Dynamic wetting and heat transfer at the initiation of aluminum solidification on copper substrates

Dynamic wetting and heat transfer during the start of solidification were studied with the help of molten aluminum droplets falling from a crucible onto a copper substrate. A high-speed camera captured the change in the spreading droplet’s geometry, while thermocouple, inserted inside the substrate, allowed a heat transfer analysis to be performed. Droplet spreading factors and interfacial heat fluxes were then used to, respectively, characterize dynamic wetting and heat transfer for the various experimental conditions explored. These were: (1) effects of chemical composition of the aluminum alloy, (2) initial temperature of the substrate, (3) surface roughness of the substrate, and (4) composition of the gaseous atmosphere. The experiments were all carried out in gaseous atmospheres containing oxygen in sufficient amount to form oxide skins at the surface of the droplets and the substrates. The results showed instances where an improvement in the dynamic wetting was accompanied by an increase in heat transfer during the early stages of solidification but this was not systematic. In these cases where a positive correlation was not observed, it was postulated this was caused by factors such as variations in the oxidation at the surface of the substrates and the droplets as well as gas trapped at the interface between the droplets and the substrates. Sébastien Leboeuf formerly with the Aluminum Technology Centre and McGill University.     

Quadratic stabilizability of uncertain linear systems: Existence of a nonlinear stabilizing control does not imply existence of a linear stabilizing control

This note is concerned with the problem of stabilizing an uncertain linear system via state feedback control. An uncertain system which admits a stabilizing state feedback control and some associated quadratic Lyapunov function is said to be quadratically stabilizable. In a number of recent papers, conditions are given under which quadratic stabilizability via nonlinear control implies quadratic stabilizability via linear control. These papers restrict the manner in which the uncertain parameters are permitted to enter structurally into the state equation in order to establish this result. This note presents an example which shows that this implication is not true for more general uncertain linear systems. To this end, we describe an uncertain linear system which is quadratically stabilizable via nonlinear control but not quadratically stabilizable via linear control.     

A Riccati equation approach to the design of stabilizing controllers and observers for a class of uncertain linear systems

This paper presents a procedure for designing a full state observer and feedback control law which will stabilize a given uncertain linear system. The uncertain linear systems under consideration are described by state equations which depend on uncertain parameters. These uncertain parameters may be time varying. Their values, however, are constrained to lie within known compact bounding sets. The design procedure involves solving two algebraic Riccati equations. A feature of the design procedure presented is the fact that it reduces to the standard LQG design procedure if the system contains no uncertain parameters.     

Measurement of equivalent power density and RF energy deposition inthe immediate vicinity of a 24-GHz traffic radar antenna

In response to reports of alleged health effects associated with the use of hand-held traffic radars, e.g., testicular cancer, a study was undertaken to quantify: (1) the distribution of the electric field (E) in the immediate vicinity of the antenna aperture of a typical 24-GHz hand-held traffic radar; and (2) the relative match and the corresponding depth of penetration of the absorbed energy when the antenna aperture is positioned in contact with material having properties similar to human tissue. The former measurements are important for assessing a large number of measurements reported by others using techniques that are not expected to be reliable indicators of power density at distances small compared with the size of the radiator; the latter are important for verifying predictions that energy from the antenna at 24-GHz will be predominantly absorbed in superficial tissue, i.e., the skin. The results of the first part of the study indicate that the equivalent-plane-wave power density in the plane of the aperture of the radar antenna is approximately one-half of the corresponding values reported in the literature; the results of the second part of the study indicate that the depth of penetration into material simulating human skin is approximately 0.5 mm     

Optically pumped FIR lasers: Frequency and power measurements and laser magnetic resonance spectroscopy

Optically pumped FIR lasers are currently in use in both frequency metrology and laser magnetic resonance spectroscopy programs in the NBS Boulder labs. The laser for use in frequency metrology is a CW 71 μm methyl alcohol waveguide laser with over 100 mW output for frequency synthesis. Another laser with an intracavity absorption cell for laser spectroscopy has been constructed and is nearly transversely pumped. The metrology technique used to measure the frequency of these lasers is briefly reviewed and a unique power meter is described.     

A Capital Budgeting Heuristic Algorithm Using Exchange Operations

A heuristic algorithm for solving capital budgeting problems is described. The algorithm proceeds from an initial solution, obtained with the use of ranking procedures, and progressively improves the solution through exchange operations. Computational experience in solving a set of 30-variable, 5-constraint problems is described and the approach to optimal values with increasing computation time is shown. The results show considerable time advantage over 0-1 implicit enumeration techniques. In only two of twenty-eight problems were the solutions nonoptimal, and in these two cases the objective function values for the heuristic solutions were within 0.5 percent of those for the optimal solutions. A brief investigation was conducted on larger problems (60 variables, 5 constraints); the time advantage is even greater on problems of that size. Details of the problems and their optimal solutions are available to interested readers upon request to the author.     

Brain levels of <Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis>-acylethanolamine phospholipids in mice during pentylenetetrazol-induced seizure

The N-acylethanolamine phospholipids (NAPE) are precursors for N-acylethanolamines (NAE), including anandamide (20∶4-NAE), which is a ligand for the cannabinoid receptors. Previously, NAPE were believed to be found only in injured tissue, e.g., after neurodegenerative insults. Neuronal injury may occur in response to seizure activity. Therefore, we investigated the effect of pentylenetetrazol (PTZ)-induced seizures in PTZ-kindled mice on the level of NAPE in the brain. Male NMRI mice were kindled with PTZ injections 3 times/wk, thereby developing clonic seizures in response to PTZ. Mice were killed within 30 min after the clonic seizure on the test day (12th injection) and the brains were collected. Eight species of NAPE were analyzed as the glycerophospho-N-acylethanolamines by high-performance liquid chromatography-coupled electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. No effect of the PTZ kindling on the NAPE levels in murine brains was observed. Total NAPE in control mice cortex (n=4) was 16.4±3.0 μmol/g wet weight of which 20∶4-NAPE accounted for 3.6 mol%, and the major species was 16∶0-NAPE, accounting for 52.1 mol%. Determination of the activity of NAPE-hydrolyzing phospholipase D and of N-acyltransferase in brain membrane preparations from adult and 3-d-old mice revealed an enzyme pattern in the adult mice that was favorable for NAE accumulation as opposed to NAPE accumulation. Thus, there was no difference in NAPE levels; at present, however, this does not exclude that NAE may accumulate during seizure.     

String matching with simple devices

With the help of a general simulation technique of deterministic finite two-way multi-head automata by automata with blind heads we show O(n²/logn) to be an upper time bound on string matching. This result is tight by a previously known lower bound.