Energieeffizienz in der Vakuumtechnik

Energy efficiency in vacuum technology Vacuum is used to produce a huge variety of products of our everyday life. To provide the vacuum environment, a lot of energy is usually used and therefore the vacuum pumps should run as efficient as possible. Actually, many various improvements can be made to gain energy savings on vacuum pumps. With those considered in this paper it's possible to save 928 GWh/a of energy in the EU and thereof 629 GWh/a or 64 % are economically realizable. Only specific improvements concerning the vacuum system are taken into account, basic technology options, like motors, controls, etc., are excluded. To show and discuss the results a conserved energy supply curve is used.     

Neural networks as material models within a multiscale approach

This paper shows the application of neural networks in a multiscale analysis of a reinforced concrete beam. A mesoscale model is presented, which simulates the pullout test of a reinforcement bar in concrete. By applying a homogenization procedure, a macroscopic stress vs. crack opening response is obtained from the mesoscale simulations. The neural network is used to approximate this relation in a macroscale simulation and replaces the material formulation of the interface layer between concrete and reinforcement, thus avoiding the computationally expensive parallel simulation on different scales.     

Ion beam analysis of a structural phase transition in porous TiO2/V2O5 ceramics with rough surfaces

TiO₂/V₂O₅ based ceramic materials applied in catalysis were investigated. Structural properties like the grain diameter of these pressed ceramic powders were analysed by means of Rutherford backscattering (RBS) making use of an analytic model to describe the energy spectra of porous rough samples. Grain diameters of these samples were deduced as function of process temperature and chemical composition and related to a phase transition from the TiO₂-Anatase/V₂O₅-Shcherbinaite to Rutile solid solution (Rutile-ss) structure. RBS data were compared to results of scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The activation energy for the sintering at the phase transition was estimated to 5.4 eV.     

Playing chess unconsciously.

Expertise in a certain stimulus domain enhances perceptual capabilities. In the present article, the authors investigate whether expertise improves perceptual processing to an extent that allows complex visual stimuli to bias behavior unconsciously. Expert chess players judged whether a target chess configuration entailed a checking configuration. These displays were preceded by masked prime configurations that either represented a checking or a nonchecking configuration. Chess experts, but not novice chess players, revealed a subliminal response priming effect, that is, faster responding when prime and target displays were congruent (both checking or both nonchecking) rather than incongruent. Priming generalized to displays that were not used as targets, ruling out simple repetition priming effects. Thus, chess experts were able to judge unconsciously presented chess configurations as checking or nonchecking. A 2nd experiment demonstrated that experts' priming does not occur for simpler but uncommon chess configurations. The authors conclude that long-term practice prompts the acquisition of visual memories of chess configurations with integrated form-location conjunctions. These perceptual chunks enable complex visual processing outside of conscious awareness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A genetic algorithm for the two-dimensional knapsack problem with rectangular pieces

Given a set of rectangular pieces and a rectangular container, the two-dimensional knapsack problem (2D-KP) consists of orthogonally packing a subset of the pieces within the container such that the sum of the values of the packed pieces is maximized. If the value of a piece is given by its area, the objective is to maximize the covered area of the container. A genetic algorithm (GA) is proposed addressing the guillotine case of the 2D-KP as well as the non-guillotine case. Moreover, an orientation constraint may optionally be taken into account and the given piece set may be constrained or unconstrained. The GA is subjected to an extensive test using well-known benchmark instances. Compared with recently published methods, the GA yields competitive results.     

Fullerene Single Crystals: Structure and Electronic Properties

Abstract

This work covers an advanced investigation of the single crystal growth process for fullerenic materials and the contribution of Raman and IR spectroscopy to the understanding of the fcc high temperature rotor phase and the low temperature sc ratchet phase of pristine C₆₀. In addition substantial research contributions to the understanding of alkali metal doped fullerenes are presented.

Alkali metal doped crystals are studied with particular attention to the line broadening in the superconducting A ₃C₆₀ phase and to the phases with stoichiometry A₁C₆₀. For the former electron-phonon coupling constants could be determined for all fivefold degenerated gerade modes and a total coupling strenght of λ = 0.90 was found. For the latter the different experimental conditions for obtaining the phase separated intermediate state or alternatively the orthorhombic polymeric state are analysed. Vibrational spectra for the polymeric state obtained from phototransformation and from mono alkali metal doping are found to be characteristically different, mainly with respect to the intensity of the Raman or IR response. Finally, research results obtained from the single crystals by various other techniques like thermal expansion or low frequency elastic deformation are summarized.     

Gait generation considering dynamics for artificial segmented worms

This paper deals with terrestrial worm-like locomotion systems living in a straight line. They are modeled as chains of mass points having ground interaction via spikes which make the velocities unidirectional. A method is presented to construct gaits with any desired time pattern of resting mass points (which are acted on by the propulsive forces). Taking the dynamics into consideration, conclusions about the choice and shift of gaits in connection with actuator data are given.