Enhance cycling performance of LiMn2O4 cathode by Sr2+ and Cr3+ doping

Spinel LiSr_0·1Cr_0·1Mn_1·8O₄ was synthesised by high temperature solid state method in order to enhance the electrochemical performance. The LiSr_0·1Cr_0·1Mn_1·8O₄ (LSCMO) materials were characterised by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electrochemical tests. The XRD and SEM studies confirm that LSCMO had spinel crystal structure with a space group of Fd3m, and the particle of LSCMO shows irregular shape. The cyclic voltammetry data illustrated that the heavy current charge–discharge performance of LMO was improved by Sr²⁺ and Cr³⁺ doping. The galvanostatic charge–discharge of LSCMO cathode materials was measured at 1, 5, 10 and 20 C. The results indicated that LSCMO improved the capacity retention.     

Alloy optimisation of bainitic steel for large plastic mould

Based on the phase transformation theories, especially the T₀ concept of bainite transformation, alloy optimisation of bainitic steel with carbides has been carried out aiming at the produce of plastic mould with large cross-section. The effect of manganese and silicon on proeutectoid ferrite and bainite transformation is explored by dilatometric analysis, XRD and different microscopy techniques. The results show that after the alloy optimisation, the transformation of proeutectoid ferrite is suppressed and when the cooling rate is lower than 0·1°C?s^??1, the new lower bainite transformation appears by decreasing carbon capacity of austenite and promoting carbide precipitation. Industrial production proves that the optimised alloy SDP1 can meet the demand for the plastic mould with the thickness of 1050?mm.     

Degree-of-polarization and eye-closure penalty associated with optical signals with orthogonal polarizations

We perform a systematic measurement of the degree-of-polarization (DOP) and eye-closure penalty for optical signals with orthogonal polarizations. We find that the symmetry of DOP is maintained for the orthogonal polarizations under both first and higher order polarization-mode dispersion (PMD), whereas the symmetry of eye-closure penalty is broken under second-order PMD. An orthogonal polarization pair can have large disparity of eye-closure penalty despite an identical DOP. We also demonstrate a novel approach to estimate the maximum eye-closure penalty asymmetry with three orthogonal polarizations on the Poincare/spl acute/ sphere.     

Finite sample size effect on minimum variance beamformers: optimum diagonal loading factor for large arrays

Minimum variance beamformers are usually complemented with diagonal loading techniques in order to provide robustness against several impairments such as imprecise knowledge of the steering vector or finite sample size effects. This paper concentrates on this last application of diagonal loading techniques, i.e., it is assumed that the steering vector is perfectly known and that diagonal loading is used to alleviate the finite sample size impairments. The analysis herein is asymptotic in the sense that it is assumed that both the number of antennas and the number of samples are high but have the same order of magnitude. Borrowing some results of random matrix theory, the authors first derive a deterministic expression that describes the asymptotic signal-to-noise-plus-interference ratio (SINR) at the output of the diagonally loaded beamformer. Then, making use of the statistical theory of large observations (also known as general statistical analysis or G-analysis), the authors derive an estimator of the optimum loading factor that is consistent when both the number of antennas and the sample size increase without bound at the same rate. Because of that, the estimator has an excellent performance even in situations where the quotient between the number of observations is low relative to the number of elements of the array.