A Framework to Illustrate Kinematic Behavior of Mechanisms by Haptic Feedback

The kinematic properties of mechanisms are well known by the researchers and teachers. The theory based on the study of Jacobian matrices allows us to explain, for example, the singular configuration. However, in many cases, the physical sense of such properties is difficult to explain to students. The aim of this article is to use haptic feedback to render to the user the signification of different kinematic indices. The framework uses a Phantom Omni and a serial and parallel mechanism with two degrees of freedom. The end-effector of both mechanisms can be moved either by classical mouse, or Phantom Omni with or without feedback

Compressive Sensing Based on HQS for Image reconstruction

This work solves the image distortion problem caused by the noise generated during the sampling and reconstruction process, a compressive sensing algorithm based on half quadratic splitting (CS-HQS) is proposed to reconstruct images in this paper. For the part dominated by error terms, the regularization term is introduced and the second-order momentum adaptive gradient descent method is used to get the auxiliary variables. For the part dominated by the sparse prior of compressive sensing, the Bayesian maximum posterior inference is used to get the sparse coeffi cient. The combination of the two methods not only avoids the generation of random noise, but also enhances the stability of the model. The experimental results demonstrate that the strong robustness of the proposed algorithm

Integrating Library Instruction into the Course Management System for a First Year Engineering Class: An Evidence-Based Study Measuring the Effectiveness of Blended Learning on Students’ Information Literacy Levels

This research examines students in a first-year engineering course who receive library instruction by using a newly developed online module and attending optional in-person tutorials. It aims to evaluate the outcomes of library information literacy instruction using this module combined with in-person help. Results show a significant improvement in information literacy skills from a pre-test to a post-test. Focus group and survey data indicate that most students preferred the self-paced learning style of the online module and that the content of the module helped them to conduct library research for the course. This study also considers best practices for online library instruction. A blended instruction approach provides students with the flexibility to learn from a variety of formats at their own pace and also reduces library staff workload, especially for a large course

Reaction characteristics of waste coffee grounds chemical-looping gasification

Coffee grounds in chemical-looping gasification is an innovative handling approach of waste coffee grounds which couple the coffee grounds gasification and chemical looping technology together. By sol-gel method, the Fe4ATP6K1 compound oxygen carrier (OC) modified by KNO3 were prepared with Fe2O3 as an active component, natural attapugite (ATP) as an inert support. The effects of reaction temperature, steam flow as well as O/C molar ratio on coffee grounds in chemical looping gasification (CLG) were investigated in a fluidized bed using steam as gasification agent. It indicated that the Fe4ATP6K1 oxygen carrier could enhance the conversion of coffee grounds. Compared with SiO2 as bed material, the carbon conversion increased in CLG from 71.38% to 86.25%. The optimized conditions were presented as follows: the reaction temperature was 900°C, the water flow was 0.23 g·min-1, the O/C molar ratio was 1. Under these conditions, it was found that the average concentration of H2 reached a maximum value 52.75%, with the syngas production of 1.30 m3·kg-1 and H2 production of 83.79 g·kg-1, respectively. 20 redox cycles demonstrated that the Fe4ATP6K1 oxygen carrier has an excellent cyclic stability, the carbon conversion and cold gas efficiency were both above 75%, while the average gas concentration of gases were nearly stable

A ribose-functionalized NAD+ with unexpected high activity and selectivity for protein poly-ADP-ribosylation.

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+)-dependent ADP-ribosylation plays important roles in physiology and pathophysiology. It has been challenging to study this key type of enzymatic post-translational modification in particular for protein poly-ADP-ribosylation (PARylation). Here we explore chemical and chemoenzymatic synthesis of NAD+ analogues with ribose functionalized by terminal alkyne and azido groups. Our results demonstrate that azido substitution at 3'-OH of nicotinamide riboside enables enzymatic synthesis of an NAD+ analogue with high efficiency and yields. Notably, the generated 3'-azido NAD+ exhibits unexpected high activity and specificity for protein PARylation catalyzed by human poly-ADP-ribose polymerase 1 (PARP1) and PARP2. And its derived poly-ADP-ribose polymers show increased resistance to human poly(ADP-ribose) glycohydrolase-mediated degradation. These unique properties lead to enhanced labeling of protein PARylation by 3'-azido NAD+ in the cellular contexts and facilitate direct visualization and labeling of mitochondrial protein PARylation. The 3'-azido NAD+ provides an important tool for studying cellular PARylation