Rendezvous-guidance trajectory planning for robotic dynamic obstacle avoidance and interception.

This correspondence presents a novel online trajectory-planning method for the autonomous robotic interception of moving targets in the presence of dynamic obstacles, i.e., position and velocity matching (also referred to as rendezvous). The proposed time-optimal interception method is a hybrid algorithm that augments a novel rendezvous-guidance (RG) technique with the velocity-obstacle approach, for obstacle avoidance, first reported by Fiorini and Shiller. The obstacle-avoidance algorithm itself could not be used in its original form and had to be modified to ensure that the online planned path deviates minimally from the one generated by the RG algorithm. Extensive simulation and experimental analyses, some of which are reported in this correspondence, have clearly demonstrated the tangible time efficiency of the proposed interception method.     

Pharmacological Evidence on Augmented Antiallodynia Following Systemic Co-Treatment with GlyT-1 and GlyT-2 Inhibitors in Rat Neuropathic Pain Model

The limited effect of current medications on neuropathic pain (NP) has initiated large efforts to develop effective treatments. Animal studies showed that glycine transporter (GlyT) inhibitors are promising analgesics in NP, though concerns regarding adverse effects were raised. We aimed to study NFPS and Org-25543, GlyT-1 and GlyT-2 inhibitors, respectively and their combination in rat mononeuropathic pain evoked by partial sciatic nerve ligation. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) glycine content was also determined by capillary electrophoresis. Subcutaneous (s.c.) 4 mg/kg NFPS or Org-25543 showed analgesia following acute administration (30–60 min). Small doses of each compound failed to produce antiallodynia up to 180 min after the acute administration. However, NFPS (1 mg/kg) produced antiallodynia after four days of treatment. Co-treatment with subanalgesic doses of NFPS (1 mg/kg) and Org-25543 (2 mg/kg) produced analgesia at 60 min and thereafter meanwhile increased significantly the CSF glycine content. This combination alleviated NP without affecting motor function. Test compounds failed to activate G-proteins in spinal cord. To the best of our knowledge for the first time we demonstrated augmented analgesia by combining GlyT-1 and 2 inhibitors. Increased CSF glycine content supports involvement of glycinergic system. Combining selective GlyT inhibitors or developing non-selective GlyT inhibitors might have therapeutic value in NP.     

Electrolytic cell engineering and device optimization for electrosynthesis of e-biofuels via co-valorisation of bio-feedstocks and captured CO2

Utilizing CO₂ in an electro-chemical process and synthesizing value-added chemicals are amongst the few viable and scalable pathways in carbon capture and utilization technologies.CO₂ electro-reduction is also counted as one of the main options entailing less fossil fuel consumption and as a future electrical energy storage strategy.The current study aims at developing a new electrochemical platform to produce low-carbon e-biofuel through multifunctional electrosynthesis and integrated co-valorisation of biomass feedstocks with captured CO₂.In this approach,CO₂ is reduced at the cathode to produce drop-in fuels(e.g.,methanol)while value-added chemicals(e.g.,selective oxidation of alcohols,aldehydes,carboxylic acids and amines/amides)are produced at the anode.In this work,a numerical model of a continuous-flow design considering various anodic and cathodic reactions was built to determine the most techno-economically feasible configurations from the aspects of energy efficiency,environment impact and economical values.The reactor design was then optimized via parametric analysis.     

Improvement of porous polyvinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluropropylene hollow fiber membranes for sweeping gas membrane distillation of ethylene glycol solution

Porous polyvinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluropropylene (PVDF-HFP) hollow fiber membranes were fabricated through a wet spinning process. In order to improve the membrane structure, composition of the polymer solution was adjusted by studying ternary phase diagrams of polymer/solvent/non-solvent. The prepared membranes were used for sweeping gas membrane distillation (SGMD) of 20 wt% ethylene glycol (EG) aqueous solution. The membranes were characterized by different tests such as N₂ permeation, overall porosity, critical water entry pressure (CEP_w), water contact angle and collapsing pressure. From FESEM examination, addition of 3 wt% glycerol in the PVDF-HFP solution, produced membranes with smaller finger-likes cavities, higher surface porosity and smaller pore sizes. Increasing the polymer concentration up to 21 wt% resulted in a dense spongy structure which could significantly reduce the N₂ permeance. The membrane prepared by 3 wt% glycerol and 17 wt% polymer demonstrated an improved structure with mean pore size of 18 nm and a high surface porosity of 872 m^-1. CEP_w of 350 kPa and overall porosity of 84% were also obtained for the improved membrane. Collapsing pressure of the membranes relatively improved by increasing the polymer concentration. From the SGMD test, the developed membrane represented a maximum permeate flux of 28 kg·m^-2·h^-1 which is almost 19% higher than the flux of plain membrane. During 120 h of a long-term SGMD operation, a gradual flux reduction of 30% was noticed. In addition, EG rejection reduced from 100% to around 99.5% during 120 h of the operation.     

The effect of feedstock and process conditions on the synthesis of high purity CNTs from aromatic hydrocarbons

High purity multi-walled carbon nanotubes were synthesized from aromatic hydrocarbons (benzene, toluene, xylene and trimethyl benzene) using ferrocene as the source of Fe catalyst. Screening studies of aromatic feeds at 675 °C, residence time of 14 s and Fe/C atom ratio of 1.07%, resulted in feedstock carbon conversion of 20-31%, CNT yield of 19.8-30.5%, and catalyst yield of 5.3-8.3 (g CNT/g catalyst). While the quality of the CNTs as determined by TGA, SEM, TEM and Raman spectroscopy, were high and comparable for different feedstocks; their carbon conversion, CNT yield and catalyst yield differed noticeably. A process optimization study for toluene feed showed that carbon conversion of more than 39%, CNT yield of 38.7% and catalyst yield of 18.3 can be achieved at temperature of 800 °C, Fe/C atom ratio of 0.47%, and residence time of 10-20 s.     

Adaptive image denoising using cuckoo algorithm

This paper presents a novel denoising approach based on smoothing linear and nonlinear filters combined with an optimization algorithm. The optimization algorithm used was cuckoo search algorithm and is employed to determine the optimal sequence of filters for each kind of noise. Noises that would be eliminated form images using the proposed approach including Gaussian, speckle, and salt and pepper noise. The denoising behaviour of nonlinear filters and wavelet shrinkage threshold methods have also been analysed and compared with the proposed approach. Results show the robustness of the proposed filter when compared with the state-of-the-art methods in terms of peak signal-to-noise ratio and image quality index. Furthermore, a comparative analysis is provided between the said optimization algorithm and the genetic algorithm.     

Copper/copper oxide nanoparticles synthesis using Stachys lavandulifolia and its antibacterial activity

Nanoparticles of copper/cuprous oxide (Cu/Cu₂ O) were successfully synthesised by a green chemistry route. The synthesis process was carried out using an extract of Stachys lavandulifolia as both reducing and capping agents with a facile procedure. The nanoparticles were characterised by different techniques including X‐ray diffraction, indicating that the synthesised sample comprised both copper and cuprous oxide entity. The nanoparticles had a mean size of 80 nm and represented an impressive bactericidal effect on Pseudomonas aeruginosa.Inspec keywords: copper, copper compounds, nanoparticles, nanofabrication, nanomedicine, antibacterial activity, X‐ray diffractionOther keywords: nanoparticles synthesis, Stachys lavandulifolia, antibacterial activity, green chemistry route, reducing agents, capping agents, X‐ray diffraction, bactericidal effect, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Cu‐Cu₂ O     

Dynamic response of a torsional micromirror to electrostatic force and mechanical shock

In this paper dynamic characteristics of a capacitive torsional micromirror under electrostatic forces and mechanical shocks have been investigated. A 2DOF model considering the torsion and bending stiffness of the micromirror structure has been presented. A set of nonlinear equations have been derived and solved by Runge–Kutta method. The Static pull-in voltage has been calculated by frequency analyzing method, and the dynamic pull-in voltage of the micromirror imposed to a step DC voltage has been derived for different damping ratios. It has been shown that by increasing the damping ratio the dynamic pull-in voltage converges to static one. The effects of linear and torsional shock forces on the mechanical behavior of the electrostatically deflected and undeflected micromirror have been studied. The results have shown that the combined effect of a shock load and an electrostatic actuation makes the instability threshold much lower than the threshold predicted, considering the effect of shock force or electrostatic actuation alone. It has been shown that the torsional shock force has negligible influence on dynamic response of the micromirror in comparison with the linear one. The results have been calculated for linear shocks with different durations, amplitudes, and input times.     

A comparison of block and semi-parametric bootstrap methods for variance estimation in spatial statistics

Efron (1979) introduced the bootstrap method for independent data but it cannot be easily applied to spatial data because of their dependency. For spatial data that are correlated in terms of their locations in the underlying space the moving block bootstrap method is usually used to estimate the precision measures of the estimators. The precision of the moving block bootstrap estimators is related to the block size which is difficult to select. In the moving block bootstrap method also the variance estimator is underestimated. In this paper, first the semi-parametric bootstrap is used to estimate the precision measures of estimators in spatial data analysis. In the semi-parametric bootstrap method, we use the estimation of the spatial correlation structure. Then, we compare the semi-parametric bootstrap with a moving block bootstrap for variance estimation of estimators in a simulation study. Finally, we use the semi-parametric bootstrap to analyze the coal-ash data.     

Design of a low cross‐talk micro‐coil array for micro‐scale MRI

Design of magnetic resonance micro‐coil arrays with low cross‐talk among the coils can be the main challenge to improve the effectiveness of magnetic resonance micro‐imaging because the electrical cross‐talk which is mainly due to the inductive coupling perturbs the sensitivity profile of the array and causes image artifacts. In this work, a capacitive decoupling network with N(M ? 1) + (N ? 1)(M ? 2) capacitors is proposed to reduce the inductive coupling in an N × M array. A 3 × 3 array of optimized micro‐coils is designed using the finite element simulations and all the needed elements for the array equivalent circuit are extracted in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed decoupling method by assessing the reduction of the coupled signals after employing the capacitive network on the circuit. The achieved results for the designed array show that the high cross‐talk level is reduced by the factor of 2.2–3.4 after employing the capacitive network. By employing this method of decoupling, the adjacent coils in each row and inner columns can be decoupled properly while the minimum decoupling belongs to the outer columns because of the lack of all necessary decoupling capacitances for these columns. The main advantages of the proposed decoupling method are its efficiency and design easiness which facilitates the design of dense arrays with the properly decoupled coils, especially the inner coils which are more coupled due to their neighbors. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 23, 353–359, 2013