7th EEEIC International Workshop on Environment and Electrical Engineering : Wroclaw - Cottbus, 5 - 11. May 2008

The proposed solution meets the latest trends in world power engineering and has the lowest ecological costs amongst the accessible power engineering solutions. It is also in accordance with the Polish power engineering law, which takes into account the recommendations of the European Economic Commission, the Second Sulphur Protocol and the Framework Convention of the United Nations (concerning the changes of climate)

Evolutionary learning and global search for multi-optimal PID tuning rules

With the advances in microprocessor technology, control systems are widely seen not only in industry but now also in household appliances and consumer electronics. Among all control schemes developed so far, Proportional plus Integral plus Derivative (PID) control is the most widely adopted in practice. Today, more than 90% of industrial controllers have a built-in PID function. Their wide applications have stimulated and sustained the research and development of PID tuning techniques, patents, software packages and hardware modules. Due to parameter interaction and format variation, tuning a PID controller is not as straightforward as one would have anticipated. Therefore, designing speedy tuning rules should greatly reduce the burden on new installation and ‘time-to-market’ and should also enhance the competitive advantages of the PID system under offer. A multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (MOEA) would be an ideal candidate to conduct the learning and search for multi-objective PID tuning rules. A simple to implement MOEA, termed s-MOEA, is devised and compared with MOEAs developed elsewhere. Extensive study and analysis are performed on metrics for evaluating MOEA performance, so as to help with this comparison and development. As a result, a novel visualisation technique, termed “Distance and Distribution” (DD)” chart, is developed to overcome some of the limitations of existing metrics and visualisation techniques. The DD chart allows a user to view the comparison of multiple sets of high order non-dominated solutions in a two-dimensional space. The capability of DD chart is shown in the comparison process and it is shown to be a useful tool for gathering more in-depth information of an MOEA which is not possible in existing empirical studies. Truly multi-objective global PID tuning rules are then evolved as a result of interfacing the s-MOEA with closed-loop simulations under practical constraints. It takes into account multiple, and often conflicting, objectives such as steady-state accuracy and transient responsiveness against stability and overshoots, as well as tracking performance against load disturbance rejection. These evolved rules are compared against other tuning rules both offline on a set of well-recognised PID benchmark test systems and online on three laboratory systems of different dynamics and transport delays. The results show that the rules significantly outperform all existing tuning rules, with multi-criterion optimality. This is made possible as the evolved rules can cover a delay to time constant ratio from zero to infinity based on first-order plus delay plant models. For second-order plus delay plant models, they can also cover all possible dynamics found in practice

Technology for large space systems: A bibliography with indexes (supplement 22)

This bibliography lists 1077 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System between July 1, 1989 and December 31, 1989. Its purpose is to provide helpful information to the researcher or manager engaged in the development of technologies related to large space systems. Subject areas include mission and program definition, design techniques, structural and thermal analysis, structural dynamics and control systems, electronics, advanced materials, assembly concepts, and propulsion

Point of Care Molecular Diagnostics for Humanity

Diagnostics of disease at POC (point of care) has been declared one of the Grand Challenge by the Bill and Melina Gates Foundation (BMGF). Infectious diseases constitute a major cause of disease burden and cause more than half a billion Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) and millions of deaths each year. They have an especially large effect on children under 5 years of age. We have analyzed data from the GBD 2010 (Global Burden of Disease) project to emphasize the damage caused by infectious diseases, and highlight the opportunity of using diagnostic tools to rapidly identify and treat diseases. To motivate the work of this thesis, we quantify the expected impact of appropriate diagnostic technologies. We have also analyzed the requirements that a diagnostic tool should meet to generate the maximal global impact. We present various existing TPPs (Target Product Profiles) from different organizations and suggest some additions to these existing TPPs. We explain the particular molecular pathology technologies which have the potential to allow deployment of functional products in the developing world for point-of-care pathogen detection, especially in low-resource settings. We perform a detailed analysis on existing polymerase chain reaction (PCR) systems and describe the problems caused with thermal performance and optical interrogation. We list the requirements that disposable cartridges for such instruments should meet and suggest a metal base design with polymer top. After detailed FEA simulations, we demonstrate that the thermal response can be modeled using a one-dimensional (1D) lumped element system. We show improvements in thermal response due to using a metal base and the effect of fluid height. We also performed thermal-structural simulations to quantify the stresses on the adhesive bonds of metal/polymer cartridges. Next, we explain fabrication of these cartridges. We show methods to dispense adhesive using a robot and a custom made jig to spread the adhesive during curing. The cartridge was tested with different PCR reagents and we obtained reaction efficiencies approaching those of the commercial real time PCR machines. Our fabrication technique is useful to join dissimilar materials and is production friendly. By developing custom software, we observed the cartridge performance in a continuous manner. We could see the thermal response of cartridges by continuous fluorescence monitoring, and used reflective aluminum which increase light collection efficiency. We then present a simple and robust new way for thermal cycling. Robust thermal cycling has been a major challenge conducting PCR, especially in point of care situations. Here, we suggest a contact cooling approach, in which the cartridge rests on a thin metal plate with an integrated thin heater constructed from flexible printed circuit board (PCB) material. We use a solenoid to move a metal plate to cool down the sample cartridge during cycling. The metal plate then rests on a larger heat sink to disperse the shuttled heat. Our design is dust and water proof and was verified on a bench-top prototype. A novel optical design for fluorescence detection during qPCR is also described. We suggest a lateral illumination waveguide geometry with prism coupling that eliminates lenses and is integrated into an injection molded cartridge. The light is homogenized using a light guide, and we quantify the sources of scattered stray light from the chamber edge by performing ray tracing simulations to optimize the precise geometry. The design is tolerant to misalignments and enables easy coupling of LED light into the chamber. As the light collection efficiency is high, the size of the chamber can be very small. We tested real PCR reactions using this concept and observed a rapid integration time, enabling very fast reading. Sample preparation has been another challenge for all point-of-care (POC) lab-on-chip devices for many years. Here, we propose a new design which is robust, fast, flexible and simple, and uses a sliding seal to move the collected sample between various reservoir chambers. The sample moves on a slider sandwiched between seals that shuttles a DNA binding membrane between different reactions. Thus, size and volumes of reagents can be increased without increasing dead volumes. This design is easily automated, and positive displacement of fluids can work with many reagents without worrying about their characteristics such as foaming. The speed of the sample preparation protocols is high and complex protocols can be ported on this design concept, which we tested on real clinical samples and obtained impressive results. We designed and injection molded devices to test and verify this concept. Finally, we focus on instrumentation and software required to allow our technology to be used at the POC. We describe our embedded electronics and describe the powerful micro-controller and various high performance ICs that are used to construct a fully functional for sample to answer instrument. We developed various versions of software. The developer software allows us to control our system and bench top setup. Our end user product includes a tablet and cell phone software interface. Software was developed for a windows 8 tablet, windows 8 phone and an Android based devices. To conclude, we very briefly describe the POC systems that are under development: A portable qPCR system with a separate cartridge design, and a universal sample to answer system that performs qPCR, sample preparation and sample to answer protocols in one box depending on the cartridge. As per best of our knowledge the cost of this technology is much lower than any other option in its class. The sample to answer instrument is expected to cost less than $500. The test cost is expected to be less than$5. The performance is not compromised. We hope that this work can help bring a transformative change in the practice of pathology especially in the developing world.</p

Space station systems: A bibliography with indexes (supplement 10)

This bibliography lists 1,422 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system between July 1, 1989 and December 31, 1989. Its purpose is to provide helpful information to researchers, designers and managers engaged in Space Station technology development and mission design. Coverage includes documents that define major systems and subsystems related to structures and dynamic control, electronics and power supplies, propulsion, and payload integration. In addition, orbital construction methods, servicing and support requirements, procedures and operations, and missions for the current and future Space Station are included

Particle Physics Reference Library

This second open access volume of the handbook series deals with detectors, large experimental facilities and data handling, both for accelerator and non-accelerator based experiments. It also covers applications in medicine and life sciences. A joint CERN-Springer initiative, the “Particle Physics Reference Library” provides revised and updated contributions based on previously published material in the well-known Landolt-Boernstein series on particle physics, accelerators and detectors (volumes 21A,B1,B2,C), which took stock of the field approximately one decade ago. Central to this new initiative is publication under full open access

NASA Tech Briefs, May 1992

Topics include: New Product Ideas; Electronic Components and Circuits; Electronic Systems; Physical Sciences; Materials; Computer Programs; Mechanics; Machinery; Fabrication Technology; Mathematics and Information Sciences; Life Sciences