2,905 research outputs found
Modular Workflow Engine for Distributed Services using Lightweight Java Clients
In this article we introduce the concept and the first implementation of a
lightweight client-server-framework as middleware for distributed computing. On
the client side an installation without administrative rights or privileged
ports can turn any computer into a worker node. Only a Java runtime environment
and the JAR files comprising the workflow client are needed. To connect all
clients to the engine one open server port is sufficient. The engine submits
data to the clients and orchestrates their work by workflow descriptions from a
central database. Clients request new task descriptions periodically, thus the
system is robust against network failures. In the basic set-up, data up- and
downloads are handled via HTTP communication with the server. The performance
of the modular system could additionally be improved using dedicated file
servers or distributed network file systems.
We demonstrate the design features of the proposed engine in real-world
applications from mechanical engineering. We have used this system on a compute
cluster in design-of-experiment studies, parameter optimisations and robustness
validations of finite element structures.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figure
Nonlinear Dynamics of Capacitive Charging and Desalination by Porous Electrodes
The rapid and efficient exchange of ions between porous electrodes and
aqueous solutions is important in many applications, such as electrical energy
storage by super-capacitors, water desalination and purification by capacitive
deionization (or desalination), and capacitive extraction of renewable energy
from a salinity difference. Here, we present a unified mean-field theory for
capacitive charging and desalination by ideally polarizable porous electrodes
(without Faradaic reactions or specific adsorption of ions) in the limit of
thin double layers (compared to typical pore dimensions). We illustrate the
theory in the case of a dilute, symmetric, binary electrolyte using the
Gouy-Chapman-Stern (GCS) model of the double layer, for which simple formulae
are available for salt adsorption and capacitive charging of the diffuse part
of the double layer. We solve the full GCS mean-field theory numerically for
realistic parameters in capacitive deionization, and we derive reduced models
for two limiting regimes with different time scales: (i) In the
"super-capacitor regime" of small voltages and/or early times where the porous
electrode acts like a transmission line, governed by a linear diffusion
equation for the electrostatic potential, scaled to the RC time of a single
pore. (ii) In the "desalination regime" of large voltages and long times, the
porous electrode slowly adsorbs neutral salt, governed by coupled, nonlinear
diffusion equations for the pore-averaged potential and salt concentration
Mobile Object Tracking in Panoramic Video and LiDAR for Radiological Source-Object Attribution and Improved Source Detection
The addition of contextual sensors to mobile radiation sensors provides
valuable information about radiological source encounters that can assist in
adjudication of alarms. This study explores how computer-vision based object
detection and tracking analyses can be used to augment radiological data from a
mobile detector system. We study how contextual information (streaming video
and LiDAR) can be used to associate dynamic pedestrians or vehicles with
radiological alarms to enhance both situational awareness and detection
sensitivity. Possible source encounters were staged in a mock urban environment
where participants included pedestrians and vehicles moving in the vicinity of
an intersection. Data was collected with a vehicle equipped with 6 NaI(Tl) 2
inch times 4 inch times 16 inch detectors in a hexagonal arrangement and
multiple cameras, LiDARs, and an IMU. Physics-based models that describe the
expected count rates from tracked objects are used to correlate vehicle and/or
pedestrian trajectories to measured count-rate data through the use of Poisson
maximum likelihood estimation and to discern between source-carrying and
non-source-carrying objects. In this work, we demonstrate the capabilities of
our source-object attribution approach as applied to a mobile detection system
in the presence of moving sources to improve both detection sensitivity and
situational awareness in a mock urban environment
Negative phase time for Scattering at Quantum Wells: A Microwave Analogy Experiment
If a quantum mechanical particle is scattered by a potential well, the wave
function of the particle can propagate with negative phase time. Due to the
analogy of the Schr\"odinger and the Helmholtz equation this phenomenon is
expected to be observable for electromagnetic wave propagation. Experimental
data of electromagnetic wells realized by wave guides filled with different
dielectrics confirm this conjecture now.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure
Negative time delay for wave reflection from a one-dimensional semi-harmonic well
It is reported that the phase time of particles which are reflected by a
one-dimensional semi-harmonic well includes a time delay term which is negative
for definite intervals of the incoming energy. In this interval, the absolute
value of the negative time delay becomes larger as the incident energy becomes
smaller. The model is a rectangular well with zero potential energy at its
right and a harmonic-like interaction at its left.Comment: 6 pages, 5 eps figures. Talk presented at the XXX Workshop on
Geometric Methods in Physics, Bialowieza, Poland, 201
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