Calculation of thermodynamic quantities of metals and alloys by the statistical moment method

The thermodynamic properties of metals and alloys are studied using the moment method in the statistical dynamics, which allows us to take into account the anharmonicity of thermal lattice vibrations and size mismatch of constituent atoms, going beyond the quasi-harmonic approximation. Within the fourth-order moment approximation, the free energy and equilibrium lattice spacing of the binary alloys are given explicitly in terms of the effective pair potentials and the second- and fourth-order vibrational constants. The long-range order (LRO) parameter η and order-disorder transition temperatures (ODTs) T_c of binary alloys are obtained by solving the explicit transcendental equations. The numerical calculations of thermodynamic quantities for Cu₃Au and β-CuZn alloys show that the inclusion of the anharmonicity of lattice vibration plays an essentially important role in determining the phase stabilities of metals and alloys.     

Effect of fluid Prandtl number on heat transfer characteristics in internally heated liquid pools with Rayleigh numbers up to 10

This paper presents an analysis of effects of the fluid Prandtl number (Pr) on natural convection heat transfer in volumetrically heated liquid pools. Experimental and computational studies performed in the past are reviewed, with particular emphasis on the analysis of Pr number effects. As a practical exercise, numerical analysis is performed for two-dimensional square, semicircular and elliptical enclosures, and for three-dimensional semicircular and hemispherical cavities, to investigate the physics of the effect of the Pr number on heat transfer in internally heated liquid pools with Rayleigh numbers up to 10¹². It was found that the fluid Prandtl number has a small effect on heat transfer in the convection-dominated regions (near the top surface and side walls) of the enclosures. The decrease of the Pr number leads to the decrease of the top and side wall Nusselt (Nu) numbers. The effects of the Pr number on the Nu number at the bottom surface of the enclosures are found to be significant and they become larger with increasing Rayleigh numbers. Two physical mechanisms, i.e. thermal diffusivity and kinematic viscosity phenomena, have been proposed to explain the fluid Prandtl number effects. Calculational results have been used to quantify the significance and the area of influence for each mechanism. Also, strong dependence on the geometry (curvilinearity) of the downward cooled pool surface has been found.     

A 3–10 GHz Ultra Wideband Receiver LNA in 0.13 \mu m CMOS

A fully integrated low-power, low-complexity ultra wideband (UWB) 3–10 GHz receiver front-end in standard 130 nm CMOS technology is proposed for UWB radar sensing applications. The receiver front-end consists of a full UWB band low-noise amplifier and an on-chip diplexer. The on-chip diplexer has a 1 dB insertion loss and provides a \(-\) 30 dB isolation. The diplexer switch was co-designed with the receiver input matching network to optimize the power matching while simultaneously achieving good noise matching performance. The receiver low-noise amplifier provides a 3–10 GHz bandwidth input matching and a power gain of 17 dB. The overall receiver front-end consumes an average power of 13 mW. The core area of the transceiver circuit is 500 \(\mu \) m by 700 \(\mu \) m.     

Novel portable electrical detection system for DNA SENSOR application

A novel, portable, electrical detection system was constructed for DNA sensor application to detect DNA hybridisation. The read-out circuit consists of an analogue circuit and a digital circuit. The analogue circuit with an IC MAX038 generates a sine wave with a constant frequency (10?kHz), which serves as the input for the DNA sensor. The DNA sensor consists of active and reference sensors. DNA hybridisation between the DNA probe and the target sequences causes changes in the conductance of the conductive membrane (DNA/MWCNTs) on the sensor surface, which lead to changes in the amplitude of the sine wave from the sensor output compared with that of the reference signal output (input sine wave). We used a digital circuit with a microprocessor (PIC33FJ256MC710) to determine the change in the amplitude of the sine wave signal of the sensor. From these digital data, the difference in the amplitudes of the active and reference sensors was calculated and displayed on the liquid crystal display. Measurement results show that the portable electrical detection system can detect DNA target concentrations as low as 0.16?µM. The detection of the amplified polymerase chain reaction sample and the reproducibility of the DNA sensor results were also determined using the designed readout circuit. The proposed electrical detection system is suitable for DNA sensor application.     

Maximum likelihood estimation for continuous-time autoregressive models by relaxation on residual variances ratio parameters

In this paper we derive an explicit expression for the log likelihood function of a continuous-time autoregressive model. Then, using earlier results relating the autoregressive coefficients to the set of positive parameters called residual variances ratios, we develop an iterative algorithm for computing the maximum likelihood estimator of the model, similar to one in the discrete-time case. A simple noniterative estimation method, which can be used to produce an initial estimate for the algorithm, is also proposed.     

A use of case-based reasoning technique in building expert systems

Matra Marconi Space France and Aramiihs (Action de Recherche et Application Matra Irit en Interaction Homme Système) laboratory have used and evaluated Case Based Reasoning (CBR) techniques in two projects:

• - The first project is about the development of a system dedicated to help satellites AIT/AIV (Assembly Integration and Test/Validation) test engineers to cope with incidents occurring during test activities. The project is funded by the EGSE System Section of ESTEC (European Space Research and Technology Centre.).

• - The second project is related to the building of a knowledge-based system for diagnosis assistance in AIT/AIV activities of Ariane4 Vehicle Equipment Bay (VEB). The project is financed by internal funding of MMS-F.

In the two projects, CBR technique is neither used the same way nor with the same purpose.

In the first project, CBR technique is used to find out or suggest the cause of an anomaly when an incident appears. Confronted with the occurrence of an incident, the system will refer to its characteristics (test context, symptoms…) that are considered as relevant to retrieve previous similar incidents.

In the second project, CBR technique is combined with Rule Based Reasoning and Model Based Reasoning ones to form the reasoning core of a Hybrid Knowledge Based System. When an incident occurs, the system proposes to test engineers a diagnosis approach based on the combination of different knowledge (coded into rule, cases and models).

Aramiihs is a research unit where engineers from MMS and researchers from the IRIT (Institut de Recherche en Informatique de Toulouse) CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) collaborate on problems concerning new types of man-system interaction.     

Current status of existing railway bridges in Vietnam: An overview of steel deficiencies

Currently, the deterioration of bridge conditions is causing many problems. Therefore, the work reported in this paper was carried out to survey the present condition of railway bridges in Vietnam, concentrating on steel deficiencies. Literature reviews were initiated to identify common defects with site inspections and personal interviews to ascertain their validity. Finding the defects draws an overall picture of Vietnamese railway bridges that are in poor physical condition, thus providing poor serviceability. Besides structural failure, local defects were already identified, consisting of corrosion, fatigue, functional obsolescence and aging. New problems that have been identified are human invasions and missing elements. It is widely considered that overload, collision impacts, adverse climate conditions and poor maintenance are the main causes. Additionally, this paper includes previous wars, improper data keeping, and elemental burglary as country-specific causes. It suggests that maintenance efforts should be prioritized to eliminate these deficiencies. Trained maintenance crews need to be established and further research should be carried out to create an adequate maintenance management system in Vietnam.     

Extended Domain of Existence for PSCs in Superconductors

By means of nanosecond pulse techniques, we have studied the current-induced dissipation in one-dimensional superconducting bridges, namely, metallic and high-T _c films. It is well known that narrow strips dissipate through phase-slip centers (PSC) close to T _c, or hot spots (HS) at low T, rather than by flux flow. When driven by step pulses of current, PSC give stable voltages, while HS produce a voltage linearly changing with time. By using two-step pulses of current, we have studied the decay of a HS into another HS, or a PSC, or into a zero-resistance state. It was thus found possible to reach the PSC state at arbitrary low temperatures.     

Carrier Co-doping Method with Size Compensation to Enhance TC of Mn-doped Nitrides

Based on ab initio electronic structure calculations of Mn-doped III–V nitrides (AlN, GaN, InN), a co-doping method with size compensation to enhance the Curie temperature (T_C) of Nitride-based DMS is proposed. Three cases are considered: (1) Single doping: cations are substituted randomly by Mn. (2) One-site co-doping: Cations or anions are substituted by co-dopants. (3) Two-site co-doping: co-dopants are introduced into both cation and anion sites. Be is chosen as co-dopant for (Al, Mn)N and (Ga, Mn)N, and Cd (or C) for (In, Mn)N. Concentrations of co-dopants are chosen as a function of Mn concentration so that the volume distortion caused by Mn doping is reduced. It is found that, by hole co-doping, the ferromagnetism is more stabilized than that in the single doping case. The anti-ferromagnetic super-exchange interaction, which remains dominant for high Mn concentrations in (Al, Mn)N and (Ga, Mn)N due to the small lattice constant, is reduced by co-doping Be into both kinds of sites, resulting in a strong enhancement of T_C in the regime of high Mn-concentrations. Furthermore, as the 3d-partial density of states at the Fermi level gains its maxima, one can expect that T_C reaches its highest value.