A novel approach to structural load control using intelligent actuators

The recent trend towards large multi-MW wind turbines resulted in the role of the control system becoming increasingly important. The extension of the role of the controller to alleviate structural loads has motivated the exploration of novel control strategies, which seek to maximise load reduction by exploiting the blade pitch system. The reduction of blade fatigue loads through individual blade pitch control is one of the examples. A novel approach to reduction of the unbalanced rotor loads by pitch control is presented in this paper. Each blade is equipped with its own actuator,sensors and controller. These local blade control loops operate in isolation without a need of communication with each other. The single blade control approach to regulation of unbalanced rotor loads presented in this paper has an important advantage of being relatively easy to design and tune. Furthermore, it does not affect the operation of the central controller and the latter need not be re-designed when used in conjunction with the single blade controllers. Their performance is assessed using BLADED simulations

Multifunctional biophotonic nanostructures inspired by the longtail glasswing butterfly for medical devices

Numerous living organisms possess biophotonic nanostructures that provide colouration and other diverse functions for survival. While such structures have been actively studied and replicated in the laboratory, it remains unclear whether they can be used for biomedical applications. Here, we show a transparent photonic nanostructure inspired by the longtail glasswing butterfly (Chorinea faunus) and demonstrate its use in intraocular pressure (IOP) sensors in vivo. We exploit the phase separation between two immiscible polymers (poly(methyl methacrylate) and polystyrene) to form nanostructured features on top of a Si3_N_4 substrate. The membrane thus formed shows good angle-independent white-light transmission, strong hydrophilicity and anti-biofouling properties, which prevent adhesion of proteins, bacteria and eukaryotic cells. We then developed a microscale implantable IOP sensor using our photonic membrane as an optomechanical sensing element. Finally, we performed in vivo testing on New Zealand white rabbits, which showed that our device reduces the mean IOP measurement variation compared with conventional rebound tonometry without signs of inflammation

Neck-motor interactions trigger rotation of the kinesin stalk

Rotation of the coiled-coil stalk of the kinesin-14 motors is thought to drive displacements or steps by the motor along microtubules, but the structural changes that trigger stalk rotation and the nucleotide state in which it occurs are not certain. Here we report a kinesin-14 neck mutant that releases ADP more slowly than wild type and shows weaker microtubule affinity, consistent with defective stalk rotation. Unexpectedly, crystal structures show the stalk fully rotated – neck-motor interactions destabilize the stalk, causing it to rotate and ADP to be released, and alter motor affinity for microtubules. A new structural pathway accounts for the coupling of stalk rotation – the force-producing stroke – to changes in motor affinity for nucleotide and microtubules. Sequential disruption of salt bridges that stabilize the unrotated stalk could cause the stalk to initiate and complete rotation in different nucleotide states

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Effective Rheology of Bubbles Moving in a Capillary Tube

We calculate the average volumetric flux versus pressure drop of bubbles moving in a single capillary tube with varying diameter, finding a square-root relation from mapping the flow equations onto that of a driven overdamped pendulum. The calculation is based on a derivation of the equation of motion of a bubble train from considering the capillary forces and the entropy production associated with the viscous flow. We also calculate the configurational probability of the positions of the bubbles.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Physical and chemical techniques for a comprehensive characterization of river sediment: A case of study, the Moquegua River, Peru

River sediment is comprised of complex mineral systems composed by different kinds of organic and inorganic matter, and thus, is difficult to characterize. Besides, some standard techniques, such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), optical and scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transmission infrared spectroscopy, inductively couple plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), and simultaneous Thermogravimetric Analysis – Differential Thermal Analysis (TGA-DTA), Mössbauer spectroscopy and magnetometry can provide substancial information about the compositional, physical, and chemical characteristics. In the current study, the versality of these methods is tested and the information provided by these methods for eight sediment samples, collected from the Moquegua River, Peru is compared. Qualitative analysis indicates that the samples consist of sand grains with different shapes, sizes, and colors coexisting with the presence of some diatoms. The chemical and mineralogical analysis reveal that the samples are composed mainly of silicon (Si), aluminium (Al), sodium (Na), potassium (K), aluminon–silicates, and carbonates, typical for river sediment. More detailed information obtained by these techniques include the discovery of adsorbed oxygen–hydrogen (O–H), carbon–H (C–H) and C, from organic matter, the thermal reactions and decomposition of the components, and the identification of the minor iron–oxides components. Further, other properties such as magnetic interaction are also analyzed in detail

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

Measurement of jet fragmentation into charged particles in pp and PbPb collisions at sqrt(s[NN]) = 2.76 TeV

Jet fragmentation in pp and PbPb collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV per nucleon pair was studied using data collected with the CMS detector at the LHC. Fragmentation functions are constructed using charged-particle tracks with transverse momenta pt > 4 GeV for dijet events with a leading jet of pt > 100 GeV. The fragmentation functions in PbPb events are compared to those in pp data as a function of collision centrality, as well as dijet-pt imbalance. Special emphasis is placed on the most central PbPb events including dijets with unbalanced momentum, indicative of energy loss of the hard scattered parent partons. The fragmentation patterns for both the leading and subleading jets in PbPb collisions agree with those seen in pp data at 2.76 TeV. The results provide evidence that, despite the large parton energy loss observed in PbPb collisions, the partition of the remaining momentum within the jet cone into high-pt particles is not strongly modified in comparison to that observed for jets in vacuum.Comment: Submitted to the Journal of High Energy Physic