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Fault diagnosis of rotating machinery is of great importance to the high quality products and long-term safe operation. However, the useful weak features are usually corrupted by strong background noise, thus increasing the difficulty of the feature extraction. Thereby, a novel denoising method based on the tunable Q-factor wavelet transform (TQWT) using neighboring coefficients is proposed in this article. The emerging TQWT possesses excellent properties compared with the conventional constant-Q wavelet transforms, which can tune Q-factor according to the oscillatory behavior of the signal. Meanwhile, neighboring coefficients denoising is adopted to avoid the overkill of conventional term-by-term thresholding techniques. Because of having the combined advantages of the two methods, the presented denoising method is more practical and effective than other methods. The proposed method is applied to a simulated signal, a rolling element bearing with an outer race defect from antenna transmission chain and a gearbox fault detection case. The processing results demonstrate that the proposed method can successfully identify the fault features, showing that this method is more effective than the conventional wavelet thresholding denoising methods, term-by-term TQWT denoising schemes and spectral kurtosis.

This paper investigates the dynamics of cantilevered CNTs conveying fluid in longitudinal magnetic field and presents the possibility of controlling/tuning the stability of the CNT system with the aid of magnetic field. The slender CNT is treated as an Euler-Bernoulli beam. Based on nonlocal elasticity theory, the equation of motion with consideration of magnetic field effect is developed. This partial differential equation is then discretized using the differential quadrature method (DQM). Numerical results show that the nonlocal small-scale parameter makes the fluid-conveying CNT more flexible and can shift the unstable mode in which flutter instability occurs first at sufficiently high flow velocity from one to another. More importantly, the addition of a longitudinal magnetic field leads to much richer dynamical behaviors of the CNT system. Indeed, the presence of longitudinal magnetic field can significantly affect the evolution of natural frequency of the dynamical system when the flow velocity is successively increased. With increasing magnetic field parameter, it is shown that the CNT system behaves stiffer and hence the critical flow velocity becomes higher. It is of particular interest that when the magnetic field parameter is equal to or larger than the flow velocity, the cantilevered CNT conveying fluid becomes unconditionally stable, indicating that the dynamic stability of the system can be controlled due to the presence of a longitudinal magnetic field.

A wind turbine system equipped with a tuned liquid column damper （TLCD） is comprehensively studied via shaking table tests using a 1/13-scaled model. The effects of wind and wave actions are considered by inputting response- equivalent accelerations on the shaking table. The test results show that the control effect of the TLCD system is significant in reducing the responses under both wind-wave equivalent loads and ground motions, but obviously varies for different inputs, Further, a blade-hub-tower integrated numerical model for the wind turbine system is established. The model is capable of considering the rotational effect of blades by combining Kane＇s equation with the finite element method. The responses of the wind tower equipped with TLCD devices are numerically obtained and compared to the test results, showing that under both controlled and uncontrolled conditions with and without blades＇ rotation, the corresponding responses exhibit good agreement. This demonstrates that the proposed numerical model performs well in capturing the wind-wave coupled response of the offshore wind turbine systems under control. Both numerical and experimental results show that the TLCD system can significantly reduce the structural response and thus improve the safety and serviceability of the offshore wind turbine tower systems. Additional issues that require further study are discussed.

Tuned mass dampers （TMDs） have been widely used in recent years to mitigate structural vibration. However, the damping mechanisms employed in the TMDs are mostly based on viscous dampers, which have several well-known disadvantages, such as oil leakage and difficult adjustment of damping ratio for an operating TMD. Alternatively, eddy current damping （ECD） that does not require any contact with the main structure is a potential solution. This paper discusses the design, analysis, manufacture and testing of a large-scale horizontal TMD based on ECD. First, the theoretical model of ECD is formulated, then one large-scale horizontal TMD using ECD is constructed, and finally performance tests of the TMD are conducted. The test results show that the proposed TMD has a very low intrinsic damping ratio, while the damping ratio due to ECD is the dominant damping source, which can be as large as 15% in a proper configuration. In addition, the damping ratios estimated with the theoretical model are roughly consistent with those identified from the test results, and the source of this error is investigated. Moreover, it is demonstrated that the damping ratio in the proposed TMD can be easily adjusted by varying the air gap between permanent magnets and conductive plates. In view of practical applications, possible improvements and feasibility considerations for the proposed TMD are then discussed. It is confirmed that the proposed TMD with ECD is reliable and feasible for use in structural vibration control.

A novel infrared light emitting diode （LED） based on an ordered p-n heterojunction built of a p-Si1-xGe/alloy and n-ZnO nanowires has been developed. The electroluminescence （EL） emission of this LED is in the infrared range, which is dominated by the band gap of Si1-xGex alloy. The EL wavelength variation of the LED shows a red shift, which increases with increasing mole fraction of Ge. With Ge mole fractions of 0.18, 0.23 and 0.29, the average EL wavelengths are around 1,144, 1,162 and 1,185 nm, respectively. The observed magnitudes of the red shifts are consistent with theoretical calculations. Therefore, by modulating the mole fraction of Ge in the Si1-xGex alloy, we can adjust the band gap of the SiGe film and tune the emission wavelength of the fabricated LED. Such an IR LED device may have great potential applications in optical communication, environmental monitoring and biological and medical analyses.

We demonstrate the fabrication of magnetically assembled one-dimensional chain-like photonic nanostructures with significantly high photonic stability. The key lies in the use of agarose hydrogel to prevent coagulation of the magnetic assemblies. When exposed to an external magnetic field, negatively charged Fe3O4@SiO2 particles can effectively assemble in the hydrogel matrix into one- dimensional chains with internal periodicity and display a fast, fully reversible, and tunable photonic response to the changes in the external field. The steric hindrance and the hydrogen bonding from the agarose network effectively limit the migration of the Fe304@SiO2 particles and their chain-like assemblies. As a result, the system shows remarkable stability in photonic response under external magnetic fields of large gradients, something which has previously been a challenge. The ability to stabilize the magnetic particle assemblies over a long period represents a major stride toward practical applications of such field- responsive photonic materials.

The main intention of the present study is to reduce wind, wave, and seismic induced vibrations of jacket- type offshore wind turbines （JOWTs） through a newly developed vibration absorber, called tuned liquid column gas damper （TLCGD）. Using a Simulink-based model, an analytical model is developed to simulate global behavior of JOWTs under different dynamic excitations. The study is followed by a parametric study to explore efficiency of the TLCGD in terms of nacelle acceleration reduction under wind, wave, and earthquake loads. Study results indicate that optimum frequency of the TLCGD is rather insensitive to excitation type. In addition, while the gain in vibration control from TLCGDs with higher mass ratios is generally more pronounced, heavy TLCGDs are more sensitive to their tuned frequency such that ill-regulated TLCGD with high mass ratio can lead to destructive results. It is revealed that a well regulated TLCGD has noticeable contribution to the dynamic response of the JOWT under any excitation.

Direct observation is arguably the preferred way to investigate the interactions between two molecular complexes. With the development of high speed atomic force microscopy （AFM）, it is becoming possible to observe directly DNA-protein interactions with relevant spatial and temporal resolutions. These interactions are of central importance to biology, bionanotechnology, and functional biologically inspired materials. As in all microscopy studies, sample preparation plays a central role in AFM observation and minimal perturbation of the sample is desired. Here, we demonstrate the ability to tune the interactions between DNA molecules and the surface to create an association strong enough to enable high-resolution AFM imaging while also providing sufficient translational freedom to allow the relevant protein-DNA interactions to take place. Furthermore, we describe a quantitative method for measuring DNA mobility, while also determining the individual forces contributing to DNA movement. We found that for a weak surface association, a significant contribution to the movement arises from the interaction of the AFM tip with the DNA. In combination, these methods enable the tuning of the surface translational freedom of DNA molecules to allow the direct study of a wide range of nucleo-protein interactions by high speed atomic force microscopy.

This account gives an overview of our recent work in the area of conjugated azomethines derived from 2-aminothiophenes.It will be presented that mild reaction conditions can be used to selectively prepare symmetric and unsymmetric conjugated azomethines.It further will be demonstrated that azomethines consisting of various 5-membered aryl heterocycles lead to chemically,reductively,hydrolytically,and oxidatively robust compounds.The optical and electrochemical properties of these materials can be tuned contingent on the degree of conjugation,type of aryl heterocycle,and by including various electronic groups.The end result is materials having colors spanning 250 nm across the visible spectrum.These colors further can be tuned via electrochemical or chemical doping.The resulting doped states have high color contrasts from their corresponding neutral states.The collective opto-electronic properties and the means to readily tune them,make thiophenoazomethine derivatives interesting materials for potential use in a gamut of applications.

Deepwater offshore structures such as semi-submersible platforms suffer powerful ocean waves due to their location and site condition. The long distance away from the shore also brings many difficulties to energy supply for the platform operation. How to reduce the response of the platform and convert the wave energy into electrical power is a meaningful topic. In this paper, a tuned heave plate system (THP) is presented and designed to be employed on a semi-submersible platform for heave motion suppression and energy harvesting. This THP system is composed of spring supports, a power take-off system (PTO), and a heave plate. The PTO system is a permanent magnet linear generator (PMLG), which could directly convert the kinetic energy of the heave plate into electronic power. The stiffness of the spring supports is designed based on the principle of the tuned mass damper (TMD). The numerical model of the platform and the THP system is established according to the hydrodynamic analysis results of the platform. The model is tested and modified by scale model tests on the platform in the wave tank. A parameter study, including the size, tuned period, and damping ratio of the THP system, is conducted systematically based on the numerical model. The optimal parameters of the THP are selected due to the maximum heave motion reduction under severe wave conditions in South China Sea. The performance of the semi-submersible with and without the THP system under different wave conditions is analyzed. It is demonstrated that this novel tuned heave plate system could reduce the heave motion of the semi-submersible platform significantly and generate considerable power, which makes the THP system have a broad prospect for development.