Designing a sustainable stochastic electricity generation network with hybrid production strategies

This paper aims to design a sustainable stochastic electricity production network where fossil fuels-based, biomass-based, and co-firing-based production strategies are simultaneously considered in order to take advantage of all the three production strategies. A multi-objective stochastic mixed integer linear programming model is proposed to achieve economic feasibility, as well as environmental and social benefits under multiple uncertainties. The model is solved by using the improved augmented epsilon constraint method. A case study is used to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed model. Pareto optimal analysis is conducted to understand the trade-off between economic, environmental, and social aspects of sustainability.     

Smoothing Normal Vectors on Discrete Surfaces While Preserving Slope Discontinuities

A new method is proposed which smoothes normal vectors over a discrete surface, preserving slope discontinuities and small details. Assume an estimate of the normal vector at each surface point is known and these estimates are computed from small neighbourhoods such that slope discontinuities and small details are still reflected by these normals. To smooth these normals, the normal vectors at points in a certain neighbourhood are averaged. The size of the neighbourhood considered for the smoothing at a point is adapted according the local surface configuration. The adaptation is performed, depending on the tangent plane at the point considered as well as the angles between the normals at neighbouring points and the normal at the point in question.     

Polymer-bound ethylenediamine–borane reagent: A new class of polymeric reducing agent

A polymer-supported ethylenediamine (EDA)–borane reagent was prepared under mild reaction conditions. The reagent was found to be efficient and selective in the reduction of aldehydes to the corresponding alcohols in high yields at room temperature. The polymeric reagent was prepared on a Merrifield resin and on a 1,6-hexanediol diacrylate-crosslinked polystyrene resin (HDODA–PS). HDODA–PS was prepared by suspension polymerization and chloromethylated by a Friedel–Crafts reaction. The preparation of the polymer-bound EDA–borane reagent involves a series of polymer analogous reactions, such as amination of the chloromethyl resin, conversion to amine hydrochloride, and, finally, complexation with sodium borohydride. The reagent exhibited good chemoselectivity in the reduction of aldehydes. The reduction reactions were carried out with a 2 molar excess of the polymeric reagent. In the competitive reduction of a 1:1 molar mixture of benzaldehyde and acetophenone, benzaldehyde was selectively reduced to benzyl alcohol. The spent resin could be recycled by treating with sodium borohydride. The recycled resin was used several times without much loss in chemical reactivity and mechanical stability. The HDODA–PS resin was found to be more efficient than was the Merrifield resin in the preparation of the reagent as well as in the reduction reactions. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 82: 593–600, 2001     

Cooperative SLAM using fuzzy Kalman filtering for a collaborative air-ground robotic system

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a three-dimensional (3D) cooperative simultaneous location and mapping (SLAM) method for a collaborative air-ground robotic system, designed to manage an indoor quadrotor flying done together with a Mecanum-wheeled omnidirectional robot (MWOR) in indoor unknown and no GPS environments. An ORB (Oriented Fast and Rotated BRIEF)-SLAM 2.0 (ORB- SLAM 2.0) approach is used to produce a 3D map and discover the position of the indoor quadrotor simultaneously, and a particle-filter SLAM (FastSLAM 2.0) approach is employed to build the 2D map of the global environment for the MWOR. A more accurate 3D quadrotor position estimation (QPE) method for the quadrotor is proposed with the assistance of the MWOR. A cooperative SLAM using fuzzy Kalman filtering is proposed to fuse the outputs of the ORB-SLAM 2.0, FastSLAM 2.0, and QPE approaches, in order to localize the quadrotor more accurately. Both SLAM approaches, quadrotor position estimation method and cooperative SLAM have been implemented in the robotic operation system (ROS) environment. Moreover, the cooperative SLAM method is exploited to achieve landing of the quadrotor atop the MWOR. Five experiments are conducted to show the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed cooperative SLAM method.     

Interdiffusion in ternary Fe–Cr –Al alloys with variable molar volume

Abstract

For interdiffusion profiles obtained at 1000ºC in the Fe-rich corner of the ternary system Fe –Cr – Al the evaluation of these profiles with the method proposed by Dayananda and Sohn in 1999 has been performed. Further, an alternative mathematical model is presented which directly yields element mobilities and Kirkendall velocities from experiments if the Gibbs free energy of the system is given as a function of composition, temperature and pressure. Computer simulations show that, interestingly enough, already fairly weak deviations from (thermodynamic) ideality will lead to pronounced up-hill diffusion effects for the majority component, i.e. Fe.     

Reference priors for non-Normal two-sample problems

The reference prior algorithm (Berger and Bernardo, 1992) is applied to location-scale models with any regular sampling density. A number of two-sample problems is analyzed in this general context, extending the difference, ratio and product of Normal means problems outside Normality, while explicitly considering possibly different sizes for each sample. Since the reference prior turns out to be improper in all cases, we examine existence of the resulting posterior distribution and its moments under sampling from scale mixtures of Normals. In the context of an empirical example, it is shown that a reference posterior analysis is numerically feasible and can display some sensitivity to the actual sampling distributions. This illustrates the practical importance of questioning the Normality assumption. The first author holds a Research Training Grant (ERBFMBICT 961021) under the Training and Mobility of Researchers Programme, financed by the European Commission.     

Analysis of Extraction of Cu(II) by Strip Dispersion Hybrid Liquid Membrane (SDHLM) using PMBP as Carrier

A liquid membrane system, denoted a strip dispersion hybrid liquid membrane (SDHLM) containing 1‐phenyl‐3‐methyl‐4‐benzoyl‐pyrazolone –5 as carrier in xylene, was reported for the transport and separation of Cu(II) from Zn (II) ions. The effects of various factors on the transport of copper(II) ions through SDHLM were systematically investigated by orthogonal tests. The optimum transport conditions of copper ions were summarized. In the overall mass transfer process the mass transfer resistance due to the aqueous boundary layer diffusion and diffusion in the microporous membrane is dominant. The accumulation of the Cu(II)‐carrier coordination compound in the membrane shows that the transfer in SDHLM possesses the characteristic of nonequlibrium mass transfer in this study. The rheologic experiments verified that the organic phase in the SDHLM system was the non‐Newtonian fluid and the organic phase after transport of 6 hr was a system of thixotropy in our experimental conditions. The lag ring experiments proved that the thixotropy of the organic phase in the SDHLM system was relevant to the composition of the membrane. In the experimental comparison of two types of liquid membrane, SDHLM has superiority over SLM in respect of transport flux, permeability coefficient, recovery percentage or concentration of solute in the stripping solution, efficiency of uphill transport, loss of membrane solution, and the separation efficiency of the membrane.     

中国螺钿史研究情况与课题——以亚洲螺钿史建设为目标

1)殷周时代螺钿器的涂膜以及断面构造研究;2)唐代螺钿的成立和编年谱系;3)从唐、五代型螺钿到宋、元型螺钿的变化;4)贝片彩色技术的开始和其影响;5)唐代以来木地螺钿史的实态解析;6)中国的木地、树脂地螺钿和东南亚、南亚螺钿的关系。     

MDM光波导激发高阶SPP模的传输特性

研究了金属-介质-金属(MDM)型表面等离子体激元(SPP)光波导的电磁特性。理论计算结果表明,对于633nm的TM偏振入射光,当介质膜层厚度小于85nm时,波导中只能激发产生一阶SPP模(基模),其余高阶模全部截止。随着介质膜厚度增加,高阶SPP模逐渐被激发产生。当介质膜层厚度较小时,SPP模的有效折射率的实部随阶数的增加而减小,而虚部则随阶数的增加而增加,SPP基模具有最大传输距离。然而,当MDM波导中的介质层厚度超过0.555μm时,由于三阶SPP模的电磁场主要集中在离金属层相对较远的介质层中,其有效折射率的虚部具有最小值,具有最大的传输距离,而非基模。当入射光波长为633nm介质层厚度为0.9μm时,Ag/SiO2/Ag光波导中三阶SPP模的传输距离达到约150μm。     

Oxidation of Fe–Si alloys in CO2–H2O atmospheres

Abstract

Iron and model alloys containing 1, 2, and 3wt% Si were reacted with dry and wet CO₂ gases at 800°C. All oxidised in dry CO₂ according to approximately linear kinetics. Additions of H₂O accelerated the reaction until steady-state parabolic kinetics were achieved. However, the effect of H₂O was small in the steady-state reaction stage of Fe – 3Si. Alloy reaction products were a duplex scale consisting of an outer FeO+Fe₃O₄ layer and an inner FeO+Fe₂SiO₄ layer, plus an internal oxidation zone, in all gases. In Fe – 1Si, amorphous SiO₂ precipitates in the internal oxidation zone grew with rod-like morphologies in all gases. However, internal amorphous SiO₂ precipitates grown in Fe – 2Si and Fe – 3Si formed network patterns. Internal penetration rates were initially rapid in Fe – 1Si, but slowed considerably at longer times. In Fe – 3Si, the internal oxidation zone grew wider in the first 20 h of reaction, and then remained constant in dry gas. In the wet gases this zone subsequently diminished, and disappeared after 50 h reaction.