Three-dimensional simulation of long-wavelength free-electron lasers with helical wiggler and ion-channel guiding

A three-dimensional simulation of a steady-state amplifier model of a long-wavelength free-electron laser (FEL) with realizable helical wiggler and ion-channel guiding is presented. The set of coupled nonlinear differential equations for electron orbits and fields of TE 11 mode in a cylindrical waveguide are solved numerically by the Runge-Kutta algorithm with averages calculated by the Gaussian quadrature technique. Self-fields and space-charge effects are neglected, and the electron beam is assumed to be cold and slippage is ignored. The parameters correspond to the Compton regime. Evolution of the radiation power and growth rate along the wiggler is studied. Ion-channel density is chosen to obtain optimum efficiency. Simulations are preformed for the FEL operating in the neighborhood of 35 GHz and 16.5 GHz for the electron beam energies of 250 keV and 400 keV, respectively. The result of the saturated efficiency was found to be in good agreement with the simple estimation based on the phase-trapping model.     

Hollow fiber-based liquid-liquid-liquid microextraction followed by flow injection analysis using column-less HPLC for the determination of phenazopyridine in plasma and urine

Hollow fiber-based liquid-liquid-liquid microextraction (HF-LLLME) followed by flow injection analysis and diode array detection (FIA-DAD) was applied as a simple and sensitive quantitative method for the determination of phenazopyridine in urine and plasma samples. Flow injection system included a conventional HPLC system (without a chromatographic column) and a diode array detector. The extraction of phenazopyridine was carried out using diphenyl ether as the organic phase for filling the pores of the hollow fiber wall, and 0.1 M H(2)SO(4) solution as acceptor phase in the lumen of the fiber. The factors affecting the HF-LLLME and flow injection analysis including type of organic solvent, pH of donor phase, extraction temperature, extraction time, stirring rate, and pH of mobile phase were investigated and the optimal extraction conditions were established. With the consumption of 5 mL of sample solution, the enrichment factor was about 230. The limit of detection was 0.5 μg/L with inter- and intra-day precision being (RSD%) 6.9 and 4.9, respectively. Excellent linearity was found between 5 and 200 μg/L.     

Polynomial Root-Finding Methods Whose Basins of Attraction Approximate Voronoi Diagram

Given a complex polynomial p(z) with at least three distinct roots, we first prove that no rational iteration function exists where the basin of attraction of a root coincides with its Voronoi cell. In spite of this negative result, we prove that the Voronoi diagram of the roots can be well approximated through a high order sequence of iteration functions, the Basic Family, B _m (z), m≥2. Let θ be a simple root of p(z), V(θ) its Voronoi cell, and A _m (θ) its basin of attraction with respect to B _m (z). We prove that given any closed subset C of V(θ), including any homothetic copy of V(θ), there exists m ₀ such that for all m≥m ₀, C is also a subset of A _m (θ). This implies that when all roots of p(z) are simple, the basins of attraction of B _m (z) uniformly approximate the Voronoi diagram of the roots to within any prescribed tolerance. Equivalently, the Julia set of B _m (z), and hence the chaotic behavior of its iterations, will uniformly lie to within prescribed strip neighborhood of the boundary of the Voronoi diagram. In a sense, this is the strongest property a rational iteration function can exhibit for polynomials. Next, we use the results to define and prove an infinite layering within each Voronoi cell of a given set of points, whether known implicitly as roots of a polynomial equation, or explicitly via their coordinates. We discuss potential application of our layering in computational geometry.     

Microporous silica with nanolayer structure coated with renewable organic solvent film as a novel extracting phase: A combination of solid- and liquid-phase microextraction

A new method based on combination of solid- and liquid-phase microextraction was developed. For the first time, porous flower-like silica microstructures with nanometric layers were created on the surface of the stainless steel wire by a new facile hydrothermal process. The fiber, coated with a suitable organic solvent, was applied for microextraction of some organophosphorus pesticides from aqueous samples followed by gas chromatography-nitrogen phosphorous detection. Method detection limits were between 0.6 and 3 ng L⁻¹. Relative standard deviations for intra- and inter-day precision were 4.4–7.3% and 5.1–7.8%, respectively. Fiber-to-fiber reproducibility for five prepared fibers was 6.3–8.4%. Tap, river and waste water samples were analyzed for evaluation of the method in real sample analysis. Relative recoveries for spiked tap, river and waste water samples were in the range of 94–101%, 89–97% and 82–103%, respectively. In addition, the method was compared with two commercial solid-phase microextraction (SPME) fibers, single drop microextraction (SDME) and liquid-phase microextraction (LPME). The present method showed higher extraction efficiency as compared with SDME, LPME and commercial SPME fibers.     

Preparation and properties of a methacrylate-containing siliconized epoxy hybrid monomer and its emulsion copolymerization with styrene/butyl acrylate

The objective of the present work was the synthesis and characterization of a methacrylate-containing siliconized epoxy hybrid monomer and its emulsion copolymerization in the presence of styrene/butyl acrylate monomers. The purity and structural conformation of this monomer were ascertained from FTIR and NMR spectral studies. Thermal properties of the copolymers were investigated by using differential scanning calorimetry and thermal gravimetric analysis. The morphology of copolymers was investigated by scanning electron microscopy and then the effect of siliconized epoxy hybrid monomer concentration on the water absorption ratio was examined. The results show that the water-resistance of the terpolymer films was higher compared with the films of styrene-co-butyl acrylate copolymer.     

Optimal sliding mode control of single degree-of-freedom hysteretic structural system

This paper addresses the controller design problem of a nonlinear single degree-of-freedom structural system excited by the earthquake. Bouc–Wen model, as an efficient hysteresis modeling method, is used to model the system nonlinearity. Sliding mode control (SMC), due to its robustness in dealing with uncertainty, is utilized as the main control strategy. An optimal sliding surface is presented which minimizes the displacement and control force in terms of a quadratic cost function. Two numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed strategy subject to three earthquakes of El-Centro, Rinaldi and Kobe. Simulation results show a significant and considerable reduction in structural response and indicate that the performance of suggested optimal SMC strategy is remarkable.     

Backstepping-based Lyapunov redesign control of hysteretic single degree-of-freedom structural systems

This paper considers the problem of active control design for a hysteretic single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) structural system which is exposed to an earthquake excitation. First, backstepping-based control is used to design a controller for the structural system neglecting the effect of the earthquake disturbance. Then, Lyapunov redesign is utilized to design a robust controller for the system in the presence of the earthquake excitation. The hysteretic part of the structural system is modeled by the well-known Bouc–Wen equation, and this equation is directly utilized in the controller design. The controller is proposed for two cases: (a) when the parameters of the structure and the Bouc–Wen model are known, and (b) when these parameters are uncertain. A Lyapunov function is introduced for the closed-loop system, which guarantees the stability of the system equilibrium point. Since the controllers use the nominal and/or minimum and maximum values of the system parameters, the proposed methods are model based. Numerical evaluations are conducted to show the effectiveness of the proposed method. Seven different earthquakes are considered as the external excitations. Simulation results show that the displacement, velocity, and acceleration responses of the controlled structure are reduced significantly compared to the uncontrolled structure.     

Prediction capabilities of classical and shear deformable beam models excited by a moving mass

In this paper, a comprehensive assessment of design parameters for various beam theories subjected to a moving mass is investigated under different boundary conditions. The design parameters are adopted as the maximum dynamic deflection and bending moment of the beam. To this end, discrete equations of motion for classical Euler-Bernoulli, Timoshenko and higher-order beams under a moving mass are derived based on Hamilton's principle. The reproducing kernel particle method (RKPM) and extended Newmark-β method are utilized for spatial and time discretization of the problem, correspondingly. The design parameter spectra in terms of the beam slenderness, mass weight and velocity of the moving mass are introduced for the mentioned beam theories as well as various boundary conditions. The results indicate the existence of a critical beam slenderness mostly as a function of beam boundary condition, in which, for slenderness lower than this so-called critical one, the application of Euler-Bernoulli or even Timoshenko beam theories would underestimate the real dynamic response of the system. Moreover, there would be a roughly linear relation between the weight of the moving mass and the design parameters for a certain value of the moving mass velocity in most cases of boundary conditions.