Projection of the sexually dimorphic area of the gerbil hypothalamus to the retrorubral field is essential for male sexual behavior: Role of A8 and other cells.

To determine if the sexually dimorphic area (SDA) of the gerbil hypothalamus affects male sexual behavior through its projections to the retrorubral field (RRF) or ventrolateral periaqueductal gray (PAGvl), these pathways were lesioned asymmetrically. Unilateral radio frequency lesions of the lateral SDA (LSDA), the major source of the pathways, impaired mating when combined with contralateral RRF, but not PAGvl, lesions. N-methyl-{d}-aspartate (NMDA) lesions of the medial SDA, LSDA, and the area between them (the total pathway source) eliminated mating when combined with contralateral, but not ipsilateral, NMDA lesions of the RRF. To determine if A8 cells contributed to these effects, males received NMDA in the SDA and NMDA or 6-hydroxydopamine in the contralateral RRF. When combined with large SDA lesions, A8 lesions impaired but did not eliminate mating. Thus the SDA–RRF pathway, but not an SDA-A8 pathway, is essential for sexual behavior in male gerbils. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Isotherm analyses for single component and multi-component metal sorption onto lignite

The adsorption of the three metal ions, copper, cadmium and zinc in single component and multi-component mixtures in aqueous solutions by lignite is reported. A comparison is made between the single component saturation uptake and the multi-component uptakes. The isotherms indicate a competitive uptake with copper being preferentially absorbed by the lignite in multi-component solutions. The isotherms are plotted to obtain the Langmuir constants, the Freundlich constants and the Redlich–Peterson constants. Lignite is shown to possess an affinity for the metal ions which make its use as an adsorbent a possible alternative to the use of more expensive activated carbons.     

Adaptive output-feedback stabilization of non-local hyperbolic PDEs

We address the problem of adaptive output-feedback stabilization of general first-order hyperbolic partial integro-differential equations (PIDE). Such systems are also referred to as PDEs with non-local (in space) terms. We apply control at one boundary, take measurements on the other boundary, and allow the system’s functional coefficients to be unknown. To deal with the absence of both full-state measurement and parameter knowledge, we introduce a pre-transformation (which happens to be based on backstepping) of the system into an observer canonical form. In that form, the problem of adaptive observer design becomes tractable. Both the parameter estimator and the control law employ only the input and output signals (and their histories over one unit of time). Prior to presenting the adaptive design, we present the non-adaptive/baseline controller, which is novel in its own right and facilitates the understanding of the more complex, adaptive system. The parameter estimator is of the gradient type, based on a parametric model in the form of an integral equation relating delayed values of the input and output. For the closed-loop system we establish boundedness of all signals, pointwise in space and time, and convergence of the PDE state to zero pointwise in space. We illustrate our result with a simulation.     

Multi-mode of vortex-induced vibration of a flexible circular cylinder

The vortex-induced vibration of a flexible circular cylinder is investigated at a constant Reynolds number of 1 000.The finite-volume method on moving meshes is applied for the fluid flow, and the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory is used to model the dynamic response of a flexible cylinder.The relationship between the reduced velocity and the amplitude response agrees well with the experimental results.Moreover, five different vibrating modes appear in the simulation.From the comparisons of their vortex structures, the strength of the wake flow is related to the exciting vibrating mode and different vortex patterns arise for different vibrating modes.Only 2P pattern appears in the first vibrating mode while 2S-2P patterns occur in the other vibrating modes if monitoring at different sections along the length of the cylinder.The vibration of the flexible cylinder can also greatly alter the three-dimensionality in the wake, which needs further studies in our future work, especially in the transition region for the Reynolds number from 170 to 300.     

A nonlinear geometric approach to power system excitation control and stabilization

In this paper, a unified approach to the design of a nonlinear excitation controller/power system stabilizer for a synchronous generator/infinite bus power system is presented. The approach is based on a form of state feedback linearization, known as input–output feedback linearization, which provides an exact semi-global state transformation that is valid for a large class of operating points of the power system. With this transformation, the terminal voltage becomes a linear function of the control input. The excitation controller/power system stabilizer is then synthesized by using linear controller design techniques. The controller is proven to provide small signal stability and to provide local asymptotic tracking of admissible constant reference signals for a large class of operating points. A procedure is given to tune the controller gains to provide significant damping of the power angle oscillations.     

Engineering TCP transmission and retransmission mechanisms for wireless networks

Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) provides mechanisms for reliable data communications. Although it works well in wired networks, it fails to offer satisfactory performance in lossy and wireless environments. And in the multi-hop wireless infrastructure, packet delivery suffers high cumulative loss rate if traveling over multiple wireless hops. The Selective acknowledgment (SACK) is one header option that might be used to combat segment corruptions in air channels. In this paper, an alternative set of flow control mechanisms is proposed to handle high packet loss rate in a wireless medium. Using a measurement-based mechanism, sustainable segment delivery is achievable through a novel size-reduction method. Multiple segment retransmission mechanisms are introduced to reduce successive timeout events. One single byte loss is sufficient to waste all other bytes in a file received at a destination. That is, a good TCP flow control mechanism should provide a high successful file transmission completion rate, and this is set as our design goal. Through thorough simulations, our proposed multi-segment retransmission designs perform with higher successful file transfer rate and fewer timeout events than NewReno and SACK under a wide range of packet loss probabilities.     

Why Teachers Must Learn: Student Innovation as a Driving Factor in the Future of the Web

User innovation is the key to the development and vitality of technology. As Huatong Sun wrote, “expanding the scope of localization practices and linking user localization efforts” to design cycles—including pedagogical design—will help bridge the gap between what teachers/designers create and what skills users/students need and want. This article theorizes the role of modern composition students and teachers as co-constructors of productive spaces for learning critical inquiry based on students’ statuses as digital natives. It focuses on a class of first-year composition students who reshaped an assignment to fit their own needs within the physical classroom and also enacted a shift to a virtual classroom. While doing so, they provided ways for each class member to individualize space within that digital environment, and they focused their project on examining the ways in which social networking forums colonize their daily lives. This article argues that by letting student innovation drive pedagogical practice—just as social media creators let user innovation drive the digital structures they produce—composition teachers can be assured of having a text for critique that blurs the lines between “private” student underlife and “public” classroom practice and legitimizes the creation of student-produced learning spaces. Using critical and cyberfeminist theories as lenses, this article draws conclusions about the future of computer usage in composition pedagogy based on students’ abilities to re-appropriate physical and digital classroom space.     

Distributed model predictive control of dynamically decoupled systems with coupled cost

This paper considers the distributed model predictive control (DMPC) of systems with interacting subsystems having decoupled dynamics and constraints but coupled costs. An easily-verifiable constraint is introduced to ensure asymptotic stability of the overall system in the absence of disturbance. The constraint introduced has a parameter which allows for the performance of the DMPC system to approach that controlled by a centralized model predictive controller. When the subsystems are linear and additive disturbance is present, the added constraint ensures the state of each subsystem converges to its respective minimal disturbance invariant set. The approach is demonstrated via several numerical examples.     

Design reuse oriented partial retrieval of CAD models

As a huge number of 3D CAD models is generated each year, retrieval of 3D CAD models is becoming more and more important for achieving design reuse. However, the existing methods for partial retrieval of 3D CAD models are very few and far from the requirements of design reuse. In this paper, we present an approach to partial retrieval of 3D CAD models for design reuse. The criteria for determining whether a subpart of 3D CAD models is reusable for design is defined first. Based on the criteria defined, all the design reusable subparts involved in the 3D CAD models in the library are automatically extracted and stored in the library as reference models. Moreover, each design reusable subpart in the library is represented by all its local matching regions in a hierarchical way so as to support multi-mode partial retrieval. In our approach, three partial retrieval modes including normal retrieval, exact retrieval and relaxed retrieval are defined to meet various partial retrieval requirements of design reuse such as the incomplete and vague queries during the early design stage. And the multi-mode partial retrieval is achieved by performing multi-mode matching and similarity assessment between the query and the design reusable subparts in the library indexed by bitmap. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach.     

A dynamic priority-based approach to concurrent toolpath planning for multi-material layered manufacturing

This paper presents an approach to concurrent toolpath planning for multi-material layered manufacturing (MMLM) to improve the fabrication efficiency of relatively complex prototypes. The approach is based on decoupled motion planning for multiple moving objects, in which the toolpaths of a set of tools are independently planned and then coordinated to deposit materials concurrently. Relative tool positions are monitored and potential tool collisions detected at a predefined rate. When a potential collision between a pair of tools is detected, a dynamic priority scheme is applied to assign motion priorities of tools. The traverse speeds of tools along the x-axis are compared, and a higher priority is assigned to the tool at a higher traverse speed. A tool with a higher priority continues to deposit material along its original path, while the one with a lower priority gives way by pausing at a suitable point until the potential collision is eliminated. Moreover, the deposition speeds of tools can be adjusted to suit different material properties and fabrication requirements. The proposed approach has been incorporated in a multi-material virtual prototyping (MMVP) system. Digital fabrication of prototypes shows that it can substantially shorten the fabrication time of relatively complex multi-material objects. The approach can be adapted for process control of MMLM when appropriate hardware becomes available. It is expected to benefit various applications, such as advanced product manufacturing and biomedical fabrication.