Robot robust path tracking

A new discontinuous robust control law for a rigid manipulator with bounded parameter uncertainties to track a desired trajectory, is presented. Global exponential stability is proved by the use of a natural Lyapunov function based on a transformation of the manipulator's differential equation due to Slotine and Li [2]. Convergence is to a sliding mode along which the tracking error is reduced at an arbitrary exponential rate. It is also shown how adaptation of bounds on uncertainties, and parameter adaptation, can be incorporated. For a continuous approximation of the discontinuous control law,practical stability (essentially, global uniform ultimate boundedness) of the tracking error is proved. Simulation results for the continuous control law exhibit excellent robust tracking.     

Testicular lymphoma: a population-based study of incidence, clinicopathological correlations and prognosis. The Danish Lymphoma Study Group, LYFO

In a Danish population-based non-Hodgkin's lymphoma registry, 2687 newly diagnosed patients were registered from 1983 to 1992. 39 had testicular involvement (TL) (incidence 0.26/10(5)/year). Median age was 71 years. 24 cases had localised and 15 had disseminated disease. Histologically, all cases were diffuse (65% diffuse centroblastic type). Of the 27 tested, 11% were of T- and 89% of B-immunophenotype. In localised cases, where surgery was supplemented by combination chemotherapy (CCT), the relapse rate was 15.4%. The relapse rate for cases with localised disease treated with other regimens (orchiectomy and/or radiotherapy) was 63.6% (P < 0.05). Median relapse-free survival was 28 and 14 months, respectively. Overall 5-year survival for all cases was 17%. Adverse prognostic factors at the univariate level were stage IV, constitutional symptoms, serum lactic dehydrogenase elevation and performance score (WHO 3-4). It is suggested that the treatment of stage IE/IIE TL should include early CCT and CNS prophylaxis.     

Flavonoids of “La Alcarria” honey A study of their botanical origin

Summary The flavonoids present in ten selected samples of La Alcarria honey with different pollen compositions have been HPLC analysed in order to establish if correlations between botanical origin and flavonoid profiles are possible. A common flavonoid pattern is observed in the different samples showing that pollen is not the main source of honey flavonoids. A close correlation between the flavonoid patterns of honey flavonoids and propolis flavonoids has been found suggesting that flavonoid analysis could be more useful in geographical origin determinations than in botanical origin studies.

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Flavonoide des La-Alcarria-Honigs Eine Studie ihres botanischen Ursprungs

Zusammenfassung Die Flavonoide in Proben in Alcarria-Honig mit unterschiedlicher Pollenzusammensetzung wurden untersucht, um Kortrelationen zwischen dem botanischen Ursprung und den möglichen Flavonoiden zu finden. In den verschiedenen Proben wurde ein Flavonoid-Muster gefunden, wobei der Pollen nicht die Hauptquelle der Honigflavonoide ist. Es wurde jedoch eine enge Korrelation zwischen den Flavonoid-Mustern des Honigs und des Bienenkittharzes gefunden, was für die geographische Herkunft wichtiger ist als die botanische.

     

Fate of Calcium Chloride Dissolved in Concrete Mix Water

The extent to which chloride ion incorporated in portland cement concrete as calcium chloride accelerator at the usual treatment levels remains dissolved in the pore solution was investigated. This was examined by direct analysis of pore solutions expressed from cement pastes. The chloride ion concentration of the pore solution remains high during the first day of hydration and only gradually declines. It appears that appreciable concentrations of chloride ion likely remain in solution indefinitely .     

Experimental methods in chemical engineering: X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy‐XPS

X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is a quantitative surface analysis technique used to identify the elemental composition, empirical formula, chemical state, and electronic state of an element. The kinetic energy of the electrons escaping from the material surface irradiated by an x‐ray beam produces a spectrum. XPS identifies chemical species and quantifies their content and the interactions between surface species. It is minimally destructive and is sensitive to a depth between 1–10nm. The elemental sensitivity is in the order of 0.1 atomic %. It requires ultra high vacuum ( Pa) in the analysis chamber and measurement time varies from minutes to hours per sample depending on the analyte. XPS dates back 50 years ago. New spectrometers, detectors, and variable size photon beams, reduce analysis time and increase spatial resolution. An XPS bibliometric map of the 10 000 articles indexed by Web of Science^[1] identifies five research clusters: (i) nanoparticles, thin films, and surfaces; (ii) catalysis, oxidation, reduction, stability, and oxides; (iii) nanocomposites, graphene, graphite, and electro‐chemistry; (iv) photocatalysis, water, visible light, and ; and (v) adsorption, aqueous solutions, and waste water.     

Modulating drug release from poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acid microparticles by the addition of alginate and pectin

The aim of the present work is the characterization of PLGA microparticles including biopolymers for the controlled release of tilmicosin, a broad-spectrum antibiotic. Microparticles were prepared using the double-emulsion solvent evaporation technique. The effect of alginate and pectin incorporation over particle size and porosity, encapsulation efficiency (EE) and pH-responsive drug release was evaluated. Formulations presented a mean particle size of 5.5 μm approximately and a drug EE ranged from 22%–57%. PLGA-Alginate particles showed an increased porosity. Tilmicosin release profiles from PLGA and PLGA-biopolymer microparticles were affected by the particular combination of polymers and the pH of the release medium. The experimental data was simulated using a mathematical model, which takes into account the autocatalytic polymer degradation and the different mechanisms of drug transport. The combination of PLGA and biopolymers strongly influenced the morphology of the particles, offering the possibility of controlling the drug release profiles according to the therapy.