Control Framework for Sloped Walking With a Powered Transfemoral Prosthesis

User customization of a lower-limb powered Prosthesis controller remains a challenge to this date. Controllers adopting impedance control strategies mandate tedious tuning for every joint, terrain condition, and user. Moreover, no relationship is known to exist between the joint control parameters and the slope condition. We present a control framework composed of impedance control and trajectory tracking, with the transitioning between the two strategies facilitated by Bezier curves. The impedance (stiffness and damping) functions vary as polynomials during the stance phase for both the knee and ankle. These functions were derived through least squares optimization with healthy human sloped walking data. The functions derived for each slope condition were simplified using principal component analysis. The weights of the resulting basis functions were found to obey monotonic trends within upslope and downslope walking, proving the existence of a relationship between the joint parameter functions and the slope angle. Using these trends, one can now design a controller for any given slope angle. Amputee and able-bodied walking trials with a powered transfemoral prosthesis revealed the controller to generate a healthy human gait. The observed kinematic and kinetic trends with the slope angle were similar to those found in healthy walking.

Problems of Detection and Investigation of Tax Crimes in the Timber Industry of the Irkutsk Region

The article considers the activity of the enterprises of the timber industry of the region. The volume of timber exports, tax burden, tax revenues to the budget of the Irkutsk region and to the consolidated budget of the Russian Federation, registered tax crimes, amounts of material damage caused are analyzed. The applicable tax avoidance schemes are presented, as well as schemes aimed at illegal reimbursement of value added tax from the budget. Problematic issues are highlighted in terms of information interaction between law enforcement and tax authorities in order to identify tax crimes, as well as in conducting joint control and verification activities, and ways are proposed to solve these problems. The peculiarities of conducting the main investigative actions necessary for successful solving of tax crimes in the timber industry are considered. The issue of factors affecting the time period from the identification of a tax crime to the conviction is raised, as well as the disproportions of the penalties applied to the committed acts. Emphasis is placed on the need for legal and regulatory improvements, as well as the use of proposed measures in modern investigative practice.

Bow and Stern Control Surface’s Effectiveness and Influence on Supercavity

The numerical model of supercavitating flow field was established based on multiphase model, cavitation model, and turbulence model. The model was employed to simulate the supercavitation flow for the supercavitating vehicle with two types of control surfaces: bow rudder and stern rudder. The influence of both control surfaces on the supercavity shape and rudder effectiveness is compared under the different rudder angles (0-12°), and the effectiveness and the influences on supercavities of bow rudder and stern rudder were explored according to the numerical research results. From the research results, the following conclusions can be drawn: (1) the bow rudders have stable rudder effectiveness and available rudder angle, and the bow rudders also have significant influence on supercavities’ shape. (2) By contrast with the bow rudder, stern rudders’ effectiveness is difficult to predict accurately, and the phenomenon of stalling will occur when stern rudders’ rudder angle exceeds 6°; however, there is almost no influence of stern rudders on supercavities. (3) The bow and stern rudders joint control mode must take the influence on supercavities’ shape and the accuracy of control force’s forecasting into account at the same time. The research is helpful to the optimizing of superhigh-speed vehicles and the design of control modes.

Research on Active Control of Rotating Motion and Vibration of Flexible Manipulator

In this study, PZT (piezoelectric) actuators and PD control (PDs’ command line tool) method is selected to control the vibration of the flexible manipulator. The dynamic equations of the flexible manipulator system are established based on Lagrange principle. The control strategy of PZT actuators and joint control torque are designed. It is investigated by a Lyapunov approach that a combined scheme of PD feedback and command voltages applies to segmented PZT actuators. By comparison, only PD feedback control is also considered to control the flexible manipulator. The numerical simulations prove that the method of the designed PZT actuators’ control strategy and PD control is effective to compress the vibration of the flexible manipulator.