Sliding mode observers for nonlinear models with unbounded noise and measurement uncertainties

This work extends the applicability of variable structure observers designed for nonlinear systems in two ways. First, it is proved that these observers using a boundary-layer scheme can be applied to system models described by Ito differential equations, resulting in almost sure and mean square exponential estimation error. Second, the use of variable structure observers is extended to nonlinear measurement models containing disturbance effects. Also, a novel approach for obtaining the required parameters in the observer design is provided. Finally, two examples are given to illustrate the application and favorable convergence properties of these generalizations.     

Respirometric kinetic parameter calculations of a batch jet loop bioreactor treating leachate and oxygen uptake rate estimation by DTM

A novel circulating jet loop bioreactor adapted for organic matter oxidation has been designed and constructed. In this study, the input was leachate samples collected from Kemerburgaz Odayeri waste landfill site located on the European side of Istanbul. Controlling the jet loop bioreactor to realize high rates of purification depends on maintaining the appropriate loadings and operating conditions. This requires collecting various system data to estimate the dynamics of the system satisfactorily with the aim of keeping certain parameters within the specified range. The differential transform method (DTM) based solution of the state equations reveals the current state of the process so that any deviation in the system parameters can be immediately detected and regulated accordingly. The respirometric method for kinetic parameter calculations for biodegradation has been used for some time. In many studies, the respirometer was designed separately, usually in bench-scale. However, when a separate respirometer is used, the scale effect and parameters that affect the hydrodynamic structure of the system should be taken into consideration. In this study, therefore, the jet loop reactor itself was used as a respirometer. Thus, the kinetic parameters found reflecting the characteristics of microorganisms used for biodegradation would be more realistic. If the main reactor, here the jet loop reactor, would be used as the respirometer, the kinetic parameter changes can easily be monitored in the long run. Using the bioreactor as a respirometer, the most important kinetic parameters, Ks, kd and micromax were found to be 11,000 mg L(-1), 0.019 day(-1), and 0.21 day(-1), respectively. The stoichiometric coefficient, Y, was found to be 0.28 gr gr(-1) for the present system.     

A New Wireless Sensor System for Smart Diapers

This letter presents a new wireless sensor system for smart diaper application, which consists of an interrogator circuit, an antenna, and a passive LC resonating sensor tag. The wireless link between the interrogator circuit and the sensor tag is established through the inductive coupling. The wetting of the diaper shifts the resonating frequency of the sensor tag, changing the inductive link, and thus trigger an ldquoonrdquo or ldquooffrdquo condition reflected at the interrogator circuit. With suitable sensor tags, smart diapers can be achieved in a straightforward and low cost approach.     

Evaluation of ornamental plant resources to urban biodiversity and cultural changing: A case study of residential landscapes in Trabzon city (Turkey)

The residential vegetation features in urban landscapes play an important role as indicators regarding urban biodiversity potential and cultural changing. They also include ornamental resources in the context to landscape appreciation for human environment. Therefore, this paper provides quantitative information on the distribution of plant species in urban residential landscape areas of Trabzon city (Turkey). In a total of 218 sampled areas, 274 plants species belonging to 70 families were surveyed with respect to residential use types of the city. The study results showed that among the species recorded in five residential type (traditional housing, detached housing, villa, apartment blocks and sites, mass housing for employees), non-native taxa frequency of a total species are much and dominantly represent residential landscape structure. Additionally, the species richness and diversity is positively related to new urban development areas. But, it was clearly determined that the vegetation structure has tended to ornamental purposes different from traditional residential gardens including fruit and other benefiting species. Consequently, it can be evidence that the residential vegetation is ornamental plant resources to urban biodiversity and that the distribution of the species in urban landscapes follows necessities of city and human quality.     

Wear Behavior of Borided AISI D2 Steel under Linear Reciprocating Sliding Conditions

Protection of Metals and Physical Chemistry of Surfaces - AISI D2 steel is the most commonly used cold-work tool steel in its grade. In this study, micro-structural characterization and some...     

Evolution of the mosaic structure in InGaN layer grown on a thick GaN template and sapphire substrate

The In_xGa_1?xN epitaxial layers, with indium (x) concentration changes between 0.16 and 1.00 (InN), were grown on GaN template/(0001) Al₂O₃ substrate by metal organic chemical vapour deposition. The indium content (x), lattice parameters and strain values in the InGaN layers were calculated from the reciprocal lattice mapping around symmetric (0002) and asymmetric (10–15) reflection of the GaN and InGaN layers. The characteristics of mosaic structures, such as lateral and vertical coherence lengths, tilt and twist angle and heterogeneous strain and dislocation densities (edge and screw dislocations) of the InGaN epilayers and GaN template layers were investigated by using high-resolution X-ray diffraction (HR-XRD) measurements. With a combination of Williamson–Hall (W-H) measurements and the fitting of twist angles, it was found that the indium content in the InGaN epilayers did not strongly effect the mosaic structures’ parameters, lateral and vertical coherence lengths, tilt and twist angle, or heterogeneous strain of the InGaN epilayers.     

Development and characterisation of polyaniline/polyamide (PANI/PA) fabrics for electromagnetic shielding

In this study, novel conductive fabrics were developed by polymerising of aniline onto the polyamide (PA)-knitted fabrics. The fabric treatment was done by the chemical polymerisation method at 0.5, 0.8 and 1.2?M aniline concentrations. Hydrochloric acid as acidic medium and ammonium per sulphate as oxidant were employed during the polymerisation process. The polyaniline (PANI)-treated PA fabric structures were fully characterised and evaluated in terms of their electromagnetic shielding effectiveness, absorption and reflection characteristics and tensile properties. Additionally, the fabrics were examined by scanning electron microscope (SEM) for the surface morphology and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy for the chemical functionality. The electromagnetic shielding effectiveness, absorption and reflection characteristics were determined by Network Analyzer with a frequency ranged from 15 to 3000 MHz. The electrical characteristics were measured by the two ends method. It has been concluded that the bursting strength values of the treated fabrics reduced when the amount of monomer in the concentrations decreased as compared to the untreated fabrics. It is interesting to note that 1.2 M treated fabric had the highest bursting strength values as compared to the other treated fabrics. It was also found that 0.5 M concentration of PANI-treated fabric had the lowest surface resistivity due to this it showed the highest conductivity value. Another important finding is that the 0.5 M-aniline treated fabric had the highest shielding effectiveness.     

Torsional behavior of steel fiber reinforced concrete beams

Torsion of structural members and the behavior of steel fiber reinforced concrete became the area of interest of many researchers in the past and it is still newsworthy. In this study, 12 reinforced concrete (R/C) beams with Steel Fiber Reinforced Concrete (SFRC) were tested to observe the failure under torsional moments. The volumetric steel fiber content, fiber aspect ratio, and the longitudinal reinforcement were the variables of the investigation. Unit torsional angle of twist versus torsional moment (torque) response of each specimen was monitored during the experiments, and the effect of above variables on this response was critically investigated. It was observed that not only the torque capacity of R/C beam is modified by the addition of Steel Fiber Reinforcement (SFR) but also the energy absorption capacity is significantly affected by the SFR addition. Besides, an empirical equation relating the torque to twist for SFRC beams is proposed and tested against the test data.     

Tumor-Cut: segmentation of brain tumors on contrast enhanced MR images for radiosurgery applications

In this paper, we present a fast and robust practical tool for segmentation of solid tumors with minimal user interaction to assist clinicians and researchers in radiosurgery planning and assessment of the response to the therapy. Particularly, a cellular automata (CA) based seeded tumor segmentation method on contrast enhanced T1 weighted magnetic resonance (MR) images, which standardizes the volume of interest (VOI) and seed selection, is proposed. First, we establish the connection of the CA-based segmentation to the graph-theoretic methods to show that the iterative CA framework solves the shortest path problem. In that regard, we modify the state transition function of the CA to calculate the exact shortest path solution. Furthermore, a sensitivity parameter is introduced to adapt to the heterogeneous tumor segmentation problem, and an implicit level set surface is evolved on a tumor probability map constructed from CA states to impose spatial smoothness. Sufficient information to initialize the algorithm is gathered from the user simply by a line drawn on the maximum diameter of the tumor, in line with the clinical practice. Furthermore, an algorithm based on CA is presented to differentiate necrotic and enhancing tumor tissue content, which gains importance for a detailed assessment of radiation therapy response. Validation studies on both clinical and synthetic brain tumor datasets demonstrate 80%-90% overlap performance of the proposed algorithm with an emphasis on less sensitivity to seed initialization, robustness with respect to different and heterogeneous tumor types, and its efficiency in terms of computation time.     

电桥结构对电火工品感度影响研究

依据能量平衡方程,对影响电火工品(EED)电感度的电桥、热损失系数进行了试验分析,结果表明电桥材料和电桥结构变化影响电桥的散热系数和EED的电感度,为EED改进提供了理论依据.