Optical sensor to measure the projectile velocity

Displays & Photonics Applications Group (GDAF), belonging to Electronics Technology Department of University Carlos III of Madrid (Spain), has designed and implemented a simple, cost-effective, and robust optoelectronic system to measure online the average velocity of a projectile. This system is able to measure velocities ranged between 100m/s and 1200m/s). Potential applications are focused on experimental impact tests on aircraft and spacecraft structures. We are seeking potential collaborations with international/national research centres and enterprises to extent the range of potential applications

Novel Protected Gelatin Capsules Containing Fish Oil Mitigated the Effect of Milk Fat Depression and Reduced Rumen Degradation Compared to Untreated Capsules

The objective of this study was to assess the effects of feeding gelatin capsules treated with alcoholic solutions of flavoring agents followed by drying containing fish oil on lactation performance, rumen fatty acids content and milk enrichment of fatty acids. In Trial 1, four multiparous ruminally-fistulated Holstein cows were randomly assigned to one of four dietary treatment sequences in a 4 x 4 Latin square design. Treatments consisted of 1) Control with no capsules, 2) Control plus 200 untreated capsules per cow/day, mixed with the TMR; 3) Control plus 200 treated capsules per cow/day placed directly into the rumen, 4) Control plus 200 treated capsules per cow/day, mixed with the TMR. The total dose in treated and untreated capsules was 28 g of EPA and 13 g of DHA. In Trial 2, three fistulated Holstein and three fistulated Jersey multiparous cows were randomly assigned to three dietary treatment sequences in a replicated 3 x 3 Latin square design. Treatments consisted of 1) Control with no capsules fed to the cows, 2) Control plus 180 untreated capsules per cow/day, and 3) Control plus 180 treated capsules per cow/day. The total dose in treated and untreated capsules was 15.58 g of EPA and 12.75 g of DHA. Compared to control, feeding fish oil capsules significantly (Trial 1) or numerically (Trial 2) reduced milk fat concentration and yield. Furthermore, feeding untreated or treated capsules in both trials did not affect animal performance or milk composition. Compared to controls, supplementing the diet with fish oil capsules in both trials consistently increased total trans-C18:1 isomers and DHA concentration in the rumen and milk fat. However, for both trials, capsule protection treatment had a minimal effect on the concentration of any of the reported rumen and milk fatty acids. When assessed under laboratory control conditions, the treated capsule weight was increased by 40% due to water absorption, while resistance to pressure decreased by 84% after 2 hours of incubation in water. Results of this study suggest that due to reduced capsule shell resistance to abrasion, treated capsules marginally prevented the release of fish oil in the rumen

Multimode interference filter to solve degradation on coupler common-mode rejection

After quantifying degradation of a common mode rejection ratio (CMRR) 3dB-coupler due to excitation of TE01 mode, a novel compact circuit including multimode interference (MMI) coupler+bend+MMI+filter (CBF) is proposed. We show a CBF circuit has better CMRR at the expense of moderate loss. A complete tolerance analysis to main geometrical parameters has also been carried out.Publicad

An anisotropic microsphere-based approach for fiber orientation adaptation in soft tissue

Evolutionary processes in biological tissue, such as adaptation or remodeling, represent an enterprising area of research. In this paper, we present a multiscale model for the remodeling of fibered structures, such as bundles of collagen fibrils. With this aim, we introduce a von Mises statistical distribution function to account for the directional dispersion of the fibrils, and we remodel the underlying fibrils by changing their orientation. To numerically compute this process, we make use of the microsphere approach, which provides a useful multiscale tool for homogenizing the microstructure behavior, related to the fibrils of the bundle, in the macroscale of the problem. The results show how the fibrils respond to the stimulus by reorientation of their structure. This process leads to a stiffer material eventually reaching a stationary state. These results are in agreement with those reported in the literature, and they characterize the adaptation of biological tissue to external stimuli.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Investment climate assessment based on demean Olley and Pakes decompositions: methodology and application to Turkey's investment climate survey

Most empirical studies show strong detrimental evidence that regulatory, and administrative, barriers to entry have on productivity and on firm growth. In this paper we evaluate and measure the total factor productivity (TFP) impacts of having; low quality physical infrastructures (electricity, telecommunications, transport, customs, etc.) and bad social infrastructures (rules of law, informality, corruption, etc.). We suggest evaluating the impact on average productivity (TFP) and on the allocative efficiency of production among firms based on several versions of the Olley and Pakes (O&P) decompositions. We evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each the O&P decomposition in terms of their IC explanatory power. Once we have measured those IC impacts, we compare them with other sources of empirical information obtained from firm’s perceptions on main bottlenecks for firm growth and from doing business reports of the World Bank (2007). For the econometric analysis, we use firm level data bases from Turkey’s manufacturing sector based on Investment Climate surveys (ICs) done by the World Bank. These ICs are done in many other developing countries and therefore we propose to make crosscountry comparisons based on a new demean concept of TFP that also reduces the heterogeneity if using several robust productivity measures within each country

Investment climate and firm’s economic performance: econometric methodology and application to Turkey's investment climate survey

Government policies and behavior exert a strong influence on the investment climate through their impact on costs, risks and barriers to competition. Key factors affecting the investment climate through their impact on costs are: corruption, taxes, the regulatory burden and extent of red tape in general, factor markets (labor, intermediate materials and capital), the quality of infrastructure, technological and innovation support, and the availability and cost of finance. While the investment climate surveys are quite useful in identifying major issues and bottlenecks as perceived by firms, the data collected is also meant to provide the basic information for an econometric assessment of the impact or contribution of the investment climate (IC) variables on productivity. We believe that improving the investment climate (IC) is a key policy instrument to promote economic growth and to mitigate the institutional, legal, economic and social factors that are constraining the convergence of per capita income and labor productivity of Turkey relative to more developed countries. For that, we need to identify the main investment climate variables that affect economic performance measures like total factor productivity, employment, wages, exports and foreign direct investment and this is the main goal of this paper. In turn, that quantified impact is used in the advocacy for, and design of, investment-climate reforms

Hierarchical micro-adaptation of biological structures by mechanical stimuli

Remodeling and other evolving processes such as growth or morphogenesis are key factors in the evolution of biological tissue in response to both external and internal epigenetic stimuli. Based on the description of these processes provided by Taber, 1995 and Humphrey et al., 2002 for three important adaptation processes, remodeling, morphogenesis and growth (positive and negative), we shall consider the latter as the increase/decrease of mass via the increase/decrease of the number or size of cells, leading to a change in the volume of the organ. The work of Rodriguez et al. (1994) used the concept of natural configuration previously introduced by Skalak et al. (1982) to formulate volumetric growth. Later, Humphrey et al. (2002) proposed a constrained-mixture theory where changes in the density and mass of different constituents were taken into account. Many other works about biological growth have been presented in recent years, see e.g. Imatani and Maugin, 2002, Garikipati et al., 2004, Gleason and Humphrey, 2004, Menzel, 2004, Amar et al., 2005, Ganghoffer et al., 2005, Ateshian, 2007, Goriely et al., 2007, Kuhl et al., 2007, Ganghoffer, 2010a, Ganghoffer, 2010b and Goktepe et al., 2010. Morphogenesis is associated to changes in the structure shape (Taber, 1995 and Taber, 2009) while remodeling denotes changes in the tissue microstructure via the reorganization of the existing constituents or the synthesis of new ones with negligible volume change. All these processes involve changes in material properties. Although remodeling and growth can, and usually do, occur simultaneously, there are some cases where these processes develop in a decoupled way. For example, Stopak and Harris (1982) reported some experimental results showing remodeling driven by fibroblasts, with no volume growth. We will assume this scenario in this contribution, focusing exclusively on remodeling processes and on the reorientation of fibered biological structures. It is well known that biological tissue remodels itself when driven by a given stimulus, e.g. mechanical loads such as an increase in blood pressure, or changes in the chemical environment that control the signaling processes and the overall evolution of the tissue. Biological remodeling can occur in any kind of biological tissue. In particular, the study of collagen as the most important substance to be remodeled, in all its types (preferentiallyPeer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Sensor óptico para la medida de velocidad de proyectiles

El Grupo de Displays y Aplicaciones Fotónicas (GDAF), perteneciente al Departamento de Tecnología Electrónica de la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (España), ha diseñado y desarrollado un sistema optoelectrónico robusto, eficaz y de bajo coste, el cual es capaz de medir la velocidad de proyectiles en un rango comprendido entre velocidades subsónicas a supersónicas (entre 100 m/s y 1200 m/s). Potenciales aplicaciones de este sistema abarcan desde su utilización en pruebas de impacto de proyectiles sobre estructuras aeronáuticas con el fin de evaluar los posibles efectos de mecánicos y daños estructurales de dichos impactos, determinación de la velocidad de disparo de proyectiles en armas, etc. Se busca colaboración con centros de investigación de referencia internacionales y nacionales, así como empresas, para extender el rango de posibles aplicaciones para el sistema