Nonlinear distortion prediction of active filters

The represention of circuit variables in frequency-domain complex matrix and nonlinearities by power series gives rise to a nonlinear distortion prediction technique, the intermodulation-balance method. This operates entirely in the frequency domain. The technique is verified by a single-amplifier filter with a two-tone input signal     

Observability by using viability kernels

The aim of this paper is to propose a new way to deal with observability of systems governed by ODEs, in a more general setting than the standard output equation.The primary finding is that observability over a time horizon reduces to single-valuedness of the vertical section of a set we name the observability kernel.The latter consists of the viability kernel of the output domain under the augmented system.The approach may be used either for global or local observability,to which available results on single-valuedness of multifunctions shall be applied in order to get necessary and/or sufficient characterizing conditions.Several examples are provided in order to illustrate the method.     

Autonomous mapping of HL7 RIM and relational database schema

Healthcare systems need to share information within and across the boundaries in order to provide better care to the patients. For this purpose, they take advantage of the full potential of current state of the art in healthcare standards providing interoperable solutions. HL7 V3 specification is an international message exchange and interoperability standard. HL7 V3 messages exchanged between healthcare applications are ultimately recorded into local healthcare databases, mostly in relational databases. In order to bring these relational databases in compliance with HL7, mappings between HL7 RIM (Reference Information Model) and relational database schema are required. Currently, RIM and database mapping is largely performed manually, therefore it is tedious, time consuming, error prone and expensive process. It is a challenging task to determine all correspondences between RIM and schema automatically because of extreme heterogeneity issues in healthcare databases. To reduce the amount of manual efforts as much as possible, autonomous mapping approaches are required. This paper proposes a technique that addresses the aforementioned mapping issue and aligns healthcare databases to HL7 V3 RIM specifications. Furthermore, the proposed technique has been implemented as a working application and tested on real world healthcare systems. The application loads the target healthcare schema and then identifies the most appropriate match for tables and the associated fields in the schema by using domain knowledge and the matching rules defined in the Mapping Knowledge Repository. These rules are designed to handle the complexity of semantics found in healthcare databases. The GUI allows users to view and edit/re-map the correspondences. Once all the mappings are defined, the application generates Mapping Specification, which contains all the mapping information i.e. database tables and fields with associated RIM classes and attributes. In order to enable the transactions, the application is facilitated with the autonomous code generation from the Mapping Specification. The Code Generator component focuses primarily on generating custom classes and hibernate mapping files against the runtime system to retrieve and parse the data from the data source—thus allows bi-directional HL7 to database communication, with minimum programming required. Our experimental results show 35–65% accuracy on real laboratory systems, thus demonstrating the promise of the approach. The proposed scheme is an effective step in bringing the clinical databases in compliance with RIM, providing ease and flexibility.     

Synthesis of telechelic monodispersed diols

Summary The synthesis of telechelic monodispersed diols produced from the radical telomerization of an excess of undecylenol with commercialy available , -dithiols HSC₂H₄XC₂H₄SH (X=0, S or CH₂) initiated by peroxides is presented. In each case, the diols were obtained selectively and quantitatively and they were characterized by both ¹H and ¹³C NMR. Their physical characteristics (Tg, T_m and decomposition temperatures) were determined. Such compounds are thermally more stable than polydispersed telechelic commercially available diols.     

Enhanced anti-biofilm activity of facile synthesized silver oxide nanoparticles against K. pneumoniae

Journal of Inorganic and Organometallic Polymers and Materials - The silver oxide nanoparticle was successfully synthesized using floral waste by simple one pot, cost effective method. The complete...     

An open-source multi-DOF articulated robotic educational platform for autonomous object manipulation

This research presents an autonomous robotic framework for academic, vocational and training purpose. The platform is centred on a 6 Degree Of Freedom (DOF) serial robotic arm. The kinematic and dynamic models of the robot have been derived to facilitate controller design. An on-board camera to scan the arm workspace permits autonomous applications development. The sensory system consists of position feedback from each joint of the robot and a force sensor mounted at the arm gripper. External devices can be interfaced with the platform through digital and analog I/O ports of the robot controller. To enhance the learning outcome for beginners, higher level commands have been provided. Advanced users can tailor the platform by exploiting the open-source custom-developed hardware and software architectures. The efficacy of the proposed platform has been demonstrated by implementing two experiments; autonomous sorting of objects and controller design. The proposed platform finds its potential to teach technical courses (like Robotics, Control, Electronics, Image-processing and Computer vision) and to implement and validate advanced algorithms for object manipulation and grasping, trajectory generation, path planning, etc. It can also be employed in an industrial environment to test various strategies prior to their execution on actual manipulators.     

Novel high strength graphitic foams

A novel high strength graphitic foam was produced through the incorporation of carbon nanofibers into a pitch based precursor. The nanofiber reinforced cellular foams were mechanically tested both from a localized and bulk perspective with results indicating enhanced foam performance with nanofiber addition. The magnitude of increased performance was a result of both the nanofiber itself as well as its heat treatment as an increase in each was found to cause an associated increase in foam performance. The increase in mechanical capability is attributed to the formation of a zigzag structure in the ligaments and nodes of the foam. This zigzag structure serves as an interlocking mechanism, preventing easy shearing of the graphene layers. The in situ fracture mechanics experiment shows brittle behavior of a single ligament indicating that only reinforced foam behaves like that of a carbon fiber.     

Effect of particle dimension on biocompatibility of carbon nanomaterials

With various emerging applications ranging from medicine to materials and electronics, the risk of exposure to nanomaterials is rapidly increasing. Several routes of exposure to nanomaterials exist; the most important being dermal contact and inhalation. In this dermal toxicity study, the cellular effects of carbon-based materials with diameters ranging from micro- to nano-dimension were investigated using mouse keratinocytes (HEL-30). The carbon materials tested included carbon fibers (CF; 10 μm diameter), carbon nanofibers (CNF; 100 nm diameter), multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT; 10 nm diameter), and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT; 1 nm diameter). CF and CNF did not significantly affect cell viability; however, MWCNT and SWCNT reduced cell viability in a time-dependent manner up to 48 h, with full recovery of mitochondrial function by the 72 h time point. After a 24 h exposure, cells exposed to MWCNT produced up to 3-fold higher increase in reactive oxygen species than those exposed to SWCNT. The results of this study suggest that high-aspect ratio carbon material toxicity is dependent on dimension and composition.     

Preparation and properties of multiwalled carbon nanotube/polycaprolactone nanocomposites

Multiwalled carbon nanotube/polycaprolactone nanocomposites (MWNT/PCL) were prepared by in situ polymerization, whereby as‐received MWNTs (P‐MWNTs) and purified MWNTs (A‐MWNTs) were used as reinforcing materials. The A‐MWNTs were purified by nitric acid treatment, which introduced the carboxyl groups (COOH) on the MWNT. The micrographs of the fractured surfaces of the nanocomposites showed that the A‐MWNTs in A‐MWNT/PCL were better dispersed than P‐MWNTs in PCL matrix (P‐MWNT/PCL). Percolation thresholds of the P‐MWNT/PCL and A‐MWNT/PCL, which were studied by rheological properties, were found at ～2 wt % of the MWNT. The conductivity of the P‐MWNT/PCL was between 10^?1 and 10^?2 S/cm by loading of 2 wt % of MWNT although that of the A‐MWNT/PCL reached ～10^?2 S/cm by loading of 7 wt % of MWNT. The conductivity of the P‐MWNT/PCL was higher than that of the A‐MWNT/PCL at the entire range of the studied MWNT loading, which might be due to the destruction of π‐network of the MWNT by acid treatment, although the A‐MWNT/PCL was better dispersed than the P‐MWNT/PCL. The amount of the MWNT at which the conductivity of the nanocomposite started to increase was strongly correlated with the percolation threshold. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 104: 1957–1963, 2007     

Hydrodynamics of gas fluidized beds with mixture of group D and B particles

The dynamics of a gas‐solid fluidized bed containing Geldart Group D particles mixed with a small proportion of Geldart Group B particles are investigated using pressure fluctuations data. Time series analysis, using a variety of nonlinear dynamics tools, shows that the slugging present with Group D particles can be suppressed by the addition of a small proportion of Group B particles. The power spectra and the auto‐correlation function are used for a preliminary evaluation of dominant slug frequencies. It is shown that the bed fluidized with the mixture of Group D and B particles behaves in a less periodic manner and is dominated by more random bubble motion. On the other hand, the correlation integral is used to analyze the chaotic behaviour of the flow, through evaluation of the fractal structure of the reconstructed attractors. It is shown that the bed fluidized with Group D particles is characterized by a combination of steady slug motion and irregular particles motion. The behaviour of the fluidized bed of Group D/B particles mixture is characterized by a single correlation dimension for a wide range of fluidization velocities.