Discovery of Extraplanar H i Clouds and a H i Tail in the M101 Galaxy Group with FAST

We present a new high-sensitivity H i observation toward nearby spiral galaxy M101 and its adjacent 2° × 2° region using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST). From the observation, we detect a more extended and asymmetric H i disk around M101. While the H i velocity field within the M101's optical disk region is regular, indicating that the relatively strong disturbance occurs in its outer disk. Moreover, we identify three new H i clouds located on the southern edge of the M101's H i disk. The masses of the three H i clouds are 1.3 × 107 M ⊙, 2.4 × 107 M ⊙, and 2.0 × 107 M ⊙, respectively. The H i clouds similar to dwarf companion NGC 5477 rotate with the H i disk of M101. Unlike NGC 5477, they have no optical counterparts. Furthermore, we detect a new H i tail in the extended H i disk of M101. The H i tail detected gives reliable evidence for M101 interaction with the dwarf companion NGC 5474. We argue that the extraplanar gas (three H i clouds) and the H i tail detected in the M101's disk may originate from a minor interaction with NGC 5474.

Berezinskii–Kosterlitz–Thouless phase induced by dissipating quasisolitons

We theoretically study the sound propagation in a two-dimensional weakly interacting uniform Bose gas. Using the classical fields approximation we analyze in detail the properties of density waves generated both in a weak and strong perturbation regimes. While in the former case density excitations can be described in terms of hydrodynamic or collisionless sound, the strong disturbance of the system results in a qualitatively different response. We identify observed structures as quasisolitons and uncover their internal complexity for strong perturbation case. For this regime quasisolitons break into vortex pairs as time progresses, eventually reaching an equilibrium state. We find this state, characterized by only fluctuating in time averaged number of pairs of opposite charge vortices and by appearance of a quasi-long-range order, as the Berezinskii–Kosterlitz–Thouless (BKT) phase.

Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless Phase Induced by Dissipating Quasisolitons

We theoretically study the sound propagation in a two-dimensional weakly interacting uniform Bose gas. Using the classical fields approximation we analyze in detail the properties of density waves generated both in a weak and strong perturbation regimes. While in the former case density excitations can be described in terms of hydrodynamic or collisionless sound, the strong disturbance of the system results in a qualitatively different response. Within this regime we identify observed structures as quasisolitons and uncover their internal complexity. Quasisolitons break into vortex pairs as time progresses, eventually reaching an equilibrium state. We find this state, characterized by only fluctuating in time averaged number of pairs of opposite charge vortices and by appearance of a quasi-long-range order, as the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) phase.

Active disturbance rejection sliding mode control for robot manipulation

PurposeIn recent years, owing to the rapidly increasing labor costs, the demand for robots in daily services and industrial operations has been increased significantly. For further applications and human–robot interaction in an unstructured open environment, fast and accurate tracking and strong disturbance rejection ability are required. However, utilizing a conventional controller can make it difficult for the robot to meet these demands, and when a robot is required to perform at a high-speed and large range of motion, conventional controllers may not perform effectively or even lead to the instability.Design/methodology/approachThe main idea is to develop the control law by combining the SMC feedback with the ADRC control architecture to improve the robustness and control quality of a conventional SMC controller. The problem is formulated and solved in the framework of ADRC. For better estimation and control performance, a generalized proportional integral observer (GPIO) technique is employed to estimate and compensate for unmodeled dynamics and other unknown time-varying disturbances. And benefiting from the usage of GPIO, a new SMC law can be designed by synthesizing the estimation and its history.FindingsThe employed methodology introduced a significant improvement in handling the uncertainties of the system parameters without compromising the nominal system control quality and intuitiveness of the conventional ADRC design. First, the proposed method combines the advantages of the ADRC and SMC method, which achieved the best tracking performance among these controllers. Second, the proposed controller is sufficiently robust to various disturbances and results in smaller tracking errors. Third, the proposed control method is insensitive to control parameters which indicates a good application potential.Originality/valueHigh-performance robot tracking control is the basis for further robot applications in open environments and human–robot interfaces, which require high tracking accuracy and strong disturbance rejection. However, both the varied dynamics of the system and rapidly changing nonlinear coupling characteristic significantly increase the control difficulty. The proposed method gives a new replacement of PID controller in robot systems, which does not require an accurate dynamic system model, is insensitive to control parameters and can perform promisingly for response rapidity and steady-state accuracy, as well as in the presence of strong unknown disturbances.

Effects of Glycine, L-Arginine and their Complexation with Polyvinylpyrrolidone on Tetrahydrofuran Hydrate Formation

Hydrophilic amino acids as a new type hydrate inhibitor is a hot topic for scholars. In this paper, the influence of glycine and L-arginine, and their complexation with polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) on hydrate formation were clarified by tetrahydrofuran (THF) hydrate formation simulation experiments, and the intrinsic influence mechanism was revealed by many experimental methods. The results show that glycine has a strong inhibitory effect on water molecules because of its strong disturbance to water molecules, and the inhibitory effect is the best when the addition of glycine is 1.0 wt%. Due to the disturbance and binding of hydrophilic amino acids to water molecules, the effect of PVP on the semi-cage structure of water molecules as well as the adsorption and encapsulation of hydrate crystal particles, the combination of glycine and L-arginine and PVP has synergistic inhibitory effect on the formation of THF hydrate. When the total amount of hydrate inhibitor is 1.0 wt%, the synergistic inhibition ability of glycine and PVP is stronger. The results obtained in this paper provide an experimental and theoretical basis for the research and development of new hydrate inhibitors.

Leymus chinensis Tolerates Mowing Disturbance by Maintaining Photosynthesis in Saline-Alkali Heterogeneous Habitats

Leymus chinensis is a perennial rhizomatous clonal plant with strong tolerance to mowing, grazing, drought, and salt-alkali. However, with patchy soil environment, how mowing affect the photosynthesis of L. chinensis in heterogeneous patches is largely unknown. In this experiment, we tested the effects of mowing intensity (0, 35%, and 70% removal of aboveground biomass) on plant photosynthesis under different heterogeneous patches with different saline-alkali soil. We found that moderate concentrations of salt-alkali under heterogeneous patches have no significant effect on the photosynthesis of L. chinensis. Moderate mowing can maintain photosynthesis under no heterogeneity soil and moderate salt-alkali patch condition. In addition, heavy mowing and high salt-alkali soil under heterogeneous patches both inhibited net photosynthetic rate (PN) and transpiration rate (E), reduced leaf area, and plant height. L. chinensis responded to extreme soil conditions and strong disturbance by increasing water-use efficiency (WUE), reducing relative water content (RWC), and changing stomatal conductance (Gsw). Therefore, our results imply that moderate grazing or mowing can be used to maintain the productivity and economic benefits of grassland when the soil heterogeneous patches with moderate saline-alkali conditions.