Elimination of unnecessary contact states in contact state graphs for robotic assembly tasks

It needs much computation to develop a contact state graph and find an assembly sequence because polyhedral objects consist of a lot of vertices, edges, and faces. In this paper, we propose a new method to eliminate unnecessary contact states in the contact state graph corresponding to a robotic assembly task. In our method, the faces of polyhedral objects are triangulated, and the adjacency of each vertex, edge, and triangle between an initial contact state and a target contact state is defined. Then, this adjacency is used to create contact state graphs at different priorities. When a contact state graph is finished at a higher priority, a lot of unnecessary contact states can be eliminated because the contact state graph already includes at least one realizable assembly sequence. Our priority-based method is compared with a face-based method through statistically analyzing the contact state graphs obtained from different assembly tasks. Finally, our method results in a significant improvement in the final performance.     

Preparation and cure behavior of organoclay‐modified allyl‐functional benzoxazine resin and the properties of their nanocomposites

A new type of polybenzoxazine‐clay nanocomposites were prepared by the in‐situ polymerization of allyl‐functional benzoxazine monomer, bis(3‐allyl‐3,4‐dihydro‐2H‐1,3‐benzoxazinyl)isopropane (B‐ala), in the presence of two different types of organoclay, allyldimethylstearylammonium‐montmorillonite and propyldimethylstearylammonium‐montmorillonite. The organoclays were mixed with molten B‐ala, followed by pouring into glass mold and then gradual curing up to 250°C. DSC and IR were used to follow the cure behavior of B‐ala in the presence of organoclay, indicating that organoclays catalyzed the ring opening of cyclic benzoxazine structure. The XRD of the nanocomposites showed featureless patterns, suggesting the exfoliation of the organoclay into the matrix. The viscoelastic properties of the hybrids showed that the glass transition temperatures (T_g) of the nanocomposites shifted to lower temperature in the presence of small amount of organoclay, but T_g started to increase with the increase of the organoclay content. This result suggests that, in the presence of organoclay, the curing reaction of ally and benzoxazine occurred in a different way, resulting in a different network structure. However, the presence of dispersed layered silicates into the matrix enhanced the thermal stability over the neat thermoset resin. POLYM. COMPOS., 2008. © 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers     

The numerical analysis of particle-size distribution of clusters in shear flow at one-dimensional closed system and three-dimensional open system

Aimed at optimizing the resin-molding process, a method for numerically analyzing aggregation and dispersion behavior of the filler in resin composite was proposed. The flow of a resin composite during molding was calculated by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and particle-size distribution (PSD) of the cluster in each computational domain of the CFD model was estimated by solving the population balance equation (PBE). The proposed numerical-analysis method is based on the thixotropy model of Usui et al. In the thixotropy model, PSD is calculated by taking into account the aggregation and dispersion rate of the cluster by Brownian coagulation, shear coagulation, and shear breakage. Shear-breakage rate of the cluster is evaluated by solving the energy balance of bonding energy of the primary particles cut at the breakage and the drag applied to the cluster by the flow of the fluid. The composite viscosity was calculated using Krieger and Dougherty’s model based on apparent-solid-volume fraction estimated from the calculated PSD. To solve the PBE at low calculation cost, it was discretized using the fixed-pivot technique of Kumar and Ramkrishna. The proposed method was incorporated into the general-purpose CFD software FLOW-3D®, and its accuracy was proved.     

膜生物反应器中微生物特征与膜污染的相关性

采用Anoxic/Oxic(A/O)工艺的浸没板式膜生物反应器处理城市生活污水。以PCR-DGGE和FISH等分子生物学方法对系统中的微生物学特性与膜污染的相关性进行了研究。结果发现:当MLSS为1.10×104mg/L时,占据最大体积分数的污泥颗粒的直径为47.75μm,小于2μm的微粒子体积分数为1.01%,同时,动胶菌比例达到最高值36.5%,膜组件操作压力达最低值4.5 kPa;而MLSS为2.05×104mg/L时,占有最大体积分数的污泥颗粒直径为24.54μm,小于2μm的微粒子体积分数为2.07%,动胶菌占全菌的比例为最低值15.5%,同时膜组件的操作压力大于17 kPa。结果表明,具有较佳的菌群多样性和较高比例动胶菌的活性污泥中,菌胶团的颗粒较大,且易造成膜孔堵塞的微小粒子相对较少,致使膜组件的操作压力降低。研究显示膜生物反应器中的微生物学特性也是膜污染的重要影响因素之一。     

Association of Antihypertensive Effects of Esaxerenone with the Internal Sodium Balance in Dahl Salt-Sensitive Hypertensive Rats

Background: The nonsteroidal mineralocorticoid receptor blocker esaxerenone is effective in reducing blood pressure (BP). Objective: In this study, we investigated esaxerenone-driven sodium homeostasis and its association with changes in BP in Dahl salt-sensitive (DSS) hypertensive rats. Methods: In the different experimental setups, we evaluated BP by a radiotelemetry system, and sodium homeostasis was determined by an approach of sodium intake (food intake) and excretion (urinary excretion) in DSS rats with a low-salt diet (0.3% NaCl), high-salt diet (HSD, 8% NaCl), HSD plus 0.001% esaxerenone (w/w), and HSD plus 0.05% furosemide. Results: HSD-fed DSS rats showed a dramatic increase in BP with a non-dipper pattern, while esaxerenone treatment, but not furosemide, significantly reduced BP with a dipper pattern. The cumulative sodium excretion in the active period was significantly elevated in esaxerenone- and furosemide-treated rats compared with their HSD-fed counterparts. Sodium content in the skin, skinned carcass, and total body tended to be lower in esaxerenone-treated rats than in their HSD-fed counterparts, while these values were unchanged in furosemide-treated rats. Consistently, sodium balance tended to be reduced in esaxerenone-treated rats during the active period. Histological evaluation showed that esaxerenone, but not furosemide, treatment attenuated glomerulosclerosis, tubulointerstitial fibrosis, and urinary protein excretion induced by high salt loading. Conclusions: Collectively, these findings suggest that an esaxerenone treatment-induced reduction in BP and renoprotection are associated with body sodium homeostasis in salt-loaded DSS rats.