Active Force with Fuzzy Logic Control of a Two-Link Arm Driven by Pneumatic Artificial Muscles

In this paper, the practicality and feasibility of Active Force Control （AFC） integrated with Fuzzy Logic（AFCAFL） applied to a two link planar arm actuated by a pair of Pneumatic Artificial Muscle （PAM） is investigated. The study emphasizes on the application and control of PAM actuators which may be considered as the new generation of actuators comprising fluidic muscle that has high-tension force, high power to weight ratio and high strength in spite of its drawbacks in the form of high nonlinearity behaviour, high hysteresis and time varying parameters. Fuzzy Logic （FL） is used as a technique to estimate the best value of the inertia matrix of robot arm essential for the AFC mechanism that is complemented with a conventional Propor- tional-Integral-Derivative （PID） control at the outermost loop. A simulation study was first performed followed by an experi- mental investigation for validation. The experimental study was based on the independent joint tracking control and coordinated motion control of the arm in Cartesian or task space. In the former, the PAM actuated arm is commanded to track the prescribed trajectories due to harmonic excitations at the joints for a given frequency, whereas for the latter, two sets of trajectories with different loadings were considered. A practical rig utilizing a Hardware-In-The-Loop Simulation （HILS） configuration was developed and a number of experiments were carried out. The results of the experiment and the simulation works were in good agreement, which verified the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed AFCAFL scheme actuated by PAM.

An Active Force

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army plays an important role in disaster relief at home and abroad Wang Jiaxu, a 22-year-old soldier with the Engineering Regiment of Beijing

Seismic stability of reinforced soil walls under bearing capacity failure by pseudo-dynamic method

In order to evaluate the seismic stability of reinforced soil walls against bearing capacity failure,the seismic safety factor of reinforced soil walls was determined by using pseudo-dynamic method,and calculated by considering different parameters,such as horizontal and vertical seismic acceleration coefficients,ratio of reinforcement length to wall height,back fill friction angle,foundation soil friction angle,soil reinforcement interface friction angle and surcharge.The parametric study shows that the seismic safety factor increases by 24-fold when the foundation soil friction angle varies from 25°to 45°,and increases by 2-fold when the soil reinforcement interface friction angle varies from 0 to 30°.That is to say,the bigger values the foundation soil and/or soil reinforcement interface friction angles have,the safer the reinforced soil walls become in the seismic design.The results were also compared with those obtained from pseudo-static method.It is found that there is a higher value of the safety factor by the present work.

A Comparison of New General System Theory Philosophy With Einstein and Bohr

The New General System theory was developed to be a theory of everything for complex systems within the world we can observe.This theory was constructed by supplementing a new mind-ether ontology into Bertalanffy’s general system theory framework.This theory is basically a generalization of classical mechanics rather than a revolution to it taken both by Einstein and Bohr in developing their relativity theory and quantum mechanics.The purpose of this paper is to reveal the reasons why Einstein and many others fail to unify relativity theory with quantum mechanics through comparing the main differences in philosophical opinions among NGST,Einstein,and Bohr.It is the hope of the authors that this clarification could speed up the unification process.

Pseudo-dynamic analysis of overturning stability of retaining wall

A new method was presented to determine the safety factor of wall stability against overturning based on pseudo-dynamic approach. In this time-dependent method, the actual dynamic effect with variation of time and propagation of shear and primary wave velocities through the backfills was considered. Planar failure surface was considered behind the retaining wall. The results were compared with those obtained from Mononobe-Okabe theory. It is found that there is a higher value of safety factor by the present dynamic analysis. The effects of wall inclination, wall friction angle, soil friction angle and horizontal and vertical seismic coefficients on the overturning stability of retaining wall were investigated. The parametric study shows that both horizontal and vertical seismic accelerations have decreasing effect on the overturning stability of retaining wall.

Effect of Delay Chilling on μ-calpain Activities and the Tenderness of Bovine M. longissimus

μ-calpain activities and shear force values of bovine M. longissimus from Chinese Yellow crossbred bulls were analyzed,and the effect of delay chilling on μ-calpain activities and the tenderness of beef during postmortem aging were studied. The results showed that delay chilling significantly improved μ-calpain activities (P<0.05) and enhanced the tenderness of bovine M. longissimus during earlier aging periods compared with conventional chilling. But in later aging periods,delay chilling weakened the effect on the tenderness of beef because of premature consumption of μ-calpain. The experiment results confirmed that delay chilling improved the rate of postmortem aging of beef and remarkably enhanced the tenderness of beef through the effect of delay chilling on μ-calpain activities.

Effect of the Earth Movement on the Measured Moon Trajectory

All lunar theories within the framework of classical mechanics are based on the assumption of an inertial frame of reference,which is physically non-existent and has scarcely been examined in previous studies.This paper aims to examine the consequence of giving up the assumption of the existence of an inertial frame and the relevant influence on the measured moon trajectories.The general formulation of the lunar orbit is built from the perspective of the new general system theory(NGST),where the moon is modelled as a 6-DOF living body and active forces are introduced.This formulation can be retrograded to the framework of classical mechanics.Firstly,we calculate the active forces on the moon when a fixed earth movement and a fixed moon movement are assumed in the god-coordinate system.Then we investigate what will happen to the measured moon trajectory in the human-coordinate system when the earth movement and other parameters are perturbed in several cases.It is found that the results are sometimes inconsistent with the explanations using inertia forces in classical mechanics but can be well explained by NGST.We also discovered that the active forces on the moon should be adjusted constantly to maintain the stable measured moon trajectory.

Simplified performance indices and active control force of vibration isolation systems with elastic base

Influence of the elasticity of the base on vibration isolation performances of single layer, double layer and floating raft vibration isolation systems is investigated systematically. Characteristics of vibration coupling between different vibration isolation systems and different elastic bases are analyzed. Moreover the characteristics of vibration acceleration level difference and force transmissibility of different vibration isolation systems are discussed and their simpli- fled expressions are given. In addition the required control forces of active vibration isolation under different installations of actuators for different vibration isolation systems are compared. The results show that for all vibration isolation systems, the addition of the stiffness and damping of the base can enhance their vibration acceleration level difference and force transmissibility. Moreover for floating raft vibration isolation system, the addition of the stiffness and damping of the raft can enhance its vibration isolation performance and reduce the control force required bv active vibration isolation.

Centennial-scale monsoon collapses during Marine Isotope Stage(MIS)7e detected in a northern Chinese stalagmite record

Occurrence or absence of centennial-scale climatic variability during Marine Isotope Stage(MIS)7e,the first peak interval of the Penultimate Interglacial,remains ambiguous due to the limited available high-resolved records.Here,we present a decadal-resolved stalagmiteδ^(18)O record from northern China spanning from 242.3 to 236.8 ka BP,covering MIS7e.The composite KLSδ^(18)O record,integrating this study with the previous record in the same cave,shows a descending trend from TerminationⅢto MIS7e,which follows the increasing Northern Hemisphere summer insolation(NHSI).This observation further emphasizes the important influence of NHSI on the glacial/interglacial transition.There are more large-amplitude,millennial-to centennial-scale variability occurring during TerminationⅢcompared with MIS7e,implying that ice-sheet decay potentially plays an important role in climatic excursions.Four centennial-scale summer monsoon collapses,peaking at~242.1,~240.8,~239.3 and~238.2 ka BP,are detected in our new record,indicating the pervasiveness of the intra-interglacial climatic instability.Given the lack of solar activity and freshwater outbursts data during MIS7e,it is not possible to conclude about the drivers of the identified abrupt climatic anomalous.Following the dynamic mechanisms of sub-millennial climatic anomalous during early Holocene,we tentatively propose that slowdown of the meridional overturning circulation caused by freshwater fluxes into North Atlantic and/or attenuated solar irradiance is the potential forcing for the abrupt climate events within MIS7e.Additionally,attenuated solar irradiance could also result in climatic anomalies through low-latitude processes.

A Parallel Actuated Pantograph Leg for High-speed Locomotion

High-speed running is one of the most important topics in the field of legged robots which requires strict constraints on structural design and control. To solve the problems of high acceleration, high energy consumption, high pace frequency and ground impact during high-speed movement, this paper presents a parallel actuated pantograph leg with an approximately decoupled configuration. The articulated leg features in light weight, high load capacity, high mechanical efficiency and structural stability. The similarity features of force and position between the control point and the foot are analyzed. The key design parameters, K1 and K2, which concern the dynamic performances, are carefully optimized by comprehensive evaluation of the leg inertia and mass within the maximum foot trajectory, A control strategy that incorporates virtual Spring Loaded Inverted Pendulum （SLIP） model and active force is also proposed to test the design. The strategy can implement highly flexible impedance without mechanical springs, which substantially simplifies the design and satisfies the variable stiffness requirements during high-speed running. The rationality of the structure and the effectiveness of the control law are validated by simulation and experiments.

Adsorption and desorption of SO_2, NO and chlorobenzene on activated carbon

Activated carbon（AC） is very effective for multi-pollutant removal; however, the complicated components in flue gas can influence each other＇s adsorption. A series of adsorption experiments for multicomponents, including SO_2, NO, chlorobenzene and H2 O,on AC were performed in a fixed-bed reactor. For single-component adsorption, the adsorption amount for chlorobenzene was larger than for SO_2 and NO on the AC. In the multi-component atmosphere, the adsorption amount decreased by 27.6% for chlorobenzene and decreased by 95.6% for NO, whereas it increased by a factor of two for SO_2,demonstrating that a complex atmosphere is unfavorable for chlorobenzene adsorption and inhibits NO adsorption. In contrast, it is very beneficial for SO_2 adsorption. The temperature-programmed desorption（TPD） results indicated that the binding strength between the gas adsorbates and the AC follows the order of SO_2〉 chlorobenzene 〉 NO. The adsorption amount is independent of the binding strength. The presence of H2 O enhanced the component effects, while it weakened the binding force between the gas adsorbates and the AC. AC oxygen functional groups were analyzed using TPD and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy（XPS） measurements. The results reveal the reason why the chlorobenzene adsorption is less affected by the presence of other components. Lactone groups partly transform into carbonyl and quinone groups after chlorobenzene desorption. The chlorobenzene adsorption increases the number of C = O groups, which explains the positive effect of chlorobenzene on SO_2 adsorption and the strong NO adsorption.

Contributions of anthropogenic and external natural forcings to climate changes over China based on CMIP5 model simulations

Based on observations and historical simulations from the fifth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project(CMIP5) archive, the contributions of human activities(including greenhouse gases(GHGs), anthropogenic aerosols(AAs), and land use(LU)) and external natural forcings(Nat) to climate changes in China over the past 50 years were quantified. Both anthropogenic and external natural forcings account for 95%–99% of the observed temperature change from 1951–1975 to 1981–2005. In particular, the temperature changes induced by GHGs are approximately 2–3 times stronger than the observed changes, and AAs impose a significant cooling effect. The total external forcings can explain 65%–78% of the observed precipitation changes over the past 50 years, in which AAs and GHGs are the primary external forcings leading to the precipitation changes; in particular, AAs dominate the main spatial features of precipitation changes in eastern China. Human activities also dominate the long-term non-linear trends in observed temperature during the past several decades, and, in particular, GHGs, the primary warming contributor, have produced significant warming since the 1960 s. Compared to the long-term non-linear trends in observed precipitation, GHGs have largely caused the wetting changes in the arid-semiarid region since the 1970 s, whereas AAs have led to the drying changes in the humid-semihumid region; both LU and Nat can impose certain impacts on the long-term non-linear trends in precipitation. Using the optimal fingerprinting detection approach, the effects of human activities on the temperature changes can be detected and attributed in China, and the effect of GHGs can be clearly detected from the observations in humid-semihumid areas. However, the anthropogenic effects cannot be detected in the observed precipitation changes, which may be due to the uncertainties in the model simulations and to other issues. Although some results in this paper still need improvement due to uncertainties in the coupled models, this study is expected to provide the background and scientific basis for climate changes to conduct vulnerability and risk assessments of the ecological systems and water resources in the arid-semiarid region of China.

Experimental and Numerical Study of Cervical Muscle Contraction in Frontal Impact

In a crash situation,drivers typically make evasive maneuvers before an upcoming impact,which can affect the kinematics and injury during impact.The purpose of the current study was to investigate the response and effect of drivers’cervical muscles in a frontal impact.A crash scenario was developed using a vehicle driving simulator,and 10 volunteers were employed to drive the simulator at 20 km/h,50 km/h,80 km/h and 100 km/h.Electromyography(EMG)was recorded from the sternocleidomastoideus(SCM),splenius cervicis(SPL)and trapezium(TRP)muscles using a data acquisition system,and the level of muscle activation was calculated.A numerical study was conducted using data collected in the experiment.The results revealed that the cervical muscles were activated during drivers’protective action.EMG activity of cervical muscles before impact was greater than that during normal driving.EMG activity increased with driving speed,with the SCM and TRP exhibiting larger increases than the SPL.The kinematics and load of the driver were influenced by muscle activation.Before the collision,the head of an active model stretched backward,while the passive model kept the head upright.In low-speed impact,the torque and shear of the cervical muscle in the active model were much lower than those in the passive model,while the tension of the cervical muscle was higher in the active model compared with the passive model.The results indicated that the incidence of cervical injury in high-speed impact is complex.