Cardiac Arrival Time Analyzer

The sequence of excitation of cardiac muscles is greatly affected by any abnormality in the conduction system of the heart. Epicardial mapping for the measurement of activation time at different points is helpful for the diagnosis of such abnormalities. For the measurement of activation time at different points of the epicardial surface, a number of sophisticated instruments, including microcomputer-based ones, have been reported. However, the need for a reliable, low-cost, and easy to operate instrument cannot be denied. In this note, such a cardiac arrival time analyzer is described.     

Application of Kelvin Probe to Studies of Fusion Reactor Materials under Irradiation

Recently, the work function （WF） changes in metallic and ceramic materials to be potentially used in future fusion reactors have been examined by means of Kelvin probe （KP）, under He ion irradiation in high energy （MeV） and / or low energy （500 eV） ranges. The results of polycrystalline Ni samples indicate that the 1 MeV beam only induces decrease in the WF within the experimental fluence range; whereas the irradiation of 500 eV beam results in decrease in the WF firstly, then increase till saturation. A dual layer surface model is employed to explain the observed phenomena, together with computer simulation results by SRIM code. Charges buildup on the surface of lithium ceramics has been found to greatly influence the probe output, which can be explained qualitatively using a model concerning an induction electric field due to external field and free charges on the ceramic surface.     

High-voltage testing on UHV equipment: Overshoot and base curve for oscillating lightning impulse

As the higher impulse testing voltage, residual inductance of the test circuit or the stray capacitance of the test object increases with size. This means that the overshoot superposed on standard lightning impulse voltage would not be neglected because of its larger value during the lightning test. This paper describes the analysis of overshoot and oscillation based on the equivalent circuit containing a residual inductance. The waveform parameters such as relative overshoot magnitude, oscillation frequency are also derived to evaluate the influence of the residual inductance in the impulse testing circuit. The oscillating impulse waveform is related to the base curve of the standard lightning impulse. Furthermore, the base curve for oscillating impulse is proposed by the analysis. Copyright © 2009 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Hardware‐oriented ant colony optimization and its application to dynamic route guidance problem

Ant colony optimization (ACO) is based on the behavior of food gathering of ants and it is a powerful search tool particularly when applying it to combinatorial optimization problems. However, ACO has the inherent problem of substantial processing time, because it requires a lot of repetitive calculations. In this article, we propose novel hardware‐oriented ACO (H‐ACO) to reduce processing time. H‐ACO adopts new integer arithmetic instead of conventional floating point arithmetic in the optimization process and it achieves high‐speed processing while keeping the quality of solutions. In addition, H‐ACO reduces the hardware resources, accelerates the clock frequency, and improves the latency, if it is implemented as a dedicated hardware. Furthermore, we also propose a new route guidance algorithm which combines H‐ACO with Dijkstra's algorithm and it can be applied to a dynamic route guidance problem. Experiments using actual map data demonstrate the validity of the proposed route guidance algorithm. © 2011 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Neural network-based asymptotic tracking control of unknown nonlinear systems with continuous control command

ABSTRACT

This paper proposes a robust tracking controller for a class of nonlinear second-order systems with time-varying uncertainties. The controller is mainly based on the robust integral of the sign of the error (RISE) control approach to achieve an asymptotic stability result with a continuous control command in the presence of additive uncertainties. An adaptive feedforward neural network control term is blended with a new RISE controller to improve the system's transient performance. The proposed RISE controller is a modified version of the existing saturated RISE controller such that only sign of the derivative of the output is needed. The stability of the closed-loop system is well studied, where a local asymptotic stability is proven. The controller performance is validated through simulations on a two-degree-of-freedom lower limb robotic exoskeleton.     

Stress Dependence of Transformation Plastic Behavior

Transformation plasticity is known to play an important role in the course of heat treatment processes, and so affect the results of heat treatment simulations, which means that the transformation plasticity coefficient is necessary to be identifies. The authors developed a new method by use of four-point bending system of a beam to identify transformation plasticity coefficient taking advantage of its easiness and high accuracy compared with other conventional methods like tension test, etc., and identified the coefficient for four kinds of steels; plane carbon steel, Cr-steel, Cr-Mo steel and bearing steel. In this paper, further experimental data are presented for the steels if the coefficient Kp during pearlite transformation depend on the applied stress. Obtained results reveals that the stress dependence of Kp is rather trivial except for uncertain tendency detected in plane carbon steel. The relation between the Kp and carbon content included is discussed in comparison with other data referred from references.     

Prediction of cutting forces and machining error in ball end milling of curved surfaces -II experimental verification

This paper presents the results of a series of experiments performed to examine the validity of a theoretical model for evaluation of cutting forces and machining error in ball end milling of curved surfaces. The experiments are carried out at various cutting conditions, for both contouring and ramping of convex and concave surfaces. A high precision machining center is used in the cutting tests. In contouring, the machining error is measured with an electric micrometer, while in ramping it is measured on a 3-coordinate measuring machine. The results show that in contouring, the cutting force component that influences the machining error decreases with an increase in milling position angle, while in ramping, the two force components that influence the machining error are hardly affected by the milling position angle. Moreover, in contouring, high machining accuracy is achieved in “Up cross-feed, Up cut” and “Down cross-feed, Down cut” modes, while in ramping, high machining accuracy is achieved in “Left cross-feed, Downward cut” and “Right cross-feed, Upward cut” modes. The theoretical and experimental results show reasonably good agreement.     

Al2O3-SiO2纤维增强ZL108合金复合材料的强度特性

用低成本的Al₂O₃-SiO₂系纤维作为增强相,通过加压铸造法制作ZL108合金复合材料,并对该复合材料和ZL108合金进行不同温度下的时效处理和压缩试验。通过DSC、EPMA和TEM分析认为:经488K、0.5h时效处理(T6处理)的V_f 20%的复合材料在573K以下的压缩屈服强度低于ZL108合金,是由于基体中的Mg与Al₂O₃-SiO₂纤维在加压铸造过程中起化学反应而生成MgAl₂O₄,损耗了基体中的大量Mg,导致基体铝合金时效硬化效果很差,所以压缩屈服强度低下。623K、720h保温后的V_f 20%的复合材料的压缩屈服强度比ZL108合金要高得多,是由于在这种温度环境下对ZL108合金来说是过时效,所以纤维的增强怍用显得明显。在高温(673K)下V_f 20%的复合材料的屈服强度比ZL108台金高一倍左右。不论在什么温度场合下V_f5%的复合材料的屈服强度比V_f 20%的复合材料都低。     

Extracting intermediate-level design knowledge for speculating digital–physical hybrid alternate reality experiences

Multimedia Tools and Applications - This paper reports a process to derive intermediate-level knowledge as a service design and analysis framework for designing digital services to offer alternate...