Soft robotic manipulators represent a rapidly evolving field characterized by inherent compliance,adaptability,and safe interactions within unstructured environments.Over the past decade(2015-2025),significant advance...Soft robotic manipulators represent a rapidly evolving field characterized by inherent compliance,adaptability,and safe interactions within unstructured environments.Over the past decade(2015-2025),significant advancements have trans-formed their capabilities through novel designs inspired by biological systems,advanced modeling frameworks,sophisti-cated control strategies,and integration into diverse real-world applications.Recent innovations in multifunctional mate-rials and emerging actuation technologies have markedly expanded manipulator performance,reliability,and dexterity.Concurrently,developments in modeling have progressed from simplified geometric methods toward highly accurate physics-based and hybrid data-driven approaches,substantially improving real-time prediction and controllability.Coupled with these developments,adaptive and robust control strategies-including learning-based techniques-have enabled unprec-edented autonomy and precision in challenging application domains such as Minimally Invasive Surgery(MIS),precision agriculture,deep-sea exploration,disaster recovery,and space missions.Despite these remarkable strides,key challenges remain,notably regarding scalability,long-term material durability,robust integrated sensing,and standardized evaluation procedures.This review comprehensively synthesizes recent advances,critically evaluates state-of-the-art methodologies,and systematically identifies existing gaps to provide a clear roadmap and targeted research directions,guiding future developments toward the broader adoption and optimal utilization of soft robotic manipulators.展开更多
Background:Biliary stent placement during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography(ERCP)is important for drainage in common bile duct(CBD)strictures,while the stent length is associated with many stent-related c...Background:Biliary stent placement during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography(ERCP)is important for drainage in common bile duct(CBD)strictures,while the stent length is associated with many stent-related complications.We aimed to develop an artificial intelligence(AI)model for stent length selection during ERCP.Methods:Images of the patients who underwent ERCP and were diagnosed with CBD strictures were collected.Training involved identifying and delineating the duodenoscope,CBD and guidewire,calculating the pixel distance of the target guidewire and determining the required biliary stent length based on the diameter of the duodenoscope.The performance of the model,accuracy for length calculation and the assistance for endoscopists were validated using the testing set.Results:A total of 794 images from 431 patients were included and data augmentation was conducted.The mean intersection over union(mIoU)for duodenoscope,CBD and guidewire were 90.46%,84.79%and 84.64%,respectively.The accuracy in identifying the strictures was 97.58%(121/124).The accuracy for stent length calculation achieved 85.95%(104/121)with an error margin of±1 cm.The mean absolute error(MAE)and mean relative error(MRE)of the AI model was 0.81 cm and 0.13,respectively.The AI model could reduce approximately 202 mGycm^(2)of the radiation exposure for each patient.It significantly improved both MAE and MRE for less experienced endoscopists(P=0.01 and P=0.02,respectively).Conclusions:The AI model could accurately identify duodenoscope,CBD and guidewire,enabling accurate strictures identification and stent length selection.展开更多
BACKGROUND Inflammatory bowel disease(IBD)is a global health burden that affects millions of individuals worldwide,necessitating extensive patient education.Large language models(LLMs)hold promise for addressing patie...BACKGROUND Inflammatory bowel disease(IBD)is a global health burden that affects millions of individuals worldwide,necessitating extensive patient education.Large language models(LLMs)hold promise for addressing patient information needs.However,LLM use to deliver accurate and comprehensible IBD-related medical information has yet to be thoroughly investigated.AIM To assess the utility of three LLMs(ChatGPT-4.0,Claude-3-Opus,and Gemini-1.5-Pro)as a reference point for patients with IBD.METHODS In this comparative study,two gastroenterology experts generated 15 IBD-related questions that reflected common patient concerns.These questions were used to evaluate the performance of the three LLMs.The answers provided by each model were independently assessed by three IBD-related medical experts using a Likert scale focusing on accuracy,comprehensibility,and correlation.Simultaneously,three patients were invited to evaluate the comprehensibility of their answers.Finally,a readability assessment was performed.RESULTS Overall,each of the LLMs achieved satisfactory levels of accuracy,comprehensibility,and completeness when answering IBD-related questions,although their performance varies.All of the investigated models demonstrated strengths in providing basic disease information such as IBD definition as well as its common symptoms and diagnostic methods.Nevertheless,when dealing with more complex medical advice,such as medication side effects,dietary adjustments,and complication risks,the quality of answers was inconsistent between the LLMs.Notably,Claude-3-Opus generated answers with better readability than the other two models.CONCLUSION LLMs have the potential as educational tools for patients with IBD;however,there are discrepancies between the models.Further optimization and the development of specialized models are necessary to ensure the accuracy and safety of the information provided.展开更多
Recycling plastic waste into triboelectric nanogenerators(TENGs)presents a sustainable approach to energy harvesting,self-powered sensing,and environmental remediation.This study investigates the recycling of polyviny...Recycling plastic waste into triboelectric nanogenerators(TENGs)presents a sustainable approach to energy harvesting,self-powered sensing,and environmental remediation.This study investigates the recycling of polyvinyl chloride(PVC)pipe waste polymers into nanofibers(NFs)optimized for TENG applications.We focused on optimizing the morphology of recycled PVC polymer to NFs and enhancing their piezoelectric properties by incorporating ZnO nanoparticles(NPs).The optimized PVC/0.5 wt%ZnO NFs were tested with Nylon-6 NFs,and copper(Cu)electrodes.The Nylon-6 NFs exhibited a power density of 726.3μWcm^(-2)—1.13 times higher than Cu and maintained 90%stability after 172800 cycles,successfully powering various colored LEDs.Additionally,a 3D-designed device was developed to harvest energy from biomechanical movements such as finger tapping,hand tapping,and foot pressing,making it suitable for wearable energy harvesting,automatic switches,and invisible sensors in surveillance systems.This study demonstrates that recycling polymers for TENG devices can effectively address energy,sensor,and environmental challenges.展开更多
Scrap metals are typically covered with surface contaminants,such as paint,dust,and rust,which can significantly affect the emission spectrum during laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy(LIBS)based sorting.In this stud...Scrap metals are typically covered with surface contaminants,such as paint,dust,and rust,which can significantly affect the emission spectrum during laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy(LIBS)based sorting.In this study,the effects of paint layers on metal surfaces during LIBS classification were investigated.LIBS spectra were collected from metal surfaces painted with black and white paints by ablation with a nanosecond pulsed laser(wavelength=1064 nm,pulse width=7 ns).For the black-painted samples,the LIBS spectra showed a broad background emission,emission lines unrelated to the target metals,large shot-to-shot variation,and a relatively low signal intensity of the target metal,causing poor classification accuracy even at high shot numbers.Cleaning the black paint layer by ablating over a wide area prior to LIBS analysis resulted in high classification accuracy with fewer shot numbers.A method to determine the number of cleaning shots necessary to obtain high classification accuracy and high throughput is proposed on the basis of the change in LIBS signal intensity during cleaning shots.For the white-painted samples,the paint peeled off the metal surface after the first shot,and strong LIBS signals were measured after the following shot,which were attributed to the nanoparticles generated by the ablation of the paint,allowing an accurate classification after only two shots.The results demonstrate that different approaches must be employed depending on the paint color to achieve high classification accuracy with fewer shot numbers.展开更多
Knots are discovered in a wide range of systems,from DNA and proteins to catheters and umbilical cords,and have thus attracted much attention from physicists and biophysicists.Langevin dynamics simulations were perfor...Knots are discovered in a wide range of systems,from DNA and proteins to catheters and umbilical cords,and have thus attracted much attention from physicists and biophysicists.Langevin dynamics simulations were performed to study the knotting properties of coarsegrained knotted circular semiflexible polyelectrolyte (PE) in solutions of different concentrations of trivalent salt.We find that the length and position of the knotted region can be controlled by tuning the bending rigidity b of the PE and the salt concentration C_(S).We find that the knot length varies nonmonotonically with b in the presence of salt,and the knot localizes and is the tightest at b=5.As b>5,the knot swells with b increase.In addition,similar modulations of the knot size and position can be achieved by varying the salt concentration C_(S).The knot length varies nonmonotonically with C_(S) for b>0.The knot localizes and becomes tightest at C_(S)=1.5×10^(-4) mol/L in the range of C_(S)≤1.5×10^(-4) mol/L.As C_(S)>1.5×10^(-4) mol/L,the knot of the circular semiflexible PE swells at the expense of the overall size of the PE.Our results lay the foundation for achieving broader and more precise external adjustability of knotted PE size and knot length.展开更多
Myocardial infarction(MI)is one of the leading causes of death globally among cardiovascular diseases,necessitating modern and accurate diagnostics for cardiac patient conditions.Among the available functional diagnos...Myocardial infarction(MI)is one of the leading causes of death globally among cardiovascular diseases,necessitating modern and accurate diagnostics for cardiac patient conditions.Among the available functional diagnostic methods,electrocardiography(ECG)is particularly well-known for its ability to detect MI.However,confirming its accuracy—particularly in identifying the localization of myocardial damage—often presents challenges in practice.This study,therefore,proposes a new approach based on machine learning models for the analysis of 12-lead ECG data to accurately identify the localization of MI.In particular,the learning vector quantization(LVQ)algorithm was applied,considering the contribution of each ECG lead in the 12-channel system,which obtained an accuracy of 87%in localizing damaged myocardium.The developed model was tested on verified data from the PTB database,including 445 ECG recordings from both healthy individuals and MI-diagnosed patients.The results demonstrated that the 12-lead ECG system allows for a comprehensive understanding of cardiac activities in myocardial infarction patients,serving as an essential tool for the diagnosis of myocardial conditions and localizing their damage.A comprehensive comparison was performed,including CNN,SVM,and Logistic Regression,to evaluate the proposed LVQ model.The results demonstrate that the LVQ model achieves competitive performance in diagnostic tasks while maintaining computational efficiency,making it suitable for resource-constrained environments.This study also applies a carefully designed data pre-processing flow,including class balancing and noise removal,which improves the reliability and reproducibility of the results.These aspects highlight the potential application of the LVQ model in cardiac diagnostics,opening up prospects for its use along with more complex neural network architectures.展开更多
An improved meshfree moving-Kriging(MK)formulation for free vibration analysis of functionally graded material-functionally graded carbon nanotube-reinforced composite(FGM-FGCNTRC)sandwich shells is first proposed in ...An improved meshfree moving-Kriging(MK)formulation for free vibration analysis of functionally graded material-functionally graded carbon nanotube-reinforced composite(FGM-FGCNTRC)sandwich shells is first proposed in this article.The proposed sandwich structure consists of skins of FGM layers and an FGCNTRC core.This structure possesses all the advantages of FGM and FGCNTRC,including high electrical or thermal insulating properties,high fatigue resistance,good corrosion resistance,high stiffness,low density,high strength,and high aspect ratios.Such sandwich structures can be used to replace conventional FGM structures.The present formulation has been established by using an improved meshfree MK method and the first-order shear deformation shell theory(FSDT).The effective material characteristics of the FGM-skin layers and the FGCNTRC core were calculated using the rule of mixture.Key parameters and factors such as the thickness-to-radius ratio,the length-to-radius ratio,layer-thickness ratios,CNT distributions,the volume fraction of CNTs,the power-law index,and various boundary conditions were rigorously investigated.A nonlinear CNT distribution that we term FG-nX is first proposed in this work,and many new results of FGM-FGCNTRC sandwich shells have been provided.展开更多
The evolution of the microstructure and morphology of Cu55Ni45 and Cu60Ni40 alloys under varying degrees of undercooling was investigated through molten glass purification and cyclic superheating technology.By increas...The evolution of the microstructure and morphology of Cu55Ni45 and Cu60Ni40 alloys under varying degrees of undercooling was investigated through molten glass purification and cyclic superheating technology.By increasing the Cu content,the effect of Cu on the evolution of the microstructure and morphology of the Cu-Ni alloy during undercooling was studied.The mechanism of grain refinement at different degrees of undercooling and the effect of Cu content on its solidification behaviour were investigated.The solidification behaviour of Cu55Ni45 and Cu60Ni40 alloys was investigated using infrared thermometry and high-speed photography.The results indicate that both Cu55Ni45 and Cu60Ni40 alloy melts undergo only one recalescence during rapid solidification.The degree of recalescence increases approximately linearly with increasing undercooling.The solidification front of the alloy melts undergoes a transition process from a small-angle plane to a sharp front and then to a smooth arc.However,the growth of the subcooled melt is constrained to a narrow range,facilitating the formation of a coarse dendritic crystal morphology in the Cu-Ni alloy.At large undercooling,the stress breakdown of the directionally growing dendrites is primarily caused by thermal diffusion.The strain remaining in the dendritic fragments provides the driving force for recrystallisation of the tissue to occur,which in turn refines the tissue.展开更多
This investigation aims to analyze thermal buckling and post-buckling behavior of functionally graded graphene nanoplateletreinforced composite(FG-GPLRC)beams.The beams are classified into two types of ideal and non-i...This investigation aims to analyze thermal buckling and post-buckling behavior of functionally graded graphene nanoplateletreinforced composite(FG-GPLRC)beams.The beams are classified into two types of ideal and non-ideal FG-GPLRC beams in which the ideal beams have smooth profiles of material distributions and another beams have layer-wise distributions of materials.The material profiles of the ideal beams are utilized as the controlling tracks for producing the material distributions of the non-ideal beams via a layer-to-layer integration technique.This technique confirms that the overall weight fraction of the materials is the same for both types of beams.The proposed models can be used to determine the material properties of the beams for further investigation on thermal buckling and post-buckling of the beams.Third-order shear deformation theory is employed to construct the energy equations of the problems,and then they are solved by the implementation of the Jacobi-Ritz method cooperating with the direct iteration procedure and Newton-Raphson technique.From our investigation,it can be disclosed that when non-ideal beams are created using ideal beams parabolic profile,the results differ significantly.However,the differences between the results of ideal and non-ideal beams can be eliminated by adding more layers.展开更多
Density functional theory(DFT)studies were performed on the lattice parameters,electronic band structure,and optical constants under pressure up to 20 GPa in order to obtain insight into the electronic and optical pro...Density functional theory(DFT)studies were performed on the lattice parameters,electronic band structure,and optical constants under pressure up to 20 GPa in order to obtain insight into the electronic and optical properties of LiZnAs.The calculated results show LiZnAs is a semiconductor with a direct gap of 0.86 eV,which is smaller than the experimental value 1.1 eV.It also indicates that the structural parameters such as lattice parameters and cell volume show inverse relation to the pressure and shows smooth decreasing behavior from 0 to 20 GPa.Meanwhile,the pressure dependence of the electronic band structure,density of states and partial density of states of LiZnAs up to 20 GPa were presented.And we found that the band gap increased with the pressure.Moreover,the evolution of the dielectric function,absorption coefficient a(w),reflectivity R(w),the refractive index n(w),and the extinction coefficient k(w)of LiZnAs under pressure were presented.According to our work,we found that the optical properties of LiZnAs undergo a blue shift with increasing pressure.These results suggest technological applications of such materials in extreme environments.展开更多
The rapid development of nanotechnology has significantly revolutionized wearable electronics and expanded their functionality.Through introducing innovative solutions for energy harvesting and autonomous sensing,this...The rapid development of nanotechnology has significantly revolutionized wearable electronics and expanded their functionality.Through introducing innovative solutions for energy harvesting and autonomous sensing,this research presents a cost-effective strategy to enhance the performance of triboelectric nanogenerators(TENGs).The TENG was fabricated from polyvinylidene fluoride(PVDF)and N,N'-poly(methyl methacrylate)(PMMA)blend with a porous structure via a novel optimized quenching method.The developed approach results in a highβ-phase content(85.7%)PVDF/3wt.%PMMA porous blend,known for its superior piezoelectric properties.PVDF/3wt.%PMMA modified porous TENG demonstrates remarkable electrical output,with a dielectric constant of 40 and an open-circuit voltage of approximately 600 V.The porous matrix notably increases durability,enduring over 36000 operational cycles without performance degradation.Moreover,practical applications were explored in this research,including powering LEDs and pacemakers with a maximum power output of 750mWm^(-2).Also,TENG served as a self-powered tactile sensor for robotic applications in various temperature conditions.The work highlights the potential of the PVDF/PMMA porous blend to utilize the next-generation self-powered sensors and power small electronic devices.展开更多
An important problem in engineering is the unknown parameters estimation in nonlinear systems.In this paper,a novel adaptive particle swarm optimization (APSO) method is proposed to solve this problem.This work consid...An important problem in engineering is the unknown parameters estimation in nonlinear systems.In this paper,a novel adaptive particle swarm optimization (APSO) method is proposed to solve this problem.This work considers two new aspects,namely an adaptive mutation mechanism and a dynamic inertia weight into the conventional particle swarm optimization (PSO) method.These mechanisms are employed to enhance global search ability and to increase accuracy.First,three well-known benchmark functions namely Griewank,Rosenbrock and Rastrigrin are utilized to test the ability of a search algorithm for identifying the global optimum.The performance of the proposed APSO is compared with advanced algorithms such as a nonlinearly decreasing weight PSO (NDWPSO) and a real-coded genetic algorithm (GA),in terms of parameter accuracy and convergence speed.It is confirmed that the proposed APSO is more successful than other aforementioned algorithms.Finally,the feasibility of this algorithm is demonstrated through estimating the parameters of two kinds of highly nonlinear systems as the case studies.展开更多
This paper presents a distributed control protocol for consensus control of multi-agent systems(MASs) under external disturbances and network imperfections, including communication delay and random packet dropout. To ...This paper presents a distributed control protocol for consensus control of multi-agent systems(MASs) under external disturbances and network imperfections, including communication delay and random packet dropout. To comply with the discrete nature of networked systems, in contrast to most of the existing work for MASs under network imperfections,the agents are modeled by discrete-time dynamics. The communication network is considered to be undirected, its delay is considered to be time-varying but bounded, and its packet dropout is modeled by a Bernoulli distributed white sequence.Sufficient conditions in terms of linear matrix inequalities(LMIs)for asymptotic mean-square consensus stability are derived under network imperfections without considering external disturbances.A desired disturbance attenuation level in the presence of both external disturbances and network imperfections is also provided.A simulation example is given to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach in coping with network imperfection and disturbances.展开更多
The effects of ultrasonic vibration assisted（UVA） treatment on the microstructures and mechanical properties of MB3/AZ31 dissimilar magnesium（Mg） alloy joints were studied by microstructural characterization, micr...The effects of ultrasonic vibration assisted（UVA） treatment on the microstructures and mechanical properties of MB3/AZ31 dissimilar magnesium（Mg） alloy joints were studied by microstructural characterization, micro-hardness testing and tensile testing. Results indicate that the welding pores are eliminated and coarse a-Mg grains of fusion zone are refined to 26 μm, owing to the acoustic streaming effect and cavitation effect induced by the UVA treatment with an optimal ultrasonic power of 1.0 kW.In addition, Mg;Al;precipitation phases are fine and uniformly distributed in the whole fusion zone of weldment. Micro-hardness of fusion zone of the Mg alloy joints increases to 53.5 HV after UVA process,and the maximum tensile strength with optimized UVA treatment increases to 263 MPa, which leads to fracture occurrence in the Mg alloy base plate. Eventually, it is experimentally demonstrated that robust MB3/AZ31 Mg alloy joints can be obtained by UVA process.展开更多
Fuzzy control of robot manipulators with a decentralized structure is facing a serious challenge. The state-space model of a robotic system including the robot manipulator and motors is in non-companion form, multivar...Fuzzy control of robot manipulators with a decentralized structure is facing a serious challenge. The state-space model of a robotic system including the robot manipulator and motors is in non-companion form, multivariable, highly nonlinear, and heavily coupled with a variable input gain matrix. Considering the problem, causes and solutions, we use voltage control strategy and convergence analysis to design a novel precise robust fuzzy control （PRFC） approach for electrically driven robot manipulators. The proposed fuzzy controller is Mamdani type and has a decentralized structure with guaranteed stability. In order to obtain a precise response, we regulate a fuzzy rule which governs the origin of the tracking space. The proposed design is verified by stability analysis. Simulations illustrate the superiority of the PRFC over a proprotional derivative like （PD-like） fuzzy controller applied on a selective compliant assembly robot arm （SCARA） driven by permanent magnet DC motors.展开更多
ype-1 fuzzy sets cannot fully handle the uncertainties. To overcome the problem, type2 fuzzy sets have been proposed. The novelty of this paper is using interval type-2 fuzzy logic controller （IT2FLC） to control a f...ype-1 fuzzy sets cannot fully handle the uncertainties. To overcome the problem, type2 fuzzy sets have been proposed. The novelty of this paper is using interval type-2 fuzzy logic controller （IT2FLC） to control a flexible-joint robot with voltage control strategy. In order to take into account the whole robotic system including the dynamics of actuators and the robot manipulator, the voltages of motors are used as inputs of the system. To highlight the capabilities of the control system, a flexible joint robot which is highly nonlinear, heavily coupled and uncertain is used. In addition, to improve the control performance, the parameters of the primary membership functions of IT2FLC are optimized using particle swarm optimization （PSO）. A comparative study between the proposed IT2FLC and type-1 fuzzy logic controller （T1FLC） is presented to better assess their respective performance in presence of external disturbance and unmodelled dynamics. Stability analysis is presented and the effectiveness of the proposed control approach is demonstrated by simulations using a two-link flexible-joint robot driven by permanent magnet direct current motors. Simulation results show the superiority of the IT2FLC over the T1FLC in terms of accuracy, robustness and interpretability.展开更多
A time-domain electromagnetic transmitter（TDET） with great power and large current was designed by using a closed-loop phase shifting control strategy. A clamping voltage source circuit was applied in this system to...A time-domain electromagnetic transmitter（TDET） with great power and large current was designed by using a closed-loop phase shifting control strategy. A clamping voltage source circuit was applied in this system to improve the falling edge of emission current and shorten the turn-off time. The simulated results showed that this TDET exhibited the advantages including a large current, strong capability for rapid turn-off, stably output voltage, preferably dynamic performance, a widely adjustable range in transmitting voltage, accurate measurement precision.展开更多
In order to improve the Power Quality(PQ)of traction power supply system and reduce the power rating and operation cost of compensator,a Static VAR Compensator(SVC)integrated Railway Power Conditioner(RPC)is presented...In order to improve the Power Quality(PQ)of traction power supply system and reduce the power rating and operation cost of compensator,a Static VAR Compensator(SVC)integrated Railway Power Conditioner(RPC)is presented in this paper.RPC is a widely used device in the AC electrified railway systems to enhance the PQ indices of the main network.The next generation of this equipment is Active Power Quality Compensator(APQC).The major concern of these compensators is their high kVA rating.In this paper,a hybrid technique is proposed to solve aforementioned problems.A combination of SVC as an auxiliary device is employed together with the main compensators,i.e.,RPC and APQC that leads on to the reduction of power rating of the main compensators.The use of proposed scheme will cause to reduce significantly the initial investment cost of compensation system.The main compensators are only utilized to balance active powers of two adjacent feeder sections and suppress harmonic currents.The SVCs are used to compensate reactive power and suppress the third and fifth harmonic currents.In this paper firstly,the PQ compensation procedure in AC electrified railway is analyzed step by step.Then,the control strategies for SVC and the main compensators are presented.Finally,a simulation is fulfilled using Matlab/Simulink software to verify the effectiveness and validity of the proposed scheme and compensation strategy and also demonstrate that this technique could compensate all PQ problems.展开更多
The effects of heat input on the microstructures and mechanical properties of tungsten inert gas （TIG） butt-welded AZ31/MB3 dissimilar Mg alloys joint were investigated by microstructural observations, microhardness...The effects of heat input on the microstructures and mechanical properties of tungsten inert gas （TIG） butt-welded AZ31/MB3 dissimilar Mg alloys joint were investigated by microstructural observations, microhardness testing and tensile testing. The results reveal that with the increase of heat input, the width of welding seam increases obviously and the grains both in the fusion zone and the heat affected zone coarsen during TIG welding process. The tensile strength of butt-welded joint increases with the increase of heat input and the maximum joining strength of 242 MPa is obtained with wedding current of 90 A. However, lots of welding pores occur with the further increase of heat input, which results in the decrease of joining strength. It is experimentally demonstrated that robust joint can be obtained by TIG welding process.展开更多
基金Open access funding provided by The Science,Technology&Innovation Funding Authority(STDF)in cooperation with The Egyptian Knowledge Bank(EKB).
文摘Soft robotic manipulators represent a rapidly evolving field characterized by inherent compliance,adaptability,and safe interactions within unstructured environments.Over the past decade(2015-2025),significant advancements have trans-formed their capabilities through novel designs inspired by biological systems,advanced modeling frameworks,sophisti-cated control strategies,and integration into diverse real-world applications.Recent innovations in multifunctional mate-rials and emerging actuation technologies have markedly expanded manipulator performance,reliability,and dexterity.Concurrently,developments in modeling have progressed from simplified geometric methods toward highly accurate physics-based and hybrid data-driven approaches,substantially improving real-time prediction and controllability.Coupled with these developments,adaptive and robust control strategies-including learning-based techniques-have enabled unprec-edented autonomy and precision in challenging application domains such as Minimally Invasive Surgery(MIS),precision agriculture,deep-sea exploration,disaster recovery,and space missions.Despite these remarkable strides,key challenges remain,notably regarding scalability,long-term material durability,robust integrated sensing,and standardized evaluation procedures.This review comprehensively synthesizes recent advances,critically evaluates state-of-the-art methodologies,and systematically identifies existing gaps to provide a clear roadmap and targeted research directions,guiding future developments toward the broader adoption and optimal utilization of soft robotic manipulators.
基金supported by grants from the Taishan Scholars Program of Shandong Province(tsqn202312333)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(82470695).
文摘Background:Biliary stent placement during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography(ERCP)is important for drainage in common bile duct(CBD)strictures,while the stent length is associated with many stent-related complications.We aimed to develop an artificial intelligence(AI)model for stent length selection during ERCP.Methods:Images of the patients who underwent ERCP and were diagnosed with CBD strictures were collected.Training involved identifying and delineating the duodenoscope,CBD and guidewire,calculating the pixel distance of the target guidewire and determining the required biliary stent length based on the diameter of the duodenoscope.The performance of the model,accuracy for length calculation and the assistance for endoscopists were validated using the testing set.Results:A total of 794 images from 431 patients were included and data augmentation was conducted.The mean intersection over union(mIoU)for duodenoscope,CBD and guidewire were 90.46%,84.79%and 84.64%,respectively.The accuracy in identifying the strictures was 97.58%(121/124).The accuracy for stent length calculation achieved 85.95%(104/121)with an error margin of±1 cm.The mean absolute error(MAE)and mean relative error(MRE)of the AI model was 0.81 cm and 0.13,respectively.The AI model could reduce approximately 202 mGycm^(2)of the radiation exposure for each patient.It significantly improved both MAE and MRE for less experienced endoscopists(P=0.01 and P=0.02,respectively).Conclusions:The AI model could accurately identify duodenoscope,CBD and guidewire,enabling accurate strictures identification and stent length selection.
基金Supported by the China Health Promotion Foundation Young Doctors'Research Foundation for Inflammatory Bowel Disease,the Taishan Scholars Program of Shandong Province,China,No.tsqn202306343National Natural Science Foundation of China,No.82270578.
文摘BACKGROUND Inflammatory bowel disease(IBD)is a global health burden that affects millions of individuals worldwide,necessitating extensive patient education.Large language models(LLMs)hold promise for addressing patient information needs.However,LLM use to deliver accurate and comprehensible IBD-related medical information has yet to be thoroughly investigated.AIM To assess the utility of three LLMs(ChatGPT-4.0,Claude-3-Opus,and Gemini-1.5-Pro)as a reference point for patients with IBD.METHODS In this comparative study,two gastroenterology experts generated 15 IBD-related questions that reflected common patient concerns.These questions were used to evaluate the performance of the three LLMs.The answers provided by each model were independently assessed by three IBD-related medical experts using a Likert scale focusing on accuracy,comprehensibility,and correlation.Simultaneously,three patients were invited to evaluate the comprehensibility of their answers.Finally,a readability assessment was performed.RESULTS Overall,each of the LLMs achieved satisfactory levels of accuracy,comprehensibility,and completeness when answering IBD-related questions,although their performance varies.All of the investigated models demonstrated strengths in providing basic disease information such as IBD definition as well as its common symptoms and diagnostic methods.Nevertheless,when dealing with more complex medical advice,such as medication side effects,dietary adjustments,and complication risks,the quality of answers was inconsistent between the LLMs.Notably,Claude-3-Opus generated answers with better readability than the other two models.CONCLUSION LLMs have the potential as educational tools for patients with IBD;however,there are discrepancies between the models.Further optimization and the development of specialized models are necessary to ensure the accuracy and safety of the information provided.
基金supported by the research projects AP23486880 from the Ministry of Higher EducationScience of the Republic of Kazakhstan and 111024CRP2010,20122022FD4135 from Nazarbayev University.
文摘Recycling plastic waste into triboelectric nanogenerators(TENGs)presents a sustainable approach to energy harvesting,self-powered sensing,and environmental remediation.This study investigates the recycling of polyvinyl chloride(PVC)pipe waste polymers into nanofibers(NFs)optimized for TENG applications.We focused on optimizing the morphology of recycled PVC polymer to NFs and enhancing their piezoelectric properties by incorporating ZnO nanoparticles(NPs).The optimized PVC/0.5 wt%ZnO NFs were tested with Nylon-6 NFs,and copper(Cu)electrodes.The Nylon-6 NFs exhibited a power density of 726.3μWcm^(-2)—1.13 times higher than Cu and maintained 90%stability after 172800 cycles,successfully powering various colored LEDs.Additionally,a 3D-designed device was developed to harvest energy from biomechanical movements such as finger tapping,hand tapping,and foot pressing,making it suitable for wearable energy harvesting,automatic switches,and invisible sensors in surveillance systems.This study demonstrates that recycling polymers for TENG devices can effectively address energy,sensor,and environmental challenges.
基金supported by the R&D Center for Valuable Recycling (Global-Top R&D Program)of the Ministry of Environment (No.2016002250003)。
文摘Scrap metals are typically covered with surface contaminants,such as paint,dust,and rust,which can significantly affect the emission spectrum during laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy(LIBS)based sorting.In this study,the effects of paint layers on metal surfaces during LIBS classification were investigated.LIBS spectra were collected from metal surfaces painted with black and white paints by ablation with a nanosecond pulsed laser(wavelength=1064 nm,pulse width=7 ns).For the black-painted samples,the LIBS spectra showed a broad background emission,emission lines unrelated to the target metals,large shot-to-shot variation,and a relatively low signal intensity of the target metal,causing poor classification accuracy even at high shot numbers.Cleaning the black paint layer by ablating over a wide area prior to LIBS analysis resulted in high classification accuracy with fewer shot numbers.A method to determine the number of cleaning shots necessary to obtain high classification accuracy and high throughput is proposed on the basis of the change in LIBS signal intensity during cleaning shots.For the white-painted samples,the paint peeled off the metal surface after the first shot,and strong LIBS signals were measured after the following shot,which were attributed to the nanoparticles generated by the ablation of the paint,allowing an accurate classification after only two shots.The results demonstrate that different approaches must be employed depending on the paint color to achieve high classification accuracy with fewer shot numbers.
基金financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 22363005)Jiangxi Provincial Natural Science Foundation (Nos. GJJ2200416 and 20202BABL203015)。
文摘Knots are discovered in a wide range of systems,from DNA and proteins to catheters and umbilical cords,and have thus attracted much attention from physicists and biophysicists.Langevin dynamics simulations were performed to study the knotting properties of coarsegrained knotted circular semiflexible polyelectrolyte (PE) in solutions of different concentrations of trivalent salt.We find that the length and position of the knotted region can be controlled by tuning the bending rigidity b of the PE and the salt concentration C_(S).We find that the knot length varies nonmonotonically with b in the presence of salt,and the knot localizes and is the tightest at b=5.As b>5,the knot swells with b increase.In addition,similar modulations of the knot size and position can be achieved by varying the salt concentration C_(S).The knot length varies nonmonotonically with C_(S) for b>0.The knot localizes and becomes tightest at C_(S)=1.5×10^(-4) mol/L in the range of C_(S)≤1.5×10^(-4) mol/L.As C_(S)>1.5×10^(-4) mol/L,the knot of the circular semiflexible PE swells at the expense of the overall size of the PE.Our results lay the foundation for achieving broader and more precise external adjustability of knotted PE size and knot length.
基金funded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan,grant numbers AP14969403 and AP23485820.
文摘Myocardial infarction(MI)is one of the leading causes of death globally among cardiovascular diseases,necessitating modern and accurate diagnostics for cardiac patient conditions.Among the available functional diagnostic methods,electrocardiography(ECG)is particularly well-known for its ability to detect MI.However,confirming its accuracy—particularly in identifying the localization of myocardial damage—often presents challenges in practice.This study,therefore,proposes a new approach based on machine learning models for the analysis of 12-lead ECG data to accurately identify the localization of MI.In particular,the learning vector quantization(LVQ)algorithm was applied,considering the contribution of each ECG lead in the 12-channel system,which obtained an accuracy of 87%in localizing damaged myocardium.The developed model was tested on verified data from the PTB database,including 445 ECG recordings from both healthy individuals and MI-diagnosed patients.The results demonstrated that the 12-lead ECG system allows for a comprehensive understanding of cardiac activities in myocardial infarction patients,serving as an essential tool for the diagnosis of myocardial conditions and localizing their damage.A comprehensive comparison was performed,including CNN,SVM,and Logistic Regression,to evaluate the proposed LVQ model.The results demonstrate that the LVQ model achieves competitive performance in diagnostic tasks while maintaining computational efficiency,making it suitable for resource-constrained environments.This study also applies a carefully designed data pre-processing flow,including class balancing and noise removal,which improves the reliability and reproducibility of the results.These aspects highlight the potential application of the LVQ model in cardiac diagnostics,opening up prospects for its use along with more complex neural network architectures.
文摘An improved meshfree moving-Kriging(MK)formulation for free vibration analysis of functionally graded material-functionally graded carbon nanotube-reinforced composite(FGM-FGCNTRC)sandwich shells is first proposed in this article.The proposed sandwich structure consists of skins of FGM layers and an FGCNTRC core.This structure possesses all the advantages of FGM and FGCNTRC,including high electrical or thermal insulating properties,high fatigue resistance,good corrosion resistance,high stiffness,low density,high strength,and high aspect ratios.Such sandwich structures can be used to replace conventional FGM structures.The present formulation has been established by using an improved meshfree MK method and the first-order shear deformation shell theory(FSDT).The effective material characteristics of the FGM-skin layers and the FGCNTRC core were calculated using the rule of mixture.Key parameters and factors such as the thickness-to-radius ratio,the length-to-radius ratio,layer-thickness ratios,CNT distributions,the volume fraction of CNTs,the power-law index,and various boundary conditions were rigorously investigated.A nonlinear CNT distribution that we term FG-nX is first proposed in this work,and many new results of FGM-FGCNTRC sandwich shells have been provided.
基金Funded by the Basic Research Project in Shanxi Province(No.202103021224183)the 2024 Science and Technology PlanProject of Jiaozuo City,Henan Province(No.2024410001)。
文摘The evolution of the microstructure and morphology of Cu55Ni45 and Cu60Ni40 alloys under varying degrees of undercooling was investigated through molten glass purification and cyclic superheating technology.By increasing the Cu content,the effect of Cu on the evolution of the microstructure and morphology of the Cu-Ni alloy during undercooling was studied.The mechanism of grain refinement at different degrees of undercooling and the effect of Cu content on its solidification behaviour were investigated.The solidification behaviour of Cu55Ni45 and Cu60Ni40 alloys was investigated using infrared thermometry and high-speed photography.The results indicate that both Cu55Ni45 and Cu60Ni40 alloy melts undergo only one recalescence during rapid solidification.The degree of recalescence increases approximately linearly with increasing undercooling.The solidification front of the alloy melts undergoes a transition process from a small-angle plane to a sharp front and then to a smooth arc.However,the growth of the subcooled melt is constrained to a narrow range,facilitating the formation of a coarse dendritic crystal morphology in the Cu-Ni alloy.At large undercooling,the stress breakdown of the directionally growing dendrites is primarily caused by thermal diffusion.The strain remaining in the dendritic fragments provides the driving force for recrystallisation of the tissue to occur,which in turn refines the tissue.
基金supported by the Thailand Science Research and Innovation Fund(Grant No.FRB660041/0227).
文摘This investigation aims to analyze thermal buckling and post-buckling behavior of functionally graded graphene nanoplateletreinforced composite(FG-GPLRC)beams.The beams are classified into two types of ideal and non-ideal FG-GPLRC beams in which the ideal beams have smooth profiles of material distributions and another beams have layer-wise distributions of materials.The material profiles of the ideal beams are utilized as the controlling tracks for producing the material distributions of the non-ideal beams via a layer-to-layer integration technique.This technique confirms that the overall weight fraction of the materials is the same for both types of beams.The proposed models can be used to determine the material properties of the beams for further investigation on thermal buckling and post-buckling of the beams.Third-order shear deformation theory is employed to construct the energy equations of the problems,and then they are solved by the implementation of the Jacobi-Ritz method cooperating with the direct iteration procedure and Newton-Raphson technique.From our investigation,it can be disclosed that when non-ideal beams are created using ideal beams parabolic profile,the results differ significantly.However,the differences between the results of ideal and non-ideal beams can be eliminated by adding more layers.
文摘Density functional theory(DFT)studies were performed on the lattice parameters,electronic band structure,and optical constants under pressure up to 20 GPa in order to obtain insight into the electronic and optical properties of LiZnAs.The calculated results show LiZnAs is a semiconductor with a direct gap of 0.86 eV,which is smaller than the experimental value 1.1 eV.It also indicates that the structural parameters such as lattice parameters and cell volume show inverse relation to the pressure and shows smooth decreasing behavior from 0 to 20 GPa.Meanwhile,the pressure dependence of the electronic band structure,density of states and partial density of states of LiZnAs up to 20 GPa were presented.And we found that the band gap increased with the pressure.Moreover,the evolution of the dielectric function,absorption coefficient a(w),reflectivity R(w),the refractive index n(w),and the extinction coefficient k(w)of LiZnAs under pressure were presented.According to our work,we found that the optical properties of LiZnAs undergo a blue shift with increasing pressure.These results suggest technological applications of such materials in extreme environments.
基金supported by the research projects AP14869428 from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan20122022FD4135 from Nazarbayev University.
文摘The rapid development of nanotechnology has significantly revolutionized wearable electronics and expanded their functionality.Through introducing innovative solutions for energy harvesting and autonomous sensing,this research presents a cost-effective strategy to enhance the performance of triboelectric nanogenerators(TENGs).The TENG was fabricated from polyvinylidene fluoride(PVDF)and N,N'-poly(methyl methacrylate)(PMMA)blend with a porous structure via a novel optimized quenching method.The developed approach results in a highβ-phase content(85.7%)PVDF/3wt.%PMMA porous blend,known for its superior piezoelectric properties.PVDF/3wt.%PMMA modified porous TENG demonstrates remarkable electrical output,with a dielectric constant of 40 and an open-circuit voltage of approximately 600 V.The porous matrix notably increases durability,enduring over 36000 operational cycles without performance degradation.Moreover,practical applications were explored in this research,including powering LEDs and pacemakers with a maximum power output of 750mWm^(-2).Also,TENG served as a self-powered tactile sensor for robotic applications in various temperature conditions.The work highlights the potential of the PVDF/PMMA porous blend to utilize the next-generation self-powered sensors and power small electronic devices.
文摘An important problem in engineering is the unknown parameters estimation in nonlinear systems.In this paper,a novel adaptive particle swarm optimization (APSO) method is proposed to solve this problem.This work considers two new aspects,namely an adaptive mutation mechanism and a dynamic inertia weight into the conventional particle swarm optimization (PSO) method.These mechanisms are employed to enhance global search ability and to increase accuracy.First,three well-known benchmark functions namely Griewank,Rosenbrock and Rastrigrin are utilized to test the ability of a search algorithm for identifying the global optimum.The performance of the proposed APSO is compared with advanced algorithms such as a nonlinearly decreasing weight PSO (NDWPSO) and a real-coded genetic algorithm (GA),in terms of parameter accuracy and convergence speed.It is confirmed that the proposed APSO is more successful than other aforementioned algorithms.Finally,the feasibility of this algorithm is demonstrated through estimating the parameters of two kinds of highly nonlinear systems as the case studies.
文摘This paper presents a distributed control protocol for consensus control of multi-agent systems(MASs) under external disturbances and network imperfections, including communication delay and random packet dropout. To comply with the discrete nature of networked systems, in contrast to most of the existing work for MASs under network imperfections,the agents are modeled by discrete-time dynamics. The communication network is considered to be undirected, its delay is considered to be time-varying but bounded, and its packet dropout is modeled by a Bernoulli distributed white sequence.Sufficient conditions in terms of linear matrix inequalities(LMIs)for asymptotic mean-square consensus stability are derived under network imperfections without considering external disturbances.A desired disturbance attenuation level in the presence of both external disturbances and network imperfections is also provided.A simulation example is given to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach in coping with network imperfection and disturbances.
基金the financial support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.51575067)the Major and Special Project by Ministry of Science and Technology(No.2012ZX04010-081)
文摘The effects of ultrasonic vibration assisted（UVA） treatment on the microstructures and mechanical properties of MB3/AZ31 dissimilar magnesium（Mg） alloy joints were studied by microstructural characterization, micro-hardness testing and tensile testing. Results indicate that the welding pores are eliminated and coarse a-Mg grains of fusion zone are refined to 26 μm, owing to the acoustic streaming effect and cavitation effect induced by the UVA treatment with an optimal ultrasonic power of 1.0 kW.In addition, Mg;Al;precipitation phases are fine and uniformly distributed in the whole fusion zone of weldment. Micro-hardness of fusion zone of the Mg alloy joints increases to 53.5 HV after UVA process,and the maximum tensile strength with optimized UVA treatment increases to 263 MPa, which leads to fracture occurrence in the Mg alloy base plate. Eventually, it is experimentally demonstrated that robust MB3/AZ31 Mg alloy joints can be obtained by UVA process.
文摘Fuzzy control of robot manipulators with a decentralized structure is facing a serious challenge. The state-space model of a robotic system including the robot manipulator and motors is in non-companion form, multivariable, highly nonlinear, and heavily coupled with a variable input gain matrix. Considering the problem, causes and solutions, we use voltage control strategy and convergence analysis to design a novel precise robust fuzzy control （PRFC） approach for electrically driven robot manipulators. The proposed fuzzy controller is Mamdani type and has a decentralized structure with guaranteed stability. In order to obtain a precise response, we regulate a fuzzy rule which governs the origin of the tracking space. The proposed design is verified by stability analysis. Simulations illustrate the superiority of the PRFC over a proprotional derivative like （PD-like） fuzzy controller applied on a selective compliant assembly robot arm （SCARA） driven by permanent magnet DC motors.
文摘ype-1 fuzzy sets cannot fully handle the uncertainties. To overcome the problem, type2 fuzzy sets have been proposed. The novelty of this paper is using interval type-2 fuzzy logic controller （IT2FLC） to control a flexible-joint robot with voltage control strategy. In order to take into account the whole robotic system including the dynamics of actuators and the robot manipulator, the voltages of motors are used as inputs of the system. To highlight the capabilities of the control system, a flexible joint robot which is highly nonlinear, heavily coupled and uncertain is used. In addition, to improve the control performance, the parameters of the primary membership functions of IT2FLC are optimized using particle swarm optimization （PSO）. A comparative study between the proposed IT2FLC and type-1 fuzzy logic controller （T1FLC） is presented to better assess their respective performance in presence of external disturbance and unmodelled dynamics. Stability analysis is presented and the effectiveness of the proposed control approach is demonstrated by simulations using a two-link flexible-joint robot driven by permanent magnet direct current motors. Simulation results show the superiority of the IT2FLC over the T1FLC in terms of accuracy, robustness and interpretability.
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(51277189)the Chongqing Education Committee Science and Technology Research Projects(KJ1401208)
文摘A time-domain electromagnetic transmitter（TDET） with great power and large current was designed by using a closed-loop phase shifting control strategy. A clamping voltage source circuit was applied in this system to improve the falling edge of emission current and shorten the turn-off time. The simulated results showed that this TDET exhibited the advantages including a large current, strong capability for rapid turn-off, stably output voltage, preferably dynamic performance, a widely adjustable range in transmitting voltage, accurate measurement precision.
文摘In order to improve the Power Quality(PQ)of traction power supply system and reduce the power rating and operation cost of compensator,a Static VAR Compensator(SVC)integrated Railway Power Conditioner(RPC)is presented in this paper.RPC is a widely used device in the AC electrified railway systems to enhance the PQ indices of the main network.The next generation of this equipment is Active Power Quality Compensator(APQC).The major concern of these compensators is their high kVA rating.In this paper,a hybrid technique is proposed to solve aforementioned problems.A combination of SVC as an auxiliary device is employed together with the main compensators,i.e.,RPC and APQC that leads on to the reduction of power rating of the main compensators.The use of proposed scheme will cause to reduce significantly the initial investment cost of compensation system.The main compensators are only utilized to balance active powers of two adjacent feeder sections and suppress harmonic currents.The SVCs are used to compensate reactive power and suppress the third and fifth harmonic currents.In this paper firstly,the PQ compensation procedure in AC electrified railway is analyzed step by step.Then,the control strategies for SVC and the main compensators are presented.Finally,a simulation is fulfilled using Matlab/Simulink software to verify the effectiveness and validity of the proposed scheme and compensation strategy and also demonstrate that this technique could compensate all PQ problems.
基金Project（51575067） supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China Project（2012ZX04010-081） supported by the Major and Special Project of Ministry of Science and Technology, China
文摘The effects of heat input on the microstructures and mechanical properties of tungsten inert gas （TIG） butt-welded AZ31/MB3 dissimilar Mg alloys joint were investigated by microstructural observations, microhardness testing and tensile testing. The results reveal that with the increase of heat input, the width of welding seam increases obviously and the grains both in the fusion zone and the heat affected zone coarsen during TIG welding process. The tensile strength of butt-welded joint increases with the increase of heat input and the maximum joining strength of 242 MPa is obtained with wedding current of 90 A. However, lots of welding pores occur with the further increase of heat input, which results in the decrease of joining strength. It is experimentally demonstrated that robust joint can be obtained by TIG welding process.
