Optimal controller for uncertain stochastic polynomial systems with deterministic disturbances

This article presents the optimal quadratic-Gaussian controller for uncertain stochastic polynomial systems with unknown coefficients and matched deterministic disturbances over linear observations and a quadratic criterion. The optimal closed-form controller equations are obtained through the separation principle, whose applicability to the considered problem is substantiated. As intermediate results, this article gives closed-form solutions of the optimal regulator, controller and identifier problems for stochastic polynomial systems with linear control input and a quadratic criterion. The original problem for uncertain stochastic polynomial systems with matched deterministic disturbances is solved using the integral sliding mode algorithm. Performance of the obtained optimal controller is verified in the illustrative example against the conventional quadratic-Gaussian controller that is optimal for stochastic polynomial systems with known parameters and without deterministic disturbances. Simulation graphs demonstrating overall performance and computational accuracy of the designed optimal controller are included.     

Paillier''s Trapdoor Function Hides up to O ( n ) Bits

At EuroCrypt '99 Paillier proposed a new encryption scheme based on higher residuosity classes. The new scheme was proven to be one-way under the assumption that computing N -residuosity classes in Z _N2 ^* is hard. Similarly the scheme can be proven to be semantically secure under a much stronger decisional assumption: given w ∈ Z _N2 ^* it is impossible to decide if w is an N -residue or not. In this paper we examine the bit security of Paillier's scheme. We prove that if computing residuosity classes is hard, then given a random w it is impossible to predict the least significant bit of its class significantly better than at random. This immediately yields a way to obtain semantic security without relying on the decisional assumption (at the cost of several invocations of Paillier's original function). In order to improve efficiency we then turn to the problem of simultaneous security of many bits. We prove that Paillier's scheme hides n-b (up to O(n) ) bits if one assumes that computing the class c of a random w remains hard even when we are told that c<2 ^b . We thoroughly examine the security of this stronger version of the intractability of the class problem. An important theoretical implication of our result is the construction of the first trapdoor function that hides super-logarithmically (up to O(n) ) many bits. We generalize our techniques to provide sufficient conditions for a trapdoor function to have this property.     

Dating of newly formed minerals in geothermal fields through Th series short lived isotopes: Check on mineral of known age and implications to fluid-rock interactions

The ²²⁸Th/²²⁸Ra activity ratio can provide a tool for age measurements of newly formed minerals, down to about 15 yr. A general discussion of the method is followed by an experimental check on an aphthitalite brine, crystallized from a geothermal well at Cesano (Rome) in July, 1978 (the real age is 85 ± 5 months). It yielded an age of 75 + 8/-5 months through alpha-spectrometry activity measurements, and 85 ± 3 months through gamma-spectrometry activity measurements. A residence time of the fluid in the rock ranging from 3 to 10 centuries has been estimated by comparing the Ra isotopic composition of the fluid with the U/Th ratio of the wall rocks, according to a model proposed by Cherdyntsev (1971).     

Opioids and attachment in rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) abusive mothers.

This study investigated the role of the endogenous opioid system in maternal and affiliative behavior of group-living rhesus macaque (Macaca mularta) mothers with a history of abusive parenting. 18 mothers received an injection of the opioid antagonist naltrexone or saline for 5 days per wk for the first 4 wks of the infant's life. After treatment, mother-infant pairs were focally observed. Naltrexone did not significantly affect infant abuse or other measures of maternal behavior. Naltrexone increased the amount of grooming received by mothers from other group members and reduced the mothers' rate of displacement activities such as scratching, yawning, and self-grooming. These results concur with previous primate studies in suggesting that opioids mediate the rewarding effects of receiving grooming and affect anxiety-related behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development and Experimental Analysis of a Soft Compliant Tactile Microsensor for Anthropomorphic Artificial Hand

This paper presents the development and preliminary experimental analysis of a soft compliant tactile microsensor (SCTM) with minimum thickness of 2 mm. A high shear sensitive triaxial force microsensor was embedded in a soft, compliant, flexible packaging. The performance of the whole system, including the SCTM, an electronic hardware and a processing algorithm, was evaluated by static calibration, maximum load tests, noise and dynamic tests, and by focusing on slippage experiments. A proper tradeoff between final robustness and sensitivity of the tactile device was identified. The experiments showed that the tactile sensor is sufficiently robust for application in artificial hands while sensitive enough for slip event detection. The sensor signals were elaborated with the cumulative summation algorithm and the results showed that the SCTM system could detect a slip event with a delay from a minimum of 24.5 ms to a maximum of 44 ms in the majority of experiments fulfilling the neurophysiological requirement.     

Probiotic-Induced Tolerogenic Dendritic Cells: A Novel Therapy for Inflammatory Bowel Disease?

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) are immune-mediated, chronic relapsing diseases with a rising prevalence worldwide in both adult and pediatric populations. Treatment options for immune-mediated diseases, including IBDs, are traditional steroids, immunomodulators, and biologics, none of which are capable of inducing long-lasting remission in all patients. Dendritic cells (DCs) play a fundamental role in inducing tolerance and regulating T cells and their tolerogenic functions. Hence, modulation of intestinal mucosal immunity by DCs could provide a novel, additional tool for the treatment of IBD. Recent evidence indicates that probiotic bacteria might impact immunomodulation both in vitro and in vivo by regulating DCs’ maturation and producing tolerogenic DCs (tolDCs) which, in turn, might dampen inflammation. In this review, we will discuss this evidence and the mechanisms of action of probiotics and their metabolites in inducing tolDCs in IBDs and some conditions associated with them.     

Laser Melting of Spark Plasma-Sintered Zirconium Carbide: Thermophysical Properties of a Generation IV Very High-Temperature Reactor Material

Melting temperatures of zirconium carbide were investigated in validating a novel thermal analysis technique for refractory materials. Commercial ZrC_0.96 powder was densified by spark plasma sintering to >96% relative density after 6–30 min at 2173–2453 K under 40–100 MPa. Sintered ceramics were heated to >4000 K via pulsed laser heating. Mean values for solidus and liquidus transitions were 3451 and 3608 K, respectively, in fair agreement with the present phase diagram. Postmelting analysis revealed dendritic microstructure and composition consistent with single-phase ZrC. Subsurface gas porosity and ZrC–C eutectic indicate complex processes occurring during melting and freezing.     

Singularity-free time integration of rotational quaternions using non-redundant ordinary differential equations

A novel ODE time stepping scheme for solving rotational kinematics in terms of unit quaternions is presented in the paper. This scheme inherently respects the unit-length condition without including it explicitly as a constraint equation, as it is common practice. In the standard algorithms, the unit-length condition is included as an additional equation leading to kinematical equations in the form of a system of differential-algebraic equations (DAEs). On the contrary, the proposed method is based on numerical integration of the kinematic relations in terms of the instantaneous rotation vector that form a system of ordinary differential equations (ODEs) on the Lie algebra \(\mathit{so}(3)\) of the rotation group \(\mathit{SO}(3)\). This rotation vector defines an incremental rotation (and thus the associated incremental unit quaternion), and the rotation update is determined by the exponential mapping on the quaternion group. Since the kinematic ODE on \(\mathit{so}(3)\) can be solved by using any standard (possibly higher-order) ODE integration scheme, the proposed method yields a non-redundant integration algorithm for the rotational kinematics in terms of unit quaternions, avoiding integration of DAE equations. Besides being ‘more elegant’—in the opinion of the authors—this integration procedure also exhibits numerical advantages in terms of better accuracy when longer integration steps are applied during simulation. As presented in the paper, the numerical integration of three non-linear ODEs in terms of the rotation vector as canonical coordinates achieves a higher accuracy compared to integrating the four (linear in ODE part) standard-quaternion DAE system. In summary, this paper solves the long-standing problem of the necessity of imposing the unit-length constraint equation during integration of quaternions, i.e. the need to deal with DAE’s in the context of such kinematical model, which has been a major drawback of using quaternions, and a numerical scheme is presented that also allows for longer integration steps during kinematic reconstruction of large three-dimensional rotations.