A Sensitivity Mapping Technique for Tensile Force and Case Depth Characterization Based on Magnetic Minor Hysteresis Loops

In the nondestructive testing and evaluation area,magnetic major hysteresis loop measurement technology are widely applied for ferromagnetic material evaluation.However the characterization ability of major hysteresis loop measurement technology greatly varies as the evaluated target properties.To solve this limitation,magnetic minor hysteresis loops,which reflect the responses of ferromagnetic material magnetization in a systematic way,is recommend.Inspired by plenty of information carried by the minor loops,the sensitivity mapping technique was developed to achieve the highest sensitivity of minor-loop parameters to the nondestructively evaluated targets.In this study,for the first time,the sensitivity mapping technique is used to measure the tensile force in a steel strand and evaluate the effective case depth in induction-hardened steel rods.The method and procedures for the sensitivity mapping technique are given before experimental detection.The obtained experimental results indicate that the linear correlation between the induced voltage(or the magnetic induction intensity)and the tensile force(or effective case depth)exists at most of the locations in the cluster of minor loops.The obtained sensitivity maps can be used to optimize the applied magnetic field(or excitation current)and the analyzed locations at the minor loops for achieving the highest sensitivity.For the purpose of tensile force measurement,it is suggested that the strand should be firstly magnetized to the near-saturation state and then restored to the remanent state.In this way,the highest sensitivity is obtained as about 15.26 mV/kN.As for the induction-hardened steel rods,the highest sensitivity of magnetic induction intensity to the effective case depth occurs under low magnetic field conditions and the absolute value of the highest sensitivity is about 0.1110 T/mm.This indicates that if the highest sensitivity is required in the case depth evaluation,the induction-hardened steel rods are only required to be weakly magnetized.The proposed sensitivity mapping technique shows the good performance in the high-sensitivity evaluation of tensile force and case depth in ferromagnetic materials and its application scope can be extended to other nondestructive detection fields.

Performance prediction of four-contact vertical Hall-devices using a conformal mapping technique

Instead of the conventional design with five contacts in the sensor active area, innovative vertical Hall devices （VHDs） with four contacts and six contacts are asymmetrical in structural design but symmetrical in the current flow that can be well fit for the spinning current technique for offset elimination. In this article, a conformal mapping calculation method is used to predict the performance of asymmetrical VHD embedded in a deep n-well with four contacts. Furthermore, to make the calculation more accurate, the junction field effect is also involved into the conformal mapping method. The error between calculated and simulated results is less than 5% for the currentrelated sensitivity, and approximately 13% for the voltage-related sensitivity. This proves that such calculations can be used to predict the optimal structure of the vertical Hall-devices.

Static Analysis of Anisotropic Doubly-Curved Shell Subjected to Concentrated Loads Employing Higher Order Layer-Wise Theories

In the presentmanuscript,a Layer-Wise(LW)generalizedmodel is proposed for the linear static analysis of doublycurved shells constrained with general boundary conditions under the influence of concentrated and surface loads.The unknown field variable is modelled employing polynomials of various orders,each of them defined within each layer of the structure.As a particular case of the LW model,an Equivalent Single Layer(ESL)formulation is derived too.Different approaches are outlined for the assessment of external forces,as well as for non-conventional constraints.The doubly-curved shell is composed by superimposed generally anisotropic laminae,each of them characterized by an arbitrary orientation.The fundamental governing equations are derived starting from an orthogonal set of principal coordinates.Furthermore,generalized blending functions account for the distortion of the physical domain.The implementation of the fundamental governing equations is performed bymeans of the Generalized Differential Quadrature(GDQ)method,whereas the numerical integrations are computed employing theGeneralized IntegralQuadrature(GIQ)method.In the post-processing phase,an effective procedure is adopted for the reconstruction of stress and strain through-the-thickness distributions based on the exact fulfillment of three-dimensional equilibrium equations.A series of systematic investigations are performed in which the static response of structures with various curvatures and lamination schemes,calculated by the present methodology,have been successfully compared to those ones obtained fromrefined finite element three-dimensional simulations.Even though the present LW approach accounts for a two-dimensional assessment of the structural problem,it is capable of well predicting the three-dimensional response of structures with different characteristics,taking into account a reduced computational cost and pretending to be a valid alternative to widespread numerical implementations.

A comprehensive review of medical image enhancement technologies

Image enhancement plays an important role in many applications of medical imaging. Image enhancement technologies can improve the qualities of medical images with low contrast and high level noise by stretching contrast, suppressing noise and so on. Such images processed by image enhancement technologies are helpful to doctors in analyses and diagnoses. In this paper, we present a technical review of various existing image enhancement methodologies which are often emoloved.

GREEN'S FUNCTIONS FOR 2D PROBLEMS OF ANISOTROPIC PIEZOELECTRIC MATERIAL WITH A STRIP REGION

By using Stroh's formalism and the conformal mapping technique,we derive the simple ex- plicit elastic fields of a generalized line dislocation and a generalized line force in a general anisotropic piezo- electric strip with fixed surfaces,which are two fixed conductor electrodes.The solutions obtained are usually considered as Green's functions which play important roles in the boundary element methods.The Coulomb forces of the distributed charges along the region boundaries on the line charge q at z^0 are analysed in detail. The results are valid not only for plane and antiplane problems but also for the coupled problems between in- plane and outplane deformations.

THE GENERAL SOLUTION FOR THE STRESS PROBLEM OF CIRCULAR CYLINDRICAL SHELLS WITH AN ARBITRARY CUTOUT

In this paper a complex variable analytic method for solving stress concentrations in the circular cylindrical shell is proposed. The problem to be solved can be summarized into the solution of an infinite algebraic equation series. The solution can be normal and effective by means of this method. Numerical results for stress concentrations in the shell with a circular, elliptic cutout are graphically presented.

Degenerate scale problem in antiplane elasticity or Laplace equation for contour shapes of triangles or quadrilaterals

This paper provides several solutions to the degenerate scale for the shapes of triangles or quadrilaterals in an exterior boundary value problem （BVP） of the antiplane elasticity or the Laplace equation. The Schwarz-Christoffel mapping is used throughout. It is found that a complex potential with a simple form in the mapping plane satisfies the vanishing displacement condition （or w ---- 0） along the boundary of the unit circle when the dimension R reaches its critical value 1. This means that the degenerate size in the physical plane is also achieved. The degenerate scales can be evaluated from the partic- ular integrals depending on certain parameters in the mapping function. The numerical results of degenerate sizes for the shapes of triangles or quadrilaterals are provided.

Integrated Sequential Groundwater Contaminant Source Characterization and Pareto-Optimal Monitoring Network Design Application for a Contaminated Aquifer Site

Accurate and reliable groundwater contaminant source characterization with limited contaminant concentration monitoring measurement data remains a challenging problem. This study presents an illustrative application of developed methodologies to a real-life contaminated aquifer. The source characterization and optimal monitoring network design methodologies are used sequentially for a contaminated aquifer site located in New South Wales, Australia. Performance of the integrated optimal source characterization methodology combining linked simulation-optimization, fractal singularity mapping technique (FSMT) and Pareto optimal solutions is evaluated. This study presents an integrated application of optimal source characterization with spatiotemporal concentration measurement data obtained from sequentially designed monitoring networks. The proposed sequential source characterization and monitoring network design methodology shows efficiency in identifying the unknown source characteristics. The designed monitoring network achieves comparable efficiency and accuracy utilizing much smaller number of monitoring locations as compared to a more ideal scenario where concentration measurements from a very large number of widespread monitoring wells are available. The proposed methodology is potentially useful for efficient characterization of unknown contaminant sources in a complex contaminated aquifer site, where very little initial concentration measurement data are available. The illustrative application of the methodology to a real-life contaminated aquifer site demonstrates the capability and efficiency of the proposed methodology.

An Adjusted Gray Map Technique for Constructing Large Four-Level Uniform Designs

A uniform experimental design(UED)is an extremely used powerful and efficient methodology for designing experiments with high-dimensional inputs,limited resources and unknown underlying models.A UED enjoys the following two significant advantages:(i)It is a robust design,since it does not require to specify a model before experimenters conduct their experiments;and(ii)it provides uniformly scatter design points in the experimental domain,thus it gives a good representation of this domain with fewer experimental trials(runs).Many real-life experiments involve hundreds or thousands of active factors and thus large UEDs are needed.Constructing large UEDs using the existing techniques is an NP-hard problem,an extremely time-consuming heuristic search process and a satisfactory result is not guaranteed.This paper presents a new effective and easy technique,adjusted Gray map technique(AGMT),for constructing(nearly)UEDs with large numbers of four-level factors and runs by converting designs with s two-level factors and n runs to(nearly)UEDs with 2^(t−1)s four-level factors and 2tn runs for any t≥0 using two simple transformation functions.Theoretical justifications for the uniformity of the resulting four-level designs are given,which provide some necessary and/or sufficient conditions for obtaining(nearly)uniform four-level designs.The results show that the AGMT is much easier and better than the existing widely used techniques and it can be effectively used to simply generate new recommended large(nearly)UEDs with four-level factors.

Identifying porphyry-Cu geochemical footprints using local neighborhood statistics in Baft area, Iran

Identifying geochemical anomalies related to ore deposition processes facilitates the practice of vectoring toward undiscovered mineral deposit sites.In districtscale exploration studies,analysis of dispersion patterns of ore-forming elements results in more-reliable targets.Therefore,deriving significant geochemical footprints and mapping the ensuing geochemical anomalies are of important issues that lead exploration geologists toward anomaly sources,e.g.,mineralization.This paper aims to examine the effectiveness of local relative enrichment index and singularity mapping technique,as two methods of local neighborhood statistics,in the delineation of anomalous areas for further exploration.A data set of element contents obtained from stream sediment samples in Baft area,Iran,therefore was applied to illustrate the procedure proposed.The close relationship between anomalous patterns recognized and known Cu-occurrences demonstrated that the procedures proposed can efficiently model complex dispersion patterns of geochemical anomalies in the study area.The results showed that singularity mapping method is a better technique,compared to local relative enrichment index,to delineate targets for follow-up exploration in the area.We made this comparison because,as pointed out by exploration geochemists,dispersion patterns of geochemical indicators in stream sediments vary in different areas even for the same deposit type.The variety in the dispersion patterns is due to the operation of post-mineralization subsystems,which are affected by local factors such as landscape of the areas under study.Therefore,the effectiveness of the methods should be evaluated in every area for every targeted deposit.

CartoXP Guided Catheter Ablation for Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation Without Three-dimensional Modeling of Left Atrium and Pulmonary Veins

Objectives This study was to investigate the differences between modeling and non-modeling left atrium （LA） in CartoXP system guided catheter ablation for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation （PAF）. Methods From Jan to Dec in 2008 total 31 cases with PAF were enrolled. All were treated by the same electrophysiologist with CartoXP guidance. Catheter ablation was accomplished without left atrium and pulmonary veins modeling in 17 patients （non-modeling group） and with left atrium modeling in 14 patients （modeling group）. The detailed ablation method was based on circumferential pulmonary veins isolation （CPVI）. And linear ablation of tricuspid valvular isthmus was performed individually. The ablation endpoint was a complete isolation of pulmonary vein potential from left atrium and no further induced continuous fast atrial arrhythmia including atrial fibrillation （AF）, atrial flutter （AFL） and atrial tachycardia （AT）. Each step for the procedures and the follow-up outcomes were compared correspondingly. Results The total procedure time was 107.23 ± 28.92 min in modeling group vs 93.47 ±26.09 min in non-modeling group （ P 〉 0.05 ）. The X-ray exposure time was significantly longer in modeling group （21.09 ±6. 49 rain） than in non-modeling group （14. 16 ± 5.35 min）. The CPVI times of right pulmonary veins and left pulmonary veins were 28. 14 ± 9. 26 min was 27.29 ± 18.53 min in modeling group respectively, vs 18.00 ±4. 51 min and 23.94 ± 7. 10 min in non-modeling group respectively, （P 〈 0. 05 ）. There is no significant difference between modeling group （85.7%） and non-modeling group （82.4%） over follow-up period of 2 to 13 months. Confusions CartoXP system guided catheter ablation of PAF without modeling of left atrium and pulmonary veins took less time in X-ray exposure and ablation steps, comparing with left atrium modeling procedure.