ALBERT

Description: The paper introduces a technique that decomposes the dynamics of a nonlinear system about an equilibrium into low-order components, which then can be used to reconstruct the full dynamics. This is a nonlinear analogue of linear modal analysis. The dynamics is decomposed using Invariant Spectral Foliation (ISF), which is defined as the smoothest invariant foliation about an equilibrium and hence unique under general conditions. The conjugate dynamics of an ISF can be used as a reduced order model. An ISF can be fitted to vibration data without carrying out a model identification first. The theory is illustrated on a analytic example and on free-vibration data of a clamped-clamped beam.

Description: Used as fuel cladding in the Gen IV fission reactors, ODS steels would be held at temperatures in the range of 350°C to 600°C for several months. Under these conditions, spinodal decomposition is likely to occur in the matrix, resulting in an increase of material brittleness. In this study, thin films consisting of a modulated composition in Fe and in Cr in a given direction have been elaborated. The time evolution of the composition profiles during aging at 500°C has been characterized by atom probe tomography, indicating an apparent kinetic stasis of the initial microstructure. A computer model has been developed on the basis of the Cahn–Hilliard theory of spinodal decomposition, associated with the mobility form proposed by Martin ( 1990 ). We make the assumption that the initial profile is very close to the amplitude-dependent critical wavelength. Our calculations show that the thin film is unstable relative to wavelength modulations, resulting in the observed kinetic stasis.

Description: The effect of Hf (0–1 at.%) additions in a Ni-Ti-Pd alloy on P-phase precipitation and martensitic transformations was studied. The addition of hafnium resulted in the refinement of precipitates with an increase in number density. The overlapping strain fields created due to the decrease in inter-precipitate spacing are suspected to reduce the matrix volume to be less than the critical free volume size needed for the martensitic transformation over the temperature range studied (183–573 K). Hafnium was also found to delay the aging time to achieve peak hardness, suggesting a reduction in growth and coarsening kinetics.

Description: We present in situ indentation in a transmission electron microscope on Al-TiN multilayers with individual layer thicknesses of 50 nm and 2.7 nm to explore the effect of length scales on the plastic co-deformability of a metal and a ceramic. At 50 nm, plasticity was confined to the Al layers with brittle fracture in the TiN layers. At 5 nm and below, cracking in TiN was suppressed with co-deformation evident in both layers. The in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) straining results demonstrate a profound size effect in enhancing plastic co-deformability in nanoscale metal-ceramic multilayers, as well as direct validation of ex situ and 3-D elastic–plastic deformation models.

Description: Mo-Si-B-alloys are promising materials for high-temperature applications because of their high melting point, excellent phase stability, large alloying capabilities, and reasonable mechanical as well as oxidative properties. A continuing alloy development is, however, required because of the catastrophic oxidation taking place at intermediate temperatures and the rather high density. The addition of Ti stabilizes a new ternary phase field including the Mo 5 Si 3 (T1) phase instead of the Mo 3 Si (A15) phase. Alloys comprising the phases Mo ss , T1 and Mo 5 SiB 2 (T2) show very high creep resistance, improved oxidation behavior and significantly reduced density. The new T1 phase seems to play a crucial role in the improved oxidation resistance of these new materials, since this phase exhibits excellent oxidation behavior at intermediate and high temperatures. The 4-component alloys possess superior creep behavior compared to Mo-Si-B alloys with the same microstructural phase arrangement and size or to the single crystal Ni-base superalloy CMSX-4. The main reason was found to be the formation of Ti-rich silicide precipitates during processing.

Description: The stick–slip model of a Girling brake is composed of nonlinear and coupled differential equations that reproduce the friction occurring in this mechanical system. The brake is equivalent to a body sliding on a belt. The problem is very interesting since the possible solutions, which are very sensitive to the parameters of the system, show a chaotic behaviour. In this contribution, the model, which is designed following network method rules, is explained in detail and runs on standard electrical circuit simulation software to provide the displacement and the velocity of the sliding body and the phase planes. In comparison with other models, the considered system does not include dampers to get a more unstable behaviour. Furthermore, a suitable selection of parameters is implemented to reduce the computational time.

Description: High-entropy alloys are multicomponent solid solutions in which various elements with different chemistries and sizes occupy the same crystallographic lattice sites. Thus, none of the atoms perfectly fit the lattice site, giving rise to considerable local lattice distortions and atomic-level stresses. These characteristics can be beneficial for performance under radiation and in a high-temperature environment, making them attractive candidates as nuclear materials. We discuss electronic origin of the atomic-level stresses based upon first-principles calculations using a density functional theory approach.

Description: In this study, the mechanical characteristics of electrospun palm fruit bunch reinforced poly lactic acid (PLA) nanofiber composites using treated and untreated filler was examined. Poly lactic acid–palm fruit bunch–dichloromethane blends were electrospun by varying the concentration of the palm fruit bunch between 0 wt.% and 8 wt.%. A constant voltage of 26 kV was applied, the tip-to-collector distance was maintained at 27.5 cm and PLA-palm fruit bunch-dichloromethane (DCM) concentration of 12.5% (w/v) was used. The results revealed that the presence of untreated palm fruit bunch fillers in the electrospun PLA matrix significantly reduces the average diameters of the fibers, causing the formation of beads. As a result there are reductions in tensile strengths of the fibers. The presence of treated palm fruit bunch fillers in the electrospun PLA matrix increases the average diameters of the fibers with improvements in the mechanical properties. The optimal mechanical responses were obtained at 3 wt.% of the treated palm fruit bunch fillers in the PLA matrix. However, increase in the palm fruit fillers (treated and untreated) in the PLA matrix promoted the formation of beads in the nanofiber composites.

Description: Chitosan, a naturally derived polysaccharide, was covalently linked to chemically converted graphene (CCG) and the properties of the resulting composites were investigated. The composites were prepared using a stable dispersion of CCG in aqueous solvent. The CCG sheets are stabilised in solution by a small number of peripheral charged groups that can be used to form amide linkages with the polymer matrix. Apart from processability and swellability, the synthesized composites exhibited improved mechanical properties and conductivity by the addition of graphene. Graphene incorporation also introduced a control over the extent of swelling in the composites. The synthesized graphene/composites are promising materials for a variety of applications, for example as conducting substrates for the electrically stimulated growth of cells.

Description: The reductive acid leaching kinetics of synthetic cadmium-bearing zinc ferrite was investigated, and the influence of reaction temperature, sulfuric acid and hydrazine sulfate were studied. The results illustrated that an increase in the reaction temperature, initial sulfuric acid and hydrazine sulfate significantly enhanced the extraction efficiencies of cadmium, zinc and iron. The leaching kinetics were controlled by a surface chemical reaction based on a shrinking core model. The empirical equation \( 1 - (1 - X)^{{{\raise0.7ex\hbox{\(1\)} \!\mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {1 3}}\right.\kern-0pt} \!\lower0.7ex\hbox{\(3\)}}}} = k_{\text{r}} t \) applied was found to fit well with the kinetics analysis; the leaching processes of cadmium, zinc and iron were similar and the activation energies were 79.9 kJ/mol, 77.9 kJ/mol and 79.7 kJ/mol, respectively. The apparent orders of cadmium-bearing zinc ferrite dissolution with respect to sulfuric acid concentration were 0.83, 0.83 and 0.84 for Cd, Zn and Fe, respectively.

Description: The irradiation behavior of Al x CoCrFeNi ( x  = 0.1, 0.75, and 1.5) high entropy alloys was studied under 3 MeV Au-ions irradiation. The microstructural change and volume swelling due to irradiation were investigated using transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The results showed that, with increasing the Al contents, the phase crystal structures of the as-cast samples evolved from face-centered cubic (FCC), to FCC + body-centered cubic (BCC), and BCC and irradiation-induced volume swelling increased. All alloys showed exceptional structural stability when irradiated up to over 50 displacement per atom at 298 K, and the irradiation-induced volume swellings in Al x CoCrFeNi HEAs were significantly lower than conventional nuclear materials under similar irradiation dosages.

Description: Sn whiskers/hillocks are believed to form due to stress in the layers, but the dependence on the stress has been difficult to quantify. We therefore used the thermal expansion mismatch between Sn thin films and Si substrates to induce controlled stress by heating. This enables us to measure the average stress in the layer (using wafer curvature) at the same time as we monitor the nucleation rate (using optical microscopy). Scanning electron microscopy of the surface after intervals of heating is also used to quantify the whisker volume as a function of stress and time. The results allow us to determine the dependence of the whisker nucleation rate and the growth rate on the applied stress. They also show that whisker formation is not the dominant mode of plastic strain relaxation in the Sn layer.

Description: The current work aims to reveal the effects of solute atoms (TM = Ag, Zn, and Zr) on the age hardening of Mg-Gd-based alloys via the density functional theory and electron work function (EWF) approaches. The 10H LPSO phases of Mg-Gd-TM alloys are selected as the model case due to the improved strength and ductility such long periodic stacking ordered precipitates (LPSOs) offer. The CALPHAD-modeling method is applied to predict the EWF in the ternary Mg-Gd-TM alloys. The obtained EWFs of these Mg alloys are shown to match well with previous experimental and theoretical results. Moreover, the variation of EWF in the ternary Mg-Gd-TM alloys is attributed to the structure contribution [i.e., the formation of face-centered cubic (fcc)-type fault layers] and the chemical effect of solute atoms (i.e., electron redistributions). With the knowledge of bonding charge density between the solute and solvent atoms, the present work provides insight into the correlations between the EWF and hardness of Mg-Gd-TM alloys.

Description: Anodic potential, morphology and phase composition of the anodic layer, corrosion morphology of the metallic substrate, and oxygen evolution behavior of Pb-Ag anode in H 2 SO 4 solution without/with fluoride ion were investigated and compared. The results showed that the presence of fluoride ions contributed to a smoother anodic layer with lower PbO 2 concentration, which resulted in lower double layer capacity and higher charge transfer resistance for the oxygen evolution reaction. Consequently, the Pb-Ag anode showed a higher anodic potential (about 35 mV) in the fluoride-containing electrolyte. In addition, the fluoride ions accelerated the detachment of loose flakes on the anodic layer. It was demonstrated that the anodic layer formed in the fluoride-containing H 2 SO 4 solution was thinner. Furthermore, fluoride ions aggravated the corrosion of the metallic substrate at interdendritic boundary regions. Hence, the presence of fluoride ions is detrimental to oxygen evolution reactivity and increases the corrosion of the Pb-Ag anode, which may further increase the energy consumption and capital cost of zinc plants.

Description: The nanomechanical behavior of the Co 20 Cr 20 Fe 20 Mn 20 Ni 20 high-entropy alloy was investigated in as-cast, rolled, annealed, and thin-film forms. Dislocation nucleation was studied by repeated indents at a low load for each of the different processing conditions. Distinct displacement bursts (pop in) were observed in the loading curve marked by incipient plasticity for all the samples. The as-cast and annealed samples showed pop ins for 100% of the indents, whereas the rolled and thin-film samples showed a much lower fraction of displacement bursts. This was explained by the high density of dislocations for the cold-worked and thin-film conditions. The strong depth dependence of hardness was explained by geometrically necessary dislocations. The nanomechanical behavior and twinned microstructure indicate low stacking-fault energy for this high-entropy alloy.

Description: The use of duplex stainless steels (DSS) in nuclear power generation systems is limited by thermal instability that leads to embrittlement in the temperature range of 204°C to 538°C. New lean-grade alloys, such as 2101, offer the potential to mitigate these effects. Thermal embrittlement was quantified through impact toughness and hardness testing on samples of alloy 2101 after aging at 427°C for various durations (1–10,000 h). Additionally, atom probe tomography (APT) was utilized in order to observe the kinetics of α – α ′ separation and G-phase formation. Mechanical testing and APT data for two other DSS alloys, 2003 and 2205, were used as a reference to 2101. The results show that alloy 2101 exhibits superior performance compared to the standard-grade DSS alloy 2205 but inferior to the lean-grade alloy 2003 in mechanical testing. APT data demonstrate that the degree of α – α ′ separation found in alloy 2101 closely resembles that of 2205 and greatly exceeds 2003. Additionally, contrary to what was observed in 2003, 2101 demonstrated G-phase like precipitates after long aging times, although precipitates were not as abundant as was observed in 2205.

Description: The present work is concerned with the study of the relationship between microstructure and ductility of nanostructured bainite. The tensile behavior of two steels treated at the same temperature during different times has been analyzed. Special attention has been paid to the role that the retained austenite mechanical stability plays in enhancing the ductility through its contribution to the work-hardening and the damage resistance of these materials. The results have shown that the relative mechanical properties of the phases present affect both the martensitic transformation behavior and the total elongation.

Description: The drivers in actual traffic differ in the aggressiveness in driving behaviors, which will finally be reflected in the interaction between vehicles and fluctuations in flows. In this paper, we try to study the effect of driving aggressiveness on the traffic stability by proposing an extended microscopic car-following model, in which the optimal velocity is reconstructed to divide the drivers in traffic system into two groups according to driving aggressiveness of each individual. The stability condition of the proposed model is derived to explore its ability against a small perturbation by use of the linear stability theory. We obtain the neutral stability lines for different percentages of drivers with a higher driving aggressiveness, finding that the traffic flow trends to stable with the increase in the percentage for higher driving aggressiveness drivers when the average headway is less than a critical value or greater than another critical value, but when the average headway falls into the intermediate range between the two critical values, the traffic flow becomes more and more unstable with increase in the percentage of drivers with a higher driving aggressiveness. Finally, numerical simulations are conducted to verify these theoretical results and examine how the percentage of vehicles driven by higher driving aggressiveness drivers affects the traffic flux of the vehicle system.

Description: This paper investigates adaptive synchronization of stochastic time-varying delay dynamical networks with complex-variable systems. By using the complex inequality, stochastic analysis theory and two kinds of random disturbances, several sufficient conditions to ensure adaptive synchronization for stochastic time-varying delay networks with complex-variable systems. To illustrate the effectiveness of the synchronization conditions derived in this paper, numerical examples are provided finally.

Description: This paper presents the unified cooperative strategies for the salvo attack of multiple missiles on the basis of the traditional proportional navigation (PN) algorithm. The cooperative guidance laws are developed in a quite simple formulation consisting of a PN component for target capture and a coordination component for simultaneous arrival. The centralized coordination algorithms have better performance when the global information of time-to-go can be obtained by each missile, whereas the decentralized coordination algorithms come into effect when the group member is only able to collect information from its neighbors. The cooperative strategies can achieve a simultaneous attack against both stationary and maneuvering targets. Numerical simulations are used to demonstrate that the proposed approaches are feasible and flexible for the salvo attack of multiple missiles. The capturability analyses of the cooperative guidance laws are also performed by discussing the selection of gain parameters.

Description: In this work we complete the integrability conditions (i.e., conditions for the existence of a local analytic first integral) for a family of a resonant saddle perturbed with homogeneous quintic nonlinearities studied in a previous work. In order to obtain the necessary conditions we use modular arithmetic computations.

Description: The chaotic behavior of the secondary asteroid in a system of binary asteroids due to the asphericity and orbital eccentricity is investigated analytically and numerically. The binary asteroids are modeled with a sphere–ellipsoid model, in which the secondary asteroid is ellipsoid. The first-order resonance is studied for different values of asphericity and eccentricity of the secondary asteroid. The results of the Chirikov method are verified by Poincare section which show good agreement between analytical and numerical methods. It is also shown that asphericity and eccentricity affect the size of resonance regions such that beyond the threshold value, the resonance overlapping occurs and widespread chaos is visible.

Description: An efficient and secure three-party authenticated key agreement protocol is proposed to enable two users to establish a common secret key for exchanging confidential and authenticated information with the help of a trusted server. The proposed protocol only employs extended chaotic maps and hash operations, i.e., it does not require a server public key, symmetric cryptosystems, time-consuming modular exponential computations, or time-consuming modular exponential computations and scalar multiplications on elliptic curve. A round-efficient version of the proposed protocol is also implemented by rearranging and sending the messages in parallel. The session security of the proposed protocol is based on the Chebyshev chaotic map-based Diffie–Hellman assumption. Compared to related chaotic map-based approaches, the proposed protocol not only requires lower computational cost, but also has fewer transmissions.

Description: The strengthening mechanisms of Co 21 Cr 22 Cu 22 Fe 21 Ni 14 multiple-principal element alloy processed by high pressure torsion (HPT) and annealing were examined. Two face-centered cubic (FCC) phases were observed in the as-cast alloy; one was a Cu-rich phase and the other was a Cu-lean one. In the HPT process, the microhardness increased from 190 HV to 470 HV at a strain of 157 due to strain hardening and grain refinement hardening. X-ray diffraction showed that the lattice parameters of the two FCC phases became closer to each other at higher HPT strain, indicating the alloying of Cu into the Cu-lean matrix. The HPT processed specimens were annealed at 500°C, 550°C, 600°C, and 650°C. The microhardness increased to 540 HV after annealing at temperatures lower than 650°C, whereas it decreased when the specimen was annealed at 650°C. The mean grain size of the specimens annealed at temperatures lower than 650°C was much smaller than 100 nm, and Cu-rich clusters with sizes ranging from 2 nm to 32 nm were distributed homogeneously. The reasons for the formation of the Cu-rich nano-clusters were discussed from a perspective of the positive mixing enthalpy of Cu in the alloy and thermalenergy for Cu diffusion at a given temperature. The dissolution and partitioning of two FCC phases played a key role in strengthening the Co 21 Cr 22 Cu 22 Fe 21 Ni 14 system.

Description: In this paper, a novel adaptive neural network control approach is presented for a class of uncertain discrete-time nonlinear strict-feedback systems with input saturation. By combining single neural network approximation and minimal learning parameter technique, the proposed approach is able to eliminate the complexity growing problem and alleviate the explosion of learning parameters. An auxiliary design system is incorporated into the control scheme to overcome the problem of input saturation constraints. Following this approach, the designed controller contains only one actual control law and one adaptive law, the numbers of input variables and weights of neural network updated online are decreased drastically, and the number of parameter updated online for whole system is reduced to only one. Compared with the existing methods, the adaptive mechanism with much simpler controller structure and minimal learning parameterization is achieved; therefore, the computational burden is lighter. It is shown via Lyapunov theory that all signals in the closed-loop system are uniformly ultimately bounded. Finally, simulation results via two examples are employed to illustrate the effectiveness and merits of the proposed scheme.

Description: This paper investigates the problem of global coordinated tracking of a multi-agent system with input additive uncertainties and disturbances via bounded control inputs. Scheduled low-and-high gain feedback-based distributed coordinated tracking protocols are developed. It is shown that, under the assumptions that each agent is asymptotically null controllable with bounded controls and the network is connected, global coordinated tracking of the multi-agent system can be achieved. We finally show some numerical simulations to verify and illustrate the theoretical results.

Description: In this paper, a four-neuron delayed system with inertial terms is considered. By studying the distribution of the eigenvalues of the associated characteristic equation, we derive the critical values where double Hopf bifurcation occurs. Then by employing the perturbation-incremental scheme for the system, bifurcation diagrams are obtained. Furthermore, we carry out bifurcation analysis showing that there exist a stable fixed point, two stable periodic solutions, co-existence of a pair of stable periodic solutions and quasi-periodic motion in the neighborhood of the double Hopf critical point. We also find some interesting phenomena that the dynamical period switching occurs in some delayed regions. Finally, some numerical simulations are performed to support the theoretical analysis.

Description: Analytical spatiotemporal soliton solutions of the coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equation are derived in the (3  \(+\)  1)-dimensional inhomogeneous \(\mathcal {PT}\) -symmetric nonlinear couplers by means of the Hirota bilinear method. Based on these analytical solutions, we construct abundant spatiotemporal soliton structures and discuss the expansion and compression behaviors of spatiotemporal soliton structures in a periodic modulation system.

Description: In this paper we develop a systematic and self-consistent procedure based on a set of compatibility conditions for identifying all maximal (eight parameter) and non-maximal (one and two parameter) symmetry groups associated with the mixed quadratic-linear Liénard-type equation, \(\ddot{x} + f(x){\dot{x}}^{2} + g(x)\dot{x}+h(x)= 0\) , where \(f(x),\,g(x)\) and h ( x ) are arbitrary functions of x . With the help of this procedure we show that a symmetry function b ( t ) is zero for non-maximal cases, whereas it is not so for the maximal case. On the basis of this result the symmetry analysis gets divided into two cases, (i) the maximal symmetry group \((b\ne 0)\) and (ii) non-maximal symmetry groups \((b=0)\) . We then identify the most general form of the mixed quadratic linear Liénard-type equation in each of these cases. In the case of eight-parameter symmetry group, the identified general equation becomes linearizable. In the case of non-maximal symmetry groups the identified equations are all integrable. The integrability of all the equations is proved either by providing the general solution or by constructing time-independent Hamiltonians.

Description: The microstructural stability of Y-Al oxides during the recrystallization of Fe-Cr-Al oxide dispersion strengthened alloy is studied in this work. The goal is to determine the specific distribution pattern of oxides depending where they are located: in the matrix or at the grain boundaries. It was concluded that those located at the grain boundaries yielded a faster coarsening than the ones in the matrix, although no significant differences in composition and/or crystal structure were observed. However, the recrystallization heat treatment leads to the dissolution of the Y 2 O 3 and its combination with Al to form the YAlO 3 perovskite oxide particles process, mainly located at the grain boundaries. Finally, atom probe tomography analysis revealed a significant Ti build-up at the grain boundaries that might affect subsequent migration during recrystallization.

Description: It is established that the eliminations of construction sand with the content of SiO 2 about 70 wt.% and particle size less than 60  μ m are suitable for the production of a foam-glass–crystal material on the basis of the low-temperature frit, which was synthesized at the temperature of 900°C. The obtained foam-glass–crystal material exceeds foam-glass (by 3.0 times) and clayite (by 1.5 times) by strength and is characterized by the low value of water absorption (0.1%).

Description: This paper reveals the dynamical behaviors of a coupled network consisting of four neural sub-networks and multiple two-way couplings of neurons between the individual sub-networks. Different types of time delays are introduced into the internal connections within the individual sub-networks and the couplings between the sub-networks. Stability switches of the network equilibrium and Hopf bifurcation are analyzed by discussing the associated characteristic equation. The conditions for the existence of different patterns of oscillations are discussed. By using the Lyapunov’s second method, the global stability of the network equilibrium is studied. Numerical simulations are performed to validate the theoretical results, and rich dynamical behaviors are observed, such as synchronous oscillations, multiple stability switches between the rest state and oscillations, phase-locked oscillations, asynchronous oscillations, and the coexistence of different patterns of bifurcated oscillations.

Description: A significant impediment to the deployment of vibration-based energy harvesting devices has been the limitation of most low-frequency transducers, usually in the form of unimorph or bimorph cantilever beam, to extract energy from a very narrow bandwidth around the transducer’s fundamental frequency. In such devices, a slight deviation from the fundamental frequency causes a significant reduction in the level of harvested power by several orders of magnitudes. Additionally, most of the current research efforts on the design of piezoelectric energy harvesters have had limited success in achieving low resonance frequency. To overcome these challenges, we introduce an enhanced broadband low-frequency piezomagnetoelastic energy harvester. This harvester consists of a partially covered piezoelectric cantilever beam with a fixed magnet mass at the top of the magnet tip mass. A nonlinear distributed-parameter model based on Euler–Bernoulli beam theory and Galerkin discretization is developed. This electromechanical model is validated with previous experimental measurements for a specific value of the spacing distance between the two magnets. A parametric study is performed to determine the effects of the spacing distance between the two magnets on the static position of the harvester, natural frequency, and level of the harvested power. It is demonstrated that a decrease between the two attractive magnets results in a decrease in the natural frequency of the harvester with a strong softening behavior which gives the opportunity to harvest energy at broadband low-frequency range. The results also show that the presence and importance of the softening behavior depends on the electrical load resistance. In conclusion, the results show that depending on the available low excitation frequency, an enhanced piezoelectric energy harvester can be tuned and optimized by changing the spacing distance between the two tip magnets.

Description: In this paper, we are interested to justified two typical hypotheses that appear in the convergence analysis, \(|\lambda |\le 2\) and \(z_0\) sufficient close to \(z^*\) . In order to proof these ideas, the dynamics of a damped two-step Newton-type method for solving nonlinear equations and systems is presented. We present the parameter space for values of the damping factor in the complex plane, focusing our attention in such values for which the fixed points related to the roots are attracting. Moreover, we study the stability of the strange fixed points, showing that there exists attracting cycles and chaotical behavior for some choices of the damping factor.

Description: We consider memelements (memristors and memductors) with special periodic responses (mixed-mode oscillations) and 2D one-period loops yielding constant parameters describing the memelements as single units or components of oscillating circuits. One of the parameters is the action parameter having the dimensions of energy   \(\times \)   time and the SI unit Joule   \(\times \)   second . The remaining loops and parameters correspond to energy of magnetic and electric fields, power and rms current and voltage values. Special mixed one-period loops are also analyzed with pairs of signals associated with two different components of the circuits. The areas enclosed by various loops result in special equations which can be derived from the underlying ODE model of the circuits. The action of a memelement is equivalent to the time integral of the Lagrangian \(L(w,w')\) , where w is the internal state variable of a memelement. The analysis of memristive circuits and their parameters is considered in the framework of mixed-mode oscillations. Also, the unit of action for memelements is proposed to be called Chua ( \(=\) Joule \(\,\times \)   second ) to honor L.O. Chua for his work on memristors and memristive circuits.

Description: In this paper, the binary Bell polynomials are employed to find the bilinear form, bilinear Bäcklund transformation and Lax pair for the (3+1)-dimensional BKP equation. Based on Hirota’s bilinear form and three-wave method, multi-soliton solutions are presented. Furthermore, a new bilinear Bäcklund transformation is constructed via applying a gauge transformation to the Bäcklund transformation in bilinear form.

Description: In this paper, a \((2 + 1)\) -dimensional generalized shallow water wave equation is investigated through bilinear Hirota method. Interestingly, the breather-type and lump-type soliton solutions are obtained. Furthermore, dynamic properties of the soliton waves are revealed by means of the asymptotic analysis. Based on Hirota bilinear method and Riemann theta function, we succeed in constructing quasi-periodic wave solutions with a generalized form. We also display the asymptotic properties of these quasi-periodic wave solutions and point out the relation between the quasi-periodic wave solutions and the soliton solutions.

Description: The tensile deformation mechanisms of an extruded Mg-1Mn (wt.%) alloy at 323 K (50°C) was investigated by a combination of in situ tensile testing and electron backscatter diffraction analysis. The strong basal texture of the material resulted in placing the c -axis of most of the grains under compression during tensile loading parallel to the extrusion axis. Basal, prismatic, and pyramidal 〈 c + a 〉 slip activity was observed along with \( \left\{ {10\overline{1}2} \right\} \) extension twinning. However, \( \left\{ {10\overline{1}1} \right\} \) contraction twinning dominated the deformation. Although contraction twinning and pyramidal 〈 c + a 〉 slip both allow for c-component deformation, contraction twinning was preferred over pyramidal 〈 c + a 〉 slip, and this was expected to be due to the lower critical resolved shear stress (CRSS) value for the former mechanism at ambient temperatures. The contraction twins evolved into \( \left\{ {10\overline{1}1} \right\} - \left\{ {10\overline{1}2} \right\} \) double twins with an increase in strain. The propensity of double twins to form shear bands due to shear localization within the double twinned region, which eventually resulted in cracks, led to the failure of the material. The shear localization in the double twins was expected to be due to the enhanced activity of basal slip in the twinned volume. The observations from the present study suggest that contraction twinning may play a critical role in the limited cold formability of magnesium and its alloys.

Description: In this work, we present a micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS)-based in situ transmission electron microscope (TEM) experimental setup for high-temperature uniaxial tensile behavior of nanocrystalline thin films. This setup utilizes self-heating (Ohmic) to raise the temperature of thin films while applying uniaxial tensile loading using electro-thermal actuators. Self-heating is achieved by passing a high-density direct current through the specimen. We carried out a qualitative uniaxial tensile experiment on a 75-nm platinum thin film at 360 K. Temperature is estimated using COMSOL modeling. In this qualitative experiment, we observed initial grain growth followed by formation of edge serrations. We propose that grain boundary sliding coupled with grain growth is the underlying mechanism responsible for the observed behavior.

Description: In this paper, the classical problem and the inverse problem of generalized synchronization for different dimensional chaotic dynamical systems in discrete time are investigated. The generalized synchronization results have been derived using active control method and Lyapunov stability theory. Numerical simulations are performed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed schemes.

Description: Under investigation in this paper is a generalized \((2+1)\) -dimensional Korteweg–de Vries equation, which could describe many nonlinear phenomena in plasma physics. By virtue of the Bell’s polynomials, a straightforward way is presented to succinctly construct its bilinear form, bilinear Bäcklund transformation and Lax pairs. Once the Lax pairs obtained, the important infinite conservation laws of the equation are directly found. Moreover, based on the bilinear formalism, we construct the Riemann theta function periodic wave solutions and soliton solutions. Finally, the relationships between the periodic wave solutions and soliton solutions are strictly established, and the asymptotic behavior of the periodic waves is also presented with detailed proof.

Description: In the present paper, we study regular and chaotic dynamics from planar oscillations of a dumbbell satellite under the influence of the gravity field generated by an oblate body, considering the effect of the zonal harmonic parameter \(J_{2}\) . We theoretically show the existence of chaotic oscillations provided that the eccentricity becomes arbitrarily small, and the parameter \(J_{2}\) is of the same order of magnitude as the eccentricity. This is carried out by applying the so-called Melnikov method. Finally, for arbitrarily chosen values for the parameters involved in such a problem, we study the transition from regular to chaotic oscillations for a dumbbell satellite via the analysis of chaotic maps and Poincaré surfaces of section, respectively.

Description: We obtain some results on transitivity for cyclically permuted direct product maps, that is, maps of the form \(F\left( x_{1},x_{2},\ldots ,x_{n}\right) =\left( f_{\sigma (1)}\left( x_{\sigma (1)}\right) ,f_{\sigma (2)}\left( x_{\sigma (2)}\right) ,\ldots ,f_{\sigma (n)}\left( x_{\sigma (n)}\right) \right) \) , defined from the Cartesian product \(I^n\) onto itself, where \(I=[0,1]\) , \(\sigma \) is a cyclic permutation of \(\{1,2,\ldots ,n\}\) \((n\ge 2)\) and each map \(f_{\sigma (j)}:I\rightarrow I\) is continuous, \(j\in \{1,\ldots ,n\}\) . In particular, we prove that for \(n\ge 3\) the transitivity of F is equivalent to the total transitivity, and if \(n=2\) , we give a splitting result for transitive maps. Moreover, we extend well-known properties of transitivity from interval maps to cyclically permuted direct product maps. To do it, we use the strong link between F and the compositions \(\varphi _j=f_{\sigma (j)}\circ \ldots \circ f_{\sigma ^n(j)},\, j\in \{1,\ldots ,n\}.\)

Description: In this paper, targeted energy transfer from a nonlinear continuous system to a nonlinear energy sink (NES) is investigated. For this purpose, the equation of a nonlinear beam with simply supported ends, on which the NES is attached, is derived using Rayleigh–Ritz method and the Lagrange equation. Then, parameters of the NES are optimized by both sensitivity analysis and particle swarm optimization (PSO) method. Analysis of the energy transfer between the nonlinear beam and the NES is presented, using the complexification-averaging method, too. Attaching an NES to a nonlinear continuous system and using the PSO method to obtain the optimized parameters of the NES is a new development, presented in this work. Also, here, more than one mode of the beam has been considered for analysis of energy transfer between the NES and different modes of the primary system.

Description: In this work we present a pseudo-random Bit Generator via unidimensional multi-modal discrete dynamical systems called k -modal maps. These multi-modal maps are based on the logistic map and are useful to yield pseudo-random sequences with longer period, i.e., in order to attend the problem of periodicity. In addition the pseudo-random sequences generated via multi-modal maps are evaluated with the statistical suite of test from NIST and satisfactory results are obtained when they are used as key stream. Furthermore, we show the impact of using these sequences in a stream cipher resulting in a better encryption quality correlated with the number of modals of the chaotic map. Finally, a statistical security analysis applied to cipher images is given. The proposed algorithm to encrypt is able to resist the chosen-plaintext attack and differential attack because the same set of encryption keys generates a different cipher image every time it is used.

Description: Sheet-like precursors of NiO and Ag/NiO with different Ag contents were synthesized by a facile and easily controlled hydrothermal method. The NiO and Ag/NiO composite nanosheets were prepared by calcination of the corresponding precursors at 400°C for 3 h. The as-synthesized samples were characterized by thermogravimetric analysis, x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. The antibacterial activity of NiO and Ag/NiO composites to several gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria was examined. Results showed that NiO nanosheets hardly exhibited antibacterial activity; however, Ag/NiO composites displayed higher activity even with low Ag content.

Description: In this paper, we numerically study the effect of ion channel noise on the synchronization of delayed Newman–Watts network of stochastic Hodgkin–Huxley neurons. It is found that time delay can induce synchronization transitions only when channel noise intensity is intermediate, and the synchronization transitions become most obvious when channel noise intensity is optimal. As channel noise intensity is varied, the neurons can also exhibit synchronization transitions, and the phenomenon is enhanced when time delay is tuned at around time delays that can induce synchronization transitions. Moreover, this phenomenon becomes most obvious when the value of coupling strength or the value of network randomness is optimal. These results show that channel noise has a subtle regulation effect on the synchronization of the neuronal network. These findings may find potential implications for the normal and pathological functions in the brain and the information processing and transmission in neural systems.

Description: Using the tool of Turing instability for partial differential equations, we investigate the spatiotemporal distributions for solutions of a predator–prey-type reaction–diffusion model with spatiotemporal delay. The linear stability conditions of Turing instability, which induce bifurcation patterns in this model, are obtained. Moreover, according to these conditions, we numerically calculate the bifurcation diagrams by using time delay and the predator rate as parameters. The effects of two parameters in the different bifurcation diagrams are also demonstrated through numerical computations and lead to some spatiotemporal patterns of this model, which enrich the pattern formation of predator–prey models.

Description: A new two-lane traffic lattice hydrodynamic model is proposed with the consideration of the global average-and-optimal flux difference effect based on the local relative flux two-lane lattice model. First, the influence of the global average-and-optimal flux difference on the stability of traffic flow is investigated through linear stability theory. The results reveal that the unstable region will be shrunk by taking the global average-and-optimal flux difference effect into account. Additionally, by using the reductive perturbation method, the mKdV equation near the critical point is derived and traffic jam transition can be described by its kink–antikink soliton solution. The good agreement between the numerical simulations and the analytical results shows that traffic congestion can be suppressed efficiently by considering the global average-and-optimal flux difference and the local relative flux effects in two-lane traffic system and the local relative flux is more important than the global average-and-optimal flux difference in stabilizing traffic flow.

Description: Under investigation in this paper is a \((2+1)\) -dimensional Korteweg–de Vries-type equation, which can describe the propagation of nonlinear waves such as the shallow-water waves, surface and internal waves. By virtue of the Bell polynomials, symbolic computation and auxiliary independent variable, the bilinear forms, Bäcklund transformations and soliton solutions are obtained. Solitonic propagation and elastic collisions between/among the two- and three-solitons are discussed analytically and graphically. It can be seen that, after each collision, solitonic shapes and amplitudes keep invariant except for some phase shifts, and the smaller-amplitude soliton moves faster and overtakes the larger.

Description: Based on the optimal velocity model, a new continuum model considering traffic jerk effect is presented in this paper. Then, the critical condition for the steady traffic flow is deduced. Near the neutral stability line, nonlinear analysis is taken to derive the KdV-Burgers equation for describing the density wave, and one of the solutions is given. Numerical simulation is carried out to study the influence about the traffic jerk effect.

Description: The nonlinear dynamical behavior of the hysteretic rheological device proposed in Carboni et al. (J Eng Mech 2014 ) is investigated. The device can provide nonlinear hysteretic forces to a one-degree-of-freedom (one-dof) mass through suitable assemblies of NiTiNOL and steel wire ropes subject to tension–flexure cycles. The simultaneous occurrence of interwire friction, phase transformations and geometric nonlinearities is the key feature of the obtained material behavior. Frequency-response curves (FRCs) of the system subject to base excitation are obtained numerically via a continuation procedure together with stability analysis and experimentally by carrying out shaking table tests, respectively. The phenomenological identification of the material behaviors through force–displacement cycles, reported in Carboni et al. (J Eng Mech 2014 ), is employed for the computation of the FRCs and the equivalent damping ratios as function of the displacement amplitude. The different restoring forces give rise to whole new families of nonlinear hysteretic oscillators governed by softening, hardening and softening–hardening behaviors depending on the oscillation amplitude.

Description: The modeling of the piezoelectric actuator is very important for the fast and accurate nano-positioning control. However, the complex creep, vibration and hysteresis dynamics make the modeling very difficult. Because there are often model uncertainties in the first-principle model, the model identification from the experimental data is very necessary. Most identification approaches only consider partial dynamics of the creep, vibration and hysteresis. Though they can be combined together after they are individually identified from different experiments, it is difficult to design the completely decoupled experiment. In this study, an incremental Hammerstein-like modeling approach is proposed to identify the creep, vibration and hysteresis dynamics from one experiment. The model is called nonlinear–linear–linear-Hammerstein-like model, where one dynamic nonlinear system is used to model the hysteresis and two dynamic linear systems are used to model the creep and vibration. The creep and vibration are assumed to be decoupled, and there is a known upper bound on the order of the creep model. A two-stage incremental modeling approach is proposed to reduce the modeling complexity, where the slow dynamics of the hysteresis and creep are estimated first and then the residual of this model is used to estimate the fast dynamics of the vibration. In each stage, the model structure and order are determined by a locally regularized orthogonal least-squares-based model term selection algorithm and the parameters are estimated using a regularized least-squares method. The effectiveness of the proposed modeling approach is verified by the simulations and experiments on typical piezoelectric actuators.

Description: Compression behavior of the Al 0.5 CoCrCuFeNi high-entropy alloy (HEA) was studied at different temperatures from 673 K to 873 K at a low strain rate of 5 × 10 −5 /s to investigate the temperature effect on the mechanical properties and serration behavior. The face-centered-cubic (fcc) structure is confirmed at the lower temperature of 673 K and 773 K, and a structure of mixed fcc and body-centered cubic (bcc) is identified at a higher temperature of 873 K after compression tests using high-energy synchrotron x-ray diffraction. By comparing the stress–strain curves at different temperatures, two opposite directions of serrations types were found, named upward serrations appearing at 673 K and 773 K and downward serrations at 873 K, which may be due to dynamic strain aging.

Description: This paper investigates the problem of harvesting energy from transverse base vibration by a laminated piezoelectric beam. The beam is fixed at one end and subjected to a compressive load at the other end. The electromechanical model is set up, and the corresponding equations are derived by extended Hamilton principle. The simulation is carried out, and the results are obtained. The response under harmonic excitation exhibits that the system experiences period-doubling bifurcation and chaos as frequency varies, and the buckled state can generate more power compared to the unbuckled one. Coherence resonance is proved and can be observed when the system is subjected to Gauss white noise excitation, which can be used to optimize the efficiency of energy harvesting.

Description: In this paper, we present a new scheme for the secured transmission of discrete information based on hyperchaotic discrete dynamics. The system is a modified-Henon hyperchaotic discrete-time oscillator considered as transmitter and a delayed step-by-step observer used as receiver. The transmitter parameters play the role of secret keys of the transmission scheme. To increase the robustness of the secure data transmission against known plain-text attacks, the message to be sent is encrypted by additional secret keys and inserted by inclusion method in the chaotic discrete-time system dynamics. By this way, the parameters used as secret keys cannot be identified with usual techniques. Simulation results are presented to highlight the performances of the proposed method. One of the main contributions of this paper is to demonstrate the feasibility of discrete realization of a chaotic observer-based secured transmission scheme. Indeed, experimental implementation results using Arduino Uno board validate the proposed approach, since it exhibits good performances of throughput and cost in terms of resources used.

Description: This paper is concerned with the problem of complex function projective synchronization for uncertain networked chaotic complex systems. Based on Lyapunov stability, an adaptive control method is proposed for complex modified projective synchronization, which guarantees that the general drive-response networked chaotic complex systems are synchronized up to a complex scaling function matrix. Moreover, a complex fuzzy logic-based observer is designed to compensate for the model uncertainties and the external disturbances that exist in response networks, without prior information about uncertain factors. Numerical simulations are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Description: We investigate the spatiotemporal behaviour of a network where the local dynamics at the nodes (sites) is governed by piecewise linear maps. The local maps we consider exhibit the interesting and potentially useful property of robust chaos. We study the coupled system of such maps with varying fraction of random non-local connections, where the random links may be static, or may change over time. While this system is always unsynchronized under regular connections, synchronized chaos emerges when some of the links are rewired randomly. Further, increasing the frequency of link changes and fraction of random links significantly enhances the range of synchronization. Additionally, dynamic random links are also found to suppress unbounded dynamics in parameter regimes where blow-ups occurred under regular coupling.

Description: Chaotic delay systems are abundant in nature and play a significant role in engineering applications and in describing global behaviors of physical systems. This work presents novel first-order chaotic delay systems with the simplest nonlinearities. The exponential, absolute value, and hyperbolic and signum functions, which arise in many systems like electronic circuits, are utilized to generate chaotic delay systems. The practical realization of chaotic delay systems is carried out with all-pass filters and diode-based electronic circuits. Bifurcation diagrams using numerical simulations and experimental results are provided to verify the existence and feasibility of the novel chaotic delay systems. It is expected that the novel chaotic delay systems and the novel electronic implementation circuits will contribute to some practical applications and modeling of physical systems or events in different fields.

Description: Based on the state-dependent Riccati equation (SDRE) technique, in this paper, a suboptimal pinning control scheme is proposed to synchronize linearly coupled complex networks. The Lyapunov direct method is used to analyze the stability of the closed-loop control system, where it leads to a LMI criterion for pinning synchronization. It is shown that the time interval for synchronization of the proposed SDRE controllers is faster comparing with the results in the latest literatures. It is also shown that the minimum required coupling weights for the network synchronization in a finite desired time is decreased when some specified nodes in the network are pinned with the SDRE controllers. Based on the proposed criterion for pinned nodes selection, the network performances for different topological structures are investigated and the results are compared. The results indicate that the coupling weights for network synchronization in finite desired time in random Erdos Reiny networks are minimum when the pinned nodes are selected based on the minimum matching theorem. In small-world and scale-free networks, the minimum required coupling weight for network synchronization in finite desired time decreases when the highest degree nodes are pinned.

Description: In recent years, digital image processing has become commonplace with growing powerful and available image editing software. People without any professional technique can also manipulate and forge digital images easily. One of the most popular manners of digital image forgeries is the copy–move image forgery. Extensive researches in detecting copy–move forgery have made a deal of achievements, but most presented methods based on these researches have been only focus on some simple composite forgeries and not able to detect different types of post-processed forgeries. In this paper, we aim to deal with the post-processed forgery operations and scenarios, mainly geometric distortion. We introduce analytical Fourier–Mellin transform (AFMT) and focus on its discretization. We propose discrete analytical Fourier–Mellin transform (DAFMT). We also pay attention to high performance of DAFMT in detecting the copy–move image forgeries. Due to the AFMT described in polar coordinate, so we need to convert coordinate system from polar to Cartesian coordinates. To be computed conveniently, we define an auxiliary disk template to accomplish this conversion. We devote to the use of our proposed DAFMT in detection of image forgeries. A great deal of researches and experiments show that the proposed DAFMT can effectively resist translation, rotation, scaling, and added Gaussian noise operations. Compared with other relevant up-to-date methods, experiments also prove that DAFMT has made a progress in detecting and identifying the forgery images which are suffered from geometric distortion operations.

Description: In this paper, aluminosilicate glass was prepared from blast furnace slag and quartz sand. Fourier transform infrared, differential scanning calorimetry and density measurements were carried out to investigate the effects of SiO 2 on the aluminosilicate glass network rigidity. The results indicate that glass structure would be enhanced if more SiO 2 was introduced into the glass system. Meanwhile, both the glass transition temperature ( T g ) and the glass crystallization temperature ( T c ) increase slightly; the increase in density of the glass being further evidence of the enhancement in glass network rigidity. Dielectric measurements show that the dielectric constant and dielectric loss decrease with more SiO 2 . The properties of the prepared aluminosilicate glasses are comparable to those of E glass, indicating that blast furnace slags are suitable for producing aluminosilicate glass with low dielectric constant and dielectric loss.

Description: The effect of inverting the Mo/Si ratio on the oxidation of two boron-containing alloys has been studied in air for temperatures 700–1400°C. The compositions of the alloys in atomic percent are Nb-25Cr-20Mo-15Si-15B, Nb-25Cr-20Mo-15Si-10B, Nb-25Cr-15Mo-20Si-10B, and Nb-25Cr-15Mo-20Si-15B hereafter referred to as 10B, 15B, 2010, and 2015 alloys, respectively. The as-cast microstructure of the alloys contains a mixture of NbCr 2 Laves phase, Nb 5 Si 3 silicide, and additionally Nb 3 Si silicide for the Mo/Si modified alloys. Primary oxides developed for all alloys are CrNbO 4 , Nb 2 O 5 , and SiO 2 . Improvements in high-temperature oxidation have been seen for the Mo/Si-modified 15B containing alloy under cyclic testing. Samples have shown similar oxidation responses in both long-term static and cyclic oxidation for 168-h exposures up to 1300°C. Characterization of oxide products was done by x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive spectroscopy.

Description: The measurement of mechanical properties at the microscale is of interest across a wide range of engineering applications. Much recent work has demonstrated that micropillar compression can be used to measure changes in flow properties at temperatures up to 600°C. In this work, we demonstrate that an alternative microscale bend testing geometry can be used to measure elastic, plastic, and fracture behavior up to 770°C in silicon. We measure a Young’s modulus value of 130 GPa at room temperature, which is seen to drop with increasing temperature to ≈125 GPa. Below 500°C, no failure is seen up to elastic strains of 3%. At 530°C, the microcantilever fractures in a brittle fashion. At temperatures of 600°C and above plastic deformation is seen before brittle fracture. The yield stresses at these temperatures are in good agreement with literature values measured using micropillar compression.

Description: The microthermomechanical behavior of a precipitation-hardenable Ni-48Ti-25Pd (at.%) shape memory alloy has been investigated as a function of temperature. Micropillars were fabricated within a large 〈145〉-oriented grain and compressed in situ in the SEM at elevated temperatures corresponding to the martensite and austenite phase transformation temperatures. The precipitation-strengthened alloys exhibited stable pseudoelastic behavior with little or no residual strains when near the transformation temperatures. In the plastic regime, slip was observed to occur via pencil glide, circumventing the fine scale precipitates along multiple slip planes.