3,903 research outputs found
A review of modular strategies and architecture within manufacturing operations
This paper reviews existing modularity and modularization literature within manufacturing operations. Its purpose is to examine the tools, techniques, and concepts relating to modular production, to draw together key issues currently dominating the literature, to assess managerial implications associated with the emerging modular paradigm, and to present an agenda for future research directions. The review is based on journal papers included in the ABI/Inform electronic database and other noteworthy research published as part of significant research programmes. The research methodology concerns reviewing existing literature to identify key modular concepts, to determine modular developments, and to present a review of significant contributions to the field. The findings indicate that the modular paradigm is being adopted in a number of manufacturing organizations. As a result a range of conceptual tools, techniques, and frameworks has emerged and the field of modular enquiry is in the process of codifying the modular lexicon and developing appropriate modular strategies commensurate with the needs of manufacturers. Modular strategies and modular architecture were identified as two key issues currently dominating the modular landscape. Based on this review, the present authors suggest that future research areas need to focus on the development and subsequent standardization of interface protocols, cross-brand module use, supply chain power, transparency, and trust. This is the first review of the modular landscape and as such provides insights into, first, the development of modularization and, second, issues relating to designing modular products and modular supply chains
Electronic heat current rectification in hybrid superconducting devices
In this work, we review and expand recent theoretical proposals for the
realization of electronic thermal diodes based on tunnel-junctions of normal
metal and superconducting thin films. Starting from the basic rectifying
properties of a single hybrid tunnel junction, we will show how the
rectification efficiency can be largely increased by combining multiple
junctions in an asymmetric chain of tunnel-coupled islands. We propose three
different designs, analyzing their performance and their potential advantages.
Besides being relevant from a fundamental physics point of view, this kind of
devices might find important technological application as fundamental building
blocks in solid-state thermal nanocircuits and in general-purpose cryogenic
electronic applications requiring energy management.Comment: 9 pages, 5 color figure
Ratcheting Heat Flux against a Thermal Bias
Merely rocking the temperature in one heat bath can direct a steady heat flux
from cold to hot against a non-zero thermal bias in stylized nonlinear lattice
junctions that are sandwiched between two heat baths. Likewise, for an average
zero-temperature difference between the two contacts a net, ratchet-like heat
flux emerges. Computer simulations show that this very heat flux can be
controlled and reversed by suitably tailoring the frequency ( 100
MHz) of the alternating temperature field.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure
Miscibility Phase Behavior of GUV Membranes Containing Charge: Ternary Mixtures of Cholesterol, PC-Lipids, and PG-Lipids
Componential coding in the condition monitoring of electrical machines Part 2: application to a conventional machine and a novel machine
This paper (Part 2) presents the practical application of componential coding, the principles of which were described in the accompanying Part 1 paper. Four major issues are addressed, including optimization of the neural network, assessment of the anomaly detection results, development of diagnostic approaches (based on the reconstruction error) and also benchmarking of componential coding with other techniques (including waveform measures, Fourier-based signal reconstruction and principal component analysis). This is achieved by applying componential coding to the data monitored from both a conventional induction motor and from a novel transverse flux motor. The results reveal that machine condition monitoring using componential coding is not only capable of detecting and then diagnosing anomalies but it also outperforms other conventional techniques in that it is able to separate very small and localized anomalies
Isolated Eigenvalues of the Ferromagnetic Spin-J XXZ Chain with Kink Boundary Conditions
We investigate the low-lying excited states of the spin J ferromagnetic XXZ
chain with Ising anisotropy Delta and kink boundary conditions. Since the third
component of the total magnetization, M, is conserved, it is meaningful to
study the spectrum for each fixed value of M. We prove that for J>= 3/2 the
lowest excited eigenvalues are separated by a gap from the rest of the
spectrum, uniformly in the length of the chain. In the thermodynamic limit,
this means that there are a positive number of excitations above the ground
state and below the essential spectrum
Spatially heterogeneous dynamics investigated via a time-dependent four-point density correlation function
Relaxation in supercooled liquids above their glass transition and below the onset temperature of “slow” dynamics involves the correlated motion of neighboring particles. This correlated motion results in the appearance of spatially heterogeneous dynamics or “dynamical heterogeneity.” Traditional two-point time-dependent density correlation functions, while providing information about the transient “caging” of particles on cooling, are unable to provide sufficiently detailed information about correlated motion and dynamical heterogeneity. Here, we study a four-point, time-dependent density correlation function g4(r,t)g4(r,t) and corresponding “structure factor” S4(q,t)S4(q,t) which measure the spatial correlations between the local liquid density at two points in space, each at two different times, and so are sensitive to dynamical heterogeneity. We study g4(r,t)g4(r,t) and S4(q,t)S4(q,t) via molecular dynamics simulations of a binary Lennard-Jones mixture approaching the mode coupling temperature from above. We find that the correlations between particles measured by g4(r,t)g4(r,t) and S4(q,t)S4(q,t) become increasingly pronounced on cooling. The corresponding dynamical correlation length ξ4(t)ξ4(t) extracted from the small-qq behavior of S4(q,t)S4(q,t) provides an estimate of the range of correlated particle motion. We find that ξ4(t)ξ4(t) has a maximum as a function of time t,t, and that the value of the maximum of ξ4(t)ξ4(t) increases steadily from less than one particle diameter to a value exceeding nine particle diameters in the temperature range approaching the mode coupling temperature from above. At the maximum, ξ4(t)ξ4(t) and the α relaxation time τατα are related by a power law. We also examine the individual contributions to g4(r,t),g4(r,t), S4(q,t),S4(q,t), and ξ4(t),ξ4(t), as well as the corresponding order parameter Q(t)Q(t) and generalized susceptibility χ4(t),χ4(t), arising from the self and distinct contributions to Q(t).Q(t). These contributions elucidate key differences between domains of localized and delocalized particles.© 2003 American Institute of Physics.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/70264/2/JCPSA6-119-14-7372-1.pd
First-order transitions for some generalized XY models
In this note we demonstrate the occurrence of first-order transitions in
temperature for some recently introduced generalized XY models, and also point
out the connection between them and annealed site-diluted (lattice-gas)
continuous-spin models
Finite-Size Effects in a Supercooled Liquid
We study the influence of the system size on various static and dynamic
properties of a supercooled binary Lennard-Jones liquid via computer
simulations. In this way, we demonstrate that the treatment of systems as small
as N=65 particles yields relevant results for the understanding of bulk
properties. Especially, we find that a system of N=130 particles behaves
basically as two non-interacting systems of half the size.Comment: Proceedings of the III Workshop on Non Equilibrium Phenomena in
Supercooled Fluids, Glasses and Amorphous Materials, Sep 2002, Pis
Effect of water-wall interaction potential on the properties of nanoconfined water
Much of the understanding of bulk liquids has progressed through study of the
limiting case in which molecules interact via purely repulsive forces, such as
a hard-core potential. In the same spirit, we report progress on the
understanding of confined water by examining the behavior of water-like
molecules interacting with planar walls via purely repulsive forces and compare
our results with those obtained for Lennard-Jones (LJ) interactions between the
molecules and the walls. Specifically, we perform molecular dynamics
simulations of 512 water-like molecules which are confined between two smooth
planar walls that are separated by 1.1 nm. At this separation, there are either
two or three molecular layers of water, depending on density. We study two
different forms of repulsive confinements, when the interaction potential
between water-wall is (i) and (ii) WCA-like repulsive potential. We
find that the thermodynamic, dynamic and structural properties of the liquid in
purely repulsive confinements qualitatively match those for a system with a
pure LJ attraction to the wall. In previous studies that include attractions,
freezing into monolayer or trilayer ice was seen for this wall separation.
Using the same separation as these previous studies, we find that the crystal
state is not stable with repulsive walls but is stable with WCA-like
repulsive confinement. However, by carefully adjusting the separation of the
plates with repulsive interactions so that the effective space
available to the molecules is the same as that for LJ confinement, we find that
the same crystal phases are stable. This result emphasizes the importance of
comparing systems only using the same effective confinement, which may differ
from the geometric separation of the confining surfaces.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figure
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