Integrated Sensor Fault Diagnosis and Fault-Tolerant Control for Manipulator

In this paper, an integrated scheme including fault diagnosis and fault-tolerant controller design is proposed for the manipulator system with the sensor fault. Any constant fault or time-varying fault can be estimated by the fault diagnosis scheme based on the adaptive observer rapidly and accurately, and the designed parameters can be solved by the linear matrix inequality. Using the fault estimation information, a fault-tolerant controller combining the characteristics of the proportional differentiation control and the sliding model control is designed to trace the expected trajectory via the back-stepping method. Finally, the effectiveness of the above scheme is verified by the simulation results

Testing and comparing two self-care-related instruments among older Chinese adults

OBJECTIVES:The study aimed to test and compare the reliability and validity, including sensitivity and specificity of the two self-care-related instruments, the Self-care Ability Scale for the Elderly (SASE), and the Appraisal of Self-care Agency Scale-Revised (ASAS-R), among older adults in the Chinese context. METHODS:A cross-sectional design was used to conduct this study. The sample consisted of 1152 older adults. Data were collected by a questionnaire including the Chinese version of SASE (SASE-CHI), the Chinese version of ASAS-R (ASAS-R-CHI) and the Exercise of Self-Care Agency scale (ESCA). Homogeneity and stability, content, construct and concurrent validity, and sensitivity and specificity were assessed. RESULTS:The Cronbach's alpha (α) of SASE-CHI was 0.89, the item-to-total correlations ranged from r = 0.15 to r = 0.81, and the test-retest correlation coefficient (intra-class correlation coefficient, ICC) was 0.99 (95% CI, 0.99-1.00; P<0.001). The Cronbach's α of ASAS-R-CHI was 0.78, the item-to-total correlations ranged from r = 0.20 to r = 0.65, and the test-retest ICC was 0.95 (95% CI, 0.92-0.96; P<0.001). The content validity index (CVI) of SASE-CHI and ASAS-R-CHI was 0.96 and 0.97, respectively. The findings of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA and CFA) confirmed a good construct validity of SASE-CHI and ASAS-R-CHI. The Pearson's rank correlation coefficients, as a measure of concurrent validity, between total score of SASE-CHI and ESCA and ASAS-R-CHI and ESCA were assessed to 0.65 (P<0.001) and 0.62 (P<0.001), respectively. Regarding ESCA as the criterion, the area under the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve for the cut-point of SASE-CHI and ASAS-R-CHI were 0.93 (95% CI, 0.91-0.94) and 0.83 (95% CI, 0.80-0.86), respectively. CONCLUSION:There is no significant difference between the two instruments. Each has its own characteristics, but SASE-CHI is more suitable for older adults. The key point is that the users can choose the most appropriate scale according to the specific situation

ROS-induced DNA adducts in the rodents after exposure to superfund hazardous chemicals

The accumulation of oxidative DNA damage has been hypothesized as a key event in chemical carcinogenesis. In this study, oxidative DNA damage was evaluated in the livers of rats exposed to vinyl chloride (VC), 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), 3,3΄,4,4΄,5-pentachlorobiphenyl (PCB 126), 2,3,4,7,8-pentachlorodibenzofuran (PeCDF) and 2,2΄,4,4΄,5,5΄-Hexachlorobiphenyl (PCB153). Eight oxidative DNA adducts were measured, 8-hydroxyl-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), 1, N6-etheno-2’-deoxyadenosine (εdA), N2, 3-εG, 1, N2-etheno-2’-deoxyguanosine (1, N2-εdG), 3-(2′-deoxy-β-d-erythro-pentofuranosyl) pyrimido[1,2-α]purin-10(3H) (M1dG), acrolein, crotonaldehyde and 4-HNE -derived dG adducts (assigned as AcrdG, CrdG, and 4-HNEdG respectively). εdA is one of the promutagenic DNA adducts formed by VC, which can also be formed by lipid peroxidation. In this study, both adult and weanling Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to 1100 ppm (13C2)-VC for 1 week (6 h/day, 5 days/week). The results indicated that NA-εdA concentration did not show significant difference in the liver of adult and weanling rats after VC exposure. The distribution pattern of (13C2)-εdA in liver, lung and kidney indicated that liver was the dominant target organ for VC toxicity in both adult and weanling rats. ROS-induced DNA adducts were detected in the liver of female intact, ovariectomized (OVX) and male Sprague-Dawley rats, including 8-OHdG, 1, N6-εdA, AcrdG, and CrdG. These animals were exposed to TCDD for 30 weeks after diethylnitrosamine (DEN) initiation. Induction of these adducts was consistently found in liver DNA of TCDD-treated intact female rats and 17β;-estradiol (E2) supplemented OVX female rats, but not detected in OVX rats without E2 supplement or male rats. These results further confirmed that the induction of these adducts occurs via a sex-specific and estrogen-dependent mechanism reported previously. Oxidative DNA damage was measured in liver DNA of female Sprague-Dawley rats following 53-week exposure of PHAHs, including PCB153, PCB126, TCDD, and the ternary mixture of TCDD, PCB126 and PeCDF. Increases of 8-OHdG, N2, 3-εG and 1, N6-εdA were observed in PCB153 or PCB126 exposed animals. Significant increases of 1, N6-εdA were observed in all animals exposed to TCDD and the ternary mixture. Increases of 1, N2-εdG, CrdG, AcrdG, 4-HNEdG and M1dG were detected in animals exposed to the ternary mixture, but not the TCDD treated rats compared to the control.Doctor of Philosoph

Biodegradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by white rot-fungus Pseudotrametes gibbosa isolated from the boreal forest in Northeast China

This study compared laccase production and the degradation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) by  aboriginal white rot-fungus Pseudotrametes gibbosa (found in the northeast forest area of China) and Pleurotus ostreatus (which has been studied both domestically in China and overseas). The results showed that the laccase activity of P. gibbosa was 2841.3 U/l, which was 6 times more than that of P. ostreatus under the same culture conditions. The degradation of Anthracene and pyrene induced by P. gibbosa were 43.43 and 24.26%, while the removal efficiencies induced by P. ostreatus were only 30.12 and 18.76%. The results also showed a positive correlation between the PAHs degradation and laccase activity, and Pseudotrametes gibbosa had significant potential due to its higher laccase production and more potent degradation of PAHs. This study provides technical support for pollution amelioration using aboriginal white-rot fungus.Key words: White-rot fungus, laccase, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, degradation

Prediction of aptamer-protein interacting pairs using an ensemble classifier in combination with various protein sequence attributes

The ranked feature list given by the Relief algorithm. Within the list, a feature with a smaller index indicates that it is more important for aptamer-protein interacting pair prediction. Such a list of ranked features are used to establish the optimal feature set in the IFS procedure. (XLS 56.5 kb

Triptolide ameliorates lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury in rats

BACKGROUND: Acute lung injury (ALI) is a serious clinical syndrome with a high rate of mortality. In this study, the effects of triptolide on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced ALI in rats were investigated. METHODS: Sixty-five male Sprague Dawley rats(approved by ethics committee of the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University) were randomly divided into five groups. The control group was injected with 2.5 mL saline/kg body weight via the tail vein and intraperitoneally with 1% dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) (n = 5). The L group was administered with 0.2% LPS dissolved in saline (5 mg/kg) to induce ALI via the tail vein (n = 15). The TP1, TP2, and TP3 groups were treated as rats in the L group and then intraperitoneally injected with 25, 50, and 100 μg triptolide/kg body weight, respectively (15 rats per group). Blood samples from the left heart artery were taken for blood gas analysis at 1 hour before injection and at 1, 3, 6, and 12 hours after saline and DMSO administration in the control group, LPS injection in the L group, and triptolide injection in the TP1, TP2, and TP3 groups. Lung wet-to-dry weight (W/D) ratio, diffuse alveolar damage (DAD) score, TNF-α levels, and mRNA and protein expression of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) were analyzed. RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the arterial partial pressure of oxygen (PaO(2)) declined (P <0.05), the W/D ratio and DAD score increased (P <0.05), and TNF-α levels in serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and mRNA and protein expression of TLR4 were significantly increased in the L group (P <0.05). Compared with the L group, PaO(2) significantly increased in the TP2 and TP3 groups (P <0.05), while the W/D ratio and DAD score were significantly decreased in the TP2 and TP3 groups (P <0.05). TNF-α levels and mRNA and protein expression of TLR4 were significantly decreased in the TP2 and TP3 groups compared with the L group (P <0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Triptolide can ameliorate LPS-induced ALI by reducing the release of the inflammatory mediator TNF-α and inhibiting TLR4 expression

A certain rubber shock absorber’s dynamic response research under impulse load

The complex impulse environment of artillery firing process brings very tough impulse resistance requirement for the artillery carrier equipment. The results of the vibration test of an electrical control box with a certain rubber shock absorber show that good shock absorb effect has not been received. Based on carefully theoretical analysis and simulation, it can be sure that the rigid collision when shock absorber reaches its limit is the reason. From the point of view of the theory and simulation of the experimental results, the analysis of the experiment results is given, which can provide the necessary theoretical basis of how to choose the appropriate shock absorber

Study of the Electrical Power Network Harmonic Analysis Algorithm Technology Based on Gradient Blind Signal Separation

A large amount of electrical power harmonic are injected into the electrical power network because the widely used of nonlinear electrical power load. It brings a great harm to the precision electronic instrument in safety running. This article presented a kind of electrical network harmonic analysis algorithm used for the harmonic signal separation. Through analyzing the harmonic monitor technology at present, using the blind signal separation technology to complete the mixing electrical power system voltage signal separation based on the traditional information maximization blind source separation algorithm and natural gradient algorithm, the simulation result shown that this two algorithm can also realize the instantaneous mixing voltage harmonic signal separation and harmonic analysis monitor. The result expressed that this method can effectively gain a good separation effect with the monitoring spectrum error is less than 1 %

A Vision Based Method to Distinguish and Recognize Static and Dynamic Gesture

AbstractVision based gesture recognizing acquired large improvements these years, as bonds of research achievements in labs become practical in factories. However, most of these findings are still restricted to either dynamic gesture or static posture, while the combination of them is always neglected but turns out to be common in practical. In this paper, we consider a vision based system that can interpret both dynamic and static gestures in real-time. Haar-like features and ada boost classifier are used to identify hands in images. Test results showed that when given suitable settings, the method of distinction runs successfully