Intelligent coordination steering control of automated guided vehicle

In this paper, based on the neural network, fuzzy control and bang-bang control, an intelligent coordination control strategy for automated guided vehicle (AGV) steering system is presented. The dynamic steering model of distance error and orientation angle error for AGV is expressed. With least square method of system identification, the model of AGV is identified. Because a toy type of AGV is employed, its structure is simple, but AGV model parameters are variable according to the operating conditions and environment. In order to improve the dynamic performances of AGV, the intelligent coordinated control strategy is used to design the AGV controller in the AGV steering control system. Simulation and experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy. © 2011 IEEE

Wind Driven Rain (WDR) Laboratory Tests on Cavity Wall Specimens treated with surface waterproofing products

Wind driven rain (WDR) is one of the most common sources of moisture risks affecting buildings in the UK. Water penetration can lead to defects such as ineffective insulation, damp inner walls and freeze-thaw damage, causing issues in both energy efficiency and wall integrity. Surface waterproofing products have shown great potential as a new method of improving the moisture condition in buildings. This paper is focused on real size cavity walls tested under WDR exposure to study the hygrothermal performance of surface waterproofing products. Test results show both acrylic-based liquid and silane/siloxane blend cream products were capable of lessening moisture enrichment of masonry cavity walls under cyclic WDR loading

Performance Comparison of Surface Waterproofing Products with Various Chemical Compositions on Brick Masonry

Moisture risk in building systems is one of the major concerns affecting the durability of building envelopes and indoor comfort. Surface waterproofing products are a common and simple methods to enhance the moisture performance of masonry buildings. However, the various chemical compositions of these products can lead to very different performance under exposure. This paper focus on the comparison and discussion of the different level of impact of surface waterproofing products with various chemical compositions on the performance of brick masonry substrate through a series of benchtests on small scale specimens to test water vapour transmission, hydrophobicity and liquid water absorption. Four different types of waterproofing products were selected, along with 3 brick types common in the 50s and 60s to be representative of the majority of the UK building stock. Results show that the combined outcome of the three tests is sufficient to identify the clearly the effectiveness of the products in improving waterproofing while ensuring vapour transmission. It also shows that it is essential to use specimens reproducing the masonry fabric rather than samples of the individual materials

Impact of surface waterproofing products on the performance of brick masonry through the moisture exposure life-cycle

Moisture is one of the major causes of damage to building systems, affecting the hygrothermal performance and durability of building systems. Surface treatment products are available in the market that can influence the hygric performance of masonry facades under water exposure. These are of a wide range of chemical compositions, and they claim to waterproof the masonry surfaces while not diminishing vapour transmissibility. This paper presents and discusses the findings from a series of benchtests carried out to measure hydrophobicity, water absorption and water vapour transmission following the relevant codes for an appraisal of the hygric behaviour change in brick masonry induced by waterproofing through three distinct phases of the life-cycle of moisture exposure, i.e. first contact with water, wetting and drying. To this end, 4 waterproofing products including silane/siloxane blend liquid and cream, and acrylic and stearate-based liquids were selected for testing, along with 3 brick types common in the 50s and 60s to be representative of the majority of the UK building stock. The findings show that the treatment products indeed enhance the surface hydrophobicity and reduce water absorption while allowing water vapour transmission to differing degrees: silane/siloxane blend cream overall was found the most effective throughout the moisture-exposure life-cycle, with an average of ~96% reduction in water absorption and 18% of increase in water vapour resistance in comparison to the untreated case, followed by the stearate-based liquid with 57% reduction in water absorption and 12% increase in water vapour resistance. The acrylic-based product demonstrated good performance in hydrophobicity and water vapour transmission tests, however led to a comparatively higher water absorption capacity than the other treatment products with only ~40% reduction in comparison to the base-case. Finally, silane/siloxane blend liquid was found to lead to the lowest contact angle, demonstrating a lower-than-others capacity to developing surface hydrophobicity, and led to 35% reduction in water absorption and 28% increase in water vapour resistance, making it the poorest product in the dataset to lead to watertight and vapour open systems under water exposure. Based on the test results it was also deemed beneficial to use masonry specimens to account for its composite nature, rather than using results obtained from brick and mortar separately to infer the wall response under exposure

Viral integration drives multifocal HCC during the occult HBV infection

© 2019 The Author(s). Background & Aims: Although the prognosis of patients with occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection (OBI) is usually benign, a small portion may undergo cirrhosis and subsequently hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We studied the mechanism of life-long Integration of virus DNA into OBI host's genome, of which may induce hepatocyte transformation. Methods: We applied HBV capture sequencing on single cells from an OBI patient who, developed multiple HCC tumors and underwent liver resection in May 2013 at Tongji Hospital in China. Despite with the undetectable virus DNA in serum, we determined the pattern of viral integration in tumor cells and adjacent non-tumor cells and obtained the details of the viral arrangement in host genome, and furthermore the HBV integrated region in cancer genome. Results: HBV captured sequencing of tissues and individual cells revealed that samples from multiple tumors shared two viral integration sites that could affect three host genes, including CSMD2 on chr1 and MED30/EXT1 on chr8. Whole genome sequencing further indicated one hybrid chromosome formed by HBV integrations between chr1 and chr8 that was shared by multiple tumors. Additional 50 poorly differentiated liver tumors and the paired adjacent non-tumors were evaluated and functional studies suggested up-regulated EXT1 expression promoted HCC growth. We further observed that the most somatic mutations within the tumor cell genome were common among the multiple tumors, suggesting that HBV associated, multifocal HCC is monoclonal in origin. Conclusion: Through analyzing the HBV integration sites in multifocal HCC, our data suggested that the tumor cells were monoclonal in origin and formed in the absence of active viral replication, whereas the affected host genes may subsequently contribute to carcinogenesis

Results of the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR's Search for Double-Beta Decay of 76Ge to Excited States of 76Se

The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR is searching for double-beta decay of 76Ge to excited states (E.S.) in 76Se using a modular array of high purity Germanium detectors. 76Ge can decay into three E.S.s of 76Se. The E.S. decays have a clear event signature consisting of a ββ-decay with the prompt emission of one or two γ-rays, resulting in with high probability in a multi-site event. The granularity of the DEMONSTRATOR detector array enables powerful discrimination of this event signature from backgrounds. Using 21.3 kg-y of isotopic exposure, the DEMONSTRATOR has set world leading limits for each E.S. decay, with 90% CL lower half-life limits in the range of (0.56 2.1) ⋅ 1024 y. In particular, for the 2v transition to the first 0+ E.S. of 76Se, a lower half-life limit of 0.68 ⋅ 1024 at 90% CL was achieved

ADC Nonlinearity Correction for the Majorana Demonstrator

Imperfections in analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) cannot be ignored when signal digitization requirements demand both wide dynamic range and high resolution, as is the case for the Majorana Demonstrator 76Ge neutrinoless double-beta decay search. Enabling the experiment's high-resolution spectral analysis and efficient pulse shape discrimination required careful measurement and correction of ADC nonlinearities. A simple measurement protocol was developed that did not require sophisticated equipment or lengthy data-taking campaigns. A slope-dependent hysteresis was observed and characterized. A correction applied to digitized waveforms prior to signal processing reduced the differential and integral nonlinearities by an order of magnitude, eliminating these as dominant contributions to the systematic energy uncertainty at the double-beta decay Q value

Observation of a ppb mass threshoud enhancement in \psi^\prime\to\pi^+\pi^-J/\psi(J/\psi\to\gamma p\bar{p}) decay

The decay channel $\psi^\prime\to\pi^+\pi^-J/\psi(J/\psi\to\gamma p\bar{p})$ is studied using a sample of $1.06\times 10^8$ $\psi^\prime$ events collected by the BESIII experiment at BEPCII. A strong enhancement at threshold is observed in the $p\bar{p}$ invariant mass spectrum. The enhancement can be fit with an $S$-wave Breit-Wigner resonance function with a resulting peak mass of $M=1861^{+6}_{-13} {\rm (stat)}^{+7}_{-26} {\rm (syst)} {\rm MeV/}c^2$ and a narrow width that is $\Gamma<38 {\rm MeV/}c^2$ at the 90% confidence level. These results are consistent with published BESII results. These mass and width values do not match with those of any known meson resonance.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Chinese Physics

Anodization of nanoporous alumina on impurity-induced hemisphere curved surface of aluminum at room temperature

Nanoporous alumina which was produced by a conventional direct current anodization [DCA] process at low temperatures has received much attention in various applications such as nanomaterial synthesis, sensors, and photonics. In this article, we employed a newly developed hybrid pulse anodization [HPA] method to fabricate the nanoporous alumina on a flat and curved surface of an aluminum [Al] foil at room temperature [RT]. We fabricate the nanopores to grow on a hemisphere curved surface and characterize their behavior along the normal vectors of the hemisphere curve. In a conventional DCA approach, the structures of branched nanopores were grown on a photolithography-and-etched low-curvature curved surface with large interpore distances. However, a high-curvature hemisphere curved surface can be obtained by the HPA technique. Such a curved surface by HPA is intrinsically induced by the high-resistivity impurities in the aluminum foil and leads to branching and bending of nanopore growth via the electric field mechanism rather than the interpore distance in conventional approaches. It is noted that by the HPA technique, the Joule heat during the RT process has been significantly suppressed globally on the material, and nanopores have been grown along the normal vectors of a hemisphere curve. The curvature is much larger than that in other literatures due to different fabrication methods. In theory, the number of nanopores on the hemisphere surface is two times of the conventional flat plane, which is potentially useful for photocatalyst or other applications

Effect of Ca2+ Channel Block on Glycerol Metabolism in Dunaliella salina under Hypoosmotic and Hyperosmotic Stresses

The effect of Ca2+ channel blockers on cytosolic Ca2+ levels and the role of Ca2+ in glycerol metabolism of Dunaliella salina under hypoosmotic or hyperosmotic stress were investigated using the confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM). Results showed that intracellular Ca2+ concentration increased rapidly when extracellular salinity suddenly decreased or increased, but the increase could be inhibited by pretreatment of Ca2+ channel blockers LaCl3, verapamil or ruthenium red. The changes of glycerol content and G3pdh activity in D. salina to respect to hypoosmotic or hyperosmotic stress were also inhibited in different degrees by pretreatment of Ca2+ channel blockers, indicating that the influx of Ca2+ via Ca2+ channels are required for the transduction of osmotic signal to regulate osmotic responses of D. salina to the changes of salinity. Differences of the three blockers in block effect suggested that they may act on different channels or had different action sites, including influx of Ca2+ from the extracellular space via Ca2+ channels localized in the plasma membrane or from intracellular calcium store via the mitochondrial. Other Ca2+-mediated or non-Ca2+-mediated osmotic signal pathway may exist in Dunaliella in response to hypoosmotic and hyperosmotic stresses