Integrated scheduling of flexible manufacturing systems employingautomated guided vehicles

Centralized and distributed automated guided vehicle system (AGVS) models for materials handling, and the model for part processing are integrated into a single coherent model. This formulation can be used to collectively schedule and control the entire flexible manufacturing system (FMS) as opposed to the traditional separate scheduling of part processing and material handling. The two AGVS models are based on Petri nets and can be directly used in the scheduling method that uses Petri nets for formulation and heuristic search for solution. This method employs a global search to seek the optimal operation of an entire FMS. Scheduling examples are presented and the method compares favorably with the results simulated using heuristic dispatch rules     

Wet oxidation of wastewater containing hydrocarbons by novel supported Pd catalysts

Pd catalysts supported on TiO₂, ZrO₂, ZSM-5, MCM-41 and activated carbon were used in catalytic wet oxidation of hydrocarbons such as phenol, m-cresol and m-xylene. It was found that the Pd/TiO₂ catalyst was highly effective in the wet oxidation of hydrocarbon. The activities of catalysts with various hydrocarbon species, catalyst support, oxidation state of catalyst performed in a 3-phase slurry reactor show that reaction on Pd surface is more favorable than that in aqueous phase and that the active site is oxidized Pd in catalytic wet air oxidation of hydrocarbons. Based on the experimental results, a plausible reaction mechanism of wet oxidation of hydrocarbons catalyzed over Pd/TiO₂ catalyst was proposed. This catalyst is superior to other oxide catalysts because it suppressed the formation of hardly-degradable organic intermediates and polymer.     

Effects of wheelchair-based rehabilitation on the physical functions and health perception of stroke patients

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of wheelchair-based rehabilitation on the physical functions, health perception, and blood lipids according to the length of time since the stroke. Wheelchair-based rehabilitation progressed for 60 min per session, five times per week for 6 weeks. Physical functions, health perception (SF-36), and blood lipids were measured before and after rehabilitation. Physical fitness for physical function such as agility, grip strength, lower-body muscular endurance, flexibility, and posture control significantly improved after 6 weeks of rehabilitation. Health perception improved significantly with physical and mental health according to time since the stroke occurred. Overall, 6 weeks of wheelchair-based rehabilitation had a positive effect on the physical function and health perception regardless of stroke duration. Wheelchair-based rehabilitation had a more positive effect on the physical functions and health perception on the patients who suffered their stroke most recently. We suggested that wheelchair-based rehabilitation is necessary even through wheelchair based for chronic stroke patients, and it was useful their improved of quality of life.     

Adaptive IIR/FIR fusion filter and its application to the INS/GPS integrated system

Motivated by the complementary features of the IIR-type filter and the FIR-type filter, this paper proposes a robust IIR/FIR fusion filter and an INS/GPS integrated system designed with the fusion filter. In the fusion filter, an IIR-type filter (SPKF) and a FIR-type filter (MRHKF filter) are processed independently, and then the two filters are merged using the mixing probability calculated using the residuals and residual covariance information of the two filters. The merits of the SPKF and the MRHKF filter are integrated and the demerits of the filters are diminished through the filter fusion. Consequently, the proposed fusion filter shows robustness against model uncertainty, temporary disturbing noise, large initial estimation error, etc. The stability of the fusion filter is verified by showing the closeness of two filters in the mixing/redistribution process and the upper bound of the error covariance matrices. This fusion filter is applied to an INS/GPS integrated system. The performance of the INS/GPS integrated system designed using the fusion filter is verified through a simulation under various error environments and is experimentally confirmed.     

Effect of stents coated with a combination of sirolimus and alpha-lipoic acid in a porcine coronary restenosis model

The aim of this study was to evaluate antiproliferative sirolimus- and antioxidative alpha-lipoic acid (ALA)-eluting stents using biodegradable polymer [poly-l-lactic acid (PLA)] in a porcine coronary overstretch restenosis model. Forty coronary arteries of 20 pigs were randomized into four groups in which the coronary arteries had a bare metal stent (BMS, n = 10), ALA-eluting stent with PLA (AES, n = 10), sirolimus-eluting stent with PLA (SES, n = 10), or sirolimus- and ALA-eluting stent with PLA (SAS, n = 10). A histopathological analysis was performed 28 days after the stenting. The ALA and sirolimus released slowly over 30 days. There were no significant differences between groups in the injury or inflammation score; however, there were significant differences in the percent area of stenosis (56.2 ± 11.78 % in BMS vs. 51.5 ± 12.20 % in AES vs. 34.7 ± 7.23 % in SES vs. 28.7 ± 7.30 % in SAS, P < 0.0001) and fibrin score [1.0 (range 1.0–1.0) in BMS vs. 1.0 (range 1.0–1.0) in AES vs. 2.0 (range 2.0–2.0) in SES vs. 2.0 (range 2.0–2.0) in SAS, P < 0.0001] between the four groups. The percent area of stenosis based on micro-computed tomography corresponded with the restenosis rates based on histopathological stenosis in different proportions in the four groups (54.8 ± 7.88 % in BMS vs. 50.4 ± 14.87 % in AES vs. 34.5 ± 7.22 % in SES vs. 28.9 ± 7.22 % in SAS, P < 0.05). SAS showed a better neointimal inhibitory effect than BMS, AES, and SES at 1 month after stenting in a porcine coronary restenosis model. Therefore, SAS with PLA can be a useful drug combination for coronary stent coating to suppress neointimal hyperplasia.     

Response to ‘Comments on: A cohesion measure for object‐oriented classes’

Indicating that CBMC does not satisfy the monotonic property in terms of the number of interactions, Xu and Zhou proposed an augmented definition of CBMC by adopting cut set instead of glue methods. The augmented CBMC clearly satisfies the monotonic property. However, CBMC is designed to overcome the problem with respect to the number of interactions and, therefore, focuses on the interaction pattern, especially, member connectivity. Consequently, it does not make sense to mention the monotonic property of CBMC with respect to interaction number. Moreover, the notion of glue methods allows several interpretations on the design quality of a class. However, that meaningful interpretation is not possible for the augmented definition due to the removal of the notion of glue methods. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An empirical evaluation of multi-media based learning of a procedural task

The present study investigated the effects of multi-media modules and their combinations on the learning of procedural tasks. In the experiment, 72 participants were classified as having either low- or high spatial ability based on their spatial ability test. They were randomly assigned to one of the six experimental conditions in a 2 × 3 factorial design with verbal modality (on-screen text procedure vs. auditory procedure) and the format of visual representation (static visual representation vs. static visual representation with motion cues vs. animated visual representation). After they completed their learning session, the ability to perform the procedural task was directly measured in a realistic setting. The results revealed that: (1) in the condition of static visual representation, the high spatial ability group outperformed the low spatial ability group, (2) for the low spatial ability participants, the animated visual representation group outperformed the static visual representation group, however, the static visual representation with motion cues group did not outperform the static visual representation group, (3) the use of animated visual representation helped participants with low spatial ability more than those with high spatial ability, and (4) a modality effect was found for the measure of satisfaction when viewing the animated visual representation. Since the participants with low spatial ability benefited from the use of animation, the results might support an idea that people are better able to retrieve the procedural information by viewing animated representation. The findings also might reflect a preference for the auditory mode of presentation with greater familiarity with the type of visual representation.     

A study on interfacial mechanisms and structure of poly(ethylene-co-methacrylic acid)/copper with reflection–absorption infrared spectroscopy

The interfacial mechanism and structure of poly(ethylene-co-methacrylic acid)/copper were investigated using reflection-absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIR). Based on IR spectrum of EMAA/copper, a strong absorption peak appearing at approximate 1,600 cm⁻¹ is attributed to the asymmetric stretching vibration of COO^― (υCOO_as^―) and a relatively weak absorption band at 1,375 cm⁻¹ is assigned to the symmetric stretching vibration of COO^― (υCOO_s^―). Therefore, it can be determined that copper interacts with EMAA through a strong ionic interaction and carboxylate structure is formed in the interfacial regions. And, according to the band intensities of carboxylate stretching modes and different sensitivities of RAIR to perpendicular and parallel transition moments, it can be concluded that EMAA is absorbed onto a copper substrate with a configuration in which the twofold axis of the C_2υ point group for carboxylate group inclines certain degree from the normal to the surface. In addition, the interfacial carboxylate structure of EMAA/copper is confirmed to be a monodentate one through calculating the difference (Δυ)between the asymmetric carboxylate stretch (υCOO_as^―) and the symmetric stretch (υCOO_s^―).     

Dynamic deformation behavior of ultrafine-grained low-carbon steels fabricated by equal-channel angular pressing

The dynamic deformation behavior of ultrafine-grained low-carbon steels fabricated by equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP) was investigated in this study. Dynamic torsional tests, using a torsional Kolsky bar, were conducted on four steel specimens, two of which were annealed at 480 °C after ECAP, and then the test data were compared in terms of microstructures, tensile properties, and adiabatic shear-band formation. The equal-channel angular pressed specimen consisted of very fine, equiaxed grains of 0.2 to 0.3 μm in size, which were slightly coarsened after annealing. The dynamic torsional test results indicated that maximum shear stress decreased with increasing annealing time, whereas fracture shear strain increased. Some adiabatic shear bands were observed at the gage center of the dynamically deformed torsional specimen. Their width was smaller in the equal-channel angular pressed specimen than in the 1-hour-annealed specimen, but they were not found in the 24-hour-annealed specimen. Ultrafine, equiaxed grains of 0.05 to 0.2 μm in size were formed inside the adiabatic shear band, and their boundaries had characteristics of high-angle grain boundaries. These phenomena were explained by dynamic recrystallization due to a highly localized plastic strain and temperature rise during dynamic deformation.