Combinational system of a truncated ball lens and a hyperbolic lens for collimating a highly divergent source

We propose the use of a truncated ball lens in a collimating system to transform a spherical wave from a highly divergent source into a plane wave. The proposed scheme, which incorporates a hyperbolic lens, is discussed, and the overall system is found to have a large acceptance angle and to be free of spherical aberration. Diffraction and polarization effects are neglected, as well as skew rays.     

Compound parabolic tapered fiber for fiber coupling with a highly divergent source

A novel fiber tapering shape, which is based on compound parabolic geometry, is proposed to increase the acceptance angle of a compound parabolic concentrator. The proposed design is described by use of ray optics on a step-index multimode fiber.     

A statistical approach to model simplification and multiobjective analysis

Evolving national energy supply/demand distribution systems rely, at least in part, on quantifiable factors such as local and national environmental restrictions, resource availability (type, price, and quantity) and the associated transportation infrastructure, the amount and price of capital available to consumers and suppliers of energy, total annualized system cost, including the annualized cost of end-use devices, and the demands for energy and their price/supply responsiveness. The evolution also depends on nonquantifiable factors such as personal, regionally aggregated, or even national “utility functions” and institutional or social barriers. Many models have been formulated which attempt to simulate these complex interactions.This paper describes a systematic statistical methodology for capturing, both visually and quantitatively, the trade-offs between competing quantifiable, differentiable objective functions in a model of the national energy system (Brookhaven Energy System Optimization Model). The aim is to provide decision makers with a more easily understood tool and a more easily defensible methodology on which trade-offs between certain sensitive and competing energy issues can be based. The methodology has the additional advantage of providing insights into the inherent structural relationships of the model (model simplification).     

Continuous analysis of dissolved gaseous mercury (DGM) and mercury flux in two freshwater lakes in Kejimkujik Park,Nova Scotia: evaluating mercury flux models with quantitative data

Diurnal patterns for dissolved gaseous mercury (DGM) concentration, mercury flux, several water variables (pH, oxidation reduction potential (ORP), water temperature), and meteorological variables (wind speed, air temperature, % relative humidity, solar radiation) were measured in two lakes with contrasting dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations in Kejimkujik Park, Nova Scotia. A continuous analysis system made it possible to measure quick changes in DGM over time. Consistently higher DGM concentrations were found in the high DOC lake as compared to the low DOC lake. An examination of current mercury flux models using this quantitative data indicated some good correlations between the date and predicted flux (r ranging from 0.27 to 0.83) but generally poor fit (standard deviation of residuals ranging from 0.97 to 3.39). Cross-correlation analysis indicated that DGM dynamics changed in response to solar radiation with lag-times of 65 and 90 min. This relationship with solar radiation was used to develop new predictive models of DGM and mercury flux dynamics for each lake. We suggest that a generalized approach using time-shifted solar radiation date to predict DGM can be incorporated into existing mercury flux models. It is clear from the work presented that DOC and wind speed may also play important roles in DGM and mercury flux dynamics, and these roles have not been adequately accounted for in current predictive models.     

Experimental and theoretical evidence for the magic angle in transmission electron energy loss spectroscopy

We present experimental measurements of the C K-ELNES of high temperature pyrolysed graphite and related crystalline materials as a function of collection angle and sample tilt. These results together with a corresponding theoretical analysis indicate that the so-called "magic angle" for EELS measurements of an anisotropic crystal such as graphite, where spectra are independent of sample orientation, is approximately two times the characteristic scattering angle. We briefly discuss the implications of this result for the experimental measurement of anisotropic structures, including interfaces, as well as for the detailed modelling of ELNES structures using advanced electronic structure calculations.     

Bearing parameter identification of rotor–bearing system using clustering-based hybrid evolutionary algorithm

A new bearing parameter identification methodology based on global optimization scheme using measured unbalance response of rotor–bearing system is proposed. A new hybrid evolutionary algorithm which is a clustering-based hybrid evolutionary algorithm (CHEA), is proposed for global optimization scheme to improve the convergence speed and global search ability. Clustering of individuals by using a neural network is introduced to evaluate the degree of mature of genetic evolution. After clustering-based genetic algorithm (GA), local search is carried out for each cluster to judge the convexity of each cluster. Finally, random search is adapted for extrasearching to find a potential global candidate, which could be missed in GA and local search. The proposed methodology can identify not only unknown bearing parameters but also unbalance information of disk by simply setting them as unknown parameters. Numerical example and experimental results were used to verify the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.     

Numerical Modeling of Cemented Mine Backfill Deposition

In current underground mining practice, it is common to use tailings, without added cement, to fill mined-out voids (“stopes”). If fine-grained tailings are used, the high placement rates and low permeability can often result in undrained loading conditions and, hence, lower effective stress, when assessed in the conventional manner. Where cement is added, the cement modifies the consolidation characteristics in a number of ways, including increasing the strength and stiffness, reducing the permeability, and inducing volumetric changes associated with the hydration reactions leading to “self-desiccation.” As a result, conventional consolidation-analysis techniques are unsuitable for assessing the behavior. The one-dimensional mine-tailings-consolidation program (MinTaCo) has been modified, and renamed CeMinTaCo, to couple cement hydration with conventional consolidation analysis. The fundamental theory behind the modifications is presented. The model is used to undertake a sensitivity study, which highlights some of the important features of the behavior of cemented backfill, and shows how complex interactions between the various properties produce some outcomes that are counterintuitive.     

An efficient algorithm for superresolution in medium field imaging

In this paper, we study the problem of reconstruction of a high-resolution (HR) image from several blurred low-resolution (LR) image frames in medium field. The image frames consist of blurred, decimated, and noisy versions of a HR image. The HR image is modeled as a Markov random field (MRF), and a maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimation technique is used for the restoration. We show that with the periodic boundary condition, a HR image can be restored efficiently by using fast Fourier transforms. We also apply the preconditioned conjugate gradient method to restore HR images in the aperiodic boundary condition. Computer simulations are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. This research was conducted with support from the Army Research Office Grant DAAD 19-03-1-0261 and the National Science Foundation Grant CCF-0429481. Research supported in part by RGC Grant Nos. 7130/02P, 7046/03P, 7035/04P and 7035/04P and FRG/04-05/II-51.     

Anti-windup controller design using linear parameter-varying control methods

In this paper, we seek to provide a systematic anti-windup control synthesis approach for systems with actuator saturation within a linear parameter-varying (LPV) design framework. The closed-loop induced L2 gain control problem is considered. Different from conventional two-step anti-windup design approaches, the proposed scheme directly utilizes saturation indicator parameters to schedule accordingly the parameter-varying controller. Hence, the synthesis conditions are formulated in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) that can be solved very efficiently. The resulting gain-scheduled controller is non-linear in general and would lead to graceful performance degradation in the presence of actuator saturation non-linearities and linear performance recovery. An aircraft longitudinal dynamics control problem with two input saturation non-linearities is used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed LPV anti-windup scheme.