On the hierarchy of conservation laws in a cellular automaton

Conservation laws in cellular automata (CA) are studied as an abstraction of the conservation laws observed in nature. In addition to the usual real-valued conservation laws we also consider more general group-valued and semigroup-valued conservation laws. The (algebraic) conservation laws in a CA form a hierarchy, based on the range of the interactions they take into account. The conservation laws with smaller interaction ranges are the homomorphic images of those with larger interaction ranges, and for each specific range there is a most general law that incorporates all those with that range. For one-dimensional CA, such a most general conservation law has—even in the semigroup-valued case—an effectively constructible finite presentation, while for higher-dimensional CA such effective construction exists only in the group-valued case. It is even undecidable whether a given two-dimensional CA conserves a given semigroup-valued energy assignment. Although the local properties of this hierarchy are tractable in the one-dimensional case, its global properties turn out to be undecidable. In particular, we prove that it is undecidable whether this hierarchy is trivial or unbounded. We point out some interconnections between the structure of this hierarchy and the dynamical properties of the CA. In particular, we show that positively expansive CA do not have non-trivial real-valued conservation laws.     

Toward improved catalytic low-temperature NOx removal in diesel-powered vehicles

The potential of different catalytic after treatment techniques to meet future diesel emission standards, which are strongly shifted toward urban driving conditions including cold start, are critically discussed in this Account and evaluated for their suitability for commercial applications. The dominating techniques in this field are NO(x) storage, urea-selective catalytic reduction (SCR), and HC-SCR. Each of these techniques have significant disadvantages such as sulfur sensitiveness and regeneration requirements of NO(x)-storage materials, infrastructure issues and formation of ammonium nitrate (at low temperatures) for urea-SCR, and low-temperature activity of HC-SCR catalysts. Ways to overcome these disadvantages in commercial applications may involve optimized regeneration strategies, reactor modifications, flow reversal, closed-loop NO(x) feedback systems, nonthermal plasma, and/or hydrogen-assisted catalyses, etc.     

Simultaneous hydrolysis and fermentation of pulp mill primary clarifier sludge

Bioconversion of sludge from the primary clarifier of a sulphite pulping operation to ethanol offers a number of advantages over conventional disposal options. The amount of material which must be disposed of is reduced while, at the same time, salable and environmentally friendly fuel-ethanol is produced. In this study, primary clarifier sludge (PCS) was shown to be hydrolysed to produce fermentable sugars at a rate proportional to enzyme loading. Initial (1 hour) hydrolysis rates as high as 12.6 g reducing sugar/L · h were observed at an initial enzyme loading of 10 filter paper units (FPU)/g. Hydrolysis was inhibited by spent sulphite liquor (SSL), an inhibition which could be completely overcome by fermenting the SSL to remove sugars. Surfactants were found to only marginally improve the production of sugars. To reduce the deleterious effects of end product inhibition, single stage simultaneous hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF) was carried out using cellulase enzymes and Saccharomyces cerevisiae.     

Die neue Landecker Eisenbahnbrücke über den Inn

Eisenbahntragwerke aus Stahl, wie die alte Landecker Fachwerkbrücke über den Inn, hatten Tradition und sind nur mehr selten anzutreffen. Die vor 105 Jahren errichtete Landecker Innbrücke der Arlbergstrecke war für einen modernen Eisenbahnbetrieb mit den höheren Lasten und Geschwindigkeiten nicht mehr geeignet und aus der Sicht der Erhaltung zu erneuern. Der Brückenneubau und die Revitalisierung des alten Steinviaduktes stellten für die Österreichischen Bundesbahnen (ÖBB) als Bauherr eine besondere Herausforderung dar, da die Brücke mit dem Viadukt an zentraler Stelle in der Stadt steht und damit ein regionales Wahrzeichen ist. Durch die intensive und gute Zusammenarbeit der Bürger mit der Projektleitung der Bahn, den Planern mit den ausführenden Firmen sowie den Architekten mit den Fachleuten der ÖBB Brückenbau ist dennoch ein neues Wahrzeichen für die Stadt Landeck entstanden. The new Landecker railway bridge across the Inn. Railway structures of steel had been tradition like the old Landecker Innbrücke – a lattic bridge across the Austrian river Inn. Nowadays these bridges are still rarely to found. The Landecker Bridge of the Arlberg Passage has been erected 105 years ago. Today the bridge is no longer suitable for modern railway traffic with higher loads and higher speeds and has to be rehabilitated. The new building of the bridge and the restoration of the old stone viaduct is an exceptional challenge for the ÖBB (Österreichische Bundesbahnen) group how is the building owner. Because the bridge with its viaduct is centrally located in the city of Landeck and thus it represents a regional landmark. As a result of the intensive and good cooperation between the inhabitants and the project management of the railway corporation, between the planners and the building contractors as well as the cooperation between architects and experts of the ÖBB Brückenbau, a new landmark of the city of Landeck is still created.     

Underground space in land-use planning

In 1988, the Finnish Ministry of the Environment appointed a committee to review existing planning systems for underground construction. In its report in spring 1990, the committee concluded that current legislation and planning procedures were unsatisfactory. In response, a study on “Underground Space in the Planning and Land Use” was launched in June 1994, and was completed in summer 1996. The study formed part of Finland's Rock Engineering 2000 programme. The study reviewed the present situation in underground planning; examined current uses of underground facilities; created a basic method for the classifying the building potential of rock areas, identified the various methods currently available for assessing the environmental impacts of underground construction on the basis of the legislation in force (EIA); to developed methods for assessing the costs to the urban community of underground space, particularly in comparison with equivalent costs of space aboveground; and drafted a proposal concerning planning of different level and permit procedures for underground space. This paper discusses each aspect of the study.     

A Self-Calibrated Pipeline ADC with 200 MHz IF-Sampling Frontend

A 13-bit, 50-MS/s pipeline ADC with IF-sampling capability is presented. A high sampling linearity is obtained through the use of bootstrapped switches. A digital self-calibration algorithm with modified capacitor measurement scheme is employed to improve the accuracy of the first two pipeline stages. The prototype, implemented with a 0.35-m BiCMOS (SiGe) technology, shows a 76.5-dB SFDR at a 194.2-MHz signal frequency and dissipates 715 mW power from a 2.9-V supply.     

Current-Mode Temperature Compensated Continuous-Time CMOS Transconductance-C Filter

In this paper a low voltage low power current-mode continuous-timelow-pass filter is presented. The current-integrator is constructedof a multi-output linearized transconductance element drivenby a balanced transimpedance amplifier. A 1 MHz third order ellipticlow pass filter is designed and fabricated with the proposedcurrent-mode integrator. The measurements show capability ofoperation with down to a 3 V supply voltage. The measured currentconsumption is 850 µA at room temperature andthe dynamic range is 66 dB. The distortion of the filter is below50 dBc with peak signal levels up to twice the quiescent currentlevel and with the refined designs even lower distortion is expected.The filter uses a CMOS-current reference for temperature andprocess variation stabilization with a measured corner frequencytemperature coefficient of –100 ppm/K.     

Higher-order modelling of the diffusion dynamics in a bipolar transistor

A higher-order diffusion model for a bipolar transistor has been developed. This model is based on the Padé approximation of the quasi-static expansions of the base and collector currents and gives improved accuracy for the simulation of fast transients and periodic operation at high frequencies. the effect of higher-order circuit elements on accuracy is demonstrated by calculating the transient response to a step excitation and by determining the scattering parameters of a transistor model with higher-order elements linearized about an operating point. the higher-order model is replaced by an equivalent circuit including only conventional elements, and the transient behaviour of these two models is compared.     

Fast and Compact 16 by 16 Cellular Neural Network Implementation

The paper presents a Cellular Neural Network implementation based on a high gain sigmoid operation. The required simplifications to the original theory are described that allow the use of high gain. With this design black and white images can be processed. The basic building blocks in a cell are described. A 16×16 cells network has been designed and processed with 1.2 micron CMOS technology. Measurement results which show the operation of the network are presented.