A computer aided design method for car form and its application based on shape parameters

In the early design stage, automotive modeling should both meet the requirements of aesthetics and engineering. Therefore, a vehicle CAD (computer aided design) model that can be easily adjusted by feedbacks is necessary. Based on CE-Bézier surface, this paper presents a set of algorithms for parametric segmentation and fairing surface generation in a car model. This model is defined by a simplified automotive template and relevant control points, shape parameters and segmentation parameters, which can be modified to alter the car form efficiently. With this model and the corresponding adjustment method, more than fifty various vehicle models are established in this research according to different parameters. And two methods for calculating similarity index between car models are constructed, which are suitable for brand design trend analysis and modelling design decisionmaking.     

Electrocatalytic Reduction of CO2 to Ethylene by Molecular Cu‐Complex Immobilized on Graphitized Mesoporous Carbon

The electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (CO₂) to hydrocarbons is a challenging task because of the issues in controlling the efficiency and selectivity of the products. Among the various transition metals, copper has attracted attention as it yields more reduced and C2 products even while using mononuclear copper center as catalysts. In addition, it is found that reversible formation of copper nanoparticle acts as the real catalytically active site for the conversion of CO₂ to reduced products. Here, it is demonstrated that the dinuclear molecular copper complex immobilized over graphitized mesoporous carbon can act as catalysts for the conversion of CO₂ to hydrocarbons (methane and ethylene) up to 60%. Interestingly, high selectivity toward C2 product (40% faradaic efficiency) is achieved by a molecular complex based hybrid material from CO₂ in 0.1 m KCl. In addition, the role of local pH, porous structure, and carbon support in limiting the mass transport to achieve the highly reduced products is demonstrated. Although the spectroscopic analysis of the catalysts exhibits molecular nature of the complex after 2 h bulk electrolysis, morphological study reveals that the newly generated copper cluster is the real active site during the catalytic reactions.     

Approximate cutting pattern optimization of frame-supported and pneumatic membrane structures

International Journal of Mechanics and Materials in Design - A simple iterative method is presented for cutting pattern optimization of frame-supported and pneumatic membrane structures for...     

Within-class multimodal classification

Multimedia Tools and Applications - In many real-world classification problems there exist multiple subclasses (or clusters) within a class; in other words, the underlying data distribution is...     

知竹,知足——浅谈紫砂壶“知竹”的文化意境

紫砂壶以造型为基本的载体,通过形神兼备的造型表现出深厚的文化情感,它将自然万物融汇其中,将各种不同的生命、思想和个性呈现其上,使人观壶如同与人交流,产生深刻的情感、精神共鸣,感受到内心的平静,这十分有益于舒缓当代人的精神心理压力,让人们通过泡茶品茗这种生活方式来获得暂时的悠闲,并通过对紫砂壶的把玩来感悟其中的文化内蕴,从而获得自由淡泊的心态,更好地面对生活。本文以紫砂壶“知竹”为例,浅谈其文化意境。     

Creating the brain and interacting with the brain: an integrated approach to understanding the brain

In the past two decades, brain science and robotics have made gigantic advances in their own fields, and their interactions have generated several interdisciplinary research fields. First, in the ‘understanding the brain by creating the brain’ approach, computational neuroscience models have been applied to many robotics problems. Second, such brain-motivated fields as cognitive robotics and developmental robotics have emerged as interdisciplinary areas among robotics, neuroscience and cognitive science with special emphasis on humanoid robots. Third, in brain–machine interface research, a brain and a robot are mutually connected within a closed loop. In this paper, we review the theoretical backgrounds of these three interdisciplinary fields and their recent progress. Then, we introduce recent efforts to reintegrate these research fields into a coherent perspective and propose a new direction that integrates brain science and robotics where the decoding of information from the brain, robot control based on the decoded information and multimodal feedback to the brain from the robot are carried out in real time and in a closed loop.