Quality assessment of SRTM C- and X-band interferometric data: Implications for the retrieval of vegetation canopy height

The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission distinguished itself as the first near-global spaceborne mission to demonstrate direct sensitivity to vertical vegetation structure. Whether this sensitivity is viewed as exploitable signal or unwanted bias, a great deal of interest exists in retrieving vegetation canopy height information from the SRTM data. This study presents a comprehensive application-specific assessment of SRTM data quality, focusing on the characterization and mitigation of two primary sources of relative vertical error: uncompensated Shuttle mast motion and random phase noise. The assessment spans four test sites located in the upper Midwestern United States and examines the dependence of data quality on both frequency, i.e., C-band vs. X-band, and the number of acquired datatakes. The results indicate that the quality of SRTM data may be higher than previously thought. Novel mitigation strategies include a knowledge-based approach to sample averaging, which has the potential to reduce phase noise error by 43 to 80%. The strategies presented here are being implemented as part of an ongoing effort to produce regional- to continental-scale estimates of vegetation canopy height within the conterminous U.S.     

A parametric study of strength reduction factors for elasto-plastic oscillators

Strength reduction factors (SRFs) continue to play a key role in obtaining design forces from elastic design spectra (via response modification factors) in ductility-based earthquake-resistant design. Despite several years of sustained research efforts, it has not been conclusively shown how SRF for a given singledegree-of-freedom structural system depends on various source and site parameters. A parametric study is carried out here for the explicit dependence of SRF spectrum (describing variation of SRF with system period for a given ductility demand) on strong motion duration, earthquake magnitude, geological site conditions, and epicentral distance in case of (non-degrading) elasto-plastic oscillators. For this, scaled response spectra are considered for different combinations of earthquake magnitude, site conditions and epicentral distance, and SRF spectra are generated from 1274 accelerograms recorded in western USA after making those compatible with each of these spectra. It is shown that there is no clear and significant dependence of SRF spectrum on strong motion duration. Further, the parametric dependence on earthquake magnitude, site conditions, and epicentral distance broadly conforms to the trends reported by earlier investigations. In particular, this study confirms that the dependence of SRF spectra on earthquake magnitude should not be ignored. This paper has been contributed in honour of Professor R N Iyengar, Indian Institute of Science, on the occasion of his formal retirement.     

Effect of carbon surface oxidation on platinum supported carbon particles on the performance of gas diffusion electrodes for the oxygen reduction reaction

The effect of carbon surface oxidation on platinum supported carbon particles (Pt/C) with nitric acid was investigated by cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, polarization experiments and chronoamperometry. Cyclic voltammograms, polarization curves and electrochemical impedance spectra showed that the treated catalyst had much larger active surface area and higher ionic conductivity than the untreated catalyst, and provided enhanced performance for oxygen reduction. The formation of acidic groups was examined by IR spectra. The Pt/C surface oxidation had a large effect on the performance of a gas diffusion electrode for oxygen reduction reaction.     

NiCoFe/C cathode electrocatalysts for direct ethanol fuel cells

A direct ethanol fuel cell (DEFC), which is less prone to ethanol crossover, is reported. The cell consists of PtRu/C catalyst as the anode, Nafion^® 117 membrane, and Ni–Co–Fe (NCF) composite catalyst as the cathode. The NCF catalyst was synthesized by mixing Ni, Co, and Fe complexes into a polymer matrix (melamine-formaldehyde resins), followed by heating the mixture at 800 °C under inert atmosphere. TEM and EDX experiments suggest that the NCF catalyst has alloy structures of Ni, Co and Fe. The catalytic activity of the NCF catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) was compared with that of commercially available Pt/C (CAP) catalyst at different ethanol concentrations. The decrease in open circuit voltage (V_oc) of the DEFC equipped with the NCF catalysts was less than that of CAP catalyst at higher ethanol concentrations. The NCF catalyst was less prone to ethanol oxidation at cathode even when ethanol crossover occurred through the Nafion^®117 film, which prevents voltage drop at the cathode. However, the CAP catalyst did oxidize ethanol at the cathode and caused a decrease in voltage at higher ethanol concentrations.     

含有复合阻尼结构的压力波制冷机振荡管内流动分析

通过对含有复合阻尼结构的压力波制冷机振荡管内的流场分析，详细讨论了激波在接受管内的行为，数值计算同时表明：含有两道复合阻尼结构加上激波吸收腔完全可以将激波降低到工程上可以接受的程度。     

Present status and future prospects of PV activities in Japan

The photovoltaic (PV) power systems in Japan made great strides in the past decade. The PV industry in the 1990s greatly depended on the research projects and dissemination programs carried out by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry. However, the industrial structure for full-scale deployment of the PV system is currently being established by the manufacturers’ continuous efforts to reduce the PV system cost and the government’s consecutive supports to create the initial market. It is expected that the synergetic effect of the cost reduction and incentives for introduction will activate the PV industry and its market more and more toward achieving 5000 MW of the capacity in FY 2010.     

Kinetic modelling of textural changes in ready-to-eat breakfast cereals during soaking in semi-skimmed milk

Summary Ready‐to‐eat breakfast cereals immersed in milk undergo undesirable changes in texture because of sudden moisture uptake. The textural changes are ascribable to a plasticizing effect of water, which modifies the mechanical strength of products by softening the starch/protein matrix. In this work, some textural parameters of different cereal flakes were derived from the force–displacement curves monitored during 300 s of immersion in milk. Hardness loss, deformability increment and changes in the force–displacement curve profile were calculated and plotted against soaking time. The application of a sugar coating process to a model cereal flake increased the initial product hardness and improved the preservation of the textural parameters during immersion. The Peleg model closely fitted the experimental data, with regression coefficients from 0.967 to 0.999.     

真空碳热还原法制备高密度碳化钒

研究了采用真空碳热还原法由三氧化二钒制备碳化钒，并研究了碳化钒产物密度随实验条件的变化规律。找到了用于强化碳化钒产物密度的添加剂，研究结果表明，反应温度，添加剂是影响碳化钒产物密度的主要因素。反应时间对产物密度也有一定影响。研究结果同时表明，含铁化合物能有效地提高产物密度。     

静载荷和疲劳载荷作用下 C/Al 正交层压板的力学响应

本文讨论静载荷及疲劳载荷作用下 C/Al 正交层压板的力学响应,并考虑损伤过程中的临界现象,以此作为结构设计准则的基础。对静载荷作用的情况:(1)90°铺层的门槛应变ε_(FPF)随着约束程度增加而增加,而且开裂后的行为也受约束程度的影响。(2)经历加载-卸载再重新加载至断裂的过程后,初始试样存在一个剩余永久变形,其损伤状态可以用刚度的变化来表征;而疲劳试样在加载-卸载过程中刚度变化很小,反映其损伤达到一个稳定的状态。对疲劳载荷作用的情况:(1)对于给定的应力比 R,试样会趋于与它所承受的 S_(max)最大值相应的 SDS 状态。循环应力范围的不断增大,会引起基体损伤的增加,从而重新建立新的饱和损伤状态。(2)对于每一损伤状态均有一对应的循环应变范围 Δε。在 SDS 状态下,Δε保持不变。(3)以刚度下降为损伤参数对 C/Al 层压板进行了降级应力分析,并由此来预计在ΔS_(sh)以下,层压板不会发生疲劳损伤累积。     

高阶系统次优控制集结设计方法

针对现有集结降阶方法计算量大，或者不能保证精确集结，本文给出一种新的精确集结降阶算法，提出一种基于精确集结模型，设计高阶系统的低阶次优线性调节器和集结状态降维观测器的方法。