Compressive optical interferometry

Compressive sensing (CS) combines data acquisition with compression coding to reduce the number of measurements required to reconstruct a sparse signal. In optics, this usually takes the form of projecting the field onto sequences of random spatial patterns that are selected from an appropriate random ensemble. We show here that CS can be exploited in `native' optics hardware without introducing added components. Specifically, we show that random sub-Nyquist sampling of an interferogram helps reconstruct the field modal structure. The distribution of reduced sensing matrices corresponding to random measurements is provably incoherent and isotropic, which helps us carry out CS successfully

War in the ‘cradle of civilization’: British perceptions of Mesopotamia, 1907- 1921

PhDEMBARGOED UNTIL 01/06/2014Drawing on a wide variety of historical and literary sources, this thesis argues that the First World War transformed British perceptions of Mesopotamia, distancing it from long-established associations with myth, antiquity and fable and relating it instead to Britain’s wartime experiences and potential post-war choices. The first chapter examines pre-war perceptions of Mesopotamia. Through an analysis of British travel writing and journalism from the years 1907-1914, it locates early twentieth-century British perceptions of Mesopotamia within the well-established tradition of travel to, and writing about, Arabia. Focusing on accounts of the siege of Kut (December 1915 - April 1916) – one of the defining episodes of the Mesopotamian campaign – the second chapter explores the impact of the first two years of the war on British perceptions of Mesopotamia. In particular, this chapter asks what role discourses of race and civilization played in shaping British reactions to the ‘cradle of civilization’ and to the Indian servicemen serving alongside them. Through a close examination of the archives of the Mesopotamia Commission, Chapter Three investigates the significance of ‘British prestige in the East’ in the conduct of the Mesopotamian campaign, particularly in relation to events leading to the siege of Kut. In order to push north to Baghdad and beyond in the final two years of the war, British commanders built an infrastructure that transformed Mesopotamia. Chapter Four looks at the impact of the modern in a region defined for many Britons by its associations with ancient or biblical sites and civilizations. The final chapter examines the years between the Armistice of Mudros and the coronation of Faisal. Looking closely at media and fictional accounts of the revolt of 1920, it traces the impact of both pre-war and wartime conceptions of Mesopotamia upon representations of the region in these pivotal years

Modeling and Control PV-Wind Hybrid System Based On Fuzzy Logic Control Technique

As energy demands around the world increase, the need for a renewable energy sources that will not harm the environment is increased. The overall objective of renewable energy systems is to obtain electricity with competitive cost and even benefit with respect to other energy sources. The optimal design of renewable energy system can significantly improve the economical and technical performance of power supply. This paper presents the power management control using fuzzy logic control technique. Also, a complete mathematical modeling and MATLAB/Simulink model for the proposed the electrical part of an aquaculture system is implemented to track the system performance. The simulation results show the feasibility of control technique

A New Control and Design of PEM Fuel Cell Powered Air Diffused Aeration System

Aeration of water by using PEM fuel cell power is not only a new application of the renewable energy, but also, it provides an affordable method to promote biodiversity in stagnant ponds and lakes. This paper presents a new design and control of PEM fuel cell powered by diffused air aeration system for a shrimp farm in Mersa Matruh in Egypt. Also Artificial intelligence (AI) techniques control is used to control the fuel cell output power by controlling input gases flow rate. Moreover the mathematical modeling and simulation of PEM fuel cell is introduced. A comparison study is applied between the performance of fuzzy logic control (FLC) and neural network control (NNC). The results show the effectiveness of NNC over FLC

Anatomy of the fruit of the halophyte Crithmum maritimum L. with emphasis on the endosperm structure and histochemistry

The halophytes are plants that can survive and reproduce under high salinity. They show high potentiality as new crops plant for biosaline agriculture. Crithmum maritimum L. (Apiaceae) is one of the promising halophytes. In this paper, the endosperm structure of the fruit of this oilseeds halophyte was investigated using scanning electrons microscopy (SEM), light microscopy (LM) and fluorescence microscopy (FM). The fruit was composed of a spongy outer coat, a secretory envelope, a thin endocarp reduced to a unicellular layer delimiting the endosperm and an embryo. The endosperm cell appeared limited by thick cell wall and filled with numerous reserve globoids. The histochemical test showed that the cell wall of the endosperm was rich of carbohydrates as revealed by PAS (periodic acid-schiffs). Within the endosperm cells, there were mainly lipid bodies and protein bodies. The starch grains were less abundant. The protein bodies enclose crystal globoids. The x-ray microanalysis revealed that the reserve globoids accumulated mostly Mg, K, Ca, S and P. Taken together, these results highlight the structural features, the biochemical composition and confirm the nutritional quality of C. maritimum L. fruit.Keys words: C. maritimum L., crystal globoids, the endosperm cells, histochemical test, protein bodies, x-ray microanalysis

Optimization and Feasibility Analysis of a PV/Wind/ Battery Hybrid Energy Conversion

In this paper, the optimum design for renewable energy system powered an aquaculture pond was determined. Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewable (HOMER) software program, which is developed by U.S National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), is used for analyzing the feasibility of the stand-alone and hybrid system in this study. HOMER program determines whether renewable energy resources satisfy hourly electric demand or not. The program calculates energy balance for every 8760 hours in a year to simulate operation of the system. This optimization compares the demand for the electrical energy for each hour of the year with the energy supplied by the system for that hour and calculates the relevant energy flow for each component in the model. The essential principle is to minimize the total system cost while HOMER ensures control of the system. Moreover the feasibility analysis of the energy system is also studied. Wind speed, solar irradiance, interest rate and capacity shortage are the parameters which are taken into consideration. The simulation results indicate that the hybrid system is the best choice in this study, yielding lower net present cost. Thus, it provides higher system performance than PV or wind stand-alone systems

A "missing" family of classical orthogonal polynomials

We study a family of "classical" orthogonal polynomials which satisfy (apart from a 3-term recurrence relation) an eigenvalue problem with a differential operator of Dunkl-type. These polynomials can be obtained from the little $q$-Jacobi polynomials in the limit $q=-1$. We also show that these polynomials provide a nontrivial realization of the Askey-Wilson algebra for $q=-1$.Comment: 20 page