Uncertainty compensation for a flexible-link manipulator using nonlinear H control

In a flexible-link manipulator, in general the effect of some parameters such as payload, friction amplitude and damping coefficients cannot be exactly measured. One possibility is to consider the above as parameters with uncertainty. In this paper, constant as well as L₂-bounded deviations of parameters from their nominal values are considered as uncertainties. These uncertainties make it difficult for a linear controller to achieve desired closed-loop performance. To remedy this problem, a nonlinear dynamical model of a flexible-link manipulator which has a constant input vector field (g in [xdot]=f(x) + g(x)u) is obtained. Based on recent results in nonlinear robust regulation with an H∞ constraint a nonlinear controller is designed for the flexible-link manipulator. The contribution of this paper is in demonstrating that the nonlinear controller has a larger domain of attraction than the linearized controller. In fact, for the single-link flexible manipulator considered in this paper, the linear H∞ controller results in instability for step changes in the desired output of greater than 3.6 rad, whereas the nonlinear H∞ controller yields desired step changes of 2π rad. Simulation results demonstrating the advantages and superiority of the nonlinear H∞ controller over the linear H∞controller are presented.     

IDFC: A new approach to control bifurcation in TCP/RED

The main objective of this research is to analyze the bifurcation phenomenon in Internet congestion model for Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) with Random Early Detection (RED). This problem can be divided to many categories considering different viewpoints. Different approaches of modeling (continuous and discrete models) and various system structures (control in end node or routers) are some of these categories. The most significant method in control of such systems is Delayed Feedback Controller (DFC). In this paper, a discrete model is considered and a new algorithm Integral DFC (IDFC) is presented that has many preferences over similar algorithms, which are illustrated by simulation results and analytical discussions.     

Practical Output Regulation of Uncertain Strict‐Feedback Form Systems

In this paper, an output feedback control is proposed to solve the practical output regulation problem of a class of nonlinear systems. In the first step of the design procedure, two sets of coordinate transformations are used to convert the output regulation problem of the system in the strict‐feedback form into the regulation problem of the transformed system in the uncertain normal form. Then, for the resulting system, a state feedback in the cast of nested sliding mode control is designed. Finally, by using the nonlinear separation principle, the output feedback controller is achieved by substituting the estimated states, resulting from the high‐gain observer, instead of real states. It can be shown that the states of the closed‐loop system are ultimately bounded. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd and Chinese Automatic Control Society     

Crystallization and Drying of Milk Powder in a Multiple-Stage Fluidized Bed Dryer

The rationale of this study has been to use fluidized beds to crystallize amorphous spray-dried skim milk powders with multiple stages of processing at different temperatures and humidities with the aim of rapidly making mostly crystalline powders. This paper discusses the performance of a multiple-stage fluidized bed dryer, and a combination of crystallization of lactose in spray drying at high humidity (lactose nuclei formation) and subsequent fluidized bed drying. Two different combinations of spray dryer and multi-stage fluidized-bed dryer have been suggested to crystallize lactose in skim milk powder. The results show significant improvements in the crystallinity of the powders. Moisture sorption test and X-ray diffraction analysis were used to assess the crystallinity of the powders. The processed powders that were crystallized in a humid-loop spray drying combined with a two-stage fluidized-bed dryer/crystallizer showed 92% improvement in lower amorphicity by processing at different stages of 70°C, 50% RH and 80°C, 50% RH for 15 minutes. The conventionally spray-dried powders that were crystallized in a three-stage fluidized-bed dryer/crystallizer showed 87% improvement in lower amorphicity (less moisture sorption) by processing at different stages of 60°C, 50% RH; 70°C, 40% RH; and 80°C, 40% RH for 20 minutes. The multiple-stage fluidized bed system showed distinctive potential to crystallize lactose significantly in skim milk powder using an industrial-feasible process.     

Fumonisin B(1) in maize harvested in Iran during 1999.

The fumonisin B(1) (FB(1)) contamination of maize collected in two areas of Iran during 1999 was determined. The 20 maize samples from Mazandaran Province, situated on the Caspian littoral of Iran, consisted of random samples of farmers' lots and were all contaminated with FB(1) at a mean level of 3.18 mg kg(-1) (range 0.68-7.66 mg kg(-1)). The 10 samples (of the same maize cultivar) from Isfahan Province in central Iran were purchased as maize cobs in local retail markets and had mean FB levels of 0.22 mg kg(-1) (mean of all samples, 6/10 samples positive, range <0.01-0.88 mg kg(-1)). The FB levels in Mazandaran, an area of high oesophageal cancer, were significantly (p < 0.0001) higher than the FB levels found in maize from Isfahan, an area of low oesophageal cancer in Iran.     

Nearly zero-dispersion, low confinement loss, and small effective mode area index-guiding PCF at 1.55 μm wavelength

In this paper,a new simple structure of indexguiding photonic crystal fiber (PCF) is designed and presented.In this PCF,dispersion,confinement loss,and effective mode area characteristics are investiga...     

An efficient one-pot synthesis of tetrahydrothiazolo[3,2-a]quinolin-6-one derivatives

The cysteamine hydrochloride as a practical precursor of 2-(nitromethylene)thiazolidine in the one-pot synthesis of thiazoloquinoline derivatives from aromatic aldehydes and dimedone is described. This protocol involved Michael reaction, imine–enamine tautomerization, and cyclization sequence. Simple operation under mild conditions, easy accessibility of reactants, short reaction times, simple workup procedure, high atom economy, and the use of ethanol/water as a green medium make this approach attractive for the synthesis of variety of such derivatives.     

An efficient method for structural damage detection using a differential evolution algorithm-based optimisation approach

An efficient method employing the differential evolution algorithm (DEA) as an optimisation solver is presented here to identify the multiple damage cases of structural systems. Natural frequency changes of a structure are considered as a criterion for damage occurrence. The structural damage detection problem is first transformed into a standard optimisation problem dealing with continuous variables, and then the DEA is utilised to solve the optimisation problem for finding the site and extent of structural damage. In order to assess the performance of the proposed method for structural damage identification, some illustrative examples are numerically tested, considering also measurement noise. All the numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method for accurately determining the site and extent of multiple-structural damage. Also, the performance of the DEA for damage detection compared to the standard particle swarm optimisation is confirmed by a test example.     

Mass and stiffness calibration of nanowires using thermally driven vibration

Cantilevered or suspended nanowires show promise for force or mass sensing applications due to their small mass, high force sensitivity and high frequency bandwidth. To use these as quantitative sensors, their bending stiffness or mass must be calibrated experimentally, often using thermally driven vibration. However, this can be difficult because nanowires are slightly asymmetric, which results in two spatially orthogonal bending eigenmodes with closely spaced frequencies. This asymmetry presents problems for traditional stiffness calibration methods, which equate the measured thermal vibration spectrum near a resonance to that of a single eigenmode. Moreover, the principal axes may be arbitrarily rotated with respect to the measurement direction. In this work, the authors propose a method for calibrating the bending stiffness and mass of such nanowires' eigenmodes using a single measurement taken at an arbitrary orientation with respect to the principal axes.     

Mimicking cell membrane-like structures on alkylated silicon surfaces by peptide amphiphiles

We present a new strategy for flexible attachment of peptide amphiphiles on functionalized silicon surfaces. This method involves the production of an alkylated surface on which a lipidated peptide can then be attached through hydrophobic interaction. We applied this to two derivatives of amphiphilic peptide molecules with the same amino acid sequence (A-A-A-A-G-G-G-E-R-G-D) but different in alkyl chain lengths (palmitic acid, undecanoic acid). The basis of this work was to develop substrates which are more biocompatible and bioactive. The ultra-thin peptide amphiphile films were characterized using electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy. The results demonstrated that the length of the alkyl chain in the peptide amphiphile affects the packing and coverage of the peptides on the silicon surface.