Utilization and maintenance in a model with scrapping

We consider a productive asset, called equipment or capital good, and we examine the properties of, as well as the interactions between, the operating policies, which are determined by its optimal utilization and maintenance, and the capital policy of scrapping, which defines the optimal time when the productive asset is retired from its current use. Starting with an abstract model and using the approach of optimal control, initially we characterize the various types of equipment by assigning to them a single total profit index, which indicates how the above policies affect the flow of operating revenues plus capital gains or losses. This index is a function of market-determined prices. So using it we then investigate how the operating and capital policies are influenced by the rate of discount, the price of new equipment, and the rise or fall of the price of new equipment relative to the value of its output. Among other interesting results, we find that the effects of these prices on the nature and interactions of optimal policies depend crucially on whether the equipment is of the usual profit making type, where output is the main source of revenue, or of the antique type, where the main source of revenue is capital gains.     

Passive Scalar Transport in a Turbulent Mixing Layer

This paper describes a combined experimental and numerical study of scalar transport in spatially developing, two-stream, turbulent mixing layers with velocity ratios of approximately 2:1. The experimental mixing layer was created by an S-shaped splitter plate mounted in a wind tunnel, and the concentration field was realized by releasing incense smoke into the high-speed side boundary layer above the splitter plate. Simultaneous measurements of the velocity and concentration fields were performed. A 12-sensor hot-wire probe was used to measure the velocity field and its gradients, while the concentration field was recorded with digital photographs of the laser-illuminated smoke. In parallel, a large-eddy simulation (LES) of the spatially developing mixing layer was carried out. Auxiliary turbulent boundary layer LES were used to provide high quality inflow boundary conditions for the velocity and concentration fields. By synchronizing the velocity and concentration measurements, concentration fluxes were also determined. Octant analysis based on the sign combinations of the velocity and concentration fuctuations was performed on the flux data to investigate the scalar transport processes. It was found that octants compatible with mean gradient transport of the scalar contribute most to the scalar fluxes. Conditional planar averages of scalar and momentum fluxes were obtained to determine their spatial distribution with respect to the organized roller and rib vortices of the mixing layer, and distinct patterns were observed. The simulation provided additional insight about the flow and scalar flux distribution topology. This topology was found to be partially compatible with simple models of roller and rib vortices that transport the scalar in a mean gradient sense.     

Development and validation of a RP-HPLC method for Roflumilast and its degradation products

Roflumilast is a phosphodiesterase type 4 inhibitor that is administered orally as a long-term, in the clinical treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma. Launched in 2010 for the European market, it currently does not have an official monograph. Here, a reproducible gradient RP-HPLC method was developed and validated for the separation and determination of Roflumilast in the presence of its six major degradation products. Separation was performed on a C₁₈ analytical column (250?×?4.6?mm, 5?µm) with a mobile phase-A of ACN and a phase-B of ammonium acetate buffer (5?mM, pH 4.2) containing triethylamine (0.5% v/v). The most effective RP-HPLC gradient program was determined to be 0/80, 35/10, 36/80, 40/80 (time in minutes/% mobile phase-B). The flow rate was 1.0?ml/min and the column temperature was 25°C. The success of separation of the degradation products with different chemical characteristics was obtained by extending the time of the gradient, changing the proportion of the mobile phases and increasing the velocity of the flow. Two detectors were evaluated for the identification of degradation products and Roflumilast: a diode-arrary detector and a charged aerosol detector. The inability of the charged aerosol detector to dectect one of the six degradation products indicated that the method developed with RP-HPLC and the diode-array detector was more suitable for Roflumilast analysis. The method was validated according to specificity, linearity, LOD, LOQ, accuracy, precision and robustness.     

Practical anodes for Li-ion batteries comprising metallurgical silicon particles and multiwall carbon nanotubes

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - Silicon is considered to be a very attractive anode material for next-generation lithium-ion batteries due to its high theoretical capacity...     

Equivalence of Ensembles,Condensation and Glassy Dynamics in the Bose–Hubbard Hamiltonian

Journal of Statistical Physics - We study mathematically the equilibrium properties of the Bose–Hubbard Hamiltonian in the limit of a vanishing hopping amplitude. This system conserves the...     

Modification of the surface state of rough substrates by two different varnishes and influence on the reflected light

Modification of the visual appearance when a rough surface is covered by a varnish is mostly attributed to the levelling of the substrate surface, which depends on the molecular weight of the varnish. The topography of varnished surfaces, however, has never been measured directly. Surfaces of varnishes applied over glass substrates of varying roughness were studied, therefore, using mechanical profilometry. Two different varnishes made with a low and a high molecular weight resin were studied. Both varnishes lower the r.m.s. roughness of the substrates and filter the high spatial frequencies. These results are amplified for the varnish containing the low molecular weight resin. The light reflected by the varnished samples is modelled from these topographical data. Its angular distribution, calculated from the probability density of slopes is presented, taking into account separately the air/varnish and the varnish/substrate interfaces. These analyses are presented in a back-scattering configuration. They show that varnishing significantly reduces the angular width of the reflected light and that this effect is magnified for the low molecular weight resin. Modelling furthermore shows that the influence of the roughness of the varnish/substrate interface is negligible in the total reflected light.     

Obtaining certificates for complete synchronisation of coupled oscillators

In this paper, we provide a novel reformulation of sufficient conditions that guarantee global complete synchronisation of coupled identical oscillators to make them computationally implementable. To this end, we use semidefinite programming techniques. For the first time, we can efficiently search for and obtain certificates for synchronisability and, additionally, also optimise associated cost functions. In this paper, a Lyapunov-like function (certificate) is used to certify that all trajectories of a networked system consisting of coupled dynamical systems will eventually converge towards a common one, which implies synchronisation. Moreover, we establish new conditions for complete synchronisation, which are based on the so called Bendixson’s Criterion for higher dimensional systems. This leads to major improvements on the lower bound of the coupling constant that guarantees global complete synchronisation. Importantly, the certificates are obtained by analysing the connection network and the model representing an individual system only. In order to illustrate the strength of our method we apply it to a system of coupled identical Lorenz oscillators and to coupled van der Pol oscillators.