Thermal accommodation coefficient of gases on controlled solid surfaces: Argon-tungsten system

The knowledge of the thermal accommodation coefficient for gases on well-controlled surfaces as a function of temperature is imperative to understanding the mechanism of interphase heat transfer on the microscopic level. With this goal in view, a heat transfer column instrument is designed, fabricated, assembled, and tested for the specific case a argon—tungsten system. With 99.9999%, pure argon, six sets of data are taken in the rarefied gas region in the maximum temperature range of 500–1500 K. Four sets of these measurements are in the temperature-jump region and are analyzed by the constant-power method to compute the thermal accommodation coefficient of argon on a controlled tungsten surface. The other two sets are taken under free-molecular flow conditions and are interpreted in accordance with the man-free-path kinetic theory for the low-pressure regime. These data are compared and discussed in the context of reported data in the literature and interpreted in the light of the surface condition and finish of the tungsten wire.Nomenclature A area of the solid surface - C _j constants in Eq. (3); j=0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 - E _i incident energy flux - E _r reflected energy flux - E _s reflected energy flux when the interaction between the gas and the solid atoms is complete - g temperature-jump distance - L half-length of the metal wire - M molecular weight of the gas - P gas pressure - Q _H total thermal energy conducted by the gas per unit time from the hot surface - Q_KT total thermal energy conducted by the gas per unit time if the striking gas molecules were to attain thermal equilibrium with the hot surface - R molar gas constant - r radial coordinate - r _f radius of the hot wire - S sticking coefficient - S_o initial sticking coefficient - T temperature - T _e linearly extrapolated gas temperature on the hot-wire surface - T _g temperature of the impinging gas molecules - T _H temperature of the hot surface - T _i temperature of the incident gas stream - T _r temperature of the gas molecules receding after collision with the solid surface - T _s temperature of the solid surface Greek Symbols thermal accommodation coefficient for the gas—solid surface - resistivity of the metal wire - gas coverage on the solid surface For an explanation of symbols, see Nomenclature.     

Fuzzy logic controller and cascade inverter for direct torque control of IM

In this paper, a five-level cascaded H-bridge multilevel inverters topology is applied on induction motor control known as direct torque control (DTC) strategy. More inverter states can be generated by a five-level inverter which improves voltage selection capability. This paper also introduces two different control methods to select the appropriate output voltage vector for reducing the torque and flux error to zero. The first is based on the conventional DTC scheme using a pair of hysteresis comparators and look up table to select the output voltage vector for controlling the torque and flux. The second is based on a new fuzzy logic controller using Sugeno as the inference method to select the output voltage vector by replacing the hysteresis comparators and lookup table in the conventional DTC, to which the results show more reduction in torque ripple and feasibility of smooth stator current. By using Matlab/Simulink, it is verified that using five-level inverter in DTC drive can reduce the torque ripple in comparison with conventional DTC, and further torque ripple reduction is obtained by applying fuzzy logic controller. The simulation results have also verified that using a fuzzy controller instead of a hysteresis controller has resulted in reduction in the flux ripples significantly as well as reduces the total harmonic distortion of the stator current to below 4 %.     

Mechanical characterization and modeling stress relaxation behavior of acrylic–polyurethane-based graft-interpenetrating polymer networks

The stress relaxation behavior of acrylic–polyurethane (PU)-based graft-interpenetrating polymer networks (IPNs) was characterized via dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and modeled using finite element method (FEM) analysis. Stress relaxation of glassy IPN specimens was experimentally studied under flexural testing, while rubbery IPN specimens were tested in tension. The effects of varying the styrene content in the acrylic copolymer phase, compatibility of the two phases in IPNs, and changing the concentration of acrylic copolymer and PU were studied. A higher percentage of styrene content resulted in higher homogeneity of IPN specimens, and decrease in initial modulus for acrylic copolymer specimens. Additionally, glassy IPN specimens with 90% styrene shows resistance to relaxation as high as acrylic copolymer samples. Experimental results were used to develop a numerical model to study stress relaxation response of specimens. While polymer systems have been studied computationally, numerical modeling of IPN systems is still in its infancy. A three-dimensional FEM model was developed using the Generalized Maxwell model and four-term Prony series constants, which were extracted from the stress relaxation experiments. With four terms in the Prony series, a good match was observed between experimental observations and results from the FEM model.     

Concept learning games

In this paper, we intend to have a game theoretic study on the concept learning problem in a multi-agent system. Concept learning is a very essential and well-studied domain of machine learning when it is studied under the characteristics of a multi-agent system. The most important reasons are the partiality of the environment perception for any agent and also the communication holdbacks, resulting into a deep need for a collaborative protocol in favor of multi-agent transactions. Here we wish to investigate multi-agent concept learning with the help of its components, thoroughly with a game theoretic taste, esp. on the pre-learning processes. Based on two standard notations, we address the non-unanimity of concepts, classification of objects, voting and communicating protocol, and also the learning itself. In such a game of concept learning, we consider a group of agents, communicating and consulting to upgrade their ontologies based on their conceptualizations of the environment. For this purpose, we investigate the problem in two separate and standard distinctions of game theory study, cooperation and competition. Several solution concepts and innovative ideas from the multi-agent realm are used to produce an approach that contains the reasoning process of the agents in this system. Some experimentations come at the end to show the functionality of our approach. These experimentations come distinctly for both cooperative and competitive views.     

A Fuzzy Logic-Based Method for Replica Placement in the Peer to Peer Cloud Using an Optimization Algorithm

The Peer to Peer-Cloud (P2P-Cloud) is a suitable alternative to distributed cloud-based or peer-to-peer (P2P)-based content on a large scale. The P2P-Cloud is used in many applications such as IPTV, Video-On-Demand, and so on. In the P2P-Cloud network, overload is a common problem during overcrowds. If a node receives many requests simultaneously, the node may not be able to respond quickly to user requests, and this access latency in P2P-Cloud networks is a major problem for their users. The replication method in P2P-Cloud environments reduces the time to access and uses network bandwidth by making multiple data copies in diverse locations. The replication improves access to the information and increases the reliability of the system. The data replication's main problem is identifying the best possible placement of replica data nodes based on user requests for data access time and an NP-hard optimization problem. This paper proposes a new replica replacement to improve average access time and replica cost using fuzzy logic and Ant Colony Optimization algorithm. Ants can find the shortest path to discover the optimal node to place the duplicate file with the least access time latency. The fuzzy module evaluates the historical information of each node to analyze the pheromone value per iteration. The fuzzy membership function is also used to determine each node's degree based on the four characteristics. The simulation results showed that the access time and replica cost are improved compared to other replica replacement algorithms.

     

Colloidal Quantum Dot Infrared Lasers Featuring Sub-Single-Exciton Threshold and Very High Gain

The use of colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) as a gain medium in infrared laser devices has been underpinned by the need for high pumping intensities, very short gain lifetimes, and low gain coefficients. Here, PbS/PbSSe core/alloyed-shell CQDs are employed as an infrared gain medium that results in highly suppressed Auger recombination with a lifetime of 485 ps, lowering the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) threshold down to 300 µJ cm⁻², and showing a record high net modal gain coefficient of 2180 cm⁻¹. By doping these engineered core/shell CQDs up to nearly filling the first excited state, a significant reduction of optical gain threshold is demonstrated, measured by transient absorption, to an average-exciton population-per-dot 〈N^th〉_g of 0.45 due to bleaching of the ground state absorption. This in turn have led to a fivefold reduction in ASE threshold at 〈N^th〉_ASE = 0.70 excitons-per-dot, associated with a gain lifetime of 280 ps. Finally, these heterostructured QDs are used to achieve near-infrared lasing at 1670 nm at a pump fluences corresponding to sub-single-exciton-per-dot threshold (〈N^th〉_Las = 0.87). This work brings infrared CQD lasing thresholds on par to their visible counterparts, and paves the way toward solution-processed infrared laser diodes.     

Adaptive simulation of two dimensional hyperbolic problems by Collocated Discrete Least Squares Meshless method

An adaptive refinement technique is presented in this paper and used in conjunction with the Collocated Discrete Least Squares Meshless (CDLSM) method for the effective simulation of two-dimensional shocked hyperbolic problems. The CDLSM method is based on minimizing the least squares functional calculated at collocation points chosen on the problem domain and its boundaries. The functional is defined as the weighted sum of the squared residuals of the differential equation and its boundary conditions. A Moving Least Squares (MLS) method is used here to construct the meshless shape functions. An error estimator based on the value of functional at nodal points used to discretize the problem domain and its boundaries is developed and used to predict the areas of poor solutions. A node moving strategy is then used to refine the predicted zones of poor solutions before the problem is resolved on the refined distribution of nodes. The proposed methodology is applied to some two dimensional hyperbolic benchmark problems and the results are presented and compared to the exact solutions. The results clearly show the capabilities of the proposed method for the effective and efficient solution of hyperbolic problems of shocked and high gradient solutions.     

Evolution of quantum correlations in the open quantum systems consisting of two coupled oscillators

The open quantum systems consisting of coupled and uncoupled asymmetric oscillators are considered with an initial quantum-dot trapped-ion coherent state. The quantum correlations between spatial modes of this trapped ion are examined to find their dependence on the temperature, asymmetric parameter, dissipation coefficient and the magnetic field. It is observed that the discord of the initial state is an increasing function of the asymmetric parameter and the magnetic field. Moreover, in the case of two uncoupled modes, entanglement and discord are decreasing functions of temperature and the dissipation coefficient. However, as the temperature and dissipation coefficient increase, the discord fades out faster. In the case of two coupled modes, as the temperature and dissipation coefficient increase, the sudden death of the entanglement and fade out of the discord happen sooner; moreover, as the magnetic field increases, the entanglement sudden death and the discord fade out time occur sooner. Also, with the increase in the asymmetric parameter, the entanglement sudden death is postponed. In addition, in the asymmetric system, appreciable discord can be created in the temperature range 0–10 K, while appreciable entanglement can be created in the temperature range 0–5 mK. Finally, it is observed that non-monotonic evolution of quantum correlations is due to coupling of modes.