Day‐Ahead Global Solar Radiation Forecasting Using Binary Trees and Factor Analysis

A method is proposed for forecasting global solar radiation. The method is based on weather information using binary trees and factor analysis. The feature of this method is that it is possible to use a simple linear forecasting equation. The method has been tested on meteorological and global solar radiation data obtained at several observation sites, and the results show that it is a promising means of maintaining the balance between demand and supply of electric power in power systems of the near future with a large number of photovoltaic systems installed.     

γ-Tocotrienol as a Promising Countermeasure for Acute Radiation Syndrome: Current Status

The hazard of ionizing radiation exposure due to nuclear accidents or terrorist attacks is ever increasing. Despite decades of research, still, there is a shortage of non-toxic, safe and effective medical countermeasures for radiological and nuclear emergency. To date, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (U.S. FDA) has approved only two growth factors, Neupogen (granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), filgrastim) and Neulasta (PEGylated G-CSF, pegfilgrastim) for the treatment of hematopoietic acute radiation syndrome (H-ARS) following the Animal Efficacy Rule. Promising radioprotective efficacy results of γ-tocotrienol (GT3; a member of the vitamin E family) in the mouse model encouraged its further evaluation in the nonhuman primate (NHP) model. These studies demonstrated that GT3 significantly aided the recovery of radiation-induced neutropenia and thrombocytopenia compared to the vehicle controls; these results particularly significant after exposure to 5.8 or 6.5 Gray (Gy) whole body γ-irradiation. The stimulatory effect of GT3 on neutrophils and thrombocytes (platelets) was directly and positively correlated with dose; a 75 mg/kg dose was more effective compared to 37.5 mg/kg. GT3 was also effective against 6.5 Gy whole body γ-irradiation for improving neutrophils and thrombocytes. Moreover, a single administration of GT3 without any supportive care was equivalent, in terms of improving hematopoietic recovery, to multiple doses of Neupogen and two doses of Neulasta with full supportive care (including blood products) in the NHP model. GT3 may serve as an ultimate radioprotector for use in humans, particularly for military personnel and first responders. In brief, GT3 is a promising radiation countermeasure that ought to be further developed for U.S. FDA approval for the ARS indication.     

A new approach of fatigue life prediction for metallic materials under multiaxial loading

Based on experimental data found in literatures, four traditionally multiaxial fatigue life criteria are analyzed and verified. It is discovered that these conventional criteria cannot reflect well the combined effect both under tension and torsion loadings for some materials, such as 6082-T6 and AlCu4Mg1, due to lack of enough consideration about the influence of stress amplitude ratio and stress level on fatigue life even under proportional loading. In order to solve this problem, a new approach of fatigue life prediction, based on the equal-life curve, is proposed and it is composed of three parts: the multiaxial fatigue life surface, a new path-dependent factor for multiaxial high-cycle fatigue and a material parameter describing material sensitivity to non-proportional loading. Finally, the precision of the presented approach is systematically checked against the experimental data found in literatures for four different materials under proportional and non-proportional loadings.     

基于马尔可夫随机场的加密二值图像有损压缩算法

尽管当前已有众多二值图像的压缩方法,但这些方法并不能直接应用于加密二值图像的压缩。在云计算、分布式处理等场景下,如何高效地对加密二值图像进行有损压缩仍然是一个挑战,而当前鲜有这方面的研究。针对此问题,提出了一种基于马尔可夫随机场(MRF)的加密二值图像有损压缩算法。该算法用MRF表征二值图像的空域统计特性,进而借助MRF及解压缩还原的像素推断加密二值图像压缩过程中被丢弃的像素。所提算法的发送方采用流密码对二值图像进行加密,云端先后利用分块均匀但块内随机的下抽样方式及低密度奇偶校验(LDPC)编码对加密二值图像进行压缩,接收方则通过构造包含解码、解密及MRF重构的联合因子图实现二值图像的有损重构。实验结果表明,所提算法获得了较好的压缩效率,在0.2~0.4 bpp压缩率时有损重构图像的比特误差率(BER)不超过5%;而与针对未加密原始二值图像的国际压缩标准JBIG2的压缩效率相比,所提算法的压缩效率与其相当。这些充分表明了所提算法的可行性与有效性。     

Comprehensive numerical study of molecular diffusion effects and Eddy Dissipation Concept model in MILD combustion

Moderate or Intense Low-oxygen Dilution (MILD) combustion is a clean combustion technology with high thermal efficiency and low levels of emissions. In this paper, by employing Adelaide Jet-in-Hot-Co-flow (AJHC), several approaches are examined to increase the numerical solution accuracy. First, molecular diffusion effects are investigated in MILD combustion. Second, adjusting the Eddy Dissipation Concept (EDC) coefficients is comprehensively discussed, and finally, the reaction fraction coefficient and EDC formulation are investigated. The results show that the effect of enthalpy transport caused by molecular diffusion on the energy equation must be considered in the low oxygen concentration regions. Also, the maximum temperature in the MILD region can be kept constant by adjusting EDC coefficients. Furthermore, it is shown that applying the reaction fraction factor increases the accuracy of the numerical solution in the MILD region.     

Multi‐fault synergistic diagnosis of battery systems based on the modified multi‐scale entropy

Faults of lithium batteries in their early stage in electric vehicles (EVs) are usually undetectable, and their characteristics are difficult to be extracted by conventional methods. This paper presents a novel synergistic diagnosis scheme for multiple battery faults using the modified multi‐scale entropy (MMSE). The proposed MMSE can effectively extract the multi‐scale features of complex battery signals in the early stages of battery faults as well as overcome the shortage of the coarse‐grained mode in the standard multi‐scale entropy. The simulation results on experimental data and the real‐world operational vehicles show that the proposed method can effectively detect and locate multiple battery faults/abnormities before they trigger the alarm thresholds. The defined sensitivity factor can implement real‐time evaluation on abnormities with high efficiency and stability, and the developed variable‐calculation‐window diagnosis scheme can synchronously detect and locate different fault types in real time. Furthermore, feasibility, stability, reliability, versatility, robustness, and practicality of the proposed method are separately verified using multiple sets of real‐world operation data. More importantly, the proposed method also provides feasibility to effectively prevent battery thermal runaway caused by multiple battery abnormities/faults. The applications of multi‐scale entropy theory is the first of its kind to battery fault diagnosis on the real‐world operational vehicles.     

放射性物品运输容器防脆性断裂安全设计方法探讨

本文主要介绍了基于断裂力学的运输容器防脆性断裂安全设计,重点研究了防脆断条件中应力强度因子的计算方法。经分析,可以得出如下结论:RCC-M第Ⅰ卷附录ZG中的应力强度因子计算考虑了应力非线性分布和塑性区的影响,考虑因素比较全面,推荐采用。     

Criticality of the thorium burnup in equilibrium state

The effective neutron multiplication factor (k_eff) as a function of burnup for different volume coolant (CoR) and fuel (FR) to cell ratio is presented. Additionally the Conversion Ratio (CR) of Th-232 to U-233, concentration of U-233, fissile and fission products calculation as a function of burnup are presented. The assembly is a critical reactor which makes volumes of coolant and fuel changes possible. In addition, an analytical model of calculation of k_eff as a function of U-233 and a poison concentration in equilibrium state are presented. One can achieve the criticality of Thorium Breeder Reactor (TBR) for enough high average neutron energy which one can obtain in Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR) only. The maximal value of CR and burnup for case of k_eff ≥ 1 achieves 1.4 and 360 GWd/MTU, correspondently. The calculations were done with a MCNPX 2.7 code using F₂Be, Na and Pb coolants.     

Design of aperiodic planar arrays for isoflux radiation in GEO satellites by applying evolutionary optimization

The design of an aperiodic planar array is presented in this research. This design of aperiodic arrays considers the reduction of the side lobe level and the isoflux radiation requirements for GEO (Geostationary Earth Orbit) satellite applications. In this way, it is considered four different optimization cases. The first two cases are optimizations of amplitude and phase excitations for the antenna elements in a uniform antenna array and the last two cases are optimizations of positions of the antenna elements and certain number of levels of amplitude excitation in an aperiodic array. In this case, it is proposed a simple new approach combining the main idea of both thinned theory and random arrays approaches. For this optimization problem, the well-known method of Genetic Algorithms (GA) is utilized. The obtained results show the proper performance of the array factor to provide the isoflux radiation and low side lobe level. Depending on the performance requirements, the design of the aperiodic array could lead the satellite hardware to be reduced significantly even more that results presented previously in the literature.