Age and gender differences in cardiac reactivity and subjective emotion responses to emotional autobiographical memories.

This research reports age and gender differences in cardiac reactivity and subjective responses to the induction of autobiographical memories related to anger, fear, sadness, and happiness. Heart rate (HR) and subjective state were assessed at baseline and after the induction of each emotion in 113 individuals (61 men, 52 women; 66% European American, 34% African American) ranging in age from 15 to 88 years (M = 50.0; SD = 20.2). Cardiac reactivity was lower in older individuals; however, for anger and fear, these age effects were significantly more pronounced for the women than the men. There were no gender differences in subjective responses, however, suggesting that the lower cardiac reactivity found among older people is dependent on gender and the specific emotion assessed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How to avoid logarithms in comparisons with uniform random variables

In many algorithms for sampling from non-uniform distributions the logarithm of a uniform deviate must be compared with some test quantity. It is shown that all these comparisons can be done efficiently without calling a logarithm subprogram: two procedures for this task are presented and compared.     

Pulsating Jet Impingement Heat Transfer Enhancement

This article presents results from a numerical study of pulsating jet impingement heat transfer. The motivation is to seek conditions offering a significant enhancement compared to steady flow impingement drying. The CFD software package FLUENT was used for simulating slot-type pulsating jet impingement flows with confinement. The parameter study included velocity amplitude ratio, mean jet velocity, and pulsation frequency. The distance from nozzle exit to surface was three times the hydraulic diameter of the nozzle. The Reynolds number based on the nozzle hydraulic diameter and jet temperature was 2,460 with a mean jet velocity of 30 m/s, which is the base case of the numerical experiments. Results showed that time-averaged surface heat transfer increased with increasing velocity amplitude for the same mean jet velocity. Large velocity amplitudes helped enhance heat transfer by two mechanisms: high jet velocity during the positive cycle and strong recirculating flows during the negative cycle. For the cases with different mean jet velocities but the same maximum velocity, time-averaged surface heat flux decreased with decreasing mean jet velocity. As for the effects of pulsation frequency, with high-velocity amplitude ratio, time-averaged surface heat fluxes were at the same level regardless of frequency. However, at low-velocity amplitude ratio, high frequency caused stronger recirculating flows resulting in greater heat transfer compared to the cases with a lower frequency.     

The Estimation of the Molecular Weight of Polytetrafluoroethylene Based on the Heat of Crystallisation. A Comment on Suwa's Equation

Summary: The influence of number‐average molecular weight ranging from 1.4 · 10⁴ to 1.2 · 10⁶ g/mol on the thermal behaviour of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) has been studied. Samples have been prepared by radiation‐induced degradation of commercial PTFE. The molecular weight has been calculated using end‐group concentration determined by infrared (IR) spectroscopy and ¹⁹F solid‐state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Melting and crystallisation heats were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The results have been discussed with respect to quantitative relationships between number‐average molecular weight and heat of crystallisation of PTFE described in the literature. The molecular weight calculated from Suwa's equation, which is often used in the literature, has been found to be too low.

Concentration of end‐groups and the molecular weight of PTFE versus the irradiation dose.     

Iron and hydrogen electrodes in liquid ammonia

Equilibrium potentials of the iron(II)—iron electrode vs TlTlCl; 0.1 M NH₄Cl in liquid ammonia are determined from intersections of Tafel lines for iron deposition and dissolution. The hydrogen electrode is shown to behave reversibly at palladium hydride, but not at platinum with respect to the dependence of hydrogen pressure. The standard potential of iron at 293 K is estimated at E° = ?0,356 (±0,010)V in 0.1 M NH₄NO₃. Standard potentials of other electrodes are reevaluated and shown to be consistent with earlier measurements except for the standard potential of lead. Steady state and transient polarization curves indicate in simple mechanism of the iron electrode involving transfer of iron(II) in one step. The temperature-independent anodic transfer coefficient is α₊ = 0.41 (±0.02), the cathodic transfer coefficient α_? = 0.61 (±0.03). The standard exchange current density at E° is j°_° = 7.10^?7 Acm^?2 for 293 K. Exchange current densities of the hydrogen electrode are j_° = 1.6·10^?9 Acm^?2 at platinized platinum in 0.1 M NH₄Cl both for 293 K.     

Output feedback of Markov jump linear systems with no mode observation: An automotive throttle application

The note presents an output feedback control strategy for Markov jump linear systems with no mode observation. Based on minimizing a finite‐time quadratic cost, we derive an algorithm that generates output feedback gains that satisfy a necessary optimality condition. These gains can be computed off‐line relying only on the initial condition of the system. This result expands a previous one from the literature that considered state‐feedback only. To illustrate the usefulness of the approach, real‐time laboratory experiments were performed to control an automotive electronic throttle valve subject to Markov‐driven voltage fluctuations. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modelling and condition-based control of a flexible and hybrid disassembly system with manual and autonomous workstations using reinforcement learning

Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing - Remanufacturing includes disassembly and reassembly of used products to save natural resources and reduce emissions. While assembly is widely understood in...     

High-gain observers in the presence of measurement noise: A switched-gain approach

This paper considers output feedback control using high-gain observers in the presence of measurement noise for a class of nonlinear systems. We study stability in the presence of measurement noise and illustrate the tradeoff when selecting the observer gain between state reconstruction speed and robustness to model uncertainty on the one hand versus amplification of noise on the other. Based on this tradeoff we propose a high-gain observer that switches between two gain values. This scheme is able to quickly recover the system states during large estimation error and reduce the effect of measurement noise in a neighborhood of the origin of the estimation error. We argue boundedness and ultimate boundedness of the closed-loop system under switched-gain output feedback.     

Sampling from binomial and poisson distributions: A method with bounded computation times

An accurate acceptance-rejection algorithm is devised and tested. The procedure requires an average of less than 3 uniform deviates whenever the standard deviation of the distribution is at least 4, and this number decreases monotonically to 2.63 as . Variable parameters are permitted, and no subroutines for sampling from other statistical distributions are needed.This research was supported by the Austrian Research Council (Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung).