Modified-Levermore–Pomraning equation: Its derivation and its limitations

A transport equation for the mean flux in spatially random media is derived, and is referred to as Modified-Levermore–Pomraning equation (M-L–P). It differs from the conventional L–P equations in that |μ| in the latter is replaced by μ in M-L–P. It is shown that when scattering is present the L–P equations are always incorrect in the sense there is not any special situation in which they can lead to an exact result. In particular they always predict the relaxation lengths of the spatial modes incorrectly. On the other hand, the M-L–P equations are exact when the flux at the origin is deterministic, as in some special cases such as half-infinite medium, and infinite medium with a localized source at the origin, when the density of the medium is spatially random. However, the M-L–P equations become approximate when the medium is a finite slab because of the right boundary condition. But the relaxation rates of the spatial modes are always calculated exactly even in finite slab. The nature of approximation inherent in the M-L–P is elucidated by comparison with the exact “stochastic transition matrix formalism” developed earlier in two-stream transport.     

Micellar association in simultaneous presence of organic salts/additives

Viscosity measurements under Newtonian flow conditions had been performed on cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) aqueous solutions in the combined presence of sodium salts of aromatic acids (sodium salicylate, NaSal; sodium benzoate, NaBen; sodium anthranilate, NaAn) and organic additives (1-hexanol, C₆OH; n-hexylamine, C₆NH₂) at 30°C. On addition of C₆OH or C₆NH₂, the viscosity of 25 mM CTAB solution remained nearly constant without salt as well as with a lower salt concentration. This is due to low CTAB concentration which is not sufficient to produce structural changes in this concentration range of salts. However, as the salt concentration was increased further, the effect of C₆OH/C₆NH₂ addition was different with different salts: The viscosity first increased; then a decrease was observed with the former while with C₆NH₂ a decrease followed by constancy appeared in plots of relative viscosities (η _r ) vs. organic additive concentrations. At further higher salt concentration, the magnitude of η _r was much higher. The viscosity increase is explained in terms of micellar growth and the decrease in terms of swollen micelle formation (due to interior solubilization of organic additive) or micellar disintegration (due to formation of water + additive pseudophase).     

全局优化的蝴蝶优化算法

针对基本蝴蝶优化算法中存在的易陷入局部最优值、收敛速度慢等问题,提出一种全局优化的蝴蝶算法,引入limit阈值来限定蝴蝶优化算法陷入局部最优解的次数,从而改变算法易陷入早熟的问题,结合单纯形策略优化迭代后期位置较差的蝴蝶使种群能够较快地找到全局最优解;将正弦余弦算法作为局部算子融入BOA中,改善迭代后期种群多样性下降的缺陷,加快算法跳出局部最优。在仿真模拟实验中与多个算法进行对比,结果表明改进算法的寻优性能更好。     

Prosthetic Hand Finger Control Using Fuzzy Sliding Modes

In order to improve the life quality of amputees, providing approximate manipulation ability of a human hand to that of a prosthetic hand is considered by many researchers. In this study, a biomechanical model of the index finger of the human hand is developed based on the human anatomy. Since the activation of finger bones are carried out by tendons, a tendon configuration of the index finger is introduced and used in the model to imitate the human hand characteristics and functionality. Then, fuzzy sliding mode control where the slope of the sliding surface is tuned by a fuzzy logic unit is proposed and applied to have the finger model to follow a certain trajectory. The trajectory of the finger model, which mimics the motion characteristics of the human hand, is pre-determined from the camera images of a real hand during closing and opening motion. Also, in order to check the robust behaviour of the controller, an unexpected joint friction is induced on the prosthetic finger on its way. Finally, the resultant prosthetic finger motion and the tendon forces produced are given and results are discussed.     

Vic-dioximes: A new class of sensitive materials for chemical gas sensing

Vic-dioximes, a class of organic chemical compounds, are proposed and characterized for the first time as sensitive materials for volatile organic compound sensing with sorption based chemical gas sensors. Their peculiar sensing properties described in this work originate in the oxime functional group which is a powerful H bond donor interacting strongly but reversibly with H bond acceptors. These specific interactions result in a high preferential enrichment of analyte molecules with H bonding acceptor capabilities in the sensitive material. Accordingly, sensitivity and selectivity for these compounds of vic-dioxime based sensors are high. The advantageous sensing properties are demonstrated in this work with quartz crystal microbalance sensors using 11 selected volatile organic compounds and a set of vic-dioximes varied in their substituents. Vic-dioximes with short alkylthiol substituents were found highly sensitive to such H bond acceptors as organic amines, alcohols, and esters with partition coefficients up to 26,000. At the same time they showed low affinity for aromatic compounds and chlorocarbons. Vic-dioximes are considered powerful sensing materials and interesting for practical use in chemical gas sensor arrays.     

Evidence of short-range order in the disordered Cu-Ti alloys

Diffuse X-ray scattering measurements have been carried out on a series of Cu-Ti alloys, in order to determine the dependence of short-range order (SRO) parameters on the composition and annealing temperature. The diffuse scattering intensity (DSI) curves contain a maximum at the superstructural position 100 which provides evidence of SRO in this alloy. The degree of SRO has been estimated by calculating the Warren-Cowley parameter ₁ (WCP) and size-effect parameter ₁ from the DSI curves. The large negative values of WCP for all samples show the presence of heterogeneous SRO in these alloys. Comparison is also made between the values of experimental WCP and theoretical WCP calculated in the framework of electronic theory of short-range order and the high-temperature approximation of Clapp and Moss. A fairly good agreement between theory and experiment is observed.     

Variable length coding over an unknown channel

Burnashev in 1976 gave an exact expression for the reliability function of a discrete memoryless channel (DMC) with noiseless feedback. A coding scheme that achieves this exponent needs, in general, to know the statistics of the channel. Suppose now that the coding scheme is designed knowing only that the channel belongs to a family Q of DMCs. Is there a coding scheme with noiseless feedback that achieves Burnashev's exponent uniformly over Q at a nontrivial rate? We answer the question in the affirmative for two families of channels (binary symmetric, and Z). For these families we show that, for any given fraction, there is a feedback coding strategy such that for any member of the family: i) guarantees this fraction of its capacity as rate, and ii) guarantees the corresponding Burnashev's exponent. Therefore, for these families, in terms of delay and error probability, the knowledge of the channel becomes asymptotically irrelevant in feedback code design: there are blind schemes that perform as well as the best coding scheme designed with the foreknowledge of the channel under use. However, a converse result shows that, in general, even for families that consist of only two channels, such blind schemes do not exist.     

Structural and magnetic properties of erbium doped nanocrystalline Li–Ni ferrites

A series of nanocrystalline Li_0.25Ni_0.5Fe_2.25−xEr_xO₄ (x=0.00, 0.02, 0.06, 0.08, and 0.10) ferrite powders, having a cubic spinel crystal structure and a low value of coercivity, was synthesized by the sol–gel auto-combustion route. The structure, morphology and magnetic properties of the prepared nanoferrites were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and the magnetic property measurement system (MPMS). A well-defined single phase spinel structure is confirmed in all the samples by X-ray diffraction analysis. The lattice parameters of the samples increase slightly with increasing the erbium content. The crystallite size of the Er-doped samples is smaller than that of pure Li–Ni ferrite, and decrease regularly in the range of 36.0–14.5 nm. It has been observed that the magnetic properties of these ferrites are strongly influenced by the added erbium content. The magnetic measurements indicate that saturation magnetization (M_s) and coercivity (H_c) decrease gradually with the increase of Er content in the lattice.     

国内现役高铁站站台钢结构雨棚防护涂层失效情况分析

对国内现役高铁站站台钢结构雨棚腐蚀情况进行了考察,归纳了不同结构形式站台雨棚钢结构防护涂层的病害情况,分析了病害出现的原因,并探讨了防护及维修需要深入研究的几个问题,从预防和维护两个方面提出了可能的解决途径。