Gödel’s proof

In 1931, the great Austrian mathematician Kurt Gödel proved “all consistent axiomatic formulations of number theory include undecidable propositions”. This discovery of Gödel and its proof had enormous repercussions in mathematics and computer science. The proof hinged upon the writing of a self-referential mathematical statement, in the same way as the liar’s paradox — I am lying — is a self-referential statement. In this three-part article, we describe Gödel’s discovery and his famous proof.     

Transmission line realization of subwavelength resonator formed by a pair of conventional and LHM slabs

INTRODUCTION Left-handed materials (LHMs), first investigated theoretically by Veselago (1968), have received sub- stantial attention in the scientific and engineering communities. The unique properties of these meta- materials are promising for a diversity of microwave applications, such as new types of beam steerers, modulators, filters, superlens (Pendry, 2000), cou- plers and antenna radoms (Smith et al., 2004). Re- cently, a transmission line (TL) approach has been successfully in…     

The effect of acceleration signal processing for head impact numeric simulations

Brain injury research in sport employs a variety of physical models equipped with accelerometers. These acceleration signals are commonly processed using filters. The purpose of this research was to determine the effect of applying filters with different cutoff frequencies to the acceleration signals used as input for finite element modeling of the brain. Signals were generated from reconstructions of concussion events from American football and ice hockey in the laboratory using a Hybrid III headform. The resulting acceleration signals were used as input for the University College Dublin Brain Trauma Model after being processed with filters. The results indicated that using a filter with a cutoff of 300 Hz or higher had little effect on the resulting strain measures. In some cases there was some effect of the filters on the peak linear (8–30g) and rotational measures (1000–4000 rad/s²), but little effect on the finite element strain result (approximately 2–6 %). The short duration and high magnitude accelerations, such as the puck impact, were most affected by the cutoff frequency of different filters.     

The treasure within: Learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together and learning to be. What is the value of that treasure 15 years after its publication?

This is an English translation of a speech held by French economist and politician Jacques Delors, former President of the European Commission, on 7 November 2011 at the opening of the International Congress on Lifelong Learning in Donostia/San Sebastián, Spain. Fifteen years after the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century submitted its report entitled Learning: The treasure within to UNESCO, Delors briefly reviews the four pillars of education and then considers the current growth of continuing education, its primary functions and general trends. Next, he discusses how basic education and continuing education might be combined into a lifelong learning approach. This is followed by some thoughts about the educational society and the challenges of current changes it is facing which include the challenge of globalisation, the phenomenon of contemporary individualism, the influence of the media and modern technologies and the dominant economic (market-orientated) ideology. Delors concludes his speech by stressing that lifelong learning is essential for gaining self-esteem and the ability to take control of one’s own life.     

Preliminary experimental study on solid-fuel rocket scramjet combustor

Liquid or gaseous fuel scramjet technology has made great progress, and there has been some research attention to solid-fuel scramjet. A new scramjet configuration using solid fuel as propellant, namely solid-fuel rocket scramjet, is tested experimentally. It consists of two combustors. One is a rocket combustor used as gas generator, and the other is a supersonic combustor used for secondary combustion. The experiment simulates a flight Mach number of 4 at high altitude (stagnation temperature and pressure are 1170 K and 1.16 MPa, respectively), and metalized solid fuel is used as propellant. The results reveal that fuel-rich gas from the gas generator can burn with air in the supersonic combustor. Preliminary evaluation results show that the combustion efficiency of the propellant is about 90%, and the total pressure recovery coefficient in the supersonic combustor is about 0.6. These results indicate that the configuration of solid-fuel rocket scramjet is feasible.     

Mode transition process in a typical strut-based scramjet combustor based on a parametric study

The combustion performance of hydrogen fuel in a scramjet combustor has been a popular focus for scholars all over the world. In this study, the influence of the jet-to-crossflow pressure ratio on combustion performance in a scramjet combustor was investigated numerically, and the influence of a wall-mounted cavity was evaluated. The simulations were conducted using the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations coupled with the renormalization group (RNG) k-ε turbulence model and the single-step chemical reaction mechanism. This numerical approach was validated by comparing predicted results with published experimental shadowgraphs and velocity and temperature measurements. When the pressure of the wall-injector increases, the performance of the combustor decreases. At the same inflow condition, this may lead to a scram-to-ram mode transition. The cavity adopted in this study would prevent pre-combustion shock waves from pushing out of the isolator and help to stabilize the flow field, but it would decrease the mixing and combustion efficiencies.