Switched mode feedback control laws for nonholonomic systems in extended power form

A class of nonholonomic control systems in extended power form is studied. It is demonstrated that under appropriate assumptions Lagrange's equations, including classical nonholonomic constraints, can be transformed into the extended power form. A switched mode feedback controller is used to obtain global convergence of the states of the extended power form to the origin. This feedback controller can be interpreted as a hybrid system consisting of a high level discrete event supervisor and a family of low level feedback controllers. The closed loop system exhibits finite-time responses.     

Evaluation of Artificial Neural Network Techniques for Municipal Water Consumption Modeling

Various Artificial Neural Network techniques such as Generalized Regression Neural Networks (GRNN), Feed Forward Neural Networks (FFNN) and Radial Basis Neural Networks (RBNN) have been evaluated based on their performance in forecasting monthly water consumptions from several socio-economic and climatic factors, which affect water use. The data set including total 108 data records is divided into two subsets, training and testing. The models consisting of the combination of the independent variables are constructed and the best fit input structure is investigated. The performance of ANN models in training and testing stages are compared with the observed water consumption values to identify the best fit forecasting model. For this purpose, some performance criteria such as Normalized Root Mean Square Error (NRMSE), efficiency (E) and correlation coefficient (CORR) are calculated for all models. The best fit models are also trained and tested by Multiple Linear Regression (MLR). The results indicated that GRNN outperforms all other methods in modeling monthly water consumptions.     

Distributed target localization using a progressive certainty map in visual sensor networks

Collaboration in visual sensor networks (VSNs) is essential not only to compensate for the processing, sensing, energy, and bandwidth limitations of each sensor node but also to improve the accuracy and robustness of the network. In this paper, we study target localization in VSNs, a challenging computer vision problem because of two unique features of cameras, including the extremely higher data rate and the directional sensing characteristics with limited field of view. Traditionally, the problem is solved by localizing the targets at the intersections of the back-projected 2D cones of each target. However, the existence of visual occlusion among targets would generate many false alarms. In this work, instead of resolving the uncertainty about target existence at the intersections, we identify and study the non-occupied areas in the cone and generate the so-called certainty map of non-existence of targets. As a result, after fusing inputs from a set of sensor nodes, the unresolved regions on the certainty map would be the location of targets. This paper focuses on the design of a light-weight, energy-efficient, and robust solution where not only each camera node transmits a very limited amount of data but that a limited number of camera nodes is involved. We propose a dynamic itinerary for certainty map integration where the entire map is progressively clarified from sensor to sensor. When the confidence of the certainty map is satisfied, targets are localized at the remaining unresolved regions in the certainty map. Based on results obtained from both simulation and real experiments, the proposed progressive method shows effectiveness in detection accuracy as well as energy and bandwidth efficiency.     

挥发性有机物气体光波导气敏元件的研究

利用旋转甩涂法将掺有硫堇的Nation复合敏感薄膜固定在钾离子(K+)交换玻璃光波导表面,成功检测出了低浓度的二甲苯蒸汽.实验结果表明,常温下该元件对于质量浓度为4ms/m3的二甲苯蒸汽有很明显响应,其线性响应范围为4～6 800mg/m3.相同浓度的其它挥发性气体对检测二甲苯蒸汽干扰较小.该气敏元件具有灵敏度高、线性响应范围宽、响应恢复速度快、制作工艺简单等特点.     

Poly (l-lactic acid) synthesis using continuous microwave irradiation–simultaneous cooling method

Abstract

In this study, Poly(l-lactic acid) (PLLA) synthesis was studied using direct melt condensation polymerization (DMP) method in an experimental microwave (MW) system where external cooling was applied to keep both temperature (T) and MW power (P) continuous and constant during the polymerization. T, P, reaction time (t), catalyst type, and catalyst amount were considered to determine appropriate process conditions. In addition, some experiments were carried out under the similar process conditions using MW-assisted ring opening polymerization (MW-ROP) and conventional heating (CH) methods. These methods were compared in terms of process performance and various properties of the oligomeric PLLA. According to results, polymerization rate, polymer yield, average-molecular weight, the dispersity, and thermal properties of PLLA products were similar in both MW methods but higher than CH counterparts. Furthermore, low crystallinity of PLLA products synthesized by MW methods showed the effect of MW on the optical purity (L or D) of products. Finally, energy saving was accomplished by 73% and an increase of polymer production rate by 37.7% in MW-DMP method.     

Temperature Dependency of Steady, Dynamic, and Creep-Recovery Rheological Properties of Ice Cream Mix

In this study, effect of processing temperature (5, 15, 25, and 35 °C) on the steady, dynamic, and creep recovery rheological properties of the ice cream mix (ICM) was investigated. It was found that processing temperature significantly affected all rheological parameters of the ICM sample. The flow behavior of the ICM sample was fitted to the Ostwald de Waele model. The magnitude of storage modulus (G′) was higher than that of loss modulus (G″) indicating that ICM sample had weak gel-like structure. Modified Cox–Merz rules were satisfactorily applied to the ICM sample to observe relationship between steady and dynamic shear properties. Additionally, Burger model was used to characterize the viscoelastic properties of the ICM sample. The gel strength (S) value was also calculated, and a decrease was observed with the increase of temperature. Arrhenius equation satisfactorily described the temperature dependency of the rheological parameters such as apparent viscosity at 50 s^?1 (η ₅₀), consistency coefficient (K), the instantaneous shear modulus of the Maxwell unit (G ₀), permanent deformation (J _∞ ), and S values that may be predicted by using established equations depending on the temperature. The increase in processing temperature caused a decrease in resistance of the mixture subjected to the deformation, which is very important for production of high quality ice cream.