Evaluation of Polyester Resin as a New Compatibilizer for SBR/PVC Blends

A polyester (PE) based on the glycolyzed products of PET was prepared and added in different concentrations to a series of SBR/PVC blends. The addition of the polyester showed that all properties of SBR/PVC blends were improved by incorporation of PE. Highest mechanical strength values were obtained at a polyester concentration of 7.5 phr. Thermal analysis as well as dynamic mechanical properties of SBR/PVC blends after the addition of 7.5 and 10 phr polyester indicated one single glass transition temperature. The dielectric losses (?") were analyzed in the frequency domains in the two terms of Fröhlich related to the Maxwell Wagner effect and the orientation of the aggregates caused by the movement of the main chain. The permittivity (?') values were found to increase by increasing the polyester content. This increase was followed by a decrease in the ?" up to a 7.5 phr polyester content after which no pronounced change was noticed.     

A significant improvement of both yield and purity during SWCNT synthesis via the electric arc process

This paper deals with the optimisation of the single walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) synthesis by the electric arc technique using so-called heterogeneous anodes filled with Ni and Y catalysts along with either graphite (large-grain or small-grain) or diamond powders. The various carbon nanophases produced were analyzed using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. Plasma physical properties were determined by emission spectroscopy and were correlated to the variation in the carbon products formed. Using large-grain (100 μm) graphite powder corresponded to standard conditions since able to generate impurity-rich SWCNT material resembling that usually described in literature. However, replacing the large-grain graphite powder by small-grain graphite powder (∼1 μm) resulted in a dramatic increase in both the yield and purity of the SWCNTs obtained. On the other hand, a similar result was obtained by using diamond powder (grain size ∼1 μm) instead of the small-grain graphite powder. The results are explained via the erosion modes of the anodes with respect to the apparent density of the powder mixtures filling their cavities. Maintaining a steady plasma composition and a CI/NiI concentration ratio higher than 10⁸ are identified as two conditions required for optimising SWCNT synthesis.     

Hierarchical inversion‐based output tracking control for uncertain autonomous underwater vehicles using extended Kalman filter

In this study, a hierarchical inversion‐based output tracking controller (HIOTC) is developed for an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) subject to random uncertainties (e.g., current disturbances, unmodeled dynamics, and parameter variations) and noises (e.g., process and measurement noises). The proposed HIOTC respectively utilizes a combination of feedforward and feedback controls in a hierarchical structure based on the kinematic and dynamic models of the system. Moreover, to obtain uncontaminated or unavailable states for implementing the proposed control law, the extended Kalman filter (EKF) is employed to estimate the system states. Then, the position outputs, orientation, and velocity of the AUV are reached with guaranteed asymptotic stability. The robustness of the proposed HIOTC is verified through injection of random uncertainties into the system model. The closed‐loop stability of the proposed individual subsystems is respectively guaranteed to have uniformly ultimately bounded (UUB) performance based on the Lyapunov stability criteria. In addition, the asymptotic tracking of the overall system is demonstrated using Barbalat's lemma. Finally, the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed control scheme are evaluated through computer simulations and it is shown that the overall system achieves good asymptotic tracking performance.     

Response surface single loop reliability-based design optimization with higher-order reliability assessment

Reliability-based design optimization (RBDO) aims at determination of the optimal design in the presence of uncertainty. The available Single-Loop approaches for RBDO are based on the First-Order Reliability Method (FORM) for the computation of the probability of failure, along with different approximations in order to avoid the expensive inner loop aiming at finding the Most Probable Point (MPP). However, the use of FORM in RBDO may not lead to sufficient accuracy depending on the degree of nonlinearity of the limit-state function. This is demonstrated for an extensively studied reliability-based design for vehicle crashworthiness problem solved in this paper, where all RBDO methods based on FORM strongly violates the probabilistic constraints. The Response Surface Single Loop (RSSL) method for RBDO is proposed based on the higher order probability computation for quadratic models previously presented by the authors. The RSSL-method bypasses the concept of an MPP and has high accuracy and efficiency. The method can solve problems with both constant and varying standard deviation of design variables and is particularly well suited for typical industrial applications where general quadratic response surface models can be used. If the quadratic response surface models of the deterministic constraints are valid in the whole region of interest, the method becomes a true single loop method with accuracy higher than traditional SORM. In other cases, quadratic response surface models are fitted to the deterministic constraints around the deterministic solution and the RBDO problem is solved using the proposed single loop method.     

Composite web QoS with workflow conditional pathways using bounded sets

In our previous work (Dillon and Mansour 2009), a stochastic reliability model of atomic web services was proposed. Using the well-known classic two-state bounded set technique, we developed a service-oriented model that dynamically calculates the reliability of composite web services with rollback recovery (Mansour and Dillon in IEEE Trans Serv Comput 4(4), 2011). In order to improve the Quality of Service, fault tolerance techniques have been introduced using recovery block adaptation. Our workflow was based on series-parallel structures that constitute parts of existing structures. It is worth mentioning that major service-oriented systems contain larger and more complex structures than the simple series and parallel ones. This is a limitation in our previous approach. In order to consider more realistic service-oriented systems, other main structures, such as AND, XOR and Loop, should be included into our model. In this article, our previous structures are generalized to include AND, XOR and Loops. In addition to generalized structures, we extended the existing two-state bounded set technique to include three-state systems. This extension was especially motivated by XOR-based structures. A comparative study between bounded set techniques and a new stochastic model is also presented. Our simulation results accurately reflect the performance of the new proposed model and confirm our theoretical studies. Furthermore, Monte Carlos simulations were performed and the results obtained clearly validate our stochastic model.     

New Hybrid Access Method for Femtocell through Adjusting QoS

The increasing number of mobile users raises issues about coverage extension in some areas such as rural zones, indoor or underground locations： one of suggestion solution to accommodate this growing of mobile user is femtocell. Femtocell have been attracting considerable attention in mobile communications, it is a small base station that install to improve the indoor coverage of a given cellular and to enhance user＇s capacity. Call admission control and resource allocation infemtocell＇s hybrid mode are an essential performance promotion issue. Developing methods for femtocell utilization is very comparative nowadays. The two major limitations of wireless communication are capacity and range. The main contribution of our paper is developing resource allocation scheme that can manage the femocell resources between subscriber （femtocell user） and non-subscriber （macrocell user in order to maximizing the system utilizations, we provide a mechanism that leads to serve more users by admitting more subscribers basing on adjusting QoS of the connected users.     

Robust tracking design based on adaptive fuzzy control of uncertain nonlinear MIMO systems with time delayed states

It is proposed here to use a robust tracking design based on adaptive fuzzy control technique to control a class of multi-input-multi-output (MIMO) nonlinear systems with time delayed uncertainty in which each uncertainty is assumed to be bounded by an unknown gain. This technique will overcome modeling inaccuracies, such as drag and friction losses, effect of time delayed uncertainty, as well as parameter uncertainties. The proposed control law is based on indirect adaptive fuzzy control. A fuzzy model is used to approximate the dynamics of the nonlinear MIMO system; then, two on-line estimation schemes are developed to overcome the nonlinearities and identify the gains of the delayed state uncertainties, simultaneously. The advantage of employing an adaptive fuzzy system is the use of linear analytical results instead of estimating nonlinear system functions with an online update law. The adaptive fuzzy scheme uses a Variable Structure (VS) scheme to resolve the system uncertainties, time delayed uncertainty and the external disturbances such that H_∞ tracking performance is achieved. The control laws are derived based on a Lyapunov criterion and the Riccati-inequality such that all states of the system are uniformly ultimately bounded (UUB). Therefore, the effect can be reduced to any prescribed level to achieve H _∞ tracking performance. A two-connected inverted pendulums system on carts and a two-degree-of-freedom mass-spring-damper system are used to validate the performance of the proposed fuzzy technique for the control of MIMO nonlinear systems.     

一种基于数据流跟踪的无线传感网能量模型及网络优化

提出了一种基于数据流跟踪的能量模型,通过跟踪数据流在网络中的整个过程来计算全网的能量消耗,是一种不受网络结构限制的普遍适用的能量模型;在此基础上.建立了基于能耗的网络优化模型,针对链式和簇式结构进行了拓扑、功率和路由方面的优化设计,仿真结果证明了理论分析的正确性.     

Photoelectric properties of undoped and lithium-doped Zn1−xMgxTe alloys

The room temperature photoelectric response of undoped and lithium-doped Zn_1–xMg_xTe (0 x 0.50) alloys has been measured in the wavelength range 0.50 3.0 m. The response curve for undoped samples is characterized by a single peak in the band edge region. The peak shifts with composition in accordance with the expected shift in the energy band gap. Lithium-doped samples show an additional peak centred at 1.04 eV for all compositions. This peak is attributed to photo-generated holes in the split-off band created as the result of electronic transitions to shallow acceptor impurities.     

Disaster Monitoring of Satellite Image Processing Using Progressive Image Classification

The analysis of remote sensing image areas is needed for climate detection and management, especially for monitoring flood disasters in critical environments and applications. Satellites are mostly used to detect disasters on Earth, and they have advantages in capturing Earth images. Using the control technique, Earth images can be used to obtain detailed terrain information. Since the acquisition of satellite and aerial imagery, this system has been able to detect floods, and with increasing convenience, flood detection has become more desirable in the last few years. In this paper, a Big Data Set-based Progressive Image Classification Algorithm (PICA) system is introduced to implement an image processing technique, detect disasters, and determine results with the help of the PICA, which allows disaster analysis to be extracted more effectively. The PICA is essential to overcoming strong shadows, for proper access to disaster characteristics to false positives by operators, and to false predictions that affect the impact of the disaster. The PICA creates tailoring and adjustments obtained from satellite images before training and post-disaster aerial image data patches. Two types of proposed PICA systems detect disasters faster and more accurately (95.6%).