Pain as Feedback for Bionic Limbs

Abstract: This paper looks at advancements made in the area of thought controlled mechanical prosthesis that are being developed for amputees in order for them to regain mobility. It focuses on the brain-machine interface which is hardware and software that is used to control mechanical prosthesis or bionic limbs by sending and receiving signals between the prosthetic and the users mind. There is signaling feedback from the prosthesis to the user that indicates how much pressure is being applied to an object that is being grasped for instance. This paper explores the notion of the value of pain as a warning in the form of artificial feedback to help prevent damage and death to people and posits that pain should be included in the feedback loop so that when, for example, an artificial hand is in imminent danger of being burned the wearer is alerted

Analysis of a power grid using the Kuramoto-like model

We show that there is a link between the Kuramoto paradigm and another system of synchronized oscillators, namely an electrical power distribution grid of generators and consumers. The purpose of this work is to show both the formal analogy and some practical consequences. The mapping can be made quantitative, and under some necessary approximations a class of Kuramoto-like models, those with bimodal distribution of the frequencies, is most appropriate for the power-grid. In fact in the power-grid there are two kinds of oscillators: the 'sources' delivering power to the 'consumers'.Comment: 24 pages, including 7 figures. To appear on Eur. Phys. J.

The passage and implementation of Point Four in United States diplomacy

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1953 S23Master of Scienc

Expectancy statements as influenced by situational variables

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1957 D52Master of Scienc

Distributed Generation and Resilience in Power Grids

We study the effects of the allocation of distributed generation on the resilience of power grids. We find that an unconstrained allocation and growth of the distributed generation can drive a power grid beyond its design parameters. In order to overcome such a problem, we propose a topological algorithm derived from the field of Complex Networks to allocate distributed generation sources in an existing power grid.Comment: proceedings of Critis 2012 http://critis12.hig.no

NDI using mm-wave resonant techniques

Millimeter wave resonant measurements are commonly used for surface and near-surface materials characterization including the detection of cracks and defects, analysis of semiconducting and dielectric materials, and analysis of metallic electrical properties beneath coatings. Recent work has also shown the approach to be useful in evaluating corrosion products and the detection of incipient corrosion and corrosion cracking. In the analysis area, complex permittivity data of the corrosion products can be extracted, usually with accuracy of a few percent or better, to aid in identification of the product and possibly of mechanisms. In the detection area, corrosion-related cracks of order 100{mu}m or less near the surface have been detected and corrosion products have been detected beneath a variety of paints. Surface preparation requirements are minimal, particularly compared to some optical techniques, giving increased hope of field applicability. A number of examples of NDI on aircraft related materials and structures will be presented along with an assessment of detection and accuracy limits

Fabrication of sensitive high Tc bolometers

The rapid change of resistance with temperature of high quality films of high T sub c superconductors can be used to make resistance thermometers with very low temperature noise. Measurements on c-axis yttrium barium copper oxide (YBCO) films have given a spectral intensity of temperature noise less than 4 times 10(exp -8) K/Hz(exp 1/2) at 10 Hz. Consequently, the opportunity exists to make useful bolometric infrared detectors that operate near 90 K which can be cooled with liquid nitrogen. The fabrication and measurement of two bolometer architectures are discussed. The first is a conventional bolometer which consists of a 3000 A thick YBCO film deposited in situ by laser ablation on top of a 500 A thick SrTiO3 thickness and diced into 1x1 mm(exp 2) bolometer chips. Gold black smoke was used as the radiation absorber. The voltage noise was less than the amplifier noise when the film was current biased. Optical measurements gave an NEP of 5 times 10(exp -11) W/Hz(exp 1/2) at 10 Hz. The second architecture is that of an antenna-coupled microbolometer which consists of a small (5x10 cubic microns) YBCO film deposited directly on a bulk substrate with a low thermal conductance (YSZ) and an impedance matched planar lithographed spiral or log-periodic antenna. This structure is produced by standard photolithographic techniques. Measurements gave an electrical NEP of 4.7 times 10(exp -12) W/Hz(exp 1/2) at 10 kHz. Measurements of the optical efficiency are in progress. The measured performance of both bolometers will be compared to other detectors operating at or above liquid nitrogen temperatures so as to identify potential applications

A model for cascading failures in complex networks

Large but rare cascades triggered by small initial shocks are present in most of the infrastructure networks. Here we present a simple model for cascading failures based on the dynamical redistribution of the flow on the network. We show that the breakdown of a single node is sufficient to collapse the efficiency of the entire system if the node is among the ones with largest load. This is particularly important for real-world networks with an highly hetereogeneous distribution of loads as the Internet and electrical power grids.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Ising model for distribution networks

An elementary Ising spin model is proposed for demonstrating cascading failures (break-downs, blackouts, collapses, avalanches, ...) that can occur in realistic networks for distribution and delivery by suppliers to consumers. A ferromagnetic Hamiltonian with quenched random fields results from policies that maximize the gap between demand and delivery. Such policies can arise in a competitive market where firms artificially create new demand, or in a solidary environment where too high a demand cannot reasonably be met. Network failure in the context of a policy of solidarity is possible when an initially active state becomes metastable and decays to a stable inactive state. We explore the characteristics of the demand and delivery, as well as the topological properties, which make the distribution network susceptible of failure. An effective temperature is defined, which governs the strength of the activity fluctuations which can induce a collapse. Numerical results, obtained by Monte Carlo simulations of the model on (mainly) scale-free networks, are supplemented with analytic mean-field approximations to the geometrical random field fluctuations and the thermal spin fluctuations. The role of hubs versus poorly connected nodes in initiating the breakdown of network activity is illustrated and related to model parameters

Sandpiles on multiplex networks

We introduce the sandpile model on multiplex networks with more than one type of edge and investigate its scaling and dynamical behaviors. We find that the introduction of multiplexity does not alter the scaling behavior of avalanche dynamics; the system is critical with an asymptotic power-law avalanche size distribution with an exponent $\tau = 3/2$ on duplex random networks. The detailed cascade dynamics, however, is affected by the multiplex coupling. For example, higher-degree nodes such as hubs in scale-free networks fail more often in the multiplex dynamics than in the simplex network counterpart in which different types of edges are simply aggregated. Our results suggest that multiplex modeling would be necessary in order to gain a better understanding of cascading failure phenomena of real-world multiplex complex systems, such as the global economic crisis.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure