Dynamic Field Tuning

Polymer-based peptidomimietics are a relatively young and dynamic field of research. Various groups have shown that, by carefully tuning the overall hydro-phobicity and charge density of synthetic polymers, peptidomimetics with tailor-made properties could be obtained that varied from inactive/non-hemolytic via active/non-hemolytic to active/toxic. Thus, it was shown that it is possible to teach synthetic polymers to behave like peptides, despite their lack of sequence-specificity and secondary structure. 

The above FF controller can be implemented using analog elements or more commonly by a digital computer. Figure 8-33 compares typical responses for PID FB control, steady-state FF control (.s = 0), dynamic FF control, and combined FF/FB control. In practice, the engineer can tune K, and Tl in the field to improve the performance oTthe FF controller. The feedforward controller can also be simplified to provide steady-state feedforward control. This is done by setting. s = 0 in Gj. s). This might be appropriate if there is uncertainty in the dynamic models for Gl and Gp. 

A cocurrent evaporator train with its controls is illustrated in Fig. 8-54. The control system applies equally well to countercurrent or mixed-feed evaporators, the princip difference being the tuning of the dynamic compensator/(t), which must be done in the field to minimize the short-term effects of changes in feed flow on product quality. Solid concentration in the product is usually measured as density feedback trim is applied by the AC adjusting slope m of the density function, which is the only term related to x. This recahbrates the system whenever x must move to a new set point. 

The ability to create and observe coherent dynamics in heterostructures offers the intriguing possibility to control the dynamics of the charge carriers. Recent experiments have shown that control in such systems is indeed possible. For example, phase-locked laser pulses can be used to coherently amplify or suppress THz radiation in a coupled quantum well [5]. The direction of a photocurrent can be controlled by exciting a structure with a laser field and its second harmonic, and then varying the phase difference between the two fields [8,9]. Phase-locked pulses tuned to excitonic resonances allow population control and coherent destruction of heavy hole wave packets [10]. Complex filters can be designed to enhance specific characteristics of the THz emission [11,12]. These experiments are impressive demonstrations of the ability to control the microscopic and macroscopic dynamics of solid-state systems. 

When we tune the feedforward controller, we may take, as a first approximation, xFLD as the sum of the time constants xm and x v. Analogous to the "real" derivative control function, we can choose the lag time constant to be a tenth smaller, xFLG = 0.1 xFLD. If the dynamics of the measurement device is extremely fast, Gm = KmL, and if we have cascade control, the time constant x v is also small, and we may not need the lead-lag element in the feedforward controller. Just the use of the steady state compensator Kpp may suffice. In any event, the feedforward controller must be tuned with computer simulations, and subsequently, field tests. 

The strong point of molecular dynamic simulations is that, for the particular model, the results are (nearly) exact. In particular, the simulations take all necessary excluded-volume correlations into account. However, still it is not advisable to have blind confidence in the predictions of MD. The simulations typically treat the system classically, many parameters that together define the force field are subject to fine-tuning, and one always should be cautious about the statistical certainty. In passing, we will touch upon some more limitations when we discuss more details of MD simulation of lipid systems. We will not go into all the details here, because the use of MD simulation to study the lipid bilayer has recently been reviewed by other authors already [31,32]. Our idea is to present sufficient information to allow a critical evaluation of the method, and to set the stage for comparison with alternative approaches. 

In principle, MC algorithms can be tuned for particular systems and can thus be more efficient than MD for obtaining equilibrium distributions. An interesting idea is to use MC simulations to obtain accurate initial guesses for subsequent MD simulations. Already as early as 1993, Venable and co-workers [68] used a scheme for efficiently sampling configurations of individual lipids in a mean field. These configurations were then used to develop the initial conditions for the molecular dynamic simulations. 

For microwave field stengths in the intermediate regime the quantum dynamics of the SSE system is still simple. It can be described in a multi-photon picture. For fixed microwave field strength we expect that the ionization probability exhibits a pronounced peak or threshold structure with large amounts of ionization occurring whenever the microwave frequency is in resonance with unperturbed SSE levels, or tuned to the ionization threshold. A schematic sketch of the first four SSE levels is shown in Fig. 6.7 together with possible ionization routes to the continuum. 

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