Adaptive model predictive control for co-ordination of compression and friction brakes in heavy duty vehicles

In this paper, an adaptive model predictive control scheme is designed for speed control of heavy vehicles. The controller co-ordinates use of compression brakes and friction brakes on downhill slopes. Moreover, the model predictive controller takes the actuator constraints into account. A recursive least square scheme with forgetting is used in parallel with the controller to update the estimates of vehicle mass and road grade. The adaptation improved the model predictive controller. Also online estimation of the road grade enhanced the closed-loop performance further by contributing through feedforward control. Simulations of realistic driving scenarios with a validated longitudinal vehicle model are used throughout this paper to illustrate the benefits of co-ordinating the two braking mechanisms and influence of unknown vehicle mass and road grade. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/55894/1/917_ftp.pd

DEVELOPING STUDENTS’ FACILITY IN COMMUNICATIVE INTERACTION TECHNIQUES OUTSIDE THE LANGUAGE LEARNING CLASSROOM AT NON-LINGUISTIC FACULTIES

The article focuses on some new insights into the effects of students’ communicative interaction in the language learning process. The study offers some modes of utilizing the extra-curricular activities potential for generating an interaction environment where students venture into true communication. The syllabus of students’ interaction within their extra-curricular activities has been defined in the study in relation to the video conferencing technology. We have expanded the range of educational offerings while introducing some components of video conferencing into students’ communicative learning: virtual meeting rooms, discussion forums, screen sharing. The topicality of the study consists in insufficient number of scientific works on aspects of students’ communicative interaction within extra-curricular activities in language learning. Hence the aim of the study is to propose theoretical justification and methodological development of utilizing the interaction potential within extra-curricular activities for students’ communication training. Following the aim we have examined characteristics of students’ communicative interactions within extra-curricular cases in language learning. We have elaborated some techniques and devices, identified some ways of generating communicative interaction dynamics for furthering students’ communication training. We have verified the findings in our experimental practical work and have revealed the significance of students’ interactions within extra-curricular activities for facilitating their communication potential in language learning

DEVELOPING STUDENTS COMMUNICATIVE SKILLS IN EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMES AT NON-LINGUISTIC FACULTIES

The article addresses some issues of developing students’ communicative skills in foreign language teaching at non-linguistic faculties. The conceptual framework of the study follows the mode of professional competence approach. The study focuses on utilizing the project technology potential in students communication training. The topicality of the study is confirmed by a notable lack of data on the project technology application beyond the scope of regular English classes at non-linguistic faculties. Thus the study offers some new insights into the effects of the extracurricular project technology application for developing students’ communicative skills. Hence the aim of the study is to propose theoretical justification and methodological development of utilizing the extracurricular project technology potential as a means of facilitating students communication training in foreign language teaching. Following the aim we have examined the essence and characteristics of students’ communicative activities in foreign language teaching within extracurricular project cases. We have identified students communicative interaction algorithms and stages. We have designed a program for students communication training within the extracurricular project activities and elaborated a model of students’ communicative interaction backed by a collection of vocabulary and speech patterns. We have verified the findings gained from the study in our experimental practical work. Research and experience data obtained make it possible to identify the significance of extracurricular project activities in foreign language teaching for students communication training at non-linguistic faculties. 

DEVELOPING STUDENTS PROFESSIONALLY SIGNIFICANT SKILLS IN EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMES AT NON-LINGUISTIC FACULTIES

The article addresses some aspects of students’ extracurricular activities in foreign language teaching at non-linguistic faculties. The topicality of our study consists in insufficient number of scientific works on extracurricular activities and insufficient application of students’ extracurricular activities in foreign language teaching as a means of facilitating students' professionally significant communicative potential. The study focuses on the issues of students’ communicative training through extracurricular activities in foreign language teaching at faculties of management. Hence the goal of our study is to provide theoretical justification and methodological development of the concept of extracurricular activities in foreign language teaching as a means of facilitating communicative training. We have examined the essence and have presented a definition of extracurricular activities in foreign language teaching. We have elaborated a concept and examined components and characteristics of extracurricular activities in foreign language teaching. We have produced a model for extracurricular activities and identified its stages, algorithms and communicative training indicators. The conceptual framework of the study follows the model of professional competence approach. Research and experience data obtained in our experiential work make it possible to identify the significance of extracurricular activities in foreign languages for students’ professional development in educational programs at faculties of management.

Carbon nanotubes : their synthesis and integration into nanofabricated structures

The field of nanotechnology has experienced constantly increasing interest over the past decades both from industry and academy. Commonly used nanomaterials include: nanoparticles, nanowires, quantum dots, fullerenes, and carbon nanotubes. Carbon nanotubes, in particular, are promising building blocks for a large variety of potential applications. Because of their structure and high aspect ratio, nanotubes have unique electronic, chemical and mechanical properties. These properties attract much interest to the investigation of carbon nanotubes for potential applications in electronics devices, batteries, solar cells, gas storage technologies, and other fields. Topics addressed in this dissertation relate to the synthesis of carbon nanotubes and their integration into different structures, with particular focus on the basic problems of nanofabrication. Chapter 1 discusses the recent developments of the research activity in the field of post-synthesis placement of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on substrates. This includes alignment guided by physical forces, external fields and chemical interactions. The usefulness of any given technique strongly depends on the desired application, while additional innovations for the further expansion of the post-synthesis alignment field need to be introduced. Chapter 2 introduces the microwave-assisted synthesis of one-dimensional carbon nanostructures. Selective heating of small iron nanoparticles, often used as a catalyst to initiate the growth of CNTs, was investigated under microwave irradiation. An important advantage of this approach is the fact that the heat development is limited to the close vicinity of the nanoparticles, while the average overall temperature in the reaction vial remains low, allowing the utilization of a diverse range of substrate materials. The approach to synthesize carbon nanofibers (CNFs) and nanotubes was adapted to the special requirements of the microwave apparatus and had to be optimized for safety. By using ethanol as a carbon source, provided by a liquid reservoir located beneath the sample, a flux of highly flammable and explosive gas mixtures was avoided. The reaction conditions for the microwave-assisted synthesis of carbon nanotubes and nanofibers were investigated in detail. These were observed to have a strong influence on the CNT/CNF formation and on the quality of the obtained materials. Further improvement of the quality and size of the synthesized materials was obtained by variation of the catalyst material. Nickel was identified as the most favorable catalyst material to obtain small nanotube diameters down to 15 nm using very short irradiation times of two minutes. Compensation of the heat dissipation, for substrates showing a low absorption of microwave irradiation (mica and quartz glass), resulted in reliable processes that enable the microwave-assisted growth of CNTs on a variety of substrates. It was demonstrated that the growth of individual CNTs can be achieved. In particular, the relatively low experimental effort, as well as the fast fabrication times, are general advantages of this method and provide a promising, cheap technique to fabricate CNT-modified AFM tips. The deposition of the catalyst material can be further improved by, e.g., utilizing particle picking approaches or by force versus distance curve recording, to further increase the controllability of the presented approach. Results show that small areas can be covered with a suitable catalyst layer with this method. This permits the growth of individual CNTs, as opposed to bundles, and has important implications for the effective integration of carbon nanomaterials into the framework of devices. Carbon nanotubes were successfully grown on micro- and nanoscale patterned areas. These findings are expected to have an additional impact on the use of the selective heating mechanism, as it provides advantages over conventional methods, i.e., the reduced reaction time, the lower overall exposure temperature to the substrates and for the integration of CNTs/CNFs into predefined device frameworks consisting of different materials. Chapter 3 gives a comprehensive overview of the electro-oxidation lithography on chemically active surfaces. This powerful technique can be used to organize nanomaterials into defined structures. The main advantage of this technique is the fact that it can manipulate and guide the position of catalyst particles, nanowires or other nanometer-scale objects that are required for the desired structures. Due to the fact that addressable functional groups are created during the electrochemical oxidation, it is possible to utilize the entire range of intermolecular interactions to modify the structures. These include electrostatic and van der Waals interactions, hydrogen bonding, covalent bonding and complexation reactions to selectively bind suitable building blocks. This approach can also be used for the post-synthesis organization of carbon nanotubes and, moreover, provides unique possibilities for the fabrication of nanomaterials. Chapter 4 discusses the post-synthesis assembly of carbon nanotubes of the pre-patterned structures. Stable suspensions of carbon nanotubes were prepared via several different approaches, including agitation in organic solvents or the use of surfactants. The latter yielded in stable suspensions of carbon nanotubes. Electro-chemical oxidation lithography was utilized for the placement of individual carbon nanotubes. The structuring of the n-octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) monolayer was repeated and, in a second oxidation process, new active binding sites were generated. This was followed by the sequential placement of CNTs onto chemically active surface templates created in the vicinity of the existing tube. Major advantages of this approach include good control over the lateral placement of the CNTs and the availability of addressable chemical functional surface templates. Furthermore, the possibility to preselect the self-assembling building blocks as well as the sequential nature of the patterning process are discussed, which are not easily accessible by conventional lithographic tools, i.e., photo- and e-beam lithography. This process provides the possibility to carefully select the tube material and to combine pre-defined building blocks, e.g. in transistor layouts. Thus, a powerful approach has been developed that allows control over the device layout at several length scales. Chapter 5 demonstrates two new concepts for the use of electro-oxidative lithography for the formation of nanoscale building blocks, e.g., nanometer gaps and metallic circles as shown in this work. The electro-chemical oxidation of monolayers and bilayers consisting of OTS was investigated in detail, including the different oxidation times required to perform the electrochemical oxidation on monolayer and bilayer systems. Thus, a new rational design to generate well-defined gap-structures was established. In particular, the fabrication of a nanometric gap structure and an approach to assemble a nanoelectronic-based device layout was developed. The second concept introduces a new fabrication method to obtain ring structures with nanometer dimensions. This method combines the silicon growth mode and the monolayer oxidation mode from the available electro-oxidation lithography techniques. The oxidation conditions, as well as the scaling options of this lithographic process were investigated and revealed good controllability of the feature dimensions. These structures were further functionalized with silver particles, thus, converting the structure into mesoscopic ring structures with sufficiently high uniformity and reproducible quality. These concepts can be used for the formation of nano-scale functional devices. In conclusion, new concepts have been developed to target different, challenging aspects of nanofabrication. This combines alternative synthesis strategies for carbon nanotubes and the implementation of these nanotubes into nanostructures. Electro-oxidative lithography was utilized as a chemical structuring tool to guide self-assembly processes of nanotubes and nanoparticles. Fundamental investigations on the oxidation conditions allowed a significant expansion of the applicability of this structuring technique and demonstrated the possibility to target different aspects of modern nanofabrication

The Effect of Disturbance on Plant Communities in Tundra Regions of the Soviet Union

An Annotated List of Plants Inhabiting Sites of Natural and Anthropogenic Disturbances of Tundra Cover: Southeasternmost Chukchi Peninsula -- B.A. Yurtsev and A.A. Korobkov; An Annotated List of Plants Inhabiting Sites of Natural and Anthropogenic Disturbances of Tundra Cover in Western Taimyr: The Settlement of Kresty -- N.V. Matveyeva; A Study of Plant Communities of Anthropogenic Habitats in the Area of the Vorkuta Industrial Center -- O.A. Druzhinina and Yu. G. Zharkov