Fracture of solids by radiation pulses as a method of ensuring safety in space

To determine the optimum conditions of fracturing or altering the trajectory of dangerous space objects (large iron or rock space bodies, threatening to collide with the Earth), and also destroy space debris in the space around the Earth, the author presents a mathematical formulation of the problem of calculating the dynamic strength of solids under the effect of high-energy loading pulses. The results of numerical modeling are compared with the experimental data for the formulation of cupola-shaped swollen areas on the rear surface of a metallic plate subjected to laser radiation. The change in the fracture mechanisms (front and rear spallation) with increasing energy of the effect has been detected. Recommendations are given for optimizing the pulsed laser effect on dangerous space objects to ensure the fragmentation or change their orbit.Expanded form of the document presented at the International Conference Space Protection of the Earth≓ (SPE'94, Snezhinsk, Russian, September 26–30, 1994).Translated from Problemy Prochnosti, No. 3, pp. 31–51, March, 1996.     

The interactions between In-Sn solders and an electroless Ni-P deposit upon heat treatment

The interactions between In-Sn solders and an electroless Ni-P deposit within the multilayer combinations comprised of In-Sn/electroless Ni-P/Al were investigated with the aid of heat treatments at various temperatures and durations. The main reaction product was identified with X-ray diffractometry (XRD) as In₃Ni₂ regardless of the In-contents of the In-Sn solders. The formation of this In₃Ni₂ compound occurred through the diffusion of Ni towards the In-Sn solder. The intermetallic compound layer achieved its maximum thickness within 100 h upon heat treatment at 60 C; the thickness of the compound layer did not increase upon extending heat treatment. Sn tended to dissolve in the In₃Ni₂ compound.     

Creep lifetime prediction of oxide-dispersion-strengthened nickel-base superalloys: A micromechanically based approach

The high-temperature creep behavior of the oxide-dispersion-strengthened (ODS) nickel-base superalloys MA 754 and MA 6000 has been investigated at temperatures up to 1273 K and lifetimes of approximately 4000 hours using monotonic creep tests at constant true stressσ, as well as true constant extension rate tests (CERTs) at . The derivation of creep rupture-lifetime diagrams is usually performed with conventional engineering parametric methods, according to Sherby and Dorn or Larson and Miller. In contrast, an alternative method is presented that is based on a more microstructural approach. In order to describe creep, the effective stress model takes into account the hardening contributionσ _p caused by the presence of second-phase particles, as well as the classical Taylor back-stressσ _p caused by dislocations. The modeled strain rate-stress dependence can be transferred directly into creep-rupture stress-lifetime diagrams using a modified Monkman-Grant (MG) relationship, which adequately describes the interrelation between representing dislocation motion, and lifetimet _f representing creep failure. The comparison with measured creep-rupture data proves the validity of the proposed micromechanical concept.     

Formulating and solving a class of optimization problems for high-performance gray world automatic white balance

This paper provides new insights into methods performing automatic white balance for a digitally captured image. It is shown that automatic white balance may be formulated as an optimization problem with explicit definition of objective function, decision variables, and constraints. Three alternative methods of formulating the optimization problem are proposed. It is also shown that fuzzy inference rules, commonly utilized in existing literatures to evaluate to what degree an image satisfying the gray world assumption, may be incorporated into the objective function of the optimization problem. A two-stage adjustment law with constrained search direction is then proposed to update the decision variables. A gradient descent algorithm is employed to numerically solve the problem, which guarantees the convergence and that optimal white balance effort is achieved for most images. Experimental results and a comparative study justify that the proposed methods are preferable to existing methods with regard to the execution time, the algorithmic complexity, and the performance.     

Design sensitivity analysis of acoustical damping and its application to design of musical bells

Damping characteristics of a musical bell plays an important role in characterizing the musical sound. The total damping consists of acoustical damping and internal damping. Acoustical damping depends upon resonating frequencies and vibration patterns while internal damping is a material property. The acoustical damping of a vibrating structure is formulated via boundary element method and finite element method using eigenmode decomposition. The design sensitivity of acoustical damping is derived using an adjoint variable method of the eigenvalue problem. Design optimization of a musical bell is then performed in terms of acoustical parameters. The goal of the optimization problem is to design a harmonically tuned bell with given acoustical damping values. The proposed automated design process integrates finite element analysis, boundary element analysis, design sensitivity analysis, mode-tracking algorithm and optimization module, seamlessly. It is demonstrated by numerical examples to show practical applications.     

Generation of droplets with different concentrations using gradient-microfluidic droplet generator

This study successfully uses the micro-mixers and flow-focusing devices, which are integrated into a gradient-microfluidic droplet generator, to generate the different sizes of the droplets with different concentrations simultaneously and applies these microcapsules for drug release. The sizes of these four types of droplet with different concentrations are uniformity with a coefficient of variation less than 5% and can be precisely controlled by adjusting the water phase flow rate and oil phase flow rate. Moreover, Ca-alginate microcapsules with different concentrations of the bovine serum albumin are used for uniform size drug release, and the Ca-alginate microcapsule size is from 60 to 105 μm in diameter. This developed microfluidic chip has the advantages of actively controlling the droplet diameter, simultaneously generating uniform-sized droplets with different concentrations, and having a simple process and a high throughput. This preparation approach for Ca-alginate microcapsules of four different concentrations will provide many potential applications for drug delivery and pharmaceutical area.     

Study of delay-independent decentralized guaranteed cost control for large scale systems

This study introduces delay independent decentralized guaranteed cost control design method based on two controller structures for nonlinear uncertain interconnected large scale systems with time delays. First, a set of equivalent Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy models are extended to represent the systems. Then a decentralized state-feedback guaranteed cost performance controller is proposed for the fuzzy systems. Based on delay independent Lyapunov functional approach, some sufficient conditions for the existence of the controller can be cast into the feasible problem of LMIs irrespective of the sizes of the time delays so that the system can be asymptotically stabilized for all considered uncertainties whose sizes are not larger than their bounds. Finally, the minimizing approach is proposed to search the suboptimal upper bound value of guaranteed cost function. Moreover, the corresponding conditions are extended into the generalized dynamic output-feedback close-loop system. Finally, the better control performances of the proposed methods are shown by the simulation examples.     

A study of a new data association and track initiation method with normalized distance squared ordering

In an underwater environment, measurements regarding true targets and false targets (clutter) can be made. Therefore, a suitable data association method to exactly detect and track a target and an efficient track initiation method for judging tracks formed by the target should be selected in this environment. This paper attempts to propose a new data association method and track initiation method to detect and track targets more effectively. Also, the performance of the new method is tested in a series of Monte Carlo simulation runs and is compared with the existing data association and track initiation methods in a cluttered environment.     

Adaptive control of uncertain port-controlled Hamiltonian systems subject to actuator saturation

This paper deals with the problem of adaptive control of uncertain nonlinear port-controlled Hamiltonian systems subject to actuator saturation, and proposes a number of results on the control design. Firstly, the adaptive stabilization problem is studied, and a control design method is developed by using both the dissipative Hamiltonian structural and saturated actuator properties. Secondly, for the case that there are both parametric uncertainties and external disturbances in the AS systems, an adaptive H _∞ control design approach is presented. Finally, study of an example of power systems with simulations shows that the adaptive controller proposed in this paper is effective.     

An internet of things–based personal device for diabetes therapy management in ambient assisted living (AAL)

Diabetes therapy management in AAL environments, such as old people and diabetes patients homes, is a very difficult task since many factors affect a patient’s blood sugar levels. Factors such as illness, treatments, physical and psychological stress, physical activity, drugs, intravenous fluids and change in the meal plan cause unpredictable and potentially dangerous fluctuations in blood sugar levels. Right now, operations related to dosage are based on insulin infusion protocol boards, which are provided by physicians to the patients. These boards are not considering very influential factors such as glycemic index from the diet, consequently patients need to estimate the dosage leading to dose error, which culminates in hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia episode. Therefore, right insulin infusion calculation needs to be supported by the next generation of personal-care devices. For this reason, a personal device has been developed to assist and consider more factors in the insulin therapy dosage calculation. The proposed solution is based on Internet of things in order to, on the one hand, support a patient’s profile management architecture based on personal RFID cards and, on the other hand, provide global connectivity between the developed patient’s personal device based on 6LoWPAN, nurses/physicians desktop application to manage personal health cards, glycemic index information system, and patient’s web portal. This solution has been evaluated by a multidisciplinary group formed by patients, physicians, and nurses.