445 research outputs found
Integration of a mean-torque diesel engine model into a hardware-in-the-loop shipboard network simulation using lambda tuning
This study describes the creation of a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) environment for use in evaluating network architecture, control concepts and equipment for use within marine electrical systems. The environment allows a scaled hardware network to be connected to a simulation of a multi-megawatt marine diesel prime mover, coupled via a synchronous generator. This allows All-Electric marine scenarios to be investigated without large-scale hardware trials. The method of closing the loop between simulation and hardware is described, with particular reference to the control of the laboratory synchronous machine, which represents the simulated generator(s). The fidelity of the HIL simulation is progressively improved in this study. First, a faster and more powerful field drive is implemented to improve voltage tracking. Second, the phase tracking is improved by using two nested proportional–integral–derivative–acceleration controllers for torque control, tuned using lambda tuning. The HIL environment is tested using a scenario involving a large constant-power load step. This provides a very severe test of the HIL environment, and also reveals the potentially adverse effects of constant-power loads within marine power systems
Reduction of the Three Dimensional Schrodinger Equation for Multilayered Films
In this paper, we present a method for reducing the three dimensional
Schrodinger equation to study confined metallic states, such as quantum well
states, in a multilayer film geometry. While discussing some approximations
that are employed when dealing with the three dimensionality of the problem, we
derive a one dimensional equation suitable for studying such states using an
envelope function approach. Some applications to the Cu/Co multilayer system
with regard to spin tunneling/rotations and angle resolved photoemission are
discussed.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figur
Social Cohesion, Structural Holes, and a Tale of Two Measures
EMBARGOED - author can archive pre-print or post-print on any open access repository after 12 months from publication. Publication date is May 2013 so embargoed until May 2014.This is an author’s accepted manuscript (deposited at arXiv arXiv:1211.0719v2 [physics.soc-ph] ), which was subsequently published in Journal of Statistical Physics May 2013, Volume 151, Issue 3-4, pp 745-764. The final publication is available at link.springer.com http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10955-013-0722-
Surface Effects in Magnetic Microtraps
We have investigated Bose-Einstein condensates and ultra cold atoms in the
vicinity of a surface of a magnetic microtrap. The atoms are prepared along
copper conductors at distances to the surface between 300 um and 20 um. In this
range, the lifetime decreases from 20 s to 0.7 s showing a linear dependence on
the distance to the surface. The atoms manifest a weak thermal coupling to the
surface, with measured heating rates remaining below 500 nK/s. In addition, we
observe a periodic fragmentation of the condensate and thermal clouds when the
surface is approached.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; v2: corrected references; v3: final versio
From Big Crunch to Big Bang
We consider conditions under which a universe contracting towards a big
crunch can make a transition to an expanding big bang universe. A promising
example is 11-dimensional M-theory in which the eleventh dimension collapses,
bounces, and re-expands. At the bounce, the model can reduce to a weakly
coupled heterotic string theory and, we conjecture, it may be possible to
follow the transition from contraction to expansion. The possibility opens the
door to new classes of cosmological models. For example, we discuss how it
suggests a major simplification and modification of the recently proposed
ekpyrotic scenario.Comment: 16 pages, compressed and RevTex file, including three postscript
figure files. Minor changes, version to appear in Physical Review
The Ekpyrotic Universe: Colliding Branes and the Origin of the Hot Big Bang
We propose a cosmological scenario in which the hot big bang universe is
produced by the collision of a brane in the bulk space with a bounding orbifold
plane, beginning from an otherwise cold, vacuous, static universe. The model
addresses the cosmological horizon, flatness and monopole problems and
generates a nearly scale-invariant spectrum of density perturbations without
invoking superluminal expansion (inflation). The scenario relies, instead, on
physical phenomena that arise naturally in theories based on extra dimensions
and branes. As an example, we present our scenario predominantly within the
context of heterotic M-theory. A prediction that distinguishes this scenario
from standard inflationary cosmology is a strongly blue gravitational wave
spectrum, which has consequences for microwave background polarization
experiments and gravitational wave detectors.Comment: 67 pages, 4 figures. v2,v3: minor corrections, references adde
Atom lasers: production, properties and prospects for precision inertial measurement
We review experimental progress on atom lasers out-coupled from Bose-Einstein
condensates, and consider the properties of such beams in the context of
precision inertial sensing. The atom laser is the matter-wave analog of the
optical laser. Both devices rely on Bose-enhanced scattering to produce a
macroscopically populated trapped mode that is output-coupled to produce an
intense beam. In both cases, the beams often display highly desirable
properties such as low divergence, high spectral flux and a simple spatial mode
that make them useful in practical applications, as well as the potential to
perform measurements at or below the quantum projection noise limit. Both
devices display similar second-order correlations that differ from thermal
sources. Because of these properties, atom lasers are a promising source for
application to precision inertial measurements.Comment: This is a review paper. It contains 40 pages, including references
and figure
'Support our networking and help us belong!': listening to beginning secondary school science teachers
This study, drawing on the voice of beginning teachers, seeks to illuminate their experiences of building professional relationships as they become part of the teaching profession. A networking perspective was taken to expose and explore the use of others during the first three years of a teacher’s workplace experience. Three case studies, set within a wider sample of 11 secondary school science teachers leaving one UK university’s PostGraduate Certificate in Education, were studied. The project set out to determine the nature of the networks used by teachers in terms of both how they were being used for their own professional development and perceptions of how they were being used by others in school. Affordances and barriers to networking were explored using notions of identity formation through social participation. The focus of the paper is on how the teachers used others to help shape their sense of belonging to this, their new workplace. The paper develops ideas from network theories to argue that membership of the communities are a subset of the professional inter‐relationships teachers utilise for their professional development. During their first year of teaching, eight teachers were interviewed, completing 13 semi‐structured interviews. This was supplemented in Year 2 by a questionnaire survey of their experiences. In the third year of the programme, 11 teachers (including the original sample of eight) were surveyed using a network mapping tool in which they represented their communications with people, groups and resources. Finally, three of the teachers (common to both samples) were then interviewed specifically about their networking practices and experiences using the generation of their network map as a stimulated recall focus. The implications of the analysis of these accounts are that these beginning teachers did not perceive of themselves wholly as novices and that their personal aspirations to increase participation in practical science, develop a career or work for pupils holistically did not always sit comfortably with the school communities into which they were being accommodated. While highlighting the importance of trust and respect in establishing relationships, these teachers’ accounts highlight the importance of finding ‘peers’ from whom they can find support and with whom they can reflect and potentially collaborate towards developing practice. They also raise questions about who these ‘peers’ might be and where they might be found
The potential benefits of on-farm mitigation scenarios for reducing multiple pollutant loadings in prioritised agri-environment areas across England
The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding provided by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) via project LM0304
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