Increasing concerns for the security of the national infrastructure have led to a growing need for improved management and control of municipal water networks. To deal with this issue, optimization offers a general and extremely effective method to identify (possibly harmful) disturbances, assess the current state of the network, and determine operating decisions that meet network requirements and lead to optimal performance. This paper details an optimization strategy for the identification of source disturbances in the network. Here we consider the source inversion problem modeled as a nonlinear programming problem. Dynamic behavior of municipal water networks is simulated using EPANET. This approach allows for a widely accepted, general purpose user interface. For the source inversion problem, flows and concentrations of the network will be reconciled and unknown sources will be determined at network nodes. Moreover, intrusive optimization and sensitivity analysis techniques are identified to assess the influence of various parameters and models in the network in a computational efficient manner. A number of numerical comparisons are made to demonstrate the effectiveness of various optimization approaches.
Distributed, on-demand, data-intensive, and collaborative simulation analysis tools are being developed by an international team to solve real problems such as bioinformatics applications. The project consists of three distinct focuses: compute, visualize, and collaborate. Each component utilizes software and hardware that performs across the International Grid. Computers in North America, Asia, and Europe are working on a common simulation programs. The results are visualized in a multi-way 3D visualization collaboration session where additional compute requests can be submitted in real-time. Navigation controls and data replication issues are addressed and solved with a scalable solution.
The existing IEEE stationary battery maintenance and testing standards fall into two basic categories: those associated with grid-tied standby applications and those associated with stand-alone photovoltaic cycling applications. These applications differ in several significant ways, which in turn influence their associated standards. A review of the factors influencing the maintenance and testing of stationary battery systems provides the reasons for the differences between these standards and some of the hazards of using a standard inappropriate to the application. This review also provides a background on why these standards will need to be supplemented in the future to support emerging requirements of other applications, such as grid-tied cycling and photovoltaic hybrid applications.
We present initial results on achieving synthesis of complex software systems via a biophysics-emulating, dynamic self-assembly scheme. This approach offers novel constructs for constructing large hierarchical software systems and reusing parts of them. Sets of software building blocks actively participate in the construction and subsequent modification of the larger-scale programs of which they are a part. The building blocks interact through a software analog of selective protein-protein bonding. Self-assembly generates hierarchical modules (including both data and executables); creates software execution pathways; and concurrently executes code via the formation and release of activity triggering bonds. Hierarchical structuring is enabled through encapsulants that isolate populations of building block binding sites. The encapsulated populations act as larger-scale building blocks for the next hierarchy level. Encapsulant populations are dynamic, as their contents can move in and out. Such movement changes the populations of interacting sites and also modifies the software execution. ''External overrides'', analogous to protein phosphorylation, temporarily switch off undesired subsets of behaviors (code execution, data access/modification) of other structures. This provides a novel abstraction mechanism for code reuse. We present an implemented example of dynamic self-assembly and present several alternative strategies for specifying goals and guiding the self-assembly process.
The magnitude and the structure of the ion-wakefield potential below a negatively charged dust particle levitated in the plasma-sheath region have been determined. Attractive and repulsive components of the interaction force were extracted from a trajectory analysis of low-energy dust collisions in a well-defined electrostatic potential, which constrained the dynamics of the collisions to be one dimensional. The peak attraction was on the order of 100 fN. The structure of the ion-wakefield-induced attractive potential was significantly different from a screened-Coulomb repulsive potential.
We generate optical vortex beams in a nanosecond optical parametric oscillator based on an image-rotating resonator. This efficient new method of vortex generation should be adaptable to pulsed or continuous lasers.
Photonic crystals are of interest for GHz transmission applications, including rapid switching, GHz filters, and phased-array technology. 3D fabrication by Robocasting enables moldless printing of high solid loading slurries into structures such as the ''woodpile'' structures used to fabricate dielectric photonic band gap crystals. In this work, tunable dielectric materials were developed and printed into woodpile structures via solid freeform fabrication (SFF) toward demonstration of tunable photonic crystals. Barium strontium titanate ceramics possess interesting electrical properties including high permittivity, low loss, and high tunability. This paper discusses the processing route and dielectric characterization of (BaxSr1-XTiO3):MgO ceramic composites, toward fabrication of tunable dielectric photonic band gap crystals.
We report on the use of triaxial magnetic fields to create a variety of isotropic and anisotropic magnetic particle/polymer composites with significantly enhanced magnetic susceptibilities. A triaxial field is a superposition of three orthogonal ac magnetic fields, each generated by a Helmholtz coil in series resonance with a tunable capacitor bank. Field frequencies are in the range of 150-400 Hz. Because both the field amplitudes and frequencies can be varied, a rich variety of structures can be created. Perhaps the most unusual effects occur when either two or three of the field components are heterodyned to give beat frequencies on the order of 1 Hz. This leads to a striking particle dynamics that evolves into surprising structures during resin gelation. These structures are found to have perhaps the highest susceptibility that a particle composite can have. The susceptibility anisotropy of these composites can be controlled over a wide range by judicious adjustment of the relative field amplitudes. These experimental data are supported by large-scale Brownian dynamics simulations of the complex many-body interactions that occur in triaxial magnetic fields. These simulations show that athermal three-dimensional field heterodyning leads to structures with a susceptibility that is as high as that achieved with thermal annealing. Thus with coherent particle motions we can achieve magnetostatic energies that are quite close to the ground state.
Multivariate curve resolution (MCR) using constrained alternating least squares algorithms represents a powerful analysis capability for a quantitative analysis of hyperspectral image data. We will demonstrate the application of MCR using data from a new hyperspectral fluorescence imaging microarray scanner for monitoring gene expression in cells from thousands of genes on the array. The new scanner collects the entire fluorescence spectrum from each pixel of the scanned microarray. Application of MCR with nonnegativity and equality constraints reveals several sources of undesired fluorescence that emit in the same wavelength range as the reporter fluorphores. MCR analysis of the hyperspectral images confirms that one of the sources of fluorescence is due to contaminant fluorescence under the printed DNA spots that is spot localized. Thus, traditional background subtraction methods used with data collected from the current commercial microarray scanners will lead to errors in determining the relative expression of low-expressed genes. With the new scanner and MCR analysis, we generate relative concentration maps of the background, impurity, and fluorescent labels over the entire image. Since the concentration maps of the fluorescent labels are relatively unaffected by the presence of background and impurity emissions, the accuracy and useful dynamic range of the gene expression data are both greatly improved over those obtained by commercial microarray scanners.
Once again GaAs MANTECH (with III-Vs Review acting as media sponsor) promises to deliver high quality papers covering all aspects of compound semiconductor manufacturing, with speakers from leading-edge equipment, epiwafer, and device suppliers. Since its launch in 1986, GaAs MANTECH has consistently been one of the highlight events of the conference calendar. Coverage includes all compound-based semiconductors, not just GaAs. With an excellent technical program comprising of almost 80 papers and expanded workshop sessions, the 2003 event should prove the best ever. As in previous years, an Interactive Forum and Ugly Picture Contest will be included. A major attraction will be the associated exhibition, with more than 70 suppliers expected to participate.