3,263 research outputs found
Robust Sliding Mode Control Based on GA Optimization and CMAC Compensation for Lower Limb Exoskeleton
A lower limb assistive exoskeleton is designed to help operators walk or carry payloads. The exoskeleton is required to shadow human motion intent accurately and compliantly to prevent incoordination. If the user’s intention is estimated accurately, a precise position control strategy will improve collaboration between the user and the exoskeleton. In this paper, a hybrid position control scheme, combining sliding mode control (SMC) with a cerebellar model articulation controller (CMAC) neural network, is proposed to control the exoskeleton to react appropriately to human motion intent. A genetic algorithm (GA) is utilized to determine the optimal sliding surface and the sliding control law to improve performance of SMC. The proposed control strategy (SMC_GA_CMAC) is compared with three other types of approaches, that is, conventional SMC without optimization, optimal SMC with GA (SMC_GA), and SMC with CMAC compensation (SMC_CMAC), all of which are employed to track the desired joint angular position which is deduced from Clinical Gait Analysis (CGA) data. Position tracking performance is investigated with cosimulation using ADAMS and MATLAB/SIMULINK in two cases, of which the first case is without disturbances while the second case is with a bounded disturbance. The cosimulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy which can be employed in similar exoskeleton systems
Cloning and characterization of a γ-tocopherol methyltransferase from Chinese cabbage
α-Tocopherol, with antioxidant properties, is synthesized by photosynthetic organisms and play important roles in human and animal nutrition. The final step of the α-tocopherol biosynthetic pathway is catalyzed by γ-tocopherol methyltransferase (γ-TMT). In the major oilseed crops, γ-tocopherol, the biosynthetic precursor of α-tocopherol, is the predominant form. The full-length cDNA of γ-TMT was obtained from Chinese cabbage (Brassica. rapa, Pekinensis Group), named BoTMT, by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Sequence analysis indicates that, BoTMT gene consisted of the open reading frame of 1041 nucleotides encoding a protein of 39 kD polypeptide. A BoTMT whole cell system was developed for the production of α-tocopherol through the expression of BoTMT in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) strain.Keywords: γ-Tocopherol methyltransferase, Chinese cabbage, Perilla frustescens, tocopherol, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC
Is the late near-infrared bump in short-hard GRB 130603B due to the Li-Paczynski kilonova?
Short-hard gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are widely believed to be produced by the
merger of two binary compact objects, specifically by two neutron stars or by a
neutron star orbiting a black hole. According to the Li-Paczynski kilonova
model, the merger would launch sub-relativistic ejecta and a
near-infrared/optical transient would then occur, lasting up to days, which is
powered by the radioactive decay of heavy elements synthesized in the ejecta.
The detection of a late bump using the {\em Hubble Space Telescope} ({\em HST})
in the near-infrared afterglow light curve of the short-hard GRB 130603B is
indeed consistent with such a model. However, as shown in this Letter, the
limited {\em HST} near-infrared lightcurve behavior can also be interpreted as
the synchrotron radiation of the external shock driven by a wide mildly
relativistic outflow. In such a scenario, the radio emission is expected to
peak with a flux of Jy, which is detectable for current radio
arrays. Hence, the radio afterglow data can provide complementary evidence on
the nature of the bump in GRB 130603B. It is worth noting that good
spectroscopy during the bump phase in short-hard bursts can test validity of
either model above, analogous to spectroscopy of broad-lined Type Ic supernova
in long-soft GRBs.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, published in ApJ Lette
A supra-massive magnetar central engine for short GRB 130603B
We show that the peculiar early optical and in particular X-ray afterglow
emission of the short duration burst GRB 130603B can be explained by continuous
energy injection into the blastwave from a supra-massive magnetar central
engine. The observed energetics and temporal/spectral properties of the late
infrared bump (i.e., the "kilonova") are also found consistent with emission
from the ejecta launched during an NS-NS merger and powered by a magnetar
central engine. The isotropic-equivalent kinetic energies of both the GRB
blastwave and the kilonova are about erg, consistent
with being powered by a near-isotropic magnetar wind. However, this relatively
small value demands that most of the initial rotational energy of the magnetar
is carried away by gravitational wave
radiation. Our results suggest that (i) the progenitor of GRB 130603B would be
a NS-NS binary system, whose merger product would be a supra-massive neutron
star that lasted for about seconds; (ii) the equation-of-state of
nuclear matter would be stiff enough to allow survival of a long-lived
supra-massive neutron star, so that it is promising to detect bright
electromagnetic counterparts of gravitational wave triggers without short GRB
associations in the upcoming Advanced LIGO/Virgo era.Comment: Five pages including 1 Figure, to appear in ApJ
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