The Planck Scale from Top Condensation

We propose a scenario in which the Planck scale is dynamically linked to the electroweak scale induced by top condensation. The standard model field content, without the Higgs, is promoted to a 5D warped background. There is also an additional 5D fermion with the quantum numbers of the right-handed top. Localization of the zero-modes leads, at low energies, to a Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model that also stabilizes the radion field dynamically thus explaining the hierarchy between the Planck scale and v_EW = 174 GeV. The top mass arises dynamically from the electroweak breaking condensate. The other standard model fermion masses arise naturally from higher-dimension operators, and the fermion mass hierarchies and flavor structure can be explained from the localization of the zero-modes in the extra dimension. If any other contributions to the radion potential except those directly related with electroweak symmetry breaking are engineered to be suppressed, the KK scale is predicted to be about two orders of magnitude above the electroweak scale rendering the model easily consistent with electroweak precision data. The model predicts a heavy (composite) Higgs with a mass of about 500 GeV and standard-model-like properties, and a vector-like quark with non-negligible mixing with the top quark and mass in the 1.6 - 2.9 TeV range. Both can be within the reach of the LHC. It also predicts a radion with a mass of a few GeV that is very weakly coupled to standard model matter.Comment: 41 pages, 7 figures; added references, minor changes in the electroweak precision constraints section; final version in PR

A Universal Multiple-Vector-Based Model Predictive Control of Induction Motor Drives

© 1986-2012 IEEE. Conventional finite control set-model predictive control (FCS-MPC) applies single voltage vector within each control period. This leads to relatively high steady-state ripples and requires fast sampling rate. Additionally, enumeration-based optimal vector selection is computationally intensive. Recently, double-vector-based schemes have been proposed to improve the steady-state performance of FCS-MPC. However, they are usually complicated in vector selection and duty ratio calculation. In this paper, a universal multiple-vector-based MPC (UMV-MPC) is proposed, which achieves the same performance as the state-of-the-art double-vector-based MPC, but executes in a much more efficient and universal way. Unlike conventional FCS-MPC, enumerating process and state predictions for candidate voltage vectors are not required in the proposed UMV-MPC to select the best voltage vectors. In UMV-MPC, the optimal vectors and duty ratios are directly constructed from deadbeat control (DBC) based on space vector modulation (SVM), which is easy to follow and quick to use. The proposed UMV-MPC is not only more efficient than prior methods, but also reveals the inherent relationship between double-vector-based MPC and DBC with SVM. A comparative study of UMV-MPC and prior double-vector-based MPC is carried out in this paper. The theoretical analysis as well as simulation and experimental tests on a 2.2-kW induction motor drive are demonstrated to validate the effectiveness of the proposed UMV-MPC

The Framework of Technical Evaluation Indicators for Constructing Low-Carbon Communities in China

In recent years, in order to promote the construction of low-carbon communities (LCCs) in China, many scholars have proposed an evaluation indicator system of LCC. The existing indicator systems are mostly established from the macro perspective of environmental impact and resource conservation, but few are from the micro technical perspective. Thus, the aim of this study is to construct a micro technical evaluation indicator system for LCCs. Firstly, the index system was divided into three categories: low-carbon building, low-carbon transportation, and low-carbon environment. Then, the technical indicators were selected through empirical analysis. The indicator weights were assigned by the improved analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and the multi-level fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method was used as the evaluation method of the indicators. Finally, in order to examine the practicality of the indicator system, two typical communities in Tianjin and Shanghai were selected as case studies. The results showed that the indicator system gave a reasonable low-carbon level for the two communities, which was in line with the actual low-carbon construction status of each community. In addition, the evaluation results pointed out that the low-carbon community (LCC) in Tianjin needs to further strengthen the construction of the low-carbon environment, including community compactness, rainwater collection and utilization, and waste recycling. For the LCC in Shanghai, it was pointed out that the construction of the low-carbon building and low-carbon transportation needs to be strengthened. The indicator system can be used as a tool for urban planning and construction personnel to evaluate the construction progress and low-carbon degree of LCC

Immobilization of high concentration hexavalent chromium via core-shell structured lightweight aggregate: A promising soil remediation strategy

Among industrially polluted soils, chromium contaminated sites, especially hexavalent chromium (Cr6+) contaminated C6+ sites, are particularly difficult to manage. The Cr6+ in such soils is usually at a high concentration. Several studies show that sintering and solidification are effective ways to treat Cr6+ in soil. In this study, a core-shell lightweight aggregate (CS-LWA) was prepared using Cr6+ contaminated soil as the core and clean bulk materials as a shell to seal the Cr6+ pollutant in the core, and the shell prevents it from leaching out. A reductant, pulverized coal, was added to assist the solidification and improve chromium immobilization . The results show that this method can effectively reduce the leaching of chromium in polluted soil with varying chromium content, and that chromium leaching can be further reduced by increasing the amount of coating material. The chromium in leachate from coated CS-LWA mixed with 8% pulverized coal was only 0.02 mg/L, much lower than 1042.8 mg/L in leachate from untreated chromium-contaminated soil. Moreover, the strength, density, and water absorption characteristics of CS-LWA met the Chinese national standards, enabling its use as a lightweight aggregate for construction

An elitism-based multi-objective evolutionary algorithm for min-cost network disintegration

Network disintegration or strengthening is a significant problem, which is widely used in infrastructure construction, social networks, infectious disease prevention and so on. But most studies assume that the cost of attacking anyone node is equal. In this paper, we investigate the robustness of complex networks under a more realistic assumption that costs are functions of degrees of nodes. A multi-objective, elitism-based, evolutionary algorithm (MOEEA) is proposed for the network disintegration problem with heterogeneous costs. By defining a new unit cost influence measure of the target attack node and combining with an elitism strategy, some combination nodes’ information can be retained. Through an ingenious update mechanism, this information is passed on to the next generation to guide the population to move to more promising regions, which can improve the rate of convergence of the proposed algorithm. A series of experiments have been carried out on four benchmark networks and some model networks, the results show that our method performs better than five other state-of-the-art attack strategies. MOEEA can usually find min-cost network disintegration solutions. Simultaneously, through testing different cost functions, we find that the stronger the cost heterogeneity, the better performance of our algorithm

An effective approach to improve the performance of PC-based superplasticizer in alkali-activated slag

The lack of workability has hindered the industriallisation of alkali-activated slag (AAS) - a novel, low carbon cementitious building material. In order to address this main barrier, adding superplasticiser (SP) is essential. The main reason causing the dysfunction of current commercial SP in AAS has been identified as competitive adsorption between the SPs and the activators. The separate SP addition methods (adding SP and activator separately) offers the potentials to tackle the above issue. In this paper, the effects of separate addition methods of 134 lignosulfonate superplasticiser (LS) in AAS activated by NaOH were investigated. The adsorption between the LS and the slag was examined to understand the interaction between the SP and the slag. The workability and rheological properties of fresh NaOH-activated slag and the compressive strength of hardened NaOH-activated slag were also investigated. The results indicated that the separate addition methods reduced the competitive adsorption between the SPs and the NaOH activator, leading to a higher adsorption of the SPs on the slag. Consequently, the workability and rheological properties of NaOH-activated slag was enhanced by separate addition methods without reducing the compressive strength of hardened NaOH-activated slag