Multimodal sensing and active continuous closed‐loop feedback for achieving reliable manipulation in the outdoor physical world

The use of field robots can greatly decrease the amount of time, effort, and associated risk compared to if human workers were to carryout certain tasks such as disaster response. However, transportability and reliability remain two main issues for most current robot systems. To address the issue of transportability, we have developed a lightweight modularizable platform named AeroArm. To address the issue of reliability, we utilize a multimodal sensing approach, combining the use of multiple sensors and sensor types, and the use of different detection algorithms, as well as active continuous closed‐loop feedback to accurately estimate the state of the robot with respect to the environment. We used Challenge 2 of the 2017 Mohammed Bin Zayed International Robotics Competition as an example outdoor manipulation task, demonstrating the capabilities of our robot system and approach in achieving reliable performance in the fields, and ranked fifth place internationally in the competition.     

Stabilization of inter-area and/or oscillatory modes in large-scale power system by voltage impedance power system (VIPS) apparatus based on decentralized control scheme

New technologies such as power electronics have made it possible to change continuously the impedance of a power system not only to control power flow but also to enhance stability. A power system incorporating a variable impedance apparatus such as a variable series capacitor (VSrC) and high-speed phase shifter (HSPS) is called VIPS (Variable Impedance Power System) by the authors. This paper proposes a novel control method of VIPS apparatus such as VSrC and HSPS installed at an interconnecting point for stabilizing inter-area unstable and/or oscillatory modes. The proposed design method of the control system is a kind of hierarchical decentralized control method of a large-scale power system based on a Lyapunov function. Under the proposed control scheme, each subsystem can be stabilized independently by local controllers such as AVR, speed governor and PSS, and then the whole interconnected system can be stabilized by VIPS apparatus taking into account interactions between subsystems. The effectiveness and robustness of the VIPS apparatus control are shown by numerical examples with model systems including a large-scale power system.     

Competitive inhibition by procaine of carbachol-induced stimulus-secretion coupling in rat pancreatic acini

1. Procaine (0.03-10 mM) inhibited carbachol (CCh)-induced amylase release from rat isolated pancreatic acini in a competitive manner. Kinetic analysis of the relation between CCh concentrations and the amount of amylase released in the presence of various procaine concentrations indicated that procaine caused competitive inhibition with the affinity constant (pA2) value of 5.00 +/- 0.08. 2. Receptor binding assay confirmed that procaine (0.01-10 mM) competitively inhibited [N-methyl-3H]-scopolamine chloride ([3H]-NMS) binding to its receptor with binding affinity (pKi) of 4.63 +/- 0.10. 3. Procaine transformed CCh-evoked [Ca2+]i dynamics: the initial rise in [Ca2+]i followed by a gradual decay during continuous stimulation with 3 microM CCh was transformed by 0.3 mM procaine to the oscillatory [Ca2+]i dynamics, which resembled the response to 0.3 microM CCh in the absence of procaine. The initial phase of [Ca2+]i oscillation corresponded to the initial phase of CCh-induced amylase release in isolated perfused acini. 4. Procaine (0.3-3 mM) did not inhibit the secretory response to cholecystokinin octapeptide (CCK-8) in isolated incubated acini. A higher concentration of procaine (10 mM) caused weak but significant inhibition of the response to only limited concentrations of CCK-8, 30 and 100 pM. Procaine lower than 10 mM was ineffective on [125I]-BH-CCK-8 binding, although procaine (10 mM) caused weak but significant inhibition of the binding.     

Macroscopic analysis of design processes based on a scheme for coding designers' cognitive actions

We have devised a new scheme for coding designers' cognitive actions from video/audio design protocols. Designers' actions are coded into four cognitive levels; physical, perceptual, functional and conceptual. Relations between actions belonging to different levels, such as dependencies and triggering relations, are also coded. The present scheme has two benefits. First, we found that design actions are definable in a systematic way using the vocabulary of the scheme, and thus a designer's cognitive behaviours in each of local design stages is represented as a structure composed of defined primitive actions. This is expected to lay the foundation for microscopic analyses of how particular types of actions contribute to the formation of key design ideas. Second, this scheme is suitable for macroscopic analyses of how designers cognitively interact with their own sketches. We examined, for a practising architect, the ways in which drawing, inspection of drawings, perception, and functional thoughts correlated with one another in his design process. The findings suggest that design sketches serve not only as external memory or as a provider of visual cues for association of non-visual information, but also as a physical setting in which design thoughts are constructed on the fly.     

Effective lightning protection schemes for distribution line

The causes of lightning outage are subdivided into direct lightning strokes and induced lightning strokes, which are identified by the characteristics of the lightning overvoltage. In the past, lightning protection devices were directed mainly toward the latter, and attention has been focused on the installation of lightning protection devices, ground wires, and reinforcement of insulators. However, lightning outages continue to occur. Thus it is extremely important to clarify the fault characteristics of lightning surges and to study the effectiveness of various lightning protection devices by considering both direct lightning stroke and induced lightning stroke in order to prevent lightning outage in the future. In this research, the electromagnetic transients program (EMTP) has been applied to the direct lightning stroke, and the induced lightning outage analysis program for multiple conductor systems has been applied to the induced lightning stroke to study the effectiveness of lightning protection devices provided by combination of various lightning protection devices. The most effective lightning protection schemes are analyzed and evaluated based on verification tests on the full scale models as well as economic considerations.     

Surgical pitfalls in pinealoma surgery

The author has treated 30 cases of pinealoma by the infratentorial supracerebellar approach with the patient in the sitting position. Long-term outcome has been excellent in 26 cases, poor in 1, and death in 3 cases. Postoperative deaths were due to: (i) high venous pressure in the jugular vein caused by a tourniquet placed around the neck to prevent air-embolism, making hemostasis more difficulty, (ii) the absence of retraction resulting in a narrow surgical field when acute brain swelling developed, and (iii) high coagulation and ablation of the precentral cerebellar vein causing diffusion thrombosis of deep veins. The details of these cases are presented in this article.     

Development of 170 GHz/500 kW gyrotron

A development of 170GHz/500kW level gyrotron was carried out as R&D work of ITER. The oscillation mode is TE_31,8. In a short pulse experiment, the maximum power of 750kW was achieved at 85kV/40A. The efficiency was 22%. In the depressed collector operation, 500kW/36%/50ms was obtained. The maximum efficiency of 40% was obtained at P_RF=470kW whereas the power decrease by the electron trapping was observed. Pulse extension was done up to 10s at P_RF=170kW with the depressed collector operation. The power was limited by the temperature increase of the output window.     

Stereoscopic synthesized brain-surface imaging with MR angiography for localization of a peripheral mycotic aneurysm: case report

A patient with subacute bacterial endocarditis and a peripheral mycotic aneurysm is presented. We used a combined multi-slice surface anatomy scanning (SAS) and contrast-enhanced MR angiography image to determine the exact location of the small lesion by applying a skin marker on the scalp and visualizing the relationship of the marker to the brain surface structures and to the lesion. This technique was useful for the removal of a small peripheral aneurysm using only a limited craniotomy.     

66/77-kV C-GIS using composite insulation in SF6 gas

A second-generation model of cubicletype gas-insulated switchgear (C-GIS) with composite insulation incorporating SF₆ gas has been developed. The design does not require a gas process in field assembly; it has high reliability and its installation is more rapid; and a further reduction in size is achieved. The design principles are described in detail.     

Theory and characteristics of novel variable reluctance 1X resolver

Although brushless resolvers have been used widely as angular position transducers, they are expensive due to their intricate construction, involving a rotary transformer to supply the exciting coils wound on the rotor poles with the current. It is shown theoretically in this paper that the resolver without rotary transformer or brushes can be realized by simple construction, which consists of the stator core with both 4-poles exciting windings and 2-poles output ones and the rotor core carrying no windings. In this resolver the rotor core has minimum gap at one side and a maximum gap at another side of the diameter. It is characterized by an outer surface form that makes the fluctuation part of gap permeance very in proportion to cos θ, where θ represents the angular position of a point in the air gap with respect to the origin on the rotor, the point of minimum air gap. The method determining the rotor form to embody the aforementioned gap permeance variation is also shown. It has been confirmed not only by simulation but also experiment that the 2-phase output voltages of a model designed based on the theory have sinusoidal waveforms with very small harmonic contents. Moreover, the rotor position detected by processing the output voltages through the conventional resolver/digital converter was within acceptable engineering accuracy.