Modelling asymmetry in the peripheral auditory system of the lizard

The ears of lizards are highly directional. The directionality is generated by strong acoustical coupling of the eardrums. A simple lumped-parameter model of the ear followed by binaural comparisons has been shown to perform successful phonotaxis in robot implementations. However, such a model will produce localization errors in the form of response bias if the ears are asymmetrical. We have evaluated how large errors are generated by asymmetry using simulations of the ear model in Mathematica 5.2. The study shows that the effect of asymmetry is minimal around the most directional frequency of the ear, but that biases reduce the useful bandwidth of localization. This work was presented in part at the First European Workshop on Artificial Life and Robotics, Vienna, Austria, July 12–13, 2007     

具有非对称阀的非对称动力机构位置伺服系统的控制策略及仿真研究

首先对具有非对称阀的非对称动力机构进行建模，然后对实际工况中非对称动力机构存在的外力干扰、非对称动力机构本身存在的正反向位移不一致及换向瞬间的压力跃变问题采取相应的控制策略，并对其进行仿真研究，仿真结果对解决非对称动力机构的伺服控制问题具有参考价值。     

Trunk kinematics of one-handed lifting,and the effects of asymmetry and load weight

Abstract

This study investigated trunk kinematic differences between lifts performed using either one hand (unsupported) or two hands. These effects were studied while beginning the lifts from different asymmetric starting positions and while lifting different load weights. Each subject lifted a box from a lower to an upper platform under one- and two-handed lifting conditions. Subjects wore a lumbar spine electrogoniometer, from which relative motion components were calculated in the trunk's three cardinal planes. Results of this study showed that one-handed lifting resulted in significantly higher ranges of motion in the lateral and transverse planes and greater flexion in the sagittal plane. Back motion characteristics previously found to be associated with low back disorders were all significantly higher for one-handed lifts. The two-handed lift technique, on the other hand, produced overall faster trunk motions in the sagittal plane and equal or larger acceleration and deceleration magnitudes in all planes of motion. Increases in load asymmetry affected trunk kinematics, in that magnitude values for range of motion, velocity and acceleration became much greater with increasingly asymmetric load positions. Increasing the load weight appeared to have less of an effect on trunk kinematics, with increases in position mostly occurring during sagittal and lateral bending. These results suggest that unsupported one-handed lifting loads the spine more than two-handed lifts, due to the added coupling. Applying these results to a previously developed model, one-handed lifting was also found to increase one's risk of suffering a low back disorder.     

A Review of:“Safety in Manual Materials Handling.” By COLIN G. DRURY. (Cincinnati: US Dept. of Health,Education & Welfare, 1978.) [Pp. viii+ 209.]

The extension force against resistance was recorded in 23 postures for 12 subjects to find explanations for the decrease in back strength in asymmetric postures. A reduction in muscle force in asymmetric postures was found up to 40%, but was strongly dependent on the plane in which asymmetry occurred, and on the posture to which it referred. A quantitative relationship between the forces exerted in different asymmetric postures is discussed, as a basis for formulating universal ergonomic guidelines for optimal working postures. The reduction in force in different asymmetric postures can be explained by length of the muscle, the activation of the muscle, and the moment angle of the muscle.     

三槽永磁直流电机磁振动力的有限元分析

针对目前小型永磁直流电机中普遍存在的机壳不对称开孔问题,利用有限元方法计算了在机壳开孔和不开孔两种情况下电机磁振动力的大小,并进行了比较；从定量分析的角度揭示了机壳不对称开孔问题对电机运行性能带来的影响,为进一步解决该问题提供了一种可行的分析方法。     

感应电机转子绕组故障仿真与实验研究

从仿真计算与实验两方面对感应电机转子绕组故障进行研究。首先分析断条数量对电机的影响：讨论了转子断条故障后转子备导条电流以及备段端环电流分布及变化情况，转子断条数量与定子电流中转子绕组故障特征量的关系。转子断条位置对电机影响很大，过去没有引起人们的重视，该文对此进行深入研究，分析电机转子断条位置与故障特征量之间的关系，转子断条位置与转子导条电流、转子端环电流之间的关系，并总结出其规律，指出哪些位置导条进一步断裂的可能性较大。该文还揭示了过去人们试图把故障特征量的大小作为电机转子断条根数多少的判据的局限性，提出了把断条引起电机的不对称性作为电机转子绕组故障程度判据的新的理论。     

A study on the effect of the asymmetry on real capacitated vehicle routing problems

Matrices with distances between pairs of locations are essential for solving vehicle routing problems like the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP), Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) and others. This work deals with the complex reality of transportation networks and asymmetry. Through a series of comprehensive and thorough computational and statistical experiments we study the effect that many factors like asymmetry, geographical location of the depot and clients, demand, territory and maximum vehicle capacity have in the solution of CVRP instances. We examine both classical heuristics as well as current state-of-the-art metaheuristics and show that these methods are seriously affected by the studied factors from a solution time and quality of solutions perspective. We systematically compare the solutions obtained in the symmetric scenario with those obtained in the real asymmetric case at a quantitative as well as a qualitative level, with the objective of carefully measuring and understanding the differences between both cases.     

Sea clutter modeling using an autoregressive generalized nonlinear-asymmetric GARCH model

The sea clutter modeling is critical to the radar design and assessment of relevant detection algorithms. In this paper, we investigate a family of generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedastic (GARCH) processes to model the sea clutter as a time series, in which the current variance is dependent on historical information. The most general model (so-called the ALLGARCH model) provides more flexible variance structures to model non-Gaussian, asymmetry, and nonlinear properties of the clutter. However, after going through the usage of the ALLGARCH model, we find that it is not very suitable because the coefficients of the model, which are numerous, would be difficult to estimate in a real-time operating environment. Meanwhile, we find that some of the coefficients are negligible under almost all kinds of sea environments and weather conditions. Motivated by these observations, we propose a novel GARCH model for sea clutter modeling, which is a generalization of the nonlinear-asymmetric GARCH (NAGARCH) model. Considering the correlation between adjacent clutter returns, autoregressive terms are also introduced. By systematically analyzing practical sea clutter data under different sea environments, we demonstrate that the proposed model achieves comparable fitting effect to some commonly used statistical models. Also, we develop the corresponding generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT) algorithm for the new model. Numerical simulations exhibit that the proposed detector achieves higher probability of detection, comparing with the AR-GARCH detector.     

Effects of Near-Fault Ground Shaking on Sliding Systems

A numerical study is presented for a rigid block supported through a frictional contact surface on a horizontal or an inclined plane, and subjected to horizontal or slope-parallel excitation. The latter is described with idealized pulses and near-fault seismic records strongly influenced by forward-directivity or fling-step effects (from Northridge, Kobe, Kocaeli, Chi-Chi, Aegion). In addition to the well known dependence of the resulting block slippage on variables such as the peak base velocity, the peak base acceleration, and the critical acceleration ratio, our study has consistently and repeatedly revealed a profound sensitivity of both maximum and residual slippage: (1) on the sequence and even the details of the pulses contained in the excitation and (2) on the direction (+ or ?) in which the shaking of the inclined plane is imposed. By contrast, the slippage is not affected to any measurable degree by even the strongest vertical components of the accelerograms. Moreover, the slippage from a specific record may often be poorly correlated with its Arias intensity. These findings may contradict some of the prevailing beliefs that emanate from statistical correlation studies. The upper-bound sliding displacements from near-fault excitations may substantially exceed the values obtained from some of the currently available design charts.     

(S)-3-甲基-1,1-二苯基 -1,2-丁二醇的合成

本文合成了（S）－3－甲基－1，1－二苯基－1，2－丁二醇，并通过元素分析、核磁共振、红外光谱测定了其结构。