Effect of dry heat stabilisation on the functional properties of rice bran proteins

Rice bran was stabilised by dry heat method at 120 °C for 10–60 min, and then, protein was extracted from stabilised rice bran using weak alkali method. The storage characteristics of stabilised rice bran and the influences of dry heat pretreatment on the physicochemical properties of rice bran protein isolate were also evaluated. The results indicated that dry heat pretreatment could not only prevent rancidity of rice bran effectively, but also improve some functional properties of rice bran proteins, such as emulsifying properties, oil holding capacity, and water holding capacity. However, foaming properties and protein solubility were slightly destroyed because of heating. Rice bran was pretreated at 120 °C for 10 or 20 min and then extracted at pH 9.5, and the protein yields were 50.09% and 46.98%, respectively. Therefore, the dry heat treatment at 120 °C for 10 or 20 min was a suitable alternative process in stabilisation of rice bran.     

Event-triggered control for semi-global stabilisation of systems with actuator saturation

This paper investigates the problem of event-triggered control for semi-global stabilisation of null controllable systems subject to actuator saturation. First, for a continuous-time system, novel event-triggered low-gain control algorithms based on Riccati equations are proposed to achieve semi-global stabilisation. The algebraic Riccati equation with a low-gain parameter is utilised to design both the event-triggering condition and the linear controller; a minimum inter-event time based on the Riccati ordinary differential equation is set a priori to exclude the Zeno behaviour. In addition, the high–low gain techniques are utilised to extend the semi-global results to event-based global stabilisation. Furthermore, for a discrete-time system, novel low-gain and high–low-gain control algorithms are proposed to achieve event-triggered stabilisation. Numerical examples are provided to illustrate the theoretical results.     

A probabilistic approach for video stabilisation in compressed domain

Machine vision systems, which are being extensively used for intelligent transportation applications, such as traffic monitoring and automatic navigation, suffer from image instability caused by environment unstable conditions. On the other hand, by increasing the use of home video cameras which sometimes need to remove unwanted camera movement, which is created by cameraman shaking hands, video stabilisation algorithms are being considered. The video stabilisation process consists of three essential phases: global motion estimation, intentional motion estimation and motion compensation. Motion estimation process is the main time consuming part of global motion estimation phase. Using motion vectors extracted directly from MPEG compressed video, instead of any other special feature, can increase the algorithm generality. In addition, it provides the facility for integrating video stabilisation and video compression subsystems and removing the block matching phase from video stabilisation procedure. Elimination of any iterative outlier removal preprocessing and adaptive selection of motion vectors has increased speed of the algorithm. Although deterministic approaches are faster than the related probabilistic methods, they have essential problems in escaping from local optima. For this purpose, particle filters, the ability of which is considerable when submitted to non-linear systems with non-Gaussian noises, are utilised. Setting the parameters of the particle filter using a fuzzy control system reduces the incorrect intentional camera motion removal. The proposed method is simulated and applied to video stabilisation problem and its high performance on various video sequences is demonstrated.     

Optimal performance for a steady-flow endoreversible refrigerator model including five typical cycles

The optimal performance of a universal endoreversible steady-flow refrigerator cycle consisting of a constant thermal-capacity heating branch, a constant thermal-capacity cooling branch and two adiabatic branches with heat transfer loss was analysed using finite-time thermodynamics. The analytical formulae about cooling load, coefficient of performance, exergy loss rate, exergy output rate and ecological criterion of the endoreversible steady-flow refrigerator cycle are derived. Moreover, analysis and optimisation of the model were carried out in order to investigate the effect of the cycle process on the performance of the cycles using numerical examples. The results obtained include the performance characteristics of endoreversible steady-flow Carnot, Diesel, Otto, Atkinson and Brayton refrigeration cycles. The results can provide some theoretical guidance for the design of practical refrigerators.     

线性唯象传热规律下广义不可逆卡诺热机生态学性能系数优化

以反映热机循环输出功率和火用损失率之比的生态学性能系数(ECOP)为目标,用有限时间热力学理论和方法研究广义不可逆卡诺热机的循环性能。导出了线性唯象传热规律(Q∝Δ(T-1))下ECOP的解析式,通过数值计算分析了各种目标极值条件下ECOP与循环功率、效率、熵产率、生态学函数E之间的关系,主要研究了热源温比对最优性能的影响。     

不可逆四热源吸收式制冷机(火用)经济优化性能

应用有限时间热力学理论,基于利润率为目标函数,对牛顿传热规律下四热源吸收式制冷机进行优化分析,导出制冷机的(火用)经济优化性能,揭示了其与生态学优化性能的内在联系.所得结论可为四热源制冷机的优化设计和最佳工况选择等提供些新理论依据.     

Mechanical stabilisation of retained austenite in δ-TRIP steel

Recent research suggests that extraordinary combinations of strength and ductility can be achieved in the so-called δ-TRIP steels, which contain ferrite, bainite and austenite. A part of the reason for the ductility of almost 40% elongation at a strength of some 900 MPa, is believed to be the optimal stability of the austenite to plastic deformation. We demonstrate here that mechanical stabilisation plays an important role in preserving the austenite to large plastic strains.     

An analysis of cascade‐aerated facultative waste stabilisation ponds in the United Kingdom

This paper examines the performance of cascade‐aerated facultative ponds in a waste stabilisation pond (WSP) installation in the United Kingdom. The pond system is privately owned and treats wastewater from a conference centre with a population equivalent between 20 and 40. A snapshot analysis investigates the removal efficiency of BOD, COD, SS, FC and nutrients. Further, the oxygen supply through ‘flow form’ cascades is examined, and the DO concentrations, surface loads and retention times are discussed. The results show a very high removal of BOD, COD and SS; and nutrient removal is satisfactory. An unusual finding is that the FC removal efficiency is almost two log units better than for a common maturation pond. This is possibly attributable to the high cascade flow, where wastewater is exposed to the damaging effects of sunlight (photo‐oxidation).     

Linux real-time framework for fusion devices

A new framework for the development and execution of real-time codes is currently being developed and commissioned at JET. The foundations of the system are Linux, the Real Time Application Interface (RTAI) and a wise exploitation of the new i386 multi-core processors technology.The driving motivation was the need to find a real-time operating system for the i386 platform able to satisfy JET Vertical Stabilisation Enhancement project requirements: 50 μs cycle time. Even if the initial choice was the VxWorks operating system, it was decided to explore an open source alternative, mostly because of the costs involved in the commercial product.The work started with the definition of a precise set of requirements and milestones to achieve: Linux distribution and kernel versions to be used for the real-time operating system; complete characterization of the Linux/RTAI real-time capabilities; exploitation of the multi-core technology; implementation of all the required and missing features; commissioning of the system.Latency and jitter measurements were compared for Linux and RTAI in both user and kernel-space. The best results were attained using the RTAI kernel solution where the time to reschedule a real-time task after an external interrupt is of 2.35 ± 0.35 μs. In order to run the real-time codes in the kernel-space, a solution to provide user-space functionalities to the kernel modules had to be designed. This novel work provided the most common functions from the standard C library and transparent interaction with files and sockets to the kernel real-time modules. Kernel C++ support was also tested, further developed and integrated in the framework.The work has produced very convincing results so far: complete isolation of the processors assigned to real-time from the Linux non real-time activities, high level of stability over several days of benchmarking operations and values well below 3 μs for task rescheduling after external interrupt. From being the alternative option, RTAI has been finally chosen as the platform for the project. A first stable version of the framework has been integrated on the JET system and is already being commissioned. It will be soon be used on the Vertical Stabilisation Enhancement for the Plasma Control Upgrade (PCU) project at JET.     

非线性网络有限时间分布式跟踪控制

针对具有本质非线性动态的多智能体网络,基于微分包含理论研究有限时间协调跟踪问题。假设非线性动态满足Lipschitz条件且只有部分智能体已知目标动态,设计分布式混杂控制协议,应用非光滑稳定性分析方法给出系统实现有限时间跟踪的充分条件。若无向切换拓扑保持连通或有向拓扑具有生成树且强连通部分满足细致平衡条件,则选取合适的控制增益参数均能实现有限时间跟踪。最后通过仿真实验表明了所提出方案的有效性和正确性。