Nanogrooved carbon microtubes for wet three‐dimensional printing of conductive composite structures

Recent advances in three‐dimensional (3D) printing have enabled the fabrication of interesting structures which are not achievable using traditional fabrication approaches. The 3D printing of carbon microtube composite inks allows fabrication of conductive structures for practical applications in soft robotics and tissue engineering. However, it is challenging to achieve 3D printed structures from solution‐based composite inks, which requires an additional process to solidify the ink. Here, we introduce a wet 3D printing technique which uses a coagulation bath to fabricate carbon microtube composite structures. We show that through a facile nanogrooving approach which introduces cavitation and channels on carbon microtubes, enhanced interfacial interactions with a chitosan polymer matrix are achieved. Consequently, the mechanical properties of the 3D printed composites improve when nanogrooved carbon microtubes are used, compared to untreated microtubes. We show that by carefully controlling the coagulation bath, extrusion pressure, printing distance and printed line distance, we can 3D print composite lattices which are composed of well‐defined and separated printed lines. The conductive composite 3D structures with highly customised design presented in this work provide a suitable platform for applications ranging from soft robotics to smart tissue engineering scaffolds. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry     

Precautious-RM: a predictable non-preemptive scheduling algorithm for harmonic tasks

A major requirement of many real-time embedded systems is to have time-predictable interaction with the environment. More specifically, they need fixed or small sampling and I/O delays, and they cannot cope with large delay jitters. Non-preemptive execution is a known method to reduce the latter delay; however, the corresponding scheduling problem is NP-Hard for periodic tasks. In this paper, we present Precautious-RM as a predictable linear-time online non-preemptive scheduling algorithm for harmonic tasks which can also deal with the former delay, namely sampling delay. We derive conditions of optimality of Precautious-RM and show that satisfying those conditions, tight bounds for best- and worst-case response times of the tasks can be calculated in polynomial-time. More importantly, response time jitter of the tasks is analyzed and it is proven that under specific conditions, each task has either one or two values for response time, which leads to improving the predictability of the system interaction with the environment. Simulation results demonstrate efficiency of Precautious-RM in increasing accuracy of control applications.     

A process model for robotic disc grinding

Automation of deburring and cleaning of castings is desirable for many reasons. The major reasons are dangerous working conditions, difficulties in finding workers for cleaning sections, and improved profitability. A suitable robot cell capable of using different tools, such as cup grinders, disc grinders and rotary files, is the solution. This robot should be completed with sensors in order to keep the quality of the cleaned surface at an acceptable level. Although using sensors simplifies both the programming and quality control there are still other problems that need to be solved. These involve selection of machining data, e.g. feeding rate and grinding force in a force controlled operation based on parameters such as tool type, disc grinder and geometry. In order to decrease the programming time, a process model for disc grinders has been developed. This article investigates this process model and pays attention to problems such as wavy or burned surfaces and the effect of a robot's repetition accuracy in the results obtained. Many aspects treated in this article are quite general, and can be applied in other types of grinding operations.     

A comprehensive survey of industry practice in real-time systems

Real-Time Systems - This paper presents results and observations from a survey of 120 industry practitioners in the field of real-time embedded systems. The survey provides insights into the...     

Interpolating meshes of boundary intersecting curves by subdivision surfaces

C ⁰ (creases) or C ¹ continuity across the interpolated curves.     

Interpolating an Unlimited Number of Curves Meeting at Extraordinary Points on Subdivision Surfaces*

Interpolating curves by subdivision surfaces is one of the major constraints that is partially addressed in the literature. So far, no more than two intersecting curves can be interpolated by a subdivision surface such as Doo‐Sabin or Catmull‐Clark surfaces. One approach that has been used in both of theses surfaces is the polygonal complex approach where a curve can be defined by a control mesh rather than a control polygon. Such a definition allows a curve to carry with it cross derivative information which can be naturally embodied in the mesh of a subdivision surface. This paper extends the use of this approach to interpolate an unlimited number of curves meeting at an extraordinary point on a subdivision surface. At that point, the curves can all meet with either C ⁰ or C ¹ continuity, yet still have common tangent plane. A straight forward application is the generation of subdivision surfaces through 3‐regular meshes of curves for which an easy interface can be used.     

Bioconversion of shrimp shell waste for the production of antioxidant and chitosan used as fruit juice clarifier

The pH, proteolytic activity, extent of demineralisation and deprotenisation of shrimp waste were studied during 7 days of fermentation using Pseudomonas aeruginosa A2. After 3 days, pH dropped from 7.0 to 4.4 and then remained constant. Simultaneously, a demineralisation of 92% was achieved. However, protease activity reached its highest level (1230 U mL^?1) after 1 day of incubation, and a protein removal of 90% was achieved. Chitin obtained was converted to chitosan. This chitosan, with 73% deacetylation, was tested for clarification of different fruit juices. It was observed that low concentrations of chitosan (below to 1%) greatly increase the clarity of juices without affecting the nutritional value. The antioxidant activity of the hydrolysates produced during fermentation was tested. Hydrolysate obtained after 3 days showed the strongest scavenging activity (90%), which was comparable to the positive control BHA; however, that obtained after 1 day exhibited the highest ferric‐reducing antioxidant power (OD 700 nm = 1.7).     

Measuring research performance of Iraqi universities using Scopus data

Scientometrics - This study investigates the research performance of the Iraqi public and private universities using the Scopus citation database. The investigation consists of three stages. The...     

A new interval diagnosis method: Application to the spacecraft rendezvous phase of the Mars sample return mission

This paper presents a new optimized interval principal component analysis applied to detect and isolate actuators faults of an autonomous spacecraft involved in the rendezvous phase of the Mars sample return mission. Based on the exploitation of various arithmetic and interval analysis properties, the new interval model is built by solving the interval eigenpairs problem via a resolution of a parametric linear programming problem. The detection and isolation phases are performed by extending the classic methods to interval-valued data. The proposed method is applied to detect and isolate actuators faults that can occur on the spacecraft's thrusters. Based on data provided by a “high fidelity” industrial simulator developed by Thales Alenia Space, the obtained results proved the effectiveness of the proposed interval fault diagnosis method on detecting and isolating thrusters' faults.