Vehicle Driver Modeling and Simulation Based on Controller Approach

Designing a vehicle involves testing the vehicle under realistic simulations and scenarios to see how the vehicle responds. Manually performing all these tests would be expensive and there is also the risk of human life. In this paper, a vehicle driver model is modeled which can be used as a substitute for real drivers in simulations. The motion of the vehicle is considered in two components, longitudinal component, and lateral component. Both these components are implemented using controllers. The model was built using MATLAB Simulink software and using path designer application, different paths were designed and the model was tested on them. The steering angle, velocity, acceleration, deceleration values generated for two test cases are displayed. The path followed by the driver model was also observed.

Altered EEG Oscillatory Brain Networks During Music-Listening in Major Depression

To examine the electrophysiological underpinnings of the functional networks involved in music listening, previous approaches based on spatial independent component analysis (ICA) have recently been used to ongoing electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG). However, those studies focused on healthy subjects, and failed to examine the group-level comparisons during music listening. Here, we combined group-level spatial Fourier ICA with acoustic feature extraction, to enable group comparisons in frequency-specific brain networks of musical feature processing. It was then applied to healthy subjects and subjects with major depressive disorder (MDD). The music-induced oscillatory brain patterns were determined by permutation correlation analysis between individual time courses of Fourier-ICA components and musical features. We found that (1) three components, including a beta sensorimotor network, a beta auditory network and an alpha medial visual network, were involved in music processing among most healthy subjects; and that (2) one alpha lateral component located in the left angular gyrus was engaged in music perception in most individuals with MDD. The proposed method allowed the statistical group comparison, and we found that: (1) the alpha lateral component was activated more strongly in healthy subjects than in the MDD individuals, and that (2) the derived frequency-dependent networks of musical feature processing seemed to be altered in MDD participants compared to healthy subjects. The proposed pipeline appears to be valuable for studying disrupted brain oscillations in psychiatric disorders during naturalistic paradigms.

The Roll Damping of High-Speed Craft in Waves

The main component of high-speed craft (HSC) roll damping is related to the hydrodynamic lift developed on the hull surface. This is very different from displacement type hull forms. However, the estimation of roll damping of HSC is often treated in the same manner as for larger and slower ships. Being able to model the roll of HSC correctly is of paramount importance in the prediction of the lateral component of acceleration of an impact at a roll angle in waves, or during a manoeuvre at high speed. These are phenomena that can have severe consequences on the comfort and safety of the crew on-board of HSC. Three procedures meant to estimate the HSC roll damping were analyzed. The outcomes of these procedures were compared in terms of roll and lateral accelerations statistics of HSC sailing in irregular waves. The HSC motions were predicted by a 2D+t mathematical model. Differently from the majority of the state-of-art HSC seakeeping tools, which focuses only on the vertical impacts in head waves, in this work the roll was included in the simulations. The numerical results of the simulations were validated by means of free sailing model tests at beam and quartering irregular seas carried out at the Seakeeping and Manoeuvring Basin of MARIN.

Constraints on Complex Faulting during the 1996 Ston–Slano (Croatia) Earthquake Inferred from the DInSAR, Seismological, and Geological Observations

This study, involving remote sensing, seismology, and geology, revealed complex faulting during the mainshock of the Ston–Slano earthquake sequence (5 September, 1996, Mw = 6.0). The observed DInSAR interferogram fringe patterns could not be explained by a single fault rupture. Geological investigations assigned most of the interferogram features either to previously known faults or to those newly determined by field studies. Relocation of hypocentres and reassessment of fault mechanisms provided additional constraints on the evolution of stress release during this sequence. Available data support the scenario that the mainshock started with a reverse rupture with a left-lateral component on the Slano fault 4.5 km ESE of Slano, at the depth of about 11 km. The rupture proceeded unilaterally to the NW with the velocity of about 1.5 km/s for about 11 km, where the maximum stress release occurred. DInSAR interferograms suggest that several faults were activated in the process. The rupture terminated about 20 km away from the epicentre, close to the town of Ston, where the maximum DInSAR ground displacement reached 38 cm. Such a complicated and multiple rupture has never before been documented in the Dinarides. If this proves to be a common occurrence, it can pose problems in defining realistic hazard scenarios, especially in deterministic hazard assessment.

On the Pronunciation of English /®/ and /l/ by Japanese Speakers

One of the major tenets of the Speech Learning Model (SLM) is that “if two L2 sounds differ in perceived dissimilarity from the closest sound in the L1 inventory, the more dissimilar of the L2 sounds will manifest the greater amount of learning” (Aoyama et al. 2004:248). Given that certain studies have provided “evidence of greater learning for [®] than [l] by N[ative]J[apanese] learners of English” (2004:246), the SLM hypothesis can only be upheld if English [l] is more similar to Japanese [R] than English [®] is. However, this is clearly counterintuitive since, by most accounts, [R] represents a central flap, [l] a lateral approximant, and [®] a central approximant. In this study, it will be argued that English laterals cannot be more similar to Japanese /r/ than English rhotics are, as the SLM would have it, unless the Japanese sound contains a lateral component such as that which is found in the flap [‰]. As it happens, a number of phoneticians and phonologists have argued that this is indeed the case with Japanese /r/, as will be shown, and this is something that the proponents of the SLM would need to acknowledge if their theoretical stance is to be maintained.

RECENT SEISMIC ACTIVITY IN CENTRAL GREECE REVEALING LOCAL SEISMOTECTONIC PROPERTIES

The December 2008, M=5.2 earthquake occurred in the Voiotikos–Kifissos basin near the town of Amfikleia in Central Greece and was followed by an intense sequence with hundreds of earthquakes. Mainshock source characteristics derived from the recordings of the Greek National Seismological Network are consistent with previous known earthquakes as well as with the current nearly N–S extensional regime. The adequate azimuthal coverage and the calculated time residuals at each seismological station ensure high location accuracy, whereas the stations operated close to the seismic excitations constrained 80% of the focal depths between 8 and 12km. Distances from the mainshock epicenter to the 10 closest seismological stations vary from 15 to 75 km. Hypoinverse and HypoDD were used for locations, and FPFIT was used for fault plane solutions of events with an adequate number of clear first arrivals. The hypocenters and focal mechanisms illuminate a ≈10km–long fault zone striking nearly E–W with oblique normal faulting and a small left lateral component. The Voiotikos–Kifissos basin is bordered in the south by two left–stepping en echelon segments known as the Pavliani fault zone and the Parnassos detachment, which strike NW and dip NE. In our preferred interpretation, the Amfikleia mainshock ruptured a previously recognized south–dipping fault antithetic to the basin border faults. This fault may be associated with the left step on the border fault, which would be releasing if that fault had a sinistral component.

Fault Diagnoses Technology of Broken-Blade Propeller Induced Shaft Vibration

The broken-blade propeller induced centrifugal force and hydrodynamic lateral component force will cause the whirling vibration of the shaft system while one of the propeller blades breaks at different positions. Such whirling vibration is investigated in this paper, and the time domain waveform is obtained through using the finite element method. The frequency domain vibration is then calculated by applying Fourier transformation on its time domain waveform. According to the respond results of both time domain and frequency domain, the fault diagnoses technology of shaft vibration is proposed.

Calculation of the effect of tip geometry on noncontact atomic force microscopy using a qPlus sensor

In qPlus atomic force microscopy the tip length can in principle approach the length of the cantilever. We present a detailed mathematical model of the effects this has on the dynamic properties of the qPlus sensor. The resulting, experimentally confirmed motion of the tip apex is shown to have a large lateral component, raising interesting questions for both calibration and force-spectroscopy measurements.

A Two Dimensional Model to Apprehend the Dynamic Response of Shallow Buried Structures due to Impact Loading Related to Mechanical Landmine Clearing Operations

The study of buried structures under various burial conditions and loadings is incomplete and inconclusive owing to the various and peculiar applications. Mechanical mine clearing with mine flails is one example where the application features are distinct from other geo-mechanical applications. The response of structures in soil has been modeled using a dynamic model that considers the soil characteristics. Further refinement of the established model was conducted and validated in the first iteration of the model’s completion. The lateral component of the soil is now considered and factored in to study the buried structure’s response. This study showed that a simple yet comprehensive mechanical model may be used to study the responses of buried structures to surface impact loadings. The validity of the proposed model may demand a certain degree of further refinement to accommodate other loadings, buried structures, and burial conditions while considering all physical phenomena that occur in the soil medium before, during, and after loading.