Influence of active constrained layer damping on the coupled vibration response of functionally graded magneto-electro-elastic plates with skewed edges

This article makes the first attempt in assessing the influence of active constrained layer damping (ACLD) treatment towards precise control of frequency responses of functionally graded skew-magneto-electro-elastic (FGSMEE) plates by employing finite element methods. The materials are functionally graded across the thickness of the plate in terms of modest power-law distributions. The principal equations of motion of FGSMEE are derived via Hamilton’s principle and solved using condensation technique. The effect of ACLD patches are modelled by following the complex modulus approach (CMA). Additionally, distinctive emphasis is laid to evaluate the influence of geometrical skewness on the attenuation capabilities of the plate. The accuracy of the current analysis is corroborated with comparison of previous researches of similar kind. Additionally, a complete parametric study is directed to understand the combined impacts of various factors like coupling fields, patch location, fiber orientation of piezoelectric patch in association with skew angle and power-law index.     

Research on simultaneous localization and mapping for AUV by an improved method: Variance reduction FastSLAM with simulated annealing

At present, simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) for an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is a research hotspot. Aiming at the problem of non-linear model and non-Gaussian noise in AUV motion, an improved method of variance reduction fast simultaneous localization and mapping (FastSLAM) with simulated annealing is proposed to solve the problems of particle degradation, particle depletion and particle loss in traditional FastSLAM, which lead to the reduction of AUV location estimation accuracy. The adaptive exponential fading factor is generated by the anneal function of simulated annealing algorithm to improve the effective particle number and replace resampling. By increasing the weight of small particles and decreasing the weight of large particles, the variance of particle weight can be reduced, the number of effective particles can be increased, and the accuracy of AUV location and feature location estimation can be improved to some extent by retaining more information carried by particles. The experimental results based on trial data show that the proposed simulated annealing variance reduction FastSLAM method avoids particle degradation, maintains the diversity of particles, weakened the degeneracy and improves the accuracy and stability of AUV navigation and localization system.     

Revenue maximization in two-station tandem queueing systems

We study optimal pricing for tandem queueing systems with finite buffers. The service provider dynamically quotes prices to incoming price sensitive customers to maximize the long-run average revenue. We present a Markov decision process model for the optimization problem. For systems with two stations, general-sized buffers, and two or more prices, we describe the structure of the optimal dynamic pricing policy and develop tailored policy iteration algorithms to find an optimal pricing policy. For systems with two stations but no intermediate buffer, we characterize conditions under which quoting either a high or a low price to all customers is optimal and provide an easy-to-implement algorithm to solve the problem. Numerical experiments are conducted to compare the developed algorithms with the regular policy iteration algorithm. The work also discusses possible extensions of the obtained results to both three-station systems and two-station systems with price and congestion sensitive customers using numerical analysis.     

MABAC method for multiple attribute group decision making under q-rung orthopair fuzzy environment

As the generalization of intuitionistic fuzzy set (IFS) and Pythagorean fuzzy set (PFS), the q-rung orthopair fuzzy set (q-ROFS) has emerged as a more meaningful and effective tool to solve multiple attribute group decision making (MAGDM) problems in management and scientific domains. The MABAC (multi-attributive border approximation area comparison) model, which handles the complex and uncertain decision making issues by computing the distance between each alternative and the bored approximation area (BAA), has been investigated by an increasing number of researchers more recent years. In our article, consider the conventional MABAC model and some fundamental theories of q-rung orthopair fuzzy set (q-ROFS), we shall introduce the q-rung orthopair fuzzy MABAC model to solve MADM problems. at first, we briefly review some basic theories related to q-ROFS and conventional MABAC model. Furthermore, the q-rung orthopair fuzzy MABAC model is built and the decision making steps are described. In the end, An actual MADM application has been given to testify this new model and some comparisons between this novel MABAC model and two q-ROFNs aggregation operators are provided to further demonstrate the merits of the q-rung orthopair fuzzy MABAC model.     

Exact analysis of (R,s, S) inventory control systems with lost sales and zero lead time

We study an (R, s, S) inventory control policy with stochastic demand, lost sales, zero lead‐time and a target service level to be satisfied. The system is modeled as a discrete time Markov chain for which we present a novel approach to derive exact closed‐form solutions for the limiting distribution of the on‐hand inventory level at the end of a review period, given the reorder level (s) and order‐up‐to level (S). We then establish a relationship between the limiting distributions for adjacent values of the reorder point that is used in an efficient recursive algorithm to determine the optimal parameter values of the (R, s, S) replenishment policy. The algorithm is easy to implement and entails less effort than solving the steady‐state equations for the corresponding Markov model. Point‐of‐use hospital inventory systems share the essential characteristics of the inventory system we model, and a case study using real data from such a system shows that with our approach, optimal policies with significant savings in inventory management effort are easily obtained for a large family of items.     

DEA models for two‐stage processes: Game approach and efficiency decomposition

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a method for measuring the efficiency of peer decision making units (DMUs). This tool has been utilized by a number of authors to examine two‐stage processes, where all the outputs from the first stage are the only inputs to the second stage. The current article examines and extends these models using game theory concepts. The resulting models are linear, and imply an efficiency decomposition where the overall efficiency of the two‐stage process is a product of the efficiencies of the two individual stages. When there is only one intermediate measure connecting the two stages, both the noncooperative and centralized models yield the same results as applying the standard DEA model to the two stages separately. As a result, the efficiency decomposition is unique. While the noncooperative approach yields a unique efficiency decomposition under multiple intermediate measures, the centralized approach is likely to yield multiple decompositions. Models are developed to test whether the efficiency decomposition arising from the centralized approach is unique. The relations among the noncooperative, centralized, and standard DEA approaches are investigated. Two real world data sets and a randomly generated data set are used to demonstrate the models and verify our findings. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2008     

热压多晶氟化镁的磁流变抛光研究

热压多晶氟化镁是一种被广泛应用的红外光学材料.磁流变抛光因其抛光效率高、磨头无磨损、可实现确定性加工等优点而日益成为倍受瞩目的超精密光整加工技术.在利用传统抛光方法得到热压多晶氟化镁的抛光特性的基础上配制了适用于该材料的磁流变抛光液.通过抛光实验证明,与传统抛光方法相比,采用磁流变抛光方法对热压多晶氟化镁进行抛光,可以得到较好抛光表面质量,并且抛光的效率也大大提高.     

基于粒子群优化的稀疏序列Bayes反卷积方法研究

在地下目标低频声波探测中,由于探测信号的混叠,难以判读反射目标的空间位置.应用信号处理方法求解时,目标信号是稀疏序列,求解方程是病态的.运用Bayes反卷积方法修正其病态性,并采用优化的粒子群算法求解,提高了系统的探测分辨率,同时降低了计算量.实际应用表明,该方法是有效的.     

Surface modification of ammonium nitrate by coating with surfactant materials to reduce hygroscopicity

Ammonium nitrate (AN) is promising oxidizer in green propellants. In this work, the physical coating method was improved to modify the surface of ammonium nitrate particles with different surfactant materials to reduce hygroscopicity. Cetylalcohol, stearic acid, stearyl alcohol, palmic acid, lauric acid, stearsmide, tetradecylamine, dodecylamine, and tetradecanol were used as coating surfactant agents. The hygroscopicity was tested for ammonium nitrate with and without coating. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to characterize the surface of coated and uncoated ammonium nitrate. The mass ratio of coating layer and decline of absorption rate of ammonium nitrate coated by cetylalcohol were 1.00%, and 28.40%, respectively. The results indicate that coating with cetylalcohol surfactant have advantages over the other surfactants in term of low mass ratio of coating layer, and high decline of moisture absorption rate. Thus, cetylalcohol would be a promising coating surfactant material for ammonium nitrate. The idea and approach presented in this study have potential to made hydrophobic layer on the surface of particles to reduce hygroscopicity of AN, and also help the researcher to improving anti-hygroscopicity of ammonium salts.     

Firm embedding behavior of annular grooved projectiles impacting ductile metal targets

Annular grooved projectiles (AGPs) have drawn ongoing concerns as an advanced penetrator for their excellent anti-rebound capability in impacting metal plates. They could become embedded solidly in the target surface during low-velocity impact. In this investigation, the firm embedding behavior of AGP was observed by impact experiments. Corresponding numerical simulations provided a better understanding of this process. Experimental and numerical results indicated that the firm embedding behavior of AGP was mainly due to the filling-material in the groove rather than the friction between the projectile and target, unlike traditional shape such as conical projectile. According to observation, firm embedding process can generally be subdivided into four stages: initial-cratering stage, groove-filling stage, filling-material failure stage and rebound vibration stage. Moreover, the damage mechanics of target material around crater was obtained through microscopic tests. A comparison of the cross-sectional figures between the experiment and simulation proved that the analysis and the proposed method were reasonable and feasible, which further demonstrated that the firm embedding behavior has application potential in new concept warheads.