An explicit finite difference method for finite-time observers

In this paper we present a numerical method for estimating the current state of a nonlinear control system. We use finite differences to discretize a modified version of the finite-time observer equations in James. The discretized equations are simple and easily programmed. The convergence and accuracy of the scheme is proved, and the scheme enjoys a number of important properties: availability of rate of convergence estimates, good robustness characteristics, and the ability to handle certain types of discontinuities in the observations. The major disadvantage is that the number of grid points required increases exponentially with the number of state dimensions.     

Non-pinched, minimum energy distillation designs

Non-pinched, minimum energy solutions are important class of distillation designs that offer the potential advantage of a better trade-off between capital investment and operating costs. In this paper, two important tasks associated with non-pinched distillation designs are studied. Thus the novel contributions of this work to the literature are

(1) A comprehensive methodology for finding non-pinched minimum energy designs.

(2) Understanding of the reasons for the existence of non-pinched distillation designs.

It is shown that the recent shortest stripping line distance approach of Lucia et al. [Lucia, A., Amale, A. and Taylor, R., 2007, Distillation pinch points and more. Comput Chem Eng, available on-line] is capable of systematically and reliably finding non-pinched, minimum energy distillation designs. In addition, we provide an understanding of the reasons behind the existence of non-pinched designs, which include trajectories that follow unstable branches of a pinch point curve in azeotropic systems, the inherent looping structure of trajectories in hydrocarbon separations, and the presence of ancillary constraints in multi-unit processes like extraction/distillation. Several distillation examples are studied and many numerical results and geometric illustrations are presented that show the shortest stripping line distance methodology is indeed a powerful and systematic tool for computing non-pinched, minimum energy designs and that support the underlying reason we provide for the existence of non-pinched designs.     

奥里油在电力工业的应用及环保处理

委内瑞拉富藏奥里油约469亿t，中国政府与委内瑞拉政府签订了合作生产和供应每年650万t奥里油的合作协议。介绍了奥里油的特性和在全球以及中国的应用情况，分析了奥里油燃烧发电带来的特殊的环保问题和处理方法。     

Works of adhesion at the carbon fiber-liquid interface determined using a modified wetting technique

Works of adhesion W_SL between aqueous solutions with pH values in the range from 1 to 14 and carbon fibers from different sources, which were additionally treated in an inert atmosphere or in oxygen, were measured by use of a microbalance. These works of adhesion W_SL were found to show distinct stepwise dependencies on the pH value. The works of adhesion W_SL are attributed to dispersion interactions W_SL¹ and various acid-base interactions w_sl^ab—in the latter case between the acidic and basic surface groups of carbon and the various basic and acidic aqueous solutions.     

Growth and morphology of nanometer LiMn2O4 powder

The growth of Li_1+xMn₂O₄ via detonation reaction was investigated with respect to the presence of an energetic precursor, such as the metallic nitrate and the degree of confinement of the explosive charge. The detonation products were characterized by scanning electron microscopy. Powder X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy were used to characterize the products. Li_1+xMn₂O₄ with 1-2 μm spherical morphology and more uniform secondary particles, but with smaller primary particles of diameters from 20 to 60 nm and a variety of morphologies were found. The oxides produced by this cheap method affirmed the validity of detonation synthesis of nano-size powders.     

A Survey on the Numerics and Computations for the Landau-Lifshitz Equation of Micromagnetism

The Landau-Lifshitz (LL)equation of micromagnetism governs rich variety of the evolution of magnetization patterns in ferromagnetic media. This is due to the complexity of physical quantities appearing in the LL equation. This complexity causes also an interesting mathematical properties of the LL equation: nonlocal character for some quantities,nonconvex side-constraints, strongly nonlinear terms. These effects influence also the numerical approximations. In this work, recent developments on the approximation of weak solutions, together with the overview of well-known methods for strong solutions,are addressed. Author is supported by the Fund for Scientific Research - Flanders FWO (Belgium).     

Thermal conductivity of a dendritic ice layer

Measurements of the thermal conductivities of the frozen layer of aqueous binary solutions have been performed using the transient hot-wire method. Solutions of ethylene glycol and sodium chloride were utilized as the testing fluids, and they were frozen up in the test section in which the platinum wires 40 m in diameter and 170 mm in length were strung. Measurements were carried out under equilibrium at a variety of both the initial concentration of the solution and the temperature of the frozen layer. The expressions of the thermal conductivity of the frozen layer were determined. It was found that the thermal conductivity of the dendritic ice layer was favorably assessed with the Lichteneker's model by introducing the solid fraction under an assumption of the equililbrium within the range of parameters examined.Paper presented at the Tenth Symposium on Thermophysical Properties, June 20–23, 1988, Gaithersburg, Maryland, U.S.A.     

A unified model for the structure of polymers in semidilute solution

A model is developed to analyse the concentration dependence of the range ξ_? of the monomer pair correlation function. In semidilute solution, three concentration regimes are found for semiflexible molecules and the crossover points between the various regimes are predicted in terms of the characteristic ratio of the chains in dilute solution and in terms of the Flory interaction parameter χ. A simple physical interpretation is given which explains the concentration dependence of ξ_? based on binary contacts initially and then ternary contacts at higher concentration. Temperature-concentration diagrams are developed for several common polymer-solvent systems.     

An efficient procedure for finding best compromise solutions to the multi-objective assignment problem

In this paper, we consider the problem of determining a best compromise solution for the multi-objective assignment problem. Such a solution minimizes a scalarizing function, such as the weighted Tchebychev norm or reference point achievement functions. To solve this problem, we resort to a ranking (or k-best) algorithm which enumerates feasible solutions according to an appropriate weighted sum until a condition, ensuring that an optimal solution has been found, is met. The ranking algorithm is based on a branch and bound scheme. We study how to implement efficiently this procedure by considering different algorithmic variants within the procedure: choice of the weighted sum, branching and bounding schemes. We present an experimental analysis that enables us to point out the best variants, and we provide experimental results showing the remarkable efficiency of the procedure, even for large size instances.