an oxygen partial pressure p(O₂) of 10^?12 atm has been characterized using photoelectrochemical and electron microscopy techniques. This study reveals a duplex scale: n-chromia with equiaxis morphology in the internal part (~650 nm thick) and p-chromia with columnar morphology in the external part (~900 nm thick). Grain orientation maps also revealed the presence of a c-oriented chromia layer at the interface between the n- and the p-subscales. This 〈 0001 〉 textured layer was identified as the first-grown chromia layer. It means that internal n-equiaxis chromia grew by anionic transport governed by oxygen vacancy diffusion, whereas external p-columnar chromia layer grew outwards and was controlled by chromium vacancy diffusion.     

Sensorless Direct Torque Control of Five-Phase Interior Permanent-Magnet Motor Drives

This paper presents the sensorless direct torque control (DTC) technique for five-phase interior permanent-magnet (IPM) motors. By using the introduced technique, fast torque response with low ripple in the stator flux and torque of the five-phase IPM can be achieved. Having 32 space voltage vectors provides a great flexibility in selecting the inverter switching states. Therefore, the stator flux and torque can be more precisely adjusted. Position information and speed are being estimated based on the position of the stator flux linkages. The mathematical model of the five-phase IPM motor is first derived. Later, the speed sensorless DTC method of the five-phase system is introduced. A five-phase IPM motor and a five-leg insulated-gate-bipolar-transistor-based inverter were designed and fabricated in the laboratory. The control method is implemented on a TMS320C32 digital signal processor board.     

Deep reactive ion etching for lateral field emission devices

The authors describe the design, fabrication and testing of lateral field emission diodes utilizing the deep reactive ion etch (DRIE). Devices were fabricated on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers of varied thickness, by etching the device silicon in the STS DRIE system in a single mask process. After subsequent oxidation sharpening and oxide removal, diodes were tested on a probing station under vacuum. A typical diode exhibited very high currents on the order of ~100 μA at 60 V, and turn-on voltage between 35 V and 40 V. The high electron current is emitted in such a diode by multiple sharp tips vertically spaced by 450 nm along the etched sidewall due to the pulsed nature of the DRIE process     

Real-time microfluidic system for studying mammalian cells in 3D microenvironments

We describe a microfluidic system that can control, in real time, the microenvironments of mammalian cells in naturally derived 3D extracellular matrix (ECM). This chip combines pneumatically actuated valves with an individually addressable array of 3D cell-laden ECM; actuation of valves determines the pathways for delivering reagents through the chip and for exchanging diffusible factors between cell chambers. To promote rapid perfusion of reagents through 3D gels (with complete exchange of reagents within the gel in seconds), we created conduits above the gels for fluid flow, and microposts to stabilize the gels under high perfusion rates. As a biological demonstration, we studied spatially segregated mouse embryonic stem cells and mouse embryonic fibroblasts embedded in 3D Matrigel over days of culture. Overall, this system may be useful for high-throughput screening, single-cell analysis and studies of cell-cell communication, where rapid control of 3D cellular microenvironments is desired.     

A branch and price algorithm to minimize makespan on a single batch processing machine with non-identical job sizes

In this paper, we consider the scheduling problem on a single batch processing machine with non-identical job sizes; in which the machine has a limited capacity and can process a group of jobs simultaneously as a batch. The processing time of a batch is the longest processing time of all jobs in the batch. The objective is to minimize the makespan. We formulate the problem using Dantzig–Wolfe decomposition as a set partitioning problem. Based on the set partitioning formulation, we present a tight lower bound using column generation method. A heuristic algorithm is also developed to generate the basic solution in the column generation method. A branch and price algorithm which combines the column generation technique with branch and bound method is then presented to obtain the optimal solution of the problem. The efficiency of the proposed branch and price algorithm is ultimately compared to the branch and bound algorithm from the literature, based on the generated sample problems.     

Dependency of Deformation Behavior of Retained Austenite in TRIP Steels on Microstructural and Chemical Homogeneity

The room-temperature stability of the retained austenite against strain-induced martensitic transformation, its deformation behavior, the response to the bainitic isothermal treatment, the appearance of yield point elongation and other peculiarities of plastic flow, and the mechanical properties of transformation-induced plasticity(TRIP) steel were tailored based on the chemical homogeneity and the relative distribution of the retained austenite, bainite, and ferrite in the microstructure. The presence of ferritic-pearlitic banded structure in the initial microstructure resulted in an inhomogeneous TRIP microstructure, in which the retained austenite and bainite were confined to some bands and it was found to be responsible for the resultant inferior mechanical properties. The appearance of discontinuous yielding for the chemically inhomogeneous material was related to the martensitic transformation of unstable retained austenite at the initial stage of tensile deformation. These results are essential for better understanding of the behavior of advanced high-strength steels and their applications.     

Miniaturised coplanar waveguide-fed antenna and band-notched design for ultra-wideband applications

A miniaturised coplanar waveguide-fed ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna is presented here. The wideband operation is obtained through an optimised curvature of the radiating element. The input impedance of the antenna is matched using an elliptically tapered coplanar waveguide line. A high-band rejection characteristic at wireless local area network frequencies is achieved by inserting an v-shaped slot on the antenna surface. The frequency domain dispersion characteristic is studied by means of the antenna transfer function both numerically and experimentally. Time domain characteristic of the antenna is investigated in detail for both UWB single-band and multiband schemes. In order to efficiently characterise the antenna system for an arbitrary pulse source excitation, the pole/residue model of the antenna system transfer function is presented using the matrix-pencil method.     

Electrochemically synthesized polypyrrole/MWCNTs-Al2O3 ternary nanocomposites supported Pt nanoparticles toward methanol oxidation

As known, a good support enhances the activity and durability of any catalyst. In the current study, polypyrrole (PPY)/nanocomposite (MWCNTs and Al₂O₃) films were fabricated by electrochemical polymerization of pyrrole solution with a certain amount of nanoparticles on titanium substrates and were used as new support materials for Pt catalyst. The modified electrodes were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) techniques. High catalytic activity and long-time stability toward methanol oxidation of Pt/PPY–MWNTs-αAl₂O₃ catalyst have also been verified by cyclic voltammetry results and chronoamperometric response measurements. This catalyst exhibits a vehemently high current density (345.03 mA cm^?2) and low peak potential (0.74 v) for methanol oxidation. Other electrochemical measurements (electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), CO stripping voltammetry and Tafel test) clearly confirmed that Pt/PPY–MWNTs-αAl₂O₃/Ti electrode has a better performance toward methanol oxidation compared to the other electrodes and that can be used as a promising electrode material for application in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs).     

Optimal real time pricing in an agent-based retail market using a comprehensive demand response model

In this paper, a weighted combination of different demand vs. price functions referred to as Composite Demand Function (CDF) is introduced in order to represent the demand model of consuming sectors which comprise different clusters of customers with divergent load profiles and energy use habitudes. Derived from the mathematical representations of demand, dynamic price elasticities are proposed to demonstrate the customers’ demand sensitivity with respect to the hourly price. Based on the proposed CDF and dynamic elasticities, a comprehensive demand response (CDR) model is developed in this paper for the purpose of representing customer response to time-based and incentive-based demand response (DR) programs. The above model helps a Retail Energy Provider (REP) agent in an agent-based retail environment to offer day-ahead real time prices to its customers. The most beneficial real time prices are determined through an economically optimized manner represented by REP agent’s learning capability based on the principles of Q-learning method incorporating different aspects of the problem such as price caps and customer response to real time pricing as a time-based demand response program represented by the CDR model. Numerical studies are conducted based on New England day-ahead market’s data to investigate the performance of the proposed model.