Efficient Excitation of Hybrid Modes in a THz Clinotron

Journal of Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz Waves - Various regimes of hybrid, bulk-surface, modes being excited in the clinotron oscillator with a sheet electron beam and nonuniform grating...     

基于荧光显微镜的毛细管电泳系统的构建

毛细管电泳仪具有灵敏度高、分析速度快等优势,为降低其生产成本,基于电泳原理,以荧光显微镜为基础,设计了一套毛细管电泳系统。以20 bp(base pairs,碱基对)DNA ladder和100 bp DNA ladder为样本,全面分析了系统的稳定性、灵敏度和分离效果。结果表明:该系统在9 min内可以实现1500 bp以内DNA片段的高效分离,系统检测极限为0.1 ng/μL;在优化的电泳条件下,对限制性内切酶φX174-HincⅡ作用过的λ-DNA片段5 min内实现了291 bp与297 bp DNA片段的区分。     

Team O2AS at the world robot summit 2018: an approach to robotic kitting and assembly tasks using general purpose grippers and tools

ABSTRACT

In this article, we propose a versatile robotic system for kitting and assembly tasks which uses no jigs or commercial tool changers. Instead of specialized end effectors, it uses its two-finger grippers to grasp and hold tools to perform subtasks such as screwing and suctioning. A third gripper is used as a precision picking and centering tool, and uses in-built passive compliance to compensate for small position errors and uncertainty. A novel grasp point detection for bin picking is described for the kitting task, using a single depth map. Using the proposed system we competed in the Assembly Challenge of the Industrial Robotics Category of the World Robot Challenge at the World Robot Summit 2018, obtaining 4th place and the SICE award for lean design and versatile tool use. We show the effectiveness of our approach through experiments performed during the competition.     

Molecular Evolution of the TET Gene Family in Mammals

Ten-eleven translocation (TET) proteins, a family of Fe²⁺- and 2-oxoglutarate-dependent dioxygenases, are involved in DNA demethylation. They also help regulate various cellular functions. Three TET paralogs have been identified (TET1, TET2, and TET3) in humans. This study focuses on the evolution of mammalian TET genes. Distinct patterns in TET1 and TET2 vs. TET3 were revealed by codon-based tests of positive selection. Results indicate that TET1 and TET2 genes have experienced positive selection more frequently than TET3 gene, and that the majority of codon sites evolved under strong negative selection. These findings imply that the selective pressure on TET3 may have been relaxed in several lineages during the course of evolution. Our analysis of convergent amino acid substitutions also supports the different evolutionary dynamics among TET gene subfamily members. All of the five amino acid sites that are inferred to have evolved under positive selection in the catalytic domain of TET2 are localized at the protein’s outer surface. The adaptive changes of these positively selected amino acid sites could be associated with dynamic interactions between other TET-interacting proteins, and positive selection thus appears to shift the regulatory scheme of TET enzyme function.     

Team O2AS' approach for the task-board task of the World Robot Challenge 2018

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we describe the approach of Team O2AS to complete the task-board task of the World Robot Challenge 2018, held in Tokyo. We use a custom gripper and graspable tools with in-built compliance to work with various kinds of parts, increase robustness against uncertainties, and to avoid complicated control strategies. The robots are able to finish all the sub-tasks without the need to exchange grippers. The main idea is to use mechanical compliance and self-centering mechanisms to deal with uncertainty. This is achieved by aligning the objects using either the gripper and tools, or by the design of the robot motions.     

Removal mechanisms for endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) in wastewater treatment - physical means, biodegradation, and chemical advanced oxidation: a review

Endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) are pollutants with estrogenic or androgenic activity at very low concentrations and are emerging as a major concern for water quality. Within the past few decades, more and more target chemicals were monitored as the source of estrogenic or androgenic activity in wastewater, and great endeavors have been done on the removal of EDCs in wastewater. This article reviewed removal of EDCs from three aspects, that is, physical means, biodegradation, and chemical advanced oxidation (CAO).     

Drying of Sewage Sludge During Composting in an Updraft Dryer with the Concept of Using Self-Energy Generated Within the System

An innovative technology for sewage treatment systems is proposed. A mixture of sewage sludge and char particle is subjected to drying in the progress of composting in an updraft column. Exothermic heat generated during composting is utilized for energy of sludge drying. The char particle in the mixture contributes to enhancement of composting and drying rate. This study presents drying and composting behaviors of sludge to examine the effect of char addition. A fundamental drying experiment was carried out by hot-air heating of the sample in a small vessel. The drying characteristic curve for a mixture of sludge and char was greater than the sample of only sludge over a whole period if the drying rates were compared with the same moisture content. The drying behavior could be analyzed with a reasonable agreement by the water front receding model. The enhancement effect of drying and composting of sludge by char addition was confirmed by examination using a pilot scale of the updraft column whose volume was 50 m³. Sludge with 400% dry base (80% wet base) in moisture content could be dried successfully to lower moisture content than 67% dry base (40% wet base) only by exothermic heat during composting without supplying any auxiliary energy from the outside, and the treatment time was reduced by mixing char in sludge. The behavior was analyzed with a satisfactory agreement by a theoretical model employing moisture diffusion parameters determined from the drying characteristic curve.