Neurocontrol for lateral vehicle guidance

A solution to autonomous lateral vehicle guidance using a neurocontroller that can learn from measured human-driving data without knowledge of the physical car parameters is discussed. Simulations and practical tests confirm that a small-size feedforward autonomous neural network (21 neurons) can learn to steer a vehicle at high speeds only from looking at human-driving examples. In this way, the network learns the total closed-loop behavior, including the nonlinear dynamics of the vehicle and the driver's individual driving style. The main result of practical investigations is that the neutral controller trained on human-driving examples exhibits an aperiodic behavior that does not vanish at higher speeds (tests performed up to 130 km/h) and produces fewer lateral deviations than the linear state controller     

Pretreatment and physical activation of acetylene cokes

Pretreatment of acetylene cokes at 450 °C with a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen and water vapour creates a relatively large surface area and some initial microporosity, further developed by water activation at 800 °C. For the same degree of burn-off, but without pretreatment, large micropores (L > 2–3 nm) are obtained and the external surface area remains small.     

Novel aspects of the microstructure of PP/PA blends prepared by reactive compounding as studied by microhardness

The microhardness of injection-moulded i-polypropylene/polyamide (iPP/PA) blends prepared by reactive compounding was determined. The formulation rules and processing technology for the preparation of these alloys was reported previously. iPP/PA compositions between 100/0 and 50/50 using functionalized PP with various degrees of mainchain grafting, were investigated. It is shown that the deviation of microhardness from the additivity law of the single components is mainly due to a decrease in the crystallinity of the iPP phase. The results are discussed in the light of the microstructural variations as revealed by X-ray diffraction methods.     

Digital Signatures: A Business View

The technology to create secure digital signatures is proven and workable on PC-level hardware, as well as on mainframes. the issues currently restraining widespread use of digital signatures are primarily legal. This tutorial survey first identifies the functions a digital signature should ideally perform by tracing an example Internet-based electronic business transaction. After an overview of the technology that provides the required functionality, this article presents the current legal status of digital signature use, including a number of unresolved liability issues, and summarizes some precautions for digital signature use.     

The Electrochemistry of Liposomes

This review aims to summarize the current state of research concerning the interaction of electrodes with liposomes suspended in solutions. Main attention is given to the complex mechanism of adhesion and spreading of liposomes on mercury electrodes. That mechanism can be studied with the help of chronoamperometry, where each adhesion-spreading event appears as a capacitive current spike. Integration of these spikes produces charge versus time transients that can be modeled and simulated, revealing the details of the multi-step adhesion-spreading process. Whereas the number of spikes per time mirrors the macro-kinetics, the analysis of the time behavior of each spike mirrors the micro-kinetics of each adhesion-spreading event. The reviewed studies show that this approach provides a new tool to study the properties of liposome membranes. The adhesion-spreading of liposomes on mercury electrodes has strong similarities to the process of vesicle fusion, which makes these studies a biomimetic model allowing one to deduce the effects of foreign molecules in bilayer membranes.     

Race as a moderator in a model of sexual harassment: An empirical test.

L. F. Fitzgerald, C. L. Hulin. and F. Drasgow (1995) proposed that victim characteristics, such as race, might moderate the relationships between sexual harassment and its job, psychological, and health status outcomes. This study describes 2 theoretical positions, tokenism and double jeopardy, that could account for this possible moderation by race, as well as the alternative view that no moderating effects exist. The effects of race are empirically examined through simultaneous path analysis. Results indicate that whereas, mean levels of harassment differ across race, the phenomenon of sexual harassment unfolds similarly across races; race is not a moderator of the relationships between sexual harassment and the variables proposed as its antecedents and outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reversible parotid enlargement and pseudo-Sj?gren's syndrome secondary to hypertriglyceridemia

We describe 2 patients with a Sj?gren-like syndrome apparently secondary to hypertriglyceridemia. Both had bilateral parotitis in addition to musculoskeletal and sicca symptoms. Parotid gland histology revealed fatty infiltration with no inflammation. Therapy with dietary modification and triglyceride lowering drugs resulted in resolution of symptoms and parotid swelling in one patient. In the 2nd patient, hypertriglyceridemia was resistant to triglyceride lowering drugs, and parotid symptoms and swelling continued unabated. Our findings suggest aggressive treatment of hyperlipidemia in pseudo-Sj?gren's syndrome may result in amelioration of musculoskeletal and parotid symptoms.     

Zur Bewegung feiner Partikeln,die in turbulent strömenden Medien suspendiert sind

Motion of fine grained particles, suspended in turbulent flow . This article considers the motion of particles, suspended in turbulent flow. If the particles are sufficiently small to respond to turbulence, their motion includes stochastic components. Concerning processes like air classification or separation of fine powders the stochastic contribution – characterized by the conception of a particle diffusivity – the particle motion exhibits a detrimental influence. Sharpness of cut and separation efficiency are reduced. The paper aims to present the state of the art in particle diffusion. First, theoretical investigations are reported, attention being focused on the equation of motion of the particle which is the link between the motion of the fluid and the motion of the particle. Then, experimental results are reviewed. The following tendencies can be seen: Particles which response to turbulence of fluid flow show increasing diffusivity with increasing inertia. Field forces like gravity or electrical field forces exhibit a damping effect on diffusivity.