A multivariable control scheme in a two-stage anaerobic digestion system described by partial differential equations

This paper deals with the design and application of a nonlinear multivariable controller in an anaerobic digestion system (AD) carried out in two interconnected fixed bed bioreactors. The proposed control scheme is derived from a mathematical model of the AD system described by a set of partial differential equations and consists of an estimator and two nonlinear control laws. The first law is developed to regulate the volatile fatty acids in the first bioreactor while the second aims at maintaining the chemical oxygen demand at predetermined set-points in the second bioreactor. The performance of the control algorithm is evaluated via numerical simulations in the face of load disturbances, parameter kinetic uncertainties and set-point changes. Stability and convergence properties of the proposed control scheme are also addressed in this paper.     

Effect of the Delay in Time Between Cooling and Aging in Heat-Treated Cast Aluminum Alloys

The mechanical properties of cast aluminum alloys can be affected by the delay in time involved between the stages of rapid cooling after solubilization (quenching) and aging. This effect was studied on samples from three different Al-Si alloys that were cast with a wide range of microstructures. It was found that the parameter that exerts the highest influence on the mechanical properties is the degree of microstructural refining, which is referred to dendrite arm spacing, as a finer structure enhances the strength and ductility. It was found that the yield strength and total elongation, and to a lesser extend the ultimate tensile strength, are affected by the delay in time. The material that was treated to the peak-aged condition was found to be more susceptible to the reduction in mechanical properties with the increase in the delay in time.     

Third Natures: Incubators of Public Space

Cristina Díaz Moreno and Efrén García Grinda , founders of the Madrid-based office AMID.cero9, shift the notion of the urban from the classic idea of the complete or ideal city, to one which engages with essential urban phenomena: the dynamics of confrontation, dispute and agreement between individuals, social groups and subcultures. In this way, public spaces are transformed from empty spaces into a real context for social interaction; and active involvement with social exchange becomes the main purpose of a project for a new architecture of the city.     

A comparative case study of neural network training by using frame-level cost functions for automatic speech recognition purposes in Spanish

Training procedures of a deep neural network are still an area with ample research possibilities and constant improvement either to increase its efficiency or its time performance. One of the lesser-addressed components is its objective function, which is an underlying aspect to consider when there is the necessity to achieve better error rates in the area of automatic speech recognition. The aim of this paper is to present two new variations of the frame-level cost function for training a deep neural network with the purpose of obtaining superior word error rates in speech recognition applied to a case study in Spanish. The first proposed function is a fusion between the boosted cross-entropy and the so called cross-entropy/log-posterior-ratio. The main idea is to jointly emphasize the prediction of difficult/crucial frames provided by a boosting factor and at the same time enlarge the distance between the target senone and its closest competitor. The second proposal is a fusion between the non-uniform mapped cross-entropy and the cross-entropy/log-posterior-ratio. This function utilizes both the mapped function to enhance the frames that have ambiguity in their belonging to specific senones and the log-posterior-ratio with the purpose of separating the target senone against the most competing tied tri-phone state. The proposed approaches are compared against those frame-level cost functions discussed in the state of the art. This comparative has been made by using a personalized mid-vocabulary speaker-independent voice corpus. This dataset is employed for the recognition of digit strings and personal name lists in Spanish from the northern central part of México on a connected-words phone dialing task. A relative word error rate improvement of 15.14% and 12.30% is obtained with the two proposed approaches, respectively, against the plain well-established cross-entropy loss function.

     

Hepatic zonation of the formation and hydrolysis of cholestery esters in periportal and perivenous parenchymal cells

The periportal (PP) and perivenous (PV) zones of the liver acinus differ in enzyme complements and capacities for cholesterol and bile acid synthesis and other metabolic processes. The aim of this investigation was to determine the acinar distribution of the catalytic activity of the enzymes governing the formation and hydrolysis of cholesteryl esters using PP and PV hepatocytes from normal or cholestyramine-fed rats. The hepatocyte subpopulations were isolated by centrifugal elutriation, characterized according to the distribution pattern of a number of cell parameters and marker enzymes, and assayed for acyl-CoA: cholesterol acyltransferase (ACAT) and lysosomal, cytosolic and microsomal cholesteryl ester hydrolase (CEH). In normally fed rats, no zonation was found in the activity of lysosomal CEH and ACAT, and the activity of both cytosolic and microsomal CEH zonated toward the PV zone of the acinus. Concentrations of free and esterified cholesterol in homogenates, cytosol, and microsomes of PP and PV cells were, however, similar. Cholestyramine raised significantly the PV/PP ratio of ACAT because of an exclusive PP reduction of activity and abolished the heterogeneity in microsomal CEH because of a greater inhibitory PV response, whereas the PV dominance of cytosolic CEH and the homogeneous distribution of lysosomal CEH were unaffected. These results demonstrated homogeneity within the liver acinus for the enzymatic degradation of endocyted lipoprotein-derived cholesteryl esters, a structural zonation of the cytosolic CEH and a dynamic zonation of ACAT and the microsomal CEH, with a PV dominance of the enzymatic capacity for the degradation of stored cholesteryl esters in normal livers.     

Optimum synthesis of a four-bar mechanism using the modified bacterial foraging algorithm

This paper presents the mechanical synthesis of a four-bar mechanism, its definition as a constrained optimisation problem in the presence of one dynamic constraint and its solution with a swarm intelligence algorithm based on the bacteria foraging process. The algorithm is adapted to solve the optimisation problem by adding a suitable constraint-handling technique that is able to incorporate a selection criterion for the two objectives stated by the kinematic analysis of the problem. Moreover, a diversity mechanism, coupled with the attractor operator used by bacteria, is designed to favour the exploration of the search space. Four experiments are designed to validate the proposed model and to test the performance of the algorithm regarding constraint-satisfaction, sub-optimal solutions obtained, performance metrics and an analysis of the solutions based on the simulation of the four-bar mechanism. The results are compared with those provided by four algorithms found in the specialised literature used to solve mechanical design problems. On the basis of the simulation analysis, the solutions obtained by the proposed algorithm lead to a more suitable design based on motion generation and operation quality.     

Effect of the rigid segment content on the properties of segmented polyurethanes conjugated with atorvastatin as chain extender

Segmented polyurethanes were prepared with polycaprolactone diol as soft segment and various amounts of 4,4´-Methylenebis(cyclohexyl isocyanate) and atorvastatin, a statin used for lowering cholesterol, in order to obtain SPU with different content of rigid segments. Polyurethanes with 35% or 50% of rigid segment content were physicochemically characterized and their biocompatibility assessed with L929 fibroblasts. High concentrations of atorvastatin were incorporated by increasing the content of rigid segments as shown by FTIR, Raman, NMR, XPS and EDX. Thermal and mechanical characterization showed that polyurethanes containing atorvastatin and 35% of rigid segments were low modulus (13?MPa) semicrystalline polymers as they exhibited a glass transition temperature (T_g) at ?38?°C, melting temperature (T_m) at 46?°C and crystallinity close to 35.9% as determined by DSC. In agreement with this, X-ray diffraction showed reflections at 21.3° and 23.6° for PCL without reflections for atorvastatin suggesting its presence in amorphous form with higher potential bioavailability. Low content of rigid segments led to highly degradable polymer in acidic, alkaline and oxidative media with an acceptable fibroblast cytotoxicity up to 7 days possibly due to low atorvastatin content.     

Soft Elasto-Hydrodynamic Lubrication

This article examines the use of ferrofluids to control starvation in lubricated contacts. Starvation in a ball–plate contact is experimentally studied under sliding–rolling conditions using a Mini Traction Machine (MTM). Friction is measured and the experimental results are presented in the form of Stribeck curves. The volume of lubricant is controlled in such a way that no free bulk oil is present in the vicinity of the contact. An abrupt change in the slope of the Stribeck curve in the Hydrodynamic Lubrication zone is interpreted as the onset of starvation. It is then shown that the use of ferrofluids in the presence of a magnetic field distribution can change the conditions at which this onset of starvation occurs. Different magnetic field distributions are tested for different values of load and ferrofluid viscosity. It is proposed that ferrofluid lubricants in conjunction with a suitably positioned magnetic field can be used to promote replenishment, and thus control and reduce lubricant starvation.