Partial decoupling of non-minimum phase processes with bounds on the remaining coupling

Partial (triangular) decoupling of MIMO systems has been considered in the literature as a way of relaxing the design limitations introduced by diagonal decoupling in non-minimum phase processes. The former strategy allows decoupling a variable of interest without affecting it with non-minimum phase dynamics. However, when right-half plane (RHP) zeros are mainly aligned with this variable, pushing the effect of the RHP zeros to other outputs comes at the cost of great interactions in those variables. This article presents a method to delimit these interactions without degrading significantly the decoupled variable response. To this end, the algorithm shapes the reference signal by means of an auxiliary sliding mode loop.     

Short-term operation planning on cogeneration systems: A survey

This paper presents a survey of the developed researches from 1983 up to 2006 related to the cogeneration systems. The survey is focused on short-term operation planning and papers are grouped according to the most important characteristics. This paper contributes to: (i) give an extensive survey in the area and (ii) mention aspects in the short-term operation planning that have been poorly developed and where future contributions are required.     

Bone-Bound Glucoamylase as a Biocatalyst in Bench-Scale Production of Glucose Syrups from Liquefied Cassava Starch

This research assesses the bench-scale application of a non-conventional support, bone particles, for glucoamylase (GA) immobilization and its subsequent use in cassava starch hydrolysis. Upon determining the appropriate conditions to immobilize GA onto chicken bone particles, such as pH, ionic strength, particle size, and enzyme load, bench-scale immobilization of commercial GA without further purification was performed. Under the selected conditions, 270 GA units per gram of support were adsorbed. Optimal temperature and thermal stability of immobilized GA were only slightly different from those of the free enzyme, while optimal pH became more acidic by about one unit. The feasibility of the use of this immobilized biocatalyst for high glucose syrup production from liquefied cassava starch, at bench scale in batch process using a stirred-tank reactor, was demonstrated. Repeated use of the GA-bone derivative showed that similar conversions to those achieved with soluble enzyme (dextrose equivalent = 98) were reached until the third batch and over 90% until the 25th batch.     

Evaluation of mode II fatigue disbonding using Central Cut Plies specimen and distributed strain sensing technology

The lack of a widely-accepted test standard for characterizing the mode II fatigue disbond growth behavior of adhesively bonded interfaces is a challenge to the research community in terms of producing consistent and repeatable results. Typically, researchers apply the End Notch Flexure specimen, which is already used for static delamination studies. However, the needs for static and fatigue disbond growth characterization are not the same, resulting in some undesirable effects in such specimen. This study looks at a particular mode II test configuration known as the Central Cut Plies (CCP) specimen. A critical evaluation of the suitability of this specimen, including the influence of geometry, disbond measurement approaches and the stability of the disbond growth is carried out through a combination of numerical and experimental investigations. A distributed strain sensing system based on Rayleigh Backscattering provided a surface strain profile from which disbond growth rate data was obtained. A finite element model was used to verify the experimental results and determine the disbond length from the strain profiles. Results of this evaluation have shown that the CCP specimen is a promising specimen configuration for characterizing fatigue disbond growth; however, it also presents several challenges that require consideration in its application.     

A path conditioning method with trap avoidance

This work presents a sliding-mode method for robotic path conditioning. The proposal includes a trap avoidance algorithm in order to escape from trap situations, which are analogous to local minima in potential field-based approaches. The sliding-mode algorithm activates when the desired path is about to violate the robot workspace constraints, modifying it as much as necessary in order to fulfill all the constraints and reaching their limit surface at low speed. The proposed path conditioning algorithm can be used on-line, since it does not require a priori knowledge of the desired path, and improves the conventional conservative potential field-based approach in the sense that it fully exploits the robot workspace. The proposed approach can be easily added as an auxiliary supervisory loop to conventional robotic planning algorithms and its implementation is very easy in a few program lines of a microprocessor. The proposed path conditioning is compared through simulation with the conventional potential field-based approach in order to show the benefits of the method. Moreover, the effectiveness of the proposed trap avoidance algorithm is evaluated by simulation for various trap situations.     

Sequence-aware multimodal page classification of Brazilian legal documents

International Journal on Document Analysis and Recognition (IJDAR) - The Brazilian Supreme Court receives tens of thousands of cases each semester. Court employees spend thousands of hours to...     

Persistence of resinous cement residues in dentin treated with different chemical removal protocols

The aim of this study was to evaluate the persistence of resin cement residues after dentin surface cleaning with different alcohol-based solutions or an essential oil (eucalyptol). Forty bovine teeth were sectioned in order to expose pulp chamber dentin to be washed with 1.0 mL of 2.5% sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl), followed by 0.1 mL of 17% EDTA application for 3 min, and final irrigation with 2.5% NaOCl. The specimens were air dried and resin-based cement was rubbed onto the dentine surface with a microbrush applicator. After 15 min, the surface was scrubbed with a cotton pellet and moistened with different dentin cleaning solutions, compounding the following groups: G1--95% ethanol, G2--70% ethanol, G3--70% isopropyl alcohol, or G4--eucalyptol. The dentin was scrubbed until the cement residues could not be visually detected. Sections were then processed for SEM and evaluated at × 500 magnification. Scores were attributed to each image according to the area covered by residual sealer, and data were subjected to Kruskal-Wallis at 5% significance. Eucalyptol promoted the most adequate dentin cleaning, although no statistical difference was detected amongst the groups (P > 0.05), except between the eucalyptol and 70% ethanol groups (P < 0.05). All the evaluated dentin cleaning solutions were unable to completely remove the cement residues from the dentin surface.     

Fabrication of electrospun fibers from a waterborne soy-based polyurethane employing polyethylene oxide as a coformer

The fabrication of electrospun fibers made from aqueous dispersions of polyurethane obtained from renewable sources is an eco-friendly method to produce porous membranes for different applications. Polyethylene oxide (PEO) has been already employed in formulations for allowing fiber formation, but its role was not yet completely understood. In this work the fabrication of electrospun fibers made from biobased polyurethane aqueous dispersion with PEO in order to obtain regular fibers is performed. The role of PEO was studied by thermal analysis, infrared and Raman spectroscopy, rheology, and fiber morphology. Polyurethane fibers were obtained only when PEO was added, otherwise the dispersion is electrosprayed and particles are formed. It was observed that PEO modifies the rheology of dispersion and assists coalescence of polyurethane particles. On the other hand, polyurethane fibers conserved their diameter and their homogeneous structure after removal of PEO by immersion in water, which indicates that the distribution of both polymers was even within the fibers. This work provides both an insight on the role of PEO and a route for the fabrication of eco-friendly biobased polyurethane microfibers from aqueous dispersions.     

Role of HSP70 in the regulation of the testicular apoptosis in a seasonal breeding teleost Prochilodus argenteus from the São Francisco river,Brazil

This study investigated the relationship among heat shock protein 70 (HSP70), proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), and testicular apoptosis during a breeding cycle of Prochilodus argenteus, a neotropical migratory characiform fish of importance in commercial fishery from the São Francisco River basin. A total of 48 (12 fish/sampling) adult males were caught using casting and drifting nets in four samplings from June 2008 to March 2009. Immunohistochemistry, Western blotting, terminal transferase‐mediated dUTP nick‐end labeling (TUNEL), enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and caspase‐3 colorimetric assay were assessed in different phases of spermatogenesis. Labeling for HSP70 occurred in spermatogonia (SPG_A 18.0±1.5 and SPG_B 27.9±1.0 in 100 mm², respectively) and Sertoli cells in all sampling periods, with higher values in June (resting period) while spermatocytes were labeled in September (maturation period) and December (ripe period). For PCNA, immunoreaction was predominant in spermatogonia in June and September, while primary spermatocytes were labeled mainly in December (18.7±2.0). TUNEL‐positive reaction occurred throughout the sampling periods, and labeling was detected in the nucleus of germ cells in all developmental phases, except spermatozoa. By ELISA, total HSP70 in testis increased significantly from June to December, and decreased in March (regression period), P<0.05. Caspase‐3 activity decreased from June to December and increased in March. Taken together, our results suggest that HSP70 may protect the germ cells from caspase‐3‐dependent apoptosis during testicular activity and, reduction of HSP70 and increase of apoptosis contribute for testicular remodeling after the breeding season in wild populations of P. argenteus in the São Francisco River. Microsc. Res. Tech. 76:350–356, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Thermal and Economical Analysis of the Solar Preheating of Steam Boiler Feed Water

It is presented that a feasibility assessment of solar preheating of steam boiler feed water for opened vapor systems. Data from a medium sized dairy industry near Rio de Janeiro city, in Brazil, is used to compose a case study. Forty eight solar heating system computer simulations were carried out in TRNSYS （transient system simulation software）, for a range of design parameters corresponding to the 5% best economic results of a series of 2,700 simpler simulations （φ,f-chart method）, programmed on Matlab. It has been used TMY （typical meteorological year） hourly weather data from Rio de Janeiro. Investment cost was composed from both commercial and literature values, while revenue was based on the avoided consumption of fuel for LPG （liquefied petroleum gas）, natural gas and fuel oil, with only the first showing economically feasible. The results, however, made it possible to address environmentally sound public policies to encourage industrial solar energy use.