Temporal dynamics of a ring dye laser with a stimulated Brillouin scattering mirror

We present a numerical study of the temporal dynamics of a stimulated Brillouin scattering ring resonator. A coaxial flash-lamp-pumped Rh6G dye laser is assumed. The influence of the most important parameters on the temporal evolution of the resonator is analyzed, namely, the acoustic decay time of the nonlinear material, the features of the external injection pulse - its pulse width, energy, and spatial quality - and the coupling mirror reflectivity. We found the conditions to initiate and maintain laser oscillation in the ring resonator as long as the duration of the pumping system pulse persisted.     

Robotized spraying of prefabricated panels

A robotic manufacturing cell of pre-fabricated glass reinforced cement panels for construction industry has been developed by DISAM for the Spanish construction company Dragados, SA. The main contribution of the developed system is the automatic programming and control of the whole plan. The architect's 3D-drawing of the building facade done on a CAD system serves as input. From the CAD design, the optimum facade to panels partition is obtained. In order to manufacture each panel, automatic task and path planning are performed for the equipment present in the manufacturing cell: spraying robot, PLCs, control computer, etc     

Is my model any good: differentially private regression diagnostics

Linear and logistic regression are popular statistical techniques for analyzing multi-variate data. Typically, analysts do not simply posit a particular form of the regression model, estimate its parameters, and use the results for inference or prediction. Instead, they first use a variety of diagnostic techniques to assess how well the model fits the relationships in the data and how well it can be expected to predict outcomes for out-of-sample records, revising the model as necessary to improve fit and predictive power. In this article, we develop \(\epsilon \)-differentially private diagnostics tools for regression, beginning to fill a gap in privacy-preserving data analysis. Specifically, we create differentially private versions of residual plots for linear regression and of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves as well as binned residual plot for logistic regression. The residual plot and binned residual plot help determine whether or not the data satisfy the assumptions underlying the regression model, and the ROC curve is used to assess the predictive power of the logistic regression model. These diagnostics improve the usefulness of algorithms for computing differentially private regression output, which alone does not allow analysts to assess the quality of the posited model. Our empirical studies show that these algorithms can be effective tools for allowing users to evaluate the quality of their models.     

Physicochemical properties of ready‐to‐eat extruded nixtamalized maize‐based snacks enriched with grasshopper

The aim of this research was to prepare an extruded snack based on nixtamalized maize flour (Zea mays L.) (NMF) enriched with grasshopper meal (Sphenarium purpurascens Ch.) (GM) using a single screw extruder with a compression screw ratio of 3:1. A central experimental design comprising three independent variables, namely, extrusion temperature (T = 120–180 °C), feed moisture content (FMC = 18–22 g/100 g) and the grasshopper meal proportion (GMP = 0–40 g/100 g), was used. Increasing T decreased (P < 0.05) the expansion index (EI), bulk density (BD) and hardness (H). Increasing the FMC increased (P < 0.05) the EI. Increasing the GMP decreased (P < 0.05) the EI, H and water absorption index (WAI) and increased (P < 0.05) the BD and total colour difference (ΔE). The treatments that resulted in better general acceptability were those that contained a lower GMP. An extruded snack acceptable to the consumer can be obtained from a blend of NMF and GM, and up to 8.11 g/100 g of GM can be incorporated without affecting the physicochemical properties and acceptance of the snack.     

Settlement of embankment fills constructed of granite fines

This paper presents a study on the application of granite fines (GF) originating from the granite industry in the Northwest of Spain for the construction of embankment fills. A numerical solver was developed to simulate the unsaturated consolidation of a compacted earthfill (water content close to saturation), introducing the effect of secondary compression, and reproducing the construction process to be followed. The results obtained are quite encouraging, since settlements were found to be within an acceptable range. Nevertheless, the results also showed the need to improve the experimental characterization of the “in-situ” preconsolidation of the GF before using them in real applications.     

Equipment-oriented behavior in the psychologist.

Discusses the extent to which a psychologist's behavioral history affects the manner in which he/she attempts to study behavior. The phenomenological and reductionist approaches to methodology are described, and the choice of methods of "equipment-oriented" individuals is considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modelling the Soft Robot Kyma Based on Real-Time Finite Element Method

Modelling soft robots is a non-trivial task since their behaviours rely on their morphology, materials and surrounding elements. These robots are very useful to safely interact with their environment and because of their inherent flexibility and adaptability skills. However, they are usually very hard to model because of their intrinsic non-linearities. This fact presents a unique challenge in the computer graphics and simulation scopes. Current trends in these fields tend to narrow the gap between virtual and real environments. This work will explain a challenging modelling process for a cable-driven soft robot called Kyma. For this purpose, the real-time Finite Element Method (FEM) is applied using the Simulation Open Framework Architecture. And two methods are implemented and compared to optimize the model efficiency: a heuristic one and the Model Order Reduction. Both models are also validated with the real robot using a precise motion tracking system. Moreover, an analysis of robot–object interactions is proposed to test the compliance of the presented soft manipulator. As a result, the real-time FEM emerges as a good solution to accurately and efficiently model the presented robot while also allowing to study the interactions with its environment.