Spectral Representation Theory for Dielectric Behavior of Nonspherical Cell Suspensions

Recent experiments revealed that the dielectric dispersion spectrum of fission yeast cells in a suspension was mainly composed of two sub-dispersions. The low-frequency sub-dispersion depended on the cell length, while the high-frequency one was independent of it. The cell shape effect was simulated by an ellipsoidal cell model but the comparison between theory and experiment was far from being satisfactory. Prompted by the discrepancy, we proposed the use of spectral representation to analyze more realistic cell models. We adopted a shell-spheroidal model to analyze the effects of the cell membrane. It is found that the dielectric property of the cell membrane has only a minor effect on the dispersion magnitude ratio and the characteristic frequency ratio. We further included the effect of rotation of dipole induced by an external electric field, and solved the dipole-rotation spheroidal model in the spectral representation. Good agreement between theory and experiment has been obtained.Comment: 19 pages, 5 eps figure

Modelling and control of the flame temperature distribution using probability density function shaping

This paper presents three control algorithms for the output probability density function (PDF) control of the 2D and 3D flame distribution systems. For the 2D flame distribution systems, control methods for both static and dynamic flame systems are presented, where at first the temperature distribution of the gas jet flames along the cross-section is approximated. Then the flame energy distribution (FED) is obtained as the output to be controlled by using a B-spline expansion technique. The general static output PDF control algorithm is used in the 2D static flame system, where the dynamic system consists of a static temperature model of gas jet flames and a second-order actuator. This leads to a second-order closed-loop system, where a singular state space model is used to describe the dynamics with the weights of the B-spline functions as the state variables. Finally, a predictive control algorithm is designed for such an output PDF system. For the 3D flame distribution systems, all the temperature values of the flames are firstly mapped into one temperature plane, and the shape of the temperature distribution on this plane can then be controlled by the 3D flame control method proposed in this paper. Three cases are studied for the proposed control methods and desired simulation results have been obtained

EXIST: Mission Design Concept and Technology Program

The Energetic X-ray Imaging Survey Telescope (EXIST) is a proposed very large area coded aperture telescope array, incorporating 8m^2 of pixellated Cd-Zn-Te (CZT) detectors, to conduct a full-sky imaging and temporal hard x-ray (10-600 keV) survey each 95min orbit. With a sensitivity (5sigma, 1yr) of ~0.05mCrab (10-150 keV), it will extend the ROSAT soft x-ray (0.5-2.5keV) and proposed ROSITA medium x-ray (2-10 keV) surveys into the hard x-ray band and enable identification and study of sources ~10-20X fainter than with the ~15-100keV survey planned for the upcoming Swift mission. At ~100-600 keV, the ~1mCrab sensitivity is 300X that achieved in the only previous (HEAO-A4, non-imaging) all-sky survey. EXIST will address a broad range of key science objectives: from obscured AGN and surveys for black holes on all scales, which constrain the accretion history of the universe, to the highest sensitivity and resolution studies of gamma-ray bursts it will conduct as the Next Generation Gamma-Ray Burst mission. We summarize the science objectives and mission drivers, and the results of a mission design study for implementation as a free flyer mission, with Delta IV launch. Key issues affecting the telescope and detector design are discussed, and a summary of some of the current design concepts being studied in support of EXIST is presented for the wide-field but high resolution coded aperture imaging and very large area array of imaging CZT detectors. Overall mission design is summarized, and technology development needs and a development program are outlined which would enable the launch of EXIST by the end of the decade, as recommended by the NAS/NRC Decadal Survey.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables. PDF file only. Presented at SPIE (Aug. 2002) and to appear in Proc. SPIE, vol. 485

Inward transport of a toroidally confined plasma subject to strong radial electric fields

Digitally implemented spectral analysis techniques were used to investigate the frequency-dependent fluctuation-induced particle transport across a toroidal magnetic field. When the electric field pointed radially inward, the transport was inward and a significant enhancement of the plasma density and confinement time resulted