ROBUST LTV FEEDBACK SYNTHESIS FOR SISO NON-LINEAR PLANTS

Given a feedback system with uncertain nonlinear plant, it is required that the plant's output, to a set of command inputs, will satisfy certain specifications, i.e., will be bounded between a maximum response β(t) and a minimum response α(t). A rigorous synthesis technique to solve this problem using an LTV controller is developed. A design example is included, and it is shown that the LTV design has much lower bandwidth as compared to LTI designs. All design steps utilize the well-established QFT technique for LTI SISO uncertain systems. The methodology also suits rejection of disturbances at the plant's input or output, and for output specifications for nonzero initial conditions. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Treated Oil Shale Ashes as a Substitute for Natural Aggregates,Sand, and Cement in Concrete

Oil shales are rocks that contain organic matter and are used as a low-grade fuel for energy production. The oil shale combustion process produces large quantities of ash as combustion wastes. These residues contain a high concentration of calcium anhydrite (CaSO₄) and calcium carbonate (CaCO₃), which can be utilized to neutralize acidic wastes (e. g., wastes from the phosphate industry) .Using untreated oil shale bottom ash as partial substitutes for aggregates, natural sand, and cement in concrete mixtures has resulted in a significantly decreased performance of the concrete mixtures. However, by blending the oil shale with acidic materials, the concrete properties improved, as manifested by the development of compressive strength and the workability of the concrete mixtures. In the current study, it was shown that treatment of the oil shale ash with the acidic waste of the Israeli phosphate industry or with phosphoric acid significantly improves the properties of the concrete mixtures, by partial replacement of the natural aggregates and sand by the treated oil shale ash.     

On the use of Redundant Pyrotechnic Delays

The performance of redundant pyrotechnic delays is analyzed. It is found that the average delay time of a redundant cluster of delays is shorter than the corresponding average of the individual delays. Also, the standard deviation of the cluster delay time is smaller than the corresponding individual delay standard deviation. These two effects are found to be monotonic functions of the number of delays in the cluster. The effect of the delay reliability on the cluster statistics is shown to be qualitatively similar to a reduction in the effective cluster size.     

Multi-agent Physical A* with Large Pheromones

Physical A* (PHA*) and its multi-agent version MAPHA* are algorithms that find the shortest path between two points in an unknown real physical environment with one or many mobile agents [A. Felner et al. Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research, 21:631–679, 2004; A. Felner et al. Proceedings of the First International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems, Bologna, Italy, 2002:240–247]. Previous work assumed a complete sharing of knowledge between agents. Here we apply this algorithm to a more restricted model of communication which we call large pheromones, where agents communicate by writing and reading data at nodes of the graph that constitutes their environment. Previous works on pheromones usually assumed that only a limited amount of data can be written at each node. The large pheromones model assumes no limitation on the size of the pheromones and thus each agent can write its entire knowledge at a node. We show that with this model of communication the behavior of a multi-agent system is almost as good as with complete knowledge sharing. Under this model we also introduce a new type of agent, a communication agent, that is responsible for spreading the knowledge among other agents by moving around the graph and copying pheromones. Experimental results show that the contribution of communication agents is rather limited as data is already spread to other agents very well with large pheromones     

Chemical interactions in the system anodized aluminum—primer—adhesive

Chemical interactions in the primed aluminium/adhesive interphase were examined using IR reflectance spectroscopy. For the case of epoxy primers and polyurethane adhesives, a new absorption was detected and was attributed to an isocyanate group, formed by reaction between the epoxide primer and the polyurethane adhesive. When polyurethane adhesive was applied on a polyurethane primer, such a primer-adhesive interaction was not noticed.     

On the magnetic field of a finite array of cylindrical ferromagnetic bars--Part I

A new approach is suggested for calculating and measuring the two-dimensional magnetic field of an array of cylindrical ferromagnetic bars in a uniform magnetic field. The field is determined with allowance for mutual magnetization of the bars in a finite array. It is shown that the array can amplify the external uniform field and its gradient to different degrees, thereby increasing the magnetic forces. The method is reasonably accurate and convenient in use; theory and experimental results are in good agreement.     

Characterization of magnetic forces by means of suspended particles in paramagnetic solutions

A new technique, whereby the so-called "iso-directional-force lines" may be illustrated directly, is proposed. The method is based on the levitation forces acting on a particle immersed in paramagnetic fluid in nonhomogeneous magnetic field. An ordered set of capillaries, each containing a small particle suspended in the fluid, may be used to depict the iso-directional-force lines by the equilibrium positions of the particles. Once the field is mapped (by a selected standard system), its characteristics are known, with respect to any other fluid particle combinations. The latter is of significance for research and technology.     

Summary of the Intercomparison of the Force Standard Machines of the National Institute of Standards and Technology,USA, and the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt,Germany

A comparison of force measurements performed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA, and at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Germany is reported. The focus of the study was the intercomparison of the forces realized by the two Institutes rather than the measurement process. The transfer standards used in the comparison consisted of force transducers and associated readout instrumentation. The results of the intercomparison reveal that over a range of 50 kN to 4.5 MN, the forces realized at NIST and at PTB compare favorably. For forces up to 900 kN the agreement is within ±40 ppm; above 900 kN the agreement is within ± 100 ppm.     

Second-viscosity phenomena in dilute solutions of3He in superfluid4He

A theory of second-viscosity phenomena in dilute solutions of³He in superfluid⁴He is presented. The theory considers only phonon and³He quasiparticle excitations and is therefore valid at temperatures below about 0.6 K. It is shown, by an exact calculation, that within the framework of the Landau-Pomeranchuck model for the³He quasiparticle excitation energy, the four second-viscosity coefficients are related to one another and that only one of them is actually an independent kinetic coefficient. The relations between the second-viscosity coefficients are applied to analyze the expressions for the dissipative function and the first- and the second-sound attenuation coefficients. It is shown that the second-viscosity contribution to the second-sound attenuation is smaller by an order of magnitude than its contribution to the first-sound attenuation.