Analysis of retailers’ coalition stability for supply chain based on LCS and stable set

To attain the general form of stable coalition structure, this paper addressed the problem of retailers’ coalition stability in a two-stage supply chain consisting of one supplier and multiple retailers. A profit gain function was established via introducing market gain coefficient and coalition cost coefficient for different coalition structures. Based on the function, the profit of each retailer in all kinds of coalition structures was analysed, and the general feature of a stable coalition structure was attained by the largest consistent set method and the stable set method. Furthermore, some insights were obtained. For example, stable coalition structures are equidistributed or approximate equidistributed; with supplier’s cost increasing, the size of the retailers’ coalition increases. Finally, the above conclusions are verified by numerical simulation. The results of this paper provide a reference for retailers’ coalition in a supply chain, such as automobile or Information Technology supply chain.     

Systematic approach for modeling methanol mass transport on the anode side of direct methanol fuel cells

A systematic method for modeling direct methanol fuel cells, with a focus on the anode side of the system, is advanced for the purpose of quantifying the methanol crossover phenomenon and predicting the concentration of methanol in the anode catalyst layer of a direct methanol fuel cell. The model accounts for fundamental mass transfer phenomena at steady state, including convective transport in the anode flow channel, as well as diffusion and electro-osmotic drag transport across the polymer electrolyte membrane. Experimental measurements of methanol crossover current density are used to identify five modeling parameters according to a systematic parameter estimation methodology. A validation study shows that the model matches the experimental data well, and the usefulness of the model is illustrated through the analysis of effects such as the choice fuel flow rate in the anode flow channel and the presence of carbon-dioxide bubbles.     

The Nyquist robust sensitivity margin for uncertain closed‐loop systems

The Nyquist robust sensitivity margin is proposed as a new scalar indicator of robust stability that also provides a meaningful quantitative assessment of the worst sensitivity realized by the uncertain closed loop. After formulating and discussing in detail the underlying optimization problem required for the calculation of the margin, the approach is applied to the characterization of the robust stability of a closed‐loop featuring a linear system with an affine uncertainty structure and a parametric uncertainty set described by a real rectangular polytope. The capabilities of the methodology are illustrated through examples, which include an approach for quantifying alternative robustness margins, such as a parametric stability margin. The computational algorithm is systematic and can be carried out with high numerical precision. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Investigation of pulsed non-melt laser annealing on the film properties and performance of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells

Pulsed non-melt laser annealing (NLA) has been used for the first time to modify near-surface defects and related junction properties in Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) solar cells. CIGS films deposited on Mo/glass substrates were annealed using a 25 ns pulsed 248 nm laser beam at selected laser energy density in the range 20–60 mJ/cm² and pulse number in the range 5–20 pulses. XRD peak narrowing and SEM surface feature size increase suggest near-surface structure changes. Dual-beam optical modulation (DBOM) and Hall-effect measurements indicate NLA treatment increases the effective carrier lifetime and mobility along with the sheet resistance. In addition, several annealed CdS/CIGS films processed by NLA were fabricated into solar cells and characterized by photo- and dark-J–V and quantum efficiency (QE) measurements. The results show significant improvement in the overall cell performance when compared to unannealed cells. The results suggest that an optimal NLA energy density and pulse number for a 25 ns pulse width are approximately 30 mJ/cm² and 5 pulses, respectively. The NLA results reveal that overall cell efficiency of a cell processed from an unannealed film increased from 7.69% to 13.41% and 12.22% after annealing 2 different samples at the best condition prior to device processing.     

Relative zero location for second-order sampled systems

It is shown that the pole-zero configuration of relevant families of second-order continuous-time transfer functions is preserved after sampling. The results are valid for any sampling period and give tighter bounds for the location of the sample zero than those reported in earlier literature. These results complement the analysis made by T. Soderstrom (ibid., vol.35, p.1249-53, 1990) on the zero location of second-order sampled systems     

Hands‐On Laboratory Experiments in Flexible and Distance Learning

The advent of the Internet as a major communication channel has triggered a great deal of interest in real‐time services such as broadcast or interactive audio and video services. In this paper, a further step into the realm of real‐time services over the Internet is presented, namely, synchronous access to remote and distributed laboratory facilities. The proposed approach demonstrates the feasibility of using remote laboratory experiments to complement and enhance traditional as well as on‐line courses in control engineering education. The distributed laboratory effectively enables students to reinforce their learning through hands‐on studies carried out in a flexible environment.     

Influence of zero locations on the number of step-response extrema

A new bounding theorem for the number of extrema that may occur in the step-response of a stable linear system is presented. The derivation of an easily-computed upper bound is given to complement literature results which have previously established the existence of a lower bound. The theorem requires knowledge of the pole-zero configuration of the transfer-function and is applicable to stable systems with real zeros and real poles.     

Investigation of rapid thermal annealing on Cu(In,Ga)Se2 films and solar cells

Rapid thermal annealing (RTA), with fast ramp rate, was performed on several Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) films and solar cells under various peak annealing temperatures and holding times. Characterizations were made on CIGS films and cells before and after RTA treatments to study effects of RTA on the CIGS film properties and cell performance. In addition, AMPS-1D device simulation program was used to study effects of defect density on the cell performance by fitting the experimental data of RTA-treated CIGS cells. The results show that RTA treatments under optimal annealing condition can provide significant improvements in the electrical properties of CIGS films and cell performance while preserving the film composition and microstructure morphology.     

A comparison of the optical projection lithography simulators inSAMPLE and PROLITH

This paper documents important algorithmic details not available in the open literature, and illustrates differences and similarities between the SAMPLE and PROLITH programs using representative lithography systems as examples. Numerical comparisons demonstrate that the aerial images calculated by SAMPLE and PROLITH are in generally good agreement. At high numerical resolution, the programs provide the same qualitative lithographic information, including latent images and edge profile results; however, significant degradation occurs at lower restorations. Adequate results are obtained using a vertical resolution smaller than one-twentieth of the theoretical standing-wave wavelength. Significant disagreement is found in the output of the post-exposure bake algorithms where SAMPLE predicts much lower standing-wave amplitude attenuation effects     

Removal of non-ionic organic pollutants from water via liquid-liquid extraction

The removal of model pollutants bromocresol green (BG) and phenol from water is demonstrated via two liquid-liquid extraction methods. Both methods exploit selective interactions established by the pollutant molecule with a surfactant, oil, or alcohol, and are variants of the more general Winsor systems where the phases are in contact along an extremely large interfacial area. In the first method the surfactant and the co-surfactant move from a predominantly oil-in-water microemulsion (Winsor I), to a middle phase microemulsion (Winsor III), and finally to a water-in-oil microemulsion (Winsor II), as the physicochemical conditions of salinity, temperature or hydrophilic-lipophilic balance of the surfactant system are varied. This method achieves better than 99% removal of the pollutant BG from water. It is argued that the removal is produced upon increasing the salinity of the system because the interaction of BG with a medium chain-length alcohol drives it to move along with the alcohol to another phase. The second method, which is scalable to industrial levels, uses a spontaneously produced water-in-oil microemulsion with large interfacial area that appears after bringing in contact water and a pre-formed Winsor II or Winsor III microemulsion system containing different surfactants and oils. The method is applied to the removal of phenol from water, and it is found that systems with polar oils such as ethyl butyrate or with cationic surfactants such as stearyl trimethylammonium chloride are more efficient in removing phenol than systems with normal alkanes or anionic surfactants. It is also shown that a microemulsion formed using a polar oil performs better than using only the polar oil as the extraction solvent. Finally, the efficiency of the second liquid-liquid extraction method can be increased from 69% in a single-stage process to 83% in a two-stage process, using the same total amount of extraction solvent.