Rotational viscosity of a liquid crystal mixture: a fully atomistic molecular dynamics study

Fully atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations at 293, 303 and 313~K have been performed for the four-component liquid crystal mixture, E7, using the software package Material Studio. Order parameters and orientational time correlation functions (TCFs) were calculated from MD trajectories. The rotational viscosity coefficients (RVCs) of the mixture were calculated using the Nemtsov--Zakharov and Fialkowski methods based on statistical-mechanical approaches. Temperature dependences of RVC and density were discussed in detail. Reasonable agreement between the simulated and experimental values was found.     

Controlling the infrared optical properties of rf-sputtered NiO films for applications of infrared window

In this paper, we will focus on an IR transmittance enhancement technique from the window material point of view by using metal oxides, especially nickel oxide (NiO). At first, anti-reflection (AR) coatings were modeled by using the optical properties of NiO films. The transmittance of the model was predicted using Swanepoel’s model and verified with NiO film prepared by rf magnetron sputtering. Also, post-deposition annealing was performed and was found to change the optical properties of the NiO film. Therefore, we analyzed the annealing effect on the IR optical properties of the NiO film. Furthermore, we confirmed the durability of the NiO film and verified the possibility of this material being used in infrared optics.     

一类灰色动态投入产出优化模型的设计及其在农业经济发展规划中的应用

本文应用灰色系统理论和方法，把动态Ｌｅｏｎｔｉｅｆ投入产出模型和线性规划结合起来，建立一种灰色动态投入产出优化模型，在山东省农业经济发展规划定量研究中，应用该模型取得比较满意的结果．     

Simulation of the inherent turbulence and wake interaction inside an infinitely long row of wind turbines

The turbulence in the interior of a wind farm is simulated using large eddy simulation and the actuator line technique implemented in the Navier–Stokes equations. The simulations are carried out for an infinitely long row of turbines simulated by applying cyclic boundary conditions at the inlet and outlet. The simulations investigate the turbulence inherent to the wind turbines as no ambient turbulence or shear is added to this idealised case. The simulated data give insight into the performance of the wind turbines operating in the wake of others as well as details on key turbulent quantities. One of the key features of wakes behind wind turbines is the dynamic wake meandering, which is shown to be related to the wind turbine spacing and the vortex shedding from the turbine as a bluff body. The flow is analysed and reconstructed by applying proper orthogonal decomposition.     

RANS and LES computations of the tip-leakage vortex for different gap widths

In hydraulic turbines, the tip-leakage vortex is responsible for flow instabilities and for promoting erosion due to cavitation. To better understand the tip vortex flow, Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) and large eddy simulation (LES) computations are carried out to simulate the flow around a NACA0009 blade including the gap between the tip and the wall. The main focus of the study is to understand the influence of the gap width on the development of the tip vortex, as for instance its trajectory. The RANS computations are performed using the open source solver OpenFOAM 2.1.0, two incidences and five gaps are considered. The LESs are achieved using the YALES2 solver for one incidence and two gaps.

The validation of the results is performed by comparisons with experimental data available downstream the trailing edge. The position of the vortex core, the mean velocity and the mean axial vorticity fields are compared at three different downstream locations. The results show that the mean behaviour of the tip vortex is well captured by the RANS and LES computations compared to the experiment. The LES results are also analysed to bring out the influence of the gap width on the development of the tip-leakage vortex. Finally, a law that matches the vortex trajectory from the leading edge to the mid-chord is proposed. Such a law can be helpful to determine, in case of cavitation, if the tip vortex will interact with the walls and cause erosion.     

Curriculum, Classroom Practices, and Tool Design in the Learning of Functions Through Technology-Aided Experimental Approaches

The paper starts from classroom situations about the study of a functional relationship with help of technological tools as a ‘transposition’ of experimental approaches from research mathematical practices. It considers the limitation of this transposition in existing curricula and practices based on the use of non-symbolic software like dynamic geometry and spreadsheets. The paper focuses then on the potentialities of classroom use of computer algebra packages that could help to go beyond this shortcoming. It looks at a contradiction: while symbolic calculation is a basic tool for mathematicians, curricula and teachers are very cautious regarding their use by students. The rest of the paper considers the design and experiment of a computer environment Casyopée as means to contribute to an evolution of curricula and classroom practices to achieve the transposition in the domain of algebraic activities linked to functions.     

Study on the changes of ultrasonic parameters over supercritical Ni-Co electroplating process

This work discusses the influence of changes to ultrasound (US) parameters over the nickel cobalt (Ni-Co) metal thin film properties produced by supercritical CO₂ (SC-CO₂) electroplating. Additionally, Ni-Co films were produced by conventional electroplating and silent SC-CO₂ and compared against each other.The discussion on metal thin film properties revolves around variations to the bath type ultrasonic power (15 W and 20 W) and frequency (42 k Hz and 72 kHz) during experiments. The properties provided by the three electroplating processes and analyzed include: grain sizes, film elemental content analyses, surface microstructures, film hardness, corrosion resistance, surface roughness, crystalline structure and preferential growth, etc. From the results it was clear that quality of films produced by US-SC-CO₂ was improved compared to that of films produced by silent SC-CO₂, which itself was better than those produced by conventional electroplating. However, when US power was varied we observed a decline in the mechanical properties of the produced films.The combination of ultrasonic agitation with SC-CO₂ allows for improved mechanical properties such as: lower surface roughness, finer grain size and surface morphologies, increased corrosion resistance and film hardness. The ultrasound agitation applied to SC-CO₂ electroplating enhanced the formation of alloyed metal as ultrasonic agitation increased the electrolyte flowability during electroplating process resulting in increased mass transfer while at the same time achieving a surface cleaning effect which removed metal ions with poor adhesion and other unwanted particles. Moreover, application of ultrasonic agitation avoids the use of surfactants so only changes to the physical phenomena and no changes to the chemical composition of the deposited thin films were observed, meaning less pollution to the electrolyte and higher purity of the deposited films.The US-SC-CO₂ electroplating method described in this work effectively enhanced the mechanical properties of the deposited thin films compared to those produced by both silent SC-CO₂ and conventional electroplating processes.     

Approximate dynamic programming algorithms for optimal dosage decisions in controlled ovarian hyperstimulation

In the controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) treatment, clinicians monitor the patients’ physiological responses to gonadotropin administration to tradeoff between pregnancy probability and ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS). We formulate the dosage control problem in the COH treatment as a stochastic dynamic program and design approximate dynamic programming (ADP) algorithms to overcome the well-known curses of dimensionality in Markov decision processes (MDP). Our numerical experiments indicate that the piecewise linear (PWL) approximation ADP algorithms can obtain policies that are very close to the one obtained by the MDP benchmark with significantly less solution time.     

Tunable Upconversion Emissions from Lanthanide-doped Monodisperse β-NaYF4 Nanoparticles

We report upconversion multicolor tuning based on uniform β-NaYF₄:Yb/Tm/Er nanoparticles. The as-synthesized nanoparticles with an average diameter of 25 nm are well dispersed in a wide range of nonpolar solvents including hexane, cyclohexane, dichloromethane, and toluene. These nanoparticles show intense upconversion emissions and the color output can be precisely modulated by adjusting activator ratios of Tm³⁺ to Er³⁺. Dopant-concentration dependent emission properties of the triply doped particle system are also investigated. In addition, we demonstrate that these nanoparticles can be readily transferred to polar solvents such as ethanol and water by growing a thin silica layer (10 nm) around the particles, providing potential applications in biological labeling and imaging.     

Optimal control of single-server queueing networks

A general single-server queueing network model is considered. It is well-known that an optimal policy is determined by the largest-index policy. There is an index for each given queue and one allocates the server to a queue with largest current index. Using discounted dynamic programming we give a new and short proof of this result and derive some characterizations and bounds of the indices. Moreover, it is shown that an approximate largest-index policy yields an approximately optimal policy. These results lead to efficient methods for computing the indices. In particular, we present a general largest-remaining-index method.