Correction to: Buckling of magneto-electro-hygro-thermal piezoelectric nanoplates system embedded in a visco-Pasternak medium based on nonlocal theory

Microsystem Technologies - The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake. Farzad Ebrahimi was not listed among the authors.     

Mechanisms of orientational and photoelastic birefringence generation of methacrylates for the design of zero–zero‐birefringence polymers

The intrinsic birefringence Δn⁰ and photoelastic coefficient C of poly(methyl methacrylate), poly(2,2,2‐trifluroethyl methacrylate), poly(phenyl methacrylate), and poly(2,2,3,3,3‐pentafluorophenyl methacrylate) were determined. We categorized these methacrylate polymers into four birefringence‐types, even though their molecular structures differed only by the substituents on the side chains. Based on the results of Δn⁰ and C, novel polymers that exhibit neither orientational nor photoelastic birefringence, i.e., zero–zero‐birefringence polymers, were designed and synthesized by quaternary copolymerization system. Furthermore, we confirmed that the mechanisms of orientational birefringence and photoelastic birefringence generation were different in these methacrylate polymers. The conformation of the repeat unit of the polymers was nearly constant during the generation of orientational birefringence. In contrast, the conformation of the repeat unit of the polymers changed during the generation of photoelastic birefringence in the glassy state. These findings demonstrated the reasonability of evaluating orientational and photoelastic birefringence separately, as well as the adequacy of the classification of polymers into four birefringence‐types. Given these results and the fact that zero–zero‐birefringence polymers could be prepared successfully by four‐birefringence type monomers, we demonstrated the reasonability of the method for designing the zero–zero‐birefringence polymers. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 55:1330–1338, 2015. © 2015 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Two-dimensional ultrasonic tomography in nondestructive evaluation by using area functions

It is shown that the (normalized) area function based on the Born approximation offers a simple connection between the ultrasonic scattering response and the monochromatic ray sum in X-ray CT (computerized tomography). Because of this simple association, it is possible to apply the ultrasonic signals in the computationally direct and efficient parallel-beam X-ray CT algorithm to reproduce the vertical thickness function of an ultrasonic scatterer. The development of this imaging methodology is demonstrated for flaws of simple geometry; theoretical as well as experimental results for two model scatterers using this imaging technique are reported. Specifically, the area functions for a two-to-one spheroid and a circular cylinder are calculated and applied to a filtered backprojection algorithm of X-ray CT to obtain the vertical thickness function images. These images are then compared with the true vertical thickness functions of the targets based on their geometry. With theoretical data, this method was found to work very well. Even when experimental data containing creeping waves were used, the method produced satisfactory results for objects with continuously smooth surface.     

Postbuckling analysis of piezoelectric multiscale sandwich composite doubly curved porous shallow shells via Homotopy Perturbation Method

In this study postbuckling behaviors of multiscale composite sandwich doubly curved piezoelectric shell with a flexible core and MR layers by employing Homotopy Perturbation Method in hygrothermal environment has been investigated. By using Reddy third shear deformable theory the face sheets and third-order polynomial theory of the flexible core the strains and stresses are obtained. A mathematical model for the multiscale composite layered shell with a flexible core and magnetorheological layer (MR) that incorporates the nonlinearity of the in-plane and the vertical displacements of the core is assumed. Three-phase composite shells with polymer/Carbon nanotube/fiber and polymer/Graphene platelet/fiber either uniformly or non-uniformly based on different patterns according to Halpin–Tsai model have been considered. The governing equations of multiscale shell have been derived by implementing Hamilton’s principle. Meanwhile, simply supported boundary conditions are employed to the shell. For investigating correctness and accuracy, this paper is validated by other previous researches. Finally, different parameters such as temperature rise, various distribution patterns, magnetic fields and curvature ratio are considered in this article. It is found these parameters have significant effect on the frequency–amplitude curves.

     

On the stability issues of switched singular time‐delay systems with slow switching based on average dwell‐time

The issue of exponential stability analysis of continuous‐time switched singular systems consisting of a family of stable and unstable subsystems with time‐varying delay is investigated in this paper. It is very difficult to analyze the stability of such systems because of the existence of time‐delay and unstable subsystems. In this regard, on the basis of the free‐weighting matrix approach, by constructing the new Lyapunov‐like Krasovskii functional, and using the average dwell‐time approach, delay‐dependent sufficient conditions are derived and formulated in terms of LMIs to check the exponential stability of such systems. This paper also highlights the relationship between the average dwell‐time of the switched singular time‐delay system, its stability, exponential convergence rate of differential states, and algebraic states. Finally, a numerical example is given to confirm the analytical results and illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A two-phase mathematical-programming heuristic for flexible assignment of activities and tasks to work shifts

In the service industry, workers perform work shifts and are assigned to interruptible activities and uninterruptible tasks during their shifts. The work shifts of regular employees are often established several weeks in advance of the operations when the activity and task demands are still uncertain. Just a few days before the operations when these demands are unveiled with more certainty, the planned schedules can be slightly modified and on-call temporary employees can be scheduled to satisfy the demands as best as possible. As acceptable modifications, extending the planned shifts and moving workers’ meal breaks are considered. In this paper, we are interested in the scheduling problem encountered in this second step, which also involves assigning activities and tasks to the scheduled work shifts. To produce good-quality solutions in fast computational times for large-sized instances, we develop a two-phase heuristic. In the first phase, an approximate mixed-integer programming model is used to suggest temporary shifts and extensions to regular shifts and to schedule and assign tasks. In the second phase, a column-generation heuristic embedded in a rolling horizon procedure determines the final shifts and assigns activities to them. Computational results obtained on randomly generated instances are reported to evaluate the validity of the proposed solution method.     

A constrained optimization approach for an adaptive generalized subspace tracking algorithm

In this paper, we present an orthonormal version of the generalized signal subspace tracking. It is based on an interpretation of the generalized signal subspace as the solution of a constrained minimization task. This algorithm, referred to as the CGST algorithm, guarantees the C_x-orthonormality of the estimated generalized signal subspace basis at each iteration which C_x denotes the correlation matrix of the sequence x(t). An efficient implementation of the proposed algorithm enhances applicability of it in real time applications.