High-performance surface-micromachined inchworm actuator

This work demonstrates a polycrystalline silicon surface-micromachined inchworm actuator that exhibits high-performance characteristics such as large force (/spl plusmn/0.5 millinewtons), large velocity range (0 to /spl plusmn/4.4 mm/sec), large displacement range (/spl plusmn/100 microns), small step size (/spl plusmn/10, /spl plusmn/40 or /spl plusmn/100 nanometers), low power consumption (nanojoules per cycle), continuous bidirectional operation and relatively small area (600 /spl times/ 200/spl mu/m/sup 2/). An in situ load spring calibrated on a logarithmic scale from micronewtons to millinewtons, optical microscopy and Michelson interferometry are used to characterize its performance. The actuator consists of a force-amplifying plate that spans two voltage-controlled clamps, and walking is achieved by appropriately sequencing signals to these three components. In the clamps, normal force is borne by equipotential rubbing counterfaces, enabling friction to be measured against load. Using different monolayer coatings, we show that the static coefficient of friction can be changed from 0.14 to 1.04, and that it is load-independent over a broad range. We further find that the static coefficient of friction does not accurately predict the force generated by the actuator and attribute this to nanometer-scale presliding tangential deflections.     

Analysis of the fluorescence of the ion Eu in fluoroborate glasses containing silver particles

We have studied theoretically and experimentally the fluorescence enhancement in fluoroborate glasses, doped with the ion Eu³⁺, containing small silver particles. The model developed shows that the gain coefficient has quenching and enhancement regions. The absorption peak of the metallic particles occurs at 425 nm, which is not in resonance with the ⁵L₆ level of the ion Eu³⁺. For this reason it is not possible to make a complete comparison between theoretical and experimental results, but the structure of the absorption spectra allows us to check some crucial aspects of the problem, such as energy transfer, enhancement of the local field and the high absorption by the particle system. Results of electronic microscopy have revealed non-uniformity of the particle distribution with average radii of approximately 20 Å and 35 Å and a measured localized mean filling factor of 0.02.     

Occurrence of the mycotoxins ochratoxin A, zearalenone and deoxynivalenol in feed components.

The mycotoxin contamination of feed components used by the Dutch cooperative feed industry was surveyed to estimate the risk for animal production losses. Of 89 randomly and 6 selectively taken samples of raw materials harvested in 1988 and 1989 27% were contaminated with ochratoxin A (OCHRA), 31% with zearalenone (ZEA) and 20% with deoxynivalenol (DON). The mean content (microgram/kg) of all positive randomly taken samples was 18 (OCHRA), 62 (ZEA) and 630 (DON). The highest level (microgram/kg) for all samples was 120 (OCHRA) in barley, 3100 (ZEA) in corn cob mix and 1900 (DON) in maizegluten feed. The results of this survey show that feed components are often contaminated with mycotoxins. However, the contamination level could only sporadically cause production losses in animal husbandry.     

Neuropsychological functioning after mercury exposure.

Observed visuographic and paranoid symptomatology in 26 dentists (mean age, 49.9 yrs) with elevated mercury levels. Neuropsychological functions were assessed with measures such as the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS), the Bender-Gestalt Test, and the SCL-90 (Revised). Although the observed changes were mild, their presence suggests subtoxic hazards associated with dental practice and underscore a continual need for maintaining mercury hygiene. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cimaterol and clenbuterol residue analysis by HPLC-HPTLC in liver.

A method has been developed for the analysis of cimaterol and clenbuterol residues in liver, with detection limits of 0.25 micrograms/kg and 0.5 micrograms/kg, respectively. The recovery varied from 55% to 60%. After extraction, a clean-up procedure with Baker-spe C-18 columns was performed. The two chemical compounds of interest were eluted with methanol. Cimaterol and clenbuterol were quantitatively determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) using an RP-Select B (5 microns) column and a post-column reaction procedure. The positive results were confirmed by high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) as this technique reaches the same level of sensitivity as the HPLC method.     

Uniform Polarization Scattering With Fiber-Coil-Based Polarization Controllers

A detailed study of fiber-coil-based polarization controllers (PCs) is performed. First, a method to deterministically calculate the PC configuration in order to transform between any two states of polarization is presented. In a second stage, the case in which the configuration angles are randomly changed is studied. The cases of a single PC and of the system obtained with the concatenation of several PCs are analyzed. For both cases, a general expression for the variance of the Stokes parameters is obtained. Using this expression, it is demonstrated that it is possible to achieve uniform polarization scattering using a concatenation of fiber-coil-based PCs. Finally, it is shown that fiber-coil-based PCs can be used to emulate both first- and second-order polarization-mode dispersions     

STATIONARY AND NON-STATIONARY STATE SPACE MODELS

Abstract. The concepts of time invariance, stationarity, non-stationarity and immemorial time are considered for state space models (SSMs). Necessary and sufficient conditions for stationarity are given and connected with standard conditions. Expressions are given for the unconditional mean and covariance matrix of the state of a time-immemorial SSM. Application of the results is made to a variety of theoretical and empirical models and the initialization of the Kalman filter in the non-stationary case and for the ARIMA ( p, d, q ) model.     

Complete transformer model for electromagnetic transients

A complete, three phase transformer model for the calculation of electromagnetic transients is presented. The model consists of a set of state equations solved with the trapezoidal rule of integration in order to obtain an equivalent Norton circuit at the transformer terminals. Thus the transformer model can be easily interfaced with an electromagnetic transients program. Its main features are: (a) the basic elements for the winding model are the turns; (b) the complete model includes the losses due to eddy currents in the windings and in the iron core; and (c) the solution of the state equations is obtained in decoupled iterations. For validation, the frequency response of the model is compared with tests on several transformers. Applications to the calculation of transients are given for illustration