Simultaneous attitude control and trajectory tracking of a micro quadrotor: a SNAC aided nonlinear dynamic inversion approach

This paper presents an advanced single network adaptive critic (SNAC) aided nonlinear dynamic inversion (NDI) approach for simultaneous attitude control and trajectory tracking of a micro-quadrotor. Control of micro-quadrotors is a challenging problem due to its small size, strong coupling in pitch-yaw-roll and aerodynamic effects that often need to be ignored in the control design process to avoid mathematical complexities. In the proposed SNAC aided NDI approach, the gains of the dynamic inversion design are selected in such a way that the resulting controller behaves closely to a pre-synthesized SNAC controller for the output regulation problem. However, since SNAC is based on optimal control theory, it makes the dynamic inversion controller to operate near optimal and enhances its robustness property as well. More important, it retains two major benefits of dynamic inversion: (i) closed form expression of the controller and (ii) easy scalability to command tracking application even without any apriori knowledge of the reference command. Effectiveness of the proposed controller is demonstrated from six degree-of-freedom simulation studies of a micro-quadrotor. It has also been observed that the proposed SNAC aided NDI approach is more robust to modeling inaccuracies, as compared to the NDI controller designed independently from time domain specifications.

A structural and spectroscopic investigation of reduced graphene oxide under high pressure

The effect of high pressure on reduced graphene oxide (RGO) has been investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and infrared (IR) absorption spectroscopy. Our XRD measurements show two-step reversible compression in the inter-layer spacing of RGO whereas intra-layer ordering exhibits a high pressure behavior similar to that of graphite up to 20 GPa. The line shape analysis of (100) peak, representing the intra-layer ordering, suggests presence of local out of plane distortions in RGO in the form of puckered regions which progressively straighten out as a function of pressure. IR measurements show reversible changes in spectroscopic features attributed to remnant functional groups in the inter-layer region. These measurements suggest high stability and recovering ability of RGO under pressure cycling. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Studies on microscopic structure of diesel sprays under atmospheric and high gas pressures

In the present work, the spray structure of diesel from a 200-mu m, single-hole solenoid injector is studied using microscopic imaging at injection pressures of 700, 1000 and 1400 bar for various gas pressures. A long-distance microscope with a high resolution camera is used for spray visualization with a direct imaging technique. This study shows that even at very high injection pressures, the spray structure in an ambient environment of atmospheric pressure reveals presence of entangled ligaments and non-spherical droplets during the injection period. With increase in the injection pressure, the ligaments tend to get smaller and spread radially. The spray structure studies are also conducted at high gas pressures in a specially designed high pressure chamber with optical access. The near nozzle spray structure at the end of the injection shows that the liquid jet breakup is improved with increase in gas density. The droplet size measurement is possible only late in the injection duration when the breakup appears to be complete and mostly spherical droplets are observed. Hence, droplet size measurements are performed after 1.3 ms from start of the injection pulse. Spatial and temporal variation in Sauter Mean `Diameter (SMD) is observed and reported for the case corresponding to an injection pressure of 700 bar. Overall, this study has highlighted the importance of verifying the extentof atomization and droplet shape even in dense sprays before using conventional dropsizing methods such as PDPA.

Fermions in Synthetic Non-Abelian Gauge Fields

Quantum emulation property of the cold atoms has generated a lot of interest in studying systems with synthetic gauge fields. In this article, we describe the physics of two component Fermi gas in the presence of synthetic non-Abelian SU(2) gauge fields. Even for the non-interacting system with the gauge fields, there is an interesting change in the topology of the Fermi surface by tuning only the gauge field strength. When a trapping potential is used in conjunction with the gauge fields, the non-interacting system has the ability to produce novel Hamiltonians and show characteristic change in the density profile of the cloud. Without trap, the gauge fields act as an attractive interaction amplifier and for special kinds of gauge field configurations, there are two-body bound states for any attraction even in three dimensions. For a many body system, the gauge fields can induce a crossover from a weak superfluid to a strong superfluid with transition temperature as high as the Fermi temperature. The superfluid state obtained for a very large gauge field strength is a superfluid of new kind of bosons, called ``rashbons'', the properties of which are independent of its constituent two component fermions and are solely determined by the gauge field strength. We also discuss the collective excitations over the superfluid ground states and the experimental relevance of the physics.

Transverse orthotropic elastic moduli of bundled coated thin elliptical tubes

Light weight structures with tailored mechanical properties have evolved beyond regular hexagonal/circular honeycomb topology. For applications which demand anisotropic mechanical properties, elliptical-celled structures offer interesting features. This paper characterizes the anisotropic in-plane elastic response of coated thin elliptical tubes in different array patterns viz, close-packed, diagonal and rectangular patterns under compression. This paper also extends earlier works on elliptical close-packed structure to a more general case of coated tubes. Theoretical framework using thin ring theory provides formulae in terms of geometric and material parameters. These are compared with a series of FE simulations using contact elements. The FE results are presented as graphs to aid in design. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Symmetric supercapacitor based on partially exfoliated and reduced graphite oxide in neutral aqueous electrolyte

The partially exfoliated and reduced graphite oxide (PE-RGO) is prepared by low temperature thermal exfoliation of graphite oxide under air atmosphere. A symmetric carbon/carbon supercapacitor is studied in a Na2SO4 aqueous electrolyte. The discharge capacitance is 92 F g(-1), when symmetric cell is cycled between the potential ranges from 0 to 1.6 V. This system demonstrates a stable charge/discharge cycle behavior up to 3000 cycles when the cell is operated at a voltage window of 1.6 V. The utilization ratio of potential window is 90% for this system is attributed to the more negative value of electrodes potential when the cell voltage is set to 0 V. The low-temperature exfoliation approach is convenient for mass production of graphenes at low cost and it can be used as electrode material for energy storage applications. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The role of buoyancy in polarity reversals of the geodynamo

We investigate polarity reversals in the geodynamo using a rotating, convection-driven dynamo model. As the flow in rapidly rotating convection is dominated by columns aligned with the axis of rotation, the focus is on the dynamics of columnar vortices. By studying the growth of a seed magnetic field to a stable axial dipole field, we show that the magnetic field acts in ways that significantly enhance the relative helicity between cyclonic and anticyclonic vortices. This flow asymmetry is the hallmark of a dipolar dynamo. Strong buoyancy, on the other hand, offsets the effect of the magnetic field, establishing parity between positive and negative vortices. As the dipole field is deprived of the helicity required to support itself, the dynamo is pushed into a reversing state. This is a likely regime for polarity reversals in the Earth's core. The integral lengthscale at which buoyancy injects energy is not significantly different from the convective flow lengthscale, which implies that buoyancy does not feed vortices at the small scales where non-linear inertia is present. The lengthscale at which the Lorentz force acts in the reversing dynamo is small, which may allow the passive presence of non-linear inertia in the small scales.

A phylogeny of the only ground-dwelling radiation of Cyrtodactylus (Squamata, Gekkonidae): diversification of Geckoella across peninsular India and Sri Lanka

The subgenus Geckoella, the only ground-dwelling radiation within Cyrtodactylus, closely overlaps in distribution with brookii group Hemidactylus in peninsular India and Sri Lanka. Both groups have Oligocene origins, the latter with over thrice as many described species. The striking difference in species richness led us to believe that Geckoella diversity is underestimated, and we sampled for Geckoella across peninsular India. A multi-locus phylogeny reveals Geckoella diversity is hugely underestimated, with at least seven undescribed species, doubling previously known richness. Strikingly, the new species correspond to cryptic lineages within described Indian species (complexes); a number of these endemic lineages from the hills of peninsular India outside the Western Ghats, highlighting the undocumented diversity of the Indian dry zone. The Geckoella phylogeny demonstrates deep splits between the Indian species and Sri Lankan G. triedrus, and between Indian dry and wet zone clades, dating back to the late Oligocene. Geckoella and brookii group Hemidactylus show contrasting diversification patterns. Geckoella shows signals of niche conservatism and appears to have retained its ancestral forest habitat. The late Miocene burst in speciation in Geckoella may be linked to the expansion of rain forests during the mid-Miocene climatic optimum and subsequent fragmentation with increasing late Miocene aridification. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Combined inhalation and oral supplementation of Vitamin A and Vitamin D: A possible prevention and therapy for tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is continuing as a problem of mankind. With evolution, MDR and XDR forms of tuberculosis have emerged from drug sensitive strain. MDR and XDR strains are resistant to most of the antibiotics, making the management more difficult. BCG vaccine is not providing complete protection against tuberculosis. Therefore new infections are spreading at a tremendous rate. At the present moment there is experimental evidence to believe that Vitamin A and Vitamin D has anti-mycobacterial property. It is in this context, we have hypothesized a host based approach using the above vitamins that can cause possible prevention and cure of tuberculosis with minimal chance of resistance or toxicity. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dependence of shear yield strain and shear transformation zone on the glass transition temperature in thin film metallic glasses

The dependence of shear yield strain, the activation energy and volume of shear transformation zone on the glass transition temperature was investigated through the analysis of statistical distributions of the first pop-in events during spherical indentation of four different thin film metallic glasses. Only the Cu-Zr metallic glass exhibits a bimodal distribution of the first pop-in loads, whereas W-Ru-B, Zr-Cu-Ni-Al and La-Co-Al metallic glasses show an unimodal distribution. Results show that shear yield strain and activation energy of shear transformation zone decrease whereas the volume of shear transformation zone increases with increasing homologous temperature, indicating that it is the activation energy rather than the volume of shear transformation zone that controls shear yield strain. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Universality of the Stochastic Airy Operator

We introduce a new method for studying universality of random matrices. Let T-n be the Jacobi matrix associated to the Dyson beta ensemble with uniformly convex polynomial potential. We show that after scaling, Tn converges to the stochastic Airy operator. In particular, the top edge of the Dyson beta ensemble and the corresponding eigenvectors are universal. As a byproduct, these ideas lead to conjectured operator limits for the entire family of soft edge distributions. (C) 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Comportamiento de dos cultivares clonales de quequisque (Xanthosoma sagittifolium (L.) Schott) en condiciones de Yolaina, Nueva Guinea, postrera 99-00

Con el objetivo de evaluar el comportamiento morfológico, fenológico y de rendimiento, así como la incidencia de enfermedades virales, fungosas y bacterianas, y su efecto sobre los rendimientos de los cultivares Masaya y Nueva Guinea se estableció un ensayo en condiciones y tecnología de productores de Nueva Guinea. El estudio se estableció en un esquema de bloques completos al azar, con cuatro bloques de dos tratamientos cada uno. Se evaluaron las variables morfológicas: altura de planta (cm), número de hojas, área foliar (cm), número de hijos y grosor de tallo. Las variables de rendimiento evaluadas: número de cormelos, peso de cormelos por planta (g), peso promedio por cormelos (g) y Largo por ancho de cormelos (cm2). El ANDEVA a las variables morfológicas demostró que ambos genotipos se comportaron de manera similar, sin embargo, el cultivar Masaya expresó siempre los mejores valores. En los componentes de rendimientos las variables números de cormelos por planta, peso de cormelos por planta y LxA de los cormelos ambos genotipos registraron similares resultados. El clon Masaya expresó los mayores valores en las variables peso de cormelos por planta y dimensión de cormelos, en el caso del variable número de cormelos por planta lo hizo el cv. Nueva Guinea. La variable peso de cormelos mostró diferencias estadísticas significativas a favor del cultivar Masaya 214.43 qq/mz. y 199.72 qq/mz para el cultivar Nueva Guinea. El primer test de ELISA a las muestras de hojas de plantas que presentaban los síntomas confirmó que 100% de las muestras evaluadas presentaron el virus en sus estructuras. Cuatro conteos visuales posteriores indicaron que los valores de plantas que presentaban los síntomas varían en cada fecha de evaluación entre un 9.7 y 30% para el cultivar Nueva Guinea y entre 8.5 y 33.1 % para el cultivar Masaya. No se encontraron diferencias estadísticas significativas en la variable número de cormelos para los tratamientos MyPU (parcela útil), MyEI (efectivamente infectada), NGPU y NGEI. Las variables peso total de cormelos, peso promedio de cormelos por planta y dimensión de cormelo reportaron diferencias estadísticas significativas entre ellos, el cultivar MyEI se fue superior en dichas variables, el cultivar MyPU obtuvo promedios menores pero a la vez superiores a los obtenidos por los cultivares NGEI y NGPU. Las variables de rendimiento dentro de las plantas de la parcela útil (PU) y las plantas efectivamente infectadas (El) de cada cultivar mostraron ligeras diferencias , sin embargo las plantas El presentaron promedios mayores en relación a las plantas PU. Los conteos visuales de los síntomas de la bacteria Xanthomonas campestris registran los mayores valores el genotipo Nueva Guinea con 10% y el genotipo Masaya con 5% de incidencia a los 150 días. El cv. Masaya inicia la brotación de sus yemas con anticipación, en cambio, el ahijamiento fue similar en ambos genotipos. El cultivar Nueva Guinea alcanza el momento de cosecha en un menor período de tiempo, considerando la reducción prematura del área foliar y el número de hojas en relación al cv Masaya, lo mismo que la presencia de raíces y yemas axilares y apicales brotadas en los cormelos al momento de cosecha.

An incremental micromechanical scheme for nonlinear particulate composites

A general incremental micromechanical scheme for the nonlinear behavior of particulate composites is presented in this paper. The advantage of this scheme is that it can reflect partly the effects of the third invariant of the stress on the overall mechanical behavior of nonlinear composites. The difficulty involved is the determination of the effective compliance tensors of the anisotropic multiphase composites. This is completed by making use of the generalized self-consistent Mori-Tanaka method which was recently developed by Dai et al. (Polymer Composites 19(1998) 506-513; Acta Mechanica Solida 18 (1998) 199-208). Comparison with existing theoretical and numerical results demonstrates that the present incremental scheme is quite satisfactory. Based on this incremental scheme, the overall mechanical behavior of a hard-particle reinforced metal matrix composite with progressive particle debonding damage is investigated.