Dynamics and workspace analysis of a multi-robot collaborative towing system with floating base

Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology - A multi-robot collaborative towing system fixed on floating base for high load marine work was established in this paper, and its dynamics and...     

Polymers dynamics of the nonfluoro,nano-brush repelling agent with self-stratifying property in water-based coatings

While perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs), also known as C8s, are used extensively in textile repellent coatings, concerns have arisen for their carcinogenicity and hazardous effects on the environment. In this study, a novel water-based, nonfluoro, and nanobrush textile repelling agent was prepared by conventional sol–gel chemistry using amorphous fumed silica and n-octyltriethoxysilane as the starting materials. Minimal interaction between the designed repelling agent and marketed water-based resins was confirmed using linear viscosity region (LVR) analysis and asymmetric-flow field-flow fractionation (AF4), suggesting the self-stratification potential of the repelling agent. More specifically, the repelling agent exhibited excellent compatibility and self-stratifying ability with a force-emulsified acrylic-based resin, affording a water contact angle of 104.3° when incorporated at 7% solid content. Performance tests carried out on thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) revealed excellent adhesion (100/100) of a final formulation, and a significant increase in water contact angle from 80.1° to 103.8° after treatment. In addition, the fouling area after the removal of a submerged sample from a mixture of slurry, polymer, and oil decreased from 48 to 1% when the repelling agent was added. Moreover, the sludge-fouling property remained unchanged after 1000 cycles of abrasion. These findings demonstrate the potential of the described nonfluoro, nanobrush repelling agent as an environmentally safe alternative for use with commercial resins, in turn realizing a fully water-based hydrophobic coating. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136, 48003.     

Visualizing for the Non‐Visual: Enabling the Visually Impaired to Use Visualization

The majority of visualizations on the web are still stored as raster images, making them inaccessible to visually impaired users. We propose a deep‐neural‐network‐based approach that automatically recognizes key elements in a visualization, including a visualization type, graphical elements, labels, legends, and most importantly, the original data conveyed in the visualization. We leverage such extracted information to provide visually impaired people with the reading of the extracted information. Based on interviews with visually impaired users, we built a Google Chrome extension designed to work with screen reader software to automatically decode charts on a webpage using our pipeline. We compared the performance of the back‐end algorithm with existing methods and evaluated the utility using qualitative feedback from visually impaired users.     

Combination of vegetable soup and glucan demonstrates synergistic effects on macrophage-mediated immune responses

Vegetable soup (VS), a plant-based functional food, has been used as a traditional folk medicine and is attracting attention for its ability to enhance the immune response. β-Glucan, a well-established and effective immunomodulator, has synergistic effects when used in combination with some bioactive compounds. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the synergistic immunomodulatory effects of the combination of VS and β-glucan on macrophage-mediated immune responses. β-Glucan was demonstrated to synergistically enhance the VS-stimulated immune response, including the production of interleukin-6, tumor necrosis factor-α, and nitric oxide, mainly through the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway in macrophages. In addition, this combination has the potential for further development in functional foods with immune-enhancing activity.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10068-021-00888-x.     

中国卫通:创新卫星通信产业,致力数字集群服务

中国卫星通信集团公司(以下简称中国卫通)是根据国务院电信体制改革的总体部署,于2001年12月19日正式挂牌成立的国有大型骨干企业,是我国六大基础电信运营企业之一。中国卫通下设30个省级分公司和17个全资、控股、参股企业。作为我国卫星通信广播电视运营的主导企业,中国卫通以保障国家卫星通信广播安全、服务国民经济和社会发展为已任,不断以特色化通信保障国家信息网络安全,服务信息社会。特别是在卫星广播电视传输、应急指挥调度通信等特殊领域和边远农村、海上通信、自然灾害、突发事件等特殊区域,发挥了不可替代的作用,在为缩小数字鸿沟助力,构建和谐信息社会的进程中做出了重要贡献。     

Adaptive viewpoints for co-browsing on heterogeneous devices

Co-browsing is an activity in which a group of users navigate their way through of a set of Web pages together for a shared purpose. Effective co-browsing among users with different device capabilities requires a shared understanding of those Web pages. This paper demonstrates the concept of shared viewpoints (SVPs), and personal viewpoints (PVPs), for co-browsing, before detailing a framework for implementing these concepts. Finally, the effectiveness of the framework is presented through a perceptual experiment.     

一种大尺度二维直线度精密测量的新方法

本文提出了一种远距离、大范围二维直线度测量的新方法．该方法采用特殊设计的十字线准直激光器及线阵CCD，通过特殊的光学系统结构设计，能在0-20m距离内连续测量，直线度范围可达70mm，精度优于0．1mm，实际测量结果表明，该方法可适应野外作业环境。