FDTD simulation of microwave sintering of ceramics in multimodecavities

Microwave sintering of ceramics in multimode cavities, particularly the use of picket-fence arrangements, has recently received considerable attention. Various types of ceramics have been successfully sintered and, in some cases, a desirable and unique “microwave effect” has been observed. At present, various aspects of the sintering profess such as preparation of sample sizes and shapes, types of insulations, and the desirability of including a process stimulus such as SiC rods are considered forms of art and highly dependent on human expertise. The simulation of realistic sintering experiments in a multimode cavity may provide an improved understanding of critical parameters involved and allow for the development of guidelines towards the optimization of the sintering process. In this paper, we utilize the FDTD technique to model various geometrical arrangements and material compatibility aspects in multimode microwave cavities and to simulate realistic sintering experiments. The FDTD procedure starts with the simulation of a field distribution in multimode microwave cavities that resembles a set of measured data using liquid crystal sheets. Also included in the simulation is the waveguide feed as well as a ceramic loading plate placed at the base of the cavity     

On the coupling characteristics of coplanar waveguides andmicrostrip lines to multilayer dielectric media

The spectral-domain technique is utilized to optimize the coupling of coplanar waveguides and microstrip lines to lossy dielectric media. It is shown that to enhance the coupling, higher frequencies should be used, the dielectric constant of the substrate should be small (∈=2.56), and the width of the center conductor and gaps should be as large as possible. The dielectric constant of the superstrate should be low if a leaky-wave type of coupling is desired or large if a strong coupling by the transverse-field components is desired. It is shown that the quasi-static TEM and TM₀ modes will be excited if a superstrate is present between a high dielectric lossy media and the coplanar waveguide     

Interprocedural and Flow-Sensitive Type Analysis for Memory and Type Safety of C Code

The explicit memory management and type conversion endow the C language with flexibility and performance that render it the de facto language for system programming. However, these appealing features come at the cost of programs’ safety. Due to the C language permissiveness, highly skilled but inadvertent programmers often spawn insidious programming errors that yield exploitable code. In this paper, we present a novel type and effect analysis for detecting memory and type errors in C source code. We extend the standard C type system with effect, region, and host annotations that hold valuable safety information. We also define static safety checks to detect safety errors using the aforementioned annotations. Our analysis performs in an intraprocedural phase and an interprocedural phase. The flow-sensitive and alias-sensitive intraprocedural phase propagates type annotations and applies safety checks at each program point. The interprocedural phase generates and propagates unification constraints on type annotations across function boundaries. We present an inference algorithm that automatically infers type annotations and applies safety checks to programs without programmers’ interaction.     

Robustness design of a dynamic output-feedback decentralized controller using <Emphasis Type="Italic">H</Emphasis><Subscript>∞</Subscript> synthesis and LMI paradigm

This paper proposes developing a H _∞ dynamic output-feedback decentralized control design method for nonlinear interconnected systems subject to time-varying parameters and external disturbances. The designed controller is formulated as an optimization problem subject to linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) for the concurrent computation of the decentralized observation and control gains, and for the external disturbance mitigation by means of a H _∞ performance criterion minimization. The propounded optimization problem, designed in LMI conditions, is expeditiously resolved by a one-step procedure to override the conservatism generated by using many step-based procedures often used in the analysis and synthesis of interconnected systems. The effectiveness of the developed control scheme is demonstrated through simulation results of multimachine power systems.     

Adaptive Cross Correlation for Imaging Displacements in Soils

Digital image correlation (DIC) is used in this paper to study two-dimensional spatial soil deformations nonintrusively. Adaptive cross correlation (ACC), which is an advanced cross-correlation algorithm that utilizes variable window sizing and window shifting methods, was used to reduce the errors associated with conventional DIC. Comparison of the two algorithms using a scheme of predefined digital and physical movements shows that ACC improves the accuracy and range of DIC. A model of a strip footing on sand is presented. A digital camera was used to capture consecutive images of soil deformations through a Plexiglas mold. The spatial deformation of the soil beneath the footing was obtained by correlating consecutive images using ACC. Shear strains and the failure surface were also calculated based on the displacements measured using ACC. The optical setup and digital image processing technique presented in this paper were proven to be an effective tool for studying soil–structure interaction nonintrusively.     

Unexploited Thapsia garganica,Orlaya maritima,and Retama raetam Seeds: Potential Sources of Unsaturated Fatty Acid and Natural Antioxidants

Total lipid contents, fatty acid compositions, phenolic profiles and antioxidants activities of seeds from Thapsia garganica, Orlaya maritima, and Retama raetam were investigated. The oil values were more than 26 %, except seeds of R. raetam (ca. 3 %). Unsaturated fatty acids accounted for the majority of the fatty acids (more than 75 %). Oleic and linoleic acid were the predominant fatty acids. Total phenolic compounds (24–104 mg GAE g^?1 DR), total flavonoids (4–102 mg QE g^?1g DR), total tannins (28–85 mg GAE g^?1 DR) and condensed tannins (0.62–131 mg CE g^?1 DR) were also determined. The antioxidant activities using different assays were evaluated. The predominant detected classes were the phenolic acids (42–85 %) and the flavonoids (11–48 %). The major phenolic acids were caffeic, trans‐4‐hydroxy‐3‐methoxycinnamic, p‐coumaric, and gallic acid. The predominant flavonoids were quercetin, luteolin, naringin, apigenin, and kaempferol. This study brings attention to the medicinal importance of these species as a source of oil and antioxidant molecules.     

Plugging behavior of gellan in porous saline media

In this article, the hydrodynamic behavior of dilute aqueous solutions of a natural polysaccharide—gellan in the porous media under the modeled oilfield conditions is described. The hydrodynamic properties of gellan and poly(acrylamide) solutions in saline porous media are compared. The influence of inorganic salts NaCl, KCl, CaCl₂, MgCl₂, and BaСl₂ on sol–gel and gel–sol transitions of dilute gellan solutions was evaluated. The mechanism of sol–gel transition in the presence of individual alkaline and alkaline‐earth metal salts is described on the basis of literature data. The viscometric measurements revealed that the effectiveness of salts to enhance gelation of gellan changes in the following order: BaСl₂ > CaCl₂ ≈ MgCl₂ > KCl > NaCl. The sol–gel and gel–sol phase transitions of gellan solution were also observed upon addition of oil field water containing 73 g L^?1 of alkaline and alkaline earth metal ions. During the injection of gellan solutions into the porous media saturated by saline water an oscillation of the injection pressure was observed. Such behavior of gellan is explained by either the sol‐to‐gel and the gel‐to‐sol transitions of the polymer taking place in saline water or the step‐by‐step plugging of high permeable channels until all high permeable channels of sand packs are plugged due to gellan invasion. The application of brine‐initiated gelation of gellan for water shutoff operations (WSO) in field conditions was demonstrated. Higher technological effectiveness of gellan injection in comparison with existing gelation systems was shown. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 41256.     

Scattering and Absorption by Elongated Aerosol Particles

Recently we developed a new technique, the iterative extended boundary condition method, which is suitable for calculating the scattering and absorption by elongated particles in a broad frequency range, including at resonance. This paper briefly describes this technique, illustrates its capabilities, and presents the results of its most recent extensions. This includes the implementation of a sectioning procedure and the use of a new segmentation method for calculating scattering by very long oriented chains of aerosols. Results of absorption cross sections in two different frequency ranges, visible and infrared, and for two different polarizations, parallel and end-fire polarizations, will be presented. The range of validity of some reported relationships between scattering from a single particle and from coagulated particles are discussed. It is shown that in the end-fire polarization case the sum of the absorption by separate n particles (P _sum) is more than the absorption by a chain of n coagulated particles (P _end-fire), while in the parallel polarization case, the ratio between P _parallel/P _end-fire may be as high as a factor of 4. This observation emphasizes the importance of taking the polarization into account in calculating light scattering by elongated chains of aerosols.     

Bit-error rate of binary digital modulation schemes in generalized gamma fading channels

We derive a closed-form expression for the bit-error rate of binary digital modulation schemes in a generalized fading channel that is modeled by the three-parameter generalized gamma distribution. This distribution is very versatile and generalizes or accurately approximates many of the commonly used channel models for multipath, shadow, and composite fading. The result is expressed in terms of Meijer's G-function, which can be easily evaluated numerically.