A precursor mechanism triggering the second magnetization peak phenomenon in superconducting materials

The correlation in type-II superconductors between the creep rate S and the Second Magnetization Peak (SMP) phenomenon which produces an increase in Jc, as a function of the field (H), has been investigated at different temperatures by starting from the minimum in S(H) and the onset of the SMP phenomenon detected on a FeSe0.5Te0.5 sample. Then the analysis has been extended by considering the entire S(H) curves and comparing our results with those of many other superconducting materials reported in literature. In this way, we find evidence that the flux dynamic mechanisms behind the appearance of the SMP phenomenon in Jc(H) are activated at fields well below those where the critical current starts effectively to increase. Moreover, the found universal relation between the minimum in the S(H) and the SMP phenomenon in Jc(H) shows that both can be attributed to a sequential crossover between a less effective pinning (losing its effectiveness at low fields) to a more effective pinning (still acting at high fields), regardless of the type-II superconductor taken into consideration.

The Water Flux Dynamic in a Hybrid Forward Osmosis-Membrane Distillation for Produced Water Treatment

Standalone membrane distillation (MD) and forward osmosis (FO) have been considered as promising technologies for produced water treatment. However, standalone MD is still vulnerable to membrane-wetting and scaling problems, while the standalone FO is energy-intensive, since it requires the recovery of the draw solution (DS). Thus, the idea of coupling FO and MD is proposed as a promising combination in which the MD facilitate DS recovery for FO—and FO acts as pretreatment to enhance fouling and wetting-resistance of the MD. This study was therefore conducted to investigate the effect of DS temperature on the dynamic of water flux of a hybrid FO–MD. First, the effect of the DS temperature on the standalone FO and MD was evaluated. Later, the flux dynamics of both units were evaluated when the FO and DS recovery (via MD) was run simultaneously. Results show that an increase in the temperature difference (from 20 to 60 °C) resulted in an increase of the FO and MD fluxes from 11.17 ± 3.85 to 30.17 ± 5.51 L m−2 h−1, and from 0.5 ± 0.75 to 16.08 L m−2 h−1, respectively. For the hybrid FO–MD, either MD or FO could act as the limiting process that dictates the equilibrium flux. Both the concentration and the temperature of DS affected the flux dynamic. When the FO flux was higher than MD flux, DS was diluted, and its temperature decreased; both then lowered the FO flux until reaching an equilibrium (equal FO and MD flux). When FO flux was lower than MD flux, the DS was concentrated which increased the FO flux until reaching the equilibrium. The overall results suggest the importance of temperature and concentration of solutes in the DS in affecting the water flux dynamic hybrid process.

Comparing Closed Chamber Measures of Ammonia Volatilization from Kentucky Bluegrass Fertilized by Granular Urea1

Easy handling and low unit N cost make prilled urea (46-0-0) a popular fertilizer. While incomplete recovery of granular urea applications by turfgrass is documented, practical guidance for small-plot field assessment of ammonia (NH3) volatilization remains limited. Our objectives were to (i) develop a method for field-implementation of closed flux/dynamic chambers to measure ammonia emission over a 3-day period following granular urea application to turfgrass, and (ii) infer the significance of said measures to levels arising from simultaneous static-chamber measures. A Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L. ‘Midnight’) lawn was treated with granular urea-N at a rate of 0 or 43 kg.ha−1 (38 lb/A) twice in both 2014 and 2015. Flux chamber measures of mean ammonia volatilization from urea-N fertilizer applied 3 days previous exceeded simultaneous static chamber measures by a factor of 17. Relative to static, the closed dynamic/flux chamber system described affords a more precise and efficient method for measuring ammonia volatilization from small field plots. Furthermore, over a 3-day period of dry conditions and ambient temperatures fluctuating between 10 and 31 C (50 and 88 F), as much as 23.1% of a granular urea application broadcast over a Kentucky bluegrass lawn can be volatilized as ammonia. Index words: flux, gaseous emissions, methods, nitrogen, static, turfgrass. Species used in this study: ‘Midnight' Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.).

Robust Filtering for Dynamic Compensation of Rhodium Self Powered Neutron Detectors

Self-Powered Neutron Detectors (SPNDs), which are widely used in nuclear reactors to obtain core neutron flux distribution, are accurate at steady state but responds slowly to changes in neutron flux. Dynamic compensation methods are required to improve the response speed of the SPNDs and make it possible to apply the SPNDs for core monitoring and surveillance. In this paper, three digital dynamic compensation methods are proposed. All of the three methods are based on the convex optimization framework using linear matrix inequalities (LMI). The simulation results show that three methods all can provide a reasonable balance between response speed and noise suppression.

Analysis of dynamic morphogen scale invariance

During the development of some tissues, fields of multipotent cells differentiate into distinct cell types in response to the local concentration of a signalling factor called a morphogen. Typically, individual organisms within a population differ in size, but their body plans appear to be scaled versions of a common template. Similarly, closely related species may differ by three or more orders of magnitude in size, yet common structures between species scale to have similar proportions. In standard reaction–diffusion equations, the morphogen range has a length scale that depends on a balance between kinetic and transport processes and not on the length or size of the field of cells being patterned. However, as shown here for a class of morphogen-patterning systems, a number of conditions lead to scale invariance of the morphogen distribution at equilibrium and during the transient approach to equilibrium. Equilibrium scale invariance requires conservation of the total binding site number and total input flux. Dynamic scale invariance additionally requires sufficient binding to slow the diffusion of ligand. The equations derived herein can be extended to the study of other perturbations to gain further insight into the processes regulating the robustness and scaling of morphogen-mediated pattern formation.