Iterative optical vector-matrix processors (survey of selected achievable operations)

An iterative optical vector-matrix multiplier with a microprocessor-controlled feedback loop capable of performing a wealth of diverse operations was described. A survey and description of many of its operations demonstrates the versatility and flexibility of this class of optical processor and its use in diverse applications. General operations described include: linear difference and differential equations, linear algebraic equations, matrix equations, matrix inversion, nonlinear matrix equations, deconvolution and eigenvalue and eigenvector computations. Engineering applications being addressed for these different operations and for the IOP are: adaptive phased-array radar, time-dependent system modeling, deconvolution and optimal control

Protecting Instream Flows in Prior Appropriation States: Legal and Policy Issues

17 pages

Protecting Instream Flows in Prior Appropriation States: Legal and Policy Issues

17 pages

Have We Got a Deal for You: Can the East Borrow from the Western Water Marketing Experience

Markets of one sort or another have played a role in western water allocation for many decades, and this role is on the rise for a variety of reasons. In contrast, water markets have not played a significant part in water allocation east of the Great Plains states. Eastern markets have not developed for two main reasons. As long as there was plenty of water to go around, there was little pressure to move water from one use to another -- something that markets can help to accomplish. Also, because laws poorly defined riparian rights for so long and usually limited riparian water to use on riparian lands, Eastern water law did not readily define an interest subject to market transfers. However, now that statutory changes have begun to firm up the parameters of some water rights, while also loosening restrictions on the places of use, there is more room for eastern markets to develop. As the East looks to the West for help in managing an increasingly scarce resource, markets are one device attracting interest. This article offers one tool for consideration -- using water markets to preserve instream flows. The article briefly describes the use of markets in the West, particularly streamflow markets, and addresses some of the pros and cons of water marketing. The article then considers the similarities and differences between eastern states and the western states where these markets are flourishing, and offers some thoughts on what a streamflow market might offer to an eastern state

On-line costate integration for nonlinear control

The optimal feedback control of nonlinear chemical processes, specially for regulation and set-point changing, is attacked in this paper. A novel procedure based on the Hamiltonian equations associated to a bilinear approximation of the dynamics and a quadratic cost is presented. The usual boundary-value situation for the coupled state-costate system is transformed into an initial-value problem through the solution of a generalized algebraic Riccati equation. This allows to integrate the Hamiltonian equations on-line, and to construct the feedback law by using the costate solution trajectory. Results are shown applied to a classical nonlinear chemical reactor model, and compared against standard MPC and previous versions of bilinear-quadratic strategies based on power series expansions.Fil: Costanza, Vicente. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Industria Química. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Industria Química; ArgentinaFil: Neuman, C.. Universidad Nacional del Litoral; Argentin

Applied research by design: an experimental collaborative and interdisciplinary design charrette

This article reports on one experimental case of interdisciplinary collaboration on a design and planning exercise across several scales – local through urban to regional – and sectors – private, public, scholarly, and interest groups. The case is a collaborative and interdisciplinary design charrette on sustainable urbanism for envisioning the future of the Greater Metropolitan Area of Florence in Italy. The experiment entailed the attempt to integrate complex urban conditions via the design charrette in order to create more healthy and sustainable cities. This collaborative work shows how conditions that are at times not addressed comprehensively nor holistically can be combined through doing applied research by design; where design is understood as a process of discovery and creation that results in synthesis. The article details the methodology applied, and provides an initial assessment on the process that the charrette employed. Moreover, it highlights some professional and policy implications of the effort. Finally, it provides a provisional assessment on learning outcomes and addresses opportunities to improve future exercises of this nature

Partial Differential Equations for Missing Boundary Conditions in the Linear-Quadratic Optimal Control Problem

New equations involving the unknown final states and initial costates corresponding to families of LQR problems are found, and their solutions are computed and validated. Having the initial values of the costates, the optimal control can then be constructed, for each particular problem, from the solution to the Hamiltonian equations, now achievable through on-line integration. The missing boundary conditions are obtained by solving (offline) two uncoupled, first-order, quasi-linear, partial differential equations for two auxiliary n × n matrices, whose independent variables are the timehorizon duration T and the final-penalty matrix S. The solutions to these PDEs give information on the behavior of the whole two-parameter family of control problems, which can be used for design purposes. The mathematical treatment takes advantage of the symplectic structure of the Hamiltonian formalism, which allows to reformulate one of Bellman's conjectures related to the “invariantimbedding” methodology. Results are tested against solutions of the differential Riccati equations associated with these problems, and the attributes of the two approaches are illustrated and discussed.Fil: Costanza, Vicente. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Industria Química. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Industria Química; ArgentinaFil: Neuman, C. E.. Universidad Nacional del Litoral; Argentin