Energy Shaping for Systems with Two Degrees of Underactuation

In this thesis we are going to study the energy shaping problem on controlled Lagrangian systems with degree of underactuation less than or equal to two. Energy shaping is a method of stabilization by designing a suitable feedback control force on the given controlled Lagrangian system so that the total energy of the feedback equivalent system has a non-degenerate minimum at the equilibrium. The feedback equivalent system can then be stabilized by a further dissipative force. Finding a feedback equivalent system requires solving a system of PDEs. The existence of solutions for this system of PDEs is guaranteed, under some conditions, in the case of one degree of underactuation. Higher degrees of underactuation, however, requires a more careful study on the system of PDEs, and we apply the formal theory of PDEs to achieve this purpose in the case of two degrees of underactuation. The thesis is divided into four chapters. First, we review the basic notion of energy shaping and state the results for the case of one degree of underactuation. We then devise a general scheme to solve the energy shaping problem with degree of underactuation equal to one, together with some examples to illustrate the general procedure. After that we review the tools from the formal theory of PDEs, as a preparation for solving the problem with two degrees of underactuation. We derive an equivalent involutive system of PDEs from which we can deduce the existence of solutions which suit the energy shaping requirement

Bias in the Estimate of a Mean Reversion Parameter for a Fractional Ornstein-Uhlenbeck Process

In this thesis we studied the estimation bias of the least squares estimate of the mean reversion parameter, when the underlying dynamics is governed by fractional Brownian motions. Fractional Brownian motion is a continuous-time model with long-range dependency features. Least squares estimate for the mean reversion parameter under standard Brownian motion framework has been shown to be positively biased. Using an approximate bias formula, we show that the estimation bias in the fractional Brownian case behaves differently from the standard Brownian motion case, and in fact can be negative depending on the Hurst parameter and the true value of the mean reversion. We conclude the thesis by looking into the implication of these results from the perspective of risk management

Consumer Confusion in the UK Skin Care Market

Consumer confusion exists in many consumer markets and this study examines the UK skin market in particular. By reviewing the skin care market in UK, it is found that the consumer may be confused about who makes the products and mistaken attribute their dissatisfaction with the wrong products to the manufacturer of the original one. Most customers reply on the trademark as the indicators of COOP. Thus, it is necessary to investigate the literature on trademark, trademark infringement and passing off which relate to the consumer confusion about the COOP and the potential sources of such confusion. The objectives of this study aim to investigate the magnitude of the magnitude of purchaser confusion and identify its sources as well as to estimate the extent of normal confusion regarding the UK skin care market

Multiple Block-Size Search Algorithm for Fast Block Motion Estimation

Abstract-Although variable block-size motion estimation provides significant video quality and coding efficiency improvement, it requires much higher computational complexity compared with fixed block size motion estimation. The reason is that the current motion estimation algorithms are mainly designed for fixed block size. Current variable block-size motion estimation implementation simply applies these existing motion estimation algorithms independently for different block sizes to find the best block size and the corresponding motion vector. Substantial computation is wasted because distortion data reuse among motion searches of different block sizes is not considered. In this paper, a motion estimation algorithm intrinsically designed for variable block-size video coding is presented. The proposed multiple block-size search (MBSS) algorithm unifies the motion searches for different block sizes into a single searching process instead of independently performing the search for each block size. In this unified search, the suboptimal motion vectors for different block sizes are used to determine the next search steps. Its prediction quality is comparable with that obtained by performing motion search for different block sizes independently while the computational load is substantially reduced. Experimental results show that the prediction quality of MBSS is similar to full search. Block matching, motion estimation, video coding, search pattern, directional search

Enhancement of Wear and Corrosion Resistance of Beta Titanium Alloy by Laser Technology

The relatively high elastic modulus coupled with the presence of toxic vanadium (V) in Ti6Al4V alloy has long been a concern in orthopaedic applications. To solve the problem, a variety of non-toxic and low modulus beta-titanium (beta-Ti) alloys have been developed. Among the beta-Ti alloy family, the quaternary Ti-Nb-Zr-Ta (TZNT) alloys have received the highest attention as a promising replacement for Ti6Al4V due to their lower elastic modulus and outstanding long term stability against corrosion in biological environments. However, the inferior wear resistance of TNZT is still a problem that must be resolved before commercialising in the orthopaedic market. In this work, a newly-developed laser surface treatment technique was employed to improve the surface properties of Ti-35.3Nb-7.3Zr-5.7Ta alloy. The surface microstructure and composition of the laser-treated TNZT surface were examined by grazing incidence x-ray diffraction (GI-XRD) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The wear and corrosion resistance were evaluated by pin-on-plate sliding test and anodic polarisation test in Hanks’ solution. The experimental results were compared with the untreated (or base) TNZT material. The research findings showed that the laser surface treatment technique reported in this work can effectively improve the wear and corrosion resistance of TNZT. The enhancement of such surface properties was due to the formation of a smooth and hard layer on the substrate surface. The laser-formed layer was metallurgically bonded to the substrate, and had no concern of coating delamination or peel-off.Acknowledgments The work described in this paper was supported by research grants from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (G-YK36 and G-YM75), Hong Kong Special Administration Region, China, and the Queen’s University Belfast (Start-up Research Fund: D8201MAS), United Kingdom

Synergistic Cytotoxic Effects of Ganoderma lucidum

Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is conventionally used as an adjuvant immunotherapy to reduce the recurrence of bladder cancer. To address the issues of efficacy and safety, an ethanol extract of Ganoderma lucidum (GLe) was evaluated for its interaction with BCG. In a model of premalignant human uroepithelial cells (HUC-PC), GLe exerted immediate cytotoxic effects while BCG showed a delayed response, given that both were immunological active in inducing the secretion of interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, and monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1). Synergistic cytotoxic effects were observed when cells were either coincubated with both drugs or firstly preincubated with GLe. Synergism between GLe and BCG was demonstrated to achieve a complete cytostasis in 24 hours, and such effects were progressed in the subsequent 5 days. However, the pretreatment of GLe resulted in suppression of IL-6, IL-8, and MCP-1 secretions without affecting the cytotoxicity. Given that numerous proinflammatory cytokines are associated with the high side effects toll of BCG, results herein suggested the potential implications of GL to supplement the BCG immunotherapy in bladder cancer, for better efficacy and reducing side effects

ZnO nanorod/GaN light-emitting diodes: The origin of yellow and violet emission bands under reverse and forward bias

ZnO nanorods have been prepared by electrodeposition under identical conditions on various p-GaN-based thin film structures. The devices exhibited lighting up under both forward and reverse biases, but the turn-on voltage and the emission color were strongly dependent on the p-GaN-based structure used. The origin of different luminescence peaks under forward and reverse bias has been studied by comparing the devices with and without ZnO and by photoluminescence and cathodoluminescence spectroscopy. We found that both yellow-orange emission under reverse bias and violet emission under forward bias, which are commonly attributed to ZnO, actually originate from the p-GaN substrate and/or surface/interface defects. While the absolute brightness of devices without InGaN multiple quantum wells was low, high brightness with luminance exceeding 10 000 cd/m 2 and tunable emission (from orange at 2.1 V to blue at 2.7 V, with nearly white emission with Commission internationale de l'éclairage (CIE) coordinates (0.30, 0.31) achieved at 2.5 V) was obtained for different devices containing InGaN multiple quantum wells. © 2011 American Institute of Physics.published_or_final_versio

Педагогическое сопровождение детей старшего дошкольного возраста в процессе социального познания

b-type Ti-alloy is a promising biomedical implant material as it has a low Young’s modulus and is also known to have inferior surface hardness. Various surface treatments can be applied to enhance the surface hardness. Physical vapor deposition and chemical vapor deposition are two examples of this but these techniques have limitations such as poor interfacial adhesion and high distortion. Laser surface treatment is a relatively new surface modification method to enhance the surface hardness but its application is still not accepted by the industry. The major problem of this process involves surface melting which results in higher surface roughness after the laser surface treatment.This paper will report the results achieved by a 100W CW fiber laser for laser surface treatment without the surface being melted. Laser processing parameters were carefully selected so that the surface could be treated without surface melting and thus the surface finish of the component could be maintained. The surface and microstructural characteristics of the treated samples were examined using x-ray diffractometry, optical microscopy, three-dimensional surface profile and contact angle measurements, and nanoindentation test.The work described in this paper was supported by research grants (G-YK36 and G-YM75) from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Special Administration Region, China. The Ph.D. studentship of Chi-Ho Ng was supported by the University of Chester, UK