Sample records for forcing parameters determination

  1. Reliability and Validity of Kinetic and Kinematic Parameters Determined With Force Plates Embedded Under a Soil-Filled Baseball Mound.

    PubMed

    Yanai, Toshimasa; Matsuo, Akifumi; Maeda, Akira; Nakamoto, Hiroki; Mizutani, Mirai; Kanehisa, Hiroaki; Fukunaga, Tetsuo

    2017-08-01

    We developed a force measurement system in a soil-filled mound for measuring ground reaction forces (GRFs) acting on baseball pitchers and examined the reliability and validity of kinetic and kinematic parameters determined from the GRFs. Three soil-filled trays of dimensions that satisfied the official baseball rules were fixed onto 3 force platforms. Eight collegiate pitchers wearing baseball shoes with metal cleats were asked to throw 5 fastballs with maximum effort from the mound toward a catcher. The reliability of each parameter was determined for each subject as the coefficient of variation across the 5 pitches. The validity of the measurements was tested by comparing the outcomes either with the true values or the corresponding values computed from a motion capture system. The coefficients of variation in the repeated measurements of the peak forces ranged from 0.00 to 0.17, and were smaller for the pivot foot than the stride foot. The mean absolute errors in the impulses determined over the entire duration of pitching motion were 5.3 N˙s, 1.9 N˙s, and 8.2 N˙s for the X-, Y-, and Z-directions, respectively. These results suggest that the present method is reliable and valid for determining selected kinetic and kinematic parameters for analyzing pitching performance.

  2. Improved treatment of global positioning system force parameters in precise orbit determination applications

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Vigue, Y.; Lichten, S. M.; Muellerschoen, R. J.; Blewitt, G.; Heflin, M. B.

    1993-01-01

    Data collected from a worldwide 1992 experiment were processed at JPL to determine precise orbits for the satellites of the Global Positioning System (GPS). A filtering technique was tested to improve modeling of solar-radiation pressure force parameters for GPS satellites. The new approach improves orbit quality for eclipsing satellites by a factor of two, with typical results in the 25- to 50-cm range. The resultant GPS-based estimates for geocentric coordinates of the tracking sites, which include the three DSN sites, are accurate to 2 to 8 cm, roughly equivalent to 3 to 10 nrad of angular measure.

  3. The role of impulse parameters in force variability

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Carlton, L. G.; Newell, K. M.

    1986-01-01

    One of the principle limitations of the human motor system is the ability to produce consistent motor responses. When asked to repeatedly make the same movement, performance outcomes are characterized by a considerable amount of variability. This occurs whether variability is expressed in terms of kinetics or kinematics. Variability in performance is of considerable importance because for tasks requiring accuracy it is a critical variable in determining the skill of the performer. What has long been sought is a description of the parameter or parameters that determine the degree of variability. Two general experimental protocals were used. One protocal is to use dynamic actions and record variability in kinematic parameters such as spatial or temporal error. A second strategy was to use isometric actions and record kinetic variables such as peak force produced. What might be the important force related factors affecting variability is examined and an experimental approach to examine the influence of each of these variables is provided.

  4. Impact force as a scaling parameter

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Poe, Clarence C., Jr.; Jackson, Wade C.

    1994-01-01

    The Federal Aviation Administration (FAR PART 25) requires that a structure carry ultimate load with nonvisible impact damage and carry 70 percent of limit flight loads with discrete damage. The Air Force has similar criteria (MIL-STD-1530A). Both civilian and military structures are designed by a building block approach. First, critical areas of the structure are determined, and potential failure modes are identified. Then, a series of representative specimens are tested that will fail in those modes. The series begins with tests of simple coupons, progresses through larger and more complex subcomponents, and ends with a test on a full-scale component, hence the term 'building block.' In order to minimize testing, analytical models are needed to scale impact damage and residual strength from the simple coupons to the full-scale component. Using experiments and analysis, the present paper illustrates that impact damage can be better understood and scaled using impact force than just kinetic energy. The plate parameters considered are size and thickness, boundary conditions, and material, and the impact parameters are mass, shape, and velocity.

  5. Nonconservative force model parameter estimation strategy for TOPEX/Poseidon precision orbit determination

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Luthcke, S. B.; Marshall, J. A.

    1992-01-01

    The TOPEX/Poseidon spacecraft was launched on August 10, 1992 to study the Earth's oceans. To achieve maximum benefit from the altimetric data it is to collect, mission requirements dictate that TOPEX/Poseidon's orbit must be computed at an unprecedented level of accuracy. To reach our pre-launch radial orbit accuracy goals, the mismodeling of the radiative nonconservative forces of solar radiation, Earth albedo an infrared re-radiation, and spacecraft thermal imbalances cannot produce in combination more than a 6 cm rms error over a 10 day period. Similarly, the 10-day drag modeling error cannot exceed 3 cm rms. In order to satisfy these requirements, a 'box-wing' representation of the satellite has been developed in which, the satellite is modelled as the combination of flat plates arranged in the shape of a box and a connected solar array. The radiative/thermal nonconservative forces acting on each of the eight surfaces are computed independently, yielding vector accelerations which are summed to compute the total aggregate effect on the satellite center-of-mass. Select parameters associated with the flat plates are adjusted to obtain a better representation of the satellite acceleration history. This study analyzes the estimation of these parameters from simulated TOPEX/Poseidon laser data in the presence of both nonconservative and gravity model errors. A 'best choice' of estimated parameters is derived and the ability to meet mission requirements with the 'box-wing' model evaluated.

  6. Implicit Solvation Parameters Derived from Explicit Water Forces in Large-Scale Molecular Dynamics Simulations

    PubMed Central

    2012-01-01

    Implicit solvation is a mean force approach to model solvent forces acting on a solute molecule. It is frequently used in molecular simulations to reduce the computational cost of solvent treatment. In the first instance, the free energy of solvation and the associated solvent–solute forces can be approximated by a function of the solvent-accessible surface area (SASA) of the solute and differentiated by an atom–specific solvation parameter σiSASA. A procedure for the determination of values for the σiSASA parameters through matching of explicit and implicit solvation forces is proposed. Using the results of Molecular Dynamics simulations of 188 topologically diverse protein structures in water and in implicit solvent, values for the σiSASA parameters for atom types i of the standard amino acids in the GROMOS force field have been determined. A simplified representation based on groups of atom types σgSASA was obtained via partitioning of the atom–type σiSASA distributions by dynamic programming. Three groups of atom types with well separated parameter ranges were obtained, and their performance in implicit versus explicit simulations was assessed. The solvent forces are available at http://mathbio.nimr.mrc.ac.uk/wiki/Solvent_Forces. PMID:23180979

  7. Machine Learning Force Field Parameters from Ab Initio Data

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Li, Ying; Li, Hui; Pickard, Frank C.

    Machine learning (ML) techniques with the genetic algorithm (GA) have been applied to determine a polarizable force field parameters using only ab initio data from quantum mechanics (QM) calculations of molecular clusters at the MP2/6-31G(d,p), DFMP2(fc)/jul-cc-pVDZ, and DFMP2(fc)/jul-cc-pVTZ levels to predict experimental condensed phase properties (i.e., density and heat of vaporization). The performance of this ML/GA approach is demonstrated on 4943 dimer electrostatic potentials and 1250 cluster interaction energies for methanol. Excellent agreement between the training data set from QM calculations and the optimized force field model was achieved. The results were further improved by introducing an offset factor duringmore » the machine learning process to compensate for the discrepancy between the QM calculated energy and the energy reproduced by optimized force field, while maintaining the local “shape” of the QM energy surface. Throughout the machine learning process, experimental observables were not involved in the objective function, but were only used for model validation. The best model, optimized from the QM data at the DFMP2(fc)/jul-cc-pVTZ level, appears to perform even better than the original AMOEBA force field (amoeba09.prm), which was optimized empirically to match liquid properties. The present effort shows the possibility of using machine learning techniques to develop descriptive polarizable force field using only QM data. The ML/GA strategy to optimize force fields parameters described here could easily be extended to other molecular systems.« less

  8. Dynamic Parameters Variability: Time Interval Interference on Ground Reaction Force During Running.

    PubMed

    Pennone, Juliana; Mezêncio, Bruno; Amadio, Alberto C; Serrão, Júlio C

    2016-04-01

    The aim of this study was to determine the effect of the time between measures on ground reaction force running variability; 15 healthy men (age = 23.8 ± 3.7 years; weight = 72.8 ± 7.7 kg; height 174.3 ± 8.4 cm) performed two trials of running 45 minutes at 9 km/hr at intervals of seven days. The ground reaction forces were recorded every 5 minutes. The coefficients of variation of indicative parameters of the ground reaction forces for each condition were compared. The coefficients of variations of the ground reaction forces curve analyzed between intervals and sessions were 21.9% and 21.48%, respectively. There was no significant difference for the ground reaction forces parameters Fy1, tFy1, TC1, Imp50, Fy2, and tFy2 between intervals and sessions. Although the ground reaction forces variables present a natural variability, this variability in intervals and in sessions remained consistent, ensuring a high reliability in repeated measures designs. © The Author(s) 2016.

  9. Brute force meets Bruno force in parameter optimisation: introduction of novel constraints for parameter accuracy improvement by symbolic computation.

    PubMed

    Nakatsui, M; Horimoto, K; Lemaire, F; Ürgüplü, A; Sedoglavic, A; Boulier, F

    2011-09-01

    Recent remarkable advances in computer performance have enabled us to estimate parameter values by the huge power of numerical computation, the so-called 'Brute force', resulting in the high-speed simultaneous estimation of a large number of parameter values. However, these advancements have not been fully utilised to improve the accuracy of parameter estimation. Here the authors review a novel method for parameter estimation using symbolic computation power, 'Bruno force', named after Bruno Buchberger, who found the Gröbner base. In the method, the objective functions combining the symbolic computation techniques are formulated. First, the authors utilise a symbolic computation technique, differential elimination, which symbolically reduces an equivalent system of differential equations to a system in a given model. Second, since its equivalent system is frequently composed of large equations, the system is further simplified by another symbolic computation. The performance of the authors' method for parameter accuracy improvement is illustrated by two representative models in biology, a simple cascade model and a negative feedback model in comparison with the previous numerical methods. Finally, the limits and extensions of the authors' method are discussed, in terms of the possible power of 'Bruno force' for the development of a new horizon in parameter estimation.

  10. Experimental Research and Mathematical Modeling of Parameters Effecting on Cutting Force and SurfaceRoughness in CNC Turning Process

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zeqiri, F.; Alkan, M.; Kaya, B.; Toros, S.

    2018-01-01

    In this paper, the effects of cutting parameters on cutting forces and surface roughness based on Taguchi experimental design method are determined. Taguchi L9 orthogonal array is used to investigate the effects of machining parameters. Optimal cutting conditions are determined using the signal/noise (S/N) ratio which is calculated by average surface roughness and cutting force. Using results of analysis, effects of parameters on both average surface roughness and cutting forces are calculated on Minitab 17 using ANOVA method. The material that was investigated is Inconel 625 steel for two cases with heat treatment and without heat treatment. The predicted and calculated values with measurement are very close to each other. Confirmation test of results showed that the Taguchi method was very successful in the optimization of machining parameters for maximum surface roughness and cutting forces in the CNC turning process.

  11. The Friction Force Determination of Large-Sized Composite Rods in Pultrusion

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Grigoriev, S. N.; Krasnovskii, A. N.; Kazakov, I. A.

    2014-08-01

    Nowadays, the simple pull-force models of pultrusion process are not suitable for large sized rods because they are not considered a chemical shrinkage and thermal expansion acting in cured material inside the die. But the pulling force of the resin-impregnated fibers as they travels through the heated die is essential factor in the pultrusion process. In order to minimize the number of trial-and-error experiments a new mathematical approach to determine the frictional force is presented. The governing equations of the model are stated in general terms and various simplifications are implemented in order to obtain solutions without extensive numerical efforts. The influence of different pultrusion parameters on the frictional force value is investigated. The results obtained by the model can establish a foundation by which process control parameters are selected to achieve an appropriate pull-force and can be used for optimization pultrusion process.

  12. Searching the Force Field Electrostatic Multipole Parameter Space.

    PubMed

    Jakobsen, Sofie; Jensen, Frank

    2016-04-12

    We show by tensor decomposition analyses that the molecular electrostatic potential for amino acid peptide models has an effective rank less than twice the number of atoms. This rank indicates the number of parameters that can be derived from the electrostatic potential in a statistically significant way. Using this as a guideline, we investigate different strategies for deriving a reduced set of atomic charges, dipoles, and quadrupoles capable of reproducing the reference electrostatic potential with a low error. A full combinatorial search of selected parameter subspaces for N-methylacetamide and a cysteine peptide model indicates that there are many different parameter sets capable of providing errors close to that of the global minimum. Among the different reduced multipole parameter sets that have low errors, there is consensus that atoms involved in π-bonding require higher order multipole moments. The possible correlation between multipole parameters is investigated by exhaustive searches of combinations of up to four parameters distributed in all possible ways on all possible atomic sites. These analyses show that there is no advantage in considering combinations of multipoles compared to a simple approach where the importance of each multipole moment is evaluated sequentially. When combined with possible weighting factors related to the computational efficiency of each type of multipole moment, this may provide a systematic strategy for determining a computational efficient representation of the electrostatic component in force field calculations.

  13. Bicycle ergometer instrumentation to determine muscle and bone forces during exercise

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Figueroa, Fernando

    1995-01-01

    It is hypothesized that bone loss experienced by astronauts in zero gravity conditions may be curtailed by appropriate exercise. According to Wolf's law, bone regenerates when muscles produce stresses by pulling on the bone during daily activity and/or exercise on Earth. to use this theory to prevent or decrease bone loss, one needs to quantify musculoskeletal loads and relate them to bone density changes. In the context of the space program, it is desirable to determine musculoskeletal loads during exercise (using the bicycle ergometer in this case) so that one may make similar measurements on Earth and in space. In this manner, load measurements on Earth may be used as reference to generate similar loads during exercise in space. The work reported in this document entails a musculoskeletal load measurement system that, when complete, will provide forces at muscle insertion points and other contact points, on bone. This data will be used by Dr. Beth A. Todd, who is also a SSF working with Dr. Shackelford, as input to a finite element model of bone sections to determine stress distributions. A bicycle ergometer has been instrumented to measure parameters needed to determine musculoskeletal forces during exercise. A primary feature of the system is its compactness. It uses small/light sensors without line-of-sight requirements. The system developed includes sensors, signal processing, a data acquisition system, and software to collect the data. The sensors used include optical encoders to measure position and orientation of the pedal (foot), accelerometers to determine kinematic parameters of the shank and thigh, load cells to measure pedal forces on the sagittal plane, and EMG probes to measure muscle activity. The signals are processed using anti-aliasing filters and amplifiers. The sensors' output is digitized using 30 channels of a board mounted inside a 486 class PC. A program sets the data acquisition parameters and collects data during a time period specified

  14. Force-field parameters of the Psi and Phi around glycosidic bonds to oxygen and sulfur atoms.

    PubMed

    Saito, Minoru; Okazaki, Isao

    2009-12-01

    The Psi and Phi torsion angles around glycosidic bonds in a glycoside chain are the most important determinants of the conformation of a glycoside chain. We determined force-field parameters for Psi and Phi torsion angles around a glycosidic bond bridged by a sulfur atom, as well as a bond bridged by an oxygen atom as a preparation for the next study, i.e., molecular dynamics free energy calculations for protein-sugar and protein-inhibitor complexes. First, we extracted the Psi or Phi torsion energy component from a quantum mechanics (QM) total energy by subtracting all the molecular mechanics (MM) force-field components except for the Psi or Phi torsion angle. The Psi and Phi energy components extracted (hereafter called "the remaining energy components") were calculated for simple sugar models and plotted as functions of the Psi and Phi angles. The remaining energy component curves of Psi and Phi were well represented by the torsion force-field functions consisting of four and three cosine functions, respectively. To confirm the reliability of the force-field parameters and to confirm its compatibility with other force-fields, we calculated adiabatic potential curves as functions of Psi and Phi for the model glycosides by adopting the Psi and Phi force-field parameters obtained and by energetically optimizing other degrees of freedom. The MM potential energy curves obtained for Psi and Phi well represented the QM adiabatic curves and also these curves' differences with regard to the glycosidic oxygen and sulfur atoms. Our Psi and Phi force-fields of glycosidic oxygen gave MM potential energy curves that more closely represented the respective QM curves than did those of the recently developed GLYCAM force-field. (c) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  15. Ground reaction forces and bone parameters in females with tibial stress fracture.

    PubMed

    Bennell, Kim; Crossley, Kay; Jayarajan, Jyotsna; Walton, Elizabeth; Warden, Stuart; Kiss, Z Stephen; Wrigley, Tim

    2004-03-01

    Tibial stress fracture is a common overuse running injury that results from the interplay of repetitive mechanical loading and bone strength. This research project aimed to determine whether female runners with a history of tibial stress fracture (TSF) differ in ground reaction force (GRF) parameters during running, regional bone density, and tibial bone geometry from those who have never sustained a stress fracture (NSF). Thirty-six female running athletes (13 TSF; 23 NSF) ranging in age from 18 to 44 yr were recruited for this cross-sectional study. The groups were well matched for demographic, training, and menstrual parameters. A force platform measured selected GRF parameters (peak and time to peak for vertical impact and active forces, and horizontal braking and propulsive forces) during overground running at 4.0 m.s.(-1). Lumbar spine, proximal femur, and distal tibial bone mineral density were assessed by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry. Tibial bone geometry (cross-sectional dimensions and areas, and second moments of area) was calculated from a computerized tomography scan at the junction of the middle and distal thirds. There were no significant differences between the groups for any of the GRF, bone density, or tibial bone geometric parameters (P > 0.05). Both TSF and NSF subjects had bone density levels that were average or above average compared with a young adult reference range. Factor analysis followed by discriminant function analysis did not find any combinations of variables that differentiated between TSF and NSF groups. These findings do not support a role for GRF, bone density, or tibial bone geometry in the development of tibial stress fractures, suggesting that other risk factors were more important in this cohort of female runners.

  16. Simulation-based Extraction of Key Material Parameters from Atomic Force Microscopy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Alsafi, Huseen; Peninngton, Gray

    Models for the atomic force microscopy (AFM) tip and sample interaction contain numerous material parameters that are often poorly known. This is especially true when dealing with novel material systems or when imaging samples that are exposed to complicated interactions with the local environment. In this work we use Monte Carlo methods to extract sample material parameters from the experimental AFM analysis of a test sample. The parameterized theoretical model that we use is based on the Virtual Environment for Dynamic AFM (VEDA) [1]. The extracted material parameters are then compared with the accepted values for our test sample. Using this procedure, we suggest a method that can be used to successfully determine unknown material properties in novel and complicated material systems. We acknowledge Fisher Endowment Grant support from the Jess and Mildred Fisher College of Science and Mathematics,Towson University.

  17. Experimental and analytical determination of stability parameters for a balloon tethered in a wind

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Redd, L. T.; Bennett, R. M.; Bland, S. R.

    1973-01-01

    Experimental and analytical techniques for determining stability parameters for a balloon tethered in a steady wind are described. These techniques are applied to a particular 7.64-meter-long balloon, and the results are presented. The stability parameters of interest appear as coefficients in linearized stability equations and are derived from the various forces and moments acting on the balloon. In several cases the results from the experimental and analytical techniques are compared and suggestions are given as to which techniques are the most practical means of determining values for the stability parameters.

  18. The use of impact force as a scale parameter for the impact response of composite laminates

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jackson, Wade C.; Poe, C. C., Jr.

    1992-01-01

    The building block approach is currently used to design composite structures. With this approach, the data from coupon tests are scaled up to determine the design of a structure. Current standard impact tests and methods of relating test data to other structures are not generally understood and are often used improperly. A methodology is outlined for using impact force as a scale parameter for delamination damage for impacts of simple plates. Dynamic analyses were used to define ranges of plate parameters and impact parameters where quasi-static analyses are valid. These ranges include most low-velocity impacts where the mass of the impacter is large, and the size of the specimen is small. For large-mass impacts of moderately thick (0.35-0.70 cm) laminates, the maximum extent of delamination damage increased with increasing impact force and decreasing specimen thickness. For large-mass impact tests at a given kinetic energy, impact force and hence delamination size depends on specimen size, specimen thickness, boundary conditions, and indenter size and shape. If damage is reported in terms of impact force instead of kinetic energy, large-mass test results can be applied directly to other plates of the same thickness.

  19. The use of impact force as a scale parameter for the impact response of composite laminates

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jackson, Wade C.; Poe, C. C., Jr.

    1992-01-01

    The building block approach is currently used to design composite structures. With this approach, the data from coupon tests is scaled up to determine the design of a structure. Current standard impact tests and methods of relating test data to other structures are not generally understood and are often used improperly. A methodology is outlined for using impact force as a scale parameter for delamination damage for impacts of simple plates. Dynamic analyses were used to define ranges of plate parameters and impact parameters where quasi-static analyses are valid. These ranges include most low velocity impacts where the mass of the impacter is large and the size of the specimen is small. For large mass impacts of moderately thick (0.35 to 0.70 cm) laminates, the maximum extent of delamination damage increased with increasing impact force and decreasing specimen thickness. For large mass impact tests at a given kinetic energy, impact force and hence delamination size depends on specimen size, specimen thickness, boundary conditions, and indenter size and shape. If damage is reported in terms of impact force instead of kinetic energy, large mass test results can be applied directly to other plates of the same size.

  20. Improving estimation of kinetic parameters in dynamic force spectroscopy using cluster analysis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yen, Chi-Fu; Sivasankar, Sanjeevi

    2018-03-01

    Dynamic Force Spectroscopy (DFS) is a widely used technique to characterize the dissociation kinetics and interaction energy landscape of receptor-ligand complexes with single-molecule resolution. In an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM)-based DFS experiment, receptor-ligand complexes, sandwiched between an AFM tip and substrate, are ruptured at different stress rates by varying the speed at which the AFM-tip and substrate are pulled away from each other. The rupture events are grouped according to their pulling speeds, and the mean force and loading rate of each group are calculated. These data are subsequently fit to established models, and energy landscape parameters such as the intrinsic off-rate (koff) and the width of the potential energy barrier (xβ) are extracted. However, due to large uncertainties in determining mean forces and loading rates of the groups, errors in the estimated koff and xβ can be substantial. Here, we demonstrate that the accuracy of fitted parameters in a DFS experiment can be dramatically improved by sorting rupture events into groups using cluster analysis instead of sorting them according to their pulling speeds. We test different clustering algorithms including Gaussian mixture, logistic regression, and K-means clustering, under conditions that closely mimic DFS experiments. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we benchmark the performance of these clustering algorithms over a wide range of koff and xβ, under different levels of thermal noise, and as a function of both the number of unbinding events and the number of pulling speeds. Our results demonstrate that cluster analysis, particularly K-means clustering, is very effective in improving the accuracy of parameter estimation, particularly when the number of unbinding events are limited and not well separated into distinct groups. Cluster analysis is easy to implement, and our performance benchmarks serve as a guide in choosing an appropriate method for DFS data analysis.

  1. Links between the charge model and bonded parameter force constants in biomolecular force fields

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cerutti, David S.; Debiec, Karl T.; Case, David A.; Chong, Lillian T.

    2017-10-01

    The ff15ipq protein force field is a fixed charge model built by automated tools based on the two charge sets of the implicitly polarized charge method: one set (appropriate for vacuum) for deriving bonded parameters and the other (appropriate for aqueous solution) for running simulations. The duality is intended to treat water-induced electronic polarization with an understanding that fitting data for bonded parameters will come from quantum mechanical calculations in the gas phase. In this study, we compare ff15ipq to two alternatives produced with the same fitting software and a further expanded data set but following more conventional methods for tailoring bonded parameters (harmonic angle terms and torsion potentials) to the charge model. First, ff15ipq-Qsolv derives bonded parameters in the context of the ff15ipq solution phase charge set. Second, ff15ipq-Vac takes ff15ipq's bonded parameters and runs simulations with the vacuum phase charge set used to derive those parameters. The IPolQ charge model and associated protocol for deriving bonded parameters are shown to be an incremental improvement over protocols that do not account for the material phases of each source of their fitting data. Both force fields incorporating the polarized charge set depict stable globular proteins and have varying degrees of success modeling the metastability of short (5-19 residues) peptides. In this particular case, ff15ipq-Qsolv increases stability in a number of α -helices, correctly obtaining 70% helical character in the K19 system at 275 K and showing appropriately diminishing content up to 325 K, but overestimating the helical fraction of AAQAA3 by 50% or more, forming long-lived α -helices in simulations of a β -hairpin, and increasing the likelihood that the disordered p53 N-terminal peptide will also form a helix. This may indicate a systematic bias imparted by the ff15ipq-Qsolv parameter development strategy, which has the hallmarks of strategies used to develop

  2. Effects of Nordic walking and walking on spatiotemporal gait parameters and ground reaction force.

    PubMed

    Park, Seung Kyu; Yang, Dae Jung; Kang, Yang Hun; Kim, Je Ho; Uhm, Yo Han; Lee, Yong Seon

    2015-09-01

    [Purpose] The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of Nordic walking and walking on spatiotemporal gait parameters and ground reaction force. [Subjects] The subjects of this study were 30 young adult males, who were divided into a Nordic walking group of 15 subjects and a walking group of 15 subjects. [Methods] To analyze the spatiotemporal parameters and ground reaction force during walking in the two groups, the six-camera Vicon MX motion analysis system was used. The subjects were asked to walk 12 meters using the more comfortable walking method for them between Nordic walking and walking. After they walked 12 meters more than 10 times, their most natural walking patterns were chosen three times and analyzed. To determine the pole for Nordic walking, each subject's height was multiplied by 0.68. We then measured the spatiotemporal gait parameters and ground reaction force. [Results] Compared with the walking group, the Nordic walking group showed an increase in cadence, stride length, and step length, and a decrease in stride time, step time, and vertical ground reaction force. [Conclusion] The results of this study indicate that Nordic walking increases the stride and can be considered as helping patients with diseases affecting their gait. This demonstrates that Nordic walking is more effective in improving functional capabilities by promoting effective energy use and reducing the lower limb load, because the weight of the upper and lower limbs is dispersed during Nordic walking.

  3. Primary production sensitivity to phytoplankton light attenuation parameter increases with transient forcing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kvale, Karin F.; Meissner, Katrin J.

    2017-10-01

    Treatment of the underwater light field in ocean biogeochemical models has been attracting increasing interest, with some models moving towards more complex parameterisations. We conduct a simple sensitivity study of a typical, highly simplified parameterisation. In our study, we vary the phytoplankton light attenuation parameter over a range constrained by data during both pre-industrial equilibrated and future climate scenario RCP8.5. In equilibrium, lower light attenuation parameters (weaker self-shading) shift net primary production (NPP) towards the high latitudes, while higher values of light attenuation (stronger shelf-shading) shift NPP towards the low latitudes. Climate forcing magnifies this relationship through changes in the distribution of nutrients both within and between ocean regions. Where and how NPP responds to climate forcing can determine the magnitude and sign of global NPP trends in this high CO2 future scenario. Ocean oxygen is particularly sensitive to parameter choice. Under higher CO2 concentrations, two simulations establish a strong biogeochemical feedback between the Southern Ocean and low-latitude Pacific that highlights the potential for regional teleconnection. Our simulations serve as a reminder that shifts in fundamental properties (e.g. light attenuation by phytoplankton) over deep time have the potential to alter global biogeochemistry.

  4. Effect of hinge-moment parameters on elevator stick forces in rapid maneuvers

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jones, R. T.; Greenberg, H.

    1976-01-01

    The importance of the stick force per unit normal acceleration as a criterion of longitudinal stability and the critical dependence of this gradient on elevator hinge moment parameters are investigated with special reference to transient effects for maneuvers of short duration. The analysis shows that different combinations of elevator parameters, which give the same stick force per unit acceleration in turns, give widely different force variations during the entries into and recoveries from steady turns and during maneuvers of short duration such as abrupt pull-ups. The stick force per unit acceleration is greater for abrupt than for gradual control movements.

  5. An improved method to determine neuromuscular properties using force laws - From single muscle to applications in human movements.

    PubMed

    Siebert, T; Sust, M; Thaller, S; Tilp, M; Wagner, H

    2007-04-01

    We evaluate an improved method for individually determining neuromuscular properties in vivo. The method is based on Hill's equation used as a force law combined with Newton's equation of motion. To ensure the range of validity of Hill's equation, we first perform detailed investigations on in vitro single muscles. The force-velocity relation determined with the model coincides well with results obtained by standard methods (r=.99) above 20% of the isometric force. In addition, the model-predicted force curves during work loop contractions very well agree with measurements (mean difference: 2-3%). Subsequently, we deduce theoretically under which conditions it is possible to combine several muscles of the human body to model muscles. This leads to a model equation for human leg extension movements containing parameters for the muscle properties and for the activation. To numerically determine these invariant neuromuscular properties we devise an experimental method based on concentric and isometric leg extensions. With this method we determine individual muscle parameters from experiments such that the simulated curves agree well with experiments (r=.99). A reliability test with 12 participants revealed correlations r=.72-.91 for the neuromuscular parameters (p<.01). Predictions of similar movements under different conditions show mean errors of about 5%. In addition, we present applications in sports practise and theory.

  6. Topology determines force distributions in one-dimensional random spring networks.

    PubMed

    Heidemann, Knut M; Sageman-Furnas, Andrew O; Sharma, Abhinav; Rehfeldt, Florian; Schmidt, Christoph F; Wardetzky, Max

    2018-02-01

    Networks of elastic fibers are ubiquitous in biological systems and often provide mechanical stability to cells and tissues. Fiber-reinforced materials are also common in technology. An important characteristic of such materials is their resistance to failure under load. Rupture occurs when fibers break under excessive force and when that failure propagates. Therefore, it is crucial to understand force distributions. Force distributions within such networks are typically highly inhomogeneous and are not well understood. Here we construct a simple one-dimensional model system with periodic boundary conditions by randomly placing linear springs on a circle. We consider ensembles of such networks that consist of N nodes and have an average degree of connectivity z but vary in topology. Using a graph-theoretical approach that accounts for the full topology of each network in the ensemble, we show that, surprisingly, the force distributions can be fully characterized in terms of the parameters (N,z). Despite the universal properties of such (N,z) ensembles, our analysis further reveals that a classical mean-field approach fails to capture force distributions correctly. We demonstrate that network topology is a crucial determinant of force distributions in elastic spring networks.

  7. Topology determines force distributions in one-dimensional random spring networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Heidemann, Knut M.; Sageman-Furnas, Andrew O.; Sharma, Abhinav; Rehfeldt, Florian; Schmidt, Christoph F.; Wardetzky, Max

    2018-02-01

    Networks of elastic fibers are ubiquitous in biological systems and often provide mechanical stability to cells and tissues. Fiber-reinforced materials are also common in technology. An important characteristic of such materials is their resistance to failure under load. Rupture occurs when fibers break under excessive force and when that failure propagates. Therefore, it is crucial to understand force distributions. Force distributions within such networks are typically highly inhomogeneous and are not well understood. Here we construct a simple one-dimensional model system with periodic boundary conditions by randomly placing linear springs on a circle. We consider ensembles of such networks that consist of N nodes and have an average degree of connectivity z but vary in topology. Using a graph-theoretical approach that accounts for the full topology of each network in the ensemble, we show that, surprisingly, the force distributions can be fully characterized in terms of the parameters (N ,z ) . Despite the universal properties of such (N ,z ) ensembles, our analysis further reveals that a classical mean-field approach fails to capture force distributions correctly. We demonstrate that network topology is a crucial determinant of force distributions in elastic spring networks.

  8. Accuracy and precision of loadsol® insole force-sensors for the quantification of ground reaction force-based biomechanical running parameters.

    PubMed

    Seiberl, Wolfgang; Jensen, Elisabeth; Merker, Josephine; Leitel, Marco; Schwirtz, Ansgar

    2018-05-29

    Force plates represent the "gold standard" in measuring running kinetics to predict performance or to identify the sources of running-related injuries. As these measurements are generally limited to laboratory analyses, wireless high-quality sensors for measuring in the field are needed. This work analysed the accuracy and precision of a new wireless insole forcesensor for quantifying running-related kinetic parameters. Vertical ground reaction force (GRF) was simultaneously measured with pit-mounted force plates (1 kHz) and loadsol ® sensors (100 Hz) under unshod forefoot and rearfoot running-step conditions. GRF data collections were repeated four times, each separated by 30 min treadmill running, to test influence of extended use. A repeated-measures ANOVA was used to identify differences between measurement devices. Additionally, mean bias and Bland-Altman limits of agreement (LoA) were calculated. We found a significant difference (p < .05) in ground contact time, peak force, and force rate, while there was no difference in parameters impulse, time to peak, and negative force rate. There was no influence of time point of measurement. The mean bias of ground contact time, impulse, peak force, and time to peak ranged between 0.6% and 3.4%, demonstrating high accuracy of loadsol ® devices for these parameters. For these same parameters, the LoA analysis showed that 95% of all measurement differences between insole and force plate measurements were less than 12%, demonstrating high precision of the sensors. However, highly dynamic behaviour of GRF, such as force rate, is not yet sufficiently resolved by the insole devices, which is likely explained by the low sampling rate.

  9. Trunk isometric force production parameters during erector spinae muscle vibration at different frequencies

    PubMed Central

    2013-01-01

    Background Vibration is known to alter proprioceptive afferents and create a tonic vibration reflex. The control of force and its variability are often considered determinants of motor performance and neuromuscular control. However, the effect of vibration on paraspinal muscle control and force production remains to be determined. Methods Twenty-one healthy adults were asked to perform isometric trunk flexion and extension torque at 60% of their maximal voluntary isometric contraction, under three different vibration conditions: no vibration, vibration frequencies of 30 Hz and 80 Hz. Eighteen isometric contractions were performed under each condition without any feedback. Mechanical vibrations were applied bilaterally over the lumbar erector spinae muscles while participants were in neutral standing position. Time to peak torque (TPT), variable error (VE) as well as constant error (CE) and absolute error (AE) in peak torque were calculated and compared between conditions. Results The main finding suggests that erector spinae muscle vibration significantly decreases the accuracy in a trunk extension isometric force reproduction task. There was no difference between both vibration frequencies with regard to force production parameters. Antagonist muscles do not seem to be directly affected by vibration stimulation when performing a trunk isometric task. Conclusions The results suggest that acute erector spinae muscle vibration interferes with torque generation sequence of the trunk by distorting proprioceptive information in healthy participants. PMID:23919578

  10. Identification of modal parameters including unmeasured forces and transient effects

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cauberghe, B.; Guillaume, P.; Verboven, P.; Parloo, E.

    2003-08-01

    In this paper, a frequency-domain method to estimate modal parameters from short data records with known input (measured) forces and unknown input forces is presented. The method can be used for an experimental modal analysis, an operational modal analysis (output-only data) and the combination of both. A traditional experimental and operational modal analysis in the frequency domain starts respectively, from frequency response functions and spectral density functions. To estimate these functions accurately sufficient data have to be available. The technique developed in this paper estimates the modal parameters directly from the Fourier spectra of the outputs and the known input. Instead of using Hanning windows on these short data records the transient effects are estimated simultaneously with the modal parameters. The method is illustrated, tested and validated by Monte Carlo simulations and experiments. The presented method to process short data sequences leads to unbiased estimates with a small variance in comparison to the more traditional approaches.

  11. Assessing the relative importance of parameter and forcing uncertainty and their interactions in conceptual hydrological model simulations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mockler, E. M.; Chun, K. P.; Sapriza-Azuri, G.; Bruen, M.; Wheater, H. S.

    2016-11-01

    Predictions of river flow dynamics provide vital information for many aspects of water management including water resource planning, climate adaptation, and flood and drought assessments. Many of the subjective choices that modellers make including model and criteria selection can have a significant impact on the magnitude and distribution of the output uncertainty. Hydrological modellers are tasked with understanding and minimising the uncertainty surrounding streamflow predictions before communicating the overall uncertainty to decision makers. Parameter uncertainty in conceptual rainfall-runoff models has been widely investigated, and model structural uncertainty and forcing data have been receiving increasing attention. This study aimed to assess uncertainties in streamflow predictions due to forcing data and the identification of behavioural parameter sets in 31 Irish catchments. By combining stochastic rainfall ensembles and multiple parameter sets for three conceptual rainfall-runoff models, an analysis of variance model was used to decompose the total uncertainty in streamflow simulations into contributions from (i) forcing data, (ii) identification of model parameters and (iii) interactions between the two. The analysis illustrates that, for our subjective choices, hydrological model selection had a greater contribution to overall uncertainty, while performance criteria selection influenced the relative intra-annual uncertainties in streamflow predictions. Uncertainties in streamflow predictions due to the method of determining parameters were relatively lower for wetter catchments, and more evenly distributed throughout the year when the Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency of logarithmic values of flow (lnNSE) was the evaluation criterion.

  12. Development of a tuned interfacial force field parameter set for the simulation of protein adsorption to silica glass.

    PubMed

    Snyder, James A; Abramyan, Tigran; Yancey, Jeremy A; Thyparambil, Aby A; Wei, Yang; Stuart, Steven J; Latour, Robert A

    2012-12-01

    Adsorption free energies for eight host-guest peptides (TGTG-X-GTGT, with X = N, D, G, K, F, T, W, and V) on two different silica surfaces [quartz (100) and silica glass] were calculated using umbrella sampling and replica exchange molecular dynamics and compared with experimental values determined by atomic force microscopy. Using the CHARMM force field, adsorption free energies were found to be overestimated (i.e., too strongly adsorbing) by about 5-9 kcal/mol compared to the experimental data for both types of silica surfaces. Peptide adsorption behavior for the silica glass surface was then adjusted using a modified version of the CHARMM program, which we call dual force-field CHARMM, which allows separate sets of nonbonded parameters (i.e., partial charge and Lennard-Jones parameters) to be used to represent intra-phase and inter-phase interactions within a given molecular system. Using this program, interfacial force field (IFF) parameters for the peptide-silica glass systems were corrected to obtain adsorption free energies within about 0.5 kcal/mol of their respective experimental values, while IFF tuning for the quartz (100) surface remains for future work. The tuned IFF parameter set for silica glass will subsequently be used for simulations of protein adsorption behavior on silica glass with greater confidence in the balance between relative adsorption affinities of amino acid residues and the aqueous solution for the silica glass surface.

  13. Development of a Tuned Interfacial Force Field Parameter Set for the Simulation of Protein Adsorption to Silica Glass

    PubMed Central

    Snyder, James A.; Abramyan, Tigran; Yancey, Jeremy A.; Thyparambil, Aby A.; Wei, Yang; Stuart, Steven J.; Latour, Robert A.

    2012-01-01

    Adsorption free energies for eight host–guest peptides (TGTG-X-GTGT, with X = N, D, G, K, F, T, W, and V) on two different silica surfaces [quartz (100) and silica glass] were calculated using umbrella sampling and replica exchange molecular dynamics and compared with experimental values determined by atomic force microscopy. Using the CHARMM force field, adsorption free energies were found to be overestimated (i.e., too strongly adsorbing) by about 5–9 kcal/mol compared to the experimental data for both types of silica surfaces. Peptide adsorption behavior for the silica glass surface was then adjusted using a modified version of the CHARMM program, which we call dual force-field CHARMM, which allows separate sets of nonbonded parameters (i.e., partial charge and Lennard-Jones parameters) to be used to represent intra-phase and inter-phase interactions within a given molecular system. Using this program, interfacial force field (IFF) parameters for the peptide-silica glass systems were corrected to obtain adsorption free energies within about 0.5 kcal/mol of their respective experimental values, while IFF tuning for the quartz (100) surface remains for future work. The tuned IFF parameter set for silica glass will subsequently be used for simulations of protein adsorption behavior on silica glass with greater confidence in the balance between relative adsorption affinities of amino acid residues and the aqueous solution for the silica glass surface. PMID:22941539

  14. Bottled SAFT: A Web App Providing SAFT-γ Mie Force Field Parameters for Thousands of Molecular Fluids.

    PubMed

    Ervik, Åsmund; Mejía, Andrés; Müller, Erich A

    2016-09-26

    Coarse-grained molecular simulation has become a popular tool for modeling simple and complex fluids alike. The defining aspects of a coarse grained model are the force field parameters, which must be determined for each particular fluid. Because the number of molecular fluids of interest in nature and in engineering processes is immense, constructing force field parameter tables by individually fitting to experimental data is a futile task. A step toward solving this challenge was taken recently by Mejía et al., who proposed a correlation that provides SAFT-γ Mie force field parameters for a fluid provided one knows the critical temperature, the acentric factor and a liquid density, all relatively accessible properties. Building on this, we have applied the correlation to more than 6000 fluids, and constructed a web application, called "Bottled SAFT", which makes this data set easily searchable by CAS number, name or chemical formula. Alternatively, the application allows the user to calculate parameters for components not present in the database. Once the intermolecular potential has been found through Bottled SAFT, code snippets are provided for simulating the desired substance using the "raaSAFT" framework, which leverages established molecular dynamics codes to run the simulations. The code underlying the web application is written in Python using the Flask microframework; this allows us to provide a modern high-performance web app while also making use of the scientific libraries available in Python. Bottled SAFT aims at taking the complexity out of obtaining force field parameters for a wide range of molecular fluids, and facilitates setting up and running coarse-grained molecular simulations. The web application is freely available at http://www.bottledsaft.org . The underlying source code is available on Bitbucket under a permissive license.

  15. Proximate determinants of bite force in Anolis lizards.

    PubMed

    Wittorski, Antoine; Losos, Jonathan B; Herrel, Anthony

    2016-01-01

    Performance measures associated with the vertebrate jaw system may provide important insights into vertebrate ecology and evolution because of their importance in many ecologically relevant tasks. Previous studies have shown that in many taxa, evolution toward higher bite force has gone hand in hand with the evolution of larger body size. However, independent of differences in overall body size, bite force may vary depending on head size and shape as well. Moreover, the underlying musculature may also drive variation in bite force. Here, we investigate the proximate determinants of bite force in lizards of the genus Anolis. We dissected the jaw muscles and quantified muscle mass, fibre length, and cross-sectional area. Data were analysed for both sexes independently given the sexual dimorphism detected in the dataset. Our results show that the traits that explain bite force are similar in both males and females with overall body size and muscle mass being the principal determinants. Among the different muscles examined, the adductor externus and the pseudotemporalis groups were the best determinants of bite force. However, models run for males predicted the variation in bite force better than models for females, suggesting that selection on morphology improving bite force may be stronger in males. © 2015 Anatomical Society.

  16. Determination of Quantum Chemistry Based Force Fields for Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Aromatic Polymers

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jaffe, Richard; Langhoff, Stephen R. (Technical Monitor)

    1995-01-01

    Ab initio quantum chemistry calculations for model molecules can be used to parameterize force fields for molecular dynamics simulations of polymers. Emphasis in our research group is on using quantum chemistry-based force fields for molecular dynamics simulations of organic polymers in the melt and glassy states, but the methodology is applicable to simulations of small molecules, multicomponent systems and solutions. Special attention is paid to deriving reliable descriptions of the non-bonded and electrostatic interactions. Several procedures have been developed for deriving and calibrating these parameters. Our force fields for aromatic polyimide simulations will be described. In this application, the intermolecular interactions are the critical factor in determining many properties of the polymer (including its color).

  17. Determination of a quantitative parameter to evaluate swimming technique based on the maximal tethered swimming test.

    PubMed

    Soncin, Rafael; Mezêncio, Bruno; Ferreira, Jacielle Carolina; Rodrigues, Sara Andrade; Huebner, Rudolf; Serrão, Julio Cerca; Szmuchrowski, Leszek

    2017-06-01

    The aim of this study was to propose a new force parameter, associated with swimmers' technique and performance. Twelve swimmers performed five repetitions of 25 m sprint crawl and a tethered swimming test with maximal effort. The parameters calculated were: the mean swimming velocity for crawl sprint, the mean propulsive force of the tethered swimming test as well as an oscillation parameter calculated from force fluctuation. The oscillation parameter evaluates the force variation around the mean force during the tethered test as a measure of swimming technique. Two parameters showed significant correlations with swimming velocity: the mean force during the tethered swimming (r = 0.85) and the product of the mean force square root and the oscillation (r = 0.86). However, the intercept coefficient was significantly different from zero only for the mean force, suggesting that although the correlation coefficient of the parameters was similar, part of the mean velocity magnitude that was not associated with the mean force was associated with the product of the mean force square root and the oscillation. Thus, force fluctuation during tethered swimming can be used as a quantitative index of swimmers' technique.

  18. Application of Novel Lateral Tire Force Sensors to Vehicle Parameter Estimation of Electric Vehicles.

    PubMed

    Nam, Kanghyun

    2015-11-11

    This article presents methods for estimating lateral vehicle velocity and tire cornering stiffness, which are key parameters in vehicle dynamics control, using lateral tire force measurements. Lateral tire forces acting on each tire are directly measured by load-sensing hub bearings that were invented and further developed by NSK Ltd. For estimating the lateral vehicle velocity, tire force models considering lateral load transfer effects are used, and a recursive least square algorithm is adapted to identify the lateral vehicle velocity as an unknown parameter. Using the estimated lateral vehicle velocity, tire cornering stiffness, which is an important tire parameter dominating the vehicle's cornering responses, is estimated. For the practical implementation, the cornering stiffness estimation algorithm based on a simple bicycle model is developed and discussed. Finally, proposed estimation algorithms were evaluated using experimental test data.

  19. Determination of JWL Parameters for Non-Ideal Explosive

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hamashima, H.; Kato, Y.; Itoh, S.

    2004-07-01

    JWL equation of state is widely used in numerical simulation of detonation phenomena. JWL parameters are determined by cylinder test. Detonation characteristics of non-ideal explosive depend strongly on confinement, and JWL parameters determined by cylinder test do not represent the state of detonation products in many applications. We developed a method to determine JWL parameters from the underwater explosion test. JWL parameters were determined through a method of characteristics applied to the configuration of the underwater shock waves of cylindrical explosives. The numerical results obtained using JWL parameters determined by the underwater explosion test and those obtained using JWL parameters determined by cylinder test were compared with experimental results for typical non-ideal explosive; emulsion explosive. Good agreement was confirmed between the results obtained using JWL parameters determined by the underwater explosion test and experimental results.

  20. Application of Novel Lateral Tire Force Sensors to Vehicle Parameter Estimation of Electric Vehicles

    PubMed Central

    Nam, Kanghyun

    2015-01-01

    This article presents methods for estimating lateral vehicle velocity and tire cornering stiffness, which are key parameters in vehicle dynamics control, using lateral tire force measurements. Lateral tire forces acting on each tire are directly measured by load-sensing hub bearings that were invented and further developed by NSK Ltd. For estimating the lateral vehicle velocity, tire force models considering lateral load transfer effects are used, and a recursive least square algorithm is adapted to identify the lateral vehicle velocity as an unknown parameter. Using the estimated lateral vehicle velocity, tire cornering stiffness, which is an important tire parameter dominating the vehicle’s cornering responses, is estimated. For the practical implementation, the cornering stiffness estimation algorithm based on a simple bicycle model is developed and discussed. Finally, proposed estimation algorithms were evaluated using experimental test data. PMID:26569246

  1. Measurement strategy and analytic model to determine firing pin force

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lesenciuc, Ioan; Suciu, Cornel

    2016-12-01

    As illustrated in literature, ballistics is a branch of theoretical mechanics, which studies the construction and working principles of firearms and ammunition, their effects, as well as the motions of projectiles and bullets1. Criminalistics identification, as part of judiciary identification represents an activity aimed at finding common traits of different objects, objectives, phenomena and beings, but more importantly, traits that differentiate each of them from similar ones2-4. In judicial ballistics, in the case of rifled firearms it is relatively simple for experts to identify the used weapon from traces left on the projectile, as the rifling of the barrel leaves imprints on the bullet, which remain approximately identical even after the respective weapon is fired 100 times with the same barrel. However, in the case of smoothbore firearms, their identification becomes much more complicated. As the firing cap suffers alterations from being hit by the firing pin, determination of the force generated during impact creates the premises for determining the type of firearm used to shoot the respective cartridge. The present paper proposes a simple impact model that can be used to evaluate the force generated by the firing pin during its impact with the firing cap. The present research clearly showed that each rifle, by the combination of the three investigated parameters (impact force maximum value, its variation diagram, and impact time) leave a unique trace. Application of such a method in ballistics can create the perspectives for formulating clear conclusions that eliminate possible judicial errors in this field.

  2. Investigation, sensitivity analysis, and multi-objective optimization of effective parameters on temperature and force in robotic drilling cortical bone.

    PubMed

    Tahmasbi, Vahid; Ghoreishi, Majid; Zolfaghari, Mojtaba

    2017-11-01

    The bone drilling process is very prominent in orthopedic surgeries and in the repair of bone fractures. It is also very common in dentistry and bone sampling operations. Due to the complexity of bone and the sensitivity of the process, bone drilling is one of the most important and sensitive processes in biomedical engineering. Orthopedic surgeries can be improved using robotic systems and mechatronic tools. The most crucial problem during drilling is an unwanted increase in process temperature (higher than 47 °C), which causes thermal osteonecrosis or cell death and local burning of the bone tissue. Moreover, imposing higher forces to the bone may lead to breaking or cracking and consequently cause serious damage. In this study, a mathematical second-order linear regression model as a function of tool drilling speed, feed rate, tool diameter, and their effective interactions is introduced to predict temperature and force during the bone drilling process. This model can determine the maximum speed of surgery that remains within an acceptable temperature range. Moreover, for the first time, using designed experiments, the bone drilling process was modeled, and the drilling speed, feed rate, and tool diameter were optimized. Then, using response surface methodology and applying a multi-objective optimization, drilling force was minimized to sustain an acceptable temperature range without damaging the bone or the surrounding tissue. In addition, for the first time, Sobol statistical sensitivity analysis is used to ascertain the effect of process input parameters on process temperature and force. The results show that among all effective input parameters, tool rotational speed, feed rate, and tool diameter have the highest influence on process temperature and force, respectively. The behavior of each output parameters with variation in each input parameter is further investigated. Finally, a multi-objective optimization has been performed considering all the

  3. External Load Affects Ground Reaction Force Parameters Non-uniformly during Running in Weightlessness

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    DeWitt, John; Schaffner, Grant; Laughlin, Mitzi; Loehr, James; Hagan, R. Donald

    2004-01-01

    Long-term exposure to microgravity induces detrimefits to the musculcskdetal system (Schneider et al., 1995; LeBlanc et al., 2000). Treadmill exercise is used onboard the International Space Station as an exercise countermeasure to musculoskeletal deconditioning due to spaceflight. During locomotive exercise in weightlessness (0G), crewmembers wear a harness attached to an external loading mechanism (EL). The EL pulls the crewmember toward the treadmill, and provides resistive load during the impact and propulsive phases of gait. The resulting forces may be important in stimulating bone maintenance (Turner, 1998). The EL can be applied via a bungee and carabineer clip configuration attached to the harness and can be manipulated to create varying amounts of load levels during exercise. Ground-based research performed using a vertically mounted treadmill found that peak ground reaction forces (GRF) during running at an EL of less than one body weight (BW) are less than those that occur during running in normal gravity (1G) (Davis et al., 1996). However, it is not known how the GRF are affected by the EL in a true OG environment. Locomotion while suspended may result in biomechanics that differ from free running. The purpose of this investigation was to determine how EL affects peak impact force, peak propulsive force, loading rate, and impulse of the GRF during running in 0G. It was hypothesized that increasing EL would result in increases in each GRF parameter.

  4. Specific cerebellar regions are related to force amplitude and rate of force development

    PubMed Central

    Spraker, M.B.; Corcos, D.M.; Kurani, A.S.; Prodoehl, J.; Swinnen, S.P.; Vaillancourt, D.E.

    2011-01-01

    The human cerebellum has been implicated in the control of a wide variety of motor control parameters, such as force amplitude, movement extent, and movement velocity. These parameters often covary in both movement and isometric force production tasks, so it is difficult to resolve whether specific regions of the cerebellum relate to specific parameters. In order to address this issue, the current study used two experiments and SUIT normalization to determine whether BOLD activation in the cerebellum scales with the amplitude or rate of change of isometric force production or both. In the first experiment, subjects produced isometric pinch-grip force over a range of force amplitudes without any constraints on the rate of force development. In the second experiment, subjects varied the rate of force production, but the target force amplitude remained constant. The data demonstrate that BOLD activation in separate sub-areas of cerebellar regions lobule VI and Crus I/II scale with both force amplitude and force rate. In addition, BOLD activation in cerebellar lobule V and vermis VI was specific to force amplitude, whereas BOLD activation in lobule VIIb was specific to force rate. Overall, cerebellar activity related to force amplitude was located superior and medial, whereas activity related to force rate was inferior and lateral. These findings suggest that specific circuitry in the cerebellum may be dedicated to specific motor control parameters such as force amplitude and force rate. PMID:21963915

  5. A method for the on-site determination of prestressing forces using long-gauge fiber optic strain sensors

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Abdel-Jaber, H.; Glisic, B.

    2014-07-01

    Structural health monitoring (SHM) consists of the continuous or periodic measurement of structural parameters and their analysis with the aim of deducing information about the performance and health condition of a structure. The significant increase in the construction of prestressed concrete bridges motivated this research on an SHM method for the on-site determination of the distribution of prestressing forces along prestressed concrete beam structures. The estimation of the distribution of forces is important as it can give information regarding the overall performance and structural integrity of the bridge. An inadequate transfer of the designed prestressing forces to the concrete cross-section can lead to a reduced capacity of the bridge and consequently malfunction or failure at lower loads than predicted by design. This paper researches a universal method for the determination of the distribution of prestressing forces along concrete beam structures at the time of transfer of the prestressing force (e.g., at the time of prestressing or post-tensioning). The method is based on the use of long-gauge fiber optic sensors, and the sensor network is similar (practically identical) to the one used for damage identification. The method encompasses the determination of prestressing forces at both healthy and cracked cross-sections, and for the latter it can yield information about the condition of the cracks. The method is validated on-site by comparison to design forces through the application to two structures: (1) a deck-stiffened arch and (2) a curved continuous girder. The uncertainty in the determination of prestressing forces was calculated and the comparison with the design forces has shown very good agreement in most of the structures’ cross-sections, but also helped identify some unusual behaviors. The method and its validation are presented in this paper.

  6. Determination of Phobos' rotational parameters by an inertial frame bundle block adjustment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Burmeister, Steffi; Willner, Konrad; Schmidt, Valentina; Oberst, Jürgen

    2018-01-01

    A functional model for a bundle block adjustment in the inertial reference frame was developed, implemented and tested. This approach enables the determination of rotation parameters of planetary bodies on the basis of photogrammetric observations. Tests with a self-consistent synthetic data set showed that the implementation converges reliably toward the expected values of the introduced unknown parameters of the adjustment, e.g., spin pole orientation, and that it can cope with typical observational errors in the data. We applied the model to a data set of Phobos using images from the Mars Express and the Viking mission. With Phobos being in a locked rotation, we computed a forced libration amplitude of 1.14^circ ± 0.03^circ together with a control point network of 685 points.

  7. Thigh-calf contact parameters for six high knee flexion postures: Onset, maximum angle, total force, contact area, and center of force.

    PubMed

    Kingston, David C; Acker, Stacey M

    2018-01-23

    In high knee flexion, contact between the posterior thigh and calf is expected to decrease forces on tibiofemoral contact surfaces, therefore, thigh-calf contact needs to be thoroughly characterized to model its effect. This study measured knee angles and intersegmental contact parameters in fifty-eight young healthy participants for six common high flexion postures using motion tracking and a pressure sensor attached to the right thigh. Additionally, we introduced and assessed the reliability of a method for reducing noise in pressure sensor output. Five repetitions of two squatting, two kneeling, and two unilateral kneeling movements were completed. Interactions of posture by sex occurred for thigh-calf and heel-gluteal center of force, and thigh-calf contact area. Center of force in thigh-calf regions was farther from the knee joint center in females, compared to males, during unilateral kneeling (82 and 67 mm respectively) with an inverted relationship in the heel-gluteal region (331 and 345 mm respectively), although caution is advised when generalizing these findings from a young, relatively fit sample to a population level. Contact area was larger in females when compared to males (mean of 155.61 and 137.33 cm 2 across postures). A posture main effect was observed in contact force and sex main effects were present in onset and max angle. Males had earlier onset (121.0°) and lower max angle (147.4°) with onset and max angles having a range between movements of 8° and 3° respectively. There was a substantial total force difference of 139 N between the largest and smallest activity means. Force parameters measured in this study suggest that knee joint contact models need to incorporate activity-specific parameters when estimating loading. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Assessing the accuracy of subject-specific, muscle-model parameters determined by optimizing to match isometric strength.

    PubMed

    DeSmitt, Holly J; Domire, Zachary J

    2016-12-01

    Biomechanical models are sensitive to the choice of model parameters. Therefore, determination of accurate subject specific model parameters is important. One approach to generate these parameters is to optimize the values such that the model output will match experimentally measured strength curves. This approach is attractive as it is inexpensive and should provide an excellent match to experimentally measured strength. However, given the problem of muscle redundancy, it is not clear that this approach generates accurate individual muscle forces. The purpose of this investigation is to evaluate this approach using simulated data to enable a direct comparison. It is hypothesized that the optimization approach will be able to recreate accurate muscle model parameters when information from measurable parameters is given. A model of isometric knee extension was developed to simulate a strength curve across a range of knee angles. In order to realistically recreate experimentally measured strength, random noise was added to the modeled strength. Parameters were solved for using a genetic search algorithm. When noise was added to the measurements the strength curve was reasonably recreated. However, the individual muscle model parameters and force curves were far less accurate. Based upon this examination, it is clear that very different sets of model parameters can recreate similar strength curves. Therefore, experimental variation in strength measurements has a significant influence on the results. Given the difficulty in accurately recreating individual muscle parameters, it may be more appropriate to perform simulations with lumped actuators representing similar muscles.

  9. Calculating the sensitivity and robustness of binding free energy calculations to force field parameters

    PubMed Central

    Rocklin, Gabriel J.; Mobley, David L.; Dill, Ken A.

    2013-01-01

    Binding free energy calculations offer a thermodynamically rigorous method to compute protein-ligand binding, and they depend on empirical force fields with hundreds of parameters. We examined the sensitivity of computed binding free energies to the ligand’s electrostatic and van der Waals parameters. Dielectric screening and cancellation of effects between ligand-protein and ligand-solvent interactions reduce the parameter sensitivity of binding affinity by 65%, compared with interaction strengths computed in the gas-phase. However, multiple changes to parameters combine additively on average, which can lead to large changes in overall affinity from many small changes to parameters. Using these results, we estimate that random, uncorrelated errors in force field nonbonded parameters must be smaller than 0.02 e per charge, 0.06 Å per radius, and 0.01 kcal/mol per well depth in order to obtain 68% (one standard deviation) confidence that a computed affinity for a moderately-sized lead compound will fall within 1 kcal/mol of the true affinity, if these are the only sources of error considered. PMID:24015114

  10. Determining "small parameters" for quasi-steady state

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Goeke, Alexandra; Walcher, Sebastian; Zerz, Eva

    2015-08-01

    For a parameter-dependent system of ordinary differential equations we present a systematic approach to the determination of parameter values near which singular perturbation scenarios (in the sense of Tikhonov and Fenichel) arise. We call these special values Tikhonov-Fenichel parameter values. The principal application we intend is to equations that describe chemical reactions, in the context of quasi-steady state (or partial equilibrium) settings. Such equations have rational (or even polynomial) right-hand side. We determine the structure of the set of Tikhonov-Fenichel parameter values as a semi-algebraic set, and present an algorithmic approach to their explicit determination, using Groebner bases. Examples and applications (which include the irreversible and reversible Michaelis-Menten systems) illustrate that the approach is rather easy to implement.

  11. Collision forces for compliant projectiles

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Grady, Joseph E.

    1990-01-01

    Force histories resulting from the impact of compliant projectiles were determined experimentally. A long instrumented rod was used as the target, and the impact force was calculated directly from the measured strain response. Results from a series of tests on several different sized impactors were used to define four dimensionless parameters that determine, for a specified impactor velocity and size, the amplitude, duration, shape, and impulse of the impact force history.

  12. Influence of Context on Item Parameters in Forced-Choice Personality Assessments

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lin, Yin; Brown, Anna

    2017-01-01

    A fundamental assumption in computerized adaptive testing is that item parameters are invariant with respect to context--items surrounding the administered item. This assumption, however, may not hold in forced-choice (FC) assessments, where explicit comparisons are made between items included in the same block. We empirically examined the…

  13. Method for lateral force calibration in atomic force microscope using MEMS microforce sensor.

    PubMed

    Dziekoński, Cezary; Dera, Wojciech; Jarząbek, Dariusz M

    2017-11-01

    In this paper we present a simple and direct method for the lateral force calibration constant determination. Our procedure does not require any knowledge about material or geometrical parameters of an investigated cantilever. We apply a commercially available microforce sensor with advanced electronics for direct measurement of the friction force applied by the cantilever's tip to a flat surface of the microforce sensor measuring beam. Due to the third law of dynamics, the friction force of the equal value tilts the AFM cantilever. Therefore, torsional (lateral force) signal is compared with the signal from the microforce sensor and the lateral force calibration constant is determined. The method is easy to perform and could be widely used for the lateral force calibration constant determination in many types of atomic force microscopes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. The effectiveness of vane-aileron excitation in the experimental determination of flutter speed by parameter identification

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Nissim, Eli

    1990-01-01

    The effectiveness of aerodynamic excitation is evaluated analytically in conjunction with the experimental determination of flutter dynamic pressure by parameter identification. Existing control surfaces were used, with an additional vane located at the wingtip. The equations leading to the identification of the equations of motion were reformulated to accommodate excitation forces of aerodynamic origin. The aerodynamic coefficients of the excitation forces do not need to be known since they are determined by the identification procedure. The 12 degree-of-freedom numerical example treated in this work revealed the best wingtip vane locations, and demonstrated the effectiveness of the aileron-vane excitation system. Results from simulated data gathered at much lower dynamic pressures (approximately half the value of flutter dynamic pressure) predicted flutter dynamic pressures with 2-percent errors.

  15. A novel sensor for bite force determinations.

    PubMed

    Fernandes, Cláudio P; Glantz, Per Olof J; Svensson, Stig A; Bergmark, Anders

    2003-03-01

    The clinical usefulness, accuracy and precision of a novel bite force sensor based on force sensing resistors were tested in six subjects wearing maxillary removable partial dentures retained by conical crowns. The surfaces of the sensor were manufactured in a silicone material that had mechanical properties similar to those of tough foodstuffs. In two separate series of standardized bite force tests, submaximum force levels were recorded with the sensor and with a strain gaged bite fork. Subjects were assisted in the loading tests with visual feedback instrumentation. Reliability estimates for the bite force sensor were calculated in order to show their reproducibility. Strain gages attached to the prostheses were used to determine the pattern of force distribution during loading tests. The bite force results obtained with the new bite force sensor and with the bite fork were analyzed with ANOVA and Scheffés tests. The strain patterns registered with strain gages were analyzed with F-test. The bite force sensor and the bite fork transducer showed no statistically significant differences in respect of intra-individual bite force levels (range 50-300N). The bite forces registered with the new sensor were dependent on the loading position (p<0.05), sex (p<0.05) and test subject (p<0.05). The reliability of the new sensor for submaximum bite forces was calculated to be 93%. Strain gage results showed that the new sensor generated strain patterns of less variance (p<0.05) than the bite fork and therefore allowed for higher precision during biting tests. The presented instrument has such clinical merits, as to favor its use in experimental clinical studies on the biomechanics of prosthetic appliances.

  16. Functional dependence of resonant harmonics on nanomechanical parameters in dynamic mode atomic force microscopy.

    PubMed

    Gramazio, Federico; Lorenzoni, Matteo; Pérez-Murano, Francesc; Rull Trinidad, Enrique; Staufer, Urs; Fraxedas, Jordi

    2017-01-01

    We present a combined theoretical and experimental study of the dependence of resonant higher harmonics of rectangular cantilevers of an atomic force microscope (AFM) as a function of relevant parameters such as the cantilever force constant, tip radius and free oscillation amplitude as well as the stiffness of the sample's surface. The simulations reveal a universal functional dependence of the amplitude of the 6th harmonic (in resonance with the 2nd flexural mode) on these parameters, which can be expressed in terms of a gun-shaped function. This analytical expression can be regarded as a practical tool for extracting qualitative information from AFM measurements and it can be extended to any resonant harmonics. The experiments confirm the predicted dependence in the explored 3-45 N/m force constant range and 2-345 GPa sample's stiffness range. For force constants around 25 N/m, the amplitude of the 6th harmonic exhibits the largest sensitivity for ultrasharp tips (tip radius below 10 nm) and polymers (Young's modulus below 20 GPa).

  17. The determination of the constitutive parameters of a medium with application to a reinforced concrete pad

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Poggio, A. J.; Burke, G. L.; Pennock, S. T.

    1995-01-01

    This report describes the experimental and analytical efforts performed to determine the constitutive parameters of a reinforced concrete pad on which an aircraft (the NASA Boeing 757) was parked while its internal electromagnetic environment was measured. This concrete pad is part of the Large Electromagnetic System-Level Illuminator (LESLI) test facility at the Phillips Laboratory, Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. The relative dielectric constant, conductivity, index of refraction, and reflection coefficient have been determined over the frequency range of 0 to 300 MHz and are presented.

  18. Improvement of the technique of calculating the energy-force parameters of pinch-pass mills for increasing the efficiency of producing cold-rolled strips

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Garber, E. A.; Timofeeva, M. A.

    2016-11-01

    New propositions are introduced into the technique of energy-force calculation of pinch-pass mills in order to determine the energy-force and technological parameters of skin rolling of cold-rolled steel strips at the minimum errors. The application of these propositions decreases the errors of calculating the forces and torques in a working stand by a factor of 3-5 as compared to the calculation according to the well-known technique, saves the electric power in the existing mills, and demonstrates the possibility of decreasing the dimensions of working stands and the power of the rolling mill engine.

  19. Determination of femto Newton forces and fluid viscosity using optical tweezers: application to Leishmania amazonensis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fontes, Adriana; Giorgio, Selma; de Castro, Archimedes B., Jr.; Neto, Vivaldo M.; Pozzo, Liliana d. Y.; Marques, Gustavo P.; Barbosa, Luiz C.; Cesar, Carlos L.

    2005-03-01

    The objective of this research is to use the displacements of a polystyrene microsphere trapped by an optical tweezers (OT) as a force transducer in mechanical measurements in life sciences. To do this we compared the theoretical optical and hydrodynamic models with experimental data under a broad variation of parameters such as fluid viscosity, refractive index, drag velocity and wall proximities. The laser power was measured after the objective with an integration sphere because normal power meters do not provide an accurate measurement for beam with high numerical apertures. With this careful laser power determination the plot of the optical force (calculated by the particle displacement) versus hydrodynamic force (calculated by the drag velocity) under very different conditions shows an almost 45 degrees straight line. This means that hydrodynamic models can be used to calibrate optical forces and vice-versa. With this calibration we observed the forces of polystyrene bead attached to the protozoa Leishmania amazonensis, responsible for a serious tropical disease. The force range is from 200 femto Newtons to 4 pico Newtons and these experiments shows that OT can be used for infection mechanism and chemotaxis studies in parasites. The other application was to use the optical force to measure viscosities of few microliters sample. Our result shows 5% accuracy measurements.

  20. An automated analysis workflow for optimization of force-field parameters using neutron scattering data

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Lynch, Vickie E.; Borreguero, Jose M.; Bhowmik, Debsindhu

    Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • An automated workflow to optimize force-field parameters. • Used the workflow to optimize force-field parameter for a system containing nanodiamond and tRNA. • The mechanism relies on molecular dynamics simulation and neutron scattering experimental data. • The workflow can be generalized to any other experimental and simulation techniques. - Abstract: Large-scale simulations and data analysis are often required to explain neutron scattering experiments to establish a connection between the fundamental physics at the nanoscale and data probed by neutrons. However, to perform simulations at experimental conditions it is critical to use correct force-field (FF) parametersmore » which are unfortunately not available for most complex experimental systems. In this work, we have developed a workflow optimization technique to provide optimized FF parameters by comparing molecular dynamics (MD) to neutron scattering data. We describe the workflow in detail by using an example system consisting of tRNA and hydrophilic nanodiamonds in a deuterated water (D{sub 2}O) environment. Quasi-elastic neutron scattering (QENS) data show a faster motion of the tRNA in the presence of nanodiamond than without the ND. To compare the QENS and MD results quantitatively, a proper choice of FF parameters is necessary. We use an efficient workflow to optimize the FF parameters between the hydrophilic nanodiamond and water by comparing to the QENS data. Our results show that we can obtain accurate FF parameters by using this technique. The workflow can be generalized to other types of neutron data for FF optimization, such as vibrational spectroscopy and spin echo.« less

  1. Experimental Determination of Unsteady Forces on Contrarotating Propellers in Uniform Flow

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1976-03-01

    Experimental Determination of Unsteady Forces on Contrarotating Propellers ini Uniform Flow ... EXPERIMENTAL DETERMINATION OF UNSTEADY FORCES E ON CONTP.AROTATING PROPELLERS IN UNIFORM FLOW0 0 cby -1 Marlin L. Miller 0 cc 0 z ~APPROVED FOR PUBLIC...tunnel. The experiments were conducted in uniform flow so that the unsteady forces would be due only to the interaction of the two

  2. On justification of efficient Energy-Force parameters of Hydraulic-excavator main mechanisms

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Komissarov, Anatoliy; Lagunova, Yuliya; Shestakov, Viktor; Lukashuk, Olga

    2018-03-01

    The article formulates requirements for energy-efficient designs of the operational equipment of a hydraulic excavator (its boom, stick and bucket) and defines, for a mechanism of that equipment, a new term “performance characteristic”. The drives of main rotation mechanisms of the equipment are realized by hydraulic actuators (hydraulic cylinders) and transmission (leverage) mechanisms, with the actuators (the cylinders themselves, their pistons and piston rods) also acting as links of the leverage. Those drives are characterized by the complexity of translating mechanical-energy parameters of the actuators into energy parameters of the driven links (a boom, a stick and a bucket). Relations between those parameters depend as much on the types of mechanical characteristics of the hydraulic actuators as on the types of structural schematics of the transmission mechanisms. To assess how energy-force parameters of the driven links change when a typical operation is performed, it was proposed to calculate performance characteristics of the main mechanisms as represented by a set of values of transfer functions, i.e. by functional dependences between driven links and driving links (actuators). Another term “ideal performance characteristic” of a mechanism was introduced. Based on operation-emulating models for the main mechanisms of hydraulic excavators, analytical expressions were derived to calculate kinematic and force transfer functions of the main mechanisms.

  3. Experimental Determination of Unsteady Forces on Contrarotating Propellers for Application to Torpedoes

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1981-12-01

    Experimental determination of Unsteady Forces on Contrarotating Propellers in Uniform Flow ," David Taylor Naval Ship R&D Center, Ship Performance...were planned to determine the unsteady forces on contrarotating propellers in a 4-cycle wake, there were also experiments made in uniform flow to check...Subtitle) S. TYPE OF REPORT G PERIOD COVERED Experimental Determination of Unsteady Forces on

  4. Parameter estimation and statistical analysis on frequency-dependent active control forces

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lim, Tau Meng; Cheng, Shanbao

    2007-07-01

    The active control forces of an active magnetic bearing (AMB) system are known to be frequency dependent in nature. This is due to the frequency-dependent nature of the AMB system, i.e. time lags in sensors, digital signal processing, amplifiers, filters, and eddy current and hysteresis losses in the electromagnetic coils. The stiffness and damping coefficients of these control forces can be assumed to be linear for small limit of perturbations within the air gap. Numerous studies have also attempted to estimate these coefficients directly or indirectly without validating the model and verifying the results. This paper seeks to address these issues, by proposing a one-axis electromagnetic suspension system to simplify the measurement requirements and eliminate the possibility of control force cross-coupling capabilities. It also proposes an on-line frequency domain parameter estimation procedure with statistical information to provide a quantitative measure for model validation and results verification purposes. This would lead to a better understanding and a design platform for optimal vibration control scheme for suspended system. This is achieved by injecting Schroeder Phased Harmonic Sequences (SPHS), a multi-frequency test signal, to persistently excite all possible suspended system modes. By treating the system as a black box, the parameter estimation of the "actual" stiffness and damping coefficients in the frequency domain are realised experimentally. The digitally implemented PID controller also facilitated changes on the feedback gains, and this allowed numerous system response measurements with their corresponding estimated stiffness and damping coefficients.

  5. Interaction of Rate of Force Development and Duration of Rate in Isometric Force.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Siegel, Donald

    A study attempted to determine whether force and duration parameters are programmed in an interactive or independent fashion prior to executing ballistic type isometric contractions of graded intensities. Four adult females each performed 360 trials of producing ballistic type forces representing 25, 40, 55, and 75 percent of their maximal…

  6. Instrument for the measurement and determination of chemical pulse column parameters

    DOEpatents

    Marchant, Norman J.; Morgan, John P.

    1990-01-01

    An instrument for monitoring and measuring pneumatic driving force pulse parameters applied to chemical separation pulse columns obtains real time pulse frequency and root mean square amplitude values, calculates column inch values and compares these values against preset limits to alert column operators to the variations of pulse column operational parameters beyond desired limits.

  7. Exploring the parameter space of the coarse-grained UNRES force field by random search: selecting a transferable medium-resolution force field.

    PubMed

    He, Yi; Xiao, Yi; Liwo, Adam; Scheraga, Harold A

    2009-10-01

    We explored the energy-parameter space of our coarse-grained UNRES force field for large-scale ab initio simulations of protein folding, to obtain good initial approximations for hierarchical optimization of the force field with new virtual-bond-angle bending and side-chain-rotamer potentials which we recently introduced to replace the statistical potentials. 100 sets of energy-term weights were generated randomly, and good sets were selected by carrying out replica-exchange molecular dynamics simulations of two peptides with a minimal alpha-helical and a minimal beta-hairpin fold, respectively: the tryptophan cage (PDB code: 1L2Y) and tryptophan zipper (PDB code: 1LE1). Eight sets of parameters produced native-like structures of these two peptides. These eight sets were tested on two larger proteins: the engrailed homeodomain (PDB code: 1ENH) and FBP WW domain (PDB code: 1E0L); two sets were found to produce native-like conformations of these proteins. These two sets were tested further on a larger set of nine proteins with alpha or alpha + beta structure and found to locate native-like structures of most of them. These results demonstrate that, in addition to finding reasonable initial starting points for optimization, an extensive search of parameter space is a powerful method to produce a transferable force field. Copyright 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  8. Determining wave direction using curvature parameters.

    PubMed

    de Queiroz, Eduardo Vitarelli; de Carvalho, João Luiz Baptista

    2016-01-01

    The curvature of the sea wave was tested as a parameter for estimating wave direction in the search for better results in estimates of wave direction in shallow waters, where waves of different sizes, frequencies and directions intersect and it is difficult to characterize. We used numerical simulations of the sea surface to determine wave direction calculated from the curvature of the waves. Using 1000 numerical simulations, the statistical variability of the wave direction was determined. The results showed good performance by the curvature parameter for estimating wave direction. Accuracy in the estimates was improved by including wave slope parameters in addition to curvature. The results indicate that the curvature is a promising technique to estimate wave directions.•In this study, the accuracy and precision of curvature parameters to measure wave direction are analyzed using a model simulation that generates 1000 wave records with directional resolution.•The model allows the simultaneous simulation of time-series wave properties such as sea surface elevation, slope and curvature and they were used to analyze the variability of estimated directions.•The simultaneous acquisition of slope and curvature parameters can contribute to estimates wave direction, thus increasing accuracy and precision of results.

  9. Determining Kinetic Parameters for Isothermal Crystallization of Glasses

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ray, C. S.; Zhang, T.; Reis, S. T.; Brow, R. K.

    2006-01-01

    Non-isothermal crystallization techniques are frequently used to determine the kinetic parameters for crystallization in glasses. These techniques are experimentally simple and quick compared to the isothermal techniques. However, the analytical models used for non-isothermal data analysis, originally developed for describing isothermal transformation kinetics, are fundamentally flawed. The present paper describes a technique for determining the kinetic parameters for isothermal crystallization in glasses, which eliminates most of the common problems that generally make the studies of isothermal crystallization laborious and time consuming. In this technique, the volume fraction of glass that is crystallized as a function of time during an isothermal hold was determined using differential thermal analysis (DTA). The crystallization parameters for the lithium-disilicate (Li2O.2SiO2) model glass were first determined and compared to the same parameters determined by other techniques to establish the accuracy and usefulness of the present technique. This technique was then used to describe the crystallization kinetics of a complex Ca-Sr-Zn-silicate glass developed for sealing solid oxide fuel cells.

  10. Effect of hinge-moment parameters on elevator stick forces in rapid maneuvers

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jones, Robert T; Greenberg, Harry

    1944-01-01

    The importance of the stick force per unit normal acceleration as a criterion of longitudinal stability and the critical dependence of this gradient on elevator hinge-moment parameters have been shown in previous reports. The present report continues the investigation with special reference to transient effects for maneuvers of short duration.

  11. Development of method for experimental determination of wheel-rail contact forces and contact point position by using instrumented wheelset

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bižić, Milan B.; Petrović, Dragan Z.; Tomić, Miloš C.; Djinović, Zoran V.

    2017-07-01

    This paper presents the development of a unique method for experimental determination of wheel-rail contact forces and contact point position by using the instrumented wheelset (IWS). Solutions of key problems in the development of IWS are proposed, such as the determination of optimal locations, layout, number and way of connecting strain gauges as well as the development of an inverse identification algorithm (IIA). The base for the solution of these problems is the wheel model and results of FEM calculations, while IIA is based on the method of blind source separation using independent component analysis. In the first phase, the developed method was tested on a wheel model and a high accuracy was obtained (deviations of parameters obtained with IIA and really applied parameters in the model are less than 2%). In the second phase, experimental tests on the real object or IWS were carried out. The signal-to-noise ratio was identified as the main influential parameter on the measurement accuracy. Тhе obtained results have shown that the developed method enables measurement of vertical and lateral wheel-rail contact forces Q and Y and their ratio Y/Q with estimated errors of less than 10%, while the estimated measurement error of contact point position is less than 15%. At flange contact and higher values of ratio Y/Q or Y force, the measurement errors are reduced, which is extremely important for the reliability and quality of experimental tests of safety against derailment of railway vehicles according to the standards UIC 518 and EN 14363. The obtained results have shown that the proposed method can be successfully applied in solving the problem of high accuracy measurement of wheel-rail contact forces and contact point position using IWS.

  12. Reliability of spatiotemporal and kinetic gait parameters determined by a new instrumented treadmill system.

    PubMed

    Reed, Lloyd F; Urry, Stephen R; Wearing, Scott C

    2013-08-21

    Despite the emerging use of treadmills integrated with pressure platforms as outcome tools in both clinical and research settings, published evidence regarding the measurement properties of these new systems is limited. This study evaluated the within- and between-day repeatability of spatial, temporal and vertical ground reaction force parameters measured by a treadmill system instrumented with a capacitance-based pressure platform. Thirty three healthy adults (mean age, 21.5 ± 2.8 years; height, 168.4 ± 9.9 cm; and mass, 67.8 ± 18.6 kg), walked barefoot on a treadmill system (FDM-THM-S, Zebris Medical GmbH) on three separate occasions. For each testing session, participants set their preferred pace but were blinded to treadmill speed. Spatial (foot rotation, step width, stride and step length), temporal (stride and step times, duration of stance, swing and single and double support) and peak vertical ground reaction force variables were collected over a 30-second capture period, equating to an average of 52 ± 5 steps of steady-state walking. Testing was repeated one week following the initial trial and again, for a third time, 20 minutes later. Repeated measures ANOVAs within a generalized linear modelling framework were used to assess between-session differences in gait parameters. Agreement between gait parameters measured within the same day (session 2 and 3) and between days (session 1 and 2; 1 and 3) were evaluated using the 95% repeatability coefficient. There were statistically significant differences in the majority (14/16) of temporal, spatial and kinetic gait parameters over the three test sessions (P < .01). The minimum change that could be detected with 95% confidence ranged between 3% and 17% for temporal parameters, 14% and 33% for spatial parameters, and 4% and 20% for kinetic parameters between days. Within-day repeatability was similar to that observed between days. Temporal and kinetic gait parameters were typically more

  13. Experimental determination of optimum gutter brush parameters and road sweeping criteria for different types of waste.

    PubMed

    Abdel-Wahab, Magd M; Wang, Chong; Vanegas-Useche, Libardo V; Parker, Graham A

    2011-06-01

    The removal ability of gutter brushes for road sweeping for various debris types and different sweeping parameters is studied through experimental tests. The brushing test rig used comprises two commercial gutter brushes, a concrete test bed, and an asphalt test road with a gutter of 0.25 cm width and 10° slope. The brush-surface contact area is determined by sweeping sand on the concrete test bed. Sweeping problems are identified and discussed, and sweeping criteria for the different debris types are suggested. Also, optimum sweeping parameters are proposed for each debris type. In addition, debris removal mechanisms are discussed and analysed. The results indicate that for large heavy debris such as stones and gravel, it is not difficult to achieve large removal forces, because the steel bristles are relatively stiff. Conversely, high removal forces are not needed for particles of millimetre or micron sizes, but bristle curvature has to be appropriate to remove particles from road concavities. Finally, it is found that mud, especially dry mud on a rough surface, is the hardest debris to sweep, requiring a brush with a large tilt angle and a very large penetration to produce large removal forces. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Determining Spacecraft Reaction Wheel Friction Parameters

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sarani, Siamak

    2009-01-01

    Software was developed to characterize the drag in each of the Cassini spacecraft's Reaction Wheel Assemblies (RWAs) to determine the RWA friction parameters. This tool measures the drag torque of RWAs for not only the high spin rates (greater than 250 RPM), but also the low spin rates (less than 250 RPM) where there is a lack of an elastohydrodynamic boundary layer in the bearings. RWA rate and drag torque profiles as functions of time are collected via telemetry once every 4 seconds and once every 8 seconds, respectively. Intermediate processing steps single-out the coast-down regions. A nonlinear model for the drag torque as a function of RWA spin rate is incorporated in order to characterize the low spin rate regime. The tool then uses a nonlinear parameter optimization algorithm based on the Nelder-Mead simplex method to determine the viscous coefficient, the Dahl friction, and the two parameters that account for the low spin-rate behavior.

  15. CHARMM Force-Fields with Modified Polyphosphate Parameters Allow Stable Simulation of the ATP-Bound Structure of Ca(2+)-ATPase.

    PubMed

    Komuro, Yasuaki; Re, Suyong; Kobayashi, Chigusa; Muneyuki, Eiro; Sugita, Yuji

    2014-09-09

    Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is an indispensable energy source in cells. In a wide variety of biological phenomena like glycolysis, muscle contraction/relaxation, and active ion transport, chemical energy released from ATP hydrolysis is converted to mechanical forces to bring about large-scale conformational changes in proteins. Investigation of structure-function relationships in these proteins by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations requires modeling of ATP in solution and ATP bound to proteins with accurate force-field parameters. In this study, we derived new force-field parameters for the triphosphate moiety of ATP based on the high-precision quantum calculations of methyl triphosphate. We tested our new parameters on membrane-embedded sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+)-ATPase and four soluble proteins. The ATP-bound structure of Ca(2+)-ATPase remains stable during MD simulations, contrary to the outcome in shorter simulations using original parameters. Similar results were obtained with the four ATP-bound soluble proteins. The new force-field parameters were also tested by investigating the range of conformations sampled during replica-exchange MD simulations of ATP in explicit water. Modified parameters allowed a much wider range of conformational sampling compared with the bias toward extended forms with original parameters. A diverse range of structures agrees with the broad distribution of ATP conformations in proteins deposited in the Protein Data Bank. These simulations suggest that the modified parameters will be useful in studies of ATP in solution and of the many ATP-utilizing proteins.

  16. Summary of longitudinal stability and control parameters as determined from Space Shuttle Challenger flight test data

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Suit, William T.

    1989-01-01

    Estimates of longitudinal stability and control parameters for the space shuttle were determined by applying a maximum likelihood parameter estimation technique to Challenger flight test data. The parameters for pitching moment coefficient, C(m sub alpha), (at different angles of attack), pitching moment coefficient, C(m sub delta e), (at different elevator deflections) and the normal force coefficient, C(z sub alpha), (at different angles of attack) describe 90 percent of the response to longitudinal inputs during Space Shuttle Challenger flights with C(m sub delta e) being the dominant parameter. The values of C(z sub alpha) were found to be input dependent for these tests. However, when C(z sub alpha) was set at preflight predictions, the values determined for C(m sub delta e) changed less than 10 percent from the values obtained when C(z sub alpha) was estimated as well. The preflight predictions for C(z sub alpha) and C(m sub alpha) are acceptable values, while the values of C(z sub delta e) should be about 30 percent less negative than the preflight predictions near Mach 1, and 10 percent less negative, otherwise.

  17. Anharmonic interatomic force constants and thermal conductivity from Grüneisen parameters: An application to graphene

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lee, Ching Hua; Gan, Chee Kwan

    2017-07-01

    Phonon-mediated thermal conductivity, which is of great technological relevance, arises due fundamentally to anharmonic scattering from interatomic potentials. Despite its prevalence, accurate first-principles calculations of thermal conductivity remain challenging, primarily due to the high computational cost of anharmonic interatomic force constant (IFC) calculations. Meanwhile, the related anharmonic phenomenon of thermal expansion is much more tractable, being computable from the Grüneisen parameters associated with phonon frequency shifts due to crystal deformations. In this work, we propose an approach for computing the largest cubic IFCs from the Grüneisen parameter data. This allows an approximate determination of the thermal conductivity via a much less expensive route. The key insight is that although the Grüneisen parameters cannot possibly contain all the information on the cubic IFCs, being derivable from spatially uniform deformations, they can still unambiguously and accurately determine the largest and most physically relevant ones. By fitting the anisotropic Grüneisen parameter data along judiciously designed deformations, we can deduce (i.e., reverse-engineer) the dominant cubic IFCs and estimate three-phonon scattering amplitudes. We illustrate our approach by explicitly computing the largest cubic IFCs and thermal conductivity of graphene, especially for its out-of-plane (flexural) modes that exhibit anomalously large anharmonic shifts and thermal conductivity contributions. Our calculations on graphene not only exhibit reasonable agreement with established density-functional theory results, but they also present a pedagogical opportunity for introducing an elegant analytic treatment of the Grüneisen parameters of generic two-band models. Our approach can be readily extended to more complicated crystalline materials with nontrivial anharmonic lattice effects.

  18. System analysis of force feedback microscopy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rodrigues, Mario S.; Costa, Luca; Chevrier, Joël; Comin, Fabio

    2014-02-01

    It was shown recently that the Force Feedback Microscope (FFM) can avoid the jump-to-contact in Atomic force Microscopy even when the cantilevers used are very soft, thus increasing force resolution. In this letter, we explore theoretical aspects of the associated real time control of the tip position. We take into account lever parameters such as the lever characteristics in its environment, spring constant, mass, dissipation coefficient, and the operating conditions such as controller gains and interaction force. We show how the controller parameters are determined so that the FFM functions at its best and estimate the bandwidth of the system under these conditions.

  19. Discrepancies in anthropometric parameters between different models affect intervertebral rotations when loading finite element models with muscle forces from inverse static analyses.

    PubMed

    Zhu, Rui; Rohlmann, Antonius

    2014-06-01

    In only a few published finite element (FE) simulations have muscle forces been applied to the spine. Recently, muscle forces determined using an inverse static (IS) model of the spine were transferred to a spinal FE model, and the effect of methodical parameters was investigated. However, the sensitivity of anthropometric differences between FE and IS models, such as body height and spinal orientation, was not considered. The aim of this sensitivity study was to determine the influence of those differences on the intervertebral rotations (IVRs) following the transfer of muscle forces from an IS model to a FE model. Muscle forces were estimated for 20° flexion and 10° extension of the upper body using an inverse static musculoskeletal model. These forces were subsequently transferred to a nonlinear FE model of the spino-pelvic complex, which includes 243 muscle fascicles. Deviations of body height (±10 cm), spinal orientation in the sagittal plane (±10°), and body weight (±10 kg) between both models were intentionally generated, and their influences on IVRs were determined. The changes in each factor relative to their corresponding reference value of the IS model were calculated. Deviations in body height, spinal orientation, and body weight resulted in maximum changes in the IVR of 19.2%, 26% and 4.2%, respectively, relative to T12-S1 IVR. When transferring muscle forces from an IS to a FE model, it is crucial that both models have the same spinal orientation and height. Additionally, the body weight should be equal in both models.

  20. Maximum likelihood estimation of protein kinetic parameters under weak assumptions from unfolding force spectroscopy experiments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Aioanei, Daniel; Samorì, Bruno; Brucale, Marco

    2009-12-01

    Single molecule force spectroscopy (SMFS) is extensively used to characterize the mechanical unfolding behavior of individual protein domains under applied force by pulling chimeric polyproteins consisting of identical tandem repeats. Constant velocity unfolding SMFS data can be employed to reconstruct the protein unfolding energy landscape and kinetics. The methods applied so far require the specification of a single stretching force increase function, either theoretically derived or experimentally inferred, which must then be assumed to accurately describe the entirety of the experimental data. The very existence of a suitable optimal force model, even in the context of a single experimental data set, is still questioned. Herein, we propose a maximum likelihood (ML) framework for the estimation of protein kinetic parameters which can accommodate all the established theoretical force increase models. Our framework does not presuppose the existence of a single force characteristic function. Rather, it can be used with a heterogeneous set of functions, each describing the protein behavior in the stretching time range leading to one rupture event. We propose a simple way of constructing such a set of functions via piecewise linear approximation of the SMFS force vs time data and we prove the suitability of the approach both with synthetic data and experimentally. Additionally, when the spontaneous unfolding rate is the only unknown parameter, we find a correction factor that eliminates the bias of the ML estimator while also reducing its variance. Finally, we investigate which of several time-constrained experiment designs leads to better estimators.

  1. Determination of Radiative Forcing of Saharan Dust using Combined TOMS and ERBE Data

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hsu, N. Christina; Herman, Jay R.; Weaver, Clark

    1999-01-01

    The direct radiative forcing of Saharan dust aerosols has been determined by combining aerosol information derived from Nimbus-7 TOMS with radiation measurements observed at the top of atmosphere (TOA) by NOAA-9 ERBE made during February-July 1985. Cloud parameters and precipitable water derived from the NOAA-9 HIRS2 instrument were used to aid in screening for clouds and water vapor in the analyses. Our results indicate that under "cloud-free" and "dry" conditions there is a good correlation between the ERBE TOA outgoing longwave fluxes and the TOMS aerosol index measurements over both land and ocean in areas under the influence of airborne Saharan dust. The ERBE TOA outgoing shortwave fluxes were also found to correlate well with the dust loading derived from TOMS over ocean. However, the calculated shortwave forcing of Saharan dust aerosols is very weak and noisy over land for the range of solar zenith angle viewed by the NOAA-9 ERBE in 1985. Sensitivity factors of the TOA outgoing fluxes to changes in aerosol index were estimated using a linear regression fit to the ERBE and TOMS measurements. The ratio of the shortwave-to-longwave response to changes in dust loading over the ocean is found to be roughly 2 to 3, but opposite in sign. The monthly averaged "clear-sky" TOA direct forcing of airborne Saharan dust was also calculated by multiplying these sensitivity factors by the TOMS monthly averaged "clear-sky" aerosol index. Both the observational and theoretical analyses indicate that the dust layer height, ambient moisture content as well as the presence of cloud all play an important role in determining the TOA direct radiative forcing due to mineral aerosols.

  2. Determination of Complex Microcalorimeter Parameters with Impedance Measurements

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Saab, T.; Bandler, S. R.; Chervenak, J.; Figueroa-Feliciano, E.; Finkbeiner, F.; Iyomoto, N.; Kelley, R.; Kilbourne, C. A.; Lindeman, M. A.; Porter, F. S.; hide

    2005-01-01

    The proper understanding and modeling of a microcalorimeter s response requires the accurate knowledge of a handful of parameters, such as C, G, alpha, . . . . While a few of these, such 8s the normal state resistance and the total thermal conductance to the heat bath (G) are directly determined from the DC IV characteristics, some others, notoriously the heat capacity (C) and alpha, appear in degenerate combinations in most measurable quantities. The case of a complex microcalorimeter, i.e. one in which the absorber s heat capacity is connected by a finite thermal impedance to the sensor, and subsequently by another thermal impedance to the heat bath, results in an added ambiguity in the determination of the individual C's and G's. In general, the dependence of the microcalorimeter s complex impedance on these parameters varies with frequency. This variation allows us to determine the individual parameters by fitting the prediction of the microcalorimeter model to the impedance data. We describe in this paper our efforts at characterizing the Goddard X-ray microcalorimeters. Using the parameters determined with this method we them compare the pulse shape and noise spectra predicted by the microcalorimeter model to data taken with the same devices.

  3. Thermodynamic properties of liquid Au–Cu–Sn alloys determined from electromotive force measurements

    PubMed Central

    Guo, Zhongnan; Hindler, Michael; Yuan, Wenxia; Mikula, Adolf

    2011-01-01

    The thermodynamic properties of the ternary Au–Cu–Sn system were determined with the electromotive force (EMF) method using a liquid electrolyte. Three different cross-sections with constant Au:Cu ratios of 3:1, 1:1, and 1:3 were applied to measure the thermodynamic properties of the ternary system in the temperature range between the liquidus temperature of the alloys and 1023 K. The partial free energies of Sn in liquid Au–Cu–Sn alloys were obtained from EMF data. The integral Gibbs free energy and the integral enthalpy at 900 K were calculated by Gibbs–Duhem integration. The ternary interaction parameters were evaluated using the Redlich–Kister–Muggianu polynomial. PMID:22039311

  4. Vibration parameters affecting vibration-induced reflex muscle activity.

    PubMed

    Cidem, Muharrem; Karacan, Ilhan; Cakar, Halil Ibrahim; Cidem, Mehmet; Sebik, Oguz; Yilmaz, Gizem; Turker, Kemal Sitki; Karamehmetoglu, Safak Sahir

    2017-03-01

    To determine vibration parameters affecting the amplitude of the reflex activity of soleus muscle during low-amplitude whole-body vibration (WBV). This study was conducted on 19 participants. Vibration frequencies of 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, and 50 Hz were used. Surface electromyography, collision force between vibration platform and participant's heel measured using a force sensor, and acceleration measured using an accelerometer fixed to the vibration platform were simultaneously recorded. The collision force was the main independent predictor of electromyographic amplitude. The essential parameter of vibration affecting the amplitude of the reflex muscle activity is the collision force.

  5. Reparameterization of RNA chi Torsion Parameters for the AMBER Force Field and Comparison to NMR Spectra for Cytidine and Uridine.

    PubMed

    Yildirim, Ilyas; Stern, Harry A; Kennedy, Scott D; Tubbs, Jason D; Turner, Douglas H

    2010-05-11

    A reparameterization of the torsional parameters for the glycosidic dihedral angle, chi, for the AMBER99 force field in RNA nucleosides is used to provide a modified force field, AMBER99chi. Molecular dynamics simulations of cytidine, uridine, adenosine, and guanosine in aqueous solution using the AMBER99 and AMBER99chi force fields are compared with NMR results. For each nucleoside and force field, 10 individual molecular dynamics simulations of 30 ns each were run. For cytidine with AMBER99chi force field, each molecular dynamics simulation time was extended to 120 ns for convergence purposes. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, including one-dimensional (1D) (1)H, steady-state 1D (1)H nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE), and transient 1D (1)H NOE, was used to determine the sugar puckering and preferred base orientation with respect to the ribose of cytidine and uridine. The AMBER99 force field overestimates the population of syn conformations of the base orientation and of C2'-endo sugar puckering of the pyrimidines, while the AMBER99chi force field's predictions are more consistent with NMR results. Moreover, the AMBER99 force field prefers high anti conformations with glycosidic dihedral angles around 310 degrees for the base orientation of purines. The AMBER99chi force field prefers anti conformations around 185 degrees , which is more consistent with the quantum mechanical calculations and known 3D structures of folded ribonucleic acids (RNAs). Evidently, the AMBER99chi force field predicts the structural characteristics of ribonucleosides better than the AMBER99 force field and should improve structural and thermodynamic predictions of RNA structures.

  6. An improved method for determining force balance calibration accuracy

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ferris, Alice T.

    1993-01-01

    The results of an improved statistical method used at Langley Research Center for determining and stating the accuracy of a force balance calibration are presented. The application of the method for initial loads, initial load determination, auxiliary loads, primary loads, and proof loads is described. The data analysis is briefly addressed.

  7. Determining the interparticle force laws in amorphous solids from a visual image.

    PubMed

    Gendelman, Oleg; Pollack, Yoav G; Procaccia, Itamar

    2016-06-01

    We consider the problem of how to determine the force laws in an amorphous system of interacting particles. Given the positions of the centers of mass of the constituent particles we propose an algorithm to determine the interparticle force laws. Having n different types of constituents we determine the coefficients in the Laurent polynomials for the n(n+1)/2 possibly different force laws. A visual providing the particle positions in addition to a measurement of the pressure is all that is required. The algorithm proposed includes a part that can correct for experimental errors in the positions of the particles. Such a correction of unavoidable measurement errors is expected to benefit many experiments in the field.

  8. TDR method for determine IC's parameters

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Timoshenkov, V.; Rodionov, D.; Khlybov, A.

    2016-12-01

    Frequency domain simulation is a widely used approach for determine integrated circuits parameters. This approach can be found in most of software tools used in IC industry. Time domain simulation approach shows intensive usage last years due to some advantages. In particular it applicable for analysis of nonlinear and nonstationary systems where frequency domain is inapplicable. Resolution of time domain systems allow see heterogeneities on distance 1mm, determine it parameters and properties. Authors used approach based on detecting reflected signals from heterogeneities - time domain reflectometry (TDR). Field effect transistor technology scaling up to 30-60nm gate length and 10nm gate dielectric, heterojunction bi-polar transistors with 10-30nm base width allows fabricate digital IC's with 20GHz clock frequency and RF-IC's with tens GHz bandwidth. Such devices and operation speed suppose transit signal by use microwave lines. There are local heterogeneities can be found inside of the signal path due to connections between different parts of signal lines (stripe line-RF-connector pin, stripe line - IC package pin). These heterogeneities distort signals that cause bandwidth decrease for RF-devices. Time domain research methods of transmission and reflected signals give the opportunities to determine heterogeneities, it properties, parameters and built up equivalent circuits. Experimental results are provided and show possibility for inductance and capacitance measurement up to 25GHz. Measurements contains result of signal path research on IC and printed circuit board (PCB) used for 12GHz RF chips. Also dielectric constant versus frequency was measured up to 35GHz.

  9. Determination of the atrazine migration parameters in Vertisol

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Raymundo-Raymundo, E.; Hernandez-Vargas, J.; Nikol'Skii, Yu. N.; Guber, A. K.; Gavi-Reyes, F.; Prado-Pano, B. L.; Figueroa-Sandoval, B.; Mendosa-Hernandez, J. R.

    2010-05-01

    The parameters of the atrazine migration in columns with undisturbed Vertisol sampled from an irrigated plot in Guanajuato, Mexico were determined. A model of the convection-dispersion transport of the chemical compounds accounting for the decomposition and equilibrium adsorption, which is widely applied for assessing the risk of contamination of natural waters with pesticides, was used. The model parameters were obtained by solving the inverse problem of the transport equation on the basis of laboratory experiments on the transport of the 18O isotope and atrazine in soil columns with an undisturbed structure at three filtration velocities. The model adequately described the experimental data at the individual selection of the parameters for each output curve. Physically unsubstantiated parameters of the atrazine adsorption and degradation were obtained when the parameter of the hydrodynamic dispersion was determined from the data on the 18O migration. The simulation also showed that the use of parameters obtained at water content close to saturation in the calculations for an unsaturated soil resulted in the overestimation of the leaching rate and the maximum concentration of atrazine in the output curve compared to the experimental data.

  10. Pedal force determination respect to ride comfort

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mačužić, Slavica; Lukić, Jovanka; Glišović, Jasna; Miloradović, Danijela

    2017-10-01

    Automotive ergonomics is a set of knowledge which has a task to design a vehicle to make the passengers feel comfortable. Interior packaging represents an important stage in the vehicle design process, in order to enable the driver to every important aspect of movement. During the process of driving, the driver performs various movements of arms and legs, leading to a certain fatigue. Each seating position in the vehicle, contain certain boundary conditions, and for that reason it was necessary to examine how the seating position affects the driver possibilities. In this paper, the pedal forces were determined by application of Ramsis human model. Different human populations were taken into account. Correlation between subjects’ anthropometrics measures and the foot pedal force pedal was observed. Obtained results were significant input data for vehicle packaging.

  11. Ground Reaction Forces and Gait Parameters during Motorized and Non-Motorized Treadmill Walking and Runing on the International Space Station Treadmill

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hagan, Ronald Donald; Norcross, Jason; DeWitt, John; Lee, Stuart M.; McCleary, Frank; Edwards, W. Brent

    2006-01-01

    Both motorized (T-M) and non-motorized (T-NM) treadmill locomotion are used on the International Space Station (ISS) as countermeasures to the deleterious effects of prolonged weightlessness. However, the ground reaction forces (GRF) and gait parameters of these exercise modes have not been examined. The purpose of this study was to determine if differences in GRF and gait parameters exist while walking (1.34 m/s) and running (3.13 m/s) on T-M and T-NM. Dissimilar GRF and gait parameters suggest that T-M and T-NM locomotion may elicit different physiologic effects. T-NM may result in a reduced stimulus to bone formation due to a lower LR, but an increased energy cost as a result of shorter, more frequent strides. Therefore, the usage of each mode should depend upon the desired training stimulus.

  12. Noninvasive determination of optical lever sensitivity in atomic force microscopy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Higgins, M. J.; Proksch, R.; Sader, J. E.; Polcik, M.; Mc Endoo, S.; Cleveland, J. P.; Jarvis, S. P.

    2006-01-01

    Atomic force microscopes typically require knowledge of the cantilever spring constant and optical lever sensitivity in order to accurately determine the force from the cantilever deflection. In this study, we investigate a technique to calibrate the optical lever sensitivity of rectangular cantilevers that does not require contact to be made with a surface. This noncontact approach utilizes the method of Sader et al. [Rev. Sci. Instrum. 70, 3967 (1999)] to calibrate the spring constant of the cantilever in combination with the equipartition theorem [J. L. Hutter and J. Bechhoefer, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 64, 1868 (1993)] to determine the optical lever sensitivity. A comparison is presented between sensitivity values obtained from conventional static mode force curves and those derived using this noncontact approach for a range of different cantilevers in air and liquid. These measurements indicate that the method offers a quick, alternative approach for the calibration of the optical lever sensitivity.

  13. The Social Determinants of Health in Military Forces of Iran: A Qualitative Study

    PubMed Central

    Sanaeinasab, Hormoz; Ghanei, Mostafa; Mehrabi Tavana, Ali; Ravangard, Ramin; Karamali, Mazyar

    2015-01-01

    Providing effective health interventions and achieving equity in health need to apply the community-based approaches such as social determinants of health. In the military organizations, these determinants have received less attention from the military health researchers and policymakers. Therefore, this study aimed to identify and explain the social determinants affecting the health of military forces in Iran. This was a qualitative study which was conducted in 2014. The required data were collected through semistructured interviews and analyzed through Conventional Content Analysis. The studied sample consisted of 22 military health experts, policymakers, and senior managers selected using purposeful sampling method with maximum variation sampling. MAXQDA.2007 was used to analyze the collected data. After analyzing the collected data, two main contents, that is, “general social determinants of health” and “military social determinants of health,” with 22 themes and 90 subthemes were identified as the social determinants of military forces' health. Main themes were religious rule, spirituality promotion policies, international military factors, military command, and so forth. Given the role and importance of social factors determining the military forces' health, it can be recommended that the military organizations should pay more attention to these determinants in making policies and creating social, economic, and cultural structures for their forces. PMID:26379716

  14. Effect of tool geometry and cutting parameters on delamination and thrust forces in drilling CFRP/Al-Li

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    El Bouami, Souhail; Habak, Malek; Franz, Gérald; Velasco, Raphaël; Vantomme, Pascal

    2016-10-01

    Composite materials are increasingly used for structural parts in the aeronautic industries. Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Plastics (CFRP) are often used in combination with metallic materials, mostly aluminium alloys. This raises new problems in aircraft assembly. Delamination is one of these problems. In this study, CFRP/Al-Li stacks is used as experimental material for investigation effect of interaction of cutting parameters (cutting speed and feed rate) and tool geometry on delamination and thrust forces in drilling operation. A plan of experiments, based on Taguchi design method, was employed to investigate the influence of tool geometry and in particular the point angle and cutting parameters on delamination and axial effort. The experimental results demonstrate that the feed rate is the major parameter and the importance of tool point angle in delamination and thrust forces in the stacks were shown.

  15. Ligandbook: an online repository for small and drug-like molecule force field parameters.

    PubMed

    Domanski, Jan; Beckstein, Oliver; Iorga, Bogdan I

    2017-06-01

    Ligandbook is a public database and archive for force field parameters of small and drug-like molecules. It is a repository for parameter sets that are part of published work but are not easily available to the community otherwise. Parameter sets can be downloaded and immediately used in molecular dynamics simulations. The sets of parameters are versioned with full histories and carry unique identifiers to facilitate reproducible research. Text-based search on rich metadata and chemical substructure search allow precise identification of desired compounds or functional groups. Ligandbook enables the rapid set up of reproducible molecular dynamics simulations of ligands and protein-ligand complexes. Ligandbook is available online at https://ligandbook.org and supports all modern browsers. Parameters can be searched and downloaded without registration, including access through a programmatic RESTful API. Deposition of files requires free user registration. Ligandbook is implemented in the PHP Symfony2 framework with TCL scripts using the CACTVS toolkit. oliver.beckstein@asu.edu or bogdan.iorga@cnrs.fr ; contact@ligandbook.org . Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

  16. GPS determination of diurnal and semidiurnal variations in earth rotation parameters and the geocenter

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nam, Young-Sun

    One year of GPS data collected from the dense, global network of the International GPS Service for Geodynamics (IGS) stations are processed to generate a continuous time series of Earth Rotation Parameters (ERP: Polar Motion and UT1) and Geocenter (GC) with a time resolution of one hour. The spectral analysis of the time series shows that the high-frequency variations in ERP are dominated by the tidal terms at nearly diurnal and semidiurnal frequencies due to ocean tides. The amplitudes and phases of ERP variations at the 8 major diurnal and semidiurnal tidal frequencies (Q 1, O1, P1, K1, N2, M 2, S2 and K2) are estimated and compared with the results from GPS, VLBI, SLR and ocean tide models. The agreement between GPS results from this study and others is about 20 muas for PM and 2 mus for UT1. However, the. GPS results show substantial discrepancies at or near the orbit period, K2 and S2 , and less substantial but considerable discrepancies at or near twice the orbit period, K1 and P 1. The impacts of three different force models---ROCK, RTN and RPR---on the HF-ERP estimation are evaluated. The RTN and RPR model improves the orbit repeatability and accuracy of the HF-ERP/GC estimation. Diurnal and semidiurnal ERP coefficients from the RTN model augmented by the RPR model in semidiurnal retrograde PM is presented as the best GPS HF-ERP model. One year of IGS data with the currently available force models could not successfully determine HF-GC. The annual or semiannual variations in the force parameters as the function of the attitude of the satellite to the Sun are identified. Anomalies in Y-bias during eclipsing season are explained by the effects of noon-turns.

  17. Developing force fields when experimental data is sparse: AMBER/GAFF-compatible parameters for inorganic and alkyl oxoanions.

    PubMed

    Kashefolgheta, Sadra; Vila Verde, Ana

    2017-08-09

    We present a set of Lennard-Jones parameters for classical, all-atom models of acetate and various alkylated and non-alkylated forms of sulfate, sulfonate and phosphate ions, optimized to reproduce their interactions with water and with the physiologically relevant sodium, ammonium and methylammonium cations. The parameters are internally consistent and are fully compatible with the Generalized Amber Force Field (GAFF), the AMBER force field for proteins, the accompanying TIP3P water model and the sodium model of Joung and Cheatham. The parameters were developed primarily relying on experimental information - hydration free energies and solution activity derivatives at 0.5 m concentration - with ab initio, gas phase calculations being used for the cases where experimental information is missing. The ab initio parameterization scheme presented here is distinct from other approaches because it explicitly connects gas phase binding energies to intermolecular interactions in solution. We demonstrate that the original GAFF/AMBER parameters often overestimate anion-cation interactions, leading to an excessive number of contact ion pairs in solutions of carboxylate ions, and to aggregation in solutions of divalent ions. GAFF/AMBER parameters lead to excessive numbers of salt bridges in proteins and of contact ion pairs between sodium and acidic protein groups, issues that are resolved by using the optimized parameters presented here.

  18. Determination of fluid viscosity and femto Newton forces of Leishmania amazonensis using optical tweezers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fontes, Adriana; Giorgio, Selma; de Castro, Archimedes, Jr.; Neto, Vivaldo M.; de Y. Pozzo, Liliana; de Thomaz, Andre A.; Barbosa, Luiz C.; Cesar, Carlos L.

    2005-08-01

    The displacements of a polystyrene microsphere trapped by an optical tweezers (OT) can be used as a force transducer for mechanical measurements in life sciences such as the measurement of forces of living microorganisms or the viscosity of local fluids. The technique we used allowed us to measure forces on the 200 femto Newtons to 4 pico Newtons range of the protozoa Leishmania amazonensis, responsible for a serious tropical disease. These observations can be used to understand the infection mechanism and chemotaxis of these parasites. The same technique was used to measure viscosities of few microliters sample with agreement with known samples better than 5%. To calibrate the force as a function of the microsphere displacement we first dragged the microsphere in a fluid at known velocity for a broad range of different optical and hydrodynamical parameters. The hydrodynamical model took into account the presence of two walls and the force depends on drag velocity, fluid viscosity and walls proximities, while the optical model in the geometric optics regime depends on the particle and fluid refractive indexes and laser power. To measure the high numerical (NA) aperture laser beam power after the objective we used an integration sphere to avoid the systematic errors of usual power meters for high NA beams. After this careful laser power measurement we obtained an almost 45 degrees straight line for the plot of the optical force (calculated by the particle horizontal displacement) versus hydrodynamic force (calculated by the drag velocity) under variation of all the parameters described below. This means that hydrodynamic models can be used to calibrate optical forces, as we have done for the parasite force measurement, or vice-versa, as we did for the viscosity measurements.

  19. Sideways fall-induced impact force and its effect on hip fracture risk: a review.

    PubMed

    Nasiri Sarvi, M; Luo, Y

    2017-10-01

    Osteoporotic hip fracture, mostly induced in falls among the elderly, is a major health burden over the world. The impact force applied to the hip is an important factor in determining the risk of hip fracture. However, biomechanical researches have yielded conflicting conclusions about whether the fall-induced impact force can be accurately predicted by the available models. It also has been debated whether or not the effect of impact force has been considered appropriately in hip fracture risk assessment tools. This study aimed to provide a state-of-the-art review of the available methods for predicting the impact force, investigate their strengths/limitations, and suggest further improvements in modeling of human body falling. We divided the effective parameters on impact force to two categories: (1) the parameters that can be determined subject-specifically and (2) the parameters that may significantly vary from fall to fall for an individual and cannot be considered subject-specifically. The parameters in the first category can be investigated in human body fall experiments. Video capture of real-life falls was reported as a valuable method to investigate the parameters in the second category that significantly affect the impact force and cannot be determined in human body fall experiments. The analysis of the gathered data revealed that there is a need to develop modified biomechanical models for more accurate prediction of the impact force and appropriately adopt them in hip fracture risk assessment tools in order to achieve a better precision in identifying high-risk patients. Graphical abstract Impact force to the hip induced in sideways falls is affected by many parameters and may remarkably vary from subject to subject.

  20. StePar: an automatic code for stellar parameter determination

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tabernero, H. M.; González Hernández, J. I.; Montes, D.

    2013-05-01

    We introduce a new automatic code (StePar) for determinig stellar atmospheric parameters (T_{eff}, log{g}, ξ and [Fe/H]) in an automated way. StePar employs the 2002 version of the MOOG code (Sneden 1973) and a grid of Kurucz ATLAS9 plane-paralell model atmospheres (Kurucz 1993). The atmospheric parameters are obtained from the EWs of 263 Fe I and 36 Fe II lines (obtained from Sousa et al. 2008, A&A, 487, 373) iterating until the excitation and ionization equilibrium are fullfilled. StePar uses a Downhill Simplex method that minimizes a quadratic form composed by the excitation and ionization equilibrium conditions. Atmospheric parameters determined by StePar are independent of the stellar parameters initial-guess for the problem star, therefore we employ the canonical solar values as initial input. StePar can only deal with FGK stars from F6 to K4, also it can not work with fast rotators, veiled spectra, very metal poor stars or Signal to noise ratio below 30. Optionally StePar can operate with MARCS models (Gustafson et al. 2008, A&A, 486, 951) instead of Kurucz ATLAS9 models, additionally Turbospectrum (Alvarez & Plez 1998, A&A, 330, 1109) can replace the MOOG code and play its role during the parameter determination. StePar has been used to determine stellar parameters for some studies (Tabernero et al. 2012, A&A, 547, A13; Wisniewski et al. 2012, AJ, 143, 107). In addition StePar is being used to obtain parameters for FGK stars from the GAIA-ESO Survey.

  1. Optimization of Empirical Force Fields by Parameter Space Mapping: A Single-Step Perturbation Approach.

    PubMed

    Stroet, Martin; Koziara, Katarzyna B; Malde, Alpeshkumar K; Mark, Alan E

    2017-12-12

    A general method for parametrizing atomic interaction functions is presented. The method is based on an analysis of surfaces corresponding to the difference between calculated and target data as a function of alternative combinations of parameters (parameter space mapping). The consideration of surfaces in parameter space as opposed to local values or gradients leads to a better understanding of the relationships between the parameters being optimized and a given set of target data. This in turn enables for a range of target data from multiple molecules to be combined in a robust manner and for the optimal region of parameter space to be trivially identified. The effectiveness of the approach is illustrated by using the method to refine the chlorine 6-12 Lennard-Jones parameters against experimental solvation free enthalpies in water and hexane as well as the density and heat of vaporization of the liquid at atmospheric pressure for a set of 10 aromatic-chloro compounds simultaneously. Single-step perturbation is used to efficiently calculate solvation free enthalpies for a wide range of parameter combinations. The capacity of this approach to parametrize accurate and transferrable force fields is discussed.

  2. Effects of wide step walking on swing phase hip muscle forces and spatio-temporal gait parameters.

    PubMed

    Bajelan, Soheil; Nagano, Hanatsu; Sparrow, Tony; Begg, Rezaul K

    2017-07-01

    Human walking can be viewed essentially as a continuum of anterior balance loss followed by a step that re-stabilizes balance. To secure balance an extended base of support can be assistive but healthy young adults tend to walk with relatively narrower steps compared to vulnerable populations (e.g. older adults and patients). It was, therefore, hypothesized that wide step walking may enhance dynamic balance at the cost of disturbed optimum coupling of muscle functions, leading to additional muscle work and associated reduction of gait economy. Young healthy adults may select relatively narrow steps for a more efficient gait. The current study focused on the effects of wide step walking on hip abductor and adductor muscles and spatio-temporal gait parameters. To this end, lower body kinematic data and ground reaction forces were obtained using an Optotrak motion capture system and AMTI force plates, respectively, while AnyBody software was employed for muscle force simulation. A single step of four healthy young male adults was captured during preferred walking and wide step walking. Based on preferred walking data, two parallel lines were drawn on the walkway to indicate 50% larger step width and participants targeted the lines with their heels as they walked. In addition to step width that defined walking conditions, other spatio-temporal gait parameters including step length, double support time and single support time were obtained. Average hip muscle forces during swing were modeled. Results showed that in wide step walking step length increased, Gluteus Minimus muscles were more active while Gracilis and Adductor Longus revealed considerably reduced forces. In conclusion, greater use of abductors and loss of adductor forces were found in wide step walking. Further validation is needed in future studies involving older adults and other pathological populations.

  3. Intelligent tuning method of PID parameters based on iterative learning control for atomic force microscopy.

    PubMed

    Liu, Hui; Li, Yingzi; Zhang, Yingxu; Chen, Yifu; Song, Zihang; Wang, Zhenyu; Zhang, Suoxin; Qian, Jianqiang

    2018-01-01

    Proportional-integral-derivative (PID) parameters play a vital role in the imaging process of an atomic force microscope (AFM). Traditional parameter tuning methods require a lot of manpower and it is difficult to set PID parameters in unattended working environments. In this manuscript, an intelligent tuning method of PID parameters based on iterative learning control is proposed to self-adjust PID parameters of the AFM according to the sample topography. This method gets enough information about the output signals of PID controller and tracking error, which will be used to calculate the proper PID parameters, by repeated line scanning until convergence before normal scanning to learn the topography. Subsequently, the appropriate PID parameters are obtained by fitting method and then applied to the normal scanning process. The feasibility of the method is demonstrated by the convergence analysis. Simulations and experimental results indicate that the proposed method can intelligently tune PID parameters of the AFM for imaging different topographies and thus achieve good tracking performance. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Characteristics of Cavotricuspid Isthmus Ablation for Atrial Flutter Guided by Novel Parameters Using a Contact Force Catheter.

    PubMed

    Gould, Paul A; Booth, Cameron; Dauber, Kieran; Ng, Kevin; Claughton, Andrew; Kaye, Gerald C

    2016-12-01

    This study sought to investigate specific contact force (CF) parameters to guide cavotricuspid isthmus (CTI) ablation and compare the outcome with a historical control cohort. Patients (30) undergoing CTI ablation were enrolled prospectively in the Study cohort and compared with a retrospective Control cohort of 30 patients. Ablation in the Study cohort was performed using CF parameters >10 g and <40 g and a Force Time Integral (FTI) of 800 ± 10 g. The Control cohort underwent traditionally guided CTI ablation. Traditional parameters (electrogram and impedance change) were assessed in both cohorts. All ablations regardless of achieving targets were included in data analysis. Bidirectional CTI block was achieved in all of the Study and 27 of the Control cohort. Atrial flutter recurred in 3 (10%) patients (follow-up 564 ± 212 days) in the study cohort and in 3 (10%) patients (follow-up 804 ± 540 days) in the Control cohort. There were no major complications in either cohort. Traditional parameters correlated poorly with CF parameters. In the Study cohort, flutter recurrence was associated with significantly lower FTI and ablation duration, but was not associated with total average CF. CTI ablation can be safely performed using CF parameters guiding ablation, with similar long-term results to a historical ablation control group. Potentially CF parameters may provide adjunctive information to enable a more efficient CTI ablation. Further research is required to confirm this. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  5. Estimation of single plane unbalance parameters of a rotor-bearing system using Kalman filtering based force estimation technique

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shrivastava, Akash; Mohanty, A. R.

    2018-03-01

    This paper proposes a model-based method to estimate single plane unbalance parameters (amplitude and phase angle) in a rotor using Kalman filter and recursive least square based input force estimation technique. Kalman filter based input force estimation technique requires state-space model and response measurements. A modified system equivalent reduction expansion process (SEREP) technique is employed to obtain a reduced-order model of the rotor system so that limited response measurements can be used. The method is demonstrated using numerical simulations on a rotor-disk-bearing system. Results are presented for different measurement sets including displacement, velocity, and rotational response. Effects of measurement noise level, filter parameters (process noise covariance and forgetting factor), and modeling error are also presented and it is observed that the unbalance parameter estimation is robust with respect to measurement noise.

  6. Investigation of the dependence of joint contact forces on musculotendon parameters using a codified workflow for image-based modelling.

    PubMed

    Modenese, Luca; Montefiori, Erica; Wang, Anqi; Wesarg, Stefan; Viceconti, Marco; Mazzà, Claudia

    2018-05-17

    The generation of subject-specific musculoskeletal models of the lower limb has become a feasible task thanks to improvements in medical imaging technology and musculoskeletal modelling software. Nevertheless, clinical use of these models in paediatric applications is still limited for what concerns the estimation of muscle and joint contact forces. Aiming to improve the current state of the art, a methodology to generate highly personalized subject-specific musculoskeletal models of the lower limb based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans was codified as a step-by-step procedure and applied to data from eight juvenile individuals. The generated musculoskeletal models were used to simulate 107 gait trials using stereophotogrammetric and force platform data as input. To ensure completeness of the modelling procedure, muscles' architecture needs to be estimated. Four methods to estimate muscles' maximum isometric force and two methods to estimate musculotendon parameters (optimal fiber length and tendon slack length) were assessed and compared, in order to quantify their influence on the models' output. Reported results represent the first comprehensive subject-specific model-based characterization of juvenile gait biomechanics, including profiles of joint kinematics and kinetics, muscle forces and joint contact forces. Our findings suggest that, when musculotendon parameters were linearly scaled from a reference model and the muscle force-length-velocity relationship was accounted for in the simulations, realistic knee contact forces could be estimated and these forces were not sensitive the method used to compute muscle maximum isometric force. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  7. The analysis of cable forces based on natural frequency

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Suangga, Made; Hidayat, Irpan; Juliastuti; Bontan, Darwin Julius

    2017-12-01

    A cable is a flexible structural member that is effective at resisting tensile forces. Cables are used in a variety of structures that employ their unique characteristics to create efficient design tension members. The condition of the cable forces in the cable supported structure is an important indication of judging whether the structure is in good condition. Several methods have been developed to measure on site cable forces. Vibration technique using correlation between natural frequency and cable forces is a simple method to determine in situ cable forces, however the method need accurate information on the boundary condition, cable mass, and cable length. The natural frequency of the cable is determined using FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) Technique to the acceleration record of the cable. Based on the natural frequency obtained, the cable forces then can be determine by analytical or by finite element program. This research is focus on the vibration techniques to determine the cable forces, to understand the physical parameter effect of the cable and also modelling techniques to the natural frequency and cable forces.

  8. Force-field parameters from the SAFT-γ equation of state for use in coarse-grained molecular simulations.

    PubMed

    Müller, Erich A; Jackson, George

    2014-01-01

    A description of fluid systems with molecular-based algebraic equations of state (EoSs) and by direct molecular simulation is common practice in chemical engineering and the physical sciences, but the two approaches are rarely closely coupled. The key for an integrated representation is through a well-defined force field and Hamiltonian at the molecular level. In developing coarse-grained intermolecular potential functions for the fluid state, one typically starts with a detailed, bottom-up quantum-mechanical or atomic-level description and then integrates out the unwanted degrees of freedom using a variety of techniques; an iterative heuristic simulation procedure is then used to refine the parameters of the model. By contrast, with a top-down technique, one can use an accurate EoS to link the macroscopic properties of the fluid and the force-field parameters. We discuss the latest developments in a top-down representation of fluids, with a particular focus on a group-contribution formulation of the statistical associating fluid theory (SAFT-γ). The accurate SAFT-γ EoS is used to estimate the parameters of the Mie force field, which can then be used with confidence in direct molecular simulations to obtain thermodynamic, structural, interfacial, and dynamical properties that are otherwise inaccessible from the EoS. This is exemplified for several prototypical fluids and mixtures, including carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons, perfluorohydrocarbons, and aqueous surfactants.

  9. Frontal sinus parameters in computed tomography and sex determination.

    PubMed

    Akhlaghi, Mitra; Bakhtavar, Khadijeh; Moarefdoost, Jhale; Kamali, Artin; Rafeifar, Shahram

    2016-03-01

    The frontal sinus is a sturdy part of the skull that is likely to be retrieved for forensic investigations. We evaluated frontal sinus parameters in paranasal sinus computed tomography (CT) images for sex determination. The study was conducted on 200 normal paranasal sinus CT images of 100 men and 100 women of Persian origin. We categorized the studied population into three age groups of 20-34, 35-49 and ⩾ 50 years. The number of partial septa in the right frontal sinus and the maximum height and width were significantly different between the two sexes. The highest precision for sex determination was for the maximum height of the left frontal sinus (61.3%). In the 20-34 years age-group, height and width of the frontal sinus were significantly different between the two sexes and the height of the left sinus had the highest precision (60.8%). In the 35-49 years age-group, right anterior-posterior diameter had a sex determination precision of 52.3%. No frontal sinus parameter reached a statistically significant level for sex determination in the ⩾ 50 years age-group. The number of septa and scallopings were not useful in sex determination. Frontal sinus parameters did not have a high precision in sex determination among Persian adults. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.

  10. Determination of elastomeric foam parameters for simulations of complex loading.

    PubMed

    Petre, M T; Erdemir, A; Cavanagh, P R

    2006-08-01

    Finite element (FE) analysis has shown promise for the evaluation of elastomeric foam personal protection devices. Although appropriate representation of foam materials is necessary in order to obtain realistic simulation results, material definitions used in the literature vary widely and often fail to account for the multi-mode loading experienced by these devices. This study aims to provide a library of elastomeric foam material parameters that can be used in FE simulations of complex loading scenarios. Twelve foam materials used in footwear were tested in uni-axial compression, simple shear and volumetric compression. For each material, parameters for a common compressible hyperelastic material model used in FE analysis were determined using: (a) compression; (b) compression and shear data; and (c) data from all three tests. Material parameters and Drucker stability limits for the best fits are provided with their associated errors. The material model was able to reproduce deformation modes for which data was provided during parameter determination but was unable to predict behavior in other deformation modes. Simulation results were found to be highly dependent on the extent of the test data used to determine the parameters in the material definition. This finding calls into question the many published results of simulations of complex loading that use foam material parameters obtained from a single mode of testing. The library of foam parameters developed here presents associated errors in three deformation modes that should provide for a more informed selection of material parameters.

  11. AMOEBA Polarizable Force Field Parameters of the Heme Cofactor in Its Ferrous and Ferric Forms.

    PubMed

    Wu, Xiaojing; Clavaguera, Carine; Lagardère, Louis; Piquemal, Jean-Philip; de la Lande, Aurélien

    2018-05-08

    We report the first parameters of the heme redox cofactors for the polarizable AMOEBA force field in both the ferric and ferrous forms. We consider two types of complexes, one with two histidine side chains as axial ligands and one with a histidine and a methionine side chain as ligands. We have derived permanent multipoles from second-order Møller-Plesset perturbation theory (MP2). The sets of parameters have been validated in a first step by comparison of AMOEBA interaction energies of heme and a collection of biologically relevant molecules with MP2 and Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations. In a second validation step, we consider interaction energies with large aggregates comprising around 80 H 2 O molecules. These calculations are repeated for 30 structures extracted from semiempirical PM7 DM simulations. Very encouraging agreement is found between DFT and the AMOEBA force field, which results from an accurate treatment of electrostatic interactions. We finally report long (10 ns) MD simulations of cytochromes in two redox states with AMOEBA testing both the 2003 and 2014 AMOEBA water models. These simulations have been carried out with the TINKER-HP (High Performance) program. In conclusion, owing to their ubiquity in biology, we think the present work opens a wide array of applications of the polarizable AMOEBA force field on hemeproteins.

  12. Determining Parameters of Fractional-Exponential Heredity Kernels of Nonlinear Viscoelastic Materials

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Golub, V. P.; Pavlyuk, Ya. V.; Fernati, P. V.

    2017-07-01

    The problem of determining the parameters of fractional-exponential heredity kernels of nonlinear viscoelastic materials is solved. The methods for determining the parameters that are used in the cubic theory of viscoelasticity and the nonlinear theories based on the conditions of similarity of primary creep curves and isochronous creep diagrams are analyzed. The parameters of fractional-exponential heredity kernels are determined and experimentally validated for the oriented polypropylene, FM3001 and FM10001 nylon fibers, microplastics, TC 8/3-250 glass-reinforced plastic, SWAM glass-reinforced plastic, and contact molding glass-reinforced plastic.

  13. Attitude determination and parameter estimation using vector observations - Theory

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Markley, F. Landis

    1989-01-01

    Procedures for attitude determination based on Wahba's loss function are generalized to include the estimation of parameters other than the attitude, such as sensor biases. Optimization with respect to the attitude is carried out using the q-method, which does not require an a priori estimate of the attitude. Optimization with respect to the other parameters employs an iterative approach, which does require an a priori estimate of these parameters. Conventional state estimation methods require a priori estimates of both the parameters and the attitude, while the algorithm presented in this paper always computes the exact optimal attitude for given values of the parameters. Expressions for the covariance of the attitude and parameter estimates are derived.

  14. Biomechanically determined hand force limits protecting the low back during occupational pushing and pulling tasks.

    PubMed

    Weston, Eric B; Aurand, Alexander; Dufour, Jonathan S; Knapik, Gregory G; Marras, William S

    2018-06-01

    Though biomechanically determined guidelines exist for lifting, existing recommendations for pushing and pulling were developed using a psychophysical approach. The current study aimed to establish objective hand force limits based on the results of a biomechanical assessment of the forces on the lumbar spine during occupational pushing and pulling activities. Sixty-two subjects performed pushing and pulling tasks in a laboratory setting. An electromyography-assisted biomechanical model estimated spinal loads, while hand force and turning torque were measured via hand transducers. Mixed modelling techniques correlated spinal load with hand force or torque throughout a wide range of exposures in order to develop biomechanically determined hand force and torque limits. Exertion type, exertion direction, handle height and their interactions significantly influenced dependent measures of spinal load, hand force and turning torque. The biomechanically determined guidelines presented herein are up to 30% lower than comparable psychophysically derived limits and particularly more protective for straight pushing. Practitioner Summary: This study utilises a biomechanical model to develop objective biomechanically determined push/pull risk limits assessed via hand forces and turning torque. These limits can be up to 30% lower than existing psychophysically determined pushing and pulling recommendations. Practitioners should consider implementing these guidelines in both risk assessment and workplace design moving forward.

  15. Intelligent methods for the process parameter determination of plastic injection molding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gao, Huang; Zhang, Yun; Zhou, Xundao; Li, Dequn

    2018-03-01

    Injection molding is one of the most widely used material processing methods in producing plastic products with complex geometries and high precision. The determination of process parameters is important in obtaining qualified products and maintaining product quality. This article reviews the recent studies and developments of the intelligent methods applied in the process parameter determination of injection molding. These intelligent methods are classified into three categories: Case-based reasoning methods, expert system- based methods, and data fitting and optimization methods. A framework of process parameter determination is proposed after comprehensive discussions. Finally, the conclusions and future research topics are discussed.

  16. Iterative matrix algorithm for high precision temperature and force decoupling in multi-parameter FBG sensing.

    PubMed

    Hopf, Barbara; Dutz, Franz J; Bosselmann, Thomas; Willsch, Michael; Koch, Alexander W; Roths, Johannes

    2018-04-30

    A new iterative matrix algorithm has been applied to improve the precision of temperature and force decoupling in multi-parameter FBG sensing. For the first time, this evaluation technique allows the integration of nonlinearities in the sensor's temperature characteristic and the temperature dependence of the sensor's force sensitivity. Applied to a sensor cable consisting of two FBGs in fibers with 80 µm and 125 µm cladding diameter installed in a 7 m-long coiled PEEK capillary, this technique significantly reduced the uncertainties in friction-compensated temperature measurements. In the presence of high friction-induced forces of up to 1.6 N the uncertainties in temperature evaluation were reduced from several degrees Celsius if using a standard linear matrix approach to less than 0.5°C if using the iterative matrix approach in an extended temperature range between -35°C and 125°C.

  17. Comparative analysis of methods for determining bite force in the spiny dogfish Squalus acanthias.

    PubMed

    Huber, Daniel Robert; Motta, Philip Jay

    2004-01-01

    Many studies have identified relationships between the forces generated by the cranial musculature during feeding and cranial design. Particularly important to understanding the diversity of cranial form amongst vertebrates is knowledge of the generated magnitudes of bite force because of its use as a measure of ecological performance. In order to determine an accurate morphological proxy for bite force in elasmobranchs, theoretical force generation by the quadratomandibularis muscle of the spiny dogfish Squalus acanthias was modeled using a variety of morphological techniques, and lever-ratio analyses were used to determine resultant bite forces. These measures were compared to in vivo bite force measurements obtained with a pressure transducer during tetanic stimulation experiments of the quadratomandibularis. Although no differences were found between the theoretical and in vivo bite forces measured, modeling analyses indicate that the quadratomandibularis muscle should be divided into its constituent divisions and digital images of the cross-sections of these divisions should be used to estimate cross-sectional area when calculating theoretical force production. From all analyses the maximum bite force measured was 19.57 N. This relatively low magnitude of bite force is discussed with respect to the ecomorphology of the feeding mechanism of S. acanthias to demonstrate the interdependence of morphology, ecology, and behavior in organismal design. Copyright 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  18. Automatic Determination of the Conic Coronal Mass Ejection Model Parameters

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Pulkkinen, A.; Oates, T.; Taktakishvili, A.

    2009-01-01

    Characterization of the three-dimensional structure of solar transients using incomplete plane of sky data is a difficult problem whose solutions have potential for societal benefit in terms of space weather applications. In this paper transients are characterized in three dimensions by means of conic coronal mass ejection (CME) approximation. A novel method for the automatic determination of cone model parameters from observed halo CMEs is introduced. The method uses both standard image processing techniques to extract the CME mass from white-light coronagraph images and a novel inversion routine providing the final cone parameters. A bootstrap technique is used to provide model parameter distributions. When combined with heliospheric modeling, the cone model parameter distributions will provide direct means for ensemble predictions of transient propagation in the heliosphere. An initial validation of the automatic method is carried by comparison to manually determined cone model parameters. It is shown using 14 halo CME events that there is reasonable agreement, especially between the heliocentric locations of the cones derived with the two methods. It is argued that both the heliocentric locations and the opening half-angles of the automatically determined cones may be more realistic than those obtained from the manual analysis

  19. Breakpoint Forcing Revisited: Phase Between Forcing and Response

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Contardo, S.; Symonds, G.; Dufois, F.

    2018-02-01

    Using the breakpoint forcing model, for long wave generation in the surf zone, expressions for the phase difference between the breakpoint-forced long waves and the incident short wave groups are obtained. Contrary to assumptions made in previous studies, the breakpoint-forced long waves and incident wave groups are not in phase and outgoing breakpoint-forced long waves and incident wave groups are not π out of phase. The phase between the breakpoint-forced long wave and the incident wave group is shown to depend on beach geometry and wave group parameters. The breakpoint-forced incoming long wave lags behind the wave group, by a phase smaller than π/2. The phase lag decreases as the beach slope decreases and the group frequency increases, approaching approximately π/16 within reasonable limits of the parameter space. The phase between the breakpoint-forced outgoing long wave and the wave group is between π/2 and π and it increases as the beach slope decreases and the group frequency increases, approaching 15π/16 within reasonable limits of the parameter space. The phase between the standing long wave (composed of the incoming long wave and its reflection) and the incident wave group tends to zero when the wave group is long compared to the surf zone width. These results clarify the phase relationships in the breakpoint forcing model and provide a new base for the identification of breakpoint forcing signal from observations, laboratory experiments and numerical modeling.

  20. Determining the Parameters of Fractional Exponential Hereditary Kernels for Nonlinear Viscoelastic Materials

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Golub, V. P.; Pavlyuk, Ya. V.; Fernati, P. V.

    2013-03-01

    The parameters of fractional-exponential hereditary kernels for nonlinear viscoelastic materials are determined. Methods for determining the parameters used in the third-order theory of viscoelasticity and in nonlinear theories based on the similarity of primary creep curves and the similarity of isochronous creep curves are analyzed. The parameters of fractional-exponential hereditary kernels are determined and tested against experimental data for microplastic, TC-8/3-250 glass-reinforced plastics, SVAM glass-reinforced plastics. The results (tables and plots) are analyzed

  1. Determination of Ammunition Training Rates for Marine Forces Study. Volume 2.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1983-09-17

    ARD-fl44 430 DETERMINATION OF AMMUNITION TRAINING RATES FOR MARINE i/n FORCES STUDY VOLUME 2(U) MARINE CORPS DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATION COMMAND... STUDY - VOL II LIEUTENANT COLONEL R. J. YEOMAN C) DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF FOR DEVELOPMENTAL COORDINATION MY) DEVELOPMENT CENTER ’ MARINE CORPS...MARINE FORCES STUDY , DECISION S. PERFORMING ORG. REPORT NUMBER MEMORANDUM 7. AUTHOR(#) S. CONTR 4T9M GRANT NUMUER(s) M 00027- -G-0 060 LtCol R. J

  2. A square-force cohesion model and its extraction from bulk measurements

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Peiyuan; Lamarche, Casey; Kellogg, Kevin; Hrenya, Christine

    2017-11-01

    Cohesive particles remain poorly understood, with order of magnitude differences exhibited for prior, physical predictions of agglomerate size. A major obstacle lies in the absence of robust models of particle-particle cohesion, thereby precluding accurate prediction of the behavior of cohesive particles. Rigorous cohesion models commonly contain parameters related to surface roughness, to which cohesion shows extreme sensitivity. However, both roughness measurement and its distillation into these model parameters are challenging. Accordingly, we propose a ``square-force'' model, where cohesive force remains constant until a cut-off separation. Via DEM simulations, we demonstrate validity of the square-force model as surrogate of more rigorous models, when its two parameters are selected to match the two key quantities governing dense and dilute granular flows, namely maximum cohesive force and critical cohesive energy, respectively. Perhaps more importantly, we establish a method to extract the parameters in the square-force model via defluidization, due to its ability to isolate the effects of the two parameters. Thus, instead of relying on complicated scans of individual grains, determination of particle-particle cohesion from simple bulk measurements becomes feasible. Dow Corning Corporation.

  3. Determination of brace forces caused by construction loads and wind loads during bridge construction.

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    2014-04-01

    The first objective of this study was to develop procedures for determining bracing forces during bridge construction. : Numerical finite element models and analysis techniques were developed for evaluating brace forces induced by construction loads ...

  4. Improved Peptide and Protein Torsional Energetics with the OPLSAA Force Field.

    PubMed

    Robertson, Michael J; Tirado-Rives, Julian; Jorgensen, William L

    2015-07-14

    The development and validation of new peptide dihedral parameters are reported for the OPLS-AA force field. High accuracy quantum chemical methods were used to scan φ, ψ, χ1, and χ2 potential energy surfaces for blocked dipeptides. New Fourier coefficients for the dihedral angle terms of the OPLS-AA force field were fit to these surfaces, utilizing a Boltzmann-weighted error function and systematically examining the effects of weighting temperature. To prevent overfitting to the available data, a minimal number of new residue-specific and peptide-specific torsion terms were developed. Extensive experimental solution-phase and quantum chemical gas-phase benchmarks were used to assess the quality of the new parameters, named OPLS-AA/M, demonstrating significant improvement over previous OPLS-AA force fields. A Boltzmann weighting temperature of 2000 K was determined to be optimal for fitting the new Fourier coefficients for dihedral angle parameters. Conclusions are drawn from the results for best practices for developing new torsion parameters for protein force fields.

  5. Determination of the optimal mesh parameters for Iguassu centrifuge flow and separation calculations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Romanihin, S. M.; Tronin, I. V.

    2016-09-01

    We present the method and the results of the determination for optimal computational mesh parameters for axisymmetric modeling of flow and separation in the Iguasu gas centrifuge. The aim of this work was to determine the mesh parameters which provide relatively low computational cost whithout loss of accuracy. We use direct search optimization algorithm to calculate optimal mesh parameters. Obtained parameters were tested by the calculation of the optimal working regime of the Iguasu GC. Separative power calculated using the optimal mesh parameters differs less than 0.5% from the result obtained on the detailed mesh. Presented method can be used to determine optimal mesh parameters of the Iguasu GC with different rotor speeds.

  6. Impact parameter determination in experimental analysis using a neural network

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Haddad, F.; Hagel, K.; Li, J.; Mdeiwayeh, N.; Natowitz, J. B.; Wada, R.; Xiao, B.; David, C.; Freslier, M.; Aichelin, J.

    1997-03-01

    A neural network is used to determine the impact parameter in 40Ca+40Ca reactions. The effect of the detection efficiency as well as the model dependence of the training procedure has been studied carefully. An overall improvement of the impact parameter determination of 25% is obtained using this technique. The analysis of Amphora 40Ca+40Ca data at 35 MeV per nucleon using a neural network shows two well-separated classes of events among the selected ``complete'' events.

  7. Calculation of Excavation Force for ISRU on Lunar Surface

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Zeng, Xiangwu (David); Burnoski, Louis; Agui, Juan H.; Wilkinson, Allen

    2007-01-01

    Accurately predicting the excavation force that will be encountered by digging tools on the lunar surface is a crucial element of in-situ resource utilization (ISRU). Based on principles of soil mechanics, this paper develops an analytical model that is relatively simple to apply and uses soil parameters that can be determined by traditional soil strength tests. The influence of important parameters on the excavation force is investigated. The results are compared with that predicted by other available theories. Results of preliminary soil tests on lunar stimulant are also reported.

  8. Simple Criteria to Determine the Set of Key Parameters of the DRPE Method by a Brute-force Attack

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nalegaev, S. S.; Petrov, N. V.

    Known techniques of breaking Double Random Phase Encoding (DRPE), which bypass the resource-intensive brute-force method, require at least two conditions: the attacker knows the encryption algorithm; there is an access to the pairs of source and encoded images. Our numerical results show that for the accurate recovery by numerical brute-force attack, someone needs only some a priori information about the source images, which can be quite general. From the results of our numerical experiments with optical data encryption DRPE with digital holography, we have proposed four simple criteria for guaranteed and accurate data recovery. These criteria can be applied, if the grayscale, binary (including QR-codes) or color images are used as a source.

  9. Joint mobilization forces and therapist reliability in subjects with knee osteoarthritis

    PubMed Central

    Tragord, Bradley S; Gill, Norman W; Silvernail, Jason L; Teyhen, Deydre S; Allison, Stephen C

    2013-01-01

    Objectives: This study determined biomechanical force parameters and reliability among clinicians performing knee joint mobilizations. Methods: Sixteen subjects with knee osteoarthritis and six therapists participated in the study. Forces were recorded using a capacitive-based pressure mat for three techniques at two grades of mobilization, each with two trials of 15 seconds. Dosage (force–time integral), amplitude, and frequency were also calculated. Analysis of variance was used to analyze grade differences, intraclass correlation coefficients determined reliability, and correlations assessed force associations with subject and rater variables. Results: Grade IV mobilizations produced higher mean forces (P<0.001) and higher dosage (P<0.001), while grade III produced higher maximum forces (P = 0.001). Grade III forces (Newtons) by technique (mean, maximum) were: extension 48, 81; flexion 41, 68; and medial glide 21, 34. Grade IV forces (Newtons) by technique (mean, maximum) were: extension 58, 78; flexion 44, 60; and medial glide 22, 30. Frequency (Hertz) ranged between 0.9–1.1 (grade III) and 1.4–1.6 (grade IV). Intra-clinician reliability was excellent (>0.90). Inter-clinician reliability was moderate for force and dosage, and poor for amplitude and frequency. Discussion: Force measurements were consistent with previously reported ranges and clinical constructs. Grade III and grade IV mobilizations can be distinguished from each other with differences for force and frequency being small, and dosage and amplitude being large. Intra-clinician reliability was excellent for all biomechanical parameters and inter-clinician reliability for dosage, the main variable of clinical interest, was moderate. This study quantified the applied forces among multiple clinicians, which may help determine optimal dosage and standardize care. PMID:24421632

  10. A partition function-based weighting scheme in force field parameter development using ab initio calculation results in global configurational space.

    PubMed

    Wu, Yao; Dai, Xiaodong; Huang, Niu; Zhao, Lifeng

    2013-06-05

    In force field parameter development using ab initio potential energy surfaces (PES) as target data, an important but often neglected matter is the lack of a weighting scheme with optimal discrimination power to fit the target data. Here, we developed a novel partition function-based weighting scheme, which not only fits the target potential energies exponentially like the general Boltzmann weighting method, but also reduces the effect of fitting errors leading to overfitting. The van der Waals (vdW) parameters of benzene and propane were reparameterized by using the new weighting scheme to fit the high-level ab initio PESs probed by a water molecule in global configurational space. The molecular simulation results indicate that the newly derived parameters are capable of reproducing experimental properties in a broader range of temperatures, which supports the partition function-based weighting scheme. Our simulation results also suggest that structural properties are more sensitive to vdW parameters than partial atomic charge parameters in these systems although the electrostatic interactions are still important in energetic properties. As no prerequisite conditions are required, the partition function-based weighting method may be applied in developing any types of force field parameters. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  11. Age-related differences in finger force control are characterized by reduced force production.

    PubMed

    Vieluf, Solveig; Godde, Ben; Reuter, Eva-Maria; Voelcker-Rehage, Claudia

    2013-01-01

    It has been repeatedly shown that precise finger force control declines with age. The tasks and evaluation parameters used to reveal age-related differences vary between studies. In order to examine effects of task characteristics, young adults (18-25 years) and late middle-aged adults (55-65 years) performed precision grip tasks with varying speed and force requirements. Different outcome variables were used to evaluate age-related differences. Age-related differences were confirmed for performance accuracy (TWR) and variability (relative root mean square error, rRMSE). The task characteristics, however, influenced accuracy and variability in both age groups: Force modulation performance at higher speed was poorer than at lower speed and at fixed force levels than at force levels adjusted to the individual maximum forces. This effect tended to be stronger for older participants for the rRMSE. A curve fit confirmed the age-related differences for both spatial force tracking parameters (amplitude and intercept) and for one temporal parameter (phase shift), but not for the temporal parameter frequency. Additionally, matching the timing parameters of the sine wave seemed to be more important than matching the spatial parameters in both young adults and late middle-aged adults. However, the effect was stronger for the group of late middle-aged, even though maximum voluntary contraction was not significantly different between groups. Our data indicate that changes in the processing of fine motor control tasks with increasing age are caused by difficulties of late middle-aged adults to produce a predefined amount of force in a short time.

  12. Selecting Design Parameters for Flying Vehicles

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Makeev, V. I.; Strel'nikova, E. A.; Trofimenko, P. E.; Bondar', A. V.

    2013-09-01

    Studying the influence of a number of design parameters of solid-propellant rockets on the longitudinal and lateral dispersion is an important applied problem. A mathematical model of a rigid body of variable mass moving in a disturbed medium exerting both wave drag and friction is considered. The model makes it possible to determine the coefficients of aerodynamic forces and moments, which affect the motion of vehicles, and to assess the effect of design parameters on their accuracy

  13. Dynamic calibration of higher eigenmode parameters of a cantilever in atomic force microscopy by using tip–surface interactions

    DOE PAGES

    Borysov, Stanislav S.; Forchheimer, Daniel; Haviland, David B.

    2014-10-29

    Here we present a theoretical framework for the dynamic calibration of the higher eigenmode parameters (stiffness and optical lever inverse responsivity) of a cantilever. The method is based on the tip–surface force reconstruction technique and does not require any prior knowledge of the eigenmode shape or the particular form of the tip–surface interaction. The calibration method proposed requires a single-point force measurement by using a multimodal drive and its accuracy is independent of the unknown physical amplitude of a higher eigenmode.

  14. Impact of lubricant parameters on rotary instrument torque and force.

    PubMed

    Boessler, Claudia; Peters, Ove A; Zehnder, Matthias

    2007-03-01

    In the current study, the impact of lubricant parameters on simulated root canal instrumentation was investigated. Using size 30 ProFile .06 instruments in milled artificial root canals in human dentin, the effects of sodium hypochlorite (1% NaOCl) and a chelator (18% etidronic acid) in aqueous irrigants on maximum torque, full torsional load, and maximum force values were gauged using a torque testing platform. Furthermore, the impact of the time a chelating lubricant was exposed to dentin as well as its galenic form (aqueous vs. gel-type) on the above outcome variables was evaluated. Aqueous lubricants significantly (p < 0.05, ANOVA, Newman-Keuls) reduced all outcome variables compared to dry conditions. The incorporation of a chelator further reduced these values (p < 0.05), whereas hypochlorite behaved similar to water. The chelator effect was immediate and did not increase with time. An aqueous lubricant was more beneficial than a gel-type counterpart.

  15. Determination of detonation parameters for liquid High Explosives

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mochalova, Valentina; Utkin, Alexander

    2011-06-01

    The experimental investigation of detonation parameters and reaction zone structure in liquid HE (bis-(2-fluoro-2,2-dinitroethyl)formal (FEFO), tetranitromethane (TNM), nitromethane (NM)) was conducted. Detonation front in TNM and NM was stable while the instability of detonation in FEFO was observed. Von Neumann spike was recorded for these HE and its parameters were determined. The different methods for C-J point determination were used for each HE. For FEFO reaction time τ was found from experiments with different charge diameters (τ is approximately equal to 300 ns); for TNM - at fixed diameter and different lengths of charges (τ ~ 200 ns); for NM - at fixed diameter and length of charges, but detonation initiation was carried out by different explosive charges (τ ~ 50 ns). It was found that in TNM the detonation velocity depends on charge diameter. Maximum value of reaction rate in investigated liquid HE was observed after shock jump and induction time was not recorded.

  16. Determination of detonation parameters for liquid high explosives

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mochalova, Valentina; Utkin, Alexander

    2012-03-01

    The experimental investigation of detonation parameters and reaction zone structure in liquid HE (bis-(2-fluoro-2,2-dinitroethyl)formal (FEFO), tetranitromethane (TNM), nitromethane (NM)) was conducted by means of laser interferometer VISAR. Detonation front in TNM and NM was stable while the instability of detonation in FEFO was observed. The parameters of Von Neumann spike were determined for these HE. The different methods for C-J point determination were used for each HE. For FEFO reaction time t was found from experiments with different charge diameters (τ is approximately equal to 300 ns); for TNM - at fixed diameter and different lengths of charges (τ ≈ 200 ns); for NM - at fixed diameter and length of charges, but detonation initiation was carried out by different explosive charges (τ ≈ 50 ns). It was found that in TNM the detonation velocity depends on charge diameter. Maximum value of reaction rate in investigated liquid HE was observed after shock jump.

  17. 40 CFR 86.229-94 - Road load force, test weight, and inertia weight class determination.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 18 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Road load force, test weight, and... § 86.229-94 Road load force, test weight, and inertia weight class determination. (a) Flywheels, electrical forces, or other means of simulating test weight as shown in the table in this paragraph shall be...

  18. A test method for determining adhesion forces and Hamaker constants of cementitious materials using atomic force microscopy

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Lomboy, Gilson; Sundararajan, Sriram, E-mail: srirams@iastate.edu; Wang Kejin

    2011-11-15

    A method for determining Hamaker constant of cementitious materials is presented. The method involved sample preparation, measurement of adhesion force between the tested material and a silicon nitride probe using atomic force microscopy in dry air and in water, and calculating the Hamaker constant using appropriate contact mechanics models. The work of adhesion and Hamaker constant were computed from the pull-off forces using the Johnson-Kendall-Roberts and Derjagin-Muller-Toropov models. Reference materials with known Hamaker constants (mica, silica, calcite) and commercially available cementitious materials (Portland cement (PC), ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS)) were studied. The Hamaker constants of the reference materialsmore » obtained are consistent with those published by previous researchers. The results indicate that PC has a higher Hamaker constant than GGBFS. The Hamaker constant of PC in water is close to the previously predicted value C{sub 3}S, which is attributed to short hydration time ({<=} 45 min) used in this study.« less

  19. In-vivo determination of critical force levels using an intraoral electromechanical device to measure nonpathologic tooth mobility.

    PubMed

    Wucher, Tim; Dippenaar, Alfred Meyer; Wucher, Martin

    2017-11-01

    An electromechanical device was used to experimentally characterize the movement of a single tooth within the periodontal ligament space. The force magnitude leading to the complete compression of the periodontal ligament is considered a critical force and is designated Fc. We investigated the effectiveness of the electromechanical device to repeatedly determine the critical force magnitude Fc. The study comprised 12 tests conducted on 11 subjects. Alternating labial and lingual forces were applied to a maxillary incisor by the device. The resulting immediate intra-alveolar tooth displacement was recorded in real time. Data processing was used to determine the tooth mobility curve for 193 push-pull cycles. The critical force Fc was mathematically determined for both the labial and lingual displacements of the tooth. The tooth mobility curve could be characterized for all 12 tests. A total of 386 values of Fc were calculated for the 12 different teeth. Values of Fc for each test ranged from 10.47 to 20.18 g in the lingual direction, and from 12.56 to 21.72 g in the labial direction. The electromechanical appliance was successful in repeatedly determining Fc in vivo. The ability to experimentally determine the extent of periodontal ligament compression at a given force magnitude could shed new light on the question of an optimal orthodontic force and open new avenues of orthodontic research and treatment. Copyright © 2017 American Association of Orthodontists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. STEP and STEPSPL: Computer programs for aerodynamic model structure determination and parameter estimation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Batterson, J. G.

    1986-01-01

    The successful parametric modeling of the aerodynamics for an airplane operating at high angles of attack or sideslip is performed in two phases. First the aerodynamic model structure must be determined and second the associated aerodynamic parameters (stability and control derivatives) must be estimated for that model. The purpose of this paper is to document two versions of a stepwise regression computer program which were developed for the determination of airplane aerodynamic model structure and to provide two examples of their use on computer generated data. References are provided for the application of the programs to real flight data. The two computer programs that are the subject of this report, STEP and STEPSPL, are written in FORTRAN IV (ANSI l966) compatible with a CDC FTN4 compiler. Both programs are adaptations of a standard forward stepwise regression algorithm. The purpose of the adaptation is to facilitate the selection of a adequate mathematical model of the aerodynamic force and moment coefficients of an airplane from flight test data. The major difference between STEP and STEPSPL is in the basis for the model. The basis for the model in STEP is the standard polynomial Taylor's series expansion of the aerodynamic function about some steady-state trim condition. Program STEPSPL utilizes a set of spline basis functions.

  1. A Methodology for Identifying Cost Effective Strategic Force Mixes.

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1984-12-01

    is not to say that the model could not be used to examine force increases. Given that the strategic force is already a mix of weapons, what is the...rules allow for the determination of what weapon mix to buy based on only the relative prices of the weapons and the parameters of the CES production...AD-A 151 773 AFIT/GOR/OS/84j /r A METHODOLOGY FOR IDENTIFYING COST EFFECTIVE STRATEGIC FORCE MIXES THESIS D I Thomas W. Manacapilli

  2. A parameter estimation algorithm for spatial sine testing - Theory and evaluation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Rost, R. W.; Deblauwe, F.

    1992-01-01

    This paper presents the theory and an evaluation of a spatial sine testing parameter estimation algorithm that uses directly the measured forced mode of vibration and the measured force vector. The parameter estimation algorithm uses an ARMA model and a recursive QR algorithm is applied for data reduction. In this first evaluation, the algorithm has been applied to a frequency response matrix (which is a particular set of forced mode of vibration) using a sliding frequency window. The objective of the sliding frequency window is to execute the analysis simultaneously with the data acquisition. Since the pole values and the modal density are obtained from this analysis during the acquisition, the analysis information can be used to help determine the forcing vectors during the experimental data acquisition.

  3. Contact inhibition of locomotion determines cell–cell and cell–substrate forces in tissues

    PubMed Central

    Zimmermann, Juliane; Camley, Brian A.; Rappel, Wouter-Jan; Levine, Herbert

    2016-01-01

    Cells organized in tissues exert forces on their neighbors and their environment. Those cellular forces determine tissue homeostasis as well as reorganization during embryonic development and wound healing. To understand how cellular forces are generated and how they can influence the tissue state, we develop a particle-based simulation model for adhesive cell clusters and monolayers. Cells are contractile, exert forces on their substrate and on each other, and interact through contact inhibition of locomotion (CIL), meaning that cell–cell contacts suppress force transduction to the substrate and propulsion forces align away from neighbors. Our model captures the traction force patterns of small clusters of nonmotile cells and larger sheets of motile Madin–Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells. In agreement with observations in a spreading MDCK colony, the cell density in the center increases as cells divide and the tissue grows. A feedback between cell density, CIL, and cell–cell adhesion gives rise to a linear relationship between cell density and intercellular tensile stress and forces the tissue into a nonmotile state characterized by a broad distribution of traction forces. Our model also captures the experimentally observed tissue flow around circular obstacles, and CIL accounts for traction forces at the edge. PMID:26903658

  4. Contact inhibition of locomotion determines cell-cell and cell-substrate forces in tissues.

    PubMed

    Zimmermann, Juliane; Camley, Brian A; Rappel, Wouter-Jan; Levine, Herbert

    2016-03-08

    Cells organized in tissues exert forces on their neighbors and their environment. Those cellular forces determine tissue homeostasis as well as reorganization during embryonic development and wound healing. To understand how cellular forces are generated and how they can influence the tissue state, we develop a particle-based simulation model for adhesive cell clusters and monolayers. Cells are contractile, exert forces on their substrate and on each other, and interact through contact inhibition of locomotion (CIL), meaning that cell-cell contacts suppress force transduction to the substrate and propulsion forces align away from neighbors. Our model captures the traction force patterns of small clusters of nonmotile cells and larger sheets of motile Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells. In agreement with observations in a spreading MDCK colony, the cell density in the center increases as cells divide and the tissue grows. A feedback between cell density, CIL, and cell-cell adhesion gives rise to a linear relationship between cell density and intercellular tensile stress and forces the tissue into a nonmotile state characterized by a broad distribution of traction forces. Our model also captures the experimentally observed tissue flow around circular obstacles, and CIL accounts for traction forces at the edge.

  5. Determination of Specific Forces and Tool Deflections in Micro-milling of Ti-6Al-4V alloy using Finite Element Simulations and Analysis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Farina, Simone; Thepsonti, Thanongsak; Ceretti, Elisabetta; Özel, Tugrul

    2011-05-01

    Titanium alloys offer superb properties in strength, corrosion resistance and biocompatibility and are commonly utilized in medical devices and implants. Micro-end milling process is a direct and rapid fabrication method for manufacturing medical devices and implants in titanium alloys. Process performance and quality depend upon an understanding of the relationship between cutting parameters and forces and resultant tool deflections to avoid tool breakage. For this purpose, FE simulations of chip formation during micro-end milling of Ti-6Al-4V alloy with an ultra-fine grain solid carbide two-flute micro-end mill are investigated using DEFORM software. At first, specific forces in tangential and radial directions of cutting during micro-end milling for varying feed advance and rotational speeds have been determined using designed FE simulations for chip formation process. Later, these forces are applied to the micro-end mill geometry along the axial depth of cut in 3D analysis of ABAQUS. Consequently, 3D distributions for tool deflections & von Misses stress are determined. These analyses will yield in establishing integrated multi-physics process models for high performance micro-end milling and a leap-forward to process improvements.

  6. Impact of Uncertainties in Meteorological Forcing Data and Land Surface Parameters on Global Estimates of Terrestrial Water Balance Components

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nasonova, O. N.; Gusev, Ye. M.; Kovalev, Ye. E.

    2009-04-01

    Global estimates of the components of terrestrial water balance depend on a technique of estimation and on the global observational data sets used for this purpose. Land surface modelling is an up-to-date and powerful tool for such estimates. However, the results of modelling are affected by the quality of both a model and input information (including meteorological forcing data and model parameters). The latter is based on available global data sets containing meteorological data, land-use information, and soil and vegetation characteristics. Now there are a lot of global data sets, which differ in spatial and temporal resolution, as well as in accuracy and reliability. Evidently, uncertainties in global data sets will influence the results of model simulations, but to which extent? The present work is an attempt to investigate this issue. The work is based on the land surface model SWAP (Soil Water - Atmosphere - Plants) and global 1-degree data sets on meteorological forcing data and the land surface parameters, provided within the framework of the Second Global Soil Wetness Project (GSWP-2). The 3-hourly near-surface meteorological data (for the period from 1 July 1982 to 31 December 1995) are based on reanalyses and gridded observational data used in the International Satellite Land-Surface Climatology Project (ISLSCP) Initiative II. Following the GSWP-2 strategy, we used a number of alternative global forcing data sets to perform different sensitivity experiments (with six alternative versions of precipitation, four versions of radiation, two pure reanalysis products and two fully hybridized products of meteorological data). To reveal the influence of model parameters on simulations, in addition to GSWP-2 parameter data sets, we produced two alternative global data sets with soil parameters on the basis of their relationships with the content of clay and sand in a soil. After this the sensitivity experiments with three different sets of parameters were

  7. Transition to a Source with Modified Physical Parameters by Energy Supply or Using an External Force

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kucherov, A. N.

    2017-11-01

    A study has been made of the possibility for the physical parameters of a source/sink, i.e., for the enthalpy, temperature, total pressure, maximum velocity, and minimum dimension, at a constant radial Mach number to be changed by energy or force action on the gas in a bounded zone. It has been shown that the parameters can be controlled at a subsonic, supersonic, and transonic (sonic in the limit) radial Mach number. In the updated source/sink, all versions of a vortex-source combination can be implemented: into a vacuum, out of a vacuum, into a submerged space, and out of a submerged space, partially or fully.

  8. A hierarchical Bayesian method for vibration-based time domain force reconstruction problems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Qiaofeng; Lu, Qiuhai

    2018-05-01

    Traditional force reconstruction techniques require prior knowledge on the force nature to determine the regularization term. When such information is unavailable, the inappropriate term is easily chosen and the reconstruction result becomes unsatisfactory. In this paper, we propose a novel method to automatically determine the appropriate q as in ℓq regularization and reconstruct the force history. The method incorporates all to-be-determined variables such as the force history, precision parameters and q into a hierarchical Bayesian formulation. The posterior distributions of variables are evaluated by a Metropolis-within-Gibbs sampler. The point estimates of variables and their uncertainties are given. Simulations of a cantilever beam and a space truss under various loading conditions validate the proposed method in providing adaptive determination of q and better reconstruction performance than existing Bayesian methods.

  9. GNSS orbit determination by precise modeling of non-gravitational forces acting on satellite's body

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wielgosz, Agata; Kalarus, Maciej; Liwosz, Tomasz

    2016-04-01

    Satellites orbiting around Earth are affected by gravitational forces and non-gravitational perturbations (NGP). While the perturbations caused by gravitational forces, which are due to central body gravity (including high-precision geopotential field) and its changes (due to secular variations and tides), solar bodies attraction and relativistic effects are well-modeled, the perturbations caused by the non-gravitational forces are the most limiting factor in Precise Orbit Determination (POD). In this work we focused on very precise non-gravitational force modeling for medium Earth orbit satellites by applying the various models of solar radiation pressure including changes in solar irradiance and Earth/Moon shadow transition, Earth albedo and thermal radiation. For computing influence of aforementioned forces on spacecraft the analytical box-wing satellite model was applied. Smaller effects like antenna thrust or spacecraft thermal radiation were also included. In the process of orbit determination we compared the orbit with analytically computed NGP with the standard procedure in which CODE model is fitted for NGP recovery. We considered satellites from several systems and on different orbits and for different periods: when the satellite is all the time in full sunlight and when transits the umbra and penumbra regions.

  10. Determination of the Performance Parameters of a Spectrophotometer: An Advanced Experiment.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cope, Virgil W.

    1978-01-01

    Describes an advanced analytical chemistry laboratory experiment developed for the determination of the performance parameters of a spectrophotometer. Among the parameters are the baseline linearity with wavelength, wavelength accuracy and respectability, stray light, noise level and pen response time. (HM)

  11. Linear-hall sensor based force detecting unit for lower limb exoskeleton

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Hongwu; Zhu, Yanhe; Zhao, Jie; Wang, Tianshuo; Zhang, Zongwei

    2018-04-01

    This paper describes a knee-joint human-machine interaction force sensor for lower-limb force-assistance exoskeleton. The structure is designed based on hall sensor and series elastic actuator (SEA) structure. The work we have done includes the structure design, the parameter determination and dynamic simulation. By converting the force signal into macro displacement and output voltage, we completed the measurement of man-machine interaction force. And it is proved by experiments that the design is simple, stable and low-cost.

  12. Film Condensation with and Without Body Force in Boundary-Layer Flow of Vapor Over a Flat Plate

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Chung, Paul M.

    1961-01-01

    Laminar film condensation under the simultaneous influence of gas-liquid interface shear and body force (g force) is analyzed over a flat plate. Important parameters governing condensation and heat transfer of pure vapor are determined. Mixtures of condensable vapor and noncondensable gas are also analyzed. The conditions under which the body force has a significant influence on condensation are determined.

  13. A novel approach for extracting viscoelastic parameters of living cells through combination of inverse finite element simulation and Atomic Force Microscopy.

    PubMed

    Wei, Fanan; Yang, Haitao; Liu, Lianqing; Li, Guangyong

    2017-03-01

    Dynamic mechanical behaviour of living cells has been described by viscoelasticity. However, quantitation of the viscoelastic parameters for living cells is far from sophisticated. In this paper, combining inverse finite element (FE) simulation with Atomic Force Microscope characterization, we attempt to develop a new method to evaluate and acquire trustworthy viscoelastic index of living cells. First, influence of the experiment parameters on stress relaxation process is assessed using FE simulation. As suggested by the simulations, cell height has negligible impact on shape of the force-time curve, i.e. the characteristic relaxation time; and the effect originates from substrate can be totally eliminated when stiff substrate (Young's modulus larger than 3 GPa) is used. Then, so as to develop an effective optimization strategy for the inverse FE simulation, the parameters sensitivity evaluation is performed for Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio, and characteristic relaxation time. With the experiment data obtained through typical stress relaxation measurement, viscoelastic parameters are extracted through the inverse FE simulation by comparing the simulation results and experimental measurements. Finally, reliability of the acquired mechanical parameters is verified with different load experiments performed on the same cell.

  14. Strike a Balance: Optimization of Backbone Torsion Parameters of AMBER Polarizable Force Field for Simulations of Proteins and Peptides

    PubMed Central

    WANG, ZHI-XIANG; ZHANG, WEI; WU, CHUN; LEI, HONGXING; CIEPLAK, PIOTR; DUAN, YONG

    2014-01-01

    Based on the AMBER polarizable model (ff02), we have reoptimized the parameters related to the main-chain (Φ, Ψ) torsion angles by fitting to the Boltzmann-weighted average quantum mechanical (QM) energies of the important regions (i.e., β, PII, αR, and αL regions). Following the naming convention of the AMBER force field series, this release will be called ff02pol.rl The force field has been assessed both by energetic comparison against the QM data and by the replica exchange molecular dynamics simulations of short alanine peptides in water. For Ace-Ala-Nme, the simulated populations in the β, PII and αR regions were approximately 30, 43, and 26%, respectively. For Ace-(Ala)7-Nme, the populations in these three regions were approximately 24, 49, and 26%. Both were in qualitative agreement with the NMR and CD experimental conclusions. In comparison with the previous force field, ff02pol.rl demonstrated good balance among these three important regions. The optimized torsion parameters, together with those in ff02, allow us to carry out simulations on proteins and peptides with the consideration of polarization. PMID:16526038

  15. On the Accuracy of Atmospheric Parameter Determination in BAFGK Stars

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ryabchikova, T.; Piskunov, N.; Shulyak, D.

    2015-04-01

    During the past few years, many papers determining the atmospheric parameters in FGK stars appeared in the literature where the accuracy of effective temperatures is given as 20-40 K. For main sequence stars within the 5 000-13 000 K temperature range, we have performed a comparative analysis of the parameters derived from the spectra by using the SME (Spectroscopy Made Easy) package and those found in the literature. Our sample includes standard stars Sirius, Procyon, δ Eri, and the Sun. Combining different spectral regions in the fitting procedure, we investigated an effect different atomic species have on the derived atmospheric parameters. The temperature difference may exceed 100 K depending on the spectral regions used in the SME procedure. It is shown that the atmospheric parameters derived with the SME procedure which includes wings of hydrogen lines in fitting agrees better with the results derived by the other methods and tools across a large part of the main sequence. For three stars—π Cet, 21 Peg, and Procyon—the atmospheric parameters were also derived by fitting a calculated energy distribution to the observed one. We found a substantial difference in the parameters inferred from different sets and combinations of spectrophotometric observations. An intercomparison of our results and literature data shows that the average accuracy of effective temperature determination for cool stars and for the early B-stars is 70-85 K and 170-200 K, respectively.

  16. Reference intervals for 24 laboratory parameters determined in 24-hour urine collections.

    PubMed

    Curcio, Raffaele; Stettler, Helen; Suter, Paolo M; Aksözen, Jasmin Barman; Saleh, Lanja; Spanaus, Katharina; Bochud, Murielle; Minder, Elisabeth; von Eckardstein, Arnold

    2016-01-01

    Reference intervals for many laboratory parameters determined in 24-h urine collections are either not publicly available or based on small numbers, not sex specific or not from a representative sample. Osmolality and concentrations or enzymatic activities of sodium, potassium, chloride, glucose, creatinine, citrate, cortisol, pancreatic α-amylase, total protein, albumin, transferrin, immunoglobulin G, α1-microglobulin, α2-macroglobulin, as well as porphyrins and their precursors (δ-aminolevulinic acid and porphobilinogen) were determined in 241 24-h urine samples of a population-based cohort of asymptomatic adults (121 men and 120 women). For 16 of these 24 parameters creatinine-normalized ratios were calculated based on 24-h urine creatinine. The reference intervals for these parameters were calculated according to the CLSI C28-A3 statistical guidelines. By contrast to most published reference intervals, which do not stratify for sex, reference intervals of 12 of 24 laboratory parameters in 24-h urine collections and of eight of 16 parameters as creatinine-normalized ratios differed significantly between men and women. For six parameters calculated as 24-h urine excretion and four parameters calculated as creatinine-normalized ratios no reference intervals had been published before. For some parameters we found significant and relevant deviations from previously reported reference intervals, most notably for 24-h urine cortisol in women. Ten 24-h urine parameters showed weak or moderate sex-specific correlations with age. By applying up-to-date analytical methods and clinical chemistry analyzers to 24-h urine collections from a large population-based cohort we provide as yet the most comprehensive set of sex-specific reference intervals calculated according to CLSI guidelines for parameters determined in 24-h urine collections.

  17. Systematic parameter inference in stochastic mesoscopic modeling

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lei, Huan; Yang, Xiu; Li, Zhen; Karniadakis, George Em

    2017-02-01

    We propose a method to efficiently determine the optimal coarse-grained force field in mesoscopic stochastic simulations of Newtonian fluid and polymer melt systems modeled by dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) and energy conserving dissipative particle dynamics (eDPD). The response surfaces of various target properties (viscosity, diffusivity, pressure, etc.) with respect to model parameters are constructed based on the generalized polynomial chaos (gPC) expansion using simulation results on sampling points (e.g., individual parameter sets). To alleviate the computational cost to evaluate the target properties, we employ the compressive sensing method to compute the coefficients of the dominant gPC terms given the prior knowledge that the coefficients are "sparse". The proposed method shows comparable accuracy with the standard probabilistic collocation method (PCM) while it imposes a much weaker restriction on the number of the simulation samples especially for systems with high dimensional parametric space. Fully access to the response surfaces within the confidence range enables us to infer the optimal force parameters given the desirable values of target properties at the macroscopic scale. Moreover, it enables us to investigate the intrinsic relationship between the model parameters, identify possible degeneracies in the parameter space, and optimize the model by eliminating model redundancies. The proposed method provides an efficient alternative approach for constructing mesoscopic models by inferring model parameters to recover target properties of the physics systems (e.g., from experimental measurements), where those force field parameters and formulation cannot be derived from the microscopic level in a straight forward way.

  18. Systematic parameter inference in stochastic mesoscopic modeling

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Lei, Huan; Yang, Xiu; Li, Zhen

    2017-02-01

    We propose a method to efficiently determine the optimal coarse-grained force field in mesoscopic stochastic simulations of Newtonian fluid and polymer melt systems modeled by dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) and energy conserving dissipative particle dynamics (eDPD). The response surfaces of various target properties (viscosity, diffusivity, pressure, etc.) with respect to model parameters are constructed based on the generalized polynomial chaos (gPC) expansion using simulation results on sampling points (e.g., individual parameter sets). To alleviate the computational cost to evaluate the target properties, we employ the compressive sensing method to compute the coefficients of the dominant gPC terms given the priormore » knowledge that the coefficients are “sparse”. The proposed method shows comparable accuracy with the standard probabilistic collocation method (PCM) while it imposes a much weaker restriction on the number of the simulation samples especially for systems with high dimensional parametric space. Fully access to the response surfaces within the confidence range enables us to infer the optimal force parameters given the desirable values of target properties at the macroscopic scale. Moreover, it enables us to investigate the intrinsic relationship between the model parameters, identify possible degeneracies in the parameter space, and optimize the model by eliminating model redundancies. The proposed method provides an efficient alternative approach for constructing mesoscopic models by inferring model parameters to recover target properties of the physics systems (e.g., from experimental measurements), where those force field parameters and formulation cannot be derived from the microscopic level in a straight forward way.« less

  19. Effect of epidural anaesthesia on clinician-applied force during vaginal delivery.

    PubMed

    Poggi, Sarah H; Allen, Robert H; Patel, Chirag; Deering, Shad H; Pezzullo, John C; Shin, Young; Spong, Catherine Y

    2004-09-01

    Epidural anesthesia (EA) is used in 80% of vaginal deliveries and is linked to neonatal and maternal trauma. Our objectives were to determine (1) whether EA affected clinician-applied force on the fetus and (2) whether this force influenced perineal trauma. After informed consent, multiparas with term, cephalic, singletons were delivered by 1 physician wearing a sensor-equipped glove to record force exerted on the fetal head. Those with EA were compared with those without for delivery force parameters. Regression analysis was used to identify predictors of vaginal laceration. The force required for delivery was greater in patients with EA (n = 27) than without (n = 5) (P < .01). Clinical parameters, including birth weight (P = .31) were similar between the groups. Clinician force was similar in those with no versus first- versus second-degree laceration (P = .5). Only birth weight was predictive of laceration (P = .02). Epidural use resulted in greater clinician force required for vaginal delivery of the fetus in multiparas, but this force was not associated with perineal trauma.

  20. Determination of power system component parameters using nonlinear dead beat estimation method

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kolluru, Lakshmi

    Power systems are considered the most complex man-made wonders in existence today. In order to effectively supply the ever increasing demands of the consumers, power systems are required to remain stable at all times. Stability and monitoring of these complex systems are achieved by strategically placed computerized control centers. State and parameter estimation is an integral part of these facilities, as they deal with identifying the unknown states and/or parameters of the systems. Advancements in measurement technologies and the introduction of phasor measurement units (PMU) provide detailed and dynamic information of all measurements. Accurate availability of dynamic measurements provides engineers the opportunity to expand and explore various possibilities in power system dynamic analysis/control. This thesis discusses the development of a parameter determination algorithm for nonlinear power systems, using dynamic data obtained from local measurements. The proposed algorithm was developed by observing the dead beat estimator used in state space estimation of linear systems. The dead beat estimator is considered to be very effective as it is capable of obtaining the required results in a fixed number of steps. The number of steps required is related to the order of the system and the number of parameters to be estimated. The proposed algorithm uses the idea of dead beat estimator and nonlinear finite difference methods to create an algorithm which is user friendly and can determine the parameters fairly accurately and effectively. The proposed algorithm is based on a deterministic approach, which uses dynamic data and mathematical models of power system components to determine the unknown parameters. The effectiveness of the algorithm is tested by implementing it to identify the unknown parameters of a synchronous machine. MATLAB environment is used to create three test cases for dynamic analysis of the system with assumed known parameters. Faults are

  1. PV systems photoelectric parameters determining for field conditions and real operation conditions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shepovalova, Olga V.

    2018-05-01

    In this work, research experience and reference documentation have been generalized related to PV systems photoelectric parameters (PV array output parameters) determining. The basic method has been presented that makes it possible to determine photoelectric parameters with the state-of-the-art reliability and repeatability. This method provides an effective tool for PV systems comparison and evaluation of PV system parameters that the end-user will have in the course of its real operation for compliance with those stipulated in reference documentation. The method takes in consideration all parameters that may possibly affect photoelectric performance and that are supported by sufficiently valid procedures for their values testing. Test conditions, requirements for equipment subject to tests and test preparations have been established and the test procedure for fully equipped PV system in field tests and in real operation conditions has been described.

  2. Stromgren photometry of A-stars - A test of physical parameter determination

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Torra, J.; Figueras, F.; Jordi, C.; Rossello, G.

    1990-08-01

    By use of known published values for Teff, log g, and Mv, a check on a procedure (Figueras et al, 1990) for determining the physical parameters of A v-type stars from Stromgren photometry has been performed. External errors for the calculated physical parameters have been obtained.

  3. Heart rate variability as determinism with jump stochastic parameters.

    PubMed

    Zheng, Jiongxuan; Skufca, Joseph D; Bollt, Erik M

    2013-08-01

    We use measured heart rate information (RR intervals) to develop a one-dimensional nonlinear map that describes short term deterministic behavior in the data. Our study suggests that there is a stochastic parameter with persistence which causes the heart rate and rhythm system to wander about a bifurcation point. We propose a modified circle map with a jump process noise term as a model which can qualitatively capture such this behavior of low dimensional transient determinism with occasional (stochastically defined) jumps from one deterministic system to another within a one parameter family of deterministic systems.

  4. Determination of the Secondary Bjerknes Force in Acoustic Resonators on Ground and in Microgravity Conditions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Castro, Luz Angelica; Hoyos, Mauricio

    2016-04-01

    We propose an experimental methodology to determine the secondary Bjerknes force between rigid particles. Measurements done for different particles sizes showed acoustical inter particles interactions. We use and extend the methodology presented in a previous work. The determination of this force will lead us a better understanding of the aggregation process in acoustic resonators. We report in this work, the results of two parabolic flights campaigns performed at the Airbus A300 ZERO-G (Novespace, France).

  5. SOLAR ERUPTION AND LOCAL MAGNETIC PARAMETERS

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Lee, Jeongwoo; Chae, Jongchul; Liu, Chang

    It is now a common practice to use local magnetic parameters such as magnetic decay index for explaining solar eruptions from active regions, but there can be an alternative view that the global properties of the source region should be counted as a more important factor. We discuss this issue based on Solar Dynamics Observatory observations of the three successive eruptions within 1.5 hr from the NOAA active region 11444 and the magnetic parameters calculated using the nonlinear force-free field model. Two violent eruptions occurred in the regions with relatively high magnetic twist number (0.5–1.5) and high decay index (0.9–1.1)more » at the nominal height of the filament (12″) and otherwise a mild eruption occurred, which supports the local-parameter paradigm. Our main point is that the time sequence of the eruptions did not go with these parameters. It is argued that an additional factor, in the form of stabilizing force, should operate to determine the onset of the first eruption and temporal behaviors of subsequent eruptions. As supporting evidence, we report that the heating and fast plasma flow continuing for a timescale of an hour was the direct cause for the first eruption and that the unidirectional propagation of the disturbance determined the timing of subsequent eruptions. Both of these factors are associated with the overall magnetic structure rather than local magnetic properties of the active region.« less

  6. Analysis of Muscle Force-Velocity Parameter Changes in Elderly Women Resulting from Physical Activity--In Continuous Examinations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Skrzek, Anna; Stefanska, Malgorzata

    2012-01-01

    The aim of the paper was to evaluate changes in muscle force-velocity parameters (F-v) in elderly women subjected to physical exercise. The examinations encompassed 20 women, aged 62-71, who were students at the University of the Third Age in Wroclaw. The evaluation of flexors and extensors of the knee joint, as well as flexors and extensors of…

  7. Forced unfolding of single-chain polymeric nanoparticles.

    PubMed

    Hosono, Nobuhiko; Kushner, Aaron M; Chung, Jaeyoon; Palmans, Anja R A; Guan, Zhibin; Meijer, E W

    2015-06-03

    Atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based single-molecule force spectroscopy (SMFS) is applied to single-chain polymeric nanoparticles (SCPNs) to acquire information about the internal folding structure of SCPNs and inherent kinetic parameters of supramolecular self-assembling motifs embedded into the SCPNs. The SCPNs used here are polyacrylate-based polymers carrying 2-ureido-4-[1H]-pyrimidinone (UPy) or benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxamide (BTA) pendants that induce an intramolecular chain collapse into nanoparticles consisting of one polymer chain only via internal supramolecular cross-linking. The SCPN is stretched by an AFM cantilever to unfold mechanically, which allows measuring of force-extension profiles of the SCPNs. Consecutive peaks observed in the force profiles are attributed to rupture events of self-assembled UPy/BTA units in the SCPNs. The force profiles have been analyzed statistically for a series of polymers with different UPy/BTA incorporation densities. The results provide insights into the internal conformation of SCPNs, where the folding structure can be changed with the incorporation density of UPy/BTA. In addition, dynamic loading rate analysis allows the determination of kinetic parameters of BTA self-assembly, which has not been accessible by any other method. This study offers a rational tool for understanding the folding structure, kinetics, and pathway of two series of SCPNs.

  8. Implementation of the Global Parameters Determination in Gaia's Astrometric Solution (AGIS)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Raison, F.; Olias, A.; Hobbs, D.; Lindegren, L.

    2010-12-01

    Gaia is ESA’s space astrometry mission with a foreseen launch date in early 2012. Its main objective is to perform a stellar census of the 1000 Million brightest objects in our galaxy (completeness to V=20 mag) from which an astrometric catalog of micro-arcsec level accuracy will be constructed. A key element in this endeavor is the Astrometric Global Iterative Solution (AGIS). A core part of AGIS is to determine the accurate spacecraft attitude, geometric instrument calibration and astrometric model parameters for a well-behaved subset of all the objects (the ‘primary stars’). In addition, a small number of global parameters will be estimated, one of these being PPN γ. We present here the implementation of the algorithms dedicated to the determination of the global parameters.

  9. Invariance of Hypersonic Normal Force Coefficients with Reynolds Number and Determination of Inviscid Wave Drag from Laminar Experimental Results

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hawkins, Richard; Penland, Jim A.

    1997-01-01

    Observations have been made and reported that the experimental normal force coefficients at a constant angle of attack were constant with a variation of more than 2 orders of magnitude of Reynolds number at a free-stream Mach number M(sub infinity) of 8.00 and more than 1 order of magnitude variation at M(sub infinity) = 6.00 on the same body-wing hypersonic cruise configuration. These data were recorded under laminar, transitional, and turbulent boundary layer conditions with both hot-wall and cold-wall models. This report presents experimental data on 25 configurations of 17 models of both simple and complex geometry taken at M(sub infinity) = 6.00, 6.86, and 8.00 in 4 different hypersonic facilities. Aerodynamic calculations were made by computational fluid dynamics (CID) and engineering methods to analyze these data. The conclusions were that the normal force coefficients at a given altitude are constant with Reynolds numbers at hypersonic speeds and that the axial force coefficients recorded under laminar boundary-layer conditions at several Reynolds numbers may be plotted against the laminar parameter (the reciprocal of the Reynolds number to the one-half power) and extrapolated to the ordinate axis to determine the inviscid-wave-drag coefficient at the intercept.

  10. Measuring nanoscale viscoelastic parameters of cells directly from AFM force-displacement curves.

    PubMed

    Efremov, Yuri M; Wang, Wen-Horng; Hardy, Shana D; Geahlen, Robert L; Raman, Arvind

    2017-05-08

    Force-displacement (F-Z) curves are the most commonly used Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) mode to measure the local, nanoscale elastic properties of soft materials like living cells. Yet a theoretical framework has been lacking that allows the post-processing of F-Z data to extract their viscoelastic constitutive parameters. Here, we propose a new method to extract nanoscale viscoelastic properties of soft samples like living cells and hydrogels directly from conventional AFM F-Z experiments, thereby creating a common platform for the analysis of cell elastic and viscoelastic properties with arbitrary linear constitutive relations. The method based on the elastic-viscoelastic correspondence principle was validated using finite element (FE) simulations and by comparison with the existed AFM techniques on living cells and hydrogels. The method also allows a discrimination of which viscoelastic relaxation model, for example, standard linear solid (SLS) or power-law rheology (PLR), best suits the experimental data. The method was used to extract the viscoelastic properties of benign and cancerous cell lines (NIH 3T3 fibroblasts, NMuMG epithelial, MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 breast cancer cells). Finally, we studied the changes in viscoelastic properties related to tumorigenesis including TGF-β induced epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition on NMuMG cells and Syk expression induced phenotype changes in MDA-MB-231 cells.

  11. A numerical study of microparticle acoustophoresis driven by acoustic radiation forces and streaming-induced drag forces.

    PubMed

    Muller, Peter Barkholt; Barnkob, Rune; Jensen, Mads Jakob Herring; Bruus, Henrik

    2012-11-21

    We present a numerical study of the transient acoustophoretic motion of microparticles suspended in a liquid-filled microchannel and driven by the acoustic forces arising from an imposed standing ultrasound wave: the acoustic radiation force from the scattering of sound waves on the particles and the Stokes drag force from the induced acoustic streaming flow. These forces are calculated numerically in two steps. First, the thermoacoustic equations are solved to first order in the imposed ultrasound field taking into account the micrometer-thin but crucial thermoviscous boundary layer near the rigid walls. Second, the products of the resulting first-order fields are used as source terms in the time-averaged second-order equations, from which the net acoustic forces acting on the particles are determined. The resulting acoustophoretic particle velocities are quantified for experimentally relevant parameters using a numerical particle-tracking scheme. The model shows the transition in the acoustophoretic particle motion from being dominated by streaming-induced drag to being dominated by radiation forces as a function of particle size, channel geometry, and material properties.

  12. Methodologies to determine forces on bones and muscles of body segments during exercise, employing compact sensors suitable for use in crowded space vehicles

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Figueroa, Fernando

    1994-01-01

    A complete description of an instrumented ergometer system, including the sensors, the data acquisition system, and the methodologies to calculate the kinematic parameters were initially developed at Tulane University. This work was continued by the PI at NASA Johnson Space Center, where a flight ergometer was instrumented and tested during a KC-135 Zero-Gravity flight. The sensors that form part of the system include EMG probes and accelerometers mounted on the subject using the ergometer, load cells to measure pedal forces, and encoders to measure position and orientation of the pedal (foot). Currently, data from the flight test is being analyzed and processed to calculate the kinematic parameters of the individual. The formulation developed during the initial months of the grant will be used for this purpose. The system's components are compact (all sensors are very small). A salient feature of the system and associated methodology to determine the kinematics is that although it uses accelerometers, position is not determined by integration. Position is determined by determining the angle of two frames of reference for which acceleration at one point is known in coordinates of both frames.

  13. An individual and dynamic Body Segment Inertial Parameter validation method using ground reaction forces.

    PubMed

    Hansen, Clint; Venture, Gentiane; Rezzoug, Nasser; Gorce, Philippe; Isableu, Brice

    2014-05-07

    Over the last decades a variety of research has been conducted with the goal to improve the Body Segment Inertial Parameters (BSIP) estimations but to our knowledge a real validation has never been completely successful, because no ground truth is available. The aim of this paper is to propose a validation method for a BSIP identification method (IM) and to confirm the results by comparing them with recalculated contact forces using inverse dynamics to those obtained by a force plate. Furthermore, the results are compared with the recently proposed estimation method by Dumas et al. (2007). Additionally, the results are cross validated with a high velocity overarm throwing movement. Throughout conditions higher correlations, smaller metrics and smaller RMSE can be found for the proposed BSIP estimation (IM) which shows its advantage compared to recently proposed methods as of Dumas et al. (2007). The purpose of the paper is to validate an already proposed method and to show that this method can be of significant advantage compared to conventional methods. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Determination of nuclear quadrupolar parameters using singularities in field-swept NMR patterns.

    PubMed

    Ichijo, Naoki; Takeda, Kazuyuki; Yamada, Kazuhiko; Takegoshi, K

    2016-10-07

    We propose a simple data-analysis scheme to determine the coupling constant and the asymmetry parameter of nuclear quadrupolar interactions in field-swept nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) for static powder samples. This approach correlates the quadrupolar parameters to the positions of the singularities, which can readily be found out as sharp peaks in the field-swept pattern. Moreover, the parameters can be determined without quantitative acquisition and elaborate calculation of the overall profile of the pattern. Since both experimental and computational efforts are significantly reduced, the approach presented in this work will enhance the power of the field-swept NMR for yet unexplored quadrupolar nuclei. We demonstrate this approach in 33 S in α-S 8 and 35 Cl in chloranil. The accuracy of the obtained quadrupolar parameters is also discussed.

  15. The evaluation and validation of copper (II) force field parameters of the Auxiliary Activity family 9 enzymes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Moses, Vuyani; Tastan Bishop, Özlem; Lobb, Kevin A.

    2017-06-01

    The Auxiliary Activity family 9 (AA9) proteins are Cu2+ coordinating enzymes which are crucial for the early stages of cellulose degradation. In this study, the force field parameters for copper-containing bonds in the Type 1 AA9 protein active site were established and used in a molecular dynamics simulation on a solvated, neutralized system containing an AA9 protein, Cu2+ and a β-cellulose surface. The copper to cellulose interaction was evident during the dynamics, which could also be accelerated by the use of high Cusbnd O van der Waals parameters. The interaction of AA9, Cu2+ and cellulose is described in detail.

  16. Tropospheric Parameters Determined by VLBI Within the IVS

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Schuh, H.; Boehm, J.

    2003-12-01

    In April 2002 the IVS (International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry) set up the Pilot Project - Tropospheric Parameters, and the Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics (IGG), Vienna, was put in charge of coordinating the project. Seven IVS Analysis Centers have joined the project and regularly submitted their estimates of tropospheric parameters (wet and total zenith delays, horizontal gradients) for all IVS-R1 and IVS-R4 sessions since January 1st, 2002. The individual submissions are combined by a two-step procedure to obtain stable, robust and highly accurate tropospheric parameter time series with one hour resolution. The internal accuracy of the combined wet zenith delays is between 2 and 4 mm. The zenith delays derived by VLBI are compared with those provided by the International GPS Service (IGS). At sites with co-located VLBI and GPS antennas the short-term variabilities of the GPS and VLBI derived zenith delays generally show a good agreement but biases are found between the results of the two techniques. Possible reasons for these biases are discussed. Since July 1st, 2003, within the IVS the tropospheric parameters are determined as operational products. The presentation also includes the VLBI CONT02 campaign of 15 days of continuous observing in the second half of October 2002.

  17. Determination techniques of Archie’s parameters: a, m and n in heterogeneous reservoirs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mohamad, A. M.; Hamada, G. M.

    2017-12-01

    The determination of water saturation in a heterogeneous reservoir is becoming more challenging, as Archie’s equation is only suitable for clean homogeneous formation and Archie’s parameters are highly dependent on the properties of the rock. This study focuses on the measurement of Archie’s parameters in carbonate and sandstone core samples around Malaysian heterogeneous carbonate and sandstone reservoirs. Three techniques for the determination of Archie’s parameters a, m and n will be implemented: the conventional technique, core Archie parameter estimation (CAPE) and the three-dimensional regression technique (3D). By using the results obtained by the three different techniques, water saturation graphs were produced to observe the symbolic difference of Archie’s parameter and its relevant impact on water saturation values. The difference in water saturation values can be primarily attributed to showing the uncertainty level of Archie’s parameters, mainly in carbonate and sandstone rock samples. It is obvious that the accuracy of Archie’s parameters has a profound impact on the calculated water saturation values in carbonate sandstone reservoirs due to regions of high stress reducing electrical conduction resulting from the raised electrical heterogeneity of the heterogeneous carbonate core samples. Due to the unrealistic assumptions involved in the conventional method, it is better to use either the CAPE or 3D method to accurately determine Archie’s parameters in heterogeneous as well as homogeneous reservoirs.

  18. Toward Determining ATPase Mechanism in ABC Transporters: Development of the Reaction Path–Force Matching QM/MM Method

    PubMed Central

    Zhou, Y.; Ojeda-May, P.; Nagaraju, M.; Pu, J.

    2016-01-01

    Adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-binding cassette (ABC) transporters are ubiquitous ATP-dependent membrane proteins involved in translocations of a wide variety of substrates across cellular membranes. To understand the chemomechanical coupling mechanism as well as functional asymmetry in these systems, a quantitative description of how ABC transporters hydrolyze ATP is needed. Complementary to experimental approaches, computer simulations based on combined quantum mechanical and molecular mechanical (QM/MM) potentials have provided new insights into the catalytic mechanism in ABC transporters. Quantitatively reliable determination of the free energy requirement for enzymatic ATP hydrolysis, however, requires substantial statistical sampling on QM/MM potential. A case study shows that brute force sampling of ab initio QM/MM (AI/MM) potential energy surfaces is computationally impractical for enzyme simulations of ABC transporters. On the other hand, existing semiempirical QM/MM (SE/MM) methods, although affordable for free energy sampling, are unreliable for studying ATP hydrolysis. To close this gap, a multiscale QM/MM approach named reaction path–force matching (RP–FM) has been developed. In RP–FM, specific reaction parameters for a selected SE method are optimized against AI reference data along reaction paths by employing the force matching technique. The feasibility of the method is demonstrated for a proton transfer reaction in the gas phase and in solution. The RP–FM method may offer a general tool for simulating complex enzyme systems such as ABC transporters. PMID:27498639

  19. Quantitative Determination of Spring Water Quality Parameters via Electronic Tongue.

    PubMed

    Carbó, Noèlia; López Carrero, Javier; Garcia-Castillo, F Javier; Tormos, Isabel; Olivas, Estela; Folch, Elisa; Alcañiz Fillol, Miguel; Soto, Juan; Martínez-Máñez, Ramón; Martínez-Bisbal, M Carmen

    2017-12-25

    The use of a voltammetric electronic tongue for the quantitative analysis of quality parameters in spring water is proposed here. The electronic voltammetric tongue consisted of a set of four noble electrodes (iridium, rhodium, platinum, and gold) housed inside a stainless steel cylinder. These noble metals have a high durability and are not demanding for maintenance, features required for the development of future automated equipment. A pulse voltammetry study was conducted in 83 spring water samples to determine concentrations of nitrate (range: 6.9-115 mg/L), sulfate (32-472 mg/L), fluoride (0.08-0.26 mg/L), chloride (17-190 mg/L), and sodium (11-94 mg/L) as well as pH (7.3-7.8). These parameters were also determined by routine analytical methods in spring water samples. A partial least squares (PLS) analysis was run to obtain a model to predict these parameter. Orthogonal signal correction (OSC) was applied in the preprocessing step. Calibration (67%) and validation (33%) sets were selected randomly. The electronic tongue showed good predictive power to determine the concentrations of nitrate, sulfate, chloride, and sodium as well as pH and displayed a lower R² and slope in the validation set for fluoride. Nitrate and fluoride concentrations were estimated with errors lower than 15%, whereas chloride, sulfate, and sodium concentrations as well as pH were estimated with errors below 10%.

  20. Toward Improved Description of DNA Backbone: Revisiting Epsilon and Zeta Torsion Force Field Parameters

    PubMed Central

    Zgarbová, Marie; Luque, F. Javier; Šponer, Jiří; Cheatham, Thomas E.; Otyepka, Michal; Jurečka, Petr

    2013-01-01

    We present a refinement of the backbone torsion parameters ε and ζ of the Cornell et al. AMBER force field for DNA simulations. The new parameters, denoted as εζOL1, were derived from quantum-mechanical calculations with inclusion of conformation-dependent solvation effects according to the recently reported methodology (J. Chem. Theory Comput. 2012, 7(9), 2886-2902). The performance of the refined parameters was analyzed by means of extended molecular dynamics (MD) simulations for several representative systems. The results showed that the εζOL1 refinement improves the backbone description of B-DNA double helices and G-DNA stem. In B-DNA simulations, we observed an average increase of the helical twist and narrowing of the major groove, thus achieving better agreement with X-ray and solution NMR data. The balance between populations of BI and BII backbone substates was shifted towards the BII state, in better agreement with ensemble-refined solution experimental results. Furthermore, the refined parameters decreased the backbone RMS deviations in B-DNA MD simulations. In the antiparallel guanine quadruplex (G-DNA) the εζOL1 modification improved the description of non-canonical α/γ backbone substates, which were shown to be coupled to the ε/ζ torsion potential. Thus, the refinement is suggested as a possible alternative to the current ε/ζ torsion potential, which may enable more accurate modeling of nucleic acids. However, long-term testing is recommended before its routine application in DNA simulations. PMID:24058302

  1. Determination of Solubility Parameters of Ibuprofen and Ibuprofen Lysinate.

    PubMed

    Kitak, Teja; Dumičić, Aleksandra; Planinšek, Odon; Šibanc, Rok; Srčič, Stanko

    2015-12-03

    In recent years there has been a growing interest in formulating solid dispersions, which purposes mainly include solubility enhancement, sustained drug release and taste masking. The most notable problem by these dispersions is drug-carrier (in)solubility. Here we focus on solubility parameters as a tool for predicting the solubility of a drug in certain carriers. Solubility parameters were determined in two different ways: solely by using calculation methods, and by experimental approaches. Six different calculation methods were applied in order to calculate the solubility parameters of the drug ibuprofen and several excipients. However, we were not able to do so in the case of ibuprofen lysinate, as calculation models for salts are still not defined. Therefore, the extended Hansen's approach and inverse gas chromatography (IGC) were used for evaluating of solubility parameters for ibuprofen lysinate. The obtained values of the total solubility parameter did not differ much between the two methods: by the extended Hansen's approach it was δt = 31.15 MPa(0.5) and with IGC it was δt = 35.17 MPa(0.5). However, the values of partial solubility parameters, i.e., δd, δp and δh, did differ from each other, what might be due to the complex behaviour of a salt in the presence of various solvents.

  2. Work and power outputs determined from pedalling and flywheel friction forces during brief maximal exertion on a cycle ergometer.

    PubMed

    Hibi, N; Fujinaga, H; Ishii, K

    1996-01-01

    Work and power outputs during short-term, maximal exertion on a friction loaded cycle ergometer are usually calculated from the friction force applied to the flywheel. The inertia of the flywheel is sometimes taken into consideration, but the effects of internal resistances and other factors have been ignored. The purpose of this study was to estimate their effects by comparing work or power output determined from the force exerted on the pedals (pedalling force) with work or power output determined from the friction force and the moment of inertia of the rotational parts. A group of 22 male college students accelerated a cycle ergometer as rapidly as possible for 3 s. The total work output determined from the pedalling force (TWp) was significantly greater than that calculated from the friction force and the moment of inertia (TWf). Power output determined from the pedalling force during each pedal stroke (SPp) was also significantly greater than that calculated from the friction force and the moment of inertia. Percentage difference (% diff), defined by % diff = ¿(TWp - TWf)/TWf¿ x 100, ranged from 16.8% to 49.3% with a mean value of 30.8 (SD 9.1)%. It was observed that % diff values were higher in subjects with greater TWp or greater maximal SPp. These results would indicate that internal resistances and other factors, such as the deformation of the chain and the vibrations of the entire system, may have significant effects on the measurements of work and power outputs. The effects appear to depend on the magnitudes of pedalling force and pedal velocity.

  3. Force sensor

    DOEpatents

    Grahn, Allen R.

    1993-01-01

    A force sensor and related method for determining force components. The force sensor includes a deformable medium having a contact surface against which a force can be applied, a signal generator for generating signals that travel through the deformable medium to the contact surface, a signal receptor for receiving the signal reflected from the contact surface, a generation controller, a reception controller, and a force determination apparatus. The signal generator has one or more signal generation regions for generating the signals. The generation controller selects and activates the signal generation regions. The signal receptor has one or more signal reception regions for receiving signals and for generating detections signals in response thereto. The reception controller selects signal reception regions and detects the detection signals. The force determination apparatus measures signal transit time by timing activation and detection and, optionally, determines force components for selected cross-field intersections. The timer which times by activation and detection can be any means for measuring signal transit time. A cross-field intersection is defined by the overlap of a signal generation region and a signal reception region.

  4. A new atomic force microscope force ramp technique using digital force feedback control reveals mechanically weak protein unfolding events.

    PubMed

    Kawakami, M; Smith, D A

    2008-12-10

    We have developed a new force ramp modification of the atomic force microscope (AFM) which can control multiple unfolding events of a multi-modular protein using software-based digital force feedback control. With this feedback the force loading rate can be kept constant regardless the length of soft elastic linkage or number of unfolded polypeptide domains. An unfolding event is detected as a sudden drop in force, immediately after which the feedback control reduces the applied force to a low value of a few pN by lowering the force set point. Hence the remaining folded domains can relax and the subsequent force ramp is applied to relaxed protein domains identically in each case. We have applied this technique to determine the kinetic parameters x(u), which is the distance between the native state and transition state, and α(0), which is the unfolding rate constant at zero force, for the mechanical unfolding of a pentamer of I27 domains of titin. In each force ramp the unfolding probability depends on the number of folded domains remaining in the system and we had to take account of this effect in the analysis of unfolding force data. We obtained values of x(u) and α(0) to be 0.28 nm and 1.02 × 10(-3) s(-1), which are in good agreement with those obtained from conventional constant velocity experiments. This method reveals unfolding data at low forces that are not seen in constant velocity experiments and corrects for the change in stiffness that occurs with most mechanical systems throughout the unfolding process to allow constant force ramp experiments to be carried out. In addition, a mechanically weak structure was detected, which formed from the fully extended polypeptide chain during a force quench. This indicates that the new technique will allow studies of the folding kinetics of previously hidden, mechanically weak species.

  5. Motor unit recruitment strategies and muscle properties determine the influence of synaptic noise on force steadiness

    PubMed Central

    Dideriksen, Jakob L.; Negro, Francesco; Enoka, Roger M.

    2012-01-01

    Motoneurons receive synaptic inputs from tens of thousands of connections that cause membrane potential to fluctuate continuously (synaptic noise), which introduces variability in discharge times of action potentials. We hypothesized that the influence of synaptic noise on force steadiness during voluntary contractions is limited to low muscle forces. The hypothesis was examined with an analytical description of transduction of motor unit spike trains into muscle force, a computational model of motor unit recruitment and rate coding, and experimental analysis of interspike interval variability during steady contractions with the abductor digiti minimi muscle. Simulations varied contraction force, level of synaptic noise, size of motor unit population, recruitment range, twitch contraction times, and level of motor unit short-term synchronization. Consistent with the analytical derivations, simulations and experimental data showed that force variability at target forces above a threshold was primarily due to low-frequency oscillations in neural drive, whereas the influence of synaptic noise was almost completely attenuated by two low-pass filters, one related to convolution of motoneuron spike trains with motor unit twitches (temporal summation) and the other attributable to summation of single motor unit forces (spatial summation). The threshold force above which synaptic noise ceased to influence force steadiness depended on recruitment range, size of motor unit population, and muscle contractile properties. This threshold was low (<10% of maximal force) for typical values of these parameters. Results indicate that motor unit recruitment and muscle properties of a typical muscle are tuned to limit the influence of synaptic noise on force steadiness to low forces and that the inability to produce a constant force during stronger contractions is mainly attributable to the common low-frequency oscillations in motoneuron discharge rates. PMID:22423000

  6. Concurrent validity and reliability of using ground reaction force and center of pressure parameters in the determination of leg movement initiation during single leg lift.

    PubMed

    Aldabe, Daniela; de Castro, Marcelo Peduzzi; Milosavljevic, Stephan; Bussey, Melanie Dawn

    2016-09-01

    Postural adjustment evaluations during single leg lift requires the initiation of heel lift (T1) identification. T1 measured by means of motion analyses system is the most reliable approach. However, this method involves considerable workspace, expensive cameras, and time processing data and setting up laboratory. The use of ground reaction forces (GRF) and centre of pressure (COP) data is an alternative method as its data processing and setting up is less time consuming. Further, kinetic data is normally collected using frequency samples higher than 1000Hz whereas kinematic data are commonly captured using 50-200Hz. This study describes the concurrent-validity and reliability of GRF and COP measurements in determining T1, using a motion analysis system as reference standard. Kinematic and kinetic data during single leg lift were collected from ten participants. GRF and COP data were collected using one and two force plates. Displacement of a single heel marker was captured by means of ten Vicon(©) cameras. Kinetic and kinematic data were collected using a sample frequency of 1000Hz. Data were analysed in two stages: identification of key events in the kinetic data, and assessing concurrent validity of T1 based on the chosen key events with T1 provided by the kinematic data. The key event presenting the least systematic bias, along with a narrow 95% CI and limits of agreement against the reference standard T1, was the Baseline COPy event. Baseline COPy event was obtained using one force plate and presented excellent between-tester reliability. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. The Methodology of Calculation of Cutting Forces When Machining Composite Materials

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rychkov, D. A.; Yanyushkin, A. S.

    2016-08-01

    Cutting of composite materials has specific features and is different from the processing of metals. When this characteristic intense wear of the cutting tool. An important criterion in the selection process parameters composite processing is the value of the cutting forces, which depends on many factors and is determined experimentally, it is not always appropriate. The study developed a method of determining the cutting forces when machining composite materials and the comparative evaluation of the calculated and actual values of cutting forces. The methodology for calculating cutting forces into account specific features of the cutting tool and the extent of wear, the strength properties of the processed material and cutting conditions. Experimental studies conducted with fiberglass milling cutter equipped with elements of hard metal VK3M. The discrepancy between the estimated and the actual values of the cutting force is not more than 10%.

  8. Determination of the attractive force, adhesive force, adhesion energy and Hamaker constant of soot particles generated from a premixed methane/oxygen flame by AFM

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Ye; Song, Chonglin; Lv, Gang; Chen, Nan; Zhou, Hua; Jing, Xiaojun

    2018-03-01

    Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to characterize the attractive force, adhesive force and adhesion energy between an AFM probe tip and nanometric soot particle generated by a premixed methane/oxygen flame. Different attractive force distributions were found when increasing the height above burner (HAB), with forces ranging from 1.1-3.5 nN. As the HAB was increased, the average attractive force initially increased, briefly decreased, and then underwent a gradual increase, with a maximum of 2.54 nN observed at HAB = 25 mm. The mean adhesive force was 6.5-7.5 times greater than the mean attractive force at the same HAB, and values were in the range of 13.5-24.5 nN. The adhesion energy was in the range of 2.0-5.6 × 10-17 J. The variations observed in the average adhesion energy with increasing HAB were different from those of the average adhesion force, implying that the stretched length of soot particles is an important factor affecting the average adhesion energy. The Hamaker constants of the soot particles generated at different HABs were determined from AFM force-separation curves. The average Hamaker constant exhibited a clear correlation with the graphitization degree of soot particles as obtained from Raman spectroscopy.

  9. Quantitative Determination of Spring Water Quality Parameters via Electronic Tongue

    PubMed Central

    Carbó, Noèlia; López Carrero, Javier; Garcia-Castillo, F. Javier; Olivas, Estela; Folch, Elisa; Alcañiz Fillol, Miguel; Soto, Juan

    2017-01-01

    The use of a voltammetric electronic tongue for the quantitative analysis of quality parameters in spring water is proposed here. The electronic voltammetric tongue consisted of a set of four noble electrodes (iridium, rhodium, platinum, and gold) housed inside a stainless steel cylinder. These noble metals have a high durability and are not demanding for maintenance, features required for the development of future automated equipment. A pulse voltammetry study was conducted in 83 spring water samples to determine concentrations of nitrate (range: 6.9–115 mg/L), sulfate (32–472 mg/L), fluoride (0.08–0.26 mg/L), chloride (17–190 mg/L), and sodium (11–94 mg/L) as well as pH (7.3–7.8). These parameters were also determined by routine analytical methods in spring water samples. A partial least squares (PLS) analysis was run to obtain a model to predict these parameter. Orthogonal signal correction (OSC) was applied in the preprocessing step. Calibration (67%) and validation (33%) sets were selected randomly. The electronic tongue showed good predictive power to determine the concentrations of nitrate, sulfate, chloride, and sodium as well as pH and displayed a lower R2 and slope in the validation set for fluoride. Nitrate and fluoride concentrations were estimated with errors lower than 15%, whereas chloride, sulfate, and sodium concentrations as well as pH were estimated with errors below 10%. PMID:29295592

  10. Optimization of digital image processing to determine quantum dots' height and density from atomic force microscopy.

    PubMed

    Ruiz, J E; Paciornik, S; Pinto, L D; Ptak, F; Pires, M P; Souza, P L

    2018-01-01

    An optimized method of digital image processing to interpret quantum dots' height measurements obtained by atomic force microscopy is presented. The method was developed by combining well-known digital image processing techniques and particle recognition algorithms. The properties of quantum dot structures strongly depend on dots' height, among other features. Determination of their height is sensitive to small variations in their digital image processing parameters, which can generate misleading results. Comparing the results obtained with two image processing techniques - a conventional method and the new method proposed herein - with the data obtained by determining the height of quantum dots one by one within a fixed area, showed that the optimized method leads to more accurate results. Moreover, the log-normal distribution, which is often used to represent natural processes, shows a better fit to the quantum dots' height histogram obtained with the proposed method. Finally, the quantum dots' height obtained were used to calculate the predicted photoluminescence peak energies which were compared with the experimental data. Again, a better match was observed when using the proposed method to evaluate the quantum dots' height. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. Determining optimal parameters in magnetic spacecraft stabilization via attitude feedback

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bruni, Renato; Celani, Fabio

    2016-10-01

    The attitude control of a spacecraft using magnetorquers can be achieved by a feedback control law which has four design parameters. However, the practical determination of appropriate values for these parameters is a critical open issue. We propose here an innovative systematic approach for finding these values: they should be those that minimize the convergence time to the desired attitude. This a particularly diffcult optimization problem, for several reasons: 1) such time cannot be expressed in analytical form as a function of parameters and initial conditions; 2) design parameters may range over very wide intervals; 3) convergence time depends also on the initial conditions of the spacecraft, which are not known in advance. To overcome these diffculties, we present a solution approach based on derivative-free optimization. These algorithms do not need to write analytically the objective function: they only need to compute it in a number of points. We also propose a fast probing technique to identify which regions of the search space have to be explored densely. Finally, we formulate a min-max model to find robust parameters, namely design parameters that minimize convergence time under the worst initial conditions. Results are very promising.

  12. Stellar Parameter Determination With J-Plus Using Artificial Neural Networks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Whitten, Devin D.

    2017-10-01

    The J-PLUS narrow-band filter system provides a unique opportunity for the determination of stellar parameters and chemical abundances from photometry alone. Mapping stellar magnitudes to estimates of surface temperature, [Fe/H], and [C/Fe] is an excellent application of machine learning and in particular, artificial neural networks (ANN). The logistics and performance of this ANN methodology is explored with the J-PLUS Early Data Release, as well as the potential impact of stellar parameters from J-PLUS on the field of Galactic chemical evolution.

  13. Method of determining forest production from remotely sensed forest parameters

    DOEpatents

    Corey, J.C.; Mackey, H.E. Jr.

    1987-08-31

    A method of determining forest production entirely from remotely sensed data in which remotely sensed multispectral scanner (MSS) data on forest 5 composition is combined with remotely sensed radar imaging data on forest stand biophysical parameters to provide a measure of forest production. A high correlation has been found to exist between the remotely sensed radar imaging data and on site measurements of biophysical 10 parameters such as stand height, diameter at breast height, total tree height, mean area per tree, and timber stand volume.

  14. Prediction of surface roughness in turning of Ti-6Al-4V using cutting parameters, forces and tool vibration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sahu, Neelesh Kumar; Andhare, Atul B.; Andhale, Sandip; Raju Abraham, Roja

    2018-04-01

    Present work deals with prediction of surface roughness using cutting parameters along with in-process measured cutting force and tool vibration (acceleration) during turning of Ti-6Al-4V with cubic boron nitride (CBN) inserts. Full factorial design is used for design of experiments using cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut as design variables. Prediction model for surface roughness is developed using response surface methodology with cutting speed, feed rate, depth of cut, resultant cutting force and acceleration as control variables. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) is performed to find out significant terms in the model. Insignificant terms are removed after performing statistical test using backward elimination approach. Effect of each control variables on surface roughness is also studied. Correlation coefficient (R2 pred) of 99.4% shows that model correctly explains the experiment results and it behaves well even when adjustment is made in factors or new factors are added or eliminated. Validation of model is done with five fresh experiments and measured forces and acceleration values. Average absolute error between RSM model and experimental measured surface roughness is found to be 10.2%. Additionally, an artificial neural network model is also developed for prediction of surface roughness. The prediction results of modified regression model are compared with ANN. It is found that RSM model and ANN (average absolute error 7.5%) are predicting roughness with more than 90% accuracy. From the results obtained it is found that including cutting force and vibration for prediction of surface roughness gives better prediction than considering only cutting parameters. Also, ANN gives better prediction over RSM models.

  15. Parameters of Solidifying Mixtures Transporting at Underground Ore Mining

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Golik, Vladimir; Dmitrak, Yury

    2017-11-01

    The article is devoted to the problem of providing mining enterprises with solidifying filling mixtures at underground mining. The results of analytical studies using the data of foreign and domestic practice of solidifying mixtures delivery to stopes are given. On the basis of experimental practice the parameters of transportation of solidifying filling mixtures are given with an increase in their quality due to the effect of vibration in the pipeline. The mechanism of the delivery process and the procedure for determining the parameters of the forced oscillations of the pipeline, the characteristics of the transporting processes, the rigidity of the elastic elements of pipeline section supports and the magnitude of vibrator' driving force are detailed. It is determined that the quality of solidifying filling mixtures can be increased due to the rational use of technical resources during the transportation of mixtures, and as a result the mixtures are characterized by a more even distribution of the aggregate. The algorithm for calculating the parameters of the pipe vibro-transport of solidifying filling mixtures can be in demand in the design of mineral deposits underground mining technology.

  16. 38 CFR 3.359 - Determination of service connection for former members of the Armed Forces of Czechoslovakia or...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... connection for former members of the Armed Forces of Czechoslovakia or Poland. 3.359 Section 3.359 Pensions... connection for former members of the Armed Forces of Czechoslovakia or Poland. Rating boards will determine... Czechoslovakia or Poland under 38 U.S.C. 109(c) is service connected. This determination will be made using the...

  17. 38 CFR 3.359 - Determination of service connection for former members of the Armed Forces of Czechoslovakia or...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... connection for former members of the Armed Forces of Czechoslovakia or Poland. 3.359 Section 3.359 Pensions... connection for former members of the Armed Forces of Czechoslovakia or Poland. Rating boards will determine... Czechoslovakia or Poland under 38 U.S.C. 109(c) is service connected. This determination will be made using the...

  18. 38 CFR 3.359 - Determination of service connection for former members of the Armed Forces of Czechoslovakia or...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... connection for former members of the Armed Forces of Czechoslovakia or Poland. 3.359 Section 3.359 Pensions... connection for former members of the Armed Forces of Czechoslovakia or Poland. Rating boards will determine... Czechoslovakia or Poland under 38 U.S.C. 109(c) is service connected. This determination will be made using the...

  19. 38 CFR 3.359 - Determination of service connection for former members of the Armed Forces of Czechoslovakia or...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... connection for former members of the Armed Forces of Czechoslovakia or Poland. 3.359 Section 3.359 Pensions... connection for former members of the Armed Forces of Czechoslovakia or Poland. Rating boards will determine... Czechoslovakia or Poland under 38 U.S.C. 109(c) is service connected. This determination will be made using the...

  20. 38 CFR 3.359 - Determination of service connection for former members of the Armed Forces of Czechoslovakia or...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... connection for former members of the Armed Forces of Czechoslovakia or Poland. 3.359 Section 3.359 Pensions... connection for former members of the Armed Forces of Czechoslovakia or Poland. Rating boards will determine... Czechoslovakia or Poland under 38 U.S.C. 109(c) is service connected. This determination will be made using the...

  1. Determination of Littlest Higgs Model Parameters at the ILC

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Conley, John A.; Hewett, JoAnne; Le, My Phuong

    2005-07-27

    We examine the effects of the extended gauge sector of the Littlest Higgs model in high energy e{sup +}e{sup -} collisions. We find that the search reach in e{sup +}e{sup -} {yields} f{bar f} at a {radical}s = 500 GeV International Linear Collider covers essentially the entire parameter region where the Littlest Higgs model is relevant to the gauge hierarchy problem. In addition, we show that this channel provides an accurate determination of the fundamental model parameters, to the precision of a few percent, provided that the LHC measures the mass of the heavy neutral gauge .eld. Additionally, we showmore » that the couplings of the extra gauge bosons to the light Higgs can be observed from the process e{sup +}e{sup -} {yields} Zh for a significant region of the parameter space. This allows for confirmation of the structure of the cancellation of the Higgs mass quadratic divergence and would verify the little Higgs mechanism.« less

  2. The capillary adhesion technique: a versatile method for determining the liquid adhesion force and sample stiffness

    PubMed Central

    Gandyra, Daniel; Gorb, Stanislav; Barthlott, Wilhelm

    2015-01-01

    Summary We report a novel, practical technique for the concerted, simultaneous determination of both the adhesion force of a small structure or structural unit (e.g., an individual filament, hair, micromechanical component or microsensor) to a liquid and its elastic properties. The method involves the creation and development of a liquid meniscus upon touching a liquid surface with the structure, and the subsequent disruption of this liquid meniscus upon removal. The evaluation of the meniscus shape immediately before snap-off of the meniscus allows the quantitative determination of the liquid adhesion force. Concurrently, by measuring and evaluating the deformation of the structure under investigation, its elastic properties can be determined. The sensitivity of the method is remarkably high, practically limited by the resolution of the camera capturing the process. Adhesion forces down to 10 µN and spring constants up to 2 N/m were measured. Three exemplary applications of this method are demonstrated: (1) determination of the water adhesion force and the elasticity of individual hairs (trichomes) of the floating fern Salvinia molesta. (2) The investigation of human head hairs both with and without functional surface coatings (a topic of high relevance in the field of hair cosmetics) was performed. The method also resulted in the measurement of an elastic modulus (Young’s modulus) for individual hairs of 3.0 × 105 N/cm2, which is within the typical range known for human hair. (3) Finally, the accuracy and validity of the capillary adhesion technique was proven by examining calibrated atomic force microscopy cantilevers, reproducing the spring constants calibrated using other methods. PMID:25671147

  3. Force sensor

    DOEpatents

    Grahn, A.R.

    1993-05-11

    A force sensor and related method for determining force components is described. The force sensor includes a deformable medium having a contact surface against which a force can be applied, a signal generator for generating signals that travel through the deformable medium to the contact surface, a signal receptor for receiving the signal reflected from the contact surface, a generation controller, a reception controller, and a force determination apparatus. The signal generator has one or more signal generation regions for generating the signals. The generation controller selects and activates the signal generation regions. The signal receptor has one or more signal reception regions for receiving signals and for generating detections signals in response thereto. The reception controller selects signal reception regions and detects the detection signals. The force determination apparatus measures signal transit time by timing activation and detection and, optionally, determines force components for selected cross-field intersections. The timer which times by activation and detection can be any means for measuring signal transit time. A cross-field intersection is defined by the overlap of a signal generation region and a signal reception region.

  4. On radiation forces acting on a transparent nanoparticle in the field of a focused laser beam

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Afanas'ev, A A; Rubinov, A N; Gaida, L S

    2015-10-31

    Radiation forces acting on a transparent spherical nanoparticle in the field of a focused Gaussian laser beam are studied theoretically in the Rayleigh scattering regime. Expressions are derived for the scattering force and Cartesian components of the gradient force. The resultant force acting on a nanoparticle located in the centre of a laser beam is found. The parameters of the focused beam and optical properties of the nanoparticle for which the longitudinal component of the gradient force exceeds the scattering force are determined. Characteristics of the transverse gradient force are discussed. (nanophotonics)

  5. Normal Values for Heart Electrophysiology Parameters of Healthy Swine Determined on Electrophysiology Study.

    PubMed

    Noszczyk-Nowak, Agnieszka; Cepiel, Alicja; Janiszewski, Adrian; Pasławski, Robert; Gajek, Jacek; Pasławska, Urszula; Nicpoń, Józef

    2016-01-01

    Swine are a well-recognized animal model for human cardiovascular diseases. Despite the widespread use of porcine model in experimental electrophysiology, still no reference values for intracardiac electrical activity and conduction parameters determined during an invasive electrophysiology study (EPS) have been developed in this species thus far. The aim of the study was to develop a set of normal values for intracardiac electrical activity and conduction parameters determined during an invasive EPS of swine. The study included 36 healthy domestic swine (24-40 kg body weight). EPS was performed under a general anesthesia with midazolam, propofol and isoflurane. The reference values for intracardiac electrical activity and conduction parameters were calculated as arithmetic means ± 2 standard deviations. The reference values were determined for AH, HV and PA intervals, interatrial conduction time at its own and imposed rhythm, sinus node recovery time (SNRT), corrected sinus node recovery time (CSNRT), anterograde and retrograde Wenckebach points, atrial, atrioventricular node and ventricular refractory periods. No significant correlations were found between body weight and heart rate of the examined pigs and their electrophysiological parameters. The hereby presented reference values can be helpful in comparing the results of various studies, as well as in more accurately estimating the values of electrophysiological parameters that can be expected in a given experiment.

  6. A comparison of linear respiratory system models based on parameter estimates from PRN forced oscillation data.

    PubMed

    Diong, B; Grainger, J; Goldman, M; Nazeran, H

    2009-01-01

    The forced oscillation technique offers some advantages over spirometry for assessing pulmonary function. It requires only passive patient cooperation; it also provides data in a form, frequency-dependent impedance, which is very amenable to engineering analysis. In particular, the data can be used to obtain parameter estimates for electric circuit-based models of the respiratory system, which can in turn aid the detection and diagnosis of various diseases/pathologies. In this study, we compare the least-squares error performance of the RIC, extended RIC, augmented RIC, augmented RIC+I(p), DuBois, Nagels and Mead models in fitting 3 sets of impedance data. These data were obtained by pseudorandom noise forced oscillation of healthy subjects, mild asthmatics and more severe asthmatics. We found that the aRIC+I(p) and DuBois models yielded the lowest fitting errors (for the healthy subjects group and the 2 asthmatic patient groups, respectively) without also producing unphysiologically large component estimates.

  7. Influence of conservative corrections on parameter estimation for extreme-mass-ratio inspirals

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Huerta, E. A.; Gair, Jonathan R.

    2009-04-01

    We present an improved numerical kludge waveform model for circular, equatorial extreme-mass-ratio inspirals (EMRIs). The model is based on true Kerr geodesics, augmented by radiative self-force corrections derived from perturbative calculations, and in this paper for the first time we include conservative self-force corrections that we derive by comparison to post-Newtonian results. We present results of a Monte Carlo simulation of parameter estimation errors computed using the Fisher matrix and also assess the theoretical errors that would arise from omitting the conservative correction terms we include here. We present results for three different types of system, namely, the inspirals of black holes, neutron stars, or white dwarfs into a supermassive black hole (SMBH). The analysis shows that for a typical source (a 10M⊙ compact object captured by a 106M⊙ SMBH at a signal to noise ratio of 30) we expect to determine the two masses to within a fractional error of ˜10-4, measure the spin parameter q to ˜10-4.5, and determine the location of the source on the sky and the spin orientation to within 10-3 steradians. We show that, for this kludge model, omitting the conservative corrections leads to a small error over much of the parameter space, i.e., the ratio R of the theoretical model error to the Fisher matrix error is R<1 for all ten parameters in the model. For the few systems with larger errors typically R<3 and hence the conservative corrections can be marginally ignored. In addition, we use our model and first-order self-force results for Schwarzschild black holes to estimate the error that arises from omitting the second-order radiative piece of the self-force. This indicates that it may not be necessary to go beyond first order to recover accurate parameter estimates.

  8. Determination of enzyme thermal parameters for rational enzyme engineering and environmental/evolutionary studies.

    PubMed

    Lee, Charles K; Monk, Colin R; Daniel, Roy M

    2013-01-01

    Of the two independent processes by which enzymes lose activity with increasing temperature, irreversible thermal inactivation and rapid reversible equilibration with an inactive form, the latter is only describable by the Equilibrium Model. Any investigation of the effect of temperature upon enzymes, a mandatory step in rational enzyme engineering and study of enzyme temperature adaptation, thus requires determining the enzymes' thermodynamic parameters as defined by the Equilibrium Model. The necessary data for this procedure can be collected by carrying out multiple isothermal enzyme assays at 3-5°C intervals over a suitable temperature range. If the collected data meet requirements for V max determination (i.e., if the enzyme kinetics are "ideal"), then the enzyme's Equilibrium Model parameters (ΔH eq, T eq, ΔG (‡) cat, and ΔG (‡) inact) can be determined using a freely available iterative model-fitting software package designed for this purpose.Although "ideal" enzyme reactions are required for determination of all four Equilibrium Model parameters, ΔH eq, T eq, and ΔG (‡) cat can be determined from initial (zero-time) rates for most nonideal enzyme reactions, with substrate saturation being the only requirement.

  9. Force-Time Entropy of Isometric Impulse.

    PubMed

    Hsieh, Tsung-Yu; Newell, Karl M

    2016-01-01

    The relation between force and temporal variability in discrete impulse production has been viewed as independent (R. A. Schmidt, H. Zelaznik, B. Hawkins, J. S. Frank, & J. T. Quinn, 1979 ) or dependent on the rate of force (L. G. Carlton & K. M. Newell, 1993 ). Two experiments in an isometric single finger force task investigated the joint force-time entropy with (a) fixed time to peak force and different percentages of force level and (b) fixed percentage of force level and different times to peak force. The results showed that the peak force variability increased either with the increment of force level or through a shorter time to peak force that also reduced timing error variability. The peak force entropy and entropy of time to peak force increased on the respective dimension as the parameter conditions approached either maximum force or a minimum rate of force production. The findings show that force error and timing error are dependent but complementary when considered in the same framework with the joint force-time entropy at a minimum in the middle parameter range of discrete impulse.

  10. Useful surface parameters for biomaterial discrimination.

    PubMed

    Etxeberria, Marina; Escuin, Tomas; Vinas, Miquel; Ascaso, Carlos

    2015-01-01

    Topographical features of biomaterials' surfaces are determinant when addressing their application site. Unfortunately up to date there has not been an agreement regarding which surface parameters are more representative in discriminating between materials. Discs (n = 16) of different currently used materials for implant prostheses fabrication, such as cast cobalt-chrome, direct laser metal soldered (DLMS) cobalt-chrome, titanium grade V, zirconia (Y-TZP), E-glass fiber-reinforced composite and polyetheretherketone (PEEK) were manufactured. Nanoscale topographical surface roughness parameters generated by atomic force microscopy (AFM), microscale surface roughness parameters obtained by white light interferometry (WLI) and water angle values obtained by the sessile-water-drop method were analyzed in order to assess which parameter provides the best optimum surface characterization method. Correlations between nanoroughness, microroughness, and hydrophobicity data were performed to achieve the best parameters giving the highest discriminatory power. A subset of six parameters for surface characterization were proposed. AFM and WLI techniques gave complementary information. Wettability did not correlate with any of the nanoroughness parameters while it however showed a weak correlation with microroughness parameters. © Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  11. Mathematical formulation of biomechanical parameters used in orthodontic treatment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Balakrishna, A.; Vamsi, Ch. Raghu; Rao, V. D. Prasad; Swamy, Ch. Kishore; Kuladeep, B.

    2015-05-01

    Orthodontic Treatment is being widely practiced around the world for teeth straightening and extraction to improve alignment of remaining teeth. Here, forces are applied to correct the position of teeth. The force applied on the teeth isn't calibrated and applied arbitrarily based on the recommendations from scientific research and experience of the orthodontist. The number of settings and the total time required for the completion of treatment also remains arbitrary. So, there is a need for determining the force which is actually acting on the teeth and determining the optimal force required for the treatment of each and every individual case. In this paper a mathematical relation is derived between the force applied on the tooth and tooth displacement by considering a 2nd order non-homogeneous linear differential equation. As the tooth displacement is not a direct function of force applied, Biomechanical parameters like mass of tooth, stiffness and damping coefficient of periodontal ligament & alveolar bone are involved in the differential equation. By solving the equation, tooth displacement thereby, tooth velocity can be obtained for a particular force. On the other hand, based on the dimensions of the model, orthodontist could determine the total tooth displacement required for each setting of the treatment, so that, the total displacement is covered. The orthodontist uses the data and applies the required force on to the teeth, based on which the orthodontist can plan his treatment procedure and reduce the number of settings, total treatment time and also increases the success rate of the treatment.

  12. Determination of the Maximum Control Forces and Attainable Quickness in the Operation of Airplane Controls

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hertel, Heinrich

    1930-01-01

    This report is intended to furnish bases for load assumptions in the designing of airplane controls. The maximum control forces and quickness of operation are determined. The maximum forces for a strong pilot with normal arrangement of the controls is taken as 1.25 times the mean value obtained from tests with twelve persons. Tests with a number of persons were expected to show the maximum forces that a man of average strength can exert on the control stick in operating the elevator and ailerons and also on the rudder bar. The effect of fatigue, of duration and of the nature (static or dynamic) of the force, as also the condition of the test subject (with or without belt) were also considered.

  13. Family of columns isospectral to gravity-loaded columns with tip force: A discrete approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ramachandran, Nirmal; Ganguli, Ranjan

    2018-06-01

    A discrete model is introduced to analyze transverse vibration of straight, clamped-free (CF) columns of variable cross-sectional geometry under the influence of gravity and a constant axial force at the tip. The discrete model is used to determine critical combinations of loading parameters - a gravity parameter and a tip force parameter - that cause onset of dynamic instability in the CF column. A methodology, based on matrix-factorization, is described to transform the discrete model into a family of models corresponding to weightless and unloaded clamped-free (WUCF) columns, each with a transverse vibration spectrum isospectral to the original model. Characteristics of models in this isospectral family are dependent on three transformation parameters. A procedure is discussed to convert the isospectral discrete model description into geometric description of realistic columns i.e. from the discrete model, we construct isospectral WUCF columns with rectangular cross-sections varying in width and depth. As part of numerical studies to demonstrate efficacy of techniques presented, frequency parameters of a uniform column and three types of tapered CF columns under different combinations of loading parameters are obtained from the discrete model. Critical combinations of these parameters for a typical tapered column are derived. These results match with published results. Example CF columns, under arbitrarily-chosen combinations of loading parameters are considered and for each combination, isospectral WUCF columns are constructed. Role of transformation parameters in determining characteristics of isospectral columns is discussed and optimum values are deduced. Natural frequencies of these WUCF columns computed using Finite Element Method (FEM) match well with those of the given gravity-loaded CF column with tip force, hence confirming isospectrality.

  14. Determination of the Parameter Sets for the Best Performance of IPS-driven ENLIL Model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yun, Jongyeon; Choi, Kyu-Cheol; Yi, Jonghyuk; Kim, Jaehun; Odstrcil, Dusan

    2016-12-01

    Interplanetary scintillation-driven (IPS-driven) ENLIL model was jointly developed by University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and National Aeronaucics and Space Administration/Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA/GSFC). The model has been in operation by Korean Space Weather Cetner (KSWC) since 2014. IPS-driven ENLIL model has a variety of ambient solar wind parameters and the results of the model depend on the combination of these parameters. We have conducted researches to determine the best combination of parameters to improve the performance of the IPS-driven ENLIL model. The model results with input of 1,440 combinations of parameters are compared with the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) observation data. In this way, the top 10 parameter sets showing best performance were determined. Finally, the characteristics of the parameter sets were analyzed and application of the results to IPS-driven ENLIL model was discussed.

  15. Filter parameter tuning analysis for operational orbit determination support

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Dunham, J.; Cox, C.; Niklewski, D.; Mistretta, G.; Hart, R.

    1994-01-01

    The use of an extended Kalman filter (EKF) for operational orbit determination support is being considered by the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Flight Dynamics Division (FDD). To support that investigation, analysis was performed to determine how an EKF can be tuned for operational support of a set of earth-orbiting spacecraft. The objectives of this analysis were to design and test a general purpose scheme for filter tuning, evaluate the solution accuracies, and develop practical methods to test the consistency of the EKF solutions in an operational environment. The filter was found to be easily tuned to produce estimates that were consistent, agreed with results from batch estimation, and compared well among the common parameters estimated for several spacecraft. The analysis indicates that there is not a sharply defined 'best' tunable parameter set, especially when considering only the position estimates over the data arc. The comparison of the EKF estimates for the user spacecraft showed that the filter is capable of high-accuracy results and can easily meet the current accuracy requirements for the spacecraft included in the investigation. The conclusion is that the EKF is a viable option for FDD operational support.

  16. New Method to Calculate the Time Variation of the Force Field Parameter

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Santiago, A.; Lara, A.; Enríquez-Rivera, O.; Caballero-Lopez, R. A.

    2018-03-01

    Galactic cosmic rays (CRs) entering the heliosphere are affected by interplanetary magnetic fields and solar wind disturbances resulting in the modulation of the CR total flux observed in the inner heliosphere. The so-called force field model is often used to compute the galactic CR spectrum modulated by the solar activity due to the fact that it characterizes this process by only one parameter (the modulation potential, ϕ). In this work, we present two types of an empirical simplification (ES) method used to reconstruct the time variation of the modulation potential (Δϕ). Our ES offers a simple and fast alternative to compute the Δϕ at any desired time. The first ES type is based on the empirical fact that the dependence between Δϕ and neutron monitor (NM) count rates can be parameterized by a second-degree polynomial. The second ES type is based on the assumption that there is a inverse relation between Δϕ and NM count rates. We report the parameters found for the two types, which may be used to compute Δϕ for some NMs in a very fast and efficient way. In order to test the validity of the proposed ES, we compare our results with Δϕ obtained from literature. Finally, we apply our method to obtain the proton and helium spectra of primary CRs near the Earth at four randomly selected times.

  17. Logarithmic contact time dependence of adhesion force and its dominant role among the effects of AFM experimental parameters under low humidity

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lai, Tianmao; Meng, Yonggang

    2017-10-01

    The influences of contact time, normal load, piezo velocity, and measurement number of times on the adhesion force between two silicon surfaces were studied with an atomic force microscope (AFM) at low humidity (17-15%). Results show that the adhesion force is time-dependent and increases logarithmically with contact time until saturation is reached, which is related with the growing size of a water bridge between them. The contact time plays a dominant role among these parameters. The adhesion forces with different normal loads and piezo velocities can be quantitatively obtained just by figuring out the length of contact time, provided that the contact time dependence is known. The time-dependent adhesion force with repeated contacts at one location usually increases first sharply and then slowly with measurement number of times until saturation is reached, which is in accordance with the contact time dependence. The behavior of the adhesion force with repeated contacts can be adjusted by the lengths of contact time and non-contact time. These results may help facilitate the anti-adhesion design of silicon-based microscale systems working under low humidity.

  18. Labor Force

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Occupational Outlook Quarterly, 2012

    2012-01-01

    The labor force is the number of people ages 16 or older who are either working or looking for work. It does not include active-duty military personnel or the institutionalized population, such as prison inmates. Determining the size of the labor force is a way of determining how big the economy can get. The size of the labor force depends on two…

  19. 40 CFR 86.529-98 - Road load force and inertia weight determination.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 18 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Road load force and inertia weight... inertia weight determination. (a)(1) Road load as a function of speed is given by the following equation: F = A + CV2 (2) The values for coefficients A and C and the test inertia are given in Figure F98-9...

  20. 40 CFR 86.529-98 - Road load force and inertia weight determination.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 19 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Road load force and inertia weight... inertia weight determination. (a)(1) Road load as a function of speed is given by the following equation: F = A + CV2 (2) The values for coefficients A and C and the test inertia are given in Figure F98-9...

  1. 40 CFR 86.529-98 - Road load force and inertia weight determination.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 19 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Road load force and inertia weight... inertia weight determination. (a)(1) Road load as a function of speed is given by the following equation: F = A + CV2 (2) The values for coefficients A and C and the test inertia are given in Figure F98-9...

  2. 40 CFR 86.529-98 - Road load force and inertia weight determination.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 19 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Road load force and inertia weight... inertia weight determination. (a)(1) Road load as a function of speed is given by the following equation: F = A + CV2 (2) The values for coefficients A and C and the test inertia are given in Figure F98-9...

  3. Flexural Vibration Test of a Cantilever Beam with a Force Sensor: Fast Determination of Young's Modulus

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Digilov, Rafael M.

    2008-01-01

    We describe a simple and very inexpensive undergraduate laboratory experiment for fast determination of Young's modulus at moderate temperatures with the aid of a force sensor. A strip-shaped specimen rigidly bolted to the force sensor forms a clamped-free cantilever beam. Placed in a furnace, it is subjected to free-bending vibrations followed by…

  4. Toward isometric force capabilities evaluation by using a musculoskeletal model: Comparison with direct force measurement.

    PubMed

    Hernandez, Vincent; Rezzoug, Nasser; Gorce, Philippe

    2015-09-18

    Developing formalisms to determine force capabilities of human limbs by using musculoskeletal models could be useful for biomechanical and ergonomic applications. In this framework, the purpose of this study was to compare measured maximal isometric force capabilities at the hand in a set of Cartesian directions with forces computed from a musculoskeletal model of the upper-limb. The results were represented under the form of a measured force polytope (MFP) and a musculoskeletal force polytope (MSFP). Both of them were obtained from the convex hull of measured and simulated force vectors endpoints. Nine subjects participated to the experiment. For one posture recorded with an optoelectronic system, maximum isometric forces exerted at the hand were recorded in twenty six directions of the Cartesian space with a triaxial force sensor. Results showed significant differences between the polytopes global shapes. The MSFP was more elongated than the MFP. Concerning the polytopes volumes, no significant difference was found. Mean maximal isometric forces provided by MFP and MSFP were 509.6 (118.4)N and 627.9 (73.3)N respectively. Moreover, the angle between the main axes of the two polytopes was 5.5 (2.3)° on average. Finally, RMS error values between MFP and MSFP were lower than 100N in 88% of the considered directions. The proposed MSFP based on a musculoskeletal model gave interesting information on optimal force orientation parameters. The possible applications in the frame of ergonomics, rehabilitation and biomechanics are proposed and discussed. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Derivation of force field parameters for SnO2-H2O surface systems from plane-wave density functional theory calculations.

    PubMed

    Bandura, A V; Sofo, J O; Kubicki, J D

    2006-04-27

    Plane-wave density functional theory (DFT-PW) calculations were performed on bulk SnO2 (cassiterite) and the (100), (110), (001), and (101) surfaces with and without H2O present. A classical interatomic force field has been developed to describe bulk SnO2 and SnO2-H2O surface interactions. Periodic density functional theory calculations using the program VASP (Kresse et al., 1996) and molecular cluster calculations using Gaussian 03 (Frisch et al., 2003) were used to derive the parametrization of the force field. The program GULP (Gale, 1997) was used to optimize parameters to reproduce experimental and ab initio results. The experimental crystal structure and elastic constants of SnO2 are reproduced reasonably well with the force field. Furthermore, surface atom relaxations and structures of adsorbed H2O molecules agree well between the ab initio and force field predictions. H2O addition above that required to form a monolayer results in consistent structures between the DFT-PW and classical force field results as well.

  6. Determining the accuracy of maximum likelihood parameter estimates with colored residuals

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Morelli, Eugene A.; Klein, Vladislav

    1994-01-01

    An important part of building high fidelity mathematical models based on measured data is calculating the accuracy associated with statistical estimates of the model parameters. Indeed, without some idea of the accuracy of parameter estimates, the estimates themselves have limited value. In this work, an expression based on theoretical analysis was developed to properly compute parameter accuracy measures for maximum likelihood estimates with colored residuals. This result is important because experience from the analysis of measured data reveals that the residuals from maximum likelihood estimation are almost always colored. The calculations involved can be appended to conventional maximum likelihood estimation algorithms. Simulated data runs were used to show that the parameter accuracy measures computed with this technique accurately reflect the quality of the parameter estimates from maximum likelihood estimation without the need for analysis of the output residuals in the frequency domain or heuristically determined multiplication factors. The result is general, although the application studied here is maximum likelihood estimation of aerodynamic model parameters from flight test data.

  7. An analytical-numerical approach for parameter determination of a five-parameter single-diode model of photovoltaic cells and modules

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hejri, Mohammad; Mokhtari, Hossein; Azizian, Mohammad Reza; Söder, Lennart

    2016-04-01

    Parameter extraction of the five-parameter single-diode model of solar cells and modules from experimental data is a challenging problem. These parameters are evaluated from a set of nonlinear equations that cannot be solved analytically. On the other hand, a numerical solution of such equations needs a suitable initial guess to converge to a solution. This paper presents a new set of approximate analytical solutions for the parameters of a five-parameter single-diode model of photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules. The proposed solutions provide a good initial point which guarantees numerical analysis convergence. The proposed technique needs only a few data from the PV current-voltage characteristics, i.e. open circuit voltage Voc, short circuit current Isc and maximum power point current and voltage Im; Vm making it a fast and low cost parameter determination technique. The accuracy of the presented theoretical I-V curves is verified by experimental data.

  8. Stick balancing with reflex delay in case of parametric forcing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Insperger, Tamas

    2011-04-01

    The effect of parametric forcing on a PD control of an inverted pendulum is analyzed in the presence of feedback delay. The stability of the time-periodic and time-delayed system is determined numerically using the first-order semi-discretization method in the 5-dimensional parameter space of the pendulum's length, the forcing frequency, the forcing amplitude, the proportional and the differential gains. It is shown that the critical length of the pendulum (that can just be balanced against the time-delay) can significantly be decreased by parametric forcing even if the maximum forcing acceleration is limited. The numerical analysis showed that the critical stick length about 30 cm corresponding to the unforced system with reflex delay 0.1 s can be decreased to 18 cm with keeping maximum acceleration below the gravitational acceleration.

  9. Determination of the cutting forces regression functions for milling machining of the X105CrMo17 material

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Popovici, T. D.; Dijmărescu, M. R.

    2017-08-01

    The aim of the research presented in this paper is to determine a cutting force prediction model for milling machining of the X105CrMo17 stainless steel. The analysed material is a martensitic stainless steel which, due to the high Carbon content (∼1%) and Chromium (∼17%), has high hardness and good corrosion resistance characteristics. This material is used for the steel structures parts which are subject of wear in corrosive environments, for making valve seats, bearings, various types of cutters, high hardness bushings, casting shells and nozzles, measuring instruments, etc. The paper is structured into three main parts in accordance to the considered research program; they are preceded by an introduction and followed by relevant conclusions. In the first part, for a more detailed knowledge of the material characteristics, a quality and quantity micro-analysis X-ray and a spectral analysis were performed. The second part presents the physical experiment in terms of input, necessary means, process and registration of the experimental data. In the third part, the experimental data is analysed and the cutting force model is developed in terms of the cutting regime parameters such as cutting speed, feed rate, axial depth and radial depth.

  10. Study on Adaptive Parameter Determination of Cluster Analysis in Urban Management Cases

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fu, J. Y.; Jing, C. F.; Du, M. Y.; Fu, Y. L.; Dai, P. P.

    2017-09-01

    The fine management for cities is the important way to realize the smart city. The data mining which uses spatial clustering analysis for urban management cases can be used in the evaluation of urban public facilities deployment, and support the policy decisions, and also provides technical support for the fine management of the city. Aiming at the problem that DBSCAN algorithm which is based on the density-clustering can not realize parameter adaptive determination, this paper proposed the optimizing method of parameter adaptive determination based on the spatial analysis. Firstly, making analysis of the function Ripley's K for the data set to realize adaptive determination of global parameter MinPts, which means setting the maximum aggregation scale as the range of data clustering. Calculating every point object's highest frequency K value in the range of Eps which uses K-D tree and setting it as the value of clustering density to realize the adaptive determination of global parameter MinPts. Then, the R language was used to optimize the above process to accomplish the precise clustering of typical urban management cases. The experimental results based on the typical case of urban management in XiCheng district of Beijing shows that: The new DBSCAN clustering algorithm this paper presents takes full account of the data's spatial and statistical characteristic which has obvious clustering feature, and has a better applicability and high quality. The results of the study are not only helpful for the formulation of urban management policies and the allocation of urban management supervisors in XiCheng District of Beijing, but also to other cities and related fields.

  11. 40 CFR 86.229-94 - Road load force, test weight, and inertia weight class determination.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... inertia weight class determination. 86.229-94 Section 86.229-94 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL... § 86.229-94 Road load force, test weight, and inertia weight class determination. (a) Flywheels... vehicle weight (pounds) Equivalent test weight (pounds) Inertia weight class (pounds) Up-1,062 1,000 1,000...

  12. 40 CFR 86.229-94 - Road load force, test weight, and inertia weight class determination.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... inertia weight class determination. 86.229-94 Section 86.229-94 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL... § 86.229-94 Road load force, test weight, and inertia weight class determination. (a) Flywheels... vehicle weight (pounds) Equivalent test weight (pounds) Inertia weight class (pounds) Up-1,062 1,000 1,000...

  13. 40 CFR 86.229-94 - Road load force, test weight, and inertia weight class determination.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... inertia weight class determination. 86.229-94 Section 86.229-94 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL... § 86.229-94 Road load force, test weight, and inertia weight class determination. (a) Flywheels... vehicle weight (pounds) Equivalent test weight (pounds) Inertia weight class (pounds) Up-1,062 1,000 1,000...

  14. Determination of Microstructural Parameters of Nanocrystalline Hydroxyapatite Prepared by Mechanical Alloying Method

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Joughehdoust, Sedigheh; Manafi, Sahebali

    2011-12-01

    Hydroxyapatite [HA, Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2] is chemically similar to the mineral component of bones and hard tissues. HA can support bone ingrowth and osseointegration when used in orthopaedic, dental and maxillofacial applications. In this research, HA nanostructure was synthesized by mechanical alloying method. Phase development, particle size and morphology of HA were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern, zetasizer instrument, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively. XRD pattern has been used to determination of the microstructural parameters (crystallite size, lattice parameters and crystallinity percent) by Williamson-Hall equation, Nelson-Riley method and calculating the areas under the peaks, respectively. The crystallite size and particle size of HA powders were in nanometric scales. SEM images showed that some parts of HA particles have agglomerates. The ratio of lattice parameters of synthetic hydroxyapatite (c/a = 0.73) was determined in this study is the same as natural hydroxyapatite structure.

  15. Multipole-Based Force Fields from ab Initio Interaction Energies and the Need for Jointly Refitting All Intermolecular Parameters.

    PubMed

    Kramer, Christian; Gedeck, Peter; Meuwly, Markus

    2013-03-12

    Distributed atomic multipole (MTP) moments promise significant improvements over point charges (PCs) in molecular force fields, as they (a) more realistically reproduce the ab initio electrostatic potential (ESP) and (b) allow to capture anisotropic atomic properties such as lone pairs, conjugated systems, and σ holes. The present work focuses on the question of whether multipolar electrostatics instead of PCs in standard force fields leads to quantitative improvements over point charges in reproducing intermolecular interactions. To this end, the interaction energies of two model systems, benzonitrile (BZN) and formamide (FAM) homodimers, are characterized over a wide range of dimer conformations. It is found that although with MTPs the monomer ab initio ESP can be captured better by about an order of magnitude compared to point charges (PCs), this does not directly translate into better describing ab initio interaction energies compared to PCs. Neither ESP-fitted MTPs nor refitted Lennard-Jones (LJ) parameters alone demonstrate a clear superiority of atomic MTPs. We show that only if both electrostatic and LJ parameters are jointly optimized in standard, nonpolarizable force fields, atomic are MTPs clearly beneficial for reproducing ab initio dimerization energies. After an exhaustive exponent scan, we find that for both BZN and FAM, atomic MTPs and a 9-6 LJ potential can reproduce ab initio interaction energies with ∼30% (RMSD 0.13 vs 0.18 kcal/mol) less error than point charges (PCs) and a 12-6 LJ potential. We also find that the improvement due to using MTPs with a 9-6 LJ potential is considerably more pronounced than with a 12-6 LJ potential (≈ 10%; RMSD 0.19 versus 0.21 kcal/mol).

  16. Determination of the force systems produced by different configurations of tear drop orthodontic loops.

    PubMed

    Thiesen, Guilherme; Shimizu, Roberto Hideo; do Valle, Caio Vinicius Martins; do Valle-Corotti, Karyna Martins; Pereira, Jefferson Ricardo; Conti, Paulo Cesar Rodrigues

    2013-03-15

    To determine the mechanical characteristics of teardrop loop with and without helix fabricated using different metal alloy compositions (stainless steel and beta-titanium), submitted to different intensities of bends preactivation (0° and 40°), and with different cross-sectional dimension of the wire used to build these loops (0.017 x 0.025-in and 0.019 x 0.025-in). Eighty loops used to close spaces were submitted to mechanical tests. The magnitudes of horizontal force, the moment/force ratio, and the load/deflection ratio produced by the specimens were quantified. Loops were submitted to a total activation of 5.0 mm and the values were registered for each 1.0 mm of activation. For statistic data analysis, a analysis of variance was performed and a Tukey's Multiple Comparison test was used as supplement, considering a 5% level of significance. In general, teardrop loops with helix produced lower magnitudes of horizontal force and load/deflection ratio, and higher moment/force ratio than teardrop loops without helix. Among all analyzed variables, metal alloy composition presented greater influence in the horizontal force and in the load/deflection ratio. The moment/force ratio showed to be more influenced by the preactivation of loops for space closure.

  17. Topology Counts: Force Distributions in Circular Spring Networks.

    PubMed

    Heidemann, Knut M; Sageman-Furnas, Andrew O; Sharma, Abhinav; Rehfeldt, Florian; Schmidt, Christoph F; Wardetzky, Max

    2018-02-09

    Filamentous polymer networks govern the mechanical properties of many biological materials. Force distributions within these networks are typically highly inhomogeneous, and, although the importance of force distributions for structural properties is well recognized, they are far from being understood quantitatively. Using a combination of probabilistic and graph-theoretical techniques, we derive force distributions in a model system consisting of ensembles of random linear spring networks on a circle. We show that characteristic quantities, such as the mean and variance of the force supported by individual springs, can be derived explicitly in terms of only two parameters: (i) average connectivity and (ii) number of nodes. Our analysis shows that a classical mean-field approach fails to capture these characteristic quantities correctly. In contrast, we demonstrate that network topology is a crucial determinant of force distributions in an elastic spring network. Our results for 1D linear spring networks readily generalize to arbitrary dimensions.

  18. Equation-free analysis of agent-based models and systematic parameter determination

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Thomas, Spencer A.; Lloyd, David J. B.; Skeldon, Anne C.

    2016-12-01

    Agent based models (ABM)s are increasingly used in social science, economics, mathematics, biology and computer science to describe time dependent systems in circumstances where a description in terms of equations is difficult. Yet few tools are currently available for the systematic analysis of ABM behaviour. Numerical continuation and bifurcation analysis is a well-established tool for the study of deterministic systems. Recently, equation-free (EF) methods have been developed to extend numerical continuation techniques to systems where the dynamics are described at a microscopic scale and continuation of a macroscopic property of the system is considered. To date, the practical use of EF methods has been limited by; (1) the over-head of application-specific implementation; (2) the laborious configuration of problem-specific parameters; and (3) large ensemble sizes (potentially) leading to computationally restrictive run-times. In this paper we address these issues with our tool for the EF continuation of stochastic systems, which includes algorithms to systematically configuration problem specific parameters and enhance robustness to noise. Our tool is generic and can be applied to any 'black-box' simulator and determines the essential EF parameters prior to EF analysis. Robustness is significantly improved using our convergence-constraint with a corrector-repeat (C3R) method. This algorithm automatically detects outliers based on the dynamics of the underlying system enabling both an order of magnitude reduction in ensemble size and continuation of systems at much higher levels of noise than classical approaches. We demonstrate our method with application to several ABM models, revealing parameter dependence, bifurcation and stability analysis of these complex systems giving a deep understanding of the dynamical behaviour of the models in a way that is not otherwise easily obtainable. In each case we demonstrate our systematic parameter determination stage for

  19. Forced convection heat transfer to air/water vapor mixtures

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Richards, D. R.; Florschuetz, L. W.

    1984-01-01

    Heat transfer coefficients were measured using both dry and humid air in the same forced convection cooling scheme and were compared using appropriate nondimensional parameters (Nusselt, Prandtl and Reynolds numbers). A forced convection scheme with a complex flow field, two dimensional arrays of circular jets with crossflow, was utilized with humidity ratios (mass ratio of water vapor to air) up to 0.23. The dynamic viscosity, thermal conductivity and specific heat of air, steam and air/steam mixtures are examined. Methods for determining gaseous mixture properties from the properties of their pure components are reviewed as well as methods for determining these properties with good confidence. The need for more experimentally determined property data for humid air is discussed. It is concluded that dimensionless forms of forced convection heat transfer data and empirical correlations based on measurements with dry air may be applied to conditions involving humid air with the same confidence as for the dry air case itself, provided that the thermophysical properties of the humid air mixtures are known with the same confidence as their dry air counterparts.

  20. Effects of wing modification on an aircraft's aerodynamic parameters as determined from flight data

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hess, R. A.

    1986-01-01

    A study of the effects of four wing-leading-edge modifications on a general aviation aircraft's stability and control parameters is presented. Flight data from the basic aircraft configuration and configurations with wing modifications are analyzed to determine each wing geometry's stability and control parameters. The parameter estimates and aerodynamic model forms are obtained using the stepwise regression and maximum likelihood techniques. The resulting parameter estimates and aerodynamic models are verified using vortex-lattice theory and by analysis of each model's ability to predict aircraft behavior. Comparisons of the stability and control derivative estimates from the basic wing and the four leading-edge modifications are accomplished so that the effects of each modification on aircraft stability and control derivatives can be determined.

  1. Direct determination of geometric alignment parameters for cone-beam scanners

    PubMed Central

    Mennessier, C; Clackdoyle, R; Noo, F

    2009-01-01

    This paper describes a comprehensive method for determining the geometric alignment parameters for cone-beam scanners (often called calibrating the scanners or performing geometric calibration). The method is applicable to x-ray scanners using area detectors, or to SPECT systems using pinholes or cone-beam converging collimators. Images of an alignment test object (calibration phantom) fixed in the field of view of the scanner are processed to determine the nine geometric parameters for each view. The parameter values are found directly using formulae applied to the projected positions of the test object marker points onto the detector. Each view is treated independently, and no restrictions are made on the position of the cone vertex, or on the position or orientation of the detector. The proposed test object consists of 14 small point-like objects arranged with four points on each of three orthogonal lines, and two points on a diagonal line. This test object is shown to provide unique solutions for all possible scanner geometries, even when partial measurement information is lost by points superimposing in the calibration scan. For the many situations where the cone vertex stays reasonably close to a central plane (for circular, planar, or near-planar trajectories), a simpler version of the test object is appropriate. The simpler object consists of six points, two per orthogonal line, but with some restrictions on the positioning of the test object. This paper focuses on the principles and mathematical justifications for the method. Numerical simulations of the calibration process and reconstructions using estimated parameters are also presented to validate the method and to provide evidence of the robustness of the technique. PMID:19242049

  2. Inertial parameter identification using contact force information for an unknown object captured by a space manipulator

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chu, Zhongyi; Ma, Ye; Hou, Yueyang; Wang, Fengwen

    2017-02-01

    This paper presents a novel identification method for the intact inertial parameters of an unknown object in space captured by a manipulator in a space robotic system. With strong dynamic and kinematic coupling existing in the robotic system, the inertial parameter identification of the unknown object is essential for the ideal control strategy based on changes in the attitude and trajectory of the space robot via capturing operations. Conventional studies merely refer to the principle and theory of identification, and an error analysis process of identification is deficient for a practical scenario. To solve this issue, an analysis of the effect of errors on identification is illustrated first, and the accumulation of measurement or estimation errors causing poor identification precision is demonstrated. Meanwhile, a modified identification equation incorporating the contact force, as well as the force/torque of the end-effector, is proposed to weaken the accumulation of errors and improve the identification accuracy. Furthermore, considering a severe disturbance condition caused by various measured noises, the hybrid immune algorithm, Recursive Least Squares and Affine Projection Sign Algorithm (RLS-APSA), is employed to decode the modified identification equation to ensure a stable identification property. Finally, to verify the validity of the proposed identification method, the co-simulation of ADAMS-MATLAB is implemented by multi-degree of freedom models of a space robotic system, and the numerical results show a precise and stable identification performance, which is able to guarantee the execution of aerospace operations and prevent failed control strategies.

  3. Determination of Groundwater Velocity and Dispersion Parameters by Borehole Wall Multielectrode Geoelectrics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kessels, W.; Wuttke, M. W.

    2007-05-01

    A single well technique to determine groundwater flow values and transport parameters is presented. Multielectrode arrays are placed at the filtered casing depth by an inflatable packer or are installed on the borehole wall behind the casing.Tracer water with a higher or lower specific electrical conductivity (salinity) which is injected between the electrodes. This tracer plume then moves into the natural groundwater flow field. The observation of this movement by geoelectric logging enables the determination of the groundwater velocity and salinity. The transport parameters "effective porosity" and "dispersion length" can also be derived. The geoelectric logging uses n borehole electrodes and two grounding electrodes. Thus, either n independent two point measurements or n*(n-1)/2 pole-to-pole measurements can be conducted to obtain a full set of geoelectric measurements. This set is used to derive all electrode combinations by applying the law of superposition and reciprocity. The tracer distribution around the borehole during and after injection depends on the hydraulic and transport parameters of the aquifer and the filter sand. The transport parameter "porosity" plus the total injected tracer volume determines the tracer distribution around the borehole. The transport parameter "dispersivity" determines the abruptness of the tracer front. The method was tested by undertaking measurements in a lab aquifer filled with sand. The results are discussed and the limitations of the method are shown. Multielectrode installations behind casing were tested in situ in the two scientific boreholes CAT-LUD-1 and CAT- LUD-1A drilled in the northern part of Germany. A multielectrode packer system was designed, built and tested in these boreholes. The results are compared with colloid observations in the borehole and hydraulic triangulation in surrounded observation wells. Here, the interpretation of these in situ measurements is mainly restricted to two point geoelectric

  4. Developing Lathing Parameters for PBX 9501

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Woodrum, Randall Brock

    This thesis presents the work performed on lathing PBX 9501 to gather and analyze cutting force and temperature data during the machining process. This data will be used to decrease federal-regulation-constrained machining time of the high explosive PBX 9501. The effects of machining parameters depth of cut, surface feet per minute, and inches per revolution on cutting force and cutting interface were evaluated. Cutting tools of tip radius 0.005 -inches and 0.05 -inches were tested to determine what effect the tool shape had on the machining process as well. A consistently repeatable relationship of temperature to changing depth of cutmore » and surface feet per minute is found, while only a weak dependence was found to changing inches per revolution. Results also show the relation of cutting force to depth of cut and inches per revolution, while weak dependence on SFM is found. Conclusions suggest rapid, shallow cuts optimize machining time for a billet of PBX 9501, while minimizing temperature increase and cutting force.« less

  5. Comparison of Power, Velocity and Force Parameters during Loaded Squat Jump Exercise in the Handball and Arm Wrestling Players

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Can, Ibrahim

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to compare power, velocity and force parameters during loaded squat jump (SJ) exercise in the handball and arm wrestling players. In accordance with this purpose, ten arm wrestling athletes from the Turkish National Team (age: 20,7 ± 3,05 years; height: 175,2 ± 5,55 cm; weight: 71,7 ± 8,17 kg) who had ranks in…

  6. Use of multilevel modeling for determining optimal parameters of heat supply systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Stennikov, V. A.; Barakhtenko, E. A.; Sokolov, D. V.

    2017-07-01

    The problem of finding optimal parameters of a heat-supply system (HSS) is in ensuring the required throughput capacity of a heat network by determining pipeline diameters and characteristics and location of pumping stations. Effective methods for solving this problem, i.e., the method of stepwise optimization based on the concept of dynamic programming and the method of multicircuit optimization, were proposed in the context of the hydraulic circuit theory developed at Melentiev Energy Systems Institute (Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences). These methods enable us to determine optimal parameters of various types of piping systems due to flexible adaptability of the calculation procedure to intricate nonlinear mathematical models describing features of used equipment items and methods of their construction and operation. The new and most significant results achieved in developing methodological support and software for finding optimal parameters of complex heat supply systems are presented: a new procedure for solving the problem based on multilevel decomposition of a heat network model that makes it possible to proceed from the initial problem to a set of interrelated, less cumbersome subproblems with reduced dimensionality; a new algorithm implementing the method of multicircuit optimization and focused on the calculation of a hierarchical model of a heat supply system; the SOSNA software system for determining optimum parameters of intricate heat-supply systems and implementing the developed methodological foundation. The proposed procedure and algorithm enable us to solve engineering problems of finding the optimal parameters of multicircuit heat supply systems having large (real) dimensionality, and are applied in solving urgent problems related to the optimal development and reconstruction of these systems. The developed methodological foundation and software can be used for designing heat supply systems in the Central and the Admiralty regions in

  7. Determination of extra trajectory parameters of projectile layout motion

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ishchenko, A.; Burkin, V.; Faraponov, V.; Korolkov, L.; Maslov, E.; Diachkovskiy, A.; Chupashev, A.; Zykova, A.

    2017-11-01

    The paper presents a brief description of the experimental track developed and implemented on the base of the RIAMM TSU for external trajectory investigations on determining the main aeroballistic parameters of various shapes projectiles, in the wide velocity range. There is comparison between the experimentally obtained dependence of the fin-stabilized projectile mock-up aerodynamic drag coefficient on the Mach number with the 1958 aerodynamic drag law and aerodynamic tests of the same mock-up

  8. Determination of Elevator and Rudder Hinge Forces on the Learjet Model 55 Aircraft

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Boroughs, R. R.; Padmanabhan, V.

    1983-01-01

    The empennage structure on the Learjet 55 aircraft was quite similar to the empennage structure on earlier Learjet models. However, due to an important structural change in the vertical fin along with the new loads environment on the 50 series aircraft, a structural test was required on the vertical fin, but the horizontal tail was substantiated by a comparative analysis with previous tests. NASTRAN analysis was used to investigate empennage deflections, stress levels, and control surface hinge forces. The hinge force calculations were made with the control surfaces in the deflected as well as undeflected configurations. A skin panel buckling analysis was also performed, and the non-linear effects of buckling were simulated in the NASTRAN model to more accurately define internal loads and stress levels. Comparisons were then made between the Model 55 and the Model 35/36 stresses and internal forces to determine which components were qualified by previous tests. Some of the methods and techniques used in this analysis are described.

  9. Surface roughness mediated adhesion forces between borosilicate glass and gram-positive bacteria.

    PubMed

    Preedy, Emily; Perni, Stefano; Nipiĉ, Damijan; Bohinc, Klemen; Prokopovich, Polina

    2014-08-12

    It is well-known that a number of surface characteristics affect the extent of adhesion between two adjacent materials. One of such parameters is the surface roughness as surface asperities at the nanoscale level govern the overall adhesive forces. For example, the extent of bacterial adhesion is determined by the surface topography; also, once a bacteria colonizes a surface, proliferation of that species will take place and a biofilm may form, increasing the resistance of bacterial cells to removal. In this study, borosilicate glass was employed with varying surface roughness and coated with bovine serum albumin (BSA) in order to replicate the protein layer that covers orthopedic devices on implantation. As roughness is a scale-dependent process, relevant scan areas were analyzed using atomic force microscope (AFM) to determine Ra; furthermore, appropriate bacterial species were attached to the tip to measure the adhesion forces between cells and substrates. The bacterial species chosen (Staphylococci and Streptococci) are common pathogens associated with a number of implant related infections that are detrimental to the biomedical devices and patients. Correlation between adhesion forces and surface roughness (Ra) was generally better when the surface roughness was measured through scanned areas with size (2 × 2 μm) comparable to bacteria cells. Furthermore, the BSA coating altered the surface roughness without correlation with the initial values of such parameter; therefore, better correlations were found between adhesion forces and BSA-coated surfaces when actual surface roughness was used instead of the initial (nominal) values. It was also found that BSA induced a more hydrophilic and electron donor characteristic to the surfaces; in agreement with increasing adhesion forces of hydrophilic bacteria (as determined through microbial adhesion to solvents test) on BSA-coated substrates.

  10. Mapping power-law rheology of living cells using multi-frequency force modulation atomic force microscopy

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Takahashi, Ryosuke; Okajima, Takaharu, E-mail: okajima@ist.hokudai.ac.jp

    We present multi-frequency force modulation atomic force microscopy (AFM) for mapping the complex shear modulus G* of living cells as a function of frequency over the range of 50–500 Hz in the same measurement time as the single-frequency force modulation measurement. The AFM technique enables us to reconstruct image maps of rheological parameters, which exhibit a frequency-dependent power-law behavior with respect to G{sup *}. These quantitative rheological measurements reveal a large spatial variation in G* in this frequency range for single cells. Moreover, we find that the reconstructed images of the power-law rheological parameters are much different from those obtained inmore » force-curve or single-frequency force modulation measurements. This indicates that the former provide information about intracellular mechanical structures of the cells that are usually not resolved with the conventional force measurement methods.« less

  11. The Effect of Variation of Plyometric Push-Ups on Force-Application Kinetics and Perception of Intensity.

    PubMed

    Dhahbi, Wissem; Chaouachi, Anis; Dhahbi, Anis Ben; Cochrane, Jodie; Chèze, Laurence; Burnett, Angus; Chamari, Karim

    2017-02-01

    To examine differences between ground-reaction-force (GRF)-based parameters collected from 5 types of plyometric push-ups. Between-trials reliability and the relationships between parameters were also assessed. Thirty-seven highly active commando soldiers performed 3 trials of 5 variations of the plyometric push-up in a counterbalanced order: standard countermovement push-up (SCPu), standard squat push-up (SSPu), kneeling countermovement push-up (KCPu), kneeling squat push-up (KSPu), and drop-fall push-up (DFPu). Vertical GRF was measured during these exercises using a portable Kistler force plate. The GRF applied by the hands in the starting position (initial force supported), peak GRF and rate of force development during takeoff, flight time, impact force, and rate of force development impact on landing were determined. During standard-position exercises (SCPu and SSPu) the initial force supported and impact force were higher (P < .001) than with kneeling exercises (KCPu, KSPu, and DFPu). The peak GRF and rate of force development during takeoff were higher (P < .001) in the countermovement push-up exercises ([CMP] SCPu, KCPu, and DFPu) than squat push-up exercises ([SP] SSPu and KSPu). Furthermore, the flight time was greater (P < .001) during kneeling exercises than during standard-position exercises. A significant relationship (P < .01) between impact force and the rate of force development impact was observed for CMP and SP exercises (r = .83 and r = .62, respectively). The initial force supported was also negatively related (P < .01) to the flight time for both CMP and SP (r = -.74 and r = -.80, respectively). It was revealed that the initial force supported and the peak GRF during takeoff had excellent reliability; however, other parameters had poor absolute reliability. It is possible to adjust the intensity of plyometric push-up exercises and train athletes' muscle power by correctly interpreting GRF-based parameters. However, caution is required as some

  12. Ballistic parameters and trauma potential of pistol crossbows.

    PubMed

    Frank, Matthias; Schikorr, Wolfgang; Tesch, Ralf; Werner, Ronald; Hanisch, Steffen; Peters, Dieter; Ekkernkamp, Axel; Bockholdt, Britta; Seifert, Julia

    2013-07-01

    Hand-held pistol crossbows, which are smaller versions of conventional crossbows, have recently increased in popularity. Similar to conventional crossbows, life threatening injuries due to bolts discharged from pistol crossbows are reported in forensic and traumatological literature. While the ballistic background of conventional crossbows is comprehensively investigated, there are no investigations on the characteristic ballistic parameters (draw force, potential energy, recurve factor, kinetic energy, and efficiency) of pistol crossbows. Two hand-held pistol crossbows (Barnett Commando and Mini Cross Bow, rated draw force 362.9 N or 80 lbs) were tested. The maximum draw force was investigated using a dynamic tensile testing machine (TIRAtest 2705, TIRA GmbH). The potential energy was determined graphically by polynomial regression as area under the force-draw curve. External ballistic parameters of the bolts discharged from pistol crossbows were measured using a redundant ballistic speed measurement system (Dual-BMC 21a and Dual-LS 1000, Werner Mehl Kurzzeitmesstechnik). The average maximum draw force was 190.3 and 175.6 N for the Barnett and Mini Cross Bow, respectively. The corresponding total energy expended was 10.7 and 11 J, respectively. The recurve factor was calculated to be 0.705 and 1.044, respectively. Average bolt velocity was measured 43 up to 52 m/s. The efficiency was calculated up to 0.94. To conclude, this work provides the pending ballistic data on this special subgroup of crossbows which operate on a remarkable low kinetic energy level. Furthermore, it demonstrates that the nominal draw force pretended in the sales brochure is grossly exaggerated.

  13. 40 CFR 86.001-22 - Approval of application for certification; test fleet selections; determinations of parameters...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... certification; test fleet selections; determinations of parameters subject to adjustment for certification and..., and for 1985 and Later Model Year New Gasoline Fueled, Natural Gas-Fueled, Liquefied Petroleum Gas...; test fleet selections; determinations of parameters subject to adjustment for certification and...

  14. 40 CFR 86.001-22 - Approval of application for certification; test fleet selections; determinations of parameters...

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... certification; test fleet selections; determinations of parameters subject to adjustment for certification and..., and for 1985 and Later Model Year New Gasoline Fueled, Natural Gas-Fueled, Liquefied Petroleum Gas...; test fleet selections; determinations of parameters subject to adjustment for certification and...

  15. Determination of Entrapment Victim Extrication Forces with and without Use of a Grain Rescue Tube.

    PubMed

    Roberts, M J; Field, W E; Maier, D E; Stroshine, R L

    2015-04-01

    The forces required to extricate a test mannequin from a grain mass when buried at different depths with and without a grain restraint system were determined. When there was no grain restraint system in place, the vertical force required to pull the mannequin from the grain when it was buried waist deep and to the underarms was 1259 and 1766 N (283 and 397 lb(f)), respectively. It increased to 1584 N (356 lb(f)) (+26%) and 2153 N (484 lb(f)) (+22%), respectively, with the restraint in place due to the changes in grain properties brought about by the insertion of the rescue tube. It was concluded that the use of a grain restraint during extrication of a victim does not reduce the forces required and that forcefully pulling an entrapped victim, especially with mechanical assistance, with or without a grain restraint system could result in severe injuries and possible death due to the forces exerted on the victim. The authors recommend that these findings be incorporated into current grain extrication training for emergency first responders.

  16. Confronting the Uncertainty in Aerosol Forcing Using Comprehensive Observational Data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Johnson, J. S.; Regayre, L. A.; Yoshioka, M.; Pringle, K.; Sexton, D.; Lee, L.; Carslaw, K. S.

    2017-12-01

    The effect of aerosols on cloud droplet concentrations and radiative properties is the largest uncertainty in the overall radiative forcing of climate over the industrial period. In this study, we take advantage of a large perturbed parameter ensemble of simulations from the UK Met Office HadGEM-UKCA model (the aerosol component of the UK Earth System Model) to comprehensively sample uncertainty in aerosol forcing. Uncertain aerosol and atmospheric parameters cause substantial aerosol forcing uncertainty in climatically important regions. As the aerosol radiative forcing itself is unobservable, we investigate the potential for observations of aerosol and radiative properties to act as constraints on the large forcing uncertainty. We test how eight different theoretically perfect aerosol and radiation observations can constrain the forcing uncertainty over Europe. We find that the achievable constraint is weak unless many diverse observations are used simultaneously. This is due to the complex relationships between model output responses and the multiple interacting parameter uncertainties: compensating model errors mean there are many ways to produce the same model output (known as model equifinality) which impacts on the achievable constraint. However, using all eight observable quantities together we show that the aerosol forcing uncertainty can potentially be reduced by around 50%. This reduction occurs as we reduce a large sample of model variants (over 1 million) that cover the full parametric uncertainty to around 1% that are observationally plausible.Constraining the forcing uncertainty using real observations is a more complex undertaking, in which we must account for multiple further uncertainties including measurement uncertainties, structural model uncertainties and the model discrepancy from reality. Here, we make a first attempt to determine the true potential constraint on the forcing uncertainty from our model that is achievable using a comprehensive

  17. Force-based learning curve tracking in fundamental laparoscopic skills training.

    PubMed

    Hardon, Sem F; Horeman, Tim; Bonjer, H Jaap; Meijerink, W J H Jeroen

    2018-02-08

    Within minimally invasive surgery (MIS), structural implementation of courses and structured assessment of skills are challenged by availability of trainers, time, and money. We aimed to establish and validate an objective measurement tool for preclinical skills acquisition in a basic laparoscopic at-home training program. A mobile laparoscopic simulator was equipped with a state-of-the-art force, motion, and time tracking system (ForceSense, MediShield B.V., Delft, the Netherlands). These performance parameters respectively representing tissue manipulation and instrument handling were continuously tracked during every trial. Proficiency levels were set by clinical experts for six different training tasks. Resident's acquisition and development of fundamental skills were evaluated by comparing pre- and post-course assessment measurements and OSATS forms. A questionnaire was distributed to determine face and content validity. Out of 1842 captured attempts by novices, 1594 successful trials were evaluated. A decrease in maximum exerted absolute force was shown in comparison of four training tasks (p ≤ 0.023). Three of the six comparisons also showed lower mean forces during tissue manipulation (p ≤ 0.024). Lower instrument handling outcomes (i.e., time and motion parameters) were observed in five tasks (resp. (p ≤ 0.019) and (p ≤ 0.025)). Simultaneously, all OSATS scores increased (p ≤ 0.028). Proficiency levels for all tasks can be reached in 2 weeks of at home training. Monitoring force, motion, and time parameters during training showed to be effective in determining acquisition and development of basic laparoscopic tissue manipulation and instrument handling skills. Therefore, we were able to gain insight into the amount of training needed to reach certain levels of competence. Skills improved after sufficient amount of training at home. Questionnaire outcomes indicated that skills and self-confidence improved and that this

  18. Theoretical and experimental determination of K - and L -shell x-ray relaxation parameters in Ni

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Guerra, M.; Sampaio, J. M.; Parente, F.; Indelicato, P.; Hönicke, P.; Müller, M.; Beckhoff, B.; Marques, J. P.; Santos, J. P.

    2018-04-01

    Fluorescence yields (FY) for the Ni K and L shells were determined by a theoretical and an experimental group within the framework of the International Initiative on X-ray Fundamental Parameters (FPs) collaboration. Coster-Kronig (CK) parameters were also measured for the L shell of Ni. Theoretical calculations of the same parameters were performed using the Dirac-Fock method, including relativistic and QED corrections. The experimental values for the FY and CK were determined at the PTB laboratory in the synchrotron radiation facility BESSY II, Berlin, Germany, and are compared to the corresponding calculated values.

  19. Adhesion Forces between Lewis(X) Determinant Antigens as Measured by Atomic Force Microscopy.

    PubMed

    Tromas, C; Rojo, J; de la Fuente, J M; Barrientos, A G; García, R; Penadés, S

    2001-01-01

    The adhesion forces between individual molecules of Lewis(X) trisaccharide antigen (Le(X) ) have been measured in water and in calcium solution by using atomic force microscopy (AFM, see graph). These results demonstrate the self-recognition capability of this antigen, and reinforce the hypothesis that carbohydrate-carbohydrate interaction could be considered as the first step in the cell-adhesion process in nature. Copyright © 2001 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH, Weinheim, Fed. Rep. of Germany.

  20. Bubble dynamics in microchannels: inertial and capillary migration forces

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rivero-Rodriguez, Javier; Scheid, Benoit

    2018-05-01

    This work focuses on the dynamics of a train of unconfined bubbles flowing in microchan- nels. We investigate the transverse position of a train of bubbles, its velocity and the associated pressure drop when flowing in a microchannel depending on the internal forces due to viscosity, inertia and capillarity. Despite the small scales of the system, inertia, referred to as inertial migration force, play a crucial role in determining the transverse equilibrium position of the bubbles. Beside inertia and viscosity, other effects may also affect the transverse migration of bubbles such as the Marangoni surface stresses and the surface deformability. We look at the influence of surfactants in the limit of infinite Marangoni effect which yields rigid bubble interface. The resulting migration force may balance external body forces if present such as buoyancy, Dean or magnetic ones. This balance not only determines the transverse position of the bubbles but, consequently, the surrounding flow structure, which can be determinant for any mass/heat transfer process involved. Finally, we look at the influence of the bubble deformation on the equilibrium position and compare it to the inertial migration force at the centred position, explaining the stable or unstable character of this position accordingly. A systematic study of the influence of the parameters - such as the bubble size, uniform body force, Reynolds and capillary numbers - has been carried out using numerical simulations based on the Finite Element Method, solving the full steady Navier-Stokes equations and its asymptotic counterpart for the limits of small Reynolds and/or capillary numbers.

  1. Estimating the transfer function of the cantilever in atomic force microscopy: A system identification approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Stark, Martin; Guckenberger, Reinhard; Stemmer, Andreas; Stark, Robert W.

    2005-12-01

    Dynamic atomic force microscopy (AFM) offers many opportunities for the characterization and manipulation of matter on the nanometer scale with a high temporal resolution. The analysis of time-dependent forces is basic for a deeper understanding of phenomena such as friction, plastic deformation, and surface wetting. However, the dynamic characteristics of the force sensor used for such investigations are determined by various factors such as material and geometry of the cantilever, detection alignment, and the transfer characteristics of the detector. Thus, for a quantitative investigation of surface properties by dynamic AFM an appropriate system identification procedure is required, characterizing the force sensor beyond the usual parameters spring constant, quality factor, and detection sensitivity. Measurement of the transfer function provides such a characterization that fully accounts for the dynamic properties of the force sensor. Here, we demonstrate the estimation of the transfer function in a bandwidth of 1MHz from experimental data. To this end, we analyze the signal of the vibrations induced by snap-to-contact and snap-off-contact events. For the free cantilever, we determine both a parameter-free estimate [empirical transfer function estimate (ETFE)] and a parametric estimate of the transfer function. For the surface-coupled cantilever the ETFE is obtained. These identification procedures provide an intrinsic calibration as they dispense largely with a priori knowledge about the force sensor.

  2. Self-force on an electric dipole in the spacetime of a cosmic string

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Muniz, C.R., E-mail: celiomuniz@yahoo.com; Bezerra, V.B., E-mail: valdir@ufpb.br

    2014-01-15

    We calculate the electrostatic self-force on an electric dipole in the spacetime generated by a static, thin, infinite and straight cosmic string. The electric dipole is held fixed in different configurations, namely, parallel, perpendicular to the cosmic string and oriented along the azimuthal direction around this topological defect, which is stretched along the z axis. We show that the self-force is equivalent to an interaction of the electric dipole with an effective dipole moment which depends on the linear mass density of the cosmic string and on the configuration. The plots of the self-forces as functions of the parameter whichmore » determines the angular deficit of the cosmic string are shown for those different configurations. -- Highlights: •Review of regularized Green’s function applied to the problem. •Self-force on an electric dipole in the string spacetime for some orientations. •Representation via graphs of the self-forces versus angular parameter of the cosmic string. •Self-force induced by the string seen as an interaction between two dipoles. •Discussion about the superposition principle in this non-trivial background.« less

  3. Impact of Parameter Variation in Fabrication of Nanostructure by Atomic Force Microscopy Nanolithography

    PubMed Central

    Dehzangi, Arash; Larki, Farhad; Hutagalung, Sabar D.; Goodarz Naseri, Mahmood; Majlis, Burhanuddin Y.; Navasery, Manizheh; Hamid, Norihan Abdul; Noor, Mimiwaty Mohd

    2013-01-01

    In this letter, we investigate the fabrication of Silicon nanostructure patterned on lightly doped (1015 cm−3) p-type silicon-on-insulator by atomic force microscope nanolithography technique. The local anodic oxidation followed by two wet etching steps, potassium hydroxide etching for silicon removal and hydrofluoric etching for oxide removal, are implemented to reach the structures. The impact of contributing parameters in oxidation such as tip materials, applying voltage on the tip, relative humidity and exposure time are studied. The effect of the etchant concentration (10% to 30% wt) of potassium hydroxide and its mixture with isopropyl alcohol (10%vol. IPA ) at different temperatures on silicon surface are expressed. For different KOH concentrations, the effect of etching with the IPA admixture and the effect of the immersing time in the etching process on the structure are investigated. The etching processes are accurately optimized by 30%wt. KOH +10%vol. IPA in appropriate time, temperature, and humidity. PMID:23776479

  4. Design of tyre force excitation for tyre-road friction estimation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Albinsson, Anton; Bruzelius, Fredrik; Jacobson, Bengt; Fredriksson, Jonas

    2017-02-01

    Knowledge of the current tyre-road friction coefficient is essential for future autonomous vehicles. The environmental conditions, and the tyre-road friction in particular, determine both the braking distance and the maximum cornering velocity and thus set the boundaries for the vehicle. Tyre-road friction is difficult to estimate during normal driving due to low levels of tyre force excitation. This problem can be solved by using active tyre force excitation. A torque is added to one or several wheels in the purpose of estimating the tyre-road friction coefficient. Active tyre force excitation provides the opportunity to design the tyre force excitation freely. This study investigates how the tyre force should be applied to minimise the error of the tyre-road friction estimate. The performance of different excitation strategies was found to be dependent on both tyre model choice and noise level. Furthermore, the advantage with using tyre models with more parameters decreased when noise was added to the force and slip ratio.

  5. Current and efficiency optimization under oscillating forces in entropic barriers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nutku, Ferhat; Aydıner, Ekrem

    2016-09-01

    The transport of externally overdriven particles confined in entropic barriers is investigated under various types of oscillating and temporal forces. Temperature, load, and amplitude dependence of the particle current and energy conversion efficiency are investigated in three dimensions. For oscillating forces, the optimized temperature-load, amplitude-temperature, and amplitude-load intervals are determined when fixing the amplitude, load, and temperature, respectively. By using three-dimensional plots rather than two-dimensional ones, it is clearly shown that oscillating forces provide more efficiency compared with a temporal one in specified optimized parameter regions. Furthermore, the dependency of efficiency to the angle between the unbiased driving force and a constant force is investigated and an asymmetric angular dependence is found for all types of forces. Finally, it is shown that oscillating forces with a high amplitude and under a moderate load lead to higher efficiencies than a temporal force at both low and high temperatures for the entire range of contact angle. Project supported by the Istanbul University, Turkey (Grant No. 55383).

  6. Chymotrypsin effects on the determination of sperm parameters and seminal biochemistry markers.

    PubMed

    Chen, Fang; Lu, Jin-Chun; Xu, Hui-Ru; Huang, Yu-Feng; Lu, Nian-Qing

    2006-01-01

    Few reports of the effects of treatment with chymotrypsin on the determination of sperm parameters and seminal biochemistry markers are documented. Sperm parameters of 63 liquefied and 27 non-liquefied samples, untreated or treated with chymotrypsin, were evaluated using computer-assisted semen analysis. In addition, biochemistry markers such as gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase, alpha-glucosidase and fructose in 50 liquefied and 39 non-liquefied samples, untreated or treated with chymotrypsin, were determined. Treatment with chymotrypsin had no effect on sperm concentration, motility, motility a and b, straightness, curvilinear velocity, straight line velocity, average path velocity and beat cross frequency in both liquefied and non-liquefied semen. However, linearity (p=0.025) decreased and the amplitude of the lateral head (p=0.029) increased significantly in non-liquefied semen after treatment with chymotrypsin. The levels of gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase, alpha-glucosidase and fructose in seminal plasma were unaffected by chymotrypsin, regardless of liquefaction status. Chymotrypsin had no effects on the detection of sperm parameters and biochemistry markers, and could be used to treat non-liquefied samples before semen analysis in the andrology laboratory.

  7. Determination of representative dimension parameter values of Korean knee joints for knee joint implant design.

    PubMed

    Kwak, Dai Soon; Tao, Quang Bang; Todo, Mitsugu; Jeon, Insu

    2012-05-01

    Knee joint implants developed by western companies have been imported to Korea and used for Korean patients. However, many clinical problems occur in knee joints of Korean patients after total knee joint replacement owing to the geometric mismatch between the western implants and Korean knee joint structures. To solve these problems, a method to determine the representative dimension parameter values of Korean knee joints is introduced to aid in the design of knee joint implants appropriate for Korean patients. Measurements of the dimension parameters of 88 male Korean knee joint subjects were carried out. The distribution of the subjects versus each measured parameter value was investigated. The measured dimension parameter values of each parameter were grouped by suitable intervals called the "size group," and average values of the size groups were calculated. The knee joint subjects were grouped as the "patient group" based on "size group numbers" of each parameter. From the iterative calculations to decrease the errors between the average dimension parameter values of each "patient group" and the dimension parameter values of the subjects, the average dimension parameter values that give less than the error criterion were determined to be the representative dimension parameter values for designing knee joint implants for Korean patients.

  8. Material parameter determination from scattering measurements

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Dominek, A.; Park, A.; Peters, L., Jr.

    1988-01-01

    The electrical, macroscopic performance of isotropic material can generally be described through their constitutive scalar parameters, permittivity and permeability which are symbolically represented by epsilon and mu, respectively. These parameters relate the electric and magnetic flux densities to the electric and magnetic fields through the following relationships: (1) D=epsilonE; and (2) B=muH. It is through these parameters that the interaction of electromagnetic waves with material can be quantized in terms of reflection and transmission coefficients, and propagation and attenuation factors.

  9. Force control compensation method with variable load stiffness and damping of the hydraulic drive unit force control system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kong, Xiangdong; Ba, Kaixian; Yu, Bin; Cao, Yuan; Zhu, Qixin; Zhao, Hualong

    2016-05-01

    Each joint of hydraulic drive quadruped robot is driven by the hydraulic drive unit (HDU), and the contacting between the robot foot end and the ground is complex and variable, which increases the difficulty of force control inevitably. In the recent years, although many scholars researched some control methods such as disturbance rejection control, parameter self-adaptive control, impedance control and so on, to improve the force control performance of HDU, the robustness of the force control still needs improving. Therefore, how to simulate the complex and variable load characteristics of the environment structure and how to ensure HDU having excellent force control performance with the complex and variable load characteristics are key issues to be solved in this paper. The force control system mathematic model of HDU is established by the mechanism modeling method, and the theoretical models of a novel force control compensation method and a load characteristics simulation method under different environment structures are derived, considering the dynamic characteristics of the load stiffness and the load damping under different environment structures. Then, simulation effects of the variable load stiffness and load damping under the step and sinusoidal load force are analyzed experimentally on the HDU force control performance test platform, which provides the foundation for the force control compensation experiment research. In addition, the optimized PID control parameters are designed to make the HDU have better force control performance with suitable load stiffness and load damping, under which the force control compensation method is introduced, and the robustness of the force control system with several constant load characteristics and the variable load characteristics respectively are comparatively analyzed by experiment. The research results indicate that if the load characteristics are known, the force control compensation method presented in this

  10. Parameter identification of pedestrian's spring-mass-damper model by ground reaction force records through a particle filter approach

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Haoqi; Chen, Jun; Brownjohn, James M. W.

    2017-12-01

    The spring-mass-damper (SMD) model with a pair of internal biomechanical forces is the simplest model for a walking pedestrian to represent his/her mechanical properties, and thus can be used in human-structure-interaction analysis in the vertical direction. However, the values of SMD stiffness and damping, though very important, are typically taken as those measured from stationary people due to lack of a parameter identification methods for a walking pedestrian. This study adopts a step-by-step system identification approach known as particle filter to simultaneously identify the stiffness, damping coefficient, and coefficients of the SMD model's biomechanical forces by ground reaction force (GRF) records. After a brief introduction of the SMD model, the proposed identification approach is explained in detail, with a focus on the theory of particle filter and its integration with the SMD model. A numerical example is first provided to verify the feasibility of the proposed approach which is then applied to several experimental GRF records. Identification results demonstrate that natural frequency and the damping ratio of a walking pedestrian are not constant but have a dependence of mean value and distribution on pacing frequency. The mean value first-order coefficient of the biomechanical force, which is expressed by the Fourier series function, also has a linear relationship with pacing frequency. Higher order coefficients do not show a clear relationship with pacing frequency but follow a logarithmic normal distribution.

  11. Mechanism of force mode dip-pen nanolithography

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Yang, Haijun, E-mail: yanghaijun@sinap.ac.cn, E-mail: swguo@sjtu.edu.cn, E-mail: wanghuabin@cigit.ac.cn; Interfacial Water Division and Key Laboratory of Interfacial Physics and Technology, Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, CAS, Shanghai 201800; Xie, Hui

    In this work, the underlying mechanism of the force mode dip-pen nanolithography (FMDPN) is investigated in depth by analyzing force curves, tapping mode deflection signals, and “Z-scan” voltage variations during the FMDPN. The operation parameters including the relative “trigger threshold” and “surface delay” parameters are vital to control the loading force and dwell time for ink deposition during FMDPN. A model is also developed to simulate the interactions between the atomic force microscope tip and soft substrate during FMDPN, and verified by its good performance in fitting our experimental data.

  12. Calculation of (n,α) reaction cross sections by using some Skyrme force parameters for Potassium (41K) target nuclei

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tel, Eyyup; Sahan, Muhittin; Alkanli, Hasancan; Sahan, Halide; Yigit, Mustafa

    2017-09-01

    In this study, the (n,α) nuclear reaction cross section was calculated for 41K target nuclei for neutron and proton density parameters using SKa, SKb, SLy5, and SLy6 Skyrme force. Theoretical cross section for the (n,α) nuclear reaction was obtained using a formula constituted by Tel et al. (2008). Results are compared with experimental data from EXFOR. The calculated results from formula was found in a close agreement with experimental data.

  13. Determination of Eros Physical Parameters for Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous Orbit Phase Navigation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Miller, J. K.; Antreasian, P. J.; Georgini, J.; Owen, W. M.; Williams, B. G.; Yeomans, D. K.

    1995-01-01

    Navigation of the orbit phase of the Near Earth steroid Rendezvous (NEAR) mission will re,quire determination of certain physical parameters describing the size, shape, gravity field, attitude and inertial properties of Eros. Prior to launch, little was known about Eros except for its orbit which could be determined with high precision from ground based telescope observations. Radar bounce and light curve data provided a rough estimate of Eros shape and a fairly good estimate of the pole, prime meridian and spin rate. However, the determination of the NEAR spacecraft orbit requires a high precision model of Eros's physical parameters and the ground based data provides only marginal a priori information. Eros is the principal source of perturbations of the spacecraft's trajectory and the principal source of data for determining the orbit. The initial orbit determination strategy is therefore concerned with developing a precise model of Eros. The original plan for Eros orbital operations was to execute a series of rendezvous burns beginning on December 20,1998 and insert into a close Eros orbit in January 1999. As a result of an unplanned termination of the rendezvous burn on December 20, 1998, the NEAR spacecraft continued on its high velocity approach trajectory and passed within 3900 km of Eros on December 23, 1998. The planned rendezvous burn was delayed until January 3, 1999 which resulted in the spacecraft being placed on a trajectory that slowly returns to Eros with a subsequent delay of close Eros orbital operations until February 2001. The flyby of Eros provided a brief glimpse and allowed for a crude estimate of the pole, prime meridian and mass of Eros. More importantly for navigation, orbit determination software was executed in the landmark tracking mode to determine the spacecraft orbit and a preliminary shape and landmark data base has been obtained. The flyby also provided an opportunity to test orbit determination operational procedures that will be

  14. Predicting hydration Gibbs energies of alkyl-aromatics using molecular simulation: a comparison of current force fields and the development of a new parameter set for accurate solvation data.

    PubMed

    Garrido, Nuno M; Jorge, Miguel; Queimada, António J; Gomes, José R B; Economou, Ioannis G; Macedo, Eugénia A

    2011-10-14

    The Gibbs energy of hydration is an important quantity to understand the molecular behavior in aqueous systems at constant temperature and pressure. In this work we review the performance of some popular force fields, namely TraPPE, OPLS-AA and Gromos, in reproducing the experimental Gibbs energies of hydration of several alkyl-aromatic compounds--benzene, mono-, di- and tri-substituted alkylbenzenes--using molecular simulation techniques. In the second part of the paper, we report a new model that is able to improve such hydration energy predictions, based on Lennard Jones parameters from the recent TraPPE-EH force field and atomic partial charges obtained from natural population analysis of density functional theory calculations. We apply a scaling factor determined by fitting the experimental hydration energy of only two solutes, and then present a simple rule to generate atomic partial charges for different substituted alkyl-aromatics. This rule has the added advantages of eliminating the unnecessary assumption of fixed charge on every substituted carbon atom and providing a simple guideline for extrapolating the charge assignment to any multi-substituted alkyl-aromatic molecule. The point charges derived here yield excellent predictions of experimental Gibbs energies of hydration, with an overall absolute average deviation of less than 0.6 kJ mol(-1). This new parameter set can also give good predictive performance for other thermodynamic properties and liquid structural information.

  15. Determination of thermodynamics and kinetics of RNA reactions by force

    PubMed Central

    Tinoco, Ignacio; Li, Pan T. X.; Bustamante, Carlos

    2008-01-01

    Single-molecule methods have made it possible to apply force to an individual RNA molecule. Two beads are attached to the RNA; one is on a micropipette, the other is in a laser trap. The force on the RNA and the distance between the beads are measured. Force can change the equilibrium and the rate of any reaction in which the product has a different extension from the reactant. This review describes use of laser tweezers to measure thermodynamics and kinetics of unfolding/refolding RNA. For a reversible reaction the work directly provides the free energy; for irreversible reactions the free energy is obtained from the distribution of work values. The rate constants for the folding and unfolding reactions can be measured by several methods. The effect of pulling rate on the distribution of force-unfolding values leads to rate constants for unfolding. Hopping of the RNA between folded and unfolded states at constant force provides both unfolding and folding rates. Force-jumps and force-drops, similar to the temperature jump method, provide direct measurement of reaction rates over a wide range of forces. The advantages of applying force and using single-molecule methods are discussed. These methods, for example, allow reactions to be studied in non-denaturing solvents at physiological temperatures; they also simplify analysis of kinetic mechanisms because only one intermediate at a time is present. Unfolding of RNA in biological cells by helicases, or ribosomes, has similarities to unfolding by force. PMID:17040613

  16. CO 2 laser cutting of MDF . 1. Determination of process parameter settings

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lum, K. C. P.; Ng, S. L.; Black, I.

    2000-02-01

    This paper details an investigation into the laser processing of medium-density fibreboard (MDF). Part 1 reports on the determination of process parameter settings for the effective cutting of MDF by CO 2 laser, using an established experimental methodology developed to study the interrelationship between and effects of varying laser set-up parameters. Results are presented for both continuous wave (CW) and pulse mode (PM) cutting, and the associated cut quality effects have been commented on.

  17. Determination of design and operation parameters for upper atmospheric research instrumentation to yield optimum resolution with deconvolution

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ioup, George E.; Ioup, Juliette W.

    1991-01-01

    The final report for work on the determination of design and operation parameters for upper atmospheric research instrumentation to yield optimum resolution with deconvolution is presented. Papers and theses prepared during the research report period are included. Among all the research results reported, note should be made of the specific investigation of the determination of design and operation parameters for upper atmospheric research instrumentation to yield optimum resolution with deconvolution. A methodology was developed to determine design and operation parameters for error minimization when deconvolution is included in data analysis. An error surface is plotted versus the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and all parameters of interest. Instrumental characteristics will determine a curve in this space. The SNR and parameter values which give the projection from the curve to the surface, corresponding to the smallest value for the error, are the optimum values. These values are constrained by the curve and so will not necessarily correspond to an absolute minimum in the error surface.

  18. PLS-NIR determination of five parameters in different types of Chinese rice wine

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yu, Haiyan; Ying, Yibin; Fu, Xiaping; Lu, Huishan

    2005-11-01

    To evaluate the applicability of near infrared spectroscopy for determination of the five enological parameters (alcoholic degree, pH value, total acid and amino acid nitrogen, °Brix) of Chinese rice wine, transmission spectra were collected in the spectral range from 12500 to 3800 cm-1 in a 1 mm path length rectangular quartz cuvette with air as reference at room temperature. Five calibration equations for the five parameters were established between the reference data and spectra by partial least squares (PLS) regression, separately. The best calibration results were achieved for the determination of alcoholic degree and °Brix. The RPD (ration of the standard deviation of the samples to the SECV) values of the calibration for both alcoholic degree and °Brix were higher than 3 (4.30 and 7.94, respectively), which demonstrated the robustness and power of the calibration models. The determination coefficients (R2) for alcoholic degree and °Brix were 0.987 and 0.991, respectively. The performance of pH, total acid and amino acid nitrogen was not as good as that of alcoholic degree and °Brix. The RPD values for the three parameters were 1.48, 1.85 and 1.82, respectively, and R2 values were 0.964, 0.970 and 0.971, respectively. In validation step, R2 value of the five parameters are all higher than 0.7, especially for alcoholic degree and °Brix (0.968 and 0.956, respectively). The results demonstrated that NIR spectroscopy could be used to predict the concentration of the five enological parameters in Chinese rice wine.

  19. A simplified method for determining reactive rate parameters for reaction ignition and growth in explosives

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Miller, P.J.

    1996-07-01

    A simplified method for determining the reactive rate parameters for the ignition and growth model is presented. This simplified ignition and growth (SIG) method consists of only two adjustable parameters, the ignition (I) and growth (G) rate constants. The parameters are determined by iterating these variables in DYNA2D hydrocode simulations of the failure diameter and the gap test sensitivity until the experimental values are reproduced. Examples of four widely different explosives were evaluated using the SIG model. The observed embedded gauge stress-time profiles for these explosives are compared to those calculated by the SIG equation and the results are described.

  20. Two-Layer Elastographic 3-D Traction Force Microscopy

    PubMed Central

    Álvarez-González, Begoña; Zhang, Shun; Gómez-González, Manuel; Meili, Ruedi; Firtel, Richard A.; Lasheras, Juan C.; del Álamo, Juan C.

    2017-01-01

    Cellular traction force microscopy (TFM) requires knowledge of the mechanical properties of the substratum where the cells adhere to calculate cell-generated forces from measurements of substratum deformation. Polymer-based hydrogels are broadly used for TFM due to their linearly elastic behavior in the range of measured deformations. However, the calculated stresses, particularly their spatial patterns, can be highly sensitive to the substratum’s Poisson’s ratio. We present two-layer elastographic TFM (2LETFM), a method that allows for simultaneously measuring the Poisson’s ratio of the substratum while also determining the cell-generated forces. The new method exploits the analytical solution of the elastostatic equation and deformation measurements from two layers of the substratum. We perform an in silico analysis of 2LETFM concluding that this technique is robust with respect to TFM experimental parameters, and remains accurate even for noisy measurement data. We also provide experimental proof of principle of 2LETFM by simultaneously measuring the stresses exerted by migrating Physarum amoeboae on the surface of polyacrylamide substrata, and the Poisson’s ratio of the substrata. The 2LETFM method could be generalized to concurrently determine the mechanical properties and cell-generated forces in more physiologically relevant extracellular environments, opening new possibilities to study cell-matrix interactions. PMID:28074837

  1. FAMA: An automatic code for stellar parameter and abundance determination

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Magrini, Laura; Randich, Sofia; Friel, Eileen; Spina, Lorenzo; Jacobson, Heather; Cantat-Gaudin, Tristan; Donati, Paolo; Baglioni, Roberto; Maiorca, Enrico; Bragaglia, Angela; Sordo, Rosanna; Vallenari, Antonella

    2013-10-01

    Context. The large amount of spectra obtained during the epoch of extensive spectroscopic surveys of Galactic stars needs the development of automatic procedures to derive their atmospheric parameters and individual element abundances. Aims: Starting from the widely-used code MOOG by C. Sneden, we have developed a new procedure to determine atmospheric parameters and abundances in a fully automatic way. The code FAMA (Fast Automatic MOOG Analysis) is presented describing its approach to derive atmospheric stellar parameters and element abundances. The code, freely distributed, is written in Perl and can be used on different platforms. Methods: The aim of FAMA is to render the computation of the atmospheric parameters and abundances of a large number of stars using measurements of equivalent widths (EWs) as automatic and as independent of any subjective approach as possible. It is based on the simultaneous search for three equilibria: excitation equilibrium, ionization balance, and the relationship between log n(Fe i) and the reduced EWs. FAMA also evaluates the statistical errors on individual element abundances and errors due to the uncertainties in the stellar parameters. The convergence criteria are not fixed "a priori" but are based on the quality of the spectra. Results: In this paper we present tests performed on the solar spectrum EWs that assess the method's dependency on the initial parameters and we analyze a sample of stars observed in Galactic open and globular clusters. The current version of FAMA is only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (ftp://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/558/A38

  2. Modelling lamb carcase pH and temperature decline parameters: relationship to shear force and abattoir variation.

    PubMed

    Hopkins, David L; Holman, Benjamin W B; van de Ven, Remy J

    2015-02-01

    Carcase pH and temperature decline rates influence lamb tenderness; therefore pH decline parameters are beneficial when modelling tenderness. These include pH at temperature 18 °C (pH@Temp18), temperature when pH is 6 (Temp@pH6), and pH at 24 h post-mortem (pH24). This study aimed to establish a relationship between shear force (SF) as a proxy for tenderness and carcase pH decline parameters estimated using both linear and spline estimation models for the m. longissimus lumborum (LL). The study also compared abattoirs regarding their achievement of ideal pH decline, indicative of optimal tenderness. Based on SF measurements of LL and m. semimembranosus collected as part of the Information Nucleus slaughter programme (CRC for Sheep Industry Innovation) this study found significant relationships between tenderness and pH24LL, consistent across the meat cuts and ageing periods examined. Achievement of ideal pH decline was shown not to have significantly differed across abattoirs, although rates of pH decline varied significantly across years within abattoirs.

  3. Midsole material-related force control during heel-toe running.

    PubMed

    Kersting, Uwe G; Brüggemann, Gert-Peter

    2006-01-01

    The impact maximum and rearfoot eversion have been used as indicators of load on internal structures in running. The midsole hardness of a typical running shoe was varied systematically to determine the relationship between external ground reaction force (GRF), in-shoe force, and kinematic variables. Eight subjects were tested during overground running at 4 m/s. Rearfoot movement as well as in-shoe forces and external GRF varied nonsystematically with midsole hardness. Kinematic parameters such as knee flexion and foot velocity at touchdown (TD), also varied nonsystematically with altered midsole hardness. Results demonstrate that considerable variations of in-shoe loading occur that were not depicted by external GRF measurements alone. Individuals apparently use different strategies of mechanical and neuromuscular adaptation in response to footwear modifications. In conclusion, shoe design effects on impact forces or other factors relating to injuries depend on the individual and therefore cannot be generalized.

  4. Optimizing the Determination of Roughness Parameters for Model Urban Canopies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Huq, Pablo; Rahman, Auvi

    2018-05-01

    We present an objective optimization procedure to determine the roughness parameters for very rough boundary-layer flow over model urban canopies. For neutral stratification the mean velocity profile above a model urban canopy is described by the logarithmic law together with the set of roughness parameters of displacement height d, roughness length z_0 , and friction velocity u_* . Traditionally, values of these roughness parameters are obtained by fitting the logarithmic law through (all) the data points comprising the velocity profile. The new procedure generates unique velocity profiles from subsets or combinations of the data points of the original velocity profile, after which all possible profiles are examined. Each of the generated profiles is fitted to the logarithmic law for a sequence of values of d, with the representative value of d obtained from the minima of the summed least-squares errors for all the generated profiles. The representative values of z_0 and u_* are identified by the peak in the bivariate histogram of z_0 and u_* . The methodology has been verified against laboratory datasets of flow above model urban canopies.

  5. The expression of the skeletal muscle force-length relationship in vivo: a simulation study.

    PubMed

    Winter, Samantha L; Challis, John H

    2010-02-21

    The force-length relationship is one of the most important mechanical characteristics of skeletal muscle in humans and animals. For a physiologically realistic joint range of motion and therefore range of muscle fibre lengths only part of the force-length curve may be used in vivo, i.e. only a section of the force-length curve is expressed. A generalised model of a mono-articular muscle-tendon complex was used to examine the effect of various muscle architecture parameters on the expressed section of the force-length relationship for a 90 degrees joint range of motion. The parameters investigated were: the ratio of tendon resting length to muscle fibre optimum length (L(TR):L(F.OPT)) (varied from 0.5 to 11.5), the ratio of muscle fibre optimum length to average moment arm (L(F.OPT):r) (varied from 0.5 to 5), the normalised tendon strain at maximum isometric force (c) (varied from 0 to 0.08), the muscle fibre pennation angle (theta) (varied from 0 degrees to 45 degrees) and the joint angle at which the optimum muscle fibre length occurred (phi). The range of values chosen for each parameter was based on values reported in the literature for five human mono-articular muscles with different functional roles. The ratios L(TR):L(F.OPT) and L(F.OPT):r were important in determining the amount of variability in the expressed section of the force-length relationship. The modelled muscle operated over only one limb at intermediate values of these two ratios (L(TR):L(F.OPT)=5; L(F.OPT):r=3), whether this was the ascending or descending limb was determined by the precise values of the other parameters. It was concluded that inter-individual variability in the expressed section of the force-length relationship is possible, particularly for muscles with intermediate values of L(TR):L(F.OPT) and L(F.OPT):r such as the brachialis and vastus lateralis. Understanding the potential for inter-individual variability in the expressed section is important when using muscle models to

  6. Prediction of human gait parameters from temporal measures of foot-ground contact

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Breit, G. A.; Whalen, R. T.

    1997-01-01

    Investigation of the influence of human physical activity on bone functional adaptation requires long-term histories of gait-related ground reaction force (GRF). Towards a simpler portable GRF measurement, we hypothesized that: 1) the reciprocal of foot-ground contact time (1/tc); or 2) the reciprocal of stride-period-normalized contact time (T/tc) predict peak vertical and horizontal GRF, loading rates, and horizontal speed during gait. GRF data were collected from 24 subjects while they walked and ran at a variety of speeds. Linear regression and ANCOVA determined the dependence of gait parameters on 1/tc and T/tc, and prediction SE. All parameters were significantly correlated to 1/tc and T/tc. The closest pooled relationship existed between peak running vertical GRF and T/tc (r2 = 0.896; SE = 3.6%) and improved with subject-specific regression (r2 = 0.970; SE = 2.2%). We conclude that temporal measures can predict force parameters of gait and may represent an alternative to direct GRF measurements for determining daily histories of habitual lower limb loading quantities necessary to quantify a bone remodeling stimulus.

  7. A New Method for Determining Hamaker Constants of Solids Based on the Dynamic Approach Behavior of an Atomic Force Microscope

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fronczak, Sean G.

    The Hamaker constant, A, is a quantitative measure of the fundamental attractive van der Waals (vdW) interaction for microscale and nanoscale materials. This parameter captures each material's compositional effects on the vdW force, which is often needed as input for predicting the vdW interactions between particles and surfaces. Experimental attempts to determine A using an atomic force microscope (AFM) are typically hindered by issues inherent to the cantilever-tip-surface contact regime, such as surface roughness and deformation, and contact separation distance. Thus, we developed a new method for estimating Hamaker constants from the non-contact approach regime of an AFM experiment (Fronczak et al., 2017, Langmuir 33, 714-725). This method invokes a quasi-dynamic description of the cantilever tip's approach to contact, in which the inertial effects of the tip motion are accounted for when analyzing the trajectory of the tip's approach towards the substrate. The method was tested experimentally using silica, alumina and polystyrene substrates, and was demonstrated to yield estimates of A for these materials that were in very good agreement with previously published Lifshitz calculations. As with various other approaches to determining A, our new method relies heavily on the accuracy of the geometric model used to predict the interaction between the AFM tip and the substrate. For the initial validation experiments of our new method, we therefore focused on describing the shape of the cantilever tip as closely as possible, utilizing a complex model of a truncated pyramid with a spherical cap. Although this pyramidal geometry can be confirmed and the dimensions estimated via scanning electron microscopy (SEM), even high-resolution SEM images of the tip cannot provide sufficient detail to allow precise enough determination of the tip's geometric parameters. Consequently, we also propose an adaptation of the method, in which these difficult to quantify geometric

  8. Determining dynamical parameters of the Milky Way Galaxy based on high-accuracy radio astrometry

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Honma, Mareki; Nagayama, Takumi; Sakai, Nobuyuki

    2015-08-01

    In this paper we evaluate how the dynamical structure of the Galaxy can be constrained by high-accuracy VLBI (Very Long Baseline Interferometry) astrometry such as VERA (VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry). We generate simulated samples of maser sources which follow the gas motion caused by a spiral or bar potential, with their distribution similar to those currently observed with VERA and VLBA (Very Long Baseline Array). We apply the Markov chain Monte Carlo analyses to the simulated sample sources to determine the dynamical parameter of the models. We show that one can successfully determine the initial model parameters if astrometric results are obtained for a few hundred sources with currently achieved astrometric accuracy. If astrometric data are available from 500 sources, the expected accuracy of R0 and Θ0 is ˜ 1% or higher, and parameters related to the spiral structure can be constrained by an error of 10% or with higher accuracy. We also show that the parameter determination accuracy is basically independent of the locations of resonances such as corotation and/or inner/outer Lindblad resonances. We also discuss the possibility of model selection based on the Bayesian information criterion (BIC), and demonstrate that BIC can be used to discriminate different dynamical models of the Galaxy.

  9. Shallow seismic source parameter determination using intermediate-period surface wave amplitude spectra

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fox, Benjamin D.; Selby, Neil D.; Heyburn, Ross; Woodhouse, John H.

    2012-09-01

    Estimating reliable depths for shallow seismic sources is important in both seismo-tectonic studies and in seismic discrimination studies. Surface wave excitation is sensitive to source depth, especially at intermediate and short-periods, owing to the approximate exponential decay of surface wave displacements with depth. A new method is presented here to retrieve earthquake source parameters from regional and teleseismic intermediate period (100-15 s) fundamental-mode surface wave recordings. This method makes use of advances in mapping global dispersion to allow higher frequency surface wave recordings at regional and teleseismic distances to be used with more confidence than in previous studies and hence improve the resolution of depth estimates. Synthetic amplitude spectra are generated using surface wave theory combined with a great circle path approximation, and a grid of double-couple sources are compared with the data. Source parameters producing the best-fitting amplitude spectra are identified by minimizing the least-squares misfit in logarithmic amplitude space. The F-test is used to search the solution space for statistically acceptable parameters and the ranges of these variables are used to place constraints on the best-fitting source. Estimates of focal mechanism, depth and scalar seismic moment are determined for 20 small to moderate sized (4.3 ≤Mw≤ 6.4) earthquakes. These earthquakes are situated across a wide range of geographic and tectonic locations and describe a range of faulting styles over the depth range 4-29 km. For the larger earthquakes, comparisons with other studies are favourable, however existing source determination procedures, such as the CMT technique, cannot be performed for the smaller events. By reducing the magnitude threshold at which robust source parameters can be determined, the accuracy, especially at shallow depths, of seismo-tectonic studies, seismic hazard assessments, and seismic discrimination investigations can

  10. Psychophysically determined forces of dynamic pushing for female industrial workers: Comparison of two apparatuses.

    PubMed

    Ciriello, Vincent M; Maikala, Rammohan V; Dempsey, Patrick G; O'Brien, Niall V

    2010-01-01

    Using psychophysics, the maximum acceptable forces for pushing have been previously developed using a magnetic particle brake (MPB) treadmill at the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety. The objective of this study was to investigate the reproducibility of maximum acceptable initial and sustained forces while performing a pushing task at a frequency of 1min(-1) both on a MPB treadmill and on a high-inertia pushcart. This is important because our pushing guidelines are used extensively as a ergonomic redesign strategy and we would like the information to be as applicable as possible to cart pushing. On two separate days, nineteen female industrial workers performed a 40-min MPB treadmill pushing task and a 2-hr pushcart task, in the context of a larger experiment. During pushing, the subjects were asked to select a workload they could sustain for 8h without "straining themselves or without becoming unusually tired, weakened, overheated or out of breath." The results demonstrated that maximum acceptable initial and sustained forces of pushing determined on the high inertia pushcart were 0.8% and 2.5% lower than the MPB treadmill. The results also show that the maximum acceptable sustained force of the MPB treadmill task was 0.5% higher than the maximum acceptable sustained force of Snook and Ciriello (1991). Overall, the findings confirm that the existing pushing data developed by the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety still provides an accurate estimate of maximal acceptable forces for the selected combination of distance and frequency of push for female industrial workers.

  11. The application of virtual prototyping methods to determine the dynamic parameters of mobile robot

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kurc, Krzysztof; Szybicki, Dariusz; Burghardt, Andrzej; Muszyńska, Magdalena

    2016-04-01

    The paper presents methods used to determine the parameters necessary to build a mathematical model of an underwater robot with a crawler drive. The parameters present in the dynamics equation will be determined by means of advanced mechatronic design tools, including: CAD/CAE software andMES modules. The virtual prototyping process is described as well as the various possible uses (design adaptability) depending on the optional accessories added to the vehicle. A mathematical model is presented to show the kinematics and dynamics of the underwater crawler robot, essential for the design stage.

  12. Determining parameters and mechanisms of colloid retention and release in porous media

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    A framework is presented to determine fundamental parameters and mechanisms controlling colloid (including microbes and nanoparticles) retention and release on hypothetical porous medium surfaces that exhibit distributions of nanoscale chemical heterogeneity, nano- to microscale roughness, and spati...

  13. The effects of rigid motions on elastic network model force constants

    PubMed Central

    Lezon, Timothy R.

    2012-01-01

    Elastic network models provide an efficient way to quickly calculate protein global dynamics from experimentally determined structures. The model’s single parameter, its force constant, determines the physical extent of equilibrium fluctuations. The values of force constants can be calculated by fitting to experimental data, but the results depend on the type of experimental data used. Here we investigate the differences between calculated values of force constants _t to data from NMR and X-ray structures. We find that X-ray B factors carry the signature of rigid-body motions, to the extent that B factors can be almost entirely accounted for by rigid motions alone. When fitting to more refined anisotropic temperature factors, the contributions of rigid motions are significantly reduced, indicating that the large contribution of rigid motions to B factors is a result of over-fitting. No correlation is found between force constants fit to NMR data and those fit to X-ray data, possibly due to the inability of NMR data to accurately capture protein dynamics. PMID:22228562

  14. The effects of rigid motions on elastic network model force constants.

    PubMed

    Lezon, Timothy R

    2012-04-01

    Elastic network models provide an efficient way to quickly calculate protein global dynamics from experimentally determined structures. The model's single parameter, its force constant, determines the physical extent of equilibrium fluctuations. The values of force constants can be calculated by fitting to experimental data, but the results depend on the type of experimental data used. Here, we investigate the differences between calculated values of force constants and data from NMR and X-ray structures. We find that X-ray B factors carry the signature of rigid-body motions, to the extent that B factors can be almost entirely accounted for by rigid motions alone. When fitting to more refined anisotropic temperature factors, the contributions of rigid motions are significantly reduced, indicating that the large contribution of rigid motions to B factors is a result of over-fitting. No correlation is found between force constants fit to NMR data and those fit to X-ray data, possibly due to the inability of NMR data to accurately capture protein dynamics. Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  15. The Sodium Exposure Test Cell to determine operating parameters for AMTEC electrochemical cells

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Ryan, M.A.; Williams, R.M.; Lara, L.

    1998-07-01

    The Sodium Exposure Test Cell (SETC) is a non-power producing cell which has been developed to evaluate and test components of the electrochemical cell in an Alkali Metal Thermal to Electric Converter. Performance and time dependence of performance of the electrode and the electrolyte in AMTEC cells can be tested in an SETC, and performance parameters which correlate with those taken from AMTEC operation can be calculated from data taken in an SETC. The components of the AMTEC electrochemical cell which are evaluated in an SETC are the electrode, {beta}{double{underscore}prime}-alumina solid electrolyte (BASE), the current collection network, and the containment.more » The components are held in low pressure sodium vapor at a temperature which reflects their operating conditions in an AMTEC device, and operating parameters determined. Electrodes and BASE are evaluated by measuring current-voltage (IV) characteristics and using Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS). Using these techniques, electrode performance parameters such as the exchange current (B), the morphology factor (G), and contact resistance between electrode and current collection network can be determined. The ionic conductivity (s) of BASE can also be determined. IV curves and EIS measurements are made at intervals over periods of several hundreds of hours in order to evaluate degradation of AMTEC electrochemical cell components. Electrode and BASE are analyzed after an SETC experiment using Scanning Electron Microscopy, Electron Dispersive Spectroscopy, and X-Ray Diffraction. These techniques allow evaluation of interaction of materials and changes in the composition and structure of materials. The purpose of these experiments is determination of the changes of operating parameters as a function of time in order to predict the operating lifetime of AMTEC cells.« less

  16. Accurate formulas for interaction force and energy in frequency modulation force spectroscopy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sader, John E.; Jarvis, Suzanne P.

    2004-03-01

    Frequency modulation atomic force microscopy utilizes the change in resonant frequency of a cantilever to detect variations in the interaction force between cantilever tip and sample. While a simple relation exists enabling the frequency shift to be determined for a given force law, the required complementary inverse relation does not exist for arbitrary oscillation amplitudes of the cantilever. In this letter we address this problem and present simple yet accurate formulas that enable the interaction force and energy to be determined directly from the measured frequency shift. These formulas are valid for any oscillation amplitude and interaction force, and are therefore of widespread applicability in frequency modulation dynamic force spectroscopy.

  17. Online determination of biophysical parameters of mucous membranes of a human body

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lisenko, S. A.; Kugeiko, M. M.

    2013-07-01

    We have developed a method for online determination of biophysical parameters of mucous membranes (MMs) of a human body (transport scattering coefficient, scattering anisotropy factor, haemoglobin concentration, degrees of blood oxygenation, average diameter of capillaries with blood) from measurements of spectral and spatial characteristics of diffuse reflection. The method is based on regression relationships between linearly independent components of the measured light signals and the unknown parameters of MMs, obtained by simulation of the radiation transfer in the MM under conditions of its general variability. We have proposed and justified the calibration-free fibre-optic method for determining the concentration of haemoglobin in MMs by measuring the light signals diffusely reflected by the tissue in four spectral regions at two different distances from the illumination spot. We have selected the optimal wavelengths of optical probing for the implementation of the method.

  18. Analysis of forces developed during root canal preparation with the balanced force technique.

    PubMed

    Blum, J Y; Machtou, P; Esber, S; Micallef, J P

    1997-11-01

    The aim of this study was to examine the forces and torque developed during root canal preparation with the balanced force technique using a recently described force-analyser device. A tooth was placed in a holder within the Endograph and forces and torques exerted were recorded. These parameters, which can be studied during preparation (on-line) or stored and examinated subsequently (off-line) generated endograms, which showed the forces generated with time. In addition, the endograms of preparations performed by students and endodontists, as well as deliberately induced failures in preparation technique (broken instruments), were compared. The values for the forces and torques depended on the size of the instruments and were related to the phase of the preparation. For the endodontists, the vertical and horizontal forces varied, respectively, from 0.08 +/- 0.01 kg for a size 15 to 0.65 +/- 0.10 kg for a size 45, and from 0.01 +/- 0.005 kg for a size 15 to 0.4 +/- 0.1 kg for a size 40. The torque varied from 0.08 +/- 1 kg mm-1 for a size 15 to 1.6 +/- 0.4 kg mm-1 for a size 45. With the endograms used as a reference, the relation between the developed vertical forces and the torque became more similar between the groups of endodontists and students. The Endograph provides a new approach to the analysis of preparation technique because it depicts the relationships between the different parameters of the preparation.

  19. Evaluation of higher order statistics parameters for multi channel sEMG using different force levels.

    PubMed

    Naik, Ganesh R; Kumar, Dinesh K

    2011-01-01

    The electromyograpy (EMG) signal provides information about the performance of muscles and nerves. The shape of the muscle signal and motor unit action potential (MUAP) varies due to the movement of the position of the electrode or due to changes in contraction level. This research deals with evaluating the non-Gaussianity in Surface Electromyogram signal (sEMG) using higher order statistics (HOS) parameters. To achieve this, experiments were conducted for four different finger and wrist actions at different levels of Maximum Voluntary Contractions (MVCs). Our experimental analysis shows that at constant force and for non-fatiguing contractions, probability density functions (PDF) of sEMG signals were non-Gaussian. For lesser MVCs (below 30% of MVC) PDF measures tends to be Gaussian process. The above measures were verified by computing the Kurtosis values for different MVCs.

  20. Anaerobic threshold determination through ventilatory and electromyographics parameters.

    PubMed

    Gassi, E R; Bankoff, A D P

    2010-01-01

    The aim of present study was to compare the alterations in electromyography signs with Ventilatory Threshold (VT). Had been part of the study eight men, amateur cyclists and triathletes (25.25 +/- 6.96 years), that they had exercised themselves in a mechanical cicloergometer, a cadence of 80 RPM and with the increased intensity being in 25 W/min until the exhaustion. The VT was determined by a non-linear increase in VE/VO2 without any increase in VE/VCO2 and compared with the intensity corresponding to break point of amplitude EMG sign during the incremental exercise. The EMG--Fatigue Threshold (FT) and Ventilatory Threshold (VT) parameters used were the power, the time, absolute and relative VO2, ventilation (VE), the heart hate (HH) and the subjective perception of the effort. The results had not shown to difference in none of the variable selected for the corresponding intensity to VT and FT--EMG of the muscles lateralis vastus and femoris rectus. The parameters used in the comparison between the electromyographic indicators and ventilatory were the load, the time, absolute VO2 and relative to corporal mass, to ventilation (VE), the heart frequency (HH) and the Subjective Perception of the Effort (SPE).

  1. Determining Crack Tip Field Parameters for Elastic-Plastic Materials via an Estimation Scheme

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1981-07-01

    of the Materials Laboratory was the Project Monitor for this study of the application of the Nonlinear Fracture Mechanics (NLFM) parameters to the...fracture mechanics (LEFM) is applicable . If the plastic zone size is large, compared to the case of small scale yielding, LEFM is not applicable . The...above HRR field equations are applicable only for the case of stationary cracks. 2.2 PARAMETER DETERMINATION For elastic-plastic materials, the

  2. Effect of Cutting Parameters on Thrust Force and Surface Roughness in Drilling of Al-2219/B4C/Gr Metal Matrix Composites

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ravindranath, V. M.; Basavarajappa, G. S. Shiva Shankar S.; Suresh, R.

    2016-09-01

    In aluminium matrix composites, reinforcement of hard ceramic particle present inside the matrix which causes tool wear, high cutting forces and poor surface finish during machining. This paper focuses on effect of cutting parameters on thrust force, surface roughness and burr height during drilling of MMCs. In the present work, discuss the influence of spindle speed and feed rate on drilling the pure base alloy (Al-2219), mono composite (Al- 2219+8% B4C) and hybrid composite (Al-2219+8%B4C+3%Gr). The composites were fabricated using liquid metallurgy route. The drilling experiments were conducted by CNC machine with TiN coated HSS tool, M42 (Cobalt grade) and carbide tools at various spindle speeds and feed rates. The thrust force, surface roughness and burr height of the drilled hole were investigated in mono composite and hybrid composite containing graphite particles, the experimental results show that the feed rate has more influence on thrust force and surface roughness. Lesser thrust force and discontinuous chips were produced during machining of hybrid composites when compared with mono and base alloy during drilling process. It is due to solid lubricant property of graphite which reduces the lesser thrust force, burr height and lower surface roughness. When machining with Carbide tool at low feed and high speeds good surface finish was obtained compared to other two types of cutting tool materials.

  3. Direct Determination of the Equilibrium Unbinding Potential Profile for a Short DNA Duplex from Force Spectroscopy Data

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Noy, A

    2004-05-04

    Modern force microscopy techniques allow researchers to use mechanical forces to probe interactions between biomolecules. However, such measurements often happen in non-equilibrium regime, which precludes straightforward extraction of the equilibrium energy information. Here we use the work averaging method based on Jarzynski equality to reconstruct the equilibrium interaction potential from the unbinding of a complementary 14-mer DNA duplex from the results of non-equilibrium single-molecule measurements. The reconstructed potential reproduces most of the features of the DNA stretching transition, previously observed only in equilibrium stretching of long DNA sequences. We also compare the reconstructed potential with the thermodynamic parameters of DNAmore » duplex unbinding and show that the reconstruction accurately predicts duplex melting enthalpy.« less

  4. Model space exploration for determining landslide source history from long period seismic data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhao, Juan; Mangeney, Anne; Stutzmann, Eléonore; Capdeville, Yann; Moretti, Laurent; Calder, Eliza S.; Smith, Patrick J.; Cole, Paul; Le Friant, Anne

    2013-04-01

    The seismic signals generated by high magnitude landslide events can be recorded at remote stations, which provides access to the landslide process. During the "Boxing Day" eruption at Montserrat in 1997, the long period seismic signals generated by the debris avalanche are recorded by two stations at distances of 450 km and 1261 km. We investigate the landslide process considering that the landslide source can be described by single forces. The period band 25-50 sec is selected for which the landslide signal is clearly visible at the two stations. We first use the transverse component of the closest station to determine the horizontal forces. We model the seismogram by normal mode summation and investigate the model space. Two horizontal forces are found that best fit the data. These two horizontal forces have similar amplitude, but opposite direction and they are separated in time by 70 sec. The radiation pattern of the transverse component does not enable to determine the exact azimuth of these forces. We then model the vertical component of the seismograms which enable to retrieve both the vertical and horizontal forces. Using the parameter previously determined (amplitude ratio and time shift of the 2 horizontal forces), we further investigate the model space and show that a single vertical force together with the 2 horizontal forces enable to fit the data. The complete source time function can be described as follows: a horizontal force toward the opposite direction of the landslide flow is followed 40 sec later by a vertical downward force and 30 more seconds later by a horizontal force toward the direction of the flow. Inverting directly the seismograms in the period band 25-50sec enable to retrieve a source time function that is consistent with the 3 forces determined previously. The source time function in this narrow period band alone does not enable easily to recover the corresponding single forces. This method can be used to determine the source

  5. Determination of the dynamical behaviour of biological materials during impact using a pendulum device

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Van Zeebroeck, M.; Tijskens, E.; Van Liedekerke, P.; Deli, V.; De Baerdemaeker, J.; Ramon, H.

    2003-09-01

    A pendulum device has been developed to measure contact force, displacement and displacement rate of an impactor during its impact on the sample. Displacement, classically measured by double integration of an accelerometer, was determined in an alternative way using a more accurate incremental optical encoder. The parameters of the Kuwabara-Kono contact force model for impact of spheres have been estimated using an optimization method, taking the experimentally measured displacement, displacement rate and contact force into account. The accuracy of the method was verified using a rubber ball. Contact force parameters for the Kuwabara-Kono model have been estimated with success for three biological materials, i.e., apples, tomatoes and potatoes. The variability in the parameter estimations for the biological materials was quite high and can be explained by geometric differences (radius of curvature) and by biological variation of mechanical tissue properties.

  6. Experimental determination of gap flow-conditioned forces at turbine stages and their effect on the running stability of simple rotors. Ph.D. Thesis

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wohlrab, R.

    1983-01-01

    Instabilities in turbine operation can be caused by forces which are produced in connection with motions involving the oil film in the bearings. An experimental investigation regarding the characteristics of such forces in the case of three typical steam turbine stages is conducted, taking into account the effect of various parameters. Supplementary kinetic tests are carried out to obtain an estimate of the flow forces which are proportional to the velocity. The measurements are based on the theoretical study of the damping characteristics of a vibrational model. A computational analysis of the effect of the measured fluid forces on the stability characteristics of simple rotor model is also conducted.

  7. Evaluating Force-Field London Dispersion Coefficients Using the Exchange-Hole Dipole Moment Model.

    PubMed

    Mohebifar, Mohamad; Johnson, Erin R; Rowley, Christopher N

    2017-12-12

    London dispersion interactions play an integral role in materials science and biophysics. Force fields for atomistic molecular simulations typically represent dispersion interactions by the 12-6 Lennard-Jones potential using empirically determined parameters. These parameters are generally underdetermined, and there is no straightforward way to test if they are physically realistic. Alternatively, the exchange-hole dipole moment (XDM) model from density-functional theory predicts atomic and molecular London dispersion coefficients from first principles, providing an innovative strategy to validate the dispersion terms of molecular-mechanical force fields. In this work, the XDM model was used to obtain the London dispersion coefficients of 88 organic molecules relevant to biochemistry and pharmaceutical chemistry and the values compared with those derived from the Lennard-Jones parameters of the CGenFF, GAFF, OPLS, and Drude polarizable force fields. The molecular dispersion coefficients for the CGenFF, GAFF, and OPLS models are systematically higher than the XDM-calculated values by a factor of roughly 1.5, likely due to neglect of higher order dispersion terms and premature truncation of the dispersion-energy summation. The XDM dispersion coefficients span a large range for some molecular-mechanical atom types, suggesting an unrecognized source of error in force-field models, which assume that atoms of the same type have the same dispersion interactions. Agreement with the XDM dispersion coefficients is even poorer for the Drude polarizable force field. Popular water models were also examined, and TIP3P was found to have dispersion coefficients similar to the experimental and XDM references, although other models employ anomalously high values. Finally, XDM-derived dispersion coefficients were used to parametrize molecular-mechanical force fields for five liquids-benzene, toluene, cyclohexane, n-pentane, and n-hexane-which resulted in improved accuracy in the

  8. Method and system for measuring gate valve clearances and seating force

    DOEpatents

    Casada, Donald A.; Haynes, Howard D.; Moyers, John C.; Stewart, Brian K.

    1996-01-01

    Valve clearances and seating force, as well as other valve operational parameters, are determined by measuring valve stem rotation during opening and closing operations of a translatable gate valve. The magnitude of the stem rotation, and the relative difference between the stem rotation on opening and closing provides valuable data on the valve internals in a non-intrusive manner.

  9. Model space exploration for determining landslide source history from long period seismic data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhao, J.; Mangeney, A.; Stutzmann, E.; Capdeville, Y.; Moretti, L.; Calder, E. S.; Smith, P. J.; Cole, P.; Le Friant, A.

    2012-12-01

    The seismic signals generated by high magnitude landslide events can be recorded at remote stations, which provides access to the landslide process. During the "Boxing Day" eruption at Montserrat in 1997, the long-period seismic signals generated by the debris avalanche are recorded by two stations at distances of 450km and 1261km. We investigate the landslide process considering that the landslide source can be described by single forces. The period band 25-50 sec is selected for which the landslide signal is clearly visible at the two stations. We first use the transverse component of the closest station to determine the horizontal forces. We model the seismogram by normal mode summation and investigate the model space. Two horizontal forces are found that best fit the data. These two horizontal forces have similar amplitude, but opposite direction and they are separated in time by 70 sec. The radiation pattern of the transverse component does not enable to determine the exact azimuth of these forces. We then model the vertical component of the seismograms which enable to retrieve both the vertical and horizontal forces. Using the parameter previously determined (amplitude ratio and time shift of the 2 horizontal forces), we further investigate the model space and show that a single vertical force together with the 2 horizontal forces enable to fit the data. The complete source time function can be described as follows: a horizontal force toward the opposite direction of the landslide flow is followed 40 sec later by a vertical downward force and 30 more seconds later by a horizontal force toward the direction of the flow. The volume of the landslide estimated from the force magnitude is compatible with the volume determined by field survey. Inverting directly the seismograms in the period band 25-50sec enable to retrieve a source time function that is consistent with the 3 forces determined previously. The source time function in this narrow period band alone

  10. Current and efficiency of Brownian particles under oscillating forces in entropic barriers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nutku, Ferhat; Aydιner, Ekrem

    2015-04-01

    In this study, considering the temporarily unbiased force and different forms of oscillating forces, we investigate the current and efficiency of Brownian particles in an entropic tube structure and present the numerically obtained results. We show that different force forms give rise to different current and efficiency profiles in different optimized parameter intervals. We find that an unbiased oscillating force and an unbiased temporal force lead to the current and efficiency, which are dependent on these parameters. We also observe that the current and efficiency caused by temporal and different oscillating forces have maximum and minimum values in different parameter intervals. We conclude that the current or efficiency can be controlled dynamically by adjusting the parameters of entropic barriers and applied force. Project supported by the Funds from Istanbul University (Grant No. 45662).

  11. Effects of oncoming target velocities on rapid force production and accuracy of force production intensity and timing.

    PubMed

    Ohta, Yoichi

    2017-12-01

    The present study aimed to clarify the effects of oncoming target velocities on the ability of rapid force production and accuracy and variability of simultaneous control of both force production intensity and timing. Twenty male participants (age: 21.0 ± 1.4 years) performed rapid gripping with a handgrip dynamometer to coincide with the arrival of an oncoming target by using a horizontal electronic trackway. The oncoming target velocities were 4, 8, and 12 m · s -1 , which were randomly produced. The grip force required was 30% of the maximal voluntary contraction. Although the peak force (Pf) and rate of force development (RFD) increased with increasing target velocity, the value of the RFD to Pf ratio was constant across the 3 target velocities. The accuracy of both force production intensity and timing decreased at higher target velocities. Moreover, the intrapersonal variability in temporal parameters was lower in the fast target velocity condition, but constant variability in 3 target velocities was observed in force intensity parameters. These results suggest that oncoming target velocity does not intrinsically affect the ability for rapid force production. However, the oncoming target velocity affects accuracy and variability of force production intensity and timing during rapid force production.

  12. Control of force during rapid visuomotor force-matching tasks can be described by discrete time PID control algorithms.

    PubMed

    Dideriksen, Jakob Lund; Feeney, Daniel F; Almuklass, Awad M; Enoka, Roger M

    2017-08-01

    Force trajectories during isometric force-matching tasks involving isometric contractions vary substantially across individuals. In this study, we investigated if this variability can be explained by discrete time proportional, integral, derivative (PID) control algorithms with varying model parameters. To this end, we analyzed the pinch force trajectories of 24 subjects performing two rapid force-matching tasks with visual feedback. Both tasks involved isometric contractions to a target force of 10% maximal voluntary contraction. One task involved a single action (pinch) and the other required a double action (concurrent pinch and wrist extension). 50,000 force trajectories were simulated with a computational neuromuscular model whose input was determined by a PID controller with different PID gains and frequencies at which the controller adjusted muscle commands. The goal was to find the best match between each experimental force trajectory and all simulated trajectories. It was possible to identify one realization of the PID controller that matched the experimental force produced during each task for most subjects (average index of similarity: 0.87 ± 0.12; 1 = perfect similarity). The similarities for both tasks were significantly greater than that would be expected by chance (single action: p = 0.01; double action: p = 0.04). Furthermore, the identified control frequencies in the simulated PID controller with the greatest similarities decreased as task difficulty increased (single action: 4.0 ± 1.8 Hz; double action: 3.1 ± 1.3 Hz). Overall, the results indicate that discrete time PID controllers are realistic models for the neural control of force in rapid force-matching tasks involving isometric contractions.

  13. Compatible topologies and parameters for NMR structure determination of carbohydrates by simulated annealing.

    PubMed

    Feng, Yingang

    2017-01-01

    The use of NMR methods to determine the three-dimensional structures of carbohydrates and glycoproteins is still challenging, in part because of the lack of standard protocols. In order to increase the convenience of structure determination, the topology and parameter files for carbohydrates in the program Crystallography & NMR System (CNS) were investigated and new files were developed to be compatible with the standard simulated annealing protocols for proteins and nucleic acids. Recalculating the published structures of protein-carbohydrate complexes and glycosylated proteins demonstrates that the results are comparable to the published structures which employed more complex procedures for structure calculation. Integrating the new carbohydrate parameters into the standard structure calculation protocol will facilitate three-dimensional structural study of carbohydrates and glycosylated proteins by NMR spectroscopy.

  14. Compatible topologies and parameters for NMR structure determination of carbohydrates by simulated annealing

    PubMed Central

    2017-01-01

    The use of NMR methods to determine the three-dimensional structures of carbohydrates and glycoproteins is still challenging, in part because of the lack of standard protocols. In order to increase the convenience of structure determination, the topology and parameter files for carbohydrates in the program Crystallography & NMR System (CNS) were investigated and new files were developed to be compatible with the standard simulated annealing protocols for proteins and nucleic acids. Recalculating the published structures of protein-carbohydrate complexes and glycosylated proteins demonstrates that the results are comparable to the published structures which employed more complex procedures for structure calculation. Integrating the new carbohydrate parameters into the standard structure calculation protocol will facilitate three-dimensional structural study of carbohydrates and glycosylated proteins by NMR spectroscopy. PMID:29232406

  15. On the critical forcing amplitude of forced nonlinear oscillators

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Febbo, Mariano; Ji, Jinchen C.

    2013-12-01

    The steady-state response of forced single degree-of-freedom weakly nonlinear oscillators under primary resonance conditions can exhibit saddle-node bifurcations, jump and hysteresis phenomena, if the amplitude of the excitation exceeds a certain value. This critical value of excitation amplitude or critical forcing amplitude plays an important role in determining the occurrence of saddle-node bifurcations in the frequency-response curve. This work develops an alternative method to determine the critical forcing amplitude for single degree-of-freedom nonlinear oscillators. Based on Lagrange multipliers approach, the proposed method considers the calculation of the critical forcing amplitude as an optimization problem with constraints that are imposed by the existence of locations of vertical tangency. In comparison with the Gröbner basis method, the proposed approach is more straightforward and thus easy to apply for finding the critical forcing amplitude both analytically and numerically. Three examples are given to confirm the validity of the theoretical predictions. The first two present the analytical form for the critical forcing amplitude and the third one is an example of a numerically computed solution.

  16. Determination of the force constant of a single-beam gradient trap by measurement of backscattered light

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Friese, M. E. J.; Rubinsztein-Dunlop, H.; Heckenberg, N. R.; Dearden, E. W.

    1996-12-01

    A single-beam gradient trap could potentially be used to hold a stylus for scanning force microscopy. With a view to development of this technique, we modeled the optical trap as a harmonic oscillator and therefore characterized it by its force constant. We measured force constants and resonant frequencies for 1 4- m-diameter polystyrene spheres in a single-beam gradient trap using measurements of backscattered light. Force constants were determined with both Gaussian and doughnut laser modes, with powers of 3 and 1 mW, respectively. Typical values for spring constants were measured to be between 10 6 and 4 10 6 N m. The resonant frequencies of trapped particles were measured to be between 1 and 10 kHz, and the rms amplitudes of oscillations were estimated to be around 40 nm. Our results confirm that the use of the doughnut mode for single-beam trapping is more efficient in the axial direction.

  17. Magnetic moment of solar plasma and the Kelvin force: -The driving force of plasma up-flow -

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shibasaki, Kiyoto

    2017-04-01

    Thermal plasma in the solar atmosphere is magnetized (diamagnetic). The magnetic moment does not disappear by collisions because complete gyration is not a necessary condition to have magnetic moment. Magnetized fluid is subjected to Kelvin force in non-uniform magnetic field. Generally, magnetic field strength decreases upwards in the solar atmosphere, hence the Kelvin force is directed upwards along the field. This force is not included in the fluid treatment of MHD. By adding the Kelvin force to the MHD equation of motion, we can expect temperature dependent plasma flows along the field which are reported by many observations. The temperature dependence of the flow speed is explained by temperature dependence of magnetic moment. From the observed parameters, we can infer physical parameters in the solar atmosphere such as scale length of the magnetic field strength and the friction force acting on the flowing plasma. In case of closed magnetic field lines, loop-top concentration of hot plasma is expected which is frequently observed.

  18. Vertical ground reaction forces in patients after calcaneal trauma surgery.

    PubMed

    van Hoeve, S; Verbruggen, J; Willems, P; Meijer, K; Poeze, M

    2017-10-01

    Vertical ground reaction forces (VGRFs) are altered in patients after foot trauma. It is not known if this correlates with ankle kinematics. The aim of this study was to analyze VGRFs in patients after calcaneal trauma and correlate them to patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), radiographic findings and kinematic analysis, using a multi-segment foot model. In addition, we determined the predictive value of VGRFs to identify patients with altered foot kinematics. Thirteen patients (13 feet) with displaced intra-articular calcaneal fractures, were included an average of two years after trauma surgery. PROMs, radiographic findings on postoperative computed tomography scans, gait analysis using the Oxford foot model and VGRFs were analysed during gait. Results were compared with those of 11 healthy subjects (20 feet). Speed was equal in both groups, with healthy subjects walking at self-selected slow speed (0.94±0.18m/s) and patients after surgery walking at self-selected normal speed (0.94±0.29m/s). ROC curves were used to determine the predictive value. Patients after calcaneal surgery showed a lower minimum force during midstance (p=0.004) and a lower maximum force during toe-off (p=0.011). This parameter correlated significantly with the range of motion in the sagittal plane during the push-off phase (r 0.523, p=0.002), as well as with PROMs and with postoperative residual step-off (r 0.423, p=0.016). Combining these two parameters yielded a cut-off value of 193% (p<0.001), area under the curve 0.93 (95%confidence interval 0.84-1.00). Patients after calcaneal fracture showed lower minimum force during midstance and lower maximum force during toe-off compared to healthy subjects. This lower maximum force during push-off correlated significantly with PROMs, range of motion in the sagittal plane during push-off and radiographic postoperative residual step-off in the posterior facet of the calcaneal bone. VGRFs are a valuable screening tool for identifying

  19. Impact of Short-Range Forces on Defect Production from High-Energy Collisions

    DOE PAGES

    Stoller, R. E.; Tamm, A.; Béland, L. K.; ...

    2016-04-25

    Primary radiation damage formation in solid materials typically involves collisions between atoms that have up to a few hundred keV of kinetic energy. The distance between two colliding atoms can approach 0.05 nm during these collisions. At such small atomic separations, force fields fitted to equilibrium properties tend to significantly underestimate the potential energy of the colliding dimer. To enable molecular dynamics simulations of high-energy collisions, it is common practice to use a screened Coulomb force field to describe the interactions and to smoothly join this to the equilibrium force field at a suitable interatomic spacing. But, there is nomore » accepted standard method for choosing the parameters used in the joining process, and our results prove that defect production is sensitive to how the force fields are linked. A new procedure is presented that involves the use of ab initio calculations to determine the magnitude and spatial dependence of the pair interactions at intermediate distances, along with systematic criteria for choosing the joining parameters. Results are presented for the case of nickel, which demonstrate the use and validity of the procedure.« less

  20. All-Atom MD Simulation of DNA Condensation Using Ab Initio Derived Force Field Parameters of Cobalt(III)-Hexammine.

    PubMed

    Sun, Tiedong; Mirzoev, Alexander; Korolev, Nikolay; Lyubartsev, Alexander P; Nordenskiöld, Lars

    2017-08-24

    It is well established that the presence of the trivalent cobalt(III)-hexammine cation (CoHex 3+ ) at submillimolar concentrations leads to bundling (condensation) of double-stranded DNA molecules, which is caused by DNA-DNA attraction induced by the multivalent counterions. However, the detailed mechanism of this process is still not fully understood. Furthermore, in all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, spontaneous aggregation of several DNA oligonucleotides in the presence of CoHex 3+ has previously not been demonstrated. In order to obtain a rigorous description of CoHex 3+ -nucleic acid interactions and CoHex 3+ -induced DNA condensation to be used in MD simulations, we have derived optimized force field parameters of the CoHex 3+ ion. They were obtained from Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics simulation of a single CoHex 3+ ion in the presence of 125 water molecules. The new set of force field parameters reproduces the experimentally known transition of DNA from B- to A-form, and qualitatively describes changes of DNA and RNA persistence lengths. We then carried out a 2 μs long atomistic simulation of four DNA oligomers each consisting of 36 base pairs in the presence of CoHex 3+ . We demonstrate that, in this system, DNA molecules display attractive interactions and aggregate into bundle-like structures. This behavior depends critically on the details of the CoHex 3+ interaction with DNA. A control simulation with a similar setup but in the presence of Mg 2+ does not induce DNA-DNA attraction, which is also in agreement with experiment.

  1. Research on key factors and their interaction effects of electromagnetic force of high-speed solenoid valve.

    PubMed

    Liu, Peng; Fan, Liyun; Hayat, Qaisar; Xu, De; Ma, Xiuzhen; Song, Enzhe

    2014-01-01

    Analysis consisting of numerical simulations along with lab experiments of interaction effects between key parameters on the electromagnetic force based on response surface methodology (RSM) has been also proposed to optimize the design of high-speed solenoid valve (HSV) and improve its performance. Numerical simulation model of HSV has been developed in Ansoft Maxwell environment and its accuracy has been validated through lab experiments. Effect of change of core structure, coil structure, armature structure, working air gap, and drive current on the electromagnetic force of HSV has been analyzed through simulation model and influence rules of various parameters on the electromagnetic force have been established. The response surface model of the electromagnetic force has been utilized to analyze the interaction effect between major parameters. It has been concluded that six interaction factors including working air gap with armature radius, drive current with armature thickness, coil turns with side pole radius, armature thickness with its radius, armature thickness with side pole radius, and armature radius with side pole radius have significant influence on the electromagnetic force. Optimal match values between coil turns and side pole radius; armature thickness and side pole radius; and armature radius and side pole radius have also been determined.

  2. Research on Key Factors and Their Interaction Effects of Electromagnetic Force of High-Speed Solenoid Valve

    PubMed Central

    Fan, Liyun; Xu, De; Ma, Xiuzhen; Song, Enzhe

    2014-01-01

    Analysis consisting of numerical simulations along with lab experiments of interaction effects between key parameters on the electromagnetic force based on response surface methodology (RSM) has been also proposed to optimize the design of high-speed solenoid valve (HSV) and improve its performance. Numerical simulation model of HSV has been developed in Ansoft Maxwell environment and its accuracy has been validated through lab experiments. Effect of change of core structure, coil structure, armature structure, working air gap, and drive current on the electromagnetic force of HSV has been analyzed through simulation model and influence rules of various parameters on the electromagnetic force have been established. The response surface model of the electromagnetic force has been utilized to analyze the interaction effect between major parameters. It has been concluded that six interaction factors including working air gap with armature radius, drive current with armature thickness, coil turns with side pole radius, armature thickness with its radius, armature thickness with side pole radius, and armature radius with side pole radius have significant influence on the electromagnetic force. Optimal match values between coil turns and side pole radius; armature thickness and side pole radius; and armature radius and side pole radius have also been determined. PMID:25243217

  3. Determining Hypocentral Parameters for Local Earthquakes in 1-D Using a Genetic Algorithm and Two-point ray tracing

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kim, W.; Hahm, I.; Ahn, S. J.; Lim, D. H.

    2005-12-01

    This paper introduces a powerful method for determining hypocentral parameters for local earthquakes in 1-D using a genetic algorithm (GA) and two-point ray tracing. Using existing algorithms to determine hypocentral parameters is difficult, because these parameters can vary based on initial velocity models. We developed a new method to solve this problem by applying a GA to an existing algorithm, HYPO-71 (Lee and Larh, 1975). The original HYPO-71 algorithm was modified by applying two-point ray tracing and a weighting factor with respect to the takeoff angle at the source to reduce errors from the ray path and hypocenter depth. Artificial data, without error, were generated by computer using two-point ray tracing in a true model, in which velocity structure and hypocentral parameters were known. The accuracy of the calculated results was easily determined by comparing calculated and actual values. We examined the accuracy of this method for several cases by changing the true and modeled layer numbers and thicknesses. The computational results show that this method determines nearly exact hypocentral parameters without depending on initial velocity models. Furthermore, accurate and nearly unique hypocentral parameters were obtained, although the number of modeled layers and thicknesses differed from those in the true model. Therefore, this method can be a useful tool for determining hypocentral parameters in regions where reliable local velocity values are unknown. This method also provides the basic a priori information for 3-D studies. KEY -WORDS: hypocentral parameters, genetic algorithm (GA), two-point ray tracing

  4. Diode laser spectroscopy of the MnD radical ( 7Σ) and the determination of mass-independent parameters

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Urban, Rolf-Dieter; Jones, Harold

    1991-03-01

    The infrared spectrum of the manganese deuteride radical has been observed in its ground electronic state ( 7Σ) using a diode-laser spectrometer. The hyperfine structure of a number of infrared transitions in the bands ν=1←0, ν=2←1 and ν=3←2 were measured with a nominal accuracy of ±0.001 cm -1. In all cases, the complete structure was easily resolved. Dunham parameters, spin—rotation and spin—spin coupling parameters were determined from the MnD data. A simultaneous fit of these data with those determined previously for MnH was carried out to determine mass-independent parameters and mass-scaling coefficients.

  5. Effects of shoe cushioning upon ground reaction forces in running.

    PubMed

    Clarke, T E; Frederick, E C; Cooper, L B

    1983-11-01

    To determine the effects of widely varying amounts of cushioning upon vertical force (VF) parameters, ten male subjects, (mean weight = 68.0 kg) ran at a speed of 4.5 m . s-1 (6 min/mile pace) and contacted a Kistler force platform. Two shoes were tested: a hard one and a softer shoe that had 50% more cushioning as measured by an instrumented impact tester. Five right footfalls were collected for each shoe on each subject during which the ground reaction forces were sampled at 500 HZ using a PDP 11/34 minicomputer. Eight parameters from the VF data obtained for each trial were selected for analysis and compared statistically using a paired difference t test. It was found [force magnitudes expressed in multiples of body weight (BW)] that the time to the vertical force impact peak (VFIP) was significantly longer (hard = 22.5 ms, soft = 26.6 ms) in the soft shoe; however, no differences were seen in the magnitudes (hard = 2.30 BW, soft = 2.34 BW). The minimum after the VFIP was also significantly delayed in the soft shoe (hard = 33.8 ms, soft = 37.9 ms) and was significantly greater in the soft shoe (hard = 1.46 BW, soft = 1.90 BW). The peak VF propulsive force occurred statistically at the same time in both shoes (hard = 85.7 ms, soft = 84.0 ms), but was significantly greater in the soft shoe (hard = 2.73 BW, soft = 2.83 BW).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

  6. Technical Note: Using experimentally determined proton spot scanning timing parameters to accurately model beam delivery time.

    PubMed

    Shen, Jiajian; Tryggestad, Erik; Younkin, James E; Keole, Sameer R; Furutani, Keith M; Kang, Yixiu; Herman, Michael G; Bues, Martin

    2017-10-01

    To accurately model the beam delivery time (BDT) for a synchrotron-based proton spot scanning system using experimentally determined beam parameters. A model to simulate the proton spot delivery sequences was constructed, and BDT was calculated by summing times for layer switch, spot switch, and spot delivery. Test plans were designed to isolate and quantify the relevant beam parameters in the operation cycle of the proton beam therapy delivery system. These parameters included the layer switch time, magnet preparation and verification time, average beam scanning speeds in x- and y-directions, proton spill rate, and maximum charge and maximum extraction time for each spill. The experimentally determined parameters, as well as the nominal values initially provided by the vendor, served as inputs to the model to predict BDTs for 602 clinical proton beam deliveries. The calculated BDTs (T BDT ) were compared with the BDTs recorded in the treatment delivery log files (T Log ): ∆t = T Log -T BDT . The experimentally determined average layer switch time for all 97 energies was 1.91 s (ranging from 1.9 to 2.0 s for beam energies from 71.3 to 228.8 MeV), average magnet preparation and verification time was 1.93 ms, the average scanning speeds were 5.9 m/s in x-direction and 19.3 m/s in y-direction, the proton spill rate was 8.7 MU/s, and the maximum proton charge available for one acceleration is 2.0 ± 0.4 nC. Some of the measured parameters differed from the nominal values provided by the vendor. The calculated BDTs using experimentally determined parameters matched the recorded BDTs of 602 beam deliveries (∆t = -0.49 ± 1.44 s), which were significantly more accurate than BDTs calculated using nominal timing parameters (∆t = -7.48 ± 6.97 s). An accurate model for BDT prediction was achieved by using the experimentally determined proton beam therapy delivery parameters, which may be useful in modeling the interplay effect and patient throughput. The model may

  7. Determination of adsorption parameters in numerical simulation for polymer flooding

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bao, Pengyu; Li, Aifen; Luo, Shuai; Dang, Xu

    2018-02-01

    A study on the determination of adsorption parameters for polymer flooding simulation was carried out. The study mainly includes polymer static adsorption and dynamic adsorption. The law of adsorption amount changing with polymer concentration and core permeability was presented, and the one-dimensional numerical model of CMG was established under the support of a large number of experimental data. The adsorption laws of adsorption experiments were applied to the one-dimensional numerical model to compare the influence of two adsorption laws on the historical matching results. The results show that the static adsorption and dynamic adsorption abide by different rules, and differ greatly in adsorption. If the static adsorption results were directly applied to the numerical model, the difficulty of the historical matching will increase. Therefore, dynamic adsorption tests in the porous medium are necessary before the process of parameter adjustment in order to achieve the ideal history matching result.

  8. The acoustic radiation force on a heated (or cooled) rigid sphere - Theory

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lee, C. P.; Wang, T. G.

    1984-01-01

    A finite amplitude sound wave can exert a radiation force on an object due to second-order effect of the wave field. The radiation force on a rigid small sphere (i.e., in the long wavelength limit), which has a temperature different from that of the environment, is presently studied. This investigation assumes no thermally induced convection and is relevant to material processing in the absence of gravity. Both isotropic and nonisotropic temperature profiles are considered. In this calculation, the acoustic effect and heat transfer process are essentially decoupled because of the long wavelength limit. The heat transfer information required for determining the force is contained in the parameters, which are integrals over the temperature distribution.

  9. Determining appropriate imaging parameters for kilovoltage intrafraction monitoring: an experimental phantom study

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wallace, D.; Ng, J. A.; Keall, P. J.; O'Brien, R. T.; Poulsen, P. R.; Juneja, P.; Booth, J. T.

    2015-06-01

    Kilovoltage intrafraction monitoring (KIM) utilises the kV imager during treatment for real-time tracking of prostate fiducial markers. However, its effectiveness relies on sufficient image quality for the fiducial tracking task. To guide the performance characterisation of KIM under different clinically relevant conditions, the effect of different kV parameters and patient size on image quality, and quantification of MV scatter from the patient to the kV detector panel were investigated in this study. Image quality was determined for a range of kV acquisition frame rates, kV exposure, MV dose rates and patient sizes. Two methods were used to determine image quality; the ratio of kV signal through the patient to the MV scatter from the patient incident on the kilovoltage detector, and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The effect of patient size and frame rate on MV scatter was evaluated in a homogeneous CIRS pelvis phantom and marker segmentation was determined utilising the Rando phantom with embedded markers. MV scatter incident on the detector was shown to be dependent on patient thickness and frame rate. The segmentation code was shown to be successful for all frame rates above 3 Hz for the Rando phantom corresponding to a kV to MV ratio of 0.16 and an SNR of 1.67. For a maximum patient dimension less than 36.4 cm the conservative kV parameters of 5 Hz at 1 mAs can be used to reduce dose while retaining image quality, where the current baseline kV parameters of 10 Hz at 1 mAs is shown to be adequate for marker segmentation up to a patient dimension of 40 cm. In conclusion, the MV scatter component of image quality noise for KIM has been quantified. For most prostate patients, use of KIM with 10 Hz imaging at 1 mAs is adequate however image quality can be maintained and imaging dose reduced by altering existing acquisition parameters.

  10. Experimental criteria for the determination of fractal parameters of premixed turbulent flames

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shepherd, I. G.; Cheng, Robert K.; Talbot, L.

    1992-10-01

    The influence of spatial resolution, digitization noise, the number of records used for averaging, and the method of analysis on the determination of the fractal parameters of a high Damköhler number, methane/air, premixed, turbulent stagnation-point flame are investigated in this paper. The flow exit velocity was 5 m/s and the turbulent Reynolds number was 70 based on a integral scale of 3 mm and a turbulent intensity of 7%. The light source was a copper vapor laser which delivered 20 nsecs, 5 mJ pulses at 4 kHz and the tomographic cross-sections of the flame were recorded by a high speed movie camera. The spatial resolution of the images is 155 × 121 μm/pixel with a field of view of 50 × 65 mm. The stepping caliper technique for obtaining the fractal parameters is found to give the clearest indication of the cutoffs and the effects of noise. It is necessary to ensemble average the results from more than 25 statistically independent images to reduce sufficiently the scatter in the fractal parameters. The effects of reduced spatial resolution on fractal plots are estimated by artificial degradation of the resolution of the digitized flame boundaries. The effect of pixel resolution, an apparent increase in flame length below the inner scale rolloff, appears in the fractal plots when the measurent scale is less than approximately twice the pixel resolution. Although a clearer determination of fractal parameters is obtained by local averaging of the flame boundaries which removes digitization noise, at low spatial resolution this technique can reduce the fractal dimension. The degree of fractal isotropy of the flame surface can have a significant effect on the estimation of the flame surface area and hence burning rate from two-dimensional images. To estimate this isotropy a determination of the outer cutoff is required and three-dimensional measurements are probably also necessary.

  11. Anharmonic 1D actuator model including electrostatic and Casimir forces with fractional damping perturbed by an external force

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mansoori Kermani, Maryam; Dehestani, Maryam

    2018-06-01

    We modeled a one-dimensional actuator including the Casimir and electrostatic forces perturbed by an external force with fractional damping. The movable electrode was assumed to oscillate by an anharmonic elastic force originated from Murrell-Mottram or Lippincott potential. The nonlinear equations have been solved via the Adomian decomposition method. The behavior of the displacement of the electrode from equilibrium position, its velocity and acceleration were described versus time. Also, the changes of the displacement have been investigated according to the frequency of the external force and the voltage of the electrostatic force. The convergence of the Adomian method and the effect of the orders of expansion on the displacement versus time, frequency, and voltage were discussed. The pull-in parameter was obtained and compared with the other models in the literature. This parameter was described versus the equilibrium position and anharmonicity constant.

  12. Anharmonic 1D actuator model including electrostatic and Casimir forces with fractional damping perturbed by an external force

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mansoori Kermani, Maryam; Dehestani, Maryam

    2018-03-01

    We modeled a one-dimensional actuator including the Casimir and electrostatic forces perturbed by an external force with fractional damping. The movable electrode was assumed to oscillate by an anharmonic elastic force originated from Murrell-Mottram or Lippincott potential. The nonlinear equations have been solved via the Adomian decomposition method. The behavior of the displacement of the electrode from equilibrium position, its velocity and acceleration were described versus time. Also, the changes of the displacement have been investigated according to the frequency of the external force and the voltage of the electrostatic force. The convergence of the Adomian method and the effect of the orders of expansion on the displacement versus time, frequency, and voltage were discussed. The pull-in parameter was obtained and compared with the other models in the literature. This parameter was described versus the equilibrium position and anharmonicity constant.

  13. Effects of Visual Force Feedback on Robot-Assisted Surgical Task Performance

    PubMed Central

    Reiley, Carol E.; Akinbiyi, Takintope; Burschka, Darius; Chang, David C.; Okamura, Allison M.; Yuh, David D.

    2009-01-01

    Background Direct haptic (force or tactile) feedback is negligible in current surgical robotic systems. The relevance of haptic feedback in robot-assisted performances of surgical tasks is controversial. We studied the effects of visual force feedback (VFF), a haptic feedback surrogate, on tying surgical knots with fine sutures similar to those used in cardiovascular surgery. Methods Using a modified da Vinci robotic system (Intuitive Surgical, Inc.) equipped with force-sensing instrument tips and real-time VFF overlays in the console image, ten surgeons each tied 10 knots with and 10 knots without VFF. Four surgeons had significant prior da Vinci experience while the remaining six surgeons did not. Performance parameters, including suture breakage and secure knots, peak and standard deviation of applied forces, and completion times using 5-0 silk sutures were recorded. Chi-square and Student’s t-test analyses determined differences between groups. Results Among surgeon subjects with robotic experience, no differences in measured performance parameters were found between robot-assisted knot ties executed with and without VFF. Among surgeons without robotic experience, however, VFF was associated with lower suture breakage rates, peak applied forces, and standard deviations of applied forces. VFF did not impart differences in knot completion times or loose knots for either surgeon group. Conclusions VFF resulted in reduced suture breakage, lower forces, and decreased force inconsistencies among novice robotic surgeons, although elapsed time and knot quality were unaffected. In contrast, VFF did not affect these metrics among experienced da Vinci surgeons. These results suggest that VFF primarily benefits novice robot-assisted surgeons, with diminishing benefits among experienced surgeons. PMID:18179942

  14. Modulation of post-movement beta rebound by contraction force and rate of force development.

    PubMed

    Fry, Adam; Mullinger, Karen J; O'Neill, George C; Barratt, Eleanor L; Morris, Peter G; Bauer, Markus; Folland, Jonathan P; Brookes, Matthew J

    2016-07-01

    Movement induced modulation of the beta rhythm is one of the most robust neural oscillatory phenomena in the brain. In the preparation and execution phases of movement, a loss in beta amplitude is observed [movement related beta decrease (MRBD)]. This is followed by a rebound above baseline on movement cessation [post movement beta rebound (PMBR)]. These effects have been measured widely, and recent work suggests that they may have significant importance. Specifically, they have potential to form the basis of biomarkers for disease, and have been used in neuroscience applications ranging from brain computer interfaces to markers of neural plasticity. However, despite the robust nature of both MRBD and PMBR, the phenomena themselves are poorly understood. In this study, we characterise MRBD and PMBR during a carefully controlled isometric wrist flexion paradigm, isolating two fundamental movement parameters; force output, and the rate of force development (RFD). Our results show that neither altered force output nor RFD has a significant effect on MRBD. In contrast, PMBR was altered by both parameters. Higher force output results in greater PMBR amplitude, and greater RFD results in a PMBR which is higher in amplitude and shorter in duration. These findings demonstrate that careful control of movement parameters can systematically change PMBR. Further, for temporally protracted movements, the PMBR can be over 7 s in duration. This means accurate control of movement and judicious selection of paradigm parameters are critical in future clinical and basic neuroscientific studies of sensorimotor beta oscillations. Hum Brain Mapp 37:2493-2511, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  15. Determination of HCME 3-D parameters using a full ice-cream cone model

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Na, Hyeonock; Moon, Yong-Jae; Lee, Harim

    2016-05-01

    It is very essential to determine three dimensional parameters (e.g., radial speed, angular width, source location) of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) for space weather forecast. Several cone models (e.g., an elliptical cone model, an ice-cream cone model, an asymmetric cone model) have been examined to estimate these parameters. In this study, we investigate which cone type is close to a halo CME morphology using 26 CMEs: halo CMEs by one spacecraft (SOHO or STEREO-A or B) and as limb CMEs by the other ones. From cone shape parameters of these CMEs such as their front curvature, we find that near full ice-cream cone type CMEs are much closer to observations than shallow ice-cream cone type CMEs. Thus we develop a new cone model in which a full ice-cream cone consists of many flat cones with different heights and angular widths. This model is carried out by the following steps: (1) construct a cone for given height and angular width, (2) project the cone onto the sky plane, (3) select points comprising the outer boundary, and (4) minimize the difference between the estimated projection speeds with the observed ones. By applying this model to 12 SOHO/LASCO halo CMEs, we find that 3-D parameters from our method are similar to those from other stereoscopic methods (a geometrical triangulation method and a Graduated Cylindrical Shell model) based on multi-spacecraft data. We are developing a general ice-cream cone model whose front shape is a free parameter determined by observations.

  16. Method and system for measuring gate valve clearances and seating force

    DOEpatents

    Casada, D.A.; Haynes, H.D.; Moyers, J.C.; Stewart, B.K.

    1996-01-30

    Valve clearances and seating force, as well as other valve operational parameters, are determined by measuring valve stem rotation during opening and closing operations of a translatable gate valve. The magnitude of the stem rotation, and the relative difference between the stem rotation on opening and closing provides valuable data on the valve internals in a non-intrusive manner. 8 figs.

  17. A combined averaging and frequency mixing approach for force identification in weakly nonlinear high-Q oscillators: Atomic force microscope

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sah, Si Mohamed; Forchheimer, Daniel; Borgani, Riccardo; Haviland, David

    2018-02-01

    We present a polynomial force reconstruction of the tip-sample interaction force in Atomic Force Microscopy. The method uses analytical expressions for the slow-time amplitude and phase evolution, obtained from time-averaging over the rapidly oscillating part of the cantilever dynamics. The slow-time behavior can be easily obtained in either the numerical simulations or the experiment in which a high-Q resonator is perturbed by a weak nonlinearity and a periodic driving force. A direct fit of the theoretical expressions to the simulated and experimental data gives the best-fit parameters for the force model. The method combines and complements previous works (Platz et al., 2013; Forchheimer et al., 2012 [2]) and it allows for computationally more efficient parameter mapping with AFM. Results for the simulated asymmetric piecewise linear force and VdW-DMT force models are compared with the reconstructed polynomial force and show a good agreement. It is also shown that the analytical amplitude and phase modulation equations fit well with the experimental data.

  18. Determination of the viscous acoustic field for liquid drop positioning/forcing in an acoustic levitation chamber in microgravity

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lyell, Margaret J.

    1992-01-01

    The development of acoustic levitation systems has provided a technology with which to undertake droplet studies as well as do containerless processing experiments in a microgravity environment. Acoustic levitation chambers utilize radiation pressure forces to position/manipulate the drop. Oscillations can be induced via frequency modulation of the acoustic wave, with the modulated acoustic radiation vector acting as the driving force. To account for tangential as well as radial forcing, it is necessary that the viscous effects be included in the acoustic field. The method of composite expansions is employed in the determination of the acoustic field with viscous effects.

  19. How tibiofemoral alignment and contact locations affect predictions of medial and lateral tibiofemoral contact forces.

    PubMed

    Lerner, Zachary F; DeMers, Matthew S; Delp, Scott L; Browning, Raymond C

    2015-02-26

    Understanding degeneration of biological and prosthetic knee joints requires knowledge of the in-vivo loading environment during activities of daily living. Musculoskeletal models can estimate medial/lateral tibiofemoral compartment contact forces, yet anthropometric differences between individuals make accurate predictions challenging. We developed a full-body OpenSim musculoskeletal model with a knee joint that incorporates subject-specific tibiofemoral alignment (i.e. knee varus-valgus) and geometry (i.e. contact locations). We tested the accuracy of our model and determined the importance of these subject-specific parameters by comparing estimated to measured medial and lateral contact forces during walking in an individual with an instrumented knee replacement and post-operative genu valgum (6°). The errors in the predictions of the first peak medial and lateral contact force were 12.4% and 11.9%, respectively, for a model with subject-specific tibiofemoral alignment and contact locations determined through radiographic analysis, vs. 63.1% and 42.0%, respectively, for a model with generic parameters. We found that each degree of tibiofemoral alignment deviation altered the first peak medial compartment contact force by 51N (r(2)=0.99), while each millimeter of medial-lateral translation of the compartment contact point locations altered the first peak medial compartment contact force by 41N (r(2)=0.99). The model, available at www.simtk.org/home/med-lat-knee/, enables the specification of subject-specific joint alignment and compartment contact locations to more accurately estimate medial and lateral tibiofemoral contact forces in individuals with non-neutral alignment. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. How Tibiofemoral Alignment and Contact Locations Affect Predictions of Medial and Lateral Tibiofemoral Contact Forces

    PubMed Central

    Lerner, Zachary F.; DeMers, Matthew S.; Delp, Scott L.; Browning, Raymond C.

    2015-01-01

    Understanding degeneration of biological and prosthetic knee joints requires knowledge of the in-vivo loading environment during activities of daily living. Musculoskeletal models can estimate medial/lateral tibiofemoral compartment contact forces, yet anthropometric differences between individuals make accurate predictions challenging. We developed a full-body OpenSim musculoskeletal model with a knee joint that incorporates subject-specific tibiofemoral alignment (i.e. knee varus-valgus) and geometry (i.e. contact locations). We tested the accuracy of our model and determined the importance of these subject-specific parameters by comparing estimated to measured medial and lateral contact forces during walking in an individual with an instrumented knee replacement and post-operative genu valgum (6°). The errors in the predictions of the first peak medial and lateral contact force were 12.4% and 11.9%, respectively, for a model with subject-specific tibiofemoral alignment and contact locations determined via radiographic analysis, vs. 63.1% and 42.0%, respectively, for a model with generic parameters. We found that each degree of tibiofemoral alignment deviation altered the first peak medial compartment contact force by 51N (r2=0.99), while each millimeter of medial-lateral translation of the compartment contact point locations altered the first peak medial compartment contact force by 41N (r2=0.99). The model, available at www.simtk.org/home/med-lat-knee/, enables the specification of subject-specific joint alignment and compartment contact locations to more accurately estimate medial and lateral tibiofemoral contact forces in individuals with non-neutral alignment. PMID:25595425

  1. Influence of Different Container Closure Systems and Capping Process Parameters on Product Quality and Container Closure Integrity (CCI) in GMP Drug Product Manufacturing.

    PubMed

    Mathaes, Roman; Mahler, Hanns-Christian; Roggo, Yves; Huwyler, Joerg; Eder, Juergen; Fritsch, Kamila; Posset, Tobias; Mohl, Silke; Streubel, Alexander

    2016-01-01

    Capping equipment used in good manufacturing practice manufacturing features different designs and a variety of adjustable process parameters. The overall capping result is a complex interplay of the different capping process parameters and is insufficiently described in literature. It remains poorly studied how the different capping equipment designs and capping equipment process parameters (e.g., pre-compression force, capping plate height, turntable rotating speed) contribute to the final residual seal force of a sealed container closure system and its relation to container closure integrity and other drug product quality parameters. Stopper compression measured by computer tomography correlated to residual seal force measurements.In our studies, we used different container closure system configurations from different good manufacturing practice drug product fill & finish facilities to investigate the influence of differences in primary packaging, that is, vial size and rubber stopper design on the capping process and the capped drug product. In addition, we compared two large-scale good manufacturing practice manufacturing capping equipment and different capping equipment settings and their impact on product quality and integrity, as determined by residual seal force.The capping plate to plunger distance had a major influence on the obtained residual seal force values of a sealed vial, whereas the capping pre-compression force and the turntable rotation speed showed only a minor influence on the residual seal force of a sealed vial. Capping process parameters could not easily be transferred from capping equipment of different manufacturers. However, the residual seal force tester did provide a valuable tool to compare capping performance of different capping equipment. No vial showed any leakage greater than 10(-8)mbar L/s as measured by a helium mass spectrometry system, suggesting that container closure integrity was warranted in the residual seal force range

  2. FIBER AND INTEGRATED OPTICS: New method for determination of the parameters of a channel waveguide

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Galechyan, M. G.; Dianov, Evgenii M.; Lyndin, N. M.; Sychugov, V. A.; Tishchenko, A. V.; Usievich, B. A.

    1992-02-01

    A new method for the determination of the parameters of channel integrated optical waveguides is proposed. This method is based on measuring the spectral transmission of a system comprising the investigated waveguide and single-mode fiber waveguides, which are brought into contact with the channel waveguide. The results are reported of an investigation of two channel waveguides formed in glass by a variety of methods and characterized by different refractive index profiles. The proposed method is found to be suitable for determination of the parameters of the refractive index profile of the investigated channel waveguides.

  3. Molecular determinants of force production in human skeletal muscle fibers: effects of myosin isoform expression and cross-sectional area.

    PubMed

    Miller, Mark S; Bedrin, Nicholas G; Ades, Philip A; Palmer, Bradley M; Toth, Michael J

    2015-03-15

    Skeletal muscle contractile performance is governed by the properties of its constituent fibers, which are, in turn, determined by the molecular interactions of the myofilament proteins. To define the molecular determinants of contractile function in humans, we measured myofilament mechanics during maximal Ca(2+)-activated and passive isometric conditions in single muscle fibers with homogenous (I and IIA) and mixed (I/IIA and IIA/X) myosin heavy chain (MHC) isoforms from healthy, young adult male (n = 5) and female (n = 7) volunteers. Fibers containing only MHC II isoforms (IIA and IIA/X) produced higher maximal Ca(2+)-activated forces over the range of cross-sectional areas (CSAs) examined than MHC I fibers, resulting in higher (24-42%) specific forces. The number and/or stiffness of the strongly bound myosin-actin cross bridges increased in the higher force-producing MHC II isoforms and, in all isoforms, better predicted force than CSA. In men and women, cross-bridge kinetics, in terms of myosin attachment time and rate of myosin force production, were independent of CSA, although women had faster (7-15%) kinetics. The relative proportion of cross bridges and/or their stiffness was reduced as fiber size increased, causing a decline in specific force. Results from our examination of molecular mechanisms across the range of physiological CSAs explain the variation in specific force among the different fiber types in human skeletal muscle, which may have relevance to understanding how various physiological and pathophysiological conditions modulate single-fiber and whole muscle contractility. Copyright © 2015 the American Physiological Society.

  4. Molecular determinants of force production in human skeletal muscle fibers: effects of myosin isoform expression and cross-sectional area

    PubMed Central

    Bedrin, Nicholas G.; Ades, Philip A.; Palmer, Bradley M.; Toth, Michael J.

    2015-01-01

    Skeletal muscle contractile performance is governed by the properties of its constituent fibers, which are, in turn, determined by the molecular interactions of the myofilament proteins. To define the molecular determinants of contractile function in humans, we measured myofilament mechanics during maximal Ca2+-activated and passive isometric conditions in single muscle fibers with homogenous (I and IIA) and mixed (I/IIA and IIA/X) myosin heavy chain (MHC) isoforms from healthy, young adult male (n = 5) and female (n = 7) volunteers. Fibers containing only MHC II isoforms (IIA and IIA/X) produced higher maximal Ca2+-activated forces over the range of cross-sectional areas (CSAs) examined than MHC I fibers, resulting in higher (24–42%) specific forces. The number and/or stiffness of the strongly bound myosin-actin cross bridges increased in the higher force-producing MHC II isoforms and, in all isoforms, better predicted force than CSA. In men and women, cross-bridge kinetics, in terms of myosin attachment time and rate of myosin force production, were independent of CSA, although women had faster (7–15%) kinetics. The relative proportion of cross bridges and/or their stiffness was reduced as fiber size increased, causing a decline in specific force. Results from our examination of molecular mechanisms across the range of physiological CSAs explain the variation in specific force among the different fiber types in human skeletal muscle, which may have relevance to understanding how various physiological and pathophysiological conditions modulate single-fiber and whole muscle contractility. PMID:25567808

  5. Parameter tuning method for dither compensation of a pneumatic proportional valve with friction

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Tao; Song, Yang; Huang, Leisheng; Fan, Wei

    2016-05-01

    In the practical application of pneumatic control devices, the nonlinearity of a pneumatic control valve become the main factor affecting the control effect, which comes mainly from the dynamic friction force. The dynamic friction inside the valve may cause hysteresis and a dead zone. In this paper, a dither compensation mechanism is proposed to reduce negative effects on the basis of analyzing the mechanism of friction force. The specific dither signal (using a sinusoidal signal) was superimposed on the control signal of the valve. Based on the relationship between the parameters of the dither signal and the inherent characteristics of the proportional servo valve, a parameter tuning method was proposed, which uses a displacement sensor to measure the maximum static friction inside the valve. According to the experimental results, the proper amplitude ranges are determined for different pressures. In order to get the optimal parameters of the dither signal, some dither compensation experiments have been carried out on different signal amplitude and gas pressure conditions. Optimal parameters are determined under two kinds of pressure conditions. Using tuning parameters the valve spool displacement experiment has been taken. From the experiment results, hysteresis of the proportional servo valve is significantly reduced. And through simulation and experiments, the cut-off frequency of the proportional valve has also been widened. Therefore after adding the dither signal, the static and dynamic characteristics of the proportional valve are both improved to a certain degree. This research proposes a parameter tuning method of dither signal, and the validity of the method is verified experimentally.

  6. Do morphometric parameters and geological conditions determine chemistry of glacier surface ice? Spatial distribution of contaminants present in the surface ice of Spitsbergen glaciers (European Arctic).

    PubMed

    Lehmann, Sara; Gajek, Grzegorz; Chmiel, Stanisław; Polkowska, Żaneta

    2016-12-01

    The chemism of the glaciers is strongly determined by long-distance transport of chemical substances and their wet and dry deposition on the glacier surface. This paper concerns spatial distribution of metals, ions, and dissolved organic carbon, as well as the differentiation of physicochemical parameters (pH, electrical conductivity) determined in ice surface samples collected from four Arctic glaciers during the summer season in 2012. The studied glaciers represent three different morphological types: ground based (Blomlibreen and Scottbreen), tidewater which evolved to ground based (Renardbreen), and typical tidewater glacier (Recherchebreen). All of the glaciers are functioning as a glacial system and hence are subject to the same physical processes (melting, freezing) and the process of ice flowing resulting from the cross-impact force of gravity and topographic conditions. According to this hypothesis, the article discusses the correlation between morphometric parameters, changes in mass balance, geological characteristics of the glaciers and the spatial distribution of analytes on the surface of ice. A strong correlation (r = 0.63) is recorded between the aspect of glaciers and values of pH and ions, whereas dissolved organic carbon (DOC) depends on the minimum elevation of glaciers (r = 0.55) and most probably also on the development of the accumulation area. The obtained results suggest that although certain morphometric parameters largely determine the spatial distribution of analytes, also the geology of the bed of glaciers strongly affects the chemism of the surface ice of glaciers in the phase of strong recession.

  7. Determination of Geometric and Kinematical Parameters of Coronal Mass Ejections Using STEREO Data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fainshtein, V. G.; Tsivileva, D. M.; Kashapova, L. K.

    2010-03-01

    We present a new, relatively simple and fast method to determine true geometric and kinematical CME parameters from simultaneous STEREO A, B observations of CMEs. These parameters are the three-dimensional direction of CME propagation, velocity and acceleration of CME front, CME angular sizes and front position depending on time. The method is based on the assumption that CME shape may be described by a modification of so-called ice-cream cone models. The method has been tested for several CMEs.

  8. [Determination of solubility parameters of high density polyethylene by inverse gas chromatography].

    PubMed

    Wang, Qiang; Chen, Yali; Liu, Ruiting; Shi, Yuge; Zhang, Zhengfang; Tang, Jun

    2011-11-01

    Inverse gas chromatographic (IGC) technology was used to determine the solubility parameters of high density polyethylene (HDPE) at the absolute temperatures from 303.15 to 343.15 K. Six solvents were applied as test probes including hexane (n-C6), heptane (n-C7), octane (n-C8), nonane (n-C9), chloroform (CHCl3) and ethyl acetate (EtAc). Some thermodynamic parameters were obtained by IGC data analysis such as the specific retention volumes of the solvents (V(0)(g)), the molar enthalpy of sorption (delta H(S)(1)), the partial molar enthalpy of mixing at infinite dilution (delta H(1)(infinity)), the molar enthalpy of vaporization (delta H(v)), the activity coefficients at infinite dilution (omega (1)(infinity)), and Flow-Huggins interaction parameters (X(1,2)(infinity)) between HDPE and probe solvents. The results showed that the above six probes are poor solvents for HDPE. The solubility parameter of HDPE at room temperature (298.15 K) was also derived as 19.00 (J/cm3)(0.5).

  9. Relationship between foot posture measurements and force platform parameters during two balance tasks in older and younger subjects

    PubMed Central

    Carvalho, Carlos E.; da Silva, Rubens A.; Gil, André W.; Oliveira, Márcio R.; Nascimento, Juliana A.; Pires-Oliveira, Deise A. A.

    2015-01-01

    [Purpose] The aim of this study was to compare age-related differences in balance and anthropometric posture measurements of the foot and to determine any relationship between them. [Subjects and Methods] Sixty-eight older and 42 younger adults participated in this study. Foot posture was tested for four domains: 1) hallux flexion and extension range of motion using a goniometer, 2) navicular height and 3) length of the foot using a pachymeter, and 4) footprint (width of forefoot, arch index and hallux valgus). Balance was tested under two conditions on a force platform: bipodal in 60-s trials and unipodal in 30-s trials. The sway area of the center of pressure and velocity in the anteroposterior and mediolateral directions were computed. [Results] Older individuals showed significantly poorer balance compared with younger adults under in the unipodal condition (center of pressure area 9.97 vs. 7.72 cm2). Older people presented a significantly lower hallux mobility and higher values for width of the forefoot and transverse arch index than younger adults. The correlations between all foot posture and center of pressure parameters varied across groups, from weak to moderate (r −0.01 to −0.46). Low hallux mobility was significantly related to higher center of pressure values in older people. [Conclusion] These results have clinical implications for balance and foot posture assessments. PMID:25931713

  10. Relationship between foot posture measurements and force platform parameters during two balance tasks in older and younger subjects.

    PubMed

    Carvalho, Carlos E; da Silva, Rubens A; Gil, André W; Oliveira, Márcio R; Nascimento, Juliana A; Pires-Oliveira, Deise A A

    2015-03-01

    [Purpose] The aim of this study was to compare age-related differences in balance and anthropometric posture measurements of the foot and to determine any relationship between them. [Subjects and Methods] Sixty-eight older and 42 younger adults participated in this study. Foot posture was tested for four domains: 1) hallux flexion and extension range of motion using a goniometer, 2) navicular height and 3) length of the foot using a pachymeter, and 4) footprint (width of forefoot, arch index and hallux valgus). Balance was tested under two conditions on a force platform: bipodal in 60-s trials and unipodal in 30-s trials. The sway area of the center of pressure and velocity in the anteroposterior and mediolateral directions were computed. [Results] Older individuals showed significantly poorer balance compared with younger adults under in the unipodal condition (center of pressure area 9.97 vs. 7.72 cm(2)). Older people presented a significantly lower hallux mobility and higher values for width of the forefoot and transverse arch index than younger adults. The correlations between all foot posture and center of pressure parameters varied across groups, from weak to moderate (r -0.01 to -0.46). Low hallux mobility was significantly related to higher center of pressure values in older people. [Conclusion] These results have clinical implications for balance and foot posture assessments.

  11. Determination of Rotordynamic Coefficients for Labyrinth Seals and Application to Rotordynamic Design Calculations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Weiser, P.; Nordmann, R.

    1991-01-01

    In today's rotordynamic calculations, the input parameters for a finite element analysis (FEA) determine very much the reliability of eigenvalue and eigenmode predictions. While modeling of an elastic structure by means of beam elements etc. is relatively straightforward to perform and the input data for journal bearings are usually known exactly enough, the determination of stiffness and damping for labyrinth seals is still the subject of many investigations. Therefore, the rotordynamic influence of labyrinths is often not included in FEA for rotating machinery because of a lack of computer programs to calculate these parameters. This circumstance can give rise to severe vibration problems especially for high performance turbines or compressors, resulting in remarkable economic losses. The forces generated in labyrinths can be described for small motions around the seal center with a linearized force-motion relationship. Several years ago, we started with the development of computer codes for the determination of rotordynamic seal coefficients. Our different approaches to evaluate the dynamic fluid forces generated by turbulent, compressible seal flow are introduced.

  12. Electronegativity determination of individual surface atoms by atomic force microscopy.

    PubMed

    Onoda, Jo; Ondráček, Martin; Jelínek, Pavel; Sugimoto, Yoshiaki

    2017-04-26

    Electronegativity is a fundamental concept in chemistry. Despite its importance, the experimental determination has been limited only to ensemble-averaged techniques. Here, we report a methodology to evaluate the electronegativity of individual surface atoms by atomic force microscopy. By measuring bond energies on the surface atoms using different tips, we find characteristic linear relations between the bond energies of different chemical species. We show that the linear relation can be rationalized by Pauling's equation for polar covalent bonds. This opens the possibility to characterize the electronegativity of individual surface atoms. Moreover, we demonstrate that the method is sensitive to variation of the electronegativity of given atomic species on a surface due to different chemical environments. Our findings open up ways of analysing surface chemical reactivity at the atomic scale.

  13. Electronegativity determination of individual surface atoms by atomic force microscopy

    PubMed Central

    Onoda, Jo; Ondráček, Martin; Jelínek, Pavel; Sugimoto, Yoshiaki

    2017-01-01

    Electronegativity is a fundamental concept in chemistry. Despite its importance, the experimental determination has been limited only to ensemble-averaged techniques. Here, we report a methodology to evaluate the electronegativity of individual surface atoms by atomic force microscopy. By measuring bond energies on the surface atoms using different tips, we find characteristic linear relations between the bond energies of different chemical species. We show that the linear relation can be rationalized by Pauling's equation for polar covalent bonds. This opens the possibility to characterize the electronegativity of individual surface atoms. Moreover, we demonstrate that the method is sensitive to variation of the electronegativity of given atomic species on a surface due to different chemical environments. Our findings open up ways of analysing surface chemical reactivity at the atomic scale. PMID:28443645

  14. Unit cell parameters of wurtzite InP nanowires determined by x-ray diffraction.

    PubMed

    Kriegner, D; Wintersberger, E; Kawaguchi, K; Wallentin, J; Borgström, M T; Stangl, J

    2011-10-21

    High resolution x-ray diffraction is used to study the structural properties of the wurtzite polytype of InP nanowires. Wurtzite InP nanowires are grown by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy using S-doping. From the evaluation of the Bragg peak position we determine the lattice parameters of the wurtzite InP nanowires. The unit cell dimensions are found to differ from the ones expected from geometric conversion of the cubic bulk InP lattice constant. The atomic distances along the c direction are increased whereas the atomic spacing in the a direction is reduced in comparison to the corresponding distances in the zinc-blende phase. Using core/shell nanowires with a thin core and thick nominally intrinsic shells we are able to determine the lattice parameters of wurtzite InP with a negligible influence of the S-doping due to the much larger volume in the shell. The determined material properties will enable the ab initio calculation of electronic and optical properties of wurtzite InP nanowires.

  15. Determination of electrostatic force and its characteristics based on phase difference by amplitude modulation atomic force microscopy

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Kesheng; Cheng, Jia; Yao, Shiji; Lu, Yijia; Ji, Linhong; Xu, Dengfeng

    2016-12-01

    Electrostatic force measurement at the micro/nano scale is of great significance in science and engineering. In this paper, a reasonable way of applying voltage is put forward by taking an electrostatic chuck in a real integrated circuit manufacturing process as a sample, applying voltage in the probe and the sample electrode, respectively, and comparing the measurement effect of the probe oscillation phase difference by amplitude modulation atomic force microscopy. Based on the phase difference obtained from the experiment, the quantitative dependence of the absolute magnitude of the electrostatic force on the tip-sample distance and applied voltage is established by means of theoretical analysis and numerical simulation. The results show that the varying characteristics of the electrostatic force with the distance and voltage at the micro/nano scale are similar to those at the macroscopic scale. Electrostatic force gradually decays with increasing distance. Electrostatic force is basically proportional to the square of applied voltage. Meanwhile, the applicable conditions of the above laws are discussed. In addition, a comparison of the results in this paper with the results of the energy dissipation method shows the two are consistent in general. The error decreases with increasing distance, and the effect of voltage on the error is small.

  16. Relativity Parameters Determined from Lunar Laser Ranging

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Williams, J. G.; Newhall, X. X.; Dickey, J. O.

    1996-01-01

    Analysis of 24 years of lunar laser ranging data is used to test the principle of equivalence, geodetic precession, the PPN parameters beta and gamma, and G/G. Recent data can be fitted with a rms scatter of 3 cm. (a) Using the Nordtvedt effect to test the principle of equivalence, it is found that the Moon and Earth accelerate alike in the Sun's field. The relative accelerations match to within 5 x 10(exp -13) . This limit, combined with an independent determination of y from planetary time delay, gives beta. Including the uncertainty due to compositional differences, the parameter beta differs from unity by no more than 0.0014; and, if the weak equivalence principle is satisfied, the difference is no more than 0.0006. (b) Geodetic precession matches its expected 19.2 marc sec/yr rate within 0.7%. This corresponds to a 1% test of gamma. (c) Apart from the Nordtvedt effect, beta and gamma can be tested from their influence on the lunar orbit. It is argued theoretically that the linear combination 0.8(beta) + 1.4(gamma) can be tested at the 1% level of accuracy. For solutions using numerically derived partial derivatives, higher sensitivity is found. Both 6 and y match the values of general relativity to within 0.005, and the linear combination beta+ gamma matches to within 0,003, but caution is advised due to the lack of theoretical understanding of these sensitivities. (d) No evidence for a changing gravitational constant is found, with absolute value of G/G less than or equal to 8 x lO(exp -12)/yr. There is significant sensitivity to G/G through solar perturbations on the lunar orbit.

  17. Use of first derivative of displacement vs. force profiles to determine deformation behavior of compressed powders.

    PubMed

    Gharaibeh, Shadi F; Aburub, Aktham

    2013-03-01

    Displacement (D) vs. force (F) profiles obtained during compaction of powders have been reported by several researchers. These profiles are usually used to obtain mechanical energies associated with the compaction of powders. In this work, we obtained displacement-force data associated with the compression of six powders; Avicel PH101, Avicel PH301, pregelatinized corn starch, anhydrous lactose, dicalcium phosphate, and mannitol. The first three powders are known to deform predominantly by plastic behavior while the later ones are known to deform predominantly by brittle fracture. Displacement-force data was utilized to perform in-die Heckel analysis and to calculate the first derivative (dD/dF) of displacement-force plots. First derivative results were then plotted against mean force (F') at each point and against 1/F' at compression forces between 1 and 20 kN. Results of the in-die Heckle analysis are in very good agreement with the known deformation behavior of the compressed materials. First derivative plots show that materials that deform predominantly by plastic behavior have first derivative values (0.0006-0.0016 mm/ N) larger than those of brittle materials (0.0004 mm/N). Moreover, when dD/dF is plotted against 1/F' for each powder, a linear correlation can be obtained (R2=>0.98). The slopes of the dD/dF vs. 1/F' plots for plastically deforming materials are relatively larger than those for materials that deform by brittle behavior. It is concluded that first derivative plots of displacement-force profiles can be used to determine deformation behavior of powders.

  18. Cutting performance orthogonal test of single plane puncture biopsy needle based on puncture force

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xu, Yingqiang; Zhang, Qinhe; Liu, Guowei

    2017-04-01

    Needle biopsy is a method to extract the cells from the patient's body with a needle for tissue pathological examination. Many factors affect the cutting process of soft tissue, including the geometry of the biopsy needle, the mechanical properties of the soft tissue, the parameters of the puncture process and the interaction between them. This paper conducted orthogonal experiment of main cutting parameters based on single plane puncture biopsy needle, and obtained the cutting force curve of single plane puncture biopsy needle by studying the influence of the inclination angle, diameter and velocity of the single plane puncture biopsy needle on the puncture force of the biopsy needle. Stage analysis of the cutting process of biopsy needle puncture was made to determine the main influencing factors of puncture force during the cutting process, which provides a certain theoretical support for the design of new type of puncture biopsy needle and the operation of puncture biopsy.

  19. The force synergy of human digits in static and dynamic cylindrical grasps.

    PubMed

    Kuo, Li-Chieh; Chen, Shih-Wei; Lin, Chien-Ju; Lin, Wei-Jr; Lin, Sheng-Che; Su, Fong-Chin

    2013-01-01

    This study explores the force synergy of human digits in both static and dynamic cylindrical grasping conditions. The patterns of digit force distribution, error compensation, and the relationships among digit forces are examined to quantify the synergetic patterns and coordination of multi-finger movements. This study recruited 24 healthy participants to perform cylindrical grasps using a glass simulator under normal grasping and one-finger restricted conditions. Parameters such as the grasping force, patterns of digit force distribution, and the force coefficient of variation are determined. Correlation coefficients and principal component analysis (PCA) are used to estimate the synergy strength under the dynamic grasping condition. Specific distribution patterns of digit forces are identified for various conditions. The compensation of adjacent fingers for the force in the normal direction of an absent finger agrees with the principle of error compensation. For digit forces in anti-gravity directions, the distribution patterns vary significantly by participant. The forces exerted by the thumb are closely related to those exerted by other fingers under all conditions. The index-middle and middle-ring finger pairs demonstrate a significant relationship. The PCA results show that the normal forces of digits are highly coordinated. This study reveals that normal force synergy exists under both static and dynamic cylindrical grasping conditions.

  20. The Force Synergy of Human Digits in Static and Dynamic Cylindrical Grasps

    PubMed Central

    Kuo, Li-Chieh; Chen, Shih-Wei; Lin, Chien-Ju; Lin, Wei-Jr; Lin, Sheng-Che; Su, Fong-Chin

    2013-01-01

    This study explores the force synergy of human digits in both static and dynamic cylindrical grasping conditions. The patterns of digit force distribution, error compensation, and the relationships among digit forces are examined to quantify the synergetic patterns and coordination of multi-finger movements. This study recruited 24 healthy participants to perform cylindrical grasps using a glass simulator under normal grasping and one-finger restricted conditions. Parameters such as the grasping force, patterns of digit force distribution, and the force coefficient of variation are determined. Correlation coefficients and principal component analysis (PCA) are used to estimate the synergy strength under the dynamic grasping condition. Specific distribution patterns of digit forces are identified for various conditions. The compensation of adjacent fingers for the force in the normal direction of an absent finger agrees with the principle of error compensation. For digit forces in anti-gravity directions, the distribution patterns vary significantly by participant. The forces exerted by the thumb are closely related to those exerted by other fingers under all conditions. The index-middle and middle-ring finger pairs demonstrate a significant relationship. The PCA results show that the normal forces of digits are highly coordinated. This study reveals that normal force synergy exists under both static and dynamic cylindrical grasping conditions. PMID:23544151

  1. Force feedback effects on single molecule hopping and pulling experiments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rico-Pasto, M.; Pastor, I.; Ritort, F.

    2018-03-01

    Single-molecule experiments with optical tweezers have become an important tool to study the properties and mechanisms of biological systems, such as cells and nucleic acids. In particular, force unzipping experiments have been used to extract the thermodynamics and kinetics of folding and unfolding reactions. In hopping experiments, a molecule executes transitions between the unfolded and folded states at a preset value of the force [constant force mode (CFM) under force feedback] or trap position [passive mode (PM) without feedback] and the force-dependent kinetic rates extracted from the lifetime of each state (CFM) and the rupture force distributions (PM) using the Bell-Evans model. However, hopping experiments in the CFM are known to overestimate molecular distances and folding free energies for fast transitions compared to the response time of the feedback. In contrast, kinetic rate measurements from pulling experiments have been mostly done in the PM while the CFM is seldom implemented in pulling protocols. Here, we carry out hopping and pulling experiments in a short DNA hairpin in the PM and CFM at three different temperatures (6 °C, 25 °C, and 45 °C) exhibiting largely varying kinetic rates. As expected, we find that equilibrium hopping experiments in the CFM and PM perform well at 6 °C (where kinetics are slow), whereas the CFM overestimates molecular parameters at 45 °C (where kinetics are fast). In contrast, nonequilibrium pulling experiments perform well in both modes at all temperatures. This demonstrates that the same kind of feedback algorithm in the CFM leads to more reliable determination of the folding reaction parameters in irreversible pulling experiments.

  2. Force feedback effects on single molecule hopping and pulling experiments.

    PubMed

    Rico-Pasto, M; Pastor, I; Ritort, F

    2018-03-28

    Single-molecule experiments with optical tweezers have become an important tool to study the properties and mechanisms of biological systems, such as cells and nucleic acids. In particular, force unzipping experiments have been used to extract the thermodynamics and kinetics of folding and unfolding reactions. In hopping experiments, a molecule executes transitions between the unfolded and folded states at a preset value of the force [constant force mode (CFM) under force feedback] or trap position [passive mode (PM) without feedback] and the force-dependent kinetic rates extracted from the lifetime of each state (CFM) and the rupture force distributions (PM) using the Bell-Evans model. However, hopping experiments in the CFM are known to overestimate molecular distances and folding free energies for fast transitions compared to the response time of the feedback. In contrast, kinetic rate measurements from pulling experiments have been mostly done in the PM while the CFM is seldom implemented in pulling protocols. Here, we carry out hopping and pulling experiments in a short DNA hairpin in the PM and CFM at three different temperatures (6 °C, 25 °C, and 45 °C) exhibiting largely varying kinetic rates. As expected, we find that equilibrium hopping experiments in the CFM and PM perform well at 6 °C (where kinetics are slow), whereas the CFM overestimates molecular parameters at 45 °C (where kinetics are fast). In contrast, nonequilibrium pulling experiments perform well in both modes at all temperatures. This demonstrates that the same kind of feedback algorithm in the CFM leads to more reliable determination of the folding reaction parameters in irreversible pulling experiments.

  3. Computer program determines vibration in three-dimensional space of hydraulic lines excited by forced displacements

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Dodge, W. G.

    1968-01-01

    Computer program determines the forced vibration in three dimensional space of a multiple degree of freedom beam type structural system. Provision is made for the longitudinal axis of the analytical model to change orientation at any point along its length. This program is used by industries in which structural design dynamic analyses are performed.

  4. Thermodynamic properties for applications in chemical industry via classical force fields.

    PubMed

    Guevara-Carrion, Gabriela; Hasse, Hans; Vrabec, Jadran

    2012-01-01

    Thermodynamic properties of fluids are of key importance for the chemical industry. Presently, the fluid property models used in process design and optimization are mostly equations of state or G (E) models, which are parameterized using experimental data. Molecular modeling and simulation based on classical force fields is a promising alternative route, which in many cases reasonably complements the well established methods. This chapter gives an introduction to the state-of-the-art in this field regarding molecular models, simulation methods, and tools. Attention is given to the way modeling and simulation on the scale of molecular force fields interact with other scales, which is mainly by parameter inheritance. Parameters for molecular force fields are determined both bottom-up from quantum chemistry and top-down from experimental data. Commonly used functional forms for describing the intra- and intermolecular interactions are presented. Several approaches for ab initio to empirical force field parameterization are discussed. Some transferable force field families, which are frequently used in chemical engineering applications, are described. Furthermore, some examples of force fields that were parameterized for specific molecules are given. Molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo methods for the calculation of transport properties and vapor-liquid equilibria are introduced. Two case studies are presented. First, using liquid ammonia as an example, the capabilities of semi-empirical force fields, parameterized on the basis of quantum chemical information and experimental data, are discussed with respect to thermodynamic properties that are relevant for the chemical industry. Second, the ability of molecular simulation methods to describe accurately vapor-liquid equilibrium properties of binary mixtures containing CO(2) is shown.

  5. Modulation of post‐movement beta rebound by contraction force and rate of force development

    PubMed Central

    Fry, Adam; Mullinger, Karen J.; O'Neill, George C.; Barratt, Eleanor L.; Morris, Peter G.; Bauer, Markus; Folland, Jonathan P.

    2016-01-01

    Abstract Movement induced modulation of the beta rhythm is one of the most robust neural oscillatory phenomena in the brain. In the preparation and execution phases of movement, a loss in beta amplitude is observed [movement related beta decrease (MRBD)]. This is followed by a rebound above baseline on movement cessation [post movement beta rebound (PMBR)]. These effects have been measured widely, and recent work suggests that they may have significant importance. Specifically, they have potential to form the basis of biomarkers for disease, and have been used in neuroscience applications ranging from brain computer interfaces to markers of neural plasticity. However, despite the robust nature of both MRBD and PMBR, the phenomena themselves are poorly understood. In this study, we characterise MRBD and PMBR during a carefully controlled isometric wrist flexion paradigm, isolating two fundamental movement parameters; force output, and the rate of force development (RFD). Our results show that neither altered force output nor RFD has a significant effect on MRBD. In contrast, PMBR was altered by both parameters. Higher force output results in greater PMBR amplitude, and greater RFD results in a PMBR which is higher in amplitude and shorter in duration. These findings demonstrate that careful control of movement parameters can systematically change PMBR. Further, for temporally protracted movements, the PMBR can be over 7 s in duration. This means accurate control of movement and judicious selection of paradigm parameters are critical in future clinical and basic neuroscientific studies of sensorimotor beta oscillations. Hum Brain Mapp 37:2493–2511, 2016. © 2016 The Authors Human Brain Mapping Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc PMID:27061243

  6. Proteus: a direct forcing method in the simulations of particulate flows

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Feng, Zhi-Gang; Michaelides, Efstathios E.

    2005-01-01

    A new and efficient direct numerical method for the simulation of particulate flows is introduced. The method combines desired elements of the immersed boundary method, the direct forcing method and the lattice Boltzmann method. Adding a forcing term in the momentum equation enforces the no-slip condition on the boundary of a moving particle. By applying the direct forcing scheme, Proteus eliminates the need for the determination of free parameters, such as the stiffness coefficient in the penalty scheme or the two relaxation parameters in the adaptive-forcing scheme. The method presents a significant improvement over the previously introduced immersed-boundary-lattice-Boltzmann method (IB-LBM) where the forcing term was computed using a penalty method and a user-defined parameter. The method allows the enforcement of the rigid body motion of a particle in a more efficient way. Compared to the "bounce-back" scheme used in the conventional LBM, the direct-forcing method provides a smoother computational boundary for particles and is capable of achieving results at higher Reynolds number flows. By using a set of Lagrangian points to track the boundary of a particle, Proteus eliminates any need for the determination of the boundary nodes that are prescribed by the "bounce-back" scheme at every time step. It also makes computations for particles of irregular shapes simpler and more efficient. Proteus has been developed in two- as well as three-dimensions. This new method has been validated by comparing its results with those from experimental measurements for a single sphere settling in an enclosure under gravity. As a demonstration of the efficiency and capabilities of the present method, the settling of a large number (1232) of spherical particles is simulated in a narrow box under two different boundary conditions. It is found that when the no-slip boundary condition is imposed at the front and rear sides of the box the particles motion is significantly hindered

  7. Understanding gas-surface interactions from direct force measurements using a specialized torsion balance

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Cook, S. R.; Hoffbauer, M. A.

    1996-01-01

    The first comprehensive measurements of the magnitude and direction of the forces exerted on surfaces by molecular beams are discussed and used to obtain information about the microscopic properties of the gas-surface interactions. This unique approach is not based on microscopic measurements of the scattered molecules. The reduced force coefficients are introduced as a new set of parameters that completely describe the macroscopic average momentum transfer to a surface by an incident molecular beam. By using a specialized torsion balance and molecular beams of N2, CO, CO2, and H2, the reduced force coefficients are determined from direct measurements of the force components exerted on surface of a solar panel array material, Kapton, SiO2-coated Kapton, and Z-93 as a function of the angle of incidence ranging from 0 degrees to 85 degrees. The absolute flux densities of the molecular beams were measured using a different torsion balance with a beam-stop that nullified the force of the scattered molecules. Standard time-of-flight techniques were used to determine the flux-weighted average velocities of the various molecular beams ranging from 1600 m/s to 4600 m/s. The reduced force coefficients can be used to directly obtain macroscopic average properties of the scattered molecules, such as the flux-weighted average velocity and translational energy, that can then be used to determine microscopic details concerning gas-surface interactions without the complications associated with averaging microscopic measurements.

  8. Bite Force Recording Devices - A Review

    PubMed Central

    Kumathalli, Kanteshwari Iranagouda; Jain, Vinay; Kumar, Rajesh

    2017-01-01

    In dental research, bite force serves as a valuable parameter to evaluate the efficacy of masticatory system. A variety of devices with different design and working principle have been used to record bite force, but no single device is capable to record all the required forces. One may find it difficult to choose a device that will fulfil the purpose of recording bite force for research. So, the present review aims to report and compare the wide range of devices and will help in describing their uses for recording bite force. PMID:29207848

  9. Stellar and wind parameters of massive stars from spectral analysis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Araya, I.; Curé, M.

    2017-07-01

    The only way to deduce information from stars is to decode the radiation it emits in an appropriate way. Spectroscopy can solve this and derive many properties of stars. In this work we seek to derive simultaneously the stellar and wind characteristics of A and B supergiant stars. Our stellar properties encompass the effective temperature, the surface gravity, the stellar radius, the micro-turbulence velocity, the rotational velocity and, finally, the chemical composition. For wind properties we consider the mass-loss rate, the terminal velocity and the line-force parameters (α, k and δ) obtained from the standard line-driven wind theory. To model the data we use the radiative transport code Fastwind considering the newest hydrodynamical solutions derived with Hydwind code, which needs stellar and line-force parameters to obtain a wind solution. A grid of spectral models of massive stars is created and together with the observed spectra their physical properties are determined through spectral line fittings. These fittings provide an estimation about the line-force parameters, whose theoretical calculations are extremely complex. Furthermore, we expect to confirm that the hydrodynamical solutions obtained with a value of δ slightly larger than ˜ 0.25, called δ-slow solutions, describe quite reliable the radiation line-driven winds of A and late B supergiant stars and at the same time explain disagreements between observational data and theoretical models for the Wind-Momentum Luminosity Relationship (WLR).

  10. Stellar and wind parameters of massive stars from spectral analysis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Araya, Ignacio; Curé, Michel

    2017-11-01

    The only way to deduce information from stars is to decode the radiation it emits in an appropriate way. Spectroscopy can solve this and derive many properties of stars. In this work we seek to derive simultaneously the stellar and wind characteristics of a wide range of massive stars. Our stellar properties encompass the effective temperature, the surface gravity, the stellar radius, the micro-turbulence velocity, the rotational velocity and the Si abundance. For wind properties we consider the mass-loss rate, the terminal velocity and the line-force parameters α, k and δ (from the line-driven wind theory). To model the data we use the radiative transport code Fastwind considering the newest hydrodynamical solutions derived with Hydwind code, which needs stellar and line-force parameters to obtain a wind solution. A grid of spectral models of massive stars is created and together with the observed spectra their physical properties are determined through spectral line fittings. These fittings provide an estimation about the line-force parameters, whose theoretical calculations are extremely complex. Furthermore, we expect to confirm that the hydrodynamical solutions obtained with a value of δ slightly larger than ~ 0.25, called δ-slow solutions, describe quite reliable the radiation line-driven winds of A and late B supergiant stars and at the same time explain disagreements between observational data and theoretical models for the Wind-Momentum Luminosity Relationship (WLR).

  11. A microcantilever device to assess the effect of force on the lifetime of selectin-carbohydrate bonds.

    PubMed Central

    Tees, D F; Waugh, R E; Hammer, D A

    2001-01-01

    A microcantilever technique was used to apply force to receptor-ligand molecules involved in leukocyte rolling on blood vessel walls. E-selectin was adsorbed onto 3-microm-diameter, 4-mm-long glass fibers, and the selectin ligand, sialyl Lewis(x), was coupled to latex microspheres. After binding, the microsphere and bound fiber were retracted using a computerized loading protocol that combines hydrodynamic and Hookean forces on the fiber to produce a range of force loading rates (force/time), r(f). From the distribution of forces at failure, the average force was determined and plotted as a function of ln r(f). The slope and intercept of the plot yield the unstressed reverse reaction rate, k(r)(o), and a parameter that describes the force dependence of reverse reaction rates, r(o). The ligand was titrated so adhesion occurred in approximately 30% of tests, implying that >80% of adhesive events involve single bonds. Monte Carlo simulations show that this level of multiple bonding has little effect on parameter estimation. The estimates are r(o) = 0.048 and 0.016 nm and k(r)(o) = 0.72 and 2.2 s(-1) for loading rates in the ranges 200-1000 and 1000-5000 pN s(-1), respectively. Levenberg-Marquardt fitting across all values of r(f) gives r(o) = 0.034 nm and k(r)(o) = 0.82 s(-1). The values of these parameters are in the range required for rolling, as suggested by adhesive dynamics simulations. PMID:11159435

  12. A socioecological analysis of the determinants of national public health nutrition work force capacity: Australia as a case study.

    PubMed

    Hughes, Roger

    2006-01-01

    This article uses a socioecological analytical approach to assess the capacity of the public health nutrition work force in Australia as a prelude to work force development strategy planning. It demonstrates how the socioecological model can be used to assess and inform the development of the infrastructure required for effective public health nutrition effort. An interpretive case study method was used involving triangular analysis of quantitative and qualitative data from multiple sources including semistructured interviews with advanced-level practitioners, literature review, a cross-sectional national work force survey, and position description audit and consensus development using a Delphi study. The findings of this analysis indicate that the Australian public health nutrition work force's capacity to effectively address priority nutrition issues is limited by determinants that can be categorized as relating to human resource infrastructure, organizational and policy environments, intelligence access and use, practice improvement and learning systems, and work force preparation. This socioecological analysis supports an intelligence-based focus for work force development effort in Australia and a conceptual framework for work force capacity assessment with potential applications in other countries.

  13. Measurement method for determining the magnetic hysteresis effects of reluctance actuators by evaluation of the force and flux variation.

    PubMed

    Vrijsen, N H; Jansen, J W; Compter, J C; Lomonova, E A

    2013-07-01

    A measurement method is presented which identifies the magnetic hysteresis effects present in the force of linear reluctance actuators. The measurement method is applied to determine the magnetic hysteresis in the force of an E-core reluctance actuator, with and without pre-biasing permanent magnet. The force measurements are conducted with a piezoelectric load cell (Kistler type 9272). This high-bandwidth force measurement instrument is identified in the frequency domain using a voice-coil actuator that has negligible magnetic hysteresis and eddy currents. Specifically, the phase delay between the current and force of the voice-coil actuator is used for the calibration of the measurement instrument. This phase delay is also obtained by evaluation of the measured force and flux variation in the E-core actuator, both with and without permanent magnet on the middle tooth. The measured magnetic flux variation is used to distinguish the phase delay due to magnetic hysteresis from the measured phase delay between the current and the force of the E-core actuator. Finally, an open loop steady-state ac model is presented that predicts the magnetic hysteresis effects in the force of the E-core actuator.

  14. On configurational forces for gradient-enhanced inelasticity

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Floros, Dimosthenis; Larsson, Fredrik; Runesson, Kenneth

    2018-04-01

    In this paper we discuss how configurational forces can be computed in an efficient and robust manner when a constitutive continuum model of gradient-enhanced viscoplasticity is adopted, whereby a suitably tailored mixed variational formulation in terms of displacements and micro-stresses is used. It is demonstrated that such a formulation produces sufficient regularity to overcome numerical difficulties that are notorious for a local constitutive model. In particular, no nodal smoothing of the internal variable fields is required. Moreover, the pathological mesh sensitivity that has been reported in the literature for a standard local model is no longer present. Numerical results in terms of configurational forces are shown for (1) a smooth interface and (2) a discrete edge crack. The corresponding configurational forces are computed for different values of the intrinsic length parameter. It is concluded that the convergence of the computed configurational forces with mesh refinement depends strongly on this parameter value. Moreover, the convergence behavior for the limit situation of rate-independent plasticity is unaffected by the relaxation time parameter.

  15. Motion Parameters Determination of the SC and Phobos in the Project Phobos-Grunt

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Akim, E. L.; Stepanyants, V. A.; Tuchin, A. G.; Shishov, V. A.

    2007-01-01

    The SC "Phobos-Grunt" flight is planned to 2009 in Russia with the purpose to deliver to the Earth the soil samples of the Mars satellite Phobos. The mission will pass under the following scheme [1-4]: the SC flight from the Earth to the Mars, the SC transit on the Mars satellite orbit, the motion round the Mars on the observation orbit and on the quasi-synchronous one [5], landing on Phobos, taking of a ground and start in the direction to the Earth. The implementation of complicated dynamical operations in the Phobos vicinity is foreseen by the project. The SC will be in a disturbance sphere of gravitational fields from the Sun, the Mars and the Phobos. The SC orbit determination is carried out on a totality of trajectory measurements executed from ground tracking stations and measurements of autonomous systems onboard space vehicle relatively the Phobos. As ground measurements the radio engineering measurements of range and range rate are used. There are possible as onboard optical observations of the Phobos by a television system and ranges from the SC up to the Phobos surface by laser locator. As soon as the Phobos orbit accuracy is insufficient for a solution of a problem of landing its orbit determination will be carried out together with determination of the SC orbit. Therefore the algorithms for joint improving of initial conditions of the SC and the Phobos are necessary to determine parameters of the SC relative the Phobos motion within a single dynamical motion model. After putting on the martial satellite orbit, on the Phobos observation orbit, on the quasi-synchronous orbit in the Phobos vicinity the equipment guidance and the following process of the SC orbit determination relatively Phobos requires a priori knowledge of the Phobos orbit parameters with sufficiently high precision. These parameters should be obtained beforehand using both all modern observations and historical ones.

  16. Selection of noisy measurement locations for error reduction in static parameter identification

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sanayei, Masoud; Onipede, Oladipo; Babu, Suresh R.

    1992-09-01

    An incomplete set of noisy static force and displacement measurements is used for parameter identification of structures at the element level. Measurement location and the level of accuracy in the measured data can drastically affect the accuracy of the identified parameters. A heuristic method is presented to select a limited number of degrees of freedom (DOF) to perform a successful parameter identification and to reduce the impact of measurement errors on the identified parameters. This pretest simulation uses an error sensitivity analysis to determine the effect of measurement errors on the parameter estimates. The selected DOF can be used for nondestructive testing and health monitoring of structures. Two numerical examples, one for a truss and one for a frame, are presented to demonstrate that using the measurements at the selected subset of DOF can limit the error in the parameter estimates.

  17. Determination of the main parameters of the cyclone separator of the flue gas produced during the smelting of secondary aluminum

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Matusov, Jozef; Gavlas, Stanislav

    2016-06-01

    One way how is possible to separate the solid particulate pollutants from the flue gas is use the cyclone separators. The cyclone separators are very frequently used separators due to the simplicity of their design and their low operating costs. Separation of pollutants in the form of solids is carried out using three types of forces: inertia force, centrifugal force, gravity force. The main advantage is that cyclone consist of the parts which are resistant to wear and have long life time, e.g. various rotating and sliding parts. Mostly are used as pre-separators, because they have low efficiency in the separation of small particles. Their function is to separate larger particles from the flue gases which are subsequently cleaned in the other device which is capable of removing particles smaller than 1 µm, which is limiting size of particle separation. The article will deal with the issue of calculating the basic dimensions and main parameters of the cyclone separator from flue gas produced during the smelting of secondary aluminum.

  18. A universal laboratory method for determining physical parameters of radon migration in dry granulated porous media.

    PubMed

    Ye, Yong-Jun; Zhang, Yun-Feng; Dai, Xin-Tao; Ding, De-Xin

    2017-10-01

    The particle size and heaped methods of exhalation media have important effects on physical parameters, such as the free radon production rate, porosity, permeability, and radon diffusion coefficient. However, existing methods for determining those parameters are too complex, and time-consuming. In this study, a novel, systematic determining method was proposed based on nuclide decay, radon diffusion migration theory, and the mass conservation law, and an associated experimental device was designed and manufactured. The parameters of uranium ore heap and sandy soil of radon diffusion coefficient (D), free radon production rate (α), media permeability (k), and porosity (ε) were obtained. At the same time, the practicality of the novel determining method was improved over other methods, with the results showing that accuracy was within the acceptable range of experimental error. This novel method will be of significance for the study of radon migration and exhalation in granulated porous media. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Applying a pelvic corrective force induces forced use of the paretic leg and improves paretic leg EMG activities of individuals post-stroke during treadmill walking.

    PubMed

    Hsu, Chao-Jung; Kim, Janis; Tang, Rongnian; Roth, Elliot J; Rymer, William Z; Wu, Ming

    2017-10-01

    To determine whether applying a mediolateral corrective force to the pelvis during treadmill walking would enhance muscle activity of the paretic leg and improve gait symmetry in individuals with post-stroke hemiparesis. Fifteen subjects with post-stroke hemiparesis participated in this study. A customized cable-driven robotic system based over a treadmill generated a mediolateral corrective force to the pelvis toward the paretic side during early stance phase. Three different amounts of corrective force were applied. Electromyographic (EMG) activity of the paretic leg, spatiotemporal gait parameters and pelvis lateral displacement were collected. Significant increases in integrated EMG of hip abductor, medial hamstrings, soleus, rectus femoris, vastus medialis and tibialis anterior were observed when pelvic corrective force was applied, with pelvic corrective force at 9% of body weight inducing greater muscle activity than 3% or 6% of body weight. Pelvis lateral displacement was more symmetric with pelvic corrective force at 9% of body weight. Applying a mediolateral pelvic corrective force toward the paretic side may enhance muscle activity of the paretic leg and improve pelvis displacement symmetry in individuals post-stroke. Forceful weight shift to the paretic side could potentially force additional use of the paretic leg and improve the walking pattern. Copyright © 2017 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. Sensitivity of estimated muscle force in forward simulation of normal walking

    PubMed Central

    Xiao, Ming; Higginson, Jill

    2009-01-01

    Generic muscle parameters are often used in muscle-driven simulations of human movement estimate individual muscle forces and function. The results may not be valid since muscle properties vary from subject to subject. This study investigated the effect of using generic parameters in a muscle-driven forward simulation on muscle force estimation. We generated a normal walking simulation in OpenSim and examined the sensitivity of individual muscle to perturbations in muscle parameters, including the number of muscles, maximum isometric force, optimal fiber length and tendon slack length. We found that when changing the number muscles included in the model, only magnitude of the estimated muscle forces was affected. Our results also suggest it is especially important to use accurate values of tendon slack length and optimal fiber length for ankle plantarflexors and knee extensors. Changes in force production one muscle were typically compensated for by changes in force production by muscles in the same functional muscle group, or the antagonistic muscle group. Conclusions regarding muscle function based on simulations with generic musculoskeletal parameters should be interpreted with caution. PMID:20498485

  1. Determination of Process Parameters for High-Density, Ti-6Al-4V Parts Using Additive Manufacturing

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Kamath, C.

    In our earlier work, we described an approach for determining the process parameters that re- sult in high-density parts manufactured using the additive-manufacturing process of selective laser melting (SLM). Our approach, which combines simple simulations and experiments, was demon- strated using 316L stainless steel. We have also used the approach successfully for several other materials. This short note summarizes the results of our work in determining process parameters for Ti-6Al-4V using a Concept Laser M2 system.

  2. General purpose force doctrine

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Weltman, J.J.

    In contemporary American strategic parlance, the general purpose forces have come to mean those forces intended for conflict situations other than nuclear war with the Soviet Union. As with all military forces, the general purpose forces are powerfully determined by prevailing conceptions of the problems they must meet and by institutional biases as to the proper way to deal with those problems. This paper deals with the strategic problems these forces are intended to meet, the various and often conflicting doctrines and organizational structures which have been generated in order to meet those problems, and the factors which will influencemore » general purpose doctrine and structure in the future. This paper does not attempt to prescribe technological solutions to the needs of the general purpose forces. Rather, it attempts to display the doctrinal and institutional context within which new technologies must operate, and which will largely determine whether these technologies are accepted into the force structure or not.« less

  3. Determination of morphological parameters of biological cells by analysis of scattered-light distributions

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Burger, D.E.

    1979-11-01

    The extraction of morphological parameters from biological cells by analysis of light-scatter patterns is described. A light-scattering measurement system has been designed and constructed that allows one to visually examine and photographically record biological cells or cell models and measure the light-scatter pattern of an individual cell or cell model. Using a laser or conventional illumination, the imaging system consists of a modified microscope with a 35 mm camera attached to record the cell image or light-scatter pattern. Models of biological cells were fabricated. The dynamic range and angular distributions of light scattered from these models was compared to calculatedmore » distributions. Spectrum analysis techniques applied on the light-scatter data give the sought after morphological cell parameters. These results compared favorably to shape parameters of the fabricated cell models confirming the mathematical model procedure. For nucleated biological material, correct nuclear and cell eccentricity as well as the nuclear and cytoplasmic diameters were determined. A method for comparing the flow equivalent of nuclear and cytoplasmic size to the actual dimensions is shown. This light-scattering experiment provides baseline information for automated cytology. In its present application, it involves correlating average size as measured in flow cytology to the actual dimensions determined from this technique. (ERB)« less

  4. Determination of the single scattering albedo and direct radiative forcing of biomass burning aerosol with data from the MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) satellite instrument

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhu, Li

    Biomass burning aerosols absorb and scatter solar radiation and therefore affect the energy balance of the Earth-atmosphere system. The single scattering albedo (SSA), the ratio of the scattering coefficient to the extinction coefficient, is an important parameter to describe the optical properties of aerosols and to determine the effect of aerosols on the energy balance of the planet and climate. Aerosol effects on radiation also depend strongly on surface albedo. Large uncertainties remain in current estimates of radiative impacts of biomass burning aerosols, due largely to the lack of reliable measurements of aerosol and surface properties. In this work we investigate how satellite measurements can be used to estimate the direct radiative forcing of biomass burning aerosols. We developed a method using the critical reflectance technique to retrieve SSA from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) observed reflectance at the top of the atmosphere (TOA). We evaluated MODIS retrieved SSAs with AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) retrievals and found good agreements within the published uncertainty of the AERONET retrievals. We then developed an algorithm, the MODIS Enhanced Vegetation Albedo (MEVA), to improve the representations of spectral variations of vegetation surface albedo based on MODIS observations at the discrete 0.67, 0.86, 0.47, 0.55, 1.24, 1.64, and 2.12 mu-m channels. This algorithm is validated using laboratory measurements of the different vegetation types from the Amazon region, data from the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) spectral library, and data from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) digital spectral library. We show that the MEVA method can improve the accuracy of flux and aerosol forcing calculations at the TOA compared to more traditional interpolated approaches. Lastly, we combine the MODIS retrieved biomass burning aerosol SSA and the surface albedo spectrum determined from the MEVA technique to calculate TOA flux and

  5. A system for comparison of boring parameters of mini-HDD machines

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Gunsaulis, F.R.

    A system has been developed to accurately evaluate changes in performance of a mini-horizontal directional drilling (HDD) system in the backreaming/pullback portion of a bore as the parameters influencing the backream are changed. Parameters incorporated in the study include spindle rotation rate, rate of pull, fluid flow rate, and backreamer design. The boring system is able to run at variable, operator-determined rates of spindle rotation and pullback speed utilizing electronic feedback controls for regulation. Spindle torque and pullback force are continuously measured and recorded giving an indication of the performance of the unit. A method has also been developed tomore » measure the pull load on the installed service line to determine the effect of the boring parameters on the service line. Variability of soil along the bore path is measured and quantified using a soil sampling system developed for the study. Sample results obtained with the system are included in the report. 2 refs., 5 figs., 2 tabs.« less

  6. Muscle Force-Velocity Relationships Observed in Four Different Functional Tests.

    PubMed

    Zivkovic, Milena Z; Djuric, Sasa; Cuk, Ivan; Suzovic, Dejan; Jaric, Slobodan

    2017-02-01

    The aims of the present study were to investigate the shape and strength of the force-velocity relationships observed in different functional movement tests and explore the parameters depicting force, velocity and power producing capacities of the tested muscles. Twelve subjects were tested on maximum performance in vertical jumps, cycling, bench press throws, and bench pulls performed against different loads. Thereafter, both the averaged and maximum force and velocity variables recorded from individual trials were used for force-velocity relationship modeling. The observed individual force-velocity relationships were exceptionally strong (median correlation coefficients ranged from r = 0.930 to r = 0.995) and approximately linear independently of the test and variable type. Most of the relationship parameters observed from the averaged and maximum force and velocity variable types were strongly related in all tests (r = 0.789-0.991), except for those in vertical jumps (r = 0.485-0.930). However, the generalizability of the force-velocity relationship parameters depicting maximum force, velocity and power of the tested muscles across different tests was inconsistent and on average moderate. We concluded that the linear force-velocity relationship model based on either maximum or averaged force-velocity data could provide the outcomes depicting force, velocity and power generating capacity of the tested muscles, although such outcomes can only be partially generalized across different muscles.

  7. Effects of morphology parameters on anti-icing performance in superhydrophobic surfaces

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nguyen, Thanh-Binh; Park, Seungchul; Lim, Hyuneui

    2018-03-01

    In this paper, we report the contributions of actual ice-substrate contact area and nanopillar height to passive anti-icing performance in terms of adhesion force and freezing time. Well-textured nanopillars with various parameters were fabricated via colloidal lithography and a dry etching process. The nanostructured quartz surface was coated with low-energy material to confer water-repellent properties. These superhydrophobic surfaces were investigated to determine the parameters essential for reducing adhesion strength and delaying freezing time. A well-textured surface with nanopillars of very small top diameter, regardless of height, could reduce adhesion force and delay freezing time in a subsequent de-icing process. Small top diameters of nanopillars also ensured the metastable Cassie-Baxter state based on energy barrier calculations. The results demonstrated the important role of areal fraction in anti-icing efficiency, and the negligible contribution of texture height. This insight into icing phenomena should lead to design of improved ice-phobic surfaces in the future.

  8. Lipid14: The Amber Lipid Force Field

    PubMed Central

    2015-01-01

    The AMBER lipid force field has been updated to create Lipid14, allowing tensionless simulation of a number of lipid types with the AMBER MD package. The modular nature of this force field allows numerous combinations of head and tail groups to create different lipid types, enabling the easy insertion of new lipid species. The Lennard-Jones and torsion parameters of both the head and tail groups have been revised and updated partial charges calculated. The force field has been validated by simulating bilayers of six different lipid types for a total of 0.5 μs each without applying a surface tension; with favorable comparison to experiment for properties such as area per lipid, volume per lipid, bilayer thickness, NMR order parameters, scattering data, and lipid lateral diffusion. As the derivation of this force field is consistent with the AMBER development philosophy, Lipid14 is compatible with the AMBER protein, nucleic acid, carbohydrate, and small molecule force fields. PMID:24803855

  9. Estimating Colloidal Contact Model Parameters Using Quasi-Static Compression Simulations.

    PubMed

    Bürger, Vincent; Briesen, Heiko

    2016-10-05

    For colloidal particles interacting in suspensions, clusters, or gels, contact models should attempt to include all physical phenomena experimentally observed. One critical point when formulating a contact model is to ensure that the interaction parameters can be easily obtained from experiments. Experimental determinations of contact parameters for particles either are based on bulk measurements for simulations on the macroscopic scale or require elaborate setups for obtaining tangential parameters such as using atomic force microscopy. However, on the colloidal scale, a simple method is required to obtain all interaction parameters simultaneously. This work demonstrates that quasi-static compression of a fractal-like particle network provides all the necessary information to obtain particle interaction parameters using a simple spring-based contact model. These springs provide resistances against all degrees of freedom associated with two-particle interactions, and include critical forces or moments where such springs break, indicating a bond-breakage event. A position-based cost function is introduced to show the identifiability of the two-particle contact parameters, and a discrete, nonlinear, and non-gradient-based global optimization method (simplex with simulated annealing, SIMPSA) is used to minimize the cost function calculated from deviations of particle positions. Results show that, in principle, all necessary contact parameters for an arbitrary particle network can be identified, although numerical efficiency as well as experimental noise must be addressed when applying this method. Such an approach lays the groundwork for identifying particle-contact parameters from a position-based particle analysis for a colloidal system using just one experiment. Spring constants also directly influence the time step of the discrete-element method, and a detailed knowledge of all necessary interaction parameters will help to improve the efficiency of colloidal

  10. Improved Force Fields for Peptide Nucleic Acids with Optimized Backbone Torsion Parameters.

    PubMed

    Jasiński, Maciej; Feig, Michael; Trylska, Joanna

    2018-06-06

    Peptide nucleic acids are promising nucleic acid analogs for antisense therapies as they can form stable duplex and triplex structures with DNA and RNA. Computational studies of PNA-containing duplexes and triplexes are an important component for guiding their design, yet existing force fields have not been well validated and parametrized with modern computational capabilities. We present updated CHARMM and Amber force fields for PNA that greatly improve the stability of simulated PNA-containing duplexes and triplexes in comparison with experimental structures and allow such systems to be studied on microsecond time scales. The force field modifications focus on reparametrized PNA backbone torsion angles to match high-level quantum mechanics reference energies for a model compound. The microsecond simulations of PNA-PNA, PNA-DNA, PNA-RNA, and PNA-DNA-PNA complexes also allowed a comprehensive analysis of hydration and ion interactions with such systems.

  11. QuickFF: A program for a quick and easy derivation of force fields for metal-organic frameworks from ab initio input.

    PubMed

    Vanduyfhuys, Louis; Vandenbrande, Steven; Verstraelen, Toon; Schmid, Rochus; Waroquier, Michel; Van Speybroeck, Veronique

    2015-05-15

    QuickFF is a software package to derive accurate force fields for isolated and complex molecular systems in a quick and easy manner. Apart from its general applicability, the program has been designed to generate force fields for metal-organic frameworks in an automated fashion. The force field parameters for the covalent interaction are derived from ab initio data. The mathematical expression of the covalent energy is kept simple to ensure robustness and to avoid fitting deficiencies as much as possible. The user needs to produce an equilibrium structure and a Hessian matrix for one or more building units. Afterward, a force field is generated for the system using a three-step method implemented in QuickFF. The first two steps of the methodology are designed to minimize correlations among the force field parameters. In the last step, the parameters are refined by imposing the force field parameters to reproduce the ab initio Hessian matrix in Cartesian coordinate space as accurate as possible. The method is applied on a set of 1000 organic molecules to show the easiness of the software protocol. To illustrate its application to metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), QuickFF is used to determine force fields for MIL-53(Al) and MOF-5. For both materials, accurate force fields were already generated in literature but they requested a lot of manual interventions. QuickFF is a tool that can easily be used by anyone with a basic knowledge of performing ab initio calculations. As a result, accurate force fields are generated with minimal effort. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  12. User's manual for a parameter identification technique. [with options for model simulation for fixed input forcing functions and identification from wind tunnel and flight measurements

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kanning, G.

    1975-01-01

    A digital computer program written in FORTRAN is presented that implements the system identification theory for deterministic systems using input-output measurements. The user supplies programs simulating the mathematical model of the physical plant whose parameters are to be identified. The user may choose any one of three options. The first option allows for a complete model simulation for fixed input forcing functions. The second option identifies up to 36 parameters of the model from wind tunnel or flight measurements. The third option performs a sensitivity analysis for up to 36 parameters. The use of each option is illustrated with an example using input-output measurements for a helicopter rotor tested in a wind tunnel.

  13. reaxFF Reactive Force Field for Disulfide Mechanochemistry, Fitted to Multireference ab Initio Data.

    PubMed

    Müller, Julian; Hartke, Bernd

    2016-08-09

    Mechanochemistry, in particular in the form of single-molecule atomic force microscopy experiments, is difficult to model theoretically, for two reasons: Covalent bond breaking is not captured accurately by single-determinant, single-reference quantum chemistry methods, and experimental times of milliseconds or longer are hard to simulate with any approach. Reactive force fields have the potential to alleviate both problems, as demonstrated in this work: Using nondeterministic global parameter optimization by evolutionary algorithms, we have fitted a reaxFF force field to high-level multireference ab initio data for disulfides. The resulting force field can be used to reliably model large, multifunctional mechanochemistry units with disulfide bonds as designed breaking points. Explorative calculations show that a significant part of the time scale gap between AFM experiments and dynamical simulations can be bridged with this approach.

  14. Note: A calibration method to determine the lumped-circuit parameters of a magnetic probe.

    PubMed

    Li, Fuming; Chen, Zhipeng; Zhu, Lizhi; Liu, Hai; Wang, Zhijiang; Zhuang, Ge

    2016-06-01

    This paper describes a novel method to determine the lumped-circuit parameters of a magnetic inductive probe for calibration by using Helmholtz coils with high frequency power supply (frequency range: 10 kHz-400 kHz). The whole calibration circuit system can be separated into two parts: "generator" circuit and "receiver" circuit. By implementing the Fourier transform, two analytical lumped-circuit models, with respect to these separated circuits, are constructed to obtain the transfer function between each other. Herein, the precise lumped-circuit parameters (including the resistance, inductance, and capacitance) of the magnetic probe can be determined by fitting the experimental data to the transfer function. Regarding the fitting results, the finite impedance of magnetic probe can be used to analyze the transmission of a high-frequency signal between magnetic probes, cables, and acquisition system.

  15. Methods and Research for Multi-Component Cutting Force Sensing Devices and Approaches in Machining

    PubMed Central

    Liang, Qiaokang; Zhang, Dan; Wu, Wanneng; Zou, Kunlin

    2016-01-01

    Multi-component cutting force sensing systems in manufacturing processes applied to cutting tools are gradually becoming the most significant monitoring indicator. Their signals have been extensively applied to evaluate the machinability of workpiece materials, predict cutter breakage, estimate cutting tool wear, control machine tool chatter, determine stable machining parameters, and improve surface finish. Robust and effective sensing systems with capability of monitoring the cutting force in machine operations in real time are crucial for realizing the full potential of cutting capabilities of computer numerically controlled (CNC) tools. The main objective of this paper is to present a brief review of the existing achievements in the field of multi-component cutting force sensing systems in modern manufacturing. PMID:27854322

  16. Methods and Research for Multi-Component Cutting Force Sensing Devices and Approaches in Machining.

    PubMed

    Liang, Qiaokang; Zhang, Dan; Wu, Wanneng; Zou, Kunlin

    2016-11-16

    Multi-component cutting force sensing systems in manufacturing processes applied to cutting tools are gradually becoming the most significant monitoring indicator. Their signals have been extensively applied to evaluate the machinability of workpiece materials, predict cutter breakage, estimate cutting tool wear, control machine tool chatter, determine stable machining parameters, and improve surface finish. Robust and effective sensing systems with capability of monitoring the cutting force in machine operations in real time are crucial for realizing the full potential of cutting capabilities of computer numerically controlled (CNC) tools. The main objective of this paper is to present a brief review of the existing achievements in the field of multi-component cutting force sensing systems in modern manufacturing.

  17. Inverse Force Determination on a Small Scale Launch Vehicle Model Using a Dynamic Balance

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ngo, Christina L.; Powell, Jessica M.; Ross, James C.

    2017-01-01

    A launch vehicle can experience large unsteady aerodynamic forces in the transonic regime that, while usually only lasting for tens of seconds during launch, could be devastating if structural components and electronic hardware are not designed to account for them. These aerodynamic loads are difficult to experimentally measure and even harder to computationally estimate. The current method for estimating buffet loads is through the use of a few hundred unsteady pressure transducers and wind tunnel test. Even with a large number of point measurements, the computed integrated load is not an accurate enough representation of the total load caused by buffeting. This paper discusses an attempt at using a dynamic balance to experimentally determine buffet loads on a generic scale hammer head launch vehicle model tested at NASA Ames Research Center's 11' x 11' transonic wind tunnel. To use a dynamic balance, the structural characteristics of the model needed to be identified so that the natural modal response could be and removed from the aerodynamic forces. A finite element model was created on a simplified version of the model to evaluate the natural modes of the balance flexures, assist in model design, and to compare to experimental data. Several modal tests were conducted on the model in two different configurations to check for non-linearity, and to estimate the dynamic characteristics of the model. The experimental results were used in an inverse force determination technique with a psuedo inverse frequency response function. Due to the non linearity, the model not being axisymmetric, and inconsistent data between the two shake tests from different mounting configuration, it was difficult to create a frequency response matrix that satisfied all input and output conditions for wind tunnel configuration to accurately predict unsteady aerodynamic loads.

  18. Oil-water interfaces with surfactants: A systematic approach to determine coarse-grained model parameters

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vu, Tuan V.; Papavassiliou, Dimitrios V.

    2018-05-01

    In order to investigate the interfacial region between oil and water with the presence of surfactants using coarse-grained computations, both the interaction between different components of the system and the number of surfactant molecules present at the interface play an important role. However, in many prior studies, the amount of surfactants used was chosen rather arbitrarily. In this work, a systematic approach to develop coarse-grained models for anionic surfactants (such as sodium dodecyl sulfate) and nonionic surfactants (such as octaethylene glycol monododecyl ether) in oil-water interfaces is presented. The key is to place the theoretically calculated number of surfactant molecules on the interface at the critical micelle concentration. Based on this approach, the molecular description of surfactants and the effects of various interaction parameters on the interfacial tension are investigated. The results indicate that the interfacial tension is affected mostly by the head-water and tail-oil interaction. Even though the procedure presented herein is used with dissipative particle dynamics models, it can be applied for other coarse-grained methods to obtain the appropriate set of parameters (or force fields) to describe the surfactant behavior on the oil-water interface.

  19. A model for flexi-bar to evaluate intervertebral disc and muscle forces in exercises.

    PubMed

    Abdollahi, Masoud; Nikkhoo, Mohammad; Ashouri, Sajad; Asghari, Mohsen; Parnianpour, Mohamad; Khalaf, Kinda

    2016-10-01

    This study developed and validated a lumped parameter model for the FLEXI-BAR, a popular training instrument that provides vibration stimulation. The model which can be used in conjunction with musculoskeletal-modeling software for quantitative biomechanical analyses, consists of 3 rigid segments, 2 torsional springs, and 2 torsional dashpots. Two different sets of experiments were conducted to determine the model's key parameters including the stiffness of the springs and the damping ratio of the dashpots. In the first set of experiments, the free vibration of the FLEXI-BAR with an initial displacement at its end was considered, while in the second set, forced oscillations of the bar were studied. The properties of the mechanical elements in the lumped parameter model were derived utilizing a non-linear optimization algorithm which minimized the difference between the model's prediction and the experimental data. The results showed that the model is valid (8% error) and can be used for simulating exercises with the FLEXI-BAR for excitations in the range of the natural frequency. The model was then validated in combination with AnyBody musculoskeletal modeling software, where various lumbar disc, spinal muscles and hand muscles forces were determined during different FLEXI-BAR exercise simulations. Copyright © 2016 IPEM. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Muscle Force-Velocity Relationships Observed in Four Different Functional Tests

    PubMed Central

    Zivkovic, Milena Z.; Djuric, Sasa; Cuk, Ivan; Suzovic, Dejan; Jaric, Slobodan

    2017-01-01

    Abstract The aims of the present study were to investigate the shape and strength of the force-velocity relationships observed in different functional movement tests and explore the parameters depicting force, velocity and power producing capacities of the tested muscles. Twelve subjects were tested on maximum performance in vertical jumps, cycling, bench press throws, and bench pulls performed against different loads. Thereafter, both the averaged and maximum force and velocity variables recorded from individual trials were used for force–velocity relationship modeling. The observed individual force-velocity relationships were exceptionally strong (median correlation coefficients ranged from r = 0.930 to r = 0.995) and approximately linear independently of the test and variable type. Most of the relationship parameters observed from the averaged and maximum force and velocity variable types were strongly related in all tests (r = 0.789-0.991), except for those in vertical jumps (r = 0.485-0.930). However, the generalizability of the force-velocity relationship parameters depicting maximum force, velocity and power of the tested muscles across different tests was inconsistent and on average moderate. We concluded that the linear force-velocity relationship model based on either maximum or averaged force-velocity data could provide the outcomes depicting force, velocity and power generating capacity of the tested muscles, although such outcomes can only be partially generalized across different muscles. PMID:28469742

  1. 40 CFR 86.529-98 - Road load force and inertia weight determination.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 18 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Road load force and inertia weight... Emission Regulations for 1978 and Later New Motorcycles; Test Procedures § 86.529-98 Road load force and... of this section. Velocity V is in km/h and force (F) is in newtons. The forces given by the equation...

  2. Metabolic syndrome parameters in adolescents may be determinants for the future periodontal diseases.

    PubMed

    Lee, Kyeong-Soo; Lee, Sang Gyu; Kim, Eun-Kyong; Jin, Hye-Jung; Im, Sang-Uk; Lee, Hee-Kyung; Merchant, Anwar T; Song, Keun-Bae; Choi, Youn-Hee

    2015-02-01

    The prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) increases even in adolescents. The evidence that MetS is associated with the periodontal diseases in adolescents has been understudied. Therefore, our aim was to assess the association between MetS parameters and gingivitis in adolescents. A total of 941 participants (590 boys, 351 girls), aged 12-18 years was selected from the Fourth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a cross-sectional and nationally representative survey, which had had information on waist circumference, blood pressure, serum triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, and the fasting blood sugar and community periodontal Index (CPI). The number of positive parameters of MetS showed significant positive correlation with gingivitis; adjusted and crude ORs with one positive parameters of MetS were 1.92 (95% CI: 1.21-3.04) and 1.88(95% CI: 1.28-2.76), respectively. And adjusted OR with three or more positive parameters of MetS was 3.29 (95% CI: 1.24-8.71). Among five parameters of MetS, Low HDL-cholesterol showed significant association with gingivitis (crude OR 2.12, 95% CI 1.20-3.73; adjusted OR 1.96, 95% CI 1.24-3.12). Having more positive parameters of MetS and low HDL-cholesterol parameter had an independent relationship with the prevalence of gingivitis, which may be determinants for the future periodontal diseases even in adolescents. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  3. Determination of the QCD Λ Parameter and the Accuracy of Perturbation Theory at High Energies.

    PubMed

    Dalla Brida, Mattia; Fritzsch, Patrick; Korzec, Tomasz; Ramos, Alberto; Sint, Stefan; Sommer, Rainer

    2016-10-28

    We discuss the determination of the strong coupling α_{MS[over ¯]}(m_{Z}) or, equivalently, the QCD Λ parameter. Its determination requires the use of perturbation theory in α_{s}(μ) in some scheme s and at some energy scale μ. The higher the scale μ, the more accurate perturbation theory becomes, owing to asymptotic freedom. As one step in our computation of the Λ parameter in three-flavor QCD, we perform lattice computations in a scheme that allows us to nonperturbatively reach very high energies, corresponding to α_{s}=0.1 and below. We find that (continuum) perturbation theory is very accurate there, yielding a 3% error in the Λ parameter, while data around α_{s}≈0.2 are clearly insufficient to quote such a precision. It is important to realize that these findings are expected to be generic, as our scheme has advantageous properties regarding the applicability of perturbation theory.

  4. Masticatory myosin unveiled: first determination of contractile parameters of muscle fibers from carnivore jaw muscles.

    PubMed

    Toniolo, Luana; Cancellara, Pasqua; Maccatrozzo, Lisa; Patruno, Marco; Mascarello, Francesco; Reggiani, Carlo

    2008-12-01

    Masticatory myosin heavy chain (M MyHC) is a myosin subunit isoform with expression restricted to muscles derived from the first branchial arch, such as jaw-closer muscles, with pronounced interspecies variability. Only sparse information is available on the contractile properties of muscle fibers expressing M MyHC (M fibers). In this study, we characterized M fibers isolated from the jaw-closer muscles (temporalis and masseter) of two species of domestic carnivores, the cat and the dog, compared with fibers expressing slow or fast (2A, 2X, and 2B) isoforms. In each fiber, during maximally calcium-activated contractions at 12 degrees C, we determined isometric-specific tension (P(o)), unloaded shortening velocity (v(o)) with the slack test protocol, and the rate constant of tension redevelopment (K(TR)) after a fast shortening-relengthening cycle. At the end of the mechanical experiment, we identified MyHC isoform composition of each fiber with gel electrophoresis. Electrophoretic migration rate of M MyHC was similar in both species. We found that in both species the kinetic parameters v(o) and K(TR) of M fibers were similar to those of 2A fibers, whereas P(o) values were significantly greater than in any other fiber types. The similarity between 2A and M fibers and the greater tension development of M fibers were confirmed also in mechanical experiments performed at 24 degrees C. Myosin concentration was determined in single fibers and found not different in M fibers compared with slow and fast fibers, suggesting that the higher tension developed by M fibers does not find an explanation in a greater number of force generators. The specific mechanical characteristics of M fibers might be attributed to a diversity in cross-bridge kinetics.

  5. Image parameters for maturity determination of a composted material containing sewage sludge

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kujawa, S.; Nowakowski, K.; Tomczak, R. J.; Boniecki, P.; Dach, J.

    2013-07-01

    Composting is one of the best methods for management of sewage sludge. In a reasonably conducted composting process it is important to early identify the moment in which a material reaches the young compost stage. The objective of this study was to determine parameters contained in images of composted material's samples that can be used for evaluation of the degree of compost maturity. The study focused on two types of compost: containing sewage sludge with corn straw and sewage sludge with rapeseed straw. The photographing of the samples was carried out on a prepared stand for the image acquisition using VIS, UV-A and mixed (VIS + UV-A) light. In the case of UV-A light, three values of the exposure time were assumed. The values of 46 parameters were estimated for each of the images extracted from the photographs of the composted material's samples. Exemplary averaged values of selected parameters obtained from the images of the composted material in the following sampling days were presented. All of the parameters obtained from the composted material's images are the basis for preparation of training, validation and test data sets necessary in development of neural models for classification of the young compost stage.

  6. Post-processing of seismic parameter data based on valid seismic event determination

    DOEpatents

    McEvilly, Thomas V.

    1985-01-01

    An automated seismic processing system and method are disclosed, including an array of CMOS microprocessors for unattended battery-powered processing of a multi-station network. According to a characterizing feature of the invention, each channel of the network is independently operable to automatically detect, measure times and amplitudes, and compute and fit Fast Fourier transforms (FFT's) for both P- and S- waves on analog seismic data after it has been sampled at a given rate. The measured parameter data from each channel are then reviewed for event validity by a central controlling microprocessor and if determined by preset criteria to constitute a valid event, the parameter data are passed to an analysis computer for calculation of hypocenter location, running b-values, source parameters, event count, P- wave polarities, moment-tensor inversion, and Vp/Vs ratios. The in-field real-time analysis of data maximizes the efficiency of microearthquake surveys allowing flexibility in experimental procedures, with a minimum of traditional labor-intensive postprocessing. A unique consequence of the system is that none of the original data (i.e., the sensor analog output signals) are necessarily saved after computation, but rather, the numerical parameters generated by the automatic analysis are the sole output of the automated seismic processor.

  7. On Gait Analysis Estimation Errors Using Force Sensors on a Smart Rollator

    PubMed Central

    Ballesteros, Joaquin; Urdiales, Cristina; Martinez, Antonio B.; van Dieën, Jaap H.

    2016-01-01

    Gait analysis can provide valuable information on a person’s condition and rehabilitation progress. Gait is typically captured using external equipment and/or wearable sensors. These tests are largely constrained to specific controlled environments. In addition, gait analysis often requires experts for calibration, operation and/or to place sensors on volunteers. Alternatively, mobility support devices like rollators can be equipped with onboard sensors to monitor gait parameters, while users perform their Activities of Daily Living. Gait analysis in rollators may use odometry and force sensors in the handlebars. However, force based estimation of gait parameters is less accurate than traditional methods, especially when rollators are not properly used. This paper presents an evaluation of force based gait analysis using a smart rollator on different groups of users to determine when this methodology is applicable. In a second stage, the rollator is used in combination with two lab-based gait analysis systems to assess the rollator estimation error. Our results show that: (i) there is an inverse relation between the variance in the force difference between handlebars and support on the handlebars—related to the user condition—and the estimation error; and (ii) this error is lower than 10% when the variation in the force difference is above 7 N. This lower limit was exceeded by the 95.83% of our challenged volunteers. In conclusion, rollators are useful for gait characterization as long as users really need the device for ambulation. PMID:27834911

  8. On Gait Analysis Estimation Errors Using Force Sensors on a Smart Rollator.

    PubMed

    Ballesteros, Joaquin; Urdiales, Cristina; Martinez, Antonio B; van Dieën, Jaap H

    2016-11-10

    Gait analysis can provide valuable information on a person's condition and rehabilitation progress. Gait is typically captured using external equipment and/or wearable sensors. These tests are largely constrained to specific controlled environments. In addition, gait analysis often requires experts for calibration, operation and/or to place sensors on volunteers. Alternatively, mobility support devices like rollators can be equipped with onboard sensors to monitor gait parameters, while users perform their Activities of Daily Living. Gait analysis in rollators may use odometry and force sensors in the handlebars. However, force based estimation of gait parameters is less accurate than traditional methods, especially when rollators are not properly used. This paper presents an evaluation of force based gait analysis using a smart rollator on different groups of users to determine when this methodology is applicable. In a second stage, the rollator is used in combination with two lab-based gait analysis systems to assess the rollator estimation error. Our results show that: (i) there is an inverse relation between the variance in the force difference between handlebars and support on the handlebars-related to the user condition-and the estimation error; and (ii) this error is lower than 10% when the variation in the force difference is above 7 N. This lower limit was exceeded by the 95.83% of our challenged volunteers. In conclusion, rollators are useful for gait characterization as long as users really need the device for ambulation.

  9. Determination of fundamental asteroseismic parameters using the Hilbert transform

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kiefer, René; Schad, Ariane; Herzberg, Wiebke; Roth, Markus

    2015-06-01

    Context. Solar-like oscillations exhibit a regular pattern of frequencies. This pattern is dominated by the small and large frequency separations between modes. The accurate determination of these parameters is of great interest, because they give information about e.g. the evolutionary state and the mass of a star. Aims: We want to develop a robust method to determine the large and small frequency separations for time series with low signal-to-noise ratio. For this purpose, we analyse a time series of the Sun from the GOLF instrument aboard SOHO and a time series of the star KIC 5184732 from the NASA Kepler satellite by employing a combination of Fourier and Hilbert transform. Methods: We use the analytic signal of filtered stellar oscillation time series to compute the signal envelope. Spectral analysis of the signal envelope then reveals frequency differences of dominant modes in the periodogram of the stellar time series. Results: With the described method the large frequency separation Δν can be extracted from the envelope spectrum even for data of poor signal-to-noise ratio. A modification of the method allows for an overview of the regularities in the periodogram of the time series.

  10. Using Maximal Isometric Force to Determine the Optimal Load for Measuring Dynamic Muscle Power

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Spiering, Barry A.; Lee, Stuart M. C.; Mulavara, Ajitkumar P.; Bentley, Jason R.; Nash, Roxanne E.; Sinka, Joseph; Bloomberg, Jacob J.

    2009-01-01

    Maximal power output occurs when subjects perform ballistic exercises using loads of 30-50% of one-repetition maximum (1-RM). However, performing 1-RM testing prior to power measurement requires considerable time, especially when testing involves multiple exercises. Maximal isometric force (MIF), which requires substantially less time to measure than 1-RM, might be an acceptable alternative for determining the optimal load for power testing. PURPOSE: To determine the optimal load based on MIF for maximizing dynamic power output during leg press and bench press exercises. METHODS: Twenty healthy volunteers (12 men and 8 women; mean +/- SD age: 31+/-6 y; body mass: 72 +/- 15 kg) performed isometric leg press and bench press movements, during which MIF was measured using force plates. Subsequently, subjects performed ballistic leg press and bench press exercises using loads corresponding to 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, and 60% of MIF presented in randomized order. Maximal instantaneous power was calculated during the ballistic exercise tests using force plates and position transducers. Repeated-measures ANOVA and Fisher LSD post hoc tests were used to determine the load(s) that elicited maximal power output. RESULTS: For the leg press power test, six subjects were unable to be tested at 20% and 30% MIF because these loads were less than the lightest possible load (i.e., the weight of the unloaded leg press sled assembly [31.4 kg]). For the bench press power test, five subjects were unable to be tested at 20% MIF because these loads were less than the weight of the unloaded aluminum bar (i.e., 11.4 kg). Therefore, these loads were excluded from analysis. A trend (p = 0.07) for a main effect of load existed for the leg press exercise, indicating that the 40% MIF load tended to elicit greater power output than the 60% MIF load (effect size = 0.38). A significant (p . 0.05) main effect of load existed for the bench press exercise; post hoc analysis indicated that the effect of

  11. Inverse gas chromatographic determination of solubility parameters of excipients.

    PubMed

    Adamska, Katarzyna; Voelkel, Adam

    2005-11-04

    The principle aim of this work was an application of inverse gas chromatography (IGC) for the estimation of solubility parameter for pharmaceutical excipients. The retention data of number of test solutes were used to calculate Flory-Huggins interaction parameter (chi1,2infinity) and than solubility parameter (delta2), corrected solubility parameter (deltaT) and its components (deltad, deltap, deltah) by using different procedures. The influence of different values of test solutes solubility parameter (delta1) over calculated values was estimated. The solubility parameter values obtained for all excipients from the slope, from Guillet and co-workers' procedure are higher than that obtained from components according Voelkel and Janas procedure. It was found that solubility parameter's value of the test solutes influences, but not significantly, values of solubility parameter of excipients.

  12. Materials cohesion and interaction forces.

    PubMed

    Rosenholm, Jarl B; Peiponen, Kai-Erik; Gornov, Evgeny

    2008-09-01

    The most important methods to determine the cohesive interactions of materials and adhesive interactions between different substances are reviewed. The term cohesion is generalized as representing the unifying interaction forces of a single material and adhesion forces between different substances due to attraction. The aim is to interlink a number of frequently used interaction parameters in order to promote the understanding of materials research executed within different scientific (Material, Colloid, Sol-Gel and Nano) communities. The modern interdisciplinary research requires a removal of the historical obstacles represented by widely differing nomenclature used for the same material properties. The interaction parameters of different models are reviewed and representative numerical values computed from tabulated thermodynamic and spectroscopic material constants. The results are compared with published values. The models are grouped to represent single and two component systems, respectively. The latter group includes models for films on substrates and work of adhesion between liquids and solids. In most cases rather rough approximations have been employed, mostly relating to van der Waals substances for which the gas state is common reference state. In order to improve the predictability of the key Hamaker constant, a novel model for interpreting the dielectric spectrum is presented. The interrelation between thermodynamic, electronic, spectroscopic and dielectric parameters is illustrated by model calculations on typical inorganic materials of current interest as model compounds. The ionic solids are represented by NaCl and KCl, while ZnO, FeO, Fe(2)O(3), Fe(3)O(4), Al(2)O(3), SiO(2), TiO(2), ZrO(2), SnO, SnO(2) represent ceramic oxides and semiconductors. The model compounds thus illustrate the effect of bond type (covalent or ionic) and valence (charge number and sign) of the constituent elements. However, since the focus is placed on a phenomenological

  13. Thermoluminescence glow curve deconvolution and trapping parameters determination of dysprosium doped magnesium borate glass

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Salama, E.; Soliman, H. A.

    2018-07-01

    In this paper, thermoluminescence glow curves of gamma irradiated magnesium borate glass doped with dysprosium were studied. The number of interfering peaks and in turn the number of electron trap levels are determined using the Repeated Initial Rise (RIR) method. At different heating rates (β), the glow curves were deconvoluted into two interfering peaks based on the results of RIR method. Kinetic parameters such as trap depth, kinetic order (b) and frequency factor (s) for each electron trap level is determined using the Peak Shape (PS) method. The obtained results indicated that, the magnesium borate glass doped with dysprosium has two electron trap levels with the average depth energies of 0.63 and 0.79 eV respectively. These two traps have second order kinetic and are formed at low temperature region. The obtained results due to the glow curve analysis could be used to explain some observed properties such as, high thermal fading and light sensitivity for such thermoluminescence material. In this work, systematic procedures to determine the kinetic parameters of any thermoluminescence material are successfully introduced.

  14. Aerosol Direct Radiative Forcing and Forcing Efficiencies at Surface from the shortwave Irradiance Measurements in Abu Dhabi, UAE

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Beegum S, N.; Ben Romdhane, H.; Ghedira, H.

    2013-12-01

    Atmospheric aerosols are known to affect the radiation balance of the Earth-Atmospheric system directly by scattering and absorbing the solar and terrestrial radiation, and indirectly by affecting the lifetime and albedo of the clouds. Continuous and simultaneous measurements of short wave global irradiance in combination with synchronous spectral aerosol optical depth (AOD) measurements (from 340 nm to 1640 nm in 8 channels), for a period of 1 year from June 2012 to May 2013, were used for the determination of the surface direct aerosol radiative forcing and forcing efficiencies under cloud free conditions in Abu Dhabi (24.42°N, 54.61o E, 7m MSL), a coastal location in United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the Arabian Peninsula. The Rotating Shadow band Pyranometer (RSP, LI-COR) was used for the irradiance measurements (in the spectral region 400-1100 nm), whereas the AOD measurements were carried out using CIMEL Sunphotometer (CE 318-2, under AERONET program). The differential method, which is neither sensitive to calibration uncertainties nor model assumptions, has been employed for estimating forcing efficiencies from the changes in the measured fluxes. The forcing efficiency, which quantifies the net change in irradiance per unit change in AOD, is an appropriate parameter for the characterization of the aerosol radiative effects even if the microphysical and optical properties of the aerosols are not completely understood. The corresponding forcing values were estimated from the forcing efficiencies. The estimated radiative forcing and forcing efficiencies exhibited strong monthly variations. The forcing efficiencies (absolute magnitudes) were highest during March, and showed continuous decrease thereafter to reach the lowest value during September. In contrast, the forcing followed a slightly different pattern of variability, with the highest solar dimming during April ( -60 W m-2) and the minimum during February ( -20 W m-2). The results indicate that the aerosol

  15. Labor Force

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Occupational Outlook Quarterly, 2010

    2010-01-01

    The labor force is the number of people aged 16 or older who are either working or looking for work. It does not include active-duty military personnel or institutionalized people, such as prison inmates. Quantifying this total supply of labor is a way of determining how big the economy can get. Labor force participation rates vary significantly…

  16. Estimation of Nutation Time Constant Model Parameters for On-Axis Spinning Spacecraft

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Schlee, Keith; Sudermann, James

    2008-01-01

    Calculating an accurate nutation time constant for a spinning spacecraft is an important step for ensuring mission success. Spacecraft nutation is caused by energy dissipation about the spin axis. Propellant slosh in the spacecraft fuel tanks is the primary source for this dissipation and can be simulated using a forced motion spin table. Mechanical analogs, such as pendulums and rotors, are typically used to simulate propellant slosh. A strong desire exists for an automated method to determine these analog parameters. The method presented accomplishes this task by using a MATLAB Simulink/SimMechanics based simulation that utilizes the Parameter Estimation Tool.

  17. Determination of polarimetric parameters of honey by near-infrared transflectance spectroscopy.

    PubMed

    García-Alvarez, M; Ceresuela, S; Huidobro, J F; Hermida, M; Rodríguez-Otero, J L

    2002-01-30

    NIR transflectance spectroscopy was used to determine polarimetric parameters (direct polarization, polarization after inversion, specific rotation in dry matter, and polarization due to nonmonosaccharides) and sucrose in honey. In total, 156 honey samples were collected during 1992 (45 samples), 1995 (56 samples), and 1996 (55 samples). Samples were analyzed by NIR spectroscopy and polarimetric methods. Calibration (118 samples) and validation (38 samples) sets were made up; honeys from the three years were included in both sets. Calibrations were performed by modified partial least-squares regression and scatter correction by standard normal variation and detrend methods. For direct polarization, polarization after inversion, specific rotation in dry matter, and polarization due to nonmonosaccharides, good statistics (bias, SEV, and R(2)) were obtained for the validation set, and no statistically (p = 0.05) significant differences were found between instrumental and polarimetric methods for these parameters. Statistical data for sucrose were not as good as those of the other parameters. Therefore, NIR spectroscopy is not an effective method for quantitative analysis of sucrose in these honey samples. However, NIR spectroscopy may be an acceptable method for semiquantitative evaluation of sucrose for honeys, such as those in our study, containing up to 3% of sucrose. Further work is necessary to validate the uncertainty at higher levels.

  18. Modelling of slaughterhouse solid waste anaerobic digestion: determination of parameters and continuous reactor simulation.

    PubMed

    López, Iván; Borzacconi, Liliana

    2010-10-01

    A model based on the work of Angelidaki et al. (1993) was applied to simulate the anaerobic biodegradation of ruminal contents. In this study, two fractions of solids with different biodegradation rates were considered. A first-order kinetic was used for the easily biodegradable fraction and a kinetic expression that is function of the extracellular enzyme concentration was used for the slowly biodegradable fraction. Batch experiments were performed to obtain an accumulated methane curve that was then used to obtain the model parameters. For this determination, a methodology derived from the "multiple-shooting" method was successfully used. Monte Carlo simulations allowed a confidence range to be obtained for each parameter. Simulations of a continuous reactor were performed using the optimal set of model parameters. The final steady-states were determined as functions of the operational conditions (solids load and residence time). The simulations showed that methane flow peaked at a flow rate of 0.5-0.8 Nm(3)/d/m(reactor)(3) at a residence time of 10-20 days. Simulations allow the adequate selection of operating conditions of a continuous reactor. (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Determination of Stark parameters by cross-calibration in a multi-element laser-induced plasma

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Hao; Truscott, Benjamin S.; Ashfold, Michael N. R.

    2016-05-01

    We illustrate a Stark broadening analysis of the electron density Ne and temperature Te in a laser-induced plasma (LIP), using a model free of assumptions regarding local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE). The method relies on Stark parameters determined also without assuming LTE, which are often unknown and unavailable in the literature. Here, we demonstrate that the necessary values can be obtained in situ by cross-calibration between the spectral lines of different charge states, and even different elements, given determinations of Ne and Te based on appropriate parameters for at least one observed transition. This approach enables essentially free choice between species on which to base the analysis, extending the range over which these properties can be measured and giving improved access to low-density plasmas out of LTE. Because of the availability of suitable tabulated values for several charge states of both Si and C, the example of a SiC LIP is taken to illustrate the consistency and accuracy of the procedure. The cross-calibrated Stark parameters are at least as reliable as values obtained by other means, offering a straightforward route to extending the literature in this area.

  20. Neuromusculoskeletal Model Calibration Significantly Affects Predicted Knee Contact Forces for Walking

    PubMed Central

    Serrancolí, Gil; Kinney, Allison L.; Fregly, Benjamin J.; Font-Llagunes, Josep M.

    2016-01-01

    Though walking impairments are prevalent in society, clinical treatments are often ineffective at restoring lost function. For this reason, researchers have begun to explore the use of patient-specific computational walking models to develop more effective treatments. However, the accuracy with which models can predict internal body forces in muscles and across joints depends on how well relevant model parameter values can be calibrated for the patient. This study investigated how knowledge of internal knee contact forces affects calibration of neuromusculoskeletal model parameter values and subsequent prediction of internal knee contact and leg muscle forces during walking. Model calibration was performed using a novel two-level optimization procedure applied to six normal walking trials from the Fourth Grand Challenge Competition to Predict In Vivo Knee Loads. The outer-level optimization adjusted time-invariant model parameter values to minimize passive muscle forces, reserve actuator moments, and model parameter value changes with (Approach A) and without (Approach B) tracking of experimental knee contact forces. Using the current guess for model parameter values but no knee contact force information, the inner-level optimization predicted time-varying muscle activations that were close to experimental muscle synergy patterns and consistent with the experimental inverse dynamic loads (both approaches). For all the six gait trials, Approach A predicted knee contact forces with high accuracy for both compartments (average correlation coefficient r = 0.99 and root mean square error (RMSE) = 52.6 N medial; average r = 0.95 and RMSE = 56.6 N lateral). In contrast, Approach B overpredicted contact force magnitude for both compartments (average RMSE = 323 N medial and 348 N lateral) and poorly matched contact force shape for the lateral compartment (average r = 0.90 medial and −0.10 lateral). Approach B had statistically higher

  1. [Determination of the solubility parameter of organosolv lignin by inverse gas chromatography].

    PubMed

    Yu, Yachen; Li, Kunlan; Ma, Yingchong; Wei, Ligang

    2013-02-01

    An inverse gas chromatographic (IGC) method has been used to measure the solubility parameters (delta2) of organosolv lignin at the absolute temperatures from 333.15 K to 373.15 K. The test probe solvents were n-octane (n-C8), n-decane (n-C10), n-dodecane (n-C12), and n-tetradecane (n-C14). The specific retention volumes of the solvents (Vg0), the molar enthalpy of sorption (deltaH1S), the partial molar enthalpy of mixing at infinite dilution (deltaH1infinity), the molar enthalpy of vaporization (deltaHv), the activity coefficients at infinite dilution (Omega1- infinity), and Flory-Huggins inter action parameters (chi12infinity) between organosolv lignin and probe solvents were obtained. The results showed that the above four probes are poor solvents for organosolv lignin; at the same temperature, the chi12infinity reduced with the increase of the carbon number of probe solvents. The average solubility parameter of organosolv lignin was determined as 19.03 (J x cm(-3))1/2.

  2. Interrupted orthodontic force results in less root resorption than continuous force in human premolars as measured by microcomputed tomography.

    PubMed

    Sawicka, Monika; Bedini, Rossella; Wierzbicki, Piotr M; Pameijer, Cornelis H

    2014-01-01

    Root resorption is an undesirable but very frequently occurring sequel of orthodontic treatment. The aim of this study was to compare root resorption caused by either continuous (CF) or interrupted (IF) orthodontic force. The study was performed on human subjects on 30 first upper and lower premolars scheduled for extraction for orthodontic reasons. During four weeks before extraction 12 teeth were subjected to either CF or IF. The force was generated by a segmental titanium-molybdenum alloy cantilever spring that was activated in buccal direction. Initially a force of 60 CentiNewton was used in both CF and IF groups, the force in the former, however, was reactivated every week for 4 weeks. There was no reactivation of force in the IF group after initial application. A morphometric analysis of root resorption was performed by microcomputed tomography and the extent of tooth movement was measured on stone casts. Furthermore, a Tartarate-Resistant Acidic Phosphatase activity (TRAP), the marker enzyme of osteoclasts and cementoclasts, was determined by histochemical method. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the difference in measured parameters between treatment and control tooth groups. The number of resorption craters was significantly higher and their average volume almost twice as large in the CF compared to the IF group (p < 0.05). However, the distance of tooth displacement was similar for both groups. Cementoclasts were detected with the TRAP technique on the surface of two teeth only; both were subjected to continuous force. The use of IF leads to less destruction of root structure as opposed to continuous force while the same tooth movement was achieved.

  3. Laser interferometry force-feedback sensor for an interfacial force microscope

    DOEpatents

    Houston, Jack E.; Smith, William L.

    2004-04-13

    A scanning force microscope is provided with a force-feedback sensor to increase sensitivity and stability in determining interfacial forces between a probe and a sample. The sensor utilizes an interferometry technique that uses a collimated light beam directed onto a deflecting member, comprising a common plate suspended above capacitor electrodes situated on a substrate forming an interference cavity with a probe on the side of the common plate opposite the side suspended above capacitor electrodes. The probe interacts with the surface of the sample and the intensity of the reflected beam is measured and used to determine the change in displacement of the probe to the sample and to control the probe distance relative to the surface of the sample.

  4. Simple and Reliable Determination of Intravoxel Incoherent Motion Parameters for the Differential Diagnosis of Head and Neck Tumors

    PubMed Central

    Sasaki, Miho; Sumi, Misa; Eida, Sato; Katayama, Ikuo; Hotokezaka, Yuka; Nakamura, Takashi

    2014-01-01

    Intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) imaging can characterize diffusion and perfusion of normal and diseased tissues, and IVIM parameters are authentically determined by using cumbersome least-squares method. We evaluated a simple technique for the determination of IVIM parameters using geometric analysis of the multiexponential signal decay curve as an alternative to the least-squares method for the diagnosis of head and neck tumors. Pure diffusion coefficients (D), microvascular volume fraction (f), perfusion-related incoherent microcirculation (D*), and perfusion parameter that is heavily weighted towards extravascular space (P) were determined geometrically (Geo D, Geo f, and Geo P) or by least-squares method (Fit D, Fit f, and Fit D*) in normal structures and 105 head and neck tumors. The IVIM parameters were compared for their levels and diagnostic abilities between the 2 techniques. The IVIM parameters were not able to determine in 14 tumors with the least-squares method alone and in 4 tumors with the geometric and least-squares methods. The geometric IVIM values were significantly different (p<0.001) from Fit values (+2±4% and −7±24% for D and f values, respectively). Geo D and Fit D differentiated between lymphomas and SCCs with similar efficacy (78% and 80% accuracy, respectively). Stepwise approaches using combinations of Geo D and Geo P, Geo D and Geo f, or Fit D and Fit D* differentiated between pleomorphic adenomas, Warthin tumors, and malignant salivary gland tumors with the same efficacy (91% accuracy = 21/23). However, a stepwise differentiation using Fit D and Fit f was less effective (83% accuracy = 19/23). Considering cumbersome procedures with the least squares method compared with the geometric method, we concluded that the geometric determination of IVIM parameters can be an alternative to least-squares method in the diagnosis of head and neck tumors. PMID:25402436

  5. Updated determination of stress parameters for nine well-recorded earthquakes in eastern North America

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Boore, David M.

    2012-01-01

    Stress parameters (Δσ) are determined for nine relatively well-recorded earthquakes in eastern North America for ten attenuation models. This is an update of a previous study by Boore et al. (2010). New to this paper are observations from the 2010 Val des Bois earthquake, additional observations for the 1988 Saguenay and 2005 Riviere du Loup earthquakes, and consideration of six attenuation models in addition to the four used in the previous study. As in that study, it is clear that Δσ depends strongly on the rate of geometrical spreading (as well as other model parameters). The observations necessary to determine conclusively which attenuation model best fits the data are still lacking. At this time, a simple 1/R model seems to give as good an overall fit to the data as more complex models.

  6. MATCH: An Atom- Typing Toolset for Molecular Mechanics Force Fields

    PubMed Central

    Yesselman, Joseph D.; Price, Daniel J.; Knight, Jennifer L.; Brooks, Charles L.

    2011-01-01

    We introduce a toolset of program libraries collectively titled MATCH (Multipurpose Atom-Typer for CHARMM) for the automated assignment of atom types and force field parameters for molecular mechanics simulation of organic molecules. The toolset includes utilities for the conversion from multiple chemical structure file formats into a molecular graph. A general chemical pattern-matching engine using this graph has been implemented whereby assignment of molecular mechanics atom types, charges and force field parameters is achieved by comparison against a customizable list of chemical fragments. While initially designed to complement the CHARMM simulation package and force fields by generating the necessary input topology and atom-type data files, MATCH can be expanded to any force field and program, and has core functionality that makes it extendable to other applications such as fragment-based property prediction. In the present work, we demonstrate the accurate construction of atomic parameters of molecules within each force field included in CHARMM36 through exhaustive cross validation studies illustrating that bond increment rules derived from one force field can be transferred to another. In addition, using leave-one-out substitution it is shown that it is also possible to substitute missing intra and intermolecular parameters with ones included in a force field to complete the parameterization of novel molecules. Finally, to demonstrate the robustness of MATCH and the coverage of chemical space offered by the recent CHARMM CGENFF force field (Vanommeslaeghe, et al., JCC., 2010, 31, 671–690), one million molecules from the PubChem database of small molecules are typed, parameterized and minimized. PMID:22042689

  7. Accurate fluid force measurement based on control surface integration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lentink, David

    2018-01-01

    Nonintrusive 3D fluid force measurements are still challenging to conduct accurately for freely moving animals, vehicles, and deforming objects. Two techniques, 3D particle image velocimetry (PIV) and a new technique, the aerodynamic force platform (AFP), address this. Both rely on the control volume integral for momentum; whereas PIV requires numerical integration of flow fields, the AFP performs the integration mechanically based on rigid walls that form the control surface. The accuracy of both PIV and AFP measurements based on the control surface integration is thought to hinge on determining the unsteady body force associated with the acceleration of the volume of displaced fluid. Here, I introduce a set of non-dimensional error ratios to show which fluid and body parameters make the error negligible. The unsteady body force is insignificant in all conditions where the average density of the body is much greater than the density of the fluid, e.g., in gas. Whenever a strongly deforming body experiences significant buoyancy and acceleration, the error is significant. Remarkably, this error can be entirely corrected for with an exact factor provided that the body has a sufficiently homogenous density or acceleration distribution, which is common in liquids. The correction factor for omitting the unsteady body force, {{{ {ρ f}} {1 - {ρ f} ( {{ρ b}+{ρ f}} )}.{( {{{{ρ }}b}+{ρ f}} )}}} , depends only on the fluid, {ρ f}, and body, {{ρ }}b, density. Whereas these straightforward solutions work even at the liquid-gas interface in a significant number of cases, they do not work for generalized bodies undergoing buoyancy in combination with appreciable body density inhomogeneity, volume change (PIV), or volume rate-of-change (PIV and AFP). In these less common cases, the 3D body shape needs to be measured and resolved in time and space to estimate the unsteady body force. The analysis shows that accounting for the unsteady body force is straightforward to non

  8. Automatic Sleep Stage Determination by Multi-Valued Decision Making Based on Conditional Probability with Optimal Parameters

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Bei; Sugi, Takenao; Wang, Xingyu; Nakamura, Masatoshi

    Data for human sleep study may be affected by internal and external influences. The recorded sleep data contains complex and stochastic factors, which increase the difficulties for the computerized sleep stage determination techniques to be applied for clinical practice. The aim of this study is to develop an automatic sleep stage determination system which is optimized for variable sleep data. The main methodology includes two modules: expert knowledge database construction and automatic sleep stage determination. Visual inspection by a qualified clinician is utilized to obtain the probability density function of parameters during the learning process of expert knowledge database construction. Parameter selection is introduced in order to make the algorithm flexible. Automatic sleep stage determination is manipulated based on conditional probability. The result showed close agreement comparing with the visual inspection by clinician. The developed system can meet the customized requirements in hospitals and institutions.

  9. Calibration of discrete element model parameters: soybeans

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ghodki, Bhupendra M.; Patel, Manish; Namdeo, Rohit; Carpenter, Gopal

    2018-05-01

    Discrete element method (DEM) simulations are broadly used to get an insight of flow characteristics of granular materials in complex particulate systems. DEM input parameters for a model are the critical prerequisite for an efficient simulation. Thus, the present investigation aims to determine DEM input parameters for Hertz-Mindlin model using soybeans as a granular material. To achieve this aim, widely acceptable calibration approach was used having standard box-type apparatus. Further, qualitative and quantitative findings such as particle profile, height of kernels retaining the acrylic wall, and angle of repose of experiments and numerical simulations were compared to get the parameters. The calibrated set of DEM input parameters includes the following (a) material properties: particle geometric mean diameter (6.24 mm); spherical shape; particle density (1220 kg m^{-3} ), and (b) interaction parameters such as particle-particle: coefficient of restitution (0.17); coefficient of static friction (0.26); coefficient of rolling friction (0.08), and particle-wall: coefficient of restitution (0.35); coefficient of static friction (0.30); coefficient of rolling friction (0.08). The results may adequately be used to simulate particle scale mechanics (grain commingling, flow/motion, forces, etc) of soybeans in post-harvest machinery and devices.

  10. An Aggregated Method for Determining Railway Defects and Obstacle Parameters

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Loktev, Daniil; Loktev, Alexey; Stepanov, Roman; Pevzner, Viktor; Alenov, Kanat

    2018-03-01

    The method of combining algorithms of image blur analysis and stereo vision to determine the distance to objects (including external defects of railway tracks) and the speed of moving objects-obstacles is proposed. To estimate the deviation of the distance depending on the blur a statistical approach, logarithmic, exponential and linear standard functions are used. The statistical approach includes a method of estimating least squares and the method of least modules. The accuracy of determining the distance to the object, its speed and direction of movement is obtained. The paper develops a method of determining distances to objects by analyzing a series of images and assessment of depth using defocusing using its aggregation with stereoscopic vision. This method is based on a physical effect of dependence on the determined distance to the object on the obtained image from the focal length or aperture of the lens. In the calculation of the blur spot diameter it is assumed that blur occurs at the point equally in all directions. According to the proposed approach, it is possible to determine the distance to the studied object and its blur by analyzing a series of images obtained using the video detector with different settings. The article proposes and scientifically substantiates new and improved existing methods for detecting the parameters of static and moving objects of control, and also compares the results of the use of various methods and the results of experiments. It is shown that the aggregate method gives the best approximation to the real distances.

  11. Structure formation by a fifth force: N-body versus linear simulations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Baojiu; Zhao, Hongsheng

    2009-08-01

    We lay out the frameworks to numerically study the structure formation in both linear and nonlinear regimes in general dark-matter-coupled scalar field models, and give an explicit example where the scalar field serves as a dynamical dark energy. Adopting parameters of the scalar field which yield a realistic cosmic microwave background (CMB) spectrum, we generate the initial conditions for our N-body simulations, which follow the spatial distributions of the dark matter and the scalar field by solving their equations of motion using the multilevel adaptive grid technique. We show that the spatial configuration of the scalar field tracks well the voids and clusters of dark matter. Indeed, the propagation of scalar degree of freedom effectively acts as a fifth force on dark matter particles, whose range and magnitude are determined by the two model parameters (μ,γ), local dark matter density as well as the background value for the scalar field. The model behaves like the ΛCDM paradigm on scales relevant to the CMB spectrum, which are well beyond the probe of the local fifth force and thus not significantly affected by the matter-scalar coupling. On scales comparable or shorter than the range of the local fifth force, the fifth force is perfectly parallel to gravity and their strengths have a fixed ratio 2γ2 determined by the matter-scalar coupling, provided that the chameleon effect is weak; if on the other hand there is a strong chameleon effect (i.e., the scalar field almost resides at its effective potential minimum everywhere in the space), the fifth force indeed has suppressed effects in high density regions and shows no obvious correlation with gravity, which means that the dark-matter-scalar-field coupling is not simply equivalent to a rescaling of the gravitational constant or the mass of the dark matter particles. We show these spatial distributions and (lack of) correlations at typical redshifts (z=0,1,5.5) in our multigrid million-particle simulations

  12. Determination of rheological parameters of liquid crystals with zero anisotropy of diamagnetic susceptibility

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Korotey, E. V.; Sinyavskii, N. Ya.

    2007-07-01

    A new method for determination of rheological parameters of liquid crystals with zero anisotropy of diamagnetic susceptibility is proposed, which is based on the measurement of the quadrupole splitting line of the NMR 2H spectrum. The method provides higher information content of the experiments, with the shear flow discarded from consideration, compared to that obtained by the classical Leslie-Ericksen theory. A comparison with the experiment is performed, the coefficients of anisotropic viscosity of lecithin/D2O/cyclohexane are determined, and a conclusion is drawn as concerns the domain shapes.

  13. Determination of structure parameters in strong-field tunneling ionization theory of molecules

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Zhao Songfeng; Jin Cheng; College of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730070

    2010-03-15

    In the strong field molecular tunneling ionization theory of Tong et al. [Phys. Rev. A 66, 033402 (2002)], the ionization rate depends on the asymptotic wave function of the molecular orbital from which the electron is removed. The orbital wave functions obtained from standard quantum chemistry packages in general are not good enough in the asymptotic region. Here we construct a one-electron model potential for several linear molecules using density functional theory. We show that the asymptotic wave function can be improved with an iteration method and after one iteration accurate asymptotic wave functions and structure parameters are determined. Withmore » the new parameters we examine the alignment-dependent tunneling ionization probabilities for several molecules and compare with other calculations and with recent measurements, including ionization from inner molecular orbitals.« less

  14. Information driving force and its application in agent-based modeling

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Ting-Ting; Zheng, Bo; Li, Yan; Jiang, Xiong-Fei

    2018-04-01

    Exploring the scientific impact of online big-data has attracted much attention of researchers from different fields in recent years. Complex financial systems are typical open systems profoundly influenced by the external information. Based on the large-scale data in the public media and stock markets, we first define an information driving force, and analyze how it affects the complex financial system. The information driving force is observed to be asymmetric in the bull and bear market states. As an application, we then propose an agent-based model driven by the information driving force. Especially, all the key parameters are determined from the empirical analysis rather than from statistical fitting of the simulation results. With our model, both the stationary properties and non-stationary dynamic behaviors are simulated. Considering the mean-field effect of the external information, we also propose a few-body model to simulate the financial market in the laboratory.

  15. Determination of the Michel parameters and the {tau} neutrino helicity in {tau} decay

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    CLEO Collaboration

    1997-11-01

    Using the CLEO II detector at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring operated at {radical} (s) =10.6GeV, we have determined the Michel parameters {rho}, {xi}, and {delta} in {tau}{sup {minus_plus}}{r_arrow}l{sup {minus_plus}}{nu}{bar {nu}} decay as well as the {tau} neutrino helicity parameter h{sub {nu}{sub {tau}}} in {tau}{sup {minus_plus}}{r_arrow}{pi}{sup {minus_plus}}{pi}{sup 0}{nu} decay. From a data sample of 3.02{times}10{sup 6} produced {tau} pairs we analyzed events of the topologies e{sup +}e{sup {minus}}{r_arrow}{tau}{sup +}{tau}{sup {minus}}{r_arrow}(l{sup {plus_minus}}{nu}{bar {nu}})({pi}{sup {minus_plus}}{pi}{sup 0}{nu}) and e{sup +}e{sup {minus}}{r_arrow}{tau}{sup +}{tau}{sup {minus}}{r_arrow}({pi}{sup {plus_minus}}{pi}{sup 0}{bar {nu}})({pi}{sup {minus_plus}}{pi}{sup 0}{nu}). We obtain {rho}=0.747{rho}=0.747{plus_minus}0.010{plus_minus}0.006, {xi}=1.007{plus_minus}0.040{plus_minus}0.015, {xi}{delta}=0.745{plus_minus}0.026{plus_minus}0.009, and h{sub {nu}{sub {tau}}}={minus}0.995{plus_minus}0.010{plus_minus}0.003, where we have used the previouslymore » determined sign of h{sub {nu}{sub {tau}}} [ARGUS Collaboration, H. Albrecht {ital et al.}, Z. Phys. C {bold 58}, 61 (1993); Phys. Lett. B {bold 349}, 576 (1995)]. We also present the Michel parameters as determined from the electron and muon samples separately. All results are in agreement with the standard model V{minus}A interaction. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}« less

  16. Auditory Force Feedback Substitution Improves Surgical Precision during Simulated Ophthalmic Surgery

    PubMed Central

    Cutler, Nathan; Balicki, Marcin; Finkelstein, Mark; Wang, Jiangxia; Gehlbach, Peter; McGready, John; Iordachita, Iulian; Taylor, Russell; Handa, James T.

    2013-01-01

    Purpose. To determine the extent that auditory force feedback (AFF) substitution improves performance during a simulated ophthalmic peeling procedure. Methods. A 25-gauge force-sensing microforceps was linked to two AFF modes. The “alarm” AFF mode sounded when the force reached 9 mN. The “warning” AFF mode made beeps with a frequency proportional to the generated force. Participants with different surgical experience levels were asked to peel a series of bandage strips off a platform as quickly as possible without exceeding 9 mN of force. In study arm A, participants peeled with alarm and warning AFF modes, the order randomized within the experience level. In study arm B, participants first peeled without AFF, then alarm or warning AFF (order randomized within the experience level), and finally without AFF. Results. Of the 28 “surgeon” participants, AFF improved membrane peeling performance, reducing average force generated (P < 0.01), SD of forces (P < 0.05), and force × time above 9 mN (P < 0.01). Short training periods with AFF improved subsequent peeling performance when AFF was turned off, with reductions in average force, SD of force, maximum force, time spent above 9 mN, and force × time above 9 mN (all P < 0.001). Except for maximum force, peeling with AFF reduced all force parameters (P < 0.05) more than peeling without AFF after completing a training session. Conclusions. AFF enables the surgeon to reduce the forces generated with improved precision during phantom membrane peeling, regardless of surgical experience. New force-sensing surgical tools combined with AFF offer the potential to enhance surgical training and improve surgical performance. PMID:23329663

  17. [Determination of solubility parameters for asymmetrical dicationic ionic liquids by inverse gas chromatography].

    PubMed

    Wang, Jun; Yang, Xuzhao; Wu, Jinchao; Song, Hao; Zou, Wenyuan

    2015-12-01

    Inverse gas chromatographic (IGC) technology was used to determine the solubility parameters of three asymmetrical dicationic ionic liquids ([ PyC5Pi] [ NTf2]2, [MpC5Pi] [NTf2]2 and [PyC6Pi] [NTf2]2) at 343.15-363.15 K. Five alkanes were applied as test probes including octane (n-C8) , decane (n-C10), dodecane (n-C12), tetradecane (n-C14), hexadecane (n-C16). Some thermodynamic parameters were obtained by IGC data analysis, such as the specific retention volumes of the solvents (V0(g)), the molar enthalpies of sorption (ΔHs(1)), the partial molar enthalpies of mixing at infinite dilution (ΔH∞91)), the molar enthalpies of vaporization (ΔH)v)), the activity coefficients at infinite dilution (Ω∞(1)), and Flory-Huggins interaction parameters (χ∞(12)) between ionic liquids and probes. The solubility parameters (δ2) of the three dicationic ionic liquids at room temperature (298.15 K) were 28.52-32.66 (J x cm(-3)) ½. The solubility parameters (δ2) of cationic structure with 4-methyl morpholine are bigger than those of the cationic structure with pyridine. The bigger the solubility parameter (δ2) is, the more the carbon numbers of linking group of the ionic liquids are. The results are of great importance to the study of the solution behavior and the applications of ionic liquid.

  18. A novel and practical approach for determination of the acoustic nonlinearity parameter using a pulse-echo method

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jeong, Hyunjo; Zhang, Shuzeng; Barnard, Dan; Li, Xiongbing

    2016-02-01

    Measurements of the acoustic nonlinearity parameter β are frequently made for early detection of damage in various materials. The practical implementation of the measurement technique has been limited to the through-transmission setup for determining the nonlinearity parameter of the second harmonic wave. In this work, a feasibility study is performed to assess the possibility of using pulse-echo methods in determining the nonlinearity parameter β of solids with a stress-free boundary. The multi-Gaussian beam model is developed based on the quasilinear theory of the KZK equation. Simulation results and discussion are presented for the reflected beam fields of the fundamental and second harmonic waves, the uncorrected β behavior and the properties of total correction that incorporate reflection, attenuation and diffraction effects.

  19. Muscle Synergies May Improve Optimization Prediction of Knee Contact Forces During Walking

    PubMed Central

    Walter, Jonathan P.; Kinney, Allison L.; Banks, Scott A.; D'Lima, Darryl D.; Besier, Thor F.; Lloyd, David G.; Fregly, Benjamin J.

    2014-01-01

    The ability to predict patient-specific joint contact and muscle forces accurately could improve the treatment of walking-related disorders. Muscle synergy analysis, which decomposes a large number of muscle electromyographic (EMG) signals into a small number of synergy control signals, could reduce the dimensionality and thus redundancy of the muscle and contact force prediction process. This study investigated whether use of subject-specific synergy controls can improve optimization prediction of knee contact forces during walking. To generate the predictions, we performed mixed dynamic muscle force optimizations (i.e., inverse skeletal dynamics with forward muscle activation and contraction dynamics) using data collected from a subject implanted with a force-measuring knee replacement. Twelve optimization problems (three cases with four subcases each) that minimized the sum of squares of muscle excitations were formulated to investigate how synergy controls affect knee contact force predictions. The three cases were: (1) Calibrate+Match where muscle model parameter values were calibrated and experimental knee contact forces were simultaneously matched, (2) Precalibrate+Predict where experimental knee contact forces were predicted using precalibrated muscle model parameters values from the first case, and (3) Calibrate+Predict where muscle model parameter values were calibrated and experimental knee contact forces were simultaneously predicted, all while matching inverse dynamic loads at the hip, knee, and ankle. The four subcases used either 44 independent controls or five synergy controls with and without EMG shape tracking. For the Calibrate+Match case, all four subcases closely reproduced the measured medial and lateral knee contact forces (R2 ≥ 0.94, root-mean-square (RMS) error < 66 N), indicating sufficient model fidelity for contact force prediction. For the Precalibrate+Predict and Calibrate+Predict cases, synergy controls yielded better contact force

  20. Muscle synergies may improve optimization prediction of knee contact forces during walking.

    PubMed

    Walter, Jonathan P; Kinney, Allison L; Banks, Scott A; D'Lima, Darryl D; Besier, Thor F; Lloyd, David G; Fregly, Benjamin J

    2014-02-01

    The ability to predict patient-specific joint contact and muscle forces accurately could improve the treatment of walking-related disorders. Muscle synergy analysis, which decomposes a large number of muscle electromyographic (EMG) signals into a small number of synergy control signals, could reduce the dimensionality and thus redundancy of the muscle and contact force prediction process. This study investigated whether use of subject-specific synergy controls can improve optimization prediction of knee contact forces during walking. To generate the predictions, we performed mixed dynamic muscle force optimizations (i.e., inverse skeletal dynamics with forward muscle activation and contraction dynamics) using data collected from a subject implanted with a force-measuring knee replacement. Twelve optimization problems (three cases with four subcases each) that minimized the sum of squares of muscle excitations were formulated to investigate how synergy controls affect knee contact force predictions. The three cases were: (1) Calibrate+Match where muscle model parameter values were calibrated and experimental knee contact forces were simultaneously matched, (2) Precalibrate+Predict where experimental knee contact forces were predicted using precalibrated muscle model parameters values from the first case, and (3) Calibrate+Predict where muscle model parameter values were calibrated and experimental knee contact forces were simultaneously predicted, all while matching inverse dynamic loads at the hip, knee, and ankle. The four subcases used either 44 independent controls or five synergy controls with and without EMG shape tracking. For the Calibrate+Match case, all four subcases closely reproduced the measured medial and lateral knee contact forces (R2 ≥ 0.94, root-mean-square (RMS) error < 66 N), indicating sufficient model fidelity for contact force prediction. For the Precalibrate+Predict and Calibrate+Predict cases, synergy controls yielded better contact

  1. Processing parameter optimization for the laser dressing of bronze-bonded diamond wheels

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Deng, H.; Chen, G. Y.; Zhou, C.; Li, S. C.; Zhang, M. J.

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, a pulsed fiber-laser dressing method for bronze-bonded diamond wheels was studied systematically and comprehensively. The mechanisms for the laser dressing of bronze-bonded diamond wheels were theoretically analyzed, and the key processing parameters that determine the results of laser dressing, including the laser power density, pulse overlap ratio, ablation track line overlap ratio, and number of scanning cycles, were proposed for the first time. Further, the effects of these four key parameters on the oxidation-damaged layer of the material surface, the material removal efficiency, the material surface roughness, and the average protrusion height of the diamond grains were explored and summarized through pulsed laser ablation experiments. Under the current experimental conditions, the ideal values of the laser power density, pulse overlap ratio, ablation track line overlap ratio, and number of scanning cycles were determined to be 4.2 × 107 W/cm2, 30%, 30%, and 16, respectively. Pulsed laser dressing experiments were conducted on bronze-bonded diamond wheels using the optimized processing parameters; next, both the normal and tangential grinding forces produced by the dressed grinding wheel were measured while grinding alumina ceramic materials. The results revealed that the normal and tangential grinding forces produced by the laser-dressed grinding wheel during grinding were smaller than those of grinding wheels dressed using the conventional mechanical method, indicating that the pulsed laser dressing technology provides irreplaceable advantages relative to the conventional mechanical dressing method.

  2. Force sensing using 3D displacement measurements in linear elastic bodies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Feng, Xinzeng; Hui, Chung-Yuen

    2016-07-01

    In cell traction microscopy, the mechanical forces exerted by a cell on its environment is usually determined from experimentally measured displacement by solving an inverse problem in elasticity. In this paper, an innovative numerical method is proposed which finds the "optimal" traction to the inverse problem. When sufficient regularization is applied, we demonstrate that the proposed method significantly improves the widely used approach using Green's functions. Motivated by real cell experiments, the equilibrium condition of a slowly migrating cell is imposed as a set of equality constraints on the unknown traction. Our validation benchmarks demonstrate that the numeric solution to the constrained inverse problem well recovers the actual traction when the optimal regularization parameter is used. The proposed method can thus be applied to study general force sensing problems, which utilize displacement measurements to sense inaccessible forces in linear elastic bodies with a priori constraints.

  3. Tailor-made force fields for crystal-structure prediction.

    PubMed

    Neumann, Marcus A

    2008-08-14

    A general procedure is presented to derive a complete set of force-field parameters for flexible molecules in the crystalline state on a case-by-case basis. The force-field parameters are fitted to the electrostatic potential as well as to accurate energies and forces generated by means of a hybrid method that combines solid-state density functional theory (DFT) calculations with an empirical van der Waals correction. All DFT calculations are carried out with the VASP program. The mathematical structure of the force field, the generation of reference data, the choice of the figure of merit, the optimization algorithm, and the parameter-refinement strategy are discussed in detail. The approach is applied to cyclohexane-1,4-dione, a small flexible ring. The tailor-made force field obtained for cyclohexane-1,4-dione is used to search for low-energy crystal packings in all 230 space groups with one molecule per asymmetric unit, and the most stable crystal structures are reoptimized in a second step with the hybrid method. The experimental crystal structure is found as the most stable predicted crystal structure both with the tailor-made force field and the hybrid method. The same methodology has also been applied successfully to the four compounds of the fourth CCDC blind test on crystal-structure prediction. For the five aforementioned compounds, the root-mean-square deviations between lattice energies calculated with the tailor-made force fields and the hybrid method range from 0.024 to 0.053 kcal/mol per atom around an average value of 0.034 kcal/mol per atom.

  4. Sick leave and its determinants in professional soldiers of the Slovenian Armed Forces.

    PubMed

    Selič, Polona; Petek, Davorina; Serec, Maša; Rus Makovec, Maja

    2010-12-01

    To assess whether demographic characteristics, self-rated health status, coping behaviors, satisfaction with important interpersonal relationships, financial situation, and current overall quality of life are determinants of sick leave duration in professional soldiers of the Slovenian Armed Forces. In 2008, 448 military personnel on active duty in the Slovenian Armed Forces were invited to participate in the study and 390 returned the completed questionnaires (response rate 87%). The questionnaires used were the self-rated health scale, sick leave scale, life satisfaction scale, Folkman-Lazarus' Ways of Coping Questionnaire, and a demographic data questionnaire. To partition the variance across a wide variety of indicators of participants' experiences, ordinal modeling procedures were used. A multivariate ordinal regression model, explaining 24% of sick leave variance, showed that the following variables significantly predicted longer sick leave duration: female sex (estimate, 1.185; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.579-1.791), poorer self-rated health (estimate, 3.243; 95% CI, 1.755-4.731), lower satisfaction with relationships with coworkers (estimate, 1.333; 95% CI, 0.399-2.267), and lower education (estimate, 1.577; 95% CI, 0.717-2.436). The impact of age and coping mechanisms was not significant. Longer sick leave duration was found in women and respondents less satisfied with their relationships with coworkers, and these are the groups to which special attention should be awarded when planning supervision, work procedures, and gender equality policy of the Armed Forces. A good way of increasing the quality of interpersonal relationships at work would be to teach such skills in teaching programs for commanding officers.

  5. Investigation of the influence of geometric parameters of carbon nanotube arrays on their adhesion properties

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Il’ina, M. V.; Konshin, A. A.; Il’in, O. I.; Rudyk, N. N.; Fedotov, A. A.; Ageev, O. A.

    2018-03-01

    The results of experimental studies of adhesion of carbon nanotube (CNT) arrays with different geometric parameters and orientations using atomic-force microscopy are presented. The adhesion values of CNT arrays were determined, which were from 82 to 1315 nN depending on the parameters of the array. As a result, it was established that the adhesion of a CNT array increases with an increase in branching and disorientation of the array, as well as with the growth of the aspect ratio of CNTs in the array.

  6. Optimized molecular dynamics force fields applied to the helix-coil transition of polypeptides.

    PubMed

    Best, Robert B; Hummer, Gerhard

    2009-07-02

    Obtaining the correct balance of secondary structure propensities is a central priority in protein force-field development. Given that current force fields differ significantly in their alpha-helical propensities, a correction to match experimental results would be highly desirable. We have determined simple backbone energy corrections for two force fields to reproduce the fraction of helix measured in short peptides at 300 K. As validation, we show that the optimized force fields produce results in excellent agreement with nuclear magnetic resonance experiments for folded proteins and short peptides not used in the optimization. However, despite the agreement at ambient conditions, the dependence of the helix content on temperature is too weak, a problem shared with other force fields. A fit of the Lifson-Roig helix-coil theory shows that both the enthalpy and entropy of helix formation are too small: the helix extension parameter w agrees well with experiment, but its entropic and enthalpic components are both only about half the respective experimental estimates. Our structural and thermodynamic analyses point toward the physical origins of these shortcomings in current force fields, and suggest ways to address them in future force-field development.

  7. Relationships between ground reaction force parameters during a sit-to-stand movement and physical activity and falling risk of the elderly and a comparison of the movement characteristics between the young and the elderly.

    PubMed

    Yamada, Takayoshi; Demura, Shin-ichi

    2009-01-01

    This study aimed to examine the relationships between ground reaction force during a sit-to-stand (STS) movement and physical activity and falling risk of the elderly and the difference of the movement characteristics between the young and the elderly. Sixty elderly females who can achieve a STS movement by themselves and 30 healthy young females were measured for ground reaction force during STS movement from a chair, adjusted for lower leg length height. The elderly's physical activity and falling risk were also assessed. Physical activity and falling risk significantly correlated with parameters on force exertion during hip lift-off and knee-hip joint extension phases (|r|=0.26-0.41). Significant differences were found in ground reaction force parameters of all phases between the young and the elderly and STS movement of the elderly was suggested to result in poor force exertion and slowing down. The above tendency was noticeable in the hip lift-off and knee-hip joint extension phases. In conclusion, force exertion in hip lift-off and knee-hip joint extension phases of STS movement is related to physical activity and falling risk in the elderly. These phases may be useful to evaluate the elderly's physical activity and falling risk.

  8. Attitude determination of a high altitude balloon system. Part 2: Development of the parameter determination process

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Nigro, N. J.; Elkouh, A. F.

    1975-01-01

    The attitude of the balloon system is determined as a function of time if: (a) a method for simulating the motion of the system is available, and (b) the initial state is known. The initial state is obtained by fitting the system motion (as measured by sensors) to the corresponding output predicted by the mathematical model. In the case of the LACATE experiment the sensors consisted of three orthogonally oriented rate gyros and a magnetometer all mounted on the research platform. The initial state was obtained by fitting the angular velocity components measured with the gyros to the corresponding values obtained from the solution of the math model. A block diagram illustrating the attitude determination process employed for the LACATE experiment is shown. The process consists of three essential parts; a process for simulating the balloon system, an instrumentation system for measuring the output, and a parameter estimation process for systematically and efficiently solving the initial state. Results are presented and discussed.

  9. Development of quantitative radioactive methodologies on paper to determine important lateral-flow immunoassay parameters.

    PubMed

    Mosley, Garrett L; Nguyen, Phuong; Wu, Benjamin M; Kamei, Daniel T

    2016-08-07

    The lateral-flow immunoassay (LFA) is a well-established diagnostic technology that has recently seen significant advancements due in part to the rapidly expanding fields of paper diagnostics and paper-fluidics. As LFA-based diagnostics become more complex, it becomes increasingly important to quantitatively determine important parameters during the design and evaluation process. However, current experimental methods for determining these parameters have certain limitations when applied to LFA systems. In this work, we describe our novel methods of combining paper and radioactive measurements to determine nanoprobe molarity, the number of antibodies per nanoprobe, and the forward and reverse rate constants for nanoprobe binding to immobilized target on the LFA test line. Using a model LFA system that detects for the presence of the protein transferrin (Tf), we demonstrate the application of our methods, which involve quantitative experimentation and mathematical modeling. We also compare the results of our rate constant experiments with traditional experiments to demonstrate how our methods more appropriately capture the influence of the LFA environment on the binding interaction. Our novel experimental approaches can therefore more efficiently guide the research process for LFA design, leading to more rapid advancement of the field of paper-based diagnostics.

  10. Effects of non-Gaussian Brownian motion on direct force optical tweezers measurements of the electrostatic forces between pairs of colloidal particles.

    PubMed

    Raudsepp, Allan; A K Williams, Martin; B Hall, Simon

    2016-07-01

    Measurements of the electrostatic force with separation between a fixed and an optically trapped colloidal particle are examined with experiment, simulation and analytical calculation. Non-Gaussian Brownian motion is observed in the position of the optically trapped particle when particles are close and traps weak. As a consequence of this motion, a simple least squares parameterization of direct force measurements, in which force is inferred from the displacement of an optically trapped particle as separation is gradually decreased, contains forces generated by the rectification of thermal fluctuations in addition to those originating directly from the electrostatic interaction between the particles. Thus, when particles are close and traps weak, simply fitting the measured direct force measurement to DLVO theory extracts parameters with modified meanings when compared to the original formulation. In such cases, however, physically meaningful DLVO parameters can be recovered by comparing the measured non-Gaussian statistics to those predicted by solutions to Smoluchowski's equation for diffusion in a potential.

  11. [Forced spirometry procedure].

    PubMed

    Cortés Aguilera, Antonio Javier

    2008-11-01

    Forced spirometry consists in a complementary test which is carried out in a health office in a workplace in order to determine the lung capacity of workers exposed to determined professional risks or those susceptible to determined working conditions which could lead to the development of respiratory problems. This test has been developed based on health vigilance laws under Article 22 of the Law for Prevention of Risks in the Workplace and requires that the technician, a nurse in a workplace, who performs it have some knowledge and skills regarding its use, following the norms for forced spirometry set by the Spanish Association for Pneumatology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR).

  12. The Pharmaceutical Capping Process-Correlation between Residual Seal Force, Torque Moment, and Flip-off Removal Force.

    PubMed

    Mathaes, Roman; Mahler, Hanns-Christian; Vorgrimler, Lothar; Steinberg, Henrik; Dreher, Sascha; Roggo, Yves; Nieto, Alejandra; Brown, Helen; Roehl, Holger; Adler, Michael; Luemkemann, Joerg; Huwyler, Joerg; Lam, Philippe; Stauch, Oliver; Mohl, Silke; Streubel, Alexander

    2016-01-01

    The majority of parenteral drug products are manufactured in glass vials with an elastomeric rubber stopper and a crimp cap. The vial sealing process is a critical process step during fill-and-finish operations, as it defines the seal quality of the final product. Different critical capping process parameters can affect rubber stopper defects, rubber stopper compression, container closure integrity, and also crimp cap quality. A sufficiently high force to remove the flip-off button prior to usage is required to ensure quality of the drug product unit by the flip-off button during storage, transportation, and until opening and use. Therefore, the final product is 100% visually inspected for lose or defective crimp caps, which is subjective as well as time- and labor-intensive. In this study, we sealed several container closure system configurations with different capping equipment settings (with corresponding residual seal force values) to investigate the torque moment required to turn the crimp cap. A correlation between torque moment and residual seal force has been established. The torque moment was found to be influenced by several parameters, including diameter of the vial head, type of rubber stopper (serum or lyophilized) and type of crimp cap (West(®) or Datwyler(®)). In addition, we measured the force required to remove the flip-off button of a sealed container closure system. The capping process had no influence on measured forces; however, it was possible to detect partially crimped vials. In conclusion, a controlled capping process with a defined target residual seal force range leads to a tight crimp cap on a sealed container closure system and can ensure product quality. The majority of parenteral drug products are manufactured in a glass vials with an elastomeric rubber stopper and a crimp cap. The vial sealing process is a critical process step during fill-and-finish operations, as it defines the seal quality of the final product. An adequate force

  13. Magnetoelectric force microscopy based on magnetic force microscopy with modulated electric field.

    PubMed

    Geng, Yanan; Wu, Weida

    2014-05-01

    We present the realization of a mesoscopic imaging technique, namely, the Magnetoelectric Force Microscopy (MeFM), for visualization of local magnetoelectric effect. The basic principle of MeFM is the lock-in detection of local magnetoelectric response, i.e., the electric field-induced magnetization, using magnetic force microscopy. We demonstrate MeFM capability by visualizing magnetoelectric domains on single crystals of multiferroic hexagonal manganites. Results of several control experiments exclude artifacts or extrinsic origins of the MeFM signal. The parameters are tuned to optimize the signal to noise ratio.

  14. Determination of the Elastic Moduli of a Single Cell Cultured on a Rigid Support by Force Microscopy.

    PubMed

    Garcia, Pablo D; Garcia, Ricardo

    2018-06-19

    The elastic response of a living cell is affected by its physiological state. This property provides mechanical fingerprints of a cell's dysfunctionality. The softness (kilopascal range) and thickness (2-15 μm) of mammalian cells imply that the force exerted by the probe might be affected by the stiffness of the solid support. This observation makes infinite sample thickness models unsuitable to describe quantitatively the forces and deformations on a cell. Here, we report a general theory to determine the true Young's moduli of a single cell from a force-indentation curve. Analytical expressions are deduced for common geometries such as flat punches, paraboloids, cones, needles, and nanowires. For a given cell and indentation, the influence of the solid support on the measurements is reduced by using sharp and high aspect ratio tips. The theory is validated by finite element simulations. Copyright © 2018 Biophysical Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Non-specific binding of Na+ and Mg2+ to RNA determined by force spectroscopy methods

    PubMed Central

    Bizarro, C. V.; Alemany, A.; Ritort, F.

    2012-01-01

    RNA duplex stability depends strongly on ionic conditions, and inside cells RNAs are exposed to both monovalent and multivalent ions. Despite recent advances, we do not have general methods to quantitatively account for the effects of monovalent and multivalent ions on RNA stability, and the thermodynamic parameters for secondary structure prediction have only been derived at 1M [Na+]. Here, by mechanically unfolding and folding a 20 bp RNA hairpin using optical tweezers, we study the RNA thermodynamics and kinetics at different monovalent and mixed monovalent/Mg2+ salt conditions. We measure the unfolding and folding rupture forces and apply Kramers theory to extract accurate information about the hairpin free energy landscape under tension at a wide range of ionic conditions. We obtain non-specific corrections for the free energy of formation of the RNA hairpin and measure how the distance of the transition state to the folded state changes with force and ionic strength. We experimentally validate the Tightly Bound Ion model and obtain values for the persistence length of ssRNA. Finally, we test the approximate rule by which the non-specific binding affinity of divalent cations at a given concentration is equivalent to that of monovalent cations taken at 100-fold concentration for small molecular constructs. PMID:22492710

  16. First evidence of non-locality in real band-gap metamaterials: determining parameters in the relaxed micromorphic model

    PubMed Central

    Barbagallo, Gabriele; d’Agostino, Marco Valerio; Placidi, Luca; Neff, Patrizio

    2016-01-01

    In this paper, we propose the first estimate of some elastic parameters of the relaxed micromorphic model on the basis of real experiments of transmission of longitudinal plane waves across an interface separating a classical Cauchy material (steel plate) and a phononic crystal (steel plate with fluid-filled holes). A procedure is set up in order to identify the parameters of the relaxed micromorphic model by superimposing the experimentally based profile of the reflection coefficient (plotted as function of the wave-frequency) with the analogous profile obtained via numerical simulations. We determine five out of six constitutive parameters which are featured by the relaxed micromorphic model in the isotropic case, plus the determination of the micro-inertia parameter. The sixth elastic parameter, namely the Cosserat couple modulus μc, still remains undetermined, since experiments on transverse incident waves are not yet available. A fundamental result of this paper is the estimate of the non-locality intrinsically associated with the underlying microstructure of the metamaterial. We show that the characteristic length Lc measuring the non-locality of the phononic crystal is of the order of 13 of the diameter of its fluid-filled holes. PMID:27436984

  17. First evidence of non-locality in real band-gap metamaterials: determining parameters in the relaxed micromorphic model.

    PubMed

    Madeo, Angela; Barbagallo, Gabriele; d'Agostino, Marco Valerio; Placidi, Luca; Neff, Patrizio

    2016-06-01

    In this paper, we propose the first estimate of some elastic parameters of the relaxed micromorphic model on the basis of real experiments of transmission of longitudinal plane waves across an interface separating a classical Cauchy material (steel plate) and a phononic crystal (steel plate with fluid-filled holes). A procedure is set up in order to identify the parameters of the relaxed micromorphic model by superimposing the experimentally based profile of the reflection coefficient (plotted as function of the wave-frequency) with the analogous profile obtained via numerical simulations. We determine five out of six constitutive parameters which are featured by the relaxed micromorphic model in the isotropic case, plus the determination of the micro-inertia parameter. The sixth elastic parameter, namely the Cosserat couple modulus μ c , still remains undetermined, since experiments on transverse incident waves are not yet available. A fundamental result of this paper is the estimate of the non-locality intrinsically associated with the underlying microstructure of the metamaterial. We show that the characteristic length L c measuring the non-locality of the phononic crystal is of the order of [Formula: see text] of the diameter of its fluid-filled holes.

  18. Large-Eddy Simulation Sensitivities to Variations of Configuration and Forcing Parameters in Canonical Boundary-Layer Flows for Wind Energy Applications

    DOE PAGES

    Mirocha, Jeffrey D.; Churchfield, Matthew J.; Munoz-Esparza, Domingo; ...

    2017-08-28

    Here, the sensitivities of idealized Large-Eddy Simulations (LES) to variations of model configuration and forcing parameters on quantities of interest to wind power applications are examined. Simulated wind speed, turbulent fluxes, spectra and cospectra are assessed in relation to variations of two physical factors, geostrophic wind speed and surface roughness length, and several model configuration choices, including mesh size and grid aspect ratio, turbulence model, and numerical discretization schemes, in three different code bases. Two case studies representing nearly steady neutral and convective atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) flow conditions over nearly flat and homogeneous terrain were used to force andmore » assess idealized LES, using periodic lateral boundary conditions. Comparison with fast-response velocity measurements at five heights within the lowest 50 m indicates that most model configurations performed similarly overall, with differences between observed and predicted wind speed generally smaller than measurement variability. Simulations of convective conditions produced turbulence quantities and spectra that matched the observations well, while those of neutral simulations produced good predictions of stress, but smaller than observed magnitudes of turbulence kinetic energy, likely due to tower wakes influencing the measurements. While sensitivities to model configuration choices and variability in forcing can be considerable, idealized LES are shown to reliably reproduce quantities of interest to wind energy applications within the lower ABL during quasi-ideal, nearly steady neutral and convective conditions over nearly flat and homogeneous terrain.« less

  19. Large-Eddy Simulation Sensitivities to Variations of Configuration and Forcing Parameters in Canonical Boundary-Layer Flows for Wind Energy Applications

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Mirocha, Jeffrey D.; Churchfield, Matthew J.; Munoz-Esparza, Domingo

    Here, the sensitivities of idealized Large-Eddy Simulations (LES) to variations of model configuration and forcing parameters on quantities of interest to wind power applications are examined. Simulated wind speed, turbulent fluxes, spectra and cospectra are assessed in relation to variations of two physical factors, geostrophic wind speed and surface roughness length, and several model configuration choices, including mesh size and grid aspect ratio, turbulence model, and numerical discretization schemes, in three different code bases. Two case studies representing nearly steady neutral and convective atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) flow conditions over nearly flat and homogeneous terrain were used to force andmore » assess idealized LES, using periodic lateral boundary conditions. Comparison with fast-response velocity measurements at five heights within the lowest 50 m indicates that most model configurations performed similarly overall, with differences between observed and predicted wind speed generally smaller than measurement variability. Simulations of convective conditions produced turbulence quantities and spectra that matched the observations well, while those of neutral simulations produced good predictions of stress, but smaller than observed magnitudes of turbulence kinetic energy, likely due to tower wakes influencing the measurements. While sensitivities to model configuration choices and variability in forcing can be considerable, idealized LES are shown to reliably reproduce quantities of interest to wind energy applications within the lower ABL during quasi-ideal, nearly steady neutral and convective conditions over nearly flat and homogeneous terrain.« less

  20. Counterbalance of cutting force for advanced milling operations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tsai, Nan-Chyuan; Shih, Li-Wen; Lee, Rong-Mao

    2010-05-01

    The goal of this work is to concurrently counterbalance the dynamic cutting force and regulate the spindle position deviation under various milling conditions by integrating active magnetic bearing (AMB) technique, fuzzy logic algorithm and an adaptive self-tuning feedback loop. Since the dynamics of milling system is highly determined by a few operation conditions, such as speed of spindle, cut depth and feedrate, therefore the dynamic model for cutting process is more appropriate to be constructed by experiments, instead of using theoretical approach. The experimental data, either for idle or cutting, are utilized to establish the database of milling dynamics so that the system parameters can be on-line estimated by employing the proposed fuzzy logic algorithm as the cutting mission is engaged. Based on the estimated milling system model and preset operation conditions, i.e., spindle speed, cut depth and feedrate, the current cutting force can be numerically estimated. Once the current cutting force can be real-time estimated, the corresponding compensation force can be exerted by the equipped AMB to counterbalance the cutting force, in addition to the spindle position regulation by feedback of spindle position. On the other hand, for the magnetic force is nonlinear with respect to the applied electric current and air gap, the characteristics of the employed AMB is investigated also by experiments and a nonlinear mathematic model, in terms of air gap between spindle and electromagnetic pole and coil current, is developed. At the end, the experimental simulations on realistic milling are presented to verify the efficacy of the fuzzy controller for spindle position regulation and the capability of the dynamic cutting force counterbalance.

  1. Rapid parameterization of small molecules using the Force Field Toolkit.

    PubMed

    Mayne, Christopher G; Saam, Jan; Schulten, Klaus; Tajkhorshid, Emad; Gumbart, James C

    2013-12-15

    The inability to rapidly generate accurate and robust parameters for novel chemical matter continues to severely limit the application of molecular dynamics simulations to many biological systems of interest, especially in fields such as drug discovery. Although the release of generalized versions of common classical force fields, for example, General Amber Force Field and CHARMM General Force Field, have posited guidelines for parameterization of small molecules, many technical challenges remain that have hampered their wide-scale extension. The Force Field Toolkit (ffTK), described herein, minimizes common barriers to ligand parameterization through algorithm and method development, automation of tedious and error-prone tasks, and graphical user interface design. Distributed as a VMD plugin, ffTK facilitates the traversal of a clear and organized workflow resulting in a complete set of CHARMM-compatible parameters. A variety of tools are provided to generate quantum mechanical target data, setup multidimensional optimization routines, and analyze parameter performance. Parameters developed for a small test set of molecules using ffTK were comparable to existing CGenFF parameters in their ability to reproduce experimentally measured values for pure-solvent properties (<15% error from experiment) and free energy of solvation (±0.5 kcal/mol from experiment). Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  2. Determination of the protonation state of the Asp dyad: conventional molecular dynamics versus thermodynamic integration.

    PubMed

    Huang, Jinfeng; Zhu, Yali; Sun, Bin; Yao, Yuan; Liu, Junjun

    2016-03-01

    The protonation state of the Asp dyad is important as it can reveal enzymatic mechanisms, and the information this provides can be used in the development of drugs for proteins such as memapsin 2 (BACE-1), HIV-1 protease, and rennin. Conventional molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have been successfully used to determine the preferred protonation state of the Asp dyad. In the present work, we demonstrate that the results obtained from conventional MD simulations can be greatly influenced by the particular force field applied or the values used for control parameters. In principle, free-energy changes between possible protonation states can be used to determine the protonation state. We show that protonation state prediction by the thermodynamic integration (TI) method is insensitive to force field version or to the cutoff for calculating nonbonded interactions (a control parameter). In the present study, the protonation state of the Asp dyad predicted by TI calculations was the same regardless of the force field and cutoff value applied. Contrary to the intuition that conventional MD is more efficient, our results clearly show that the TI method is actually more efficient and more reliable for determining the protonation state of the Asp dyad.

  3. Force Field Development and Molecular Dynamics of [NiFe] Hydrogenase

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Smith, Dayle MA; Xiong, Yijia; Straatsma, TP

    2012-05-09

    Classical molecular force-field parameters describing the structure and motion of metal clusters in [NiFe] hydrogenase enzymes can be used to compare the dynamics and thermodynamics of [NiFe] under different oxidation, protonation, and ligation circumstances. Using density functional theory (DFT) calculations of small model clusters representative of the active site and the proximal, medial, and distal Fe/S metal centers and their attached protein side chains, we have calculated classical force-field parameters for [NiFe] in reduced and oxidized states, including internal coordinates, force constants, and atom-centered charges. Derived force constants revealed that cysteinate ligands bound to the metal ions are more flexiblemore » in the Ni-B active site, which has a bridging hydroxide ligand, than in the Ni-C active site, which has a bridging hydride. Ten nanosecond all-atom, explicit-solvent MD simulations of [NiFe] hydrogenase in oxidized and reduced catalytic states established the stability of the derived force-field parameters in terms of C{alpha} and metal cluster fluctuations. Average active site structures from the protein MD simulations are consistent with [NiFe] structures from the Protein Data Bank, suggesting that the derived force-field parameters are transferrable to other hydrogenases beyond the structure used for testing. A comparison of experimental H{sub 2}-production rates demonstrated a relationship between cysteinate side chain rotation and activity, justifying the use of a fully dynamic model of [NiFe] metal cluster motion.« less

  4. Determining geometric error model parameters of a terrestrial laser scanner through Two-face, Length-consistency, and Network methods

    PubMed Central

    Wang, Ling; Muralikrishnan, Bala; Rachakonda, Prem; Sawyer, Daniel

    2017-01-01

    Terrestrial laser scanners (TLS) are increasingly used in large-scale manufacturing and assembly where required measurement uncertainties are on the order of few tenths of a millimeter or smaller. In order to meet these stringent requirements, systematic errors within a TLS are compensated in-situ through self-calibration. In the Network method of self-calibration, numerous targets distributed in the work-volume are measured from multiple locations with the TLS to determine parameters of the TLS error model. In this paper, we propose two new self-calibration methods, the Two-face method and the Length-consistency method. The Length-consistency method is proposed as a more efficient way of realizing the Network method where the length between any pair of targets from multiple TLS positions are compared to determine TLS model parameters. The Two-face method is a two-step process. In the first step, many model parameters are determined directly from the difference between front-face and back-face measurements of targets distributed in the work volume. In the second step, all remaining model parameters are determined through the Length-consistency method. We compare the Two-face method, the Length-consistency method, and the Network method in terms of the uncertainties in the model parameters, and demonstrate the validity of our techniques using a calibrated scale bar and front-face back-face target measurements. The clear advantage of these self-calibration methods is that a reference instrument or calibrated artifacts are not required, thus significantly lowering the cost involved in the calibration process. PMID:28890607

  5. Optimization of the dressing parameters in cylindrical grinding based on a generalized utility function

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Aleksandrova, Irina

    2016-01-01

    The existing studies, concerning the dressing process, focus on the major influence of the dressing conditions on the grinding response variables. However, the choice of the dressing conditions is often made, based on the experience of the qualified staff or using data from reference books. The optimal dressing parameters, which are only valid for the particular methods and dressing and grinding conditions, are also used. The paper presents a methodology for optimization of the dressing parameters in cylindrical grinding. The generalized utility function has been chosen as an optimization parameter. It is a complex indicator determining the economic, dynamic and manufacturing characteristics of the grinding process. The developed methodology is implemented for the dressing of aluminium oxide grinding wheels by using experimental diamond roller dressers with different grit sizes made of medium- and high-strength synthetic diamonds type ??32 and ??80. To solve the optimization problem, a model of the generalized utility function is created which reflects the complex impact of dressing parameters. The model is built based on the results from the conducted complex study and modeling of the grinding wheel lifetime, cutting ability, production rate and cutting forces during grinding. They are closely related to the dressing conditions (dressing speed ratio, radial in-feed of the diamond roller dresser and dress-out time), the diamond roller dresser grit size/grinding wheel grit size ratio, the type of synthetic diamonds and the direction of dressing. Some dressing parameters are determined for which the generalized utility function has a maximum and which guarantee an optimum combination of the following: the lifetime and cutting ability of the abrasive wheels, the tangential cutting force magnitude and the production rate of the grinding process. The results obtained prove the possibility of control and optimization of grinding by selecting particular dressing

  6. Running stride peak forces inversely determine running economy in elite runners.

    PubMed

    Støren, Øyvind; Helgerud, Jan; Hoff, Jan

    2011-01-01

    The present study investigated the relationship between running economy (RE) at 15 km/h(-1) , 3.000-m race time, maximal strength, and a number of physiological, anthropometrical, and mechanical variables. The variables measured included RE, maximal oxygen consumption, heart rate, step length and frequency, contact time, and the peak horizontal and vertical forces of each step. Maximal strength was measured as the 1 repetition maximum (1RM) half-squat using a leg press machine. Eleven male elite endurance athletes with a V(O2)max of 75.8 ± 6.2 mL/kg(-1)/min(-1) participated in this study. After the anthropometric data were collected, they were tested for RE, running characteristics, and force measures on a level treadmill at 15 km/h(-1). The athletes wore contact soles, and the treadmill was placed on a force platform. Maximal oxygen consumption and 1RM were tested after the RE measurements. The sum of horizontal and vertical peak forces revealed a significant inverse correlation (p < 0.05) both with 3,000-m performance (R = 0.71) and RE (R = 0.66). Inverse correlations were also found (p < 0.05) between RE and body height (R = 0.61) and between RE and body fat percentage (R = 0.62). In conclusion, the sum of horizontal and vertical peak forces was found to be negatively correlated to running economy and 3,000-m running performance, indicating that avoiding vertical movements and high horizontal braking force is crucial for a positive development of RE.

  7. Determination of the solubility parameter of ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate by inverse gas chromatography.

    PubMed

    Ma, Xiaohong; Wang, Qiang; Li, Xiaoping; Tang, Jun; Zhang, Zhengfang

    2015-11-01

    Thermodynamic properties of ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate ([BMIM] BF4) were determined via inverse gas chromatography (IGC). Two groups of solvents with different chemical natures and polarities were used to obtain information about [BMIM] BF4-solvent interactions. The specific retention volume, molar heat of sorption, weight fraction activity coefficient, Flory-Huggins interaction parameter as well as solubility parameter were also determined in a temperature range of 333 - 373 K. The results showed that the selected solvents n-C10 to n-C12, carbon tetrachloride, cyclohexane and toluene were poor solvents for [BMIM] BF4, while dichloromethane, acetone, chloroform, methyl acetate, ethanol and methanol were favorite solvents for [BMIM] BF4. In addition, the solubility parameter of [ BMIM] BF4 was determined as 23.39 (J/cm3)0.5 by the extrapolation at 298 K. The experiment proved that IGC was a simple and accurate method to obtain the thermodynamic properties of ionic liquids. This study could be used as a reference to the application and research of the ionic liquids.

  8. Determination of Kinetic Parameters for the Thermal Decomposition of Parthenium hysterophorus

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dhaundiyal, Alok; Singh, Suraj B.; Hanon, Muammel M.; Rawat, Rekha

    2018-02-01

    A kinetic study of pyrolysis process of Parthenium hysterophorous is carried out by using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) equipment. The present study investigates the thermal degradation and determination of the kinetic parameters such as activation E and the frequency factor A using model-free methods given by Flynn Wall and Ozawa (FWO), Kissinger-Akahira-Sonuse (KAS) and Kissinger, and model-fitting (Coats Redfern). The results derived from thermal decomposition process demarcate decomposition of Parthenium hysterophorous among the three main stages, such as dehydration, active and passive pyrolysis. It is shown through DTG thermograms that the increase in the heating rate caused temperature peaks at maximum weight loss rate to shift towards higher temperature regime. The results are compared with Coats Redfern (Integral method) and experimental results have shown that values of kinetic parameters obtained from model-free methods are in good agreement. Whereas the results obtained through Coats Redfern model at different heating rates are not promising, however, the diffusion models provided the good fitting with the experimental data.

  9. Input Forces Estimation for Nonlinear Systems by Applying a Square-Root Cubature Kalman Filter.

    PubMed

    Song, Xuegang; Zhang, Yuexin; Liang, Dakai

    2017-10-10

    This work presents a novel inverse algorithm to estimate time-varying input forces in nonlinear beam systems. With the system parameters determined, the input forces can be estimated in real-time from dynamic responses, which can be used for structural health monitoring. In the process of input forces estimation, the Runge-Kutta fourth-order algorithm was employed to discretize the state equations; a square-root cubature Kalman filter (SRCKF) was employed to suppress white noise; the residual innovation sequences, a priori state estimate, gain matrix, and innovation covariance generated by SRCKF were employed to estimate the magnitude and location of input forces by using a nonlinear estimator. The nonlinear estimator was based on the least squares method. Numerical simulations of a large deflection beam and an experiment of a linear beam constrained by a nonlinear spring were employed. The results demonstrated accuracy of the nonlinear algorithm.

  10. Improving training of laparoscopic tissue manipulation skills using various visual force feedback types.

    PubMed

    Smit, Daan; Spruit, Edward; Dankelman, Jenny; Tuijthof, Gabrielle; Hamming, Jaap; Horeman, Tim

    2017-01-01

    Visual force feedback allows trainees to learn laparoscopic tissue manipulation skills. The aim of this experimental study was to find the most efficient visual force feedback method to acquire these skills. Retention and transfer validity to an untrained task were assessed. Medical students without prior experience in laparoscopy were randomized in three groups: Constant Force Feedback (CFF) (N = 17), Bandwidth Force Feedback (BFF) (N = 16) and Fade-in Force Feedback (N = 18). All participants performed a pretest, training, post-test and follow-up test. The study involved two dissimilar tissue manipulation tasks, one for training and one to assess transferability. Participants performed six trials of the training task. A force platform was used to record several force parameters. A paired-sample t test showed overall lower force parameter outcomes in the post-test compared to the pretest (p < .001). A week later, the force parameter outcomes were still significantly lower than found in the pretest (p < .005). Participants also performed the transfer task in the post-test (p < .02) and follow-up (p < .05) test with lower force parameter outcomes compared to the pretest. A one-way MANOVA indicated that in the post-test the CFF group applied 50 % less Mean Absolute Nonzero Force (p = .005) than the BFF group. All visual force feedback methods showed to be effective in decreasing tissue manipulation force as no major differences were found between groups in the post and follow-up trials. The BFF method is preferred for it respects individual progress and minimizes distraction.

  11. Flextime: A Modified Work Force Scheduling Technique for Selected Headquarters Air Force Logistics Command Organizations.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kimzey, Reed T.; Prince, Samuel M. O.

    The thesis discusses the advantages and disadvantages of one work force scheduling technique--flextime. The authors were interested in determining if a flextime schedule could be put into effect in a governmental organization such as Headquarters Air Force Logistics Command (AFLC). The study objectives were to determine the feasibility,…

  12. Determination of optimal tool parameters for hot mandrel bending of pipe elbows

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tabakajew, Dmitri; Homberg, Werner

    2018-05-01

    Seamless pipe elbows are important components in mechanical, plant and apparatus engineering. Typically, they are produced by the so-called `Hamburg process'. In this hot forming process, the initial pipes are subsequently pushed over an ox-horn-shaped bending mandrel. The geometric shape of the mandrel influences the diameter, bending radius and wall thickness distribution of the pipe elbow. This paper presents the numerical simulation model of the hot mandrel bending process created to ensure that the optimum mandrel geometry can be determined at an early stage. A fundamental analysis was conducted to determine the influence of significant parameters on the pipe elbow quality. The chosen methods and approach as well as the corresponding results are described in this paper.

  13. Effect of Tabor parameter on hysteresis losses during adhesive contact

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ciavarella, M.; Greenwood, J. A.; Barber, J. R.

    2017-01-01

    The Tabor parameter μ is conventionally assumed to determine the range of applicability of the classical 'JKR' solution for adhesive elastic contact of a sphere and a plane, with the variation of the contact area and approach with load, and in particular the maximum tensile force (the pull-off force) being well predicted for μ > 5 . Here we show that the hysteretic energy loss during a contact separation cycle is significantly overestimated by the JKR theory, even at quite large values of μ. This stems from the absence of long-range tensile forces in the JKR theory, which implies that jump into contact is delayed until the separation α = 0 . We develop an approximate solution based on the use of Wu's solution with van der Waals interactions for jump-in, and the JKR theory for jump out of contact, and show that for μ > 5 , the predicted hysteresis loss is then close to that found by direct numerical solutions using the Lennard-Jones force law. We also show how the same method can be adapted to allow for contact between bodies with finite support stiffness.

  14. The dynamics of a forced coupled network of active elements

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Parks, Helen F.; Ermentrout, Bard; Rubin, Jonathan E.

    2011-03-01

    This paper presents the derivation and analysis of mathematical models motivated by the experimental induction of contour phosphenes in the retina. First, a spatially discrete chain of periodically forced coupled oscillators is considered via reduction to a chain of scalar phase equations. Each isolated oscillator locks in a 1:2 manner with the forcing so that there is intrinsic bistability, with activity peaking on either the odd or even cycles of the forcing. If half the chain is started on the odd cycle and half on the even cycle (“split state”), then with sufficiently strong coupling, a wave can be produced that can travel in either direction due to symmetry. Numerical and analytic methods are employed to determine the size of coupling necessary for the split state solution to destabilize such that waves appear. Taking a continuum limit, we reduce the chain to a partial differential equation. We use a Melnikov function to compute, to leading order, the speed of the traveling wave solution to the partial differential equation as a function of the form of coupling and the forcing parameters and compare our result to the numerically computed discrete and continuum wave speeds.

  15. Proximal arm kinematics affect grip force-load force coordination

    PubMed Central

    Vermillion, Billy C.; Lum, Peter S.

    2015-01-01

    During object manipulation, grip force is coordinated with load force, which is primarily determined by object kinematics. Proximal arm kinematics may affect grip force control, as proximal segment motion could affect control of distal hand muscles via biomechanical and/or neural pathways. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of proximal kinematics on grip force modulation during object manipulation. Fifteen subjects performed three vertical lifting tasks that involved distinct proximal kinematics (elbow/shoulder), but resulted in similar end-point (hand) trajectories. While temporal coordination of grip and load forces remained similar across the tasks, proximal kinematics significantly affected the grip force-to-load force ratio (P = 0.042), intrinsic finger muscle activation (P = 0.045), and flexor-extensor ratio (P < 0.001). Biomechanical coupling between extrinsic hand muscles and the elbow joint cannot fully explain the observed changes, as task-related changes in intrinsic hand muscle activation were greater than in extrinsic hand muscles. Rather, between-task variation in grip force (highest during task 3) appears to contrast to that in shoulder joint velocity/acceleration (lowest during task 3). These results suggest that complex neural coupling between the distal and proximal upper extremity musculature may affect grip force control during movements, also indicated by task-related changes in intermuscular coherence of muscle pairs, including intrinsic finger muscles. Furthermore, examination of the fingertip force showed that the human motor system may attempt to reduce variability in task-relevant motor output (grip force-to-load force ratio), while allowing larger fluctuations in output less relevant to task goal (shear force-to-grip force ratio). PMID:26289460

  16. Functional sensibility assessment. Part II: Effects of sensory improvement on precise pinch force modulation after transverse carpal tunnel release.

    PubMed

    Hsu, Hsiu-Yun; Kuo, Li-Chieh; Chiu, Haw-Yen; Jou, I-Ming; Su, Fong-Chin

    2009-11-01

    Patients with median nerve compression at the carpal tunnel often have poor sensory afferents. Without adequate sensory modulation control, these patients frequently exhibit clumsy performance and excessive force output in the affected hand. We analyzed precision grip function after the sensory recovery of patients with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) who underwent carpal tunnel release (CTR). Thirteen CTS patients were evaluated using a custom-designed pinch device and conventional sensory tools before and after CTR to measure sensibility, maximum pinch strength, and anticipated pinch force adjustments to movement-induced load fluctuations in a pinch-holding-up activity. Based on these tests, five force-related parameters and sensory measurements were used to determine improvements in pinch performance after sensory recovery. The force ratio between the exerted pinch force and maximum load force of the lifting object was used to determine pinch force coordination and to prove that CTR enabled precision motor output. The magnitude of peak pinch force indicated an economic force output during manipulations following CTR. The peak pinch force, force ratio, and percentage of maximum pinch force also demonstrated a moderate correlation with the Semmes-Weinstein test. Analysis of these tests revealed that improved sensory function helped restore patients' performance in precise pinch force control evaluations. These results suggest that sensory information plays an important role in adjusting balanced force output in dexterous manipulation. (c) 2009 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  17. A New "Quasi-Dynamic" Method for Determining the Hamaker Constant of Solids Using an Atomic Force Microscope.

    PubMed

    Fronczak, Sean G; Dong, Jiannan; Browne, Christopher A; Krenek, Elizabeth C; Franses, Elias I; Beaudoin, Stephen P; Corti, David S

    2017-01-24

    In order to minimize the effects of surface roughness and deformation, a new method for estimating the Hamaker constant, A, of solids using the approach-to-contact regime of an atomic force microscope (AFM) is presented. First, a previous "jump-into-contact" quasi-static method for determining A from AFM measurements is analyzed and then extended to include various AFM tip-surface force models of interest. Then, to test the efficacy of the "jump-into-contact" method, a dynamic model of the AFM tip motion is developed. For finite AFM cantilever-surface approach speeds, a true "jump" point, or limit of stability, is found not to appear, and the quasi-static model fails to represent the dynamic tip behavior at close tip-surface separations. Hence, a new "quasi-dynamic" method for estimating A is proposed that uses the dynamically well-defined deflection at which the tip and surface first come into contact, d c , instead of the dynamically ill-defined "jump" point. With the new method, an apparent Hamaker constant, A app , is calculated from d c and a corresponding quasi-static-based equation. Since A app depends on the cantilever's approach speed, v c , and the AFM's sampling resolution, δ, a double extrapolation procedure is used to determine A app in the quasi-static (v c → 0) and continuous sampling (δ → 0) limits, thereby recovering the "true" value of A. The accuracy of the new method is validated using simulated AFM data. To enable the experimental implementation of this method, a new dimensionless parameter τ is introduced to guide cantilever selection and the AFM operating conditions. The value of τ quantifies how close a given cantilever is to its quasi-static limit for a chosen cantilever-surface approach speed. For sufficiently small values of τ (i.e., a cantilever that effectively behaves "quasi-statically"), simulated data indicate that A app will be within ∼3% or less of the inputted value of the Hamaker constant. This implies that Hamaker

  18. Determination of the Michel Parameters and the tau Neutrino Helicity in tau Decay

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Jessop, Colin P.

    2003-05-07

    Using the CLEO II detector at the e{sup +}e{sup -} storage ring CESR, we have determined the Michel parameters {rho}, {zeta}, and {delta} in {tau}{sup {-+}}{nu}{bar {nu}} decay as well as the {tau} neutrino helicity parameter H{sub {nu}{sub {tau}}} in {tau}{sup {-+}}{pi}{sup 0}{nu} decay. From a data sample of 3.02 x 10{sup 6} {tau} pairs produced at {radical}s = 10.6 GeV, using events of the topology e{sup +}e{sup -} {yields} {tau}{sup +}{tau}{sup -} {yields} (l{sup {+-}}{nu}{bar {nu}})({pi}{sup {-+}}{pi}{sup 0}{nu}) and e{sup +}e{sup -} {yields} {tau}{sup +}{tau}{sup -} {yields} ({pi}{sup {+-}}{pi}{sup 0}{bar {nu}})({pi}{sup {-+}}{pi}{sup 0}{nu}), and the determined sign of h{submore » {nu}{sub {tau}}} [1,2], the combined result of the three samples is: {rho} = 0.747 {+-} 0.010 {+-} 0.006, {zeta} = 1.007 {+-} 0.040 {+-} 0.015, {zeta}{delta} = 0.745 {+-}0.026 {+-}0.009, and h{sub {nu}{sub {tau}}} = -0.995 {+-} 0.010 {+-} 0.003. The results are in agreement with the Standard Model V-A interaction.« less

  19. Determination of ferroelectric contributions to electromechanical response by frequency dependent piezoresponse force microscopy

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Seol, Daehee; Park, Seongjae; Varenyk, Olexandr V.

    Hysteresis loop analysis via piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) is typically performed to probe the existence of ferroelectricity at the nanoscale. But, such an approach is rather complex in accurately determining the pure contribution of ferroelectricity to the PFM. We suggest a facile method to discriminate the ferroelectric effect from the electromechanical (EM) response through the use of frequency dependent ac amplitude sweep with combination of hysteresis loops in PFM. This combined study through experimental and theoretical approaches verifies that this method can be used as a new tool to differentiate the ferroelectric effect from the other factors that contribute tomore » the EM response.« less

  20. Determination of ferroelectric contributions to electromechanical response by frequency dependent piezoresponse force microscopy.

    PubMed

    Seol, Daehee; Park, Seongjae; Varenyk, Olexandr V; Lee, Shinbuhm; Lee, Ho Nyung; Morozovska, Anna N; Kim, Yunseok

    2016-07-28

    Hysteresis loop analysis via piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) is typically performed to probe the existence of ferroelectricity at the nanoscale. However, such an approach is rather complex in accurately determining the pure contribution of ferroelectricity to the PFM. Here, we suggest a facile method to discriminate the ferroelectric effect from the electromechanical (EM) response through the use of frequency dependent ac amplitude sweep with combination of hysteresis loops in PFM. Our combined study through experimental and theoretical approaches verifies that this method can be used as a new tool to differentiate the ferroelectric effect from the other factors that contribute to the EM response.

  1. Determination of ferroelectric contributions to electromechanical response by frequency dependent piezoresponse force microscopy

    DOE PAGES

    Seol, Daehee; Park, Seongjae; Varenyk, Olexandr V.; ...

    2016-07-28

    Hysteresis loop analysis via piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) is typically performed to probe the existence of ferroelectricity at the nanoscale. But, such an approach is rather complex in accurately determining the pure contribution of ferroelectricity to the PFM. We suggest a facile method to discriminate the ferroelectric effect from the electromechanical (EM) response through the use of frequency dependent ac amplitude sweep with combination of hysteresis loops in PFM. This combined study through experimental and theoretical approaches verifies that this method can be used as a new tool to differentiate the ferroelectric effect from the other factors that contribute tomore » the EM response.« less

  2. Determination of ferroelectric contributions to electromechanical response by frequency dependent piezoresponse force microscopy

    PubMed Central

    Seol, Daehee; Park, Seongjae; Varenyk, Olexandr V.; Lee, Shinbuhm; Lee, Ho Nyung; Morozovska, Anna N.; Kim, Yunseok

    2016-01-01

    Hysteresis loop analysis via piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) is typically performed to probe the existence of ferroelectricity at the nanoscale. However, such an approach is rather complex in accurately determining the pure contribution of ferroelectricity to the PFM. Here, we suggest a facile method to discriminate the ferroelectric effect from the electromechanical (EM) response through the use of frequency dependent ac amplitude sweep with combination of hysteresis loops in PFM. Our combined study through experimental and theoretical approaches verifies that this method can be used as a new tool to differentiate the ferroelectric effect from the other factors that contribute to the EM response. PMID:27466086

  3. The generation of tire cornering forces in aircraft with a free-swiveling nose gear

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Daugherty, R. H.; Stubbs, S. M.

    1985-01-01

    An experimental investigation was conducted to study the effect of various parameters on the cornering forces produced by a rolling aircraft tire installed on a tilted, free-swiveling nose gear. The parameters studied included tilt angle, trial, tire inflation pressure, rake angle, vertical load, and whether or not a twin tire configuration corotates. These parameters were evaluated by measuring the cornering force produced by an aircraft tire installed on the nose gear of a modified vehicle as it was towed slowly. Cornering force coefficient increased with increasing tilt angle. Increasing trial or rake angle decreased the magnitude of the cornering force coefficient. Tire inflation pressure had no effect on the cornering force coefficient. Increasing vertical load decreased the cornering force coefficient. When the tires of a twin tire system rotated independently, the cornering force coefficients were the same as those for the single-tire configuration. When the twin tire system was made to corotate, however, the cornering force coefficients increased significantly.

  4. Determination of female breast tumor and its parameter estimation by thermal simulation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Xin-guang; Xu, A.-qing; Yang, Hong-qin; Wang, Yu-hua; Xie, Shu-sen

    2010-02-01

    Thermal imaging is an emerging method for early detection of female breast tumor. The main challenge for thermal imaging used in breast clinics lies in how to detect or locate the tumor and obtain its related parameters. The purpose of this study is to apply an improved method which combined a genetic algorithm with finite element thermal analysis to determine the breast tumor and its parameters, such as the size, location, metabolic heat generation and blood perfusion rate. A finite element model for breast embedded a tumor was used to investigate the temperature distribution, and then the influences of tumor metabolic heat generation, tumor location and tumor size on the temperature were studied by use of an improved genetic algorithm. The results show that thermal imaging is a potential and effective detection tool for early breast tumor, and thermal simulation may be helpful for the explanation of breast thermograms.

  5. Determination of the Landau Lifshitz damping parameter of composite magnetic fluids

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fannin, P. C.; Malaescu, I.; Marin, C. N.

    2007-01-01

    Measurements of the frequency dependent, complex magnetic susceptibility, χ(ω)= χ‧( ω)- iχ″( ω), in the GHz range, are used to investigate the effect which the mixing of two different magnetic fluids has on the value of the damping parameter, α, of the Landau-Lifshitz equation. The magnetic fluid samples investigated in this study were three kerosene-based magnetic fluids, stabilised with oleic acid, denoted as MF1, MF2 and MF3. Sample MF1 was a magnetic fluid with Mn 0.6Fe 0.4Fe 2O 4 particles, sample MF2 was a magnetic fluid with Ni 0.4Zn 0.6Fe 2O 4 particles and sample MF3 was a composite magnetic fluid obtained by mixing a part of sample MF1 with a part of sample MF2, in proportion of 1:1. The experimental results revealed that the value of the damping parameter of the composite sample (sample MF3) is between the α values obtained for its constituents (samples MF1 and MF2). Based on the superposition principle, which states that the susceptibility of a magnetic fluid sample is a superposition of individual contributions of the magnetic particles, a theoretical model is proposed. The experimental results are shown to be in close agreement with the theoretical results. This result is potentially useful in the design of microwave-operating materials, in that it enables one to determine a particular value of damping parameter.

  6. Optimization of Operating Parameters for Minimum Mechanical Specific Energy in Drilling

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Hamrick, Todd

    2011-01-01

    Efficiency in drilling is measured by Mechanical Specific Energy (MSE). MSE is the measure of the amount of energy input required to remove a unit volume of rock, expressed in units of energy input divided by volume removed. It can be expressed mathematically in terms of controllable parameters; Weight on Bit, Torque, Rate of Penetration, and RPM. It is well documented that minimizing MSE by optimizing controllable factors results in maximum Rate of Penetration. Current methods for computing MSE make it possible to minimize MSE in the field only through a trial-and-error process. This work makes it possible to computemore » the optimum drilling parameters that result in minimum MSE. The parameters that have been traditionally used to compute MSE are interdependent. Mathematical relationships between the parameters were established, and the conventional MSE equation was rewritten in terms of a single parameter, Weight on Bit, establishing a form that can be minimized mathematically. Once the optimum Weight on Bit was determined, the interdependent relationship that Weight on Bit has with Torque and Penetration per Revolution was used to determine optimum values for those parameters for a given drilling situation. The improved method was validated through laboratory experimentation and analysis of published data. Two rock types were subjected to four treatments each, and drilled in a controlled laboratory environment. The method was applied in each case, and the optimum parameters for minimum MSE were computed. The method demonstrated an accurate means to determine optimum drilling parameters of Weight on Bit, Torque, and Penetration per Revolution. A unique application of micro-cracking is also presented, which demonstrates that rock failure ahead of the bit is related to axial force more than to rotation speed.« less

  7. Use of a Force Sensor in Archimedes' Principle Experiment, Determination of Buoyant Force and Acceleration Due To Gravity

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Aurora, Tarlok

    2013-04-01

    In introductory physics, students verify Archimedes' principle by immersing an object in water in a container, with a side-spout to collect the displaced water, resulting in a large uncertainty, due to surface tension. A modified procedure was introduced, in which a plastic bucket is suspended from a force sensor, and an object hangs underneath the bucket. The object is immersed in water in a glass beaker (without any side spout), and the weight loss is measured with a computer-controlled force sensor. Instead of collecting the water displaced by the object, tap water was added to the bucket to compensate for the weight loss, and the Archimedes' principle was verified within less than a percent. With this apparatus, buoyant force was easily studied as a function of volume of displaced water; as well as a function of density of saline solution. By graphing buoyant force as a function of volume (or density of liquid), value of g was obtained from slope. Apparatus and sources of error will be discussed.

  8. Determination of fiber-matrix interface failure parameters from off-axis tests

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Naik, Rajiv A.; Crews, John H., Jr.

    1993-01-01

    Critical fiber-matrix (FM) interface strength parameters were determined using a micromechanics-based approach together with failure data from off-axis tension (OAT) tests. The ply stresses at failure for a range of off-axis angles were used as input to a micromechanics analysis that was performed using the personal computer-based MICSTRAN code. FM interface stresses at the failure loads were calculated for both the square and the diamond array models. A simple procedure was developed to determine which array had the more severe FM interface stresses and the location of these critical stresses on the interface. For the cases analyzed, critical FM interface stresses were found to occur with the square array model and were located at a point where adjacent fibers were closest together. The critical FM interface stresses were used together with the Tsai-Wu failure theory to determine a failure criterion for the FM interface. This criterion was then used to predict the onset of ply cracking in angle-ply laminates for a range of laminate angles. Predictions for the onset of ply cracking in angle-ply laminates agreed with the test data trends.

  9. The influence of cricket fast bowlers' front leg technique on peak ground reaction forces.

    PubMed

    Worthington, Peter; King, Mark; Ranson, Craig

    2013-01-01

    High ground reaction forces during the front foot contact phase of the bowling action are believed to be a major contributor to the high prevalence of lumbar stress fractures in fast bowlers. This study aimed to investigate the influence of front leg technique on peak ground reaction forces during the delivery stride. Three-dimensional kinematic data and ground reaction forces during the front foot contact phase were captured for 20 elite male fast bowlers. Eight kinematic parameters were determined for each performance, describing run-up speed and front leg technique, in addition to peak force and time to peak force in the vertical and horizontal directions. There were substantial variations between bowlers in both peak forces (vertical 6.7 ± 1.4 body weights; horizontal (braking) 4.5 ± 0.8 body weights) and times to peak force (vertical 0.03 ± 0.01 s; horizontal 0.03 ± 0.01 s). These differences were found to be linked to the orientation of the front leg at the instant of front foot contact. In particular, a larger plant angle and a heel strike technique were associated with lower peak forces and longer times to peak force during the front foot contact phase, which may help reduce the likelihood of lower back injuries.

  10. Statically determined slip-line field solution for the axial forming force estimation in the radial-axial ring rolling process

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Quagliato, Luca; Berti, Guido A.

    2017-10-01

    In this paper, a statically determined slip-line solution algorithm is proposed for the calculation of the axial forming force in the radial-axial ring rolling process of flat rings. The developed solution is implemented in an Excel spreadsheet for the construction of the slip-line field and the calculation of the pressure factor to be used in the force model. The comparison between analytical solution and authors' FE simulation allows stating that the developed model supersedes the previous literature ones and proves the reliability of the proposed approach.

  11. Analysis of force profile during a maximum voluntary isometric contraction task.

    PubMed

    Househam, Elizabeth; McAuley, John; Charles, Thompson; Lightfoot, Timothy; Swash, Michael

    2004-03-01

    This study analyses maximum voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) and its measurement by recording the force profile during maximal-effort, 7-s hand-grip contractions. Six healthy subjects each performed three trials repeated at short intervals to study variation from fatigue. These three trials were performed during three separate sessions at daily intervals to look at random variation. A pattern of force development during a trial was identified. An initiation phase, with or without an initiation peak, was followed by a maintenance phase, sometimes with secondary pulses and an underlying decline in force. Of these three MVIC parameters, maximum force during the maintenance phase showed less random variability compared to intertrial fatigue variability than did maximum force during the initiation phase or absolute maximum force. Analysis of MVIC as a task, rather than a single, maximal value reveals deeper levels of motor control in its generation. Thus, force parameters other than the absolute maximum force may be better suited to quantification of muscle performance in health and disease.

  12. Estimation of Errors in Force Platform Data

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Psycharakis, Stelios G.; Miller, Stuart

    2006-01-01

    Force platforms (FPs) are regularly used in the biomechanical analysis of sport and exercise techniques, often in combination with image-based motion analysis. Force time data, particularly when combined with joint positions and segmental inertia parameters, can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of a wide range of movement patterns in sport…

  13. Effective Forces Between Colloidal Particles

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Tehver, Riina; Banavar, Jayanth R.; Koplik, Joel

    1999-01-01

    - and three-body forces in the bulk as well as study the influence of soft walls. We qualitatively explain the effects of the walls on the forces and demonstrate that many-body effects are negligible in our system. With adjustments in the parameters, the DLVO pair-potential can describe the results quantitatively. Besides electrostatic interactions, entropic depletion effects that arise from (hard-core) exclusion play an important role in determining the behavior of multi-component colloidal suspensions. A standard theory for depletion forces is due to Asakura and Oosawa and is based on the ideal gas approximation. To go beyond this approximation, we have studied entropic forces in molecular dynamics simulations of systems of hard spheres (the effects of the solvent have been ignored). The effective depletion forces for these systems can be found either from equilibrium distribution functions or from direct momentum transfer calculations. Our results obtained by either method show qualitative differences from the Asakura-Oosawa forces, indicating a longer range, higher value at contact and most importantly a more complicated structure, comprising of several maxima and minima. Our calculations include the determination of effective forces between two spheres, a hard sphere and a wall, and the behavior of a hard sphere near a step-edge and a corner. We also demonstrate that such entropic forces do not necessarily satisfy pairwise additivity.

  14. Influence of Spinal Manipulative Therapy Force Magnitude and Application Site on Spinal Tissue Loading: A Biomechanical Robotic Serial Dissection Study in Porcine Motion Segments.

    PubMed

    Funabashi, Martha; Nougarou, François; Descarreaux, Martin; Prasad, Narasimha; Kawchuk, Greg

    In order to define the relation between spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) input parameters and the distribution of load within spinal tissues, the aim of this study was to determine the influence of force magnitude and application site when SMT is applied to cadaveric spines. In 10 porcine cadavers, a servo-controlled linear actuator motor provided a standardized SMT simulation using 3 different force magnitudes (100N, 300N, and 500N) to 2 different cutaneous locations: L3/L4 facet joint (FJ), and L4 transverse processes (TVP). Vertebral kinematics were tracked optically using indwelling bone pins, the motion segment removed and mounted in a parallel robot equipped with a 6-axis load cell. The kinematics of each SMT application were replicated robotically. Serial dissection of spinal structures was conducted to quantify loading characteristics of discrete spinal tissues. Forces experienced by the L3/L4 segment and spinal structures during SMT replication were recorded and analyzed. Spinal manipulative therapy force magnitude and application site parameters influenced spinal tissues loading. A significant main effect (P < .05) of force magnitude was observed on the loads experienced by the intact specimen and supra- and interspinous ligaments. The main effect of application site was also significant (P < .05), influencing the loading of the intact specimen and facet joints, capsules, and ligamentum flavum (P < .05). Spinal manipulative therapy input parameters of force magnitude and application site significantly influence the distribution of forces within spinal tissues. By controlling these SMT parameters, clinical outcomes may potentially be manipulated. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  15. Variability of the contrail radiative forcing due to crystal shape

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Markowicz, K. M.; Witek, M. L.

    2011-12-01

    The aim of this study is to examine the influence of particles' shape and particles' optical properties on the contrail radiative forcing. Contrail optical properties in the shortwave and longwave range are derived using a ray-tracing geometric method and the discrete dipole approximation method, respectively. Both methods present good correspondence of the single scattering albedo and the asymmetry parameter in a transition range (3-7μm). We compare optical properties defined following simple 10 crystals habits randomly oriented: hexagonal plates, hexagonal columns with different aspect ratio, and spherical. There are substantial differences in single scattering properties between ten crystal models investigated here (e.g. hexagonal columns and plates with different aspect ratios, spherical particles). The single scattering albedo and the asymmetry parameter both vary up to 0.1 between various crystal shapes. Radiative forcing calculations were performed using a model which includes an interface between the state-of-the-art radiative transfer model Fu-Liou and databases containing optical properties of the atmosphere and surface reflectance and emissivity. This interface allows to determine radiative fluxes in the atmosphere and to estimate the contrail radiative forcing for clear- and all-sky (including natural clouds) conditions for various crystal shapes. The Fu-Liou code is fast and therefore it is suitable for computing radiative forcing on a global scale. At the same time it has sufficiently good accuracy for such global applications. A noticeable weakness of the Fu-Liou code is that it does not take into account the 3D radiative effects, e.g. cloud shading and horizontal. Radiative transfer model calculations were performed at horizontal resolution of 5x5 degree and time resolution of 20 min during day and 3 h during night. In order to calculate a geographic distribution of the global and annual mean contrail radiative forcing, the contrail cover must be

  16. Parameters of Six Selected Galactic Potential Models

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bajkova, Anisa; Bobylev, Vadim

    2017-11-01

    This paper is devoted to the refinement of the parameters of the six three-component (bulge, disk, halo) axisymmetric Galactic gravitational potential models on the basis of modern data on circular velocities of Galactic objects located at distances up to 200 kpc from the Galactic center. In all models the bulge and disk are described by the Miyamoto-Nagai expressions. To describe the halo, the models of Allen-Santillán (I), Wilkinson-Evans (II), Navarro- Frenk-White (III), Binney (IV), Plummer (V), and Hernquist (VI) are used. The sought-for parameters of potential models are determined by fitting the model rotation curves to the measured velocities, taking into account restrictions on the local dynamical matter density p⊙ - 0.1M⊙ pc-3 and the vertical force |Kz=1.1|/2πG = 77M⊙ pc-2. A comparative analysis of the refined potential models is made and for each of the models the estimates of a number of the Galactic characteristics are presented.

  17. Rotordynamic forces in labyrinth seals: Theory and experiment

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Millsaps, Knox T.; Martinez-Sanchez, Manuel

    1994-01-01

    A theoretical and experimental investigation of the aerodynamic forces generated by a single gland labyrinth seal executing a simultaneous spinning/whirling motion has been conducted. A lumped parameter model for a single gland seal with coupling to an upstream cavity with leakage is developed along with an appropriate solution technique. From this theory, it is shown that the presence of the upstream cavity can, in some cases, augment the cross-stiffness and direct damping by a factor of four. The parameters that govern the coupling are presented along with predictions on their influence. A simple uncoupled model is used to identify the mechanisms responsible for cross force generation. This reduced system is nondimensionalized and the physical significance of the reduced parameters is discussed. Closed form algebraic formulas are given for some simple limiting cases. It is also shown that the total cross-force predicted by the uncoupled model can be represented as the sum of an ideal component due to an inviscid flow with entry swirl and a viscous part due to the change in swirl created by friction inside the gland. The frequency dependent ideal part is solely responsible for the rotordynamic direct damping. The facility designed and built to measure these frequency dependent forces is described. Experimental data confirm the validity and usefulness of this ideal/viscous decomposition. A method for calculating the damping coefficients based on the force decomposition using only the static measurements is presented. Experimental results supporting the predicted cross force augmentation due to the effect of upstream coupling are presented.

  18. Determination of the Fracture Parameters in a Stiffened Composite Panel

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lin, Chung-Yi

    2000-01-01

    A modified J-integral, namely the equivalent domain integral, is derived for a three-dimensional anisotropic cracked solid to evaluate the stress intensity factor along the crack front using the finite element method. Based on the equivalent domain integral method with auxiliary fields, an interaction integral is also derived to extract the second fracture parameter, the T-stress, from the finite element results. The auxiliary fields are the two-dimensional plane strain solutions of monoclinic materials with the plane of symmetry at x(sub 3) = 0 under point loads applied at the crack tip. These solutions are expressed in a compact form based on the Stroh formalism. Both integrals can be implemented into a single numerical procedure to determine the distributions of stress intensity factor and T-stress components, T11, T13, and thus T33, along a three-dimensional crack front. The effects of plate thickness and crack length on the variation of the stress intensity factor and T-stresses through the thickness are investigated in detail for through-thickness center-cracked plates (isotropic and orthotropic) and orthotropic stiffened panels under pure mode-I loading conditions. For all the cases studied, T11 remains negative. For plates with the same dimensions, a larger size of crack yields larger magnitude of the normalized stress intensity factor and normalized T-stresses. The results in orthotropic stiffened panels exhibit an opposite trend in general. As expected, for the thicker panels, the fracture parameters evaluated through the thickness, except the region near the free surfaces, approach two-dimensional plane strain solutions. In summary, the numerical methods presented in this research demonstrate their high computational effectiveness and good numerical accuracy in extracting these fracture parameters from the finite element results in three-dimensional cracked solids.

  19. Body-force-driven multiplicity and stability of combined free and forced convection in rotating curved ducts: Coriolis force

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yang, T.; Wang, L.

    A numerical study is made on the fully developed bifurcation structure and stability of forced convection in a rotating curved duct of square cross-section. Solution structure is determined as variation of a parameter that indicates the effect of rotation (Coriolis-force-driven multiplicity). Three solutions for the flows in a stationary curved duct obtained in the work of Yang and Wang [1] are used as initial solutions of continuation calculations to unfold the solution branches. Twenty-one solution branches are found comparing with five obtained by Selmi and Nandakumar [2]. Dynamic responses of the multiple solutions to finite random disturbances are examined by the direct transient computation. Results show that characteristics of physically realizable fully developed flows changes significantly with variation of effect of rotation. Fourteen sub-ranges are identified according to characteristics of physically realizable solutions. As rotation effect changes, possible physically realizable fully-developed flows can be stable steady 2-cell state, stable multi-cell state, temporal periodic oscillation between symmetric/asymmetric 2-cell/4-cell flows, temporal oscillation with intermittency, temporal chaotic oscillation and temporal oscillation with pseudo intermittency. Among these possible physically realizable fully developed flows, stable multi-cell state and stable steady 2-cell state exist as dual stable. And oscillation with pseudo intermittency is a new phenomenon. In addition to the temporal oscillation with intermittency, sudden shift from stationary stable solution to temporal chaotic oscillation is identified to be another way of onset of chaos.

  20. Prediction of surface roughness and cutting force under MQL turning of AISI 4340 with nano fluid by using response surface methodology

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Patole, Pralhad B.; Kulkarni, Vivek V.

    2018-06-01

    This paper presents an investigation into the minimum quantity lubrication mode with nano fluid during turning of alloy steel AISI 4340 work piece material with the objective of experimental model in order to predict surface roughness and cutting force and analyze effect of process parameters on machinability. Full factorial design matrix was used for experimental plan. According to design of experiment surface roughness and cutting force were measured. The relationship between the response variables and the process parameters is determined through the response surface methodology, using a quadratic regression model. Results show how much surface roughness is mainly influenced by feed rate and cutting speed. The depth of cut exhibits maximum influence on cutting force components as compared to the feed rate and cutting speed. The values predicted from the model and experimental values are very close to each other.