Validation of performance of real-time kinematic PPP. A possible tool for deformation monitoring

Structural failures (bridge or building collapses) and geohazards (landslides, ground subsidence or earthquakes) are worldwide problems that often lead to significant economic and loss of life. Monitoring the deformation of both natural phenomena and man-made structures is a major key to assessing structural dynamic responses. Actually, this monitoring process is under real-time demand for developing warning and alert systems.One of the most used techniques for real-time deformation monitoring is the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) real-time procedure, where the relative positioning approach, using a well-known reference station, has been applied.This study was conducted to evaluate the actual quality of the real-time kinematic Precise Point Positioning (PPP) GNSS solution for deformation monitoring, where it can be concluded that a promise tool is under development and should be taken into account on actual and near future real-time deformation monitoring studies and applications.     

Viability of intertwined supply networks: extending the supply chain resilience angles towards survivability. A position paper motivated by COVID-19 outbreak

An intertwined supply network (ISN) is an entirety of interconnected supply chains (SC) which, in their integrity secure the provision of society and markets with goods and services. The ISNs are open systems with structural dynamics since the firms may exhibit multiple behaviours by changing the buyer-supplier roles in interconnected or even competing SCs. From the positions of resilience, the ISNs as a whole provide services to society (e.g. food service, mobility service or communication service) which are required to ensure a long-term survival. The analysis of survivability at the level of ISN requires a consideration at a large scale as resilience of individual SCs. The recent example of coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak clearly shows the necessity of this new perspective. Our study introduces a new angle in SC resilience research when a resistance to extraordinary disruptions needs to be considered at the scale of viability. We elaborate on the integrity of the ISN and viability. The contribution of our position study lies in a conceptualisation of a novel decision-making environment of ISN viability. We illustrate the viability formation through a dynamic game-theoretic modelling of a biological system that resembles the ISN. We discuss some future research areas.     

泛在电力物联网在北京经济技术开发区的应用探索

泛在电力物联网是物联网在电力领域的具体体现，建设泛在电力物联网是推进"三型两网"建设的关键环节，也是实现能源转型的必要手段。阐述了泛在电力物联网的定义，从供电公司角度出发，根据北京经济技术开发区实际情况，讨论了依托地区特点的泛在电力物联网实施策略和实际应用场景，分析了可能遇到的问题。得出结论：随着泛在电力物联网的深入建设，供电公司能够为电力客户提供多元化服务，提高客户满意度；地市供电公司能够依托泛在电力物联网开展更多电力相关业务；泛在电力物联网的安全性、实用性、有效性是发展面临的首要问题。     

Alternatives for improving energy security in Cape Verde

The lack of consensus on the meaning of energy security and how it should be measured hinders the evaluation of alternatives for improving the Cape Verdean energy sector. The objective of the paper is to develop an energy security index adjusted to the country's context. The methods used are the multi-criteria analysis and the Delphi survey. Different alternatives to improve energy security are assessed: electrically interconnect Cape Verde's islands, increase the share of renewable energy, and a combination of the previous alternatives. The results of our analysis indicate that increasing renewable energy is the optimal alternative for Cape Verde.     

高密度聚乙烯/丁苯橡胶热塑性硫化胶的形状记忆性能

采用动态硫化法制备了高密度聚乙烯(HDPE)/丁苯橡胶(SBR)热塑性硫化胶(TPV),研究了橡塑比、定型温度、回复温度及增容剂苯乙烯-丁二烯-苯乙烯嵌段共聚物(SBS)对HDPE/SBR TPV形状记忆性能的影响,观察了其微观结构,提出了形状记忆行为机制。结果表明,HDPE/SBR TPV具有典型的"海-岛"结构,拉伸后其表面存在明显的取向结构;SBS能显著提高HDPE/SBR TPV的形状记忆性能,当SBS用量为6份、定型温度和回复温度均为120℃时,HDPE/SBR TPV的形状记忆性能最佳。     

In-situ TEM observation of structural changes in nano-crystalline CoCrCuFeNi multicomponent high-entropy alloy (HEA) under fast electron irradiation by high voltage electron microscopy (HVEM)

The structural changes induced in a CoCrCuFeNi multicomponent nano-crystalline high-entropy alloy (HEA) under fast electron irradiation were investigated by in-situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) using a high voltage electron microscope (HVEM). A fine-grained face centered cubic (fcc) single phase was obtained in the sputtered specimens. The fcc solid solution showed high phase stability against irradiation over a wide temperature range from 298 to 773 K, and remained as the main constituent phase even when the samples were irradiated up to 40 displacement per atom (dpa). Moreover, the irradiation did not seem to induce grain coarsening. This is the first report on the irradiation damage in 5-component HEA under MeV electron irradiation.     

Genetic algorithm and self organizing map based fuzzy hybrid intelligent method for color image segmentation

The grouping of pixels based on some similarity criteria is called image segmentation. In this paper the problem of color image segmentation is considered as a clustering problem and a fixed length genetic algorithm (GA) is used to handle it. The effectiveness of GA depends on the objective function (fitness function) and the initialization of the population. A new objective function is proposed to evaluate the quality of the segmentation and the fitness of a chromosome. In fixed length genetic algorithm the chromosomes have same length, which is normally set by the user. Here, a self organizing map (SOM) is used to determine the number of segments in order to set the length of a chromosome automatically. An opposition based strategy is adopted for the initialization of the population in order to diversify the search process. In some cases the proposed method makes the small regions of an image as separate segments, which leads to noisy segmentation. A simple ad hoc mechanism is devised to refine the noisy segmentation. The qualitative and quantitative results show that the proposed method performs better than the state-of-the-art methods.     

Thermal and transport properties of as-grown Ni-rich TiNi shape memory alloys

Electrical resistivity, Seebeck coefficient, specific heat and thermal conductivity measurements on the Ti_50−xNi_50+x (x = 0.0–1.6 at.%) shape memory alloys are performed to investigate their thermal and transport properties. In this study, anomalous features are observed in both cooling and heating cycles in all measured physical properties of the slightly Ni-rich TiNi alloys (x ≤ 1.0), corresponds to the transformation between the B19′ martensite and B2 austenite phases. Besides, the transition temperature is found to decrease gradually with increasing Ni content, and the driving force for the transition is also found to diminish slowly with the addition of excess Ni, as revealed by specific heat measurements. While the signature of martensitic transformation vanishes for the Ni-rich TiNi alloys with x ≥ 1.3, the characteristics of strain glass transition start to appear. The Seebeck coefficients of these TiNi alloys were found to be positive, suggesting the hole-type carriers dominate the thermoelectric transport. From the high-temperature Seebeck coefficients, the estimated value of Fermi energy ranges from ∼1.5 eV (Ti_48.4Ni_51.6) to ∼2.1 eV (Ti₅₀Ni₅₀), indicating the metallic nature of these alloys. In addition, the thermal conductivity of the slightly Ni-rich TiNi alloys with x ≤ 1.0 shows a distinct anomalous feature at the B19′ → B2 transition, likely due to the variation in lattice thermal conductivity.