Some thoughts on neural network modelling of micro-abrasion-corrosion processes

There is increasing interest in the interactions of microabrasion, involving small particles of less than 10 μm in size, with corrosion. This is because such interactions occur in many environments ranging from the offshore to health care sectors. In particular, micro-abrasion-corrosion can occur in oral processing, where the abrasive components of food interacting with the acidic environment, can lead to degradation of the surface dentine of teeth. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are computing mechanisms based on the biological brain. They are very effective in various areas such as modelling, classification and pattern recognition. They have been successfully applied in almost all areas of engineering and many practical industrial applications. Hence, in this paper an attempt has been made to model the data obtained in microabrasion-corrosion experiments on polymer/steel couple and a ceramic/lasercarb coating couple using ANN. A multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural network is applied and the results obtained from modelling the tribocorrosion processes will be compared with those obtained from a relatively new class of neural networks namely resource allocation network

Method and apparatus for detecting laminar flow separation and reattachment

The invention is a method and apparatus for detecting laminar flow separation and flow reattachment of a fluid stream by simultaneously sensing and comparing a plurality of output signals, each representing the dynamic shear stress at one of an equal number of sensors spaced along a straight line on the surface of an airfoil or the like that extends parallel to the fluid stream. The output signals are concurrently compared to detect the sensors across which a reversal in phase of said output signal occurs, said detected sensors being in the region of laminar separation or reattachment. The novelty in this invention is the discovery and use of the phase reversal phenomena to detect laminar separation and attachment of a fluid stream from any surface such as an airfoil supported therein

Distribution of the Water Scorpion \u3ci\u3eNepa Apiculata\u3c/i\u3e (Hemiptera: Nepidae) in Wisconsin

The water scorpion Nepa apiculata Uhler was considered rare in Wiscon- sin by Hilsenhoff (1984), who collected only 11 individuals during a 25-year period. All of his collections were from overwintering sites, especially debris in streams, during early spring or autumn (Hilsenhoff, pers. comm.). He concluded that the species was restricted to southern Wisconsin. Recent collections indicate that N. apiculata is more widely distributed. These records, summarized below, are documented with specimens in the University of Wisconsin-Madison insect collection

The taphonomy and phylogenetic relationships of the Talkeetna mountains hadrosaur

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2012The fossil record of hadrosauroids (Ornithopoda, Hadrosauroidea) from the Albian to Santonian is very sparse, with few described North American and Asian taxa compared to the diverse record of Campanian to Maastrichtian hadrosaurids. In 1994, the partial postcranial remains of a hadrosauriform dinosaur were found in the Matanuska Formation of southern Alaska. The Matanuska Formation is a thick succession of Albian¬to Maastrichtian-aged, dominantly marine, sediments deposited in a forearc basin along the actively accreting western North American margin. The Alaskan specimen is assigned a Turonian age based on molluscan biostratigraphy. The skeleton consists of postcranial elements including cervical, dorsal and caudal vertebrae, a partial pectoral girdle, proximal elements of the forelimbs, a partial pelvic girdle, and representative portions of the hindlimbs. This fossil represents the most complete, single skeleton of a dinosaur known from Alaska, and one of the few skeletal remains recovered outside of the North Slope. It is only the second North American Turonian hadrosauroid described, the other being jeyawati rugoculus from New Mexico. This specimen also represents a new taxon of basal hadrosauroid that can be diagnosed by its unique combination of humeral, filial, and femoral characters. A phylogenetic analysis recovers the new taxon nested within a paraphyletic assemblage of non-hadrosaurid hadrosauroids, being more derived than the North American Cenomanian taxa Eolambia and Protohadros but more basal than stratigraphically younger hadrosauroids from Asia, including Tanius, Bactrosaurus, and Gilmoreosaurus. The temporal and geographic occurrence of the Alaskan taxon provides an important new data point for hypotheses of hadrosauroid biogeography in the Late Cretaceous

Predicted and hot-film measured Tollmien-Schlichting wave characteristics

The Tollmien-Schlichting (TS) instability is a time-dependence instability which can lead to transition of laminar boundary layers on airfoils. A comparison of theoretical predictions and experimental observations of the TS instability on the NLF(1)-0414F airfoil designed by Viken and Pfenninger. The theoretical predictions were obtained using the SALLY stability code. Test results, from the same hot films that were used to detect transition, revealed that TS waves could be detected by the hot films if the hot-film signal was adequately modified

Glueball masses in U(1) LGT using the multi-level algorithm

The multi-level algorithm allows, at least for pure gauge theories, reliable measurement of exponentially small expectation values. The implementation of the algorithm depends strongly on the observable one wants to measure. Here we report measurement of glueball masses using the multi-level algorithm in 4 dimensional compact U(1) theory as a case study.Comment: Lattice 2003 (algorithm) 3 pages, 3 figures and 2 table

Oversight Riders

Congress has a constitutionally critical duty to gather information about how the executive branch implements the powers Congress has granted it and the funds Congress has appropriated. Yet in recent years the executive branch has systematically thwarted Congress’s powers and duties of oversight. Congressional subpoenas for testimony and documents have met with blanket refusals to comply, frequently backed by advice from the Department of Justice that executive privilege justifies withholding the information. Even when Congress holds an official in contempt for failure to comply with a congressional subpoena, the Department of Justice often does not initiate criminal sanctions. As a result, Congress has resorted to enforcing its subpoenas in civil litigation, with terrible results. Civil enforcement, if any, occurs years after the information was sought, practically eliminating the information’s practical and political value. Changes in administrations can be expected to affect the willingness of the executive branch to thwart congressional oversight, but the problem will remain until systemic reforms discourage the most egregious forms of executive evasion. To overcome this reliance on judicial enforcement of its oversight powers, Congress needs to think more creatively and aggressively. One way of doing so, which we defend in this Article, is using Congress’s powers of the purse to condition funding to agencies on their compliance with congressional oversight requests, employing what we call oversight riders. By denying funding to executive agencies’ resistance to oversight, Congress can create personal legal incentives for executive branch officials to comply. The Article concludes by considering whether other underenforced regimes, including requirements addressing political activity, ethics, and transparency, might also be protected by similar riders

The General Relativity of Two Properties

We demonstrate that the extension of the space-time metric to incorporate two anticommuting property coordinates automatically leads to the unification of gravity with nonabelian gauge theory, as well as producing a cosmological term.Comment: 15 pages, no figures, published in IJMP

Design and experimental evaluation of a swept supercritical Laminar Flow Control (LFC) airfoil

A large chord swept supercritical laminar flow control (LFC) airfoil was designed, constructed, and tested in the NASA Langley 8-ft Transonic Pressure Tunnel (TPT). The LFC airfoil experiment was established to provide basic information concerning the design and compatibility of high-performance supercritical airfoils with suction boundary layer control achieved through discrete fine slots or porous surface concepts. It was aimed at validating prediction techniques and establishing a technology base for future transport designs and drag reduction. Good agreement was obtained between measured and theoretically designed shockless pressure distributions. Suction laminarization was maintained over an extensive supercritical zone up to high Reynolds numbers before transition gradually moved forward. Full-chord laminar flow was maintained on the upper and lower surfaces at M sub infinity = 0.82 up to R sub c is less than or equal to 12 x 10 to the 6th power. When accounting for both the suction and wake drag, the total drag could be reducted by at least one-half of that for an equivalent turbulent airfoil. Specific objectives for the LFC experiment are given