Modified transmission-reflection method for measuring constitutive parameters of thin flexible high-loss materials

The transmission-reflection method is modified for measuring constitutive parameters of thin high-loss materials used as radar absorbers. The method uses a two-layer structure, consisting of a layer of thin flexible unknown material supported by a thicker rigid known material. The analysis and measurements focus on nonmagnetic samples of a high dielectric constant and loss factor and on the waveguide configuration in the X-band. A nonlinear least-squares optimization is used to obtain the complex permittivity from the measured scattering parameters. The uncertainty analysis presented facilitates selection of the support layer thickness. Simulations with the finite-difference time-domain method explore the effects of sample imperfections. Accuracy of a few percent can be achieved for a sample thickness of a fraction of a millimeter, provided that the thickness of the support dielectric is close to optimum and sample has only small surface imperfections.     

Homeland Security

"Homeland security" is a major concern for governments worldwide, which must protect their populations and the critical infrastructures that support them. Information technology plays an important role in many homeland security initiatives. On one hand, it can help mitigate risk and enable effective responses to disasters of natural or human origin. Yet, its suitability for this role is plagued by questions ranging from dependability concerns to the risks that some technologies, such as surveillance, profiling and data aggregation, pose to privacy and civil liberties. On the other hand, information technology is itself an infrastructure to be protected. This includes not only the Internet and financial infrastructure but also the complex systems that control critical infrastructure such as energy, transportation, and manufacturing.     

On certain classes of exact solutions of Einstein equations for rotating fields in conventional and nonconventional form

Using the symmetry reduction approach we have herein examined, under continuous groups of transformations, the invariance of Einstein exterior equations for stationary axisymmetric and rotating case, in conventional and nonconventional forms, that is a coupled system of nonlinear partial differential equations of second order. More specifically, the said technique yields the invariant transformation that reduces the given system of partial differential equations to a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations (nlodes) which, in the case of conventional form, is reduced to a single nlode of second order. The first integral of the resulting nlode has been obtained via invariant-variational principle and Noether’s theorem and involves an integration constant. Depending upon the choice of the arbitrary constant two different forms of the exact solutions are indicated. The generalized forms of Weyl and Schwarzschild solutions for the case of no spin have also been deduced as particular cases. Investigation of nonconventional form of Einstein exterior equations has not only led to the recovery of solutions obtained through conventional form but it also yields physically important asymptotically flat solutions. In a particular case, a single third order nlode has been derived which evidently opens up the possibility of finding many further interesting solutions of the exterior field equations.     

Exciton-polariton transition induced by elastic exciton-exciton collisions in ultrahigh quality AIGaAs alloys

The stationary and time-resolved polariton radiation in ultrahigh quality AIGaAs layers have been studied. It has been found that elastic exciton-exciton collisions lead to the appearance of a low-energy line of polariton radiation. We show that the rate of exciton-to-polariton transitions caused by elastic exciton-exciton collisions is determined not only by the density of the excitonic gas, but also by its temperature; this is in accordance with existing theoretical predictions. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

10 years of operation of an integrated nutrient removal treatment plant: ups and downs. Background and water treatment.

Water retention times less than 3 h from inlet to outlet were necessary to meet new effluent requirements without extending the footprint of the existing plant. Nitrogen removal was required at the existing, high loaded, direct precipitation plant and space was not readily available. The staff at the VEAS WWTP took on the task to design a new process at their own risk. Selected solutions and ups and downs in the water treatment during the past 10 years of operations and further developments are presented in this paper. Always asking for well-proven solutions might make life easy. The intent of this paper is to encourage some of our colleagues to be more daring in their approach to new challenges. However, expect sleepless nights in order to solve the unexpected problems along the way.     

Towards General Guidelines for Aligned,Nanoscale Assemblies of Hairy‐Rod Polyfluorene

This account highlights recent progress towards understanding the complex hierarchical levels of solid‐state structure in a prototypical helical hairy‐rod polyfluorene, poly[9,9‐bis(2‐ethylhexyl)fluorene‐2,7‐diyl] (or PF2/6). This branched‐side‐chain containing polyfluorene undergoes a systematic intermolecular self‐assembly and liquid‐crystalline phase behavior in combination with uniaxial and biaxial alignment. The latter processes yield full three‐dimensional orientation of the crystallites and polymer chains. Also reviewed are the impact of the molecular structure and phase behavior on surface morphology, anisotropic film formation, and, ultimately, the overall impact of these physical attributes on optical constants. This particular polyfluorene also represents a model system for demonstrating the applicability of mean‐field theory in detailing the self‐organization of aligned hairy‐rod block‐copolymer systems. These results of PF2/6 are compared to those of other archetypical π‐conjugated hairy‐rod polymers. General guidelines of how molecular weight influences nanostructure, phase behavior, alignment, and surface morphology are given.     

On the relationship between parity space and approaches to fault detection

Parity space approach and H₂ approach are two important fault detection approaches. This paper studies the relationship between these two approaches, which reveals frequency domain characteristics of the optimal solution of the parity space approach on the one side and provides a numerical solution of the H₂-optimal design of residual generators on the other side.     

Photoreactivation of Escherichia coli following medium-pressure ultraviolet disinfection and its control using chloramination.

Ultraviolet (UV) disinfection is becoming increasingly popular as an alternative disinfection technology to chlorination in recent years. In this study, we investigated the photoreactivation of Escherichia coli following medium-pressure (MP) UV disinfection of synthetic water by a bench-scale collimated beam apparatus. The UV doses ranged from 1.6 -19.7 mWs/cm2 and photoreactivation was investigated for 6 hours under fluorescent light. In addition, chloramination was applied after UV disinfection to investigate its ability to control photoreactivation. It was found that photoreactivation occurred for all UV doses tested and the increase in bacteria numbers ranged from 0.04 to 1.35 log10. However, the degree of photoreactivation decreased with increased UV doses. Chloramination experiments revealed that the addition of 0.5 mg/l of monochloramine resulted in suppression of photoreactivation for 1 hour only. An increased monochloramine dose of 1 mg/l was found to prevent photoreactivation for the entire duration of the experiment. The results of this study have shown that photoreactivation occurs even after MP UV disinfection, although it is of a lesser extent at higher UV doses. This study has also established that secondary chloramination can effectively suppress and eliminate photoreactivation with a chloramine dose of 1 mg/l.     

The Role of Network Topologies in the Optical Core of IP-over-WDM Networks with Static Wavelength Routing

In this paper, we present a performance analysis of network topologies for the optical core of IP-over-WDM networks with static wavelength routing. The performance analysis is focused on regular degree four topologies, and, for comparison purposes, degree three topologies are also considered. It is shown that the increase of the nodal degree from three (degree three topology with smallest diameter) to four (degree four topology with smallest diameter) improves the network performance if a larger number of wavelengths per link is available. However, the influence of wavelength interchange on the nodal degree gain is small. The performance of regular degree four topologies with smallest diameter is also compared with the performance of mesh–torus topologies (which are also degree four topologies), and it is shown that the blocking probability of degree four topologies with smallest diameter is about two orders of magnitude lower than the blocking probability of mesh–torus topologies. It is also presented a performance comparison of WDM-based networks with nodal degrees ranging from two to five and it is shown that the increase of the nodal degree from two to three leads to high nodal degree gains, while de increase of the nodal degree from four to five leads to low nodal degree gains. These results show that degree three and degree four topologies are very attractive for use in the optical core of IP-over-WDM networks.     

Reliability of structures in high dimensions, part I: algorithms and applications

The present paper is concerned with the estimation of structural reliability when a large number of random variables is present. A sampling technique which uses lines in order to probe the failure domain, is presented. The latter is employed in conjunction with a stepwise procedure which makes use of Markov Chains. The resulting algorithm exhibits accelerated convergence.