Influence of Carbon Black and Silica Fillers with Different Concentrations on Dielectric Relaxation in Nitrile Butadiene Rubber Investigated by Impedance Spectroscopy

In neat nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR), three relaxation processes were identified by impedance spectroscopy: α and α′ processes and the conduction contribution. We investigated the effects of different carbon black (CB) and silica fillers with varying filler content on the dielectric relaxations in NBR by employing a modified dispersion analysis program that deconvolutes the corresponding processes. The central frequency for the α′ process with increasing high abrasion furnace (HAF) CB filler was gradually upshifted at room temperature, while the addition of silica led to a gradual downshift of the center frequency. The activation energy behavior for the α′ process was different from that for the central frequency. The use of HAF CB led to a rapid increase in DC conductivity, resulting from percolation. The activation energy for the DC conductivity of NBRs with HAF CB decreased with increasing filler, which is consistent with that reported in different groups.

Repetitive Transient Extraction Using the Optimized SES Entropy Wavelet for Fault Diagnosis of Rotating Machinery

Repetitive transients are usually generated in the monitoring data when a fault occurs on the machinery. As a result, many methods such as kurtogram and optimized Morlet wavelet and kurtosis method are proposed to extract the repetitive transients for fault diagnosis. However, one shortcoming of these methods is that they are constructed based on the index of kurtosis and are sensitive to the impulsive noise, leading to failure in accurately diagnosing the fault of the machinery operating under harsh environment. To address this issue, an optimized SES entropy wavelet method is proposed. In the proposed method, the optimized parameters including bandwidth and central frequency of Morlet wavelets are selected. Then, based on the wavelet coefficients decomposed using the optimized Morlet wavelet, the SES entropy is calculated to select the scales of wavelet coefficients. Finally, the repetitive transients are reconstructed based on the denoising wavelet coefficients of the selected scales. One simulation case and vibration data collected from the experimental setup are used to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. The simulated and experimental analyses showed that the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the proposed method has the largest value. Specifically, the SNR in the experimental analysis of the proposed method is 0.6, while that of the other three methods is 0.043, 0.0065, and 0.0045, respectively. Therefore, the result shows that the proposed method is superior to the traditional methods for repetitive transient extraction from the vibration data suffered from impulsive noise.

Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) Whistle Modulation during a Trawl Bycatch Event in the Adriatic Sea

Marine mammal vocal elements have been investigated for decades to assess whether they correlate with stress levels or stress indicators. Due to their acoustic plasticity, the interpretation of dolphins’ acoustic signals of has been studied most extensively. This work describes the acoustic parameters detected in whistle spectral contours, collected using passive acoustic monitoring (PAM), in a bycatch event that involved three Bottlenose dolphins during midwater commercial trawling. The results indicate a total number of 23 upsweep whistles recorded during the bycatch event, that were analyzed based on the acoustic parameters as follows: (Median; 25th percentile; 75th percentile) Dr (second), total duration (1.09; 0.88; 1.24); fmin (HZ), minimum frequency (5836.4; 5635.3; 5967.1); fmax (HZ), maximum frequency, (11,610 ± 11,293; 11,810); fc (HZ), central frequency; (8665.2; 8492.9; 8982.8); BW (HZ), bandwidth (5836.4; 5635.3; 5967.1); Step, number of step (5; 4; 6). Furthermore, our data show that vocal production during the capture event was characterized by an undescribed to date combination of two signals, an ascending whistle (upsweep), and a pulsed signal that we called “low-frequency signal” in the frequency band between 4.5 and 7 kHz. This capture event reveals a novel aspect of T. truncatus acoustic communication, it confirms their acoustic plasticity, and suggests that states of discomfort are conveyed through their acoustic repertoire.

The Application of Low-Frequency Transition in the Assessment of the Second-Order Zeeman Frequency Shift

Second-order Zeeman frequency shift is one of the major systematic factors affecting the frequency uncertainty performance of cesium atomic fountain clock. Second-order Zeeman frequency shift is calculated by experimentally measuring the central frequency of the (1,1) or (−1,−1) magnetically sensitive Ramsey transition. The low-frequency transition method can be used to measure the magnetic field strength and to predict the central fringe of (1,1) or (−1,−1) magnetically sensitive Ramsey transition. In this paper, we deduce the formula for magnetic field measurement using the low-frequency transition method and measured the magnetic field distribution of 4 cm inside the Ramsey cavity and 32 cm along the flight region experimentally. The result shows that the magnetic field fluctuation is less than 1 nT. The influence of low-frequency pulse signal duration on the accuracy of magnetic field measurement is studied and the optimal low-frequency pulse signal duration is determined. The central fringe of (−1,−1) magnetically sensitive Ramsey transition can be predicted by using a numerical integrating of the magnetic field “map”. Comparing the predicted central fringe with that identified by Ramsey method, the frequency difference between these two is, at most, a fringe width of 0.3. We apply the experimentally measured central frequency of the (−1,−1) Ramsey transition to the Breit-Rabi formula, and the second-order Zeeman frequency shift is calculated as 131.03 × 10−15, with the uncertainty of 0.10 × 10−15.

Double slot aerosol jet printed antenna for X-band applications

A double slot antenna for X-band applications was designed and aerosol jet printing technology was used to fabricate the prototype with silver nano-ink on a flexible polyimide substrate. We investigated the microwave losses of printed antennas in the range from 100 kHz to 27 GHz, obtained at sintering temperatures of 200 °C and 250 °C. Double slot X-band antennas have been calculated and measured. It was found that an operating bandwidth of the printed antenna is 10% in the region of the central frequency of 10.5 GHz. Thus, the possibility of forming antennas on flexible polymer substrates with high functional characteristics by aerosol jet printing method has been demonstrated.

Long and Short Fast Radio Bursts Are Different from Repeating and Nonrepeating Transients

We collect 133 fast radio bursts (FRBs), including 110 nonrepeating and 23 repeating ones, and systematically investigate their observational properties. To check the frequency dependence of FRB classifications, we define our samples with a central frequency below/above 1 GHz as subsample I/II. First, we find that there is a clear bimodal distribution of pulse width for subsample I. If we classify FRBs into short FRBs (sFRBs; <100 ms) and long FRBs (lFRBs; >100 ms) as done for short and long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), the sFRBs at higher central frequency are commonly shorter than those at lower central frequency not only for nonrepeating but also repeating sFRBs. Second, we find that fluence and peak flux density are correlated with a power-law relation of F ∝ S p , obs γ for both sFRBs and lFRBs whose distributions are obviously different. Third, the lFRBs with isotropic energies ranging from 1042 to 1044 erg are more energetic than the sFRBs in the F–DM EX plane, indicating that they are two representative types. Finally, it is interesting to note that the peak flux density behaves independently on the redshift when the distance of the FRBs becomes far enough, which is similar to the scenario of the peak flux evolving with redshift in the field of GRBs. We predict that fainter FRBs at a higher redshift of z > 2 can be successfully detected by FAST and the Square Kilometre Array in the near future.

Comparison of Mechanical and Low-Frequency Dielectric Properties of Thermally and Thermo-Mechanically Aged Low Voltage CSPE/XLPE Nuclear Power Plant Cables

During the service period of low-voltage nuclear cables, multiple stresses influence the aging of polymeric materials of cables. Thermal and radiation stresses are considered service aging factors in qualification tests, while the standards usually do not prescribe mechanical stress. CSPE/XLPE insulated nuclear cable samples were exposed to thermal and combined thermo-mechanical aging for more than 1200 h at 120 °C. The real and imaginary parts of permittivity were measured in the 200 μHz to 50 mHz range as dielectric properties. The Shore D hardness of the samples was measured to analyze the mechanical characteristics of the cable. To characterize the dielectric spectrum, derived quantities, namely central real and imaginary permittivities and real and imaginary permittivities’ central frequencies were calculated. The change of dielectric spectra did not show a clear trend with aging, but the imaginary permittivity’s central frequency was higher by 0.5 mHz in the case of thermo-mechanically aged samples. The Shore D hardness was also higher on the thermo-mechanically aged samples. These findings show the combined aging has a higher impact on the insulation properties. Hence, involving the mechanical stress in the aging procedure of cable qualification enables the design of more robust cables in a harsh environment.

Obtaining the frequencies of Schenberg detector sphere using finite element modelling

The resonant-mass gravitational wave detector SCHENBERG is a spherical detector that operates with a central frequency close to 3200 Hz and a bandwidth around 200 Hz. It has a spherical mass that works as an antenna whose weight is 1150 kg and is connected to the outer environment by a suspension system designed to attenuate local noise due to seism as well as other sources; the sphere is suspended by its center of mass. When a gravitational wave passes by the detector, the antenna is expected to vibrate. This motion should be monitored by six parametric microwave transducers whose output signals will be digitally analyzed. In order to determine the detector performance better, it is necessary to obtain the vibration frequencies of the sphere with a better precision. To achieve such a goal the sphere with the holes to mount the transducers and the central hole from which the sphere is suspended is simulated in a finite element method program when the gravity is applied to the sphere and the deformation is kept. After that the vibration normal modes of the sphere are calculated and they are compared to the experimental results.