A Study of an Intelligent Battlefield Damage Assessment System Based on a Multi-agent System

Battlefield damage assessment is the key to Battlefield Damage Assessment and Repair (BDAR).We present an Intelligent Battlefield Damage Assessment System (IBDAS) based on multi-agent system technology. We first establish the system framework, and then study the interior structure and workflow of a problem allocation agent. The result shows that, there are many advantages to resolve the problem of battlefield damage assessment by applying multi-agent system technology, and it will bring significant military benefit.     

Ubiquitin Ligases in Longevity and Aging Skeletal Muscle

The development and prevalence of diseases associated with aging presents a global health burden on society. One hallmark of aging is the loss of proteostasis which is caused in part by alterations to the ubiquitin–proteasome system (UPS) and lysosome–autophagy system leading to impaired function and maintenance of mass in tissues such as skeletal muscle. In the instance of skeletal muscle, the impairment of function occurs early in the aging process and is dependent on proteostatic mechanisms. The UPS plays a pivotal role in degradation of misfolded and aggregated proteins. For the purpose of this review, we will discuss the role of the UPS system in the context of age-related loss of muscle mass and function. We highlight the significant role that E3 ubiquitin ligases play in the turnover of key components (e.g., mitochondria and neuromuscular junction) essential to skeletal muscle function and the influence of aging. In addition, we will briefly discuss the contribution of the UPS system to lifespan. By understanding the UPS system as part of the proteostasis network in age-related diseases and disorders such as sarcopenia, new discoveries can be made and new interventions can be developed which will preserve muscle function and maintain quality of life with advancing age.     

IMPROVEMENT OF THE PERFORMANCE OF A SUPERCONDUCTING TURBOGENERATOR THROUGH USE OF A CONTROLLABLE REACTIVE POWER COMPENSATOR

ABSTRACT

This paper presents the dynamic performance of a superconducting turbo-generator which employes a thyristor controlled static reactive power compensator at its terminals. The application of the fast acting compensator external to the machine, in a power system, is foreseen as one possible alternative to alleviate the excitation problems which arise on account of the extremely large field time constant of a superconducting generator. This application is compatible with the fast development in the rating of static compensators and imminent use of superconducting machines in the future.

The paper dwells on the transient aspects of performance to evaluate the feasibility of use of an external controller for voltage and also incorporating stabilizing signals. Simulation of the load rejection and transient stability dynamic performance of the superconducting alternator with and without thyristor controlled static compensator brings out its superiority over the field forcing techniques usually used with the conventional generators.     

Optimal placement of multiple STATCOM for voltage stability margin enhancement using particle swarm optimization

This paper proposes an approach for optimal placement of STATic synchronous COMpensator (STATCOM) in power systems. The approach is based on the simultaneous application of particle swarm optimization (PSO) and continuation power flow (CPF) to improve voltage profile, minimizing power system total losses, and for maximizing system loadability with respect to the size of STATCOM. Simulation results show the suitability of the PSO technique in finding multiple optimal solutions to the problem with reasonable computational effort. The installation of the STATOCM on these buses can increase the system voltage stability margin. The proposed technique is examined on the IEEE57 bus test system.     

INVESTIGATION ON SELF-PROPAGATING HIGH-TEMPERATURE SYNTHESIS OF TiAl INTERMETALLIC COMPOUND

The self-propagating high-temperature syn-thesis method was used to synthesize the TiAl intermetalliccompound,and two kinds of synthesis modes were studied inthis paper.The results show that the thermal explosion modeis suitable for the synthesis of TiAI,the pre-heating tempera-ture has a great influence on the synthesis.Microstructurestudy show that the density of the sample fabricated by thermal explosion mode is higher than that fabricated by propa-gating mode.     

The effect of water treeing on the electric field distribution ofXLPE. Consequences for the dielectric strength

This paper describes the influence of water trees on dielectric properties of flat samples cut from a HV crosslinked polyethylene (XLPE) cable insulation. In order to obtain experimental results in a short period of time, we used accelerated aging conditions of voltage and frequency as well as different techniques for producing a multitude of artificial water tree inception points. The average value of the water tree permittivity and a law for the time-dependence of permittivity inside the treed degraded areas were deduced from measurements of capacitance and water tree lengths. On the basis of the experimental knowledge of permittivity and water tree length, we determined with analytical numerical methods, the distribution of the electric field for different shapes of treed regions. Because of the increase in length and permittivity of the water tree, the electric field in front of the degraded area is amplified, which is an important factor of risk leading to the electric breakdown     

Covariance Structure Maximum-Likelihood Estimates in Compound Gaussian Noise: Existence and Algorithm Analysis

Recently, a new adaptive scheme [Conte (1995), Gini (1997)] has been introduced for covariance structure matrix estimation in the context of adaptive radar detection under non-Gaussian noise. This latter has been modeled by compound-Gaussian noise, which is the product c of the square root of a positive unknown variable tau (deterministic or random) and an independent Gaussian vector x, c=radictaux. Because of the implicit algebraic structure of the equation to solve, we called the corresponding solution, the fixed point (FP) estimate. When tau is assumed deterministic and unknown, the FP is the exact maximum-likelihood (ML) estimate of the noise covariance structure, while when tau is a positive random variable, the FP is an approximate maximum likelihood (AML). This estimate has been already used for its excellent statistical properties without proofs of its existence and uniqueness. The major contribution of this paper is to fill these gaps. Our derivation is based on some likelihood functions general properties like homogeneity and can be easily adapted to other recursive contexts. Moreover, the corresponding iterative algorithm used for the FP estimate practical determination is also analyzed and we show the convergence of this recursive scheme, ensured whatever the initialization.     

Demonstration of a Self-Synchronized Polyphase Sampling and Demultiplexing Scheme for Radio-Frequency Analog Signals

A novel self-synchronizing optoelectronics polyphase scheme for sampling and demultiplexing radio-frequency (RF) signals is demonstrated. One unique feature of this approach is that the optically sampled RF signal always remains in the electrical domain and thus eliminates the need for electrical-to-optical and back to electrical conversions. Furthermore, the simplicity and ease of construction of the scheme readily allows it to be scaled to obtain high sampling rates. As a proof of concept, a 100-MHz RF electrical signal sampled at the rate of 1.28 GS/s and then demultiplexed into four 320-MHz signals was experimentally demonstrated.     

A Frequency Multiplication Resonant Inverter With Constant Frequency Phase Control

The schematic and analysis of a voltage-fed resonant inverter are presented in this paper. The topology of the inverter allows operation of the resonant tank at higher harmonics and multiples of the switching frequency. The resulting loss in voltage gain is compensated through the use of multiple commutation poles employing low-cost modestly rated MOSFETs. The proposed topology can control power throughput at a fixed frequency through pole phase-shift modulation. Zero voltage switching is maintained down to no load and within the entire input voltage range. Measurements from a multimegahertz 100-W inverter confirm the theoretical predictions, as well as the suggested design and control approach.     

Adaptive switching mean filter using conditional morphological noise detector

The adaptive switching mean (ASM) filter is proposed to remove impulse noise. The filter first identifies the corrupted pixels using conditional morphological noise detection and then removes the detected impulses using the adaptive mean filter. Simulation results indicate that the ASM filter can suppress impulse noise effectively while preserving the details in the image very well, thus providing better restoration performance than many other switching-based filters.