Switched-capacitor integrators with low finite-gain sensitivity

Compensated SC integrator stages are analysed and compared with respect to their sensitivities to finite amplifier gain effects. Simple single-stage amplifiers may be used in such circuits even in highly selective filtering applications. This may allow an extension of the present frequency range of SC circuits.     

Algebraic-grammatical models of parallel computation

The survey focuses on algebraic-grammatical models of parallel processes, representation of knowledge about classes of algorithms in terms of a variety of production systems (structured design grammars), and program generation tools.Translated from Kibernetika i Sistemnyi Analiz, No. 5, pp. 5–13, September–October, 1991.     

Linewidth and FM characteristics of a distributed feedback laser monolithically integrated with a tunable external cavity

A narrow linewidth has been obtained in a new 1.5 ?m distributed feedback laser integrated monolithically with a tunable external cavity. The linewidth of 18 MHz has been achieved by tuning the current in the external cavity, and the FM response was flat from 100 kHz to 500 MHz.     

Interdisciplinary research: roles for self-organization

No generally accepted principles and guidelines currently exist to help engineers design local interaction mechanisms that result in a desired global behavior. However, several communities have developed ways of approaching this problem in the context of niched application areas. Because the ideas underlying these approaches are often obscured or underemphasized in technical papers, the authors review the role of self-organization in their work. They provide a better picture of the status of the emerging field of self-organizing systems or autonomic computing.     

A systematic techno-economic assessment of a WEC system installation for low-cost electrification of a habitable dwelling

This paper deals with the technical feasibility and economic viability of a grid connected wind-energy conversion system (WECS) used to cover the energy demand of an average habitable dwelling. The various parts of the wind-energy system are described and the useful electrical energy production is determined using a simulation program based on the Monte Carlo method. An economic analysis of the WEC system is performed using a computerized assessment tool. Important financial indices are calculated and financial scenarios investigated.     

Advanced Method for Single Crystal Casting of Turbine Blades for Gas Turbine Engines and Plants

A method for fabricating single crystal blades that combines the techniques of seed crystals and selection is suggested. The method realizes the advantages of both techniques, i.e., the high structural perfection and the possibility of fabricating single crystals with specified spatial orientation. Metallographic and x-ray diffraction analyses are used to study the processes of nucleation of the single crystal structure of blade castings fabricated from high-temperature nickel alloys by the method of selection and seed crystals. A commercial process for fabricating cast single crystal turbine blades by the new method is suggested.     

The effects of pressure on the isothermal fluid behavior of bituminous coals

An investigation into the effects of pressure (helium gas) on the isothermal fluid behavior includes: (1) the effect of pressure on the rate of melting and coking as evidenced by the rate constants k(melt) and k(coke); (2) the effect of pressure on the energies of activation of melting and coking; (3) the effects of pressure on the characteristic times; (4) the effects of pressure on the maximum isothermal fluidity. Results from the effects of pressure on k(melt) revealed that it was generally the high total sulfur, low nitrogen, low reactives/mineral matter ratio, medium rank coals which show the greatest increase in k(melt), whereas the highest rank coals show the least decrease in k(coke). The energies of activation of melting and coking were not significantly affected by pressure. The investigation also reveals increases or decreases in the respective times of softening, maximum fluidity, resolidification and total time of fluid behavior under isothermal pressurized conditions. There appears the possibility that these shifts may be rank dependent. Additionally, the lower rank coals show the largest relative increase in their fluidities when subjected to pressure. Empirical relationships were derived in order to quantitatively predict the maximum isothermal fluidity for most (fluid) coals at a given pressure.     

Neural networks-then and now

The emergence of neural networks as a significant subdiscipline with corresponding attempts at application to engineering problems is traced back to the 1960s, when Frank Rosenblatt, a Cornell University psychologist, showed by mathematical analysis, digital computer simulation, and experiments with special-purpose parallel analog systems that neural networks with variable-weight connections could be trained to classify spatial patterns into prespecified categories. In his attempts to provide biologically plausible explanations of the function of the central nervous system, he investigated relatively simple networks that were amenable to analysis and more complex networks whose behavior could be predicted only in terms of gross characteristics. He assembled a sizable group involving theoreticians, experimentalists, technologists, and, later, biologists. His work caught the imagination of the press and led to the wave of febrile activity that subsided at the end of that decade.