The thermal conductivity of disordered silicon-germanium alloys is computed from density-functional perturbation theory and with relaxation times that include both harmonic and anharmonic scattering terms. We show that this approach yields an excellent agreement at all compositions with experimental results and provides clear design rules for the engineering of nanostructured thermoelectrics. F...

We study the vertical structure of the transition layer between an accretion disc and corona in the context of the existence of two-phase medium in thermally unstable regions. The disc is illuminated by hard X-ray radiation and satisfies the condition of hydrostatic equilibrium. We take into account the energy exchange between hot corona (∼ 10 K) and cool disc (∼ 10 K) through the radiative pro...

We present a novel approach for computing the surface roughness-limited thermal conductivity of silicon nanowires with diameter D<100 nm. A frequency-dependent phonon scattering rate is computed from perturbation theory and related to a description of the surface through the root-mean-square roughness height Delta and autocovariance length L. Using a full phonon dispersion relation, we find a q...

In this work we propose a framework for incorporating occupant feedback towards temperature control of multi-occupant spaces, and analyze it using singular perturbation theory. Such a system would typically have to accommodate occupants with different temperature preferences, and incorporate that with thermal correlation among multiple zones to obtain optimal control for minimization of occupan...

In recent years, soft computing methods have generated a large research interest. The synthesis of the fuzzy logic and the evolutionary algorithms is one of these methods. A particular evolutionary algorithm (EA) is differential evolution (DE). As for any EA, DE algorithm also requires parameters tuning to achieve desirable performance. In this paper tuning the perturbation factor vector of DE ...

In this paper, we analyze the thermal radiation and chemical reaction impacts on MHD peristaltic motion of the Eyring-Powell fluid through a porous medium in a channel with compliant walls under slip conditions for velocity, temperature, and concentration. Assumptions of a long wave length and low Reynolds number are considered. The modeled equations are computed by using the perturbation metho...

Thermal perturbation techniques have been used to probe structural features of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AcChR). The information obtained from differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) of AcChR membranes (M.C. Farach and M. Martinez-Carrion (1983) J. Biol. Chem. 258, 4176) in the absence and in the presence of cholinergic ligands and local anesthetics, is comparable to that obtained f...

The perturbation theory with a variational basis is constructed and analyzed. The generalized Gaussian effective potential is introduced and evaluated up to the second order for selfinteracting scalar fields in one and two spatial dimensions. The problem of the renormalization of the mass is discussed in details. Thermal corrections are incorporated. The comparison between the finite temperatur...

A perturbation technique is proposed for solution of the generalized equations governing the thermal behaviour of thin metal ®lms described by a hyperbolic two-step model. The generalized equations of this model contains diffusion terms in both the electron and lattice energy equations and assumes that incident laser radiation is absorbed by both the electron gas and solid lattice to account fo...

The aim of this investigation is to study the effect of hall current on an unsteady natural convective flow of a viscous, incompressible, electrically conducting optically thick radiating fluid past a vertical porous plate in the presence of a uniform transverse magnetic field. The Rosseland diffusion approximation is used to describe the radiative heat flux in the energy equation. Analytical a...