Ankle mechanical impedance under muscle fatigue

Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2013.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 20-21).This study reports the effects of ankle muscle fatigue on ankle mechanical impedance. It suggests that decreasing ankle impedance with muscle fatigue may contribute to an increased probability of ankle injury. If confirmed, this observation may have important athletic, military and clinical implications. The experiment was designed to induce fatigue in the tibialis anterior and triceps surae muscle groups by instructing subjects to perform isometric contractions against a constant ankle torque generated by a backdrivable robot, Anklebot, which interacts with the ankle in two degrees of freedom. Median frequencies of surface electromyographic (EMG) signals collected from tibialis and triceps surae muscle groups were evaluated to assess muscle fatigue. Using a standard multi-input and multi-output stochastic impedance identification method, multivariable ankle mechanical impedance was measured in two degrees of freedom under muscle fatigue. Results indicate that ankle mechanical impedance decreases in both the dorsi-plantarflexion and inversion-eversion directions under tibialis muscle fatigue. However, the effect of triceps surae on ankle mechanical impedance is uncertain since the current experimental protocol could not effectively induce fatigue in triceps surae.by Shuo Wang.S.B

Cost trends and government incentives in the California photovoltaics market, 2007-2008

Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2009.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 34).The focus of this thesis is to analyze cost trends and government incentives in the California PV market during 2007-2008. The data show that pre-rebate system costs increased in California during this time period and that this was driven by a surge in worldwide module cost. Systems employing thin film technology did not exhibit a downward impact on cost, which contradicts historical and technological expectations. Furthermore, the introduction of the California Solar Initiative's declining rebate structure had a limited effect on reducing system costs. Additional research is necessary to understand installer pricing behaviors, which seemed to negatively affect commercial buyers, and how to best capitalize on the strong effect of economies of scale that was present in the data. This may lead to improved mechanisms of cost reduction that can aid policymakers.by Yan Wang.S.B

KAM for the quantum harmonic oscillator

In this paper we prove an abstract KAM theorem for infinite dimensional Hamiltonians systems. This result extends previous works of S.B. Kuksin and J. P\"oschel and uses recent techniques of H. Eliasson and S.B. Kuksin. As an application we show that some 1D nonlinear Schr\"odinger equations with harmonic potential admits many quasi-periodic solutions. In a second application we prove the reducibility of the 1D Schr\"odinger equations with the harmonic potential and a quasi periodic in time potential.Comment: 54 pages. To appear in Comm. Math. Phy

Scalar conservation laws with nonconstant coefficients with application to particle size segregation in granular flow

Granular materials will segregate by particle size when subjected to shear, as occurs, for example, in avalanches. The evolution of a bidisperse mixture of particles can be modeled by a nonlinear first order partial differential equation, provided the shear (or velocity) is a known function of position. While avalanche-driven shear is approximately uniform in depth, boundary-driven shear typically creates a shear band with a nonlinear velocity profile. In this paper, we measure a velocity profile from experimental data and solve initial value problems that mimic the segregation observed in the experiment, thereby verifying the value of the continuum model. To simplify the analysis, we consider only one-dimensional configurations, in which a layer of small particles is placed above a layer of large particles within an annular shear cell and is sheared for arbitrarily long times. We fit the measured velocity profile to both an exponential function of depth and a piecewise linear function which separates the shear band from the rest of the material. Each solution of the initial value problem is non-standard, involving curved characteristics in the exponential case, and a material interface with a jump in characteristic speed in the piecewise linear case

D-branes in 2d Lorentzian black hole

We study D-branes in the Lorentzian signature 2D black hole string theory. We use the technique of gauged WZW models to construct the associated boundary conformal field theories. The main focus of this work is to discuss the (semi-classical) world-volume geometries of the D-branes. We also discuss comparison of our work with results in related gauged WZW models.Comment: 24 pages, 5 figures, uses JHEP3.cl

BES3 time of flight monitoring system

A Time of Flight monitoring system has been developed for BES3. The light source is a 442-443 nm laser diode, which is stable and provides a pulse width as narrow as 50 ps and a peak power as large as 2.6 W. Two optical-fiber bundles with a total of 512 optical fibers, including spares, are used to distribute the light pulses to the Time of Flight counters. The design, operation, and performance of the system are described.Comment: 8 pages 16 figures, submitted to NI

Reentrant Spin-Peierls Transition in Mg-Doped CuGeO_3

We report a synchrotron x-ray scattering study of the diluted spin-Peierls (SP) material Cu_{1-x}Mg_xGeO_3. In a recent paper we have shown that the SP dimerization attains long-range order only for x < x_c = 0.022(0.001). Here we report that the SP transition is reentrant in the vicinity of the critical concentration x_c. This is manifested by broadening of the SP dimerization superlattice peaks below the reentrance temperature, T_r, which may mean either the complete loss of the long-range SP order or the development of a short-range ordered component within the long-range ordered SP state. Marked hysteresis and very large relaxation times are found in the samples with Mg concentrations in the vicinity of x_c. The reentrant transition is likely related to the competing Neel transition which occurs at a temperature similar to T_r. We argue that impurity-induced competing interchain interactions play an essential role in these phenomena.Comment: 5 pages, 4 embedded eps figure

A Knowledge Discovery Framework for Learning Task Models from User Interactions in Intelligent Tutoring Systems

Domain experts should provide relevant domain knowledge to an Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS) so that it can guide a learner during problemsolving learning activities. However, for many ill-defined domains, the domain knowledge is hard to define explicitly. In previous works, we showed how sequential pattern mining can be used to extract a partial problem space from logged user interactions, and how it can support tutoring services during problem-solving exercises. This article describes an extension of this approach to extract a problem space that is richer and more adapted for supporting tutoring services. We combined sequential pattern mining with (1) dimensional pattern mining (2) time intervals, (3) the automatic clustering of valued actions and (4) closed sequences mining. Some tutoring services have been implemented and an experiment has been conducted in a tutoring system.Comment: Proceedings of the 7th Mexican International Conference on Artificial Intelligence (MICAI 2008), Springer, pp. 765-77

Normal Forms for Semilinear Quantum Harmonic Oscillators

We consider the semilinear harmonic oscillator i\psi_t=(-\Delta +\va{x}^{2} +M)\psi +\partial_2 g(\psi,\bar \psi), \quad x\in \R^d, t\in \R where $M$ is a Hermite multiplier and $g$ a smooth function globally of order 3 at least. We prove that such a Hamiltonian equation admits, in a neighborhood of the origin, a Birkhoff normal form at any order and that, under generic conditions on $M$ related to the non resonance of the linear part, this normal form is integrable when $d=1$ and gives rise to simple (in particular bounded) dynamics when $d\geq 2$. As a consequence we prove the almost global existence for solutions of the above equation with small Cauchy data. Furthermore we control the high Sobolev norms of these solutions

A dynamic control model to improve the response speed for an air-condition system

A procedure for deriving a dynamic model of an HVAC system was described in this paper. The system consists of a zone, cooling coils and fan. Room thermal balance model and dynamic model of HVAC control system components including sensor, cooling coils and ducts, were established. These models accurately predicted the effect of inlet air temperature, airflow rate, and inlet chilled water temperature on the room temperature. During closed loop control of output air temperature, chilled water flow rate was used as a control input. Vriable water volume (VWV) was control by Fuzzy adaptive control (FA) combined with proportional integral derivative (PID) control algorithms (FA-PID). Computational simulations of two different control algorithms PID and FA-PID control were carried out in toolbox Simulink of Matlab. The fuzzy parameters were carefully tuned to produce less oscillatory responses. The results showed that the system based on FA-PID control is capable of controlling the disturbance efficiently with less time lag and small error than PID control.Papers presented to the 12th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Costa de Sol, Spain on 11-13 July 2016