The block length effect of polymethyl methacrylate on surface morphology of polystyrene block polymethyl methacrylate copolymers
Abstract— The effect of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) block length on the surface morphology of the two block copolymers (BCPs) was investigated by AFM using tapping mode. Two asymmetric polystyrene block polymethyl methacrylate (PS-b-PMMA) copolymers with different PMMA block lengths were synthesized by a novel combination technique; living anionic polymerization and hydroboration autoxidtion reactions. The molar mass of PS block was (MW PS = 90000 g/mol) and the molar mass of PMMA blocks were (MW PMMA =130000 and MW PMMA =180000 g/mol). Thin films of two asymmetric copolymers were prepared by solvent casting (10 mg/5 ml THF) on freshly cleaved mica. The results showed that phase separation do occur and equilibrium morphologies were observed. It was found that BCP with PMMA molar mass (MW PMMA =130000 g/mol) form parallel cylinders (stripes) oriented horizontally to the substrate. While BCP with PMMA molar mass (MW PMMA =180000 g/mol) form hexagonal ordered cylindrical oriented perpendicular and parallel to the substrate.
Keywords— AFM, block copolymer, phase separation, polystyrene block polymethyl methacrylate, surface morphology.
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Morphological characterization of diamond coatings grown by MWPECVD on hexagonal Boron Nitride
Abstract— A relevant and still unsolved issue in the characterization of diamond coatings deposited on ceramic materials such as hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is to enhance the resistance of the substrate to erosion by Kr+ or Xe+ ions generated in the plasma propulsion systems. In this work, diamond films were grown by microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition on h-BN substrates untreated, for the first time, and pre-treated for short (31-65 min) and long (285-296 min) process times. The morphology of diamond films was analysed by scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy, and their chemistry and structure by Raman spectroscopy. Microscopy analysis revealed that non-continuous (at short process time) and continuous (at long process time) films were formed, respectively, on both untreated and pre-treated h-BN substrates. In particular, diamond films grown on untreated h-BN substrates exhibited roughness values higher than those of h-BN substrates pre-treated by a conventional ultrasonic method.
Keywords: Insulators; chemical vapour deposition (CVD); coatings; crystal growth; plasma deposition; atomic force microscopy (AFM); scanning electron microscopy (SEM); Raman spectroscopy; surface properties
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A new approach to characterize dermal systemic exposure by use of chemicals’ permeability coefficient (Kp) in finite dose – Application to some ingredients of nail polish by skin and nail exposure routes
Abstract— To evaluate systemic chemical exposure, the permeability coefficient can be used to estimate absorption. This parameter characterizes the transfer rate of a substance in a vehicle across a membrane. The biological membrane thickness is a factor of resistance to permeability. Thus, it seems interesting to take this parameter into consideration in the calculation of the absorption.
In this study, a calculation model of systemic exposure through the skin and the nail has been developed for finite dose conditions. It represents a new approach to systemic exposure assessment and is based on the following assumption: systemic exposure to a molecule is achieved when this substance has completely crossed the biological membranes. We used skin and nail thickness to integrate the permeability coefficient in the formula. The permeability coefficient, the membrane thicknesses and the contact time represent what is called the systemic absorption factor which can be incorporated in external exposure formulas. Presented in an exponential form, it can be used to determine the amount absorbed versus time and to assess the systemic exposure to an applied amount which is finite.
Keywords— Safety testing, Skin barrier, Nail physiology, Systemic/Internal exposure, Permeability coefficient, Thickness
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Threats and Disasters on Planet Earth
Abstract— Human life on Planet Earth is threatened by a large number of potential disasters. Those processes are addressed, and discrimination is established between natural, man-made and imagined disastrous events Giant solar flares (of Carrington event or even higher intensity) poses novel threats not previously discussed. Such events would have totally disastrous effects on the electronic and electric systems of the developed world – only native populations and nomads would pass it without problems. In the group of “imagined disasters”, we find all the core issues carried by the IPCC project; i.e. a CO2-driven global warming, a rapidly rising sea level and severe ocean acidification. All those processes are unreal and imagined because they do not concur with available observational facts and physical laws, and by that they also violates our geoethical principles.
Keywords— Disasters, giant solar flares, natural disasters, man-made disasters, imagined disasters.
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The Role of the Regional Data Сenter (RDC) of the Pacific Research Fisheries Center (TINRO-Center) in North Pacific Ecosystem and Fisheries Research
Abstract— In 2015 the Regional Data Center (RDC) commemorated its 41st year. The main goal of the Center is to collate data on the marine and oceanic bioresources of the Far Eastern region, the state of their environment and exploitation, and to facilitate the collection, analysis and processing of such data. The RDC is part of the Russian Far East Research Institute located in the city of Vladivostok. The full name of the institute is the Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution Pacific Research Fisheries Center, or the TINRO-Center for short. Most of the work performed by the RDC is related to the Concept of Information Support for Bioresource and Ecosystem Research in the North-west Pacific. The Center is chiefly focused on: 1) the development and implementation of automated workplaces for scientific and technical personnel on expeditions and on shore; 2) the maintenance of an archive of primary expedition data on paper and digitally; 3) the development and management of large databases (DB) with data collected in scientific and research expeditions and while fishing; 4) the creation based on databases of higher quality IT products – knowledge bases and geographic information systems (GIS), containing the results of processed data from the long-term monitoring of the status of marine and ocean ecosystems; 5) the performance of any user request regarding the database and GIS for information support of the current scientific, practical and administrative work of all the institute’s departments; 6) the development of new approaches to data processing and the automation of related processes through the creation of proprietary software; 7) the establishment of inter-institutional data exchange and the creation of DB for public use; 8) advice from the personnel of the institute on methodological issues related to the statistical and cartographic processing of data; 9) the development of regulations and normative documents regulating the relations arising from the collection, storage and provision of access to the data held in the RDC; 10) scientific work performed by RDC scientists, performed alone or in collaboration with staff from other laboratories. These ten areas of focus reflect the role performed by the RDC on a daily basis in providing information support for climatic and oceanographic research, the study of the state of marine ecosystems, short-term and long-term forecasts of the state of the fisheries resource base, the sustainable management of fisheries and mariculture, and the planning of research expeditions.
Keywords— information support for fishing, the Far East, aquatic bioresources, monitoring, forecasting, database, geographic information systems, software.
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Methanolic Extract of Red Ginseng Marc Induces Apoptosis on Human Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma HSC-3
Abstract— Amino acid contents of glutamic acid leucine in red ginseng marc (RGM) were higher than in ginseng body and root, Red ginseng, but the amount of arginine in RGM contains high amount of fiber and polysaccharides. This study examined whether or not methanolic extract of red ginseng marc (RGME) induces apoptosis in the human oral squamous cell carcinoma (HSC-3) along with the possible mechanism (s) of the RGME-mediated cytotoxicity. Cytotoxicity and apoptosis induction of HSC-3 cells were evidenced by MTT assay, cell morphology alteration, apoptosis enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, flow cytometric analysis, caspase-3 activity, and protein expression by Western blotting after RGME treatment for 24 h. The RGME induced the cell death of HSC-3 cells via apoptosis, as evidenced by the increased cell population in the sub-G1 phase, the appearance of condensed and/or fragmented nuclei, and the generation of a cleaved PARP product and characterized by activation of caspase-3. The efficacious induction of apoptosis was observed as a dose-dependent manner. The treatment of the cells with the RGME also induced changes in the mitochondrial level of the Bcl-2 family proteins such as Bcl-2 and Bax. Furthermore, the RGME increased the phosphorylation of ERK, and phospho-p38 MAPK at the same concentrations. The RGME inhibited the nuclear translocation of NF-κB by suppressing the degradation of IκB-α. Our findings clearly demonstrate that RGME induces G1 arrest, activates the MAPKs, inhibits NF-κB, and induces apoptosis of HSC-3 cells. These results strongly suggest that red ginseng marc might have cancer inhibition and therapeutic potential.
Keywords— Apoptosis, Mitochondrial pathway, Caspases, MAPKs signal pathway, Cell cycles, NF-κB, Red ginseng marc
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Effect of D-Solv Gel caries removal on Bonding of Self-etching Adhesive to Caries-affected Dentin
Abstract—
Aim: To evaluate the effect of D-Solv Gel, chemomechanical caries removal method on bonding of self-etching adhesives to caries-affected dentin, in comparison to the standard rotary-instrument caries removal method.
Materials and Methodology: Twenty extracted carious human molars exhibiting frank cavitation intodentin were used. Ten teeth were randomly divided into two groups, according to the caries excavation methods :(i) D-Solv Gel and (ii) a round steel bur. After caries removal, eachgroup underwent self-etching adhesive application and resin composite buildup. Bonded specimens were sectioned into beams for shear bond strength testing under universal testing machine.
Results: Results of the one-way ANOVA revealed that the shear bond strengths were not affected by the factor “caries excavation method” (p > 0.05).The method of caries removal had no effect on the bond strengths of one-step self-etching adhesive to residual dentin following caries excavation (p > 0.05).
Conclusion: The chemomechanical caries excavation methods did not affect bonding of self-etching adhesives to caries-affected dentin, in comparison to rotary caries excavation method.
Keywords—D-Solv Gel, Chemomechanical caries removal, Single Bond Universal, Self-etch adhesive
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Unstrained Element Length-Based Methods for Determining One Optimized Initial State of Cable-Stayed Bridges
Abstract— Two robust procedures evaluating all unstrained element lengths are presented to find one practically optimized initial shape of cable-stayed bridges under dead loads. An analytical method based on the continuous girder model accounting for P-Δeffects due to stay-cable tensions is first proposed to calculate optimized cable tensions and unstrained element lengths without recourse to refined nonlinear FE analysis method. And then it is addressed how the G.TCUD method [10] developed for suspension bridges should be applied to determine an optimized initial state of cable-stayed bridges. For this, the extended nonlinear formulations of the co-rotational frame element as well as the elastic catenary cable element are briefly summarized by adding unstrained lengths of all finite elements to the unknown. Finally, based on the unstrained lengths determined from two methods, the unstrained length methods are presented to effectively perform nonlinear FE analysis of cable stayed bridges subjected to various load combinations. Consequently accuracy and effectiveness of the proposed schemes are demonstrated by showing that not only the unstrained lengths of a long-span cable-stayed bridge model by the analytical method are nearly same as those by the G.TCUD method but also these two methods lead to essentially one optimized initial configuration which is in suit with the target geometry.
Keywords— Initial shaping, G.TCUD, elastic catenary cable element, co-rotational frame element, unstrained length, cable-stayed bridge
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Electrochemical Treatment for Wastewater Contained Heavy Metal the Removing of the COD and Heavy Metal Ions
Abstract— In this work, the goal for an optimum condition of the electrochemical oxidation technique which is used to treat the wastewater from the metal finishing process, was experimentally investigated and obtained. All the experiments were carried out with the effects of operational parameters such as pH value, current density, electrolysis time, chemical oxidation demand (COD), removal efficiency are determined. Because of the property of the wastewater itself which conclude a lot of metal ions, means we don’t have to use any of electrolyte solution, Carbon Cloth (5×5 cm) and Platinum wire were proved to be the best cathode and anode materials here respectively. The applied current density are from a solar penal (17 mA), when we don’t actually control the pH value, the percentage of COD removal reached 52%, and the removal efficiency of metal ions was 22.5%. Our work focused on decreasing the quantity of heavy metal ions of the wastewater, as long as achieving a high COD removal efficiency by controlling the four key factors which were electrodes, working temperature, pH value and a fixed value of applied current.
Keywords— Metal Finishing Process, Chemical Oxidation Demand, Different Pulse Voltammetry, Electrochemical Processes.
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An efficient Mapreduce scheduling algorithm in hadoop
Abstract— Hadoop is a free java based programming framework that supports the processing of large datasets in a distributed computing environment. Mapreduce technique is being used in hadoop for processing and generating large datasets with a parallel distributed algorithm on a cluster. A key benefit of mapreduce is that it automatically handles failures and hides the complexity of fault tolerance from the user. Hadoop uses FIFO (FIRST IN FIRST OUT) scheduling algorithm as default in which the jobs are executed in the order of their arrival. This method suits well for homogeneous cloud and results in poor performance on heterogeneous cloud. Later the LATE (Longest Approximate Time to End) algorithm has been developed which reduces the FIFO’s response time by a factor of 2.It gives better performance in heterogenous environment. LATE algorithm is based on three principles i) prioritising tasks to speculate ii) selecting fast nodes to run on iii)capping speculative tasks to prevent thrashing. It takes action on appropriate slow tasks and it could not compute the remaining time for tasks correctly and can’t find the real slow tasks. Finally a SAMR (Self Adaptive MapReduce) scheduling algorithm is being introduced which can find slow tasks dynamically by using the historical information recorded on each node to tune parameters. SAMR reduces the execution time by 25% when compared with FIFO and 14% when compared with LATE.
Keywords— Hadoop, Mapreduce, Colud Computing, Scheduling, SAMR, Tuning.
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Smart Grid and Micro Grid: A Reliable Combination of Power System Network
Abstract— Demand of electricity is rising day by day and by virtue of same the power system leads to use of renewable source of energies just because of limited sources of conventional energy. As migrating toward non conventional energy sources one the first end it solve a major issue by providing us a huge amount of energy which is not going to consume with respect to time or raw material. On the other hand it also produces some instability in our power system. As sun do not rise with same intensity throughout the year and wind’s flow is also independent of time and session. Still they can somehow count as per segments but it leads to a huge uncertainty. So it is required to co-ordinate these devices and to form a Smart Grid. While talking about smart grid a concept of energy storage strikes in mind. For storage of energy there are a lot of devices are available in power system market. These devices are used as per their requirements. These devices (like Battery, super capacitor) have their own charging and discharging characteristics. So it’s required to create a micro grid by co-coordinating them all together. Both smart grid and micro grids have their own significance but due to rising unstably in power system it is required to add a smart and micro grid to design a reliable system. This approach will require a division of micro grid is to be dividing in some segments so that it can by utilized more efficiently. In this paper we will be presenting a combination of a smart and micro grid to create a reliable and efficient network for modern power system.
Keywords— Smart Grid, Micro Grid, Power system Networks.
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Augmented Reality for Interactive Physical Field Visualization
Abstract— In this work is presented a sophisticated computer aided system for augmented reality generation. The system is applicable for advanced field data visualization activities such as non-destructive testing and examination; industrial testing and inspection; biomagnetics; educational activities, etc. This system makes possible combination of different data sources in one virtual reality environment that can be used for simultaneous dynamic visualization. This type of integrated visualization systems allows engineering problems to be visualized and analyzed more effectively and to acquire closer interaction in the process with the observer.
Keywords— augmented reality, visualization, data fusion, field measurements.
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Influence of the 4Ps in the Buying Behavior of Elderly Consumers Flowers in Paraná Coast – Brazil
Abstract— The consumption of flowers among the class of consumers called the old age is elevated in countries such as Japan, United States of America, Italy, France and others in Europe, but in Brazil, the consumption of flowers among the people of 60 years or more is still too low when compared with more developed markets. The factors that may be influencing this gap are still unknown, and in this context, in order to subsidize the establishment of marketing actions for the commercial segment floricultural production chain retailer, this study investigated the influence of the 4Ps, namely: price, place, promotion and product of the buying behavior of elderly consumers. The study was conducted from 169 interviews with elders of both genres at the time they bought flowers in 22 florists of the coast of Paraná. The female gender was identified as the majoritarian consumer, and roses, violets and orchids their preferred species among this class of consumers. The retail trade of flowers did not attend the expectation of the customers of the old age, especially in relation to price, offered species and quality of production. The main products which replaced the flowers on consumer preference in old age when they could not find the desired flowers were clothes, perfumes and chocolates, just by the facility to be acquired in many different locations.
Keywords— Agribusiness, flower trade, ornamental plants, retail trade, cut flowers and florist.
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Enzymatic Depolymerisation of Hemicellulose into Arabinose and Xylose by Aerobic Bacteria
Abstract— The cellulotic and hemicellutotic materials found in plant can be utilized for generating bio-fuel by breaking them into simple sugar form. The depolymerisation of hemicellulose has been investigated, since it is second highest sugar component after cellulose. Hemicellulolytic microorganisms were obtained by enrichment of samples taken from aerated composting piles essentially composed of lignocellulosic plant wastes. The isolated Microorganism demonstrated the appreciable hemicellulolytic activity in depolymerising hemicellulose into simple pento sugars under the favorable conditions. The extent of endoxylanase (107.76 IU/ml) and sugar (2088.81 µg/ml) were found to be produced in the present investigation.
Keywords— Beech wood, Hemicellulose, Enzymatic Hydrolysis, Pentose, Endoxylanse, Endoglucanase.
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Predicting the Risk of Bankruptcy for ARO Stock
Abstract— In the last several decades, many researchers have been focused on finding effective experimental methods to predict stocks with tendency of bankrupt. Recent financial crisis has caused extensive world-wide economic damages, predicting bankruptcy before it happens could help investors avoid large losses. In this article, by observing the market dynamics of its stock price and trading volume, we estimate the risk of bankruptcy of Aeropostale (ARO). GARCH and EGARCH series models with normal distribution and t-student distribution are used to estimate the volatilities and value-at-risk (VaR) of ARO stock. By analyzing the VaR, we conclude that there is a high probability that the company will be facing bankruptcy in the near future. Moreover, our study shows that the asymmetric EGARCH model with t-student distribution eventually is a better choice to predict the behavior of this stock.
Keywords— Asymmetric EGARCH model, GARCH model, normal distribution and t-student distribution, volatilities, Value-at-Risks.
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The Use of Weathered Ignimbrites for the Production of Stabilized Earth Blocks (Seb): Case of Dschang (Western Cameroon)
Abstract— The weathered mantle developed on welded ignimbritic formations of Dschang (Western Cameroon) constitute for population living in the vicinity, the raw material use to manufacture building blocks. However, many defects have been noticed on houses built using these blocks such as cracking, swelling and low compressive resistance of blocks.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the physical and geotechnical properties of these soil materials and their suitability in manufacturing Stabilized Earth Blocks (SEB) for optimized local constructions by testing their physico-mechanical characteristics. Results of these investigations, reveal two major types of soil profiles: the soil profile from top hill (Meka’a Profile) and the soil profile of downhill (Mingou Profile). These soil profiles are well-developed with three main horizons (A, B and C). The surrounding population has been using materials from B horizons (middle unit of soil profiles) for the manufacture of SEB. These materials are mainly composed of quartz (12 – 31%), goethite (17 – 22%), kaolinite (8 –18%) and gibbsite (23 – 44%). They display high value of moisture content (48 – 61%) and are very porous (47%). Grain size analysis classified these materials as fine-grained particles (47 – 65%) and so do other geotechnical classifications systems such as HRB, GTR and LCPC. The Atterberg limits reveal that they have high plasticity in nature with plasticity index ranges from 39 to 53.8%.
Satisfactory results were obtained when the weathered materials was stabilized with cement (CPJ 35) above 6%. Flexural strength tests ranged from 2.11 – 2.44 MPa and compressive strength ranged from 2.68 – 3.53 MPa. Nevertheless, some corrections are necessary to enhance these characteristics. This can be carried out by grain size distribution correction or the use of any type of chemical stabilizer.
However, some more detailed specific tests are still required in a bid to optimize the suitability of weathered ignimbrites for stabilized earth blocks production.
Keywords— Ignimbrites-Local materials-Geotechnical classification-SEB-Valorization
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Studies on the Inhibitory Effects of Aloe Vera Bardensis Extract On Palm Oil and Palm Kernal Oil
Abstract— Aloe vera extracts were obtained from the fresh leaves of the plant(Aloe vera bardenesis) through sequential extraction involving soaking in a the solvent ethanol for a period of 48hours.Various concentrations of 2ml. 4ml, 6ml, 8ml and 10mls were prepared from the extract. Samples of palm oil and palm kernel oil were obtained fresh from the source and their physicochemical properties determined. The results obtained were kept as references. The oil samples were then blended with the various concentrations of the plant extract and times varied from 24hours to 120hours.Results obtained from the physicochemical analysis of blended oil samples showed that the effects of the plant extract at various concentrations was distinctively noticed after a period of 72hours of treatment. Results obtained from acid value analysis of the blended oil increased from 7.6mg/KOH/g to a constant value of 8.5mg/KOH/g at 72hours.Peroxide value of 1.6mmol/kg increased steadily to a constant value of 2.1mmol/kg.Value of free fatty acids of 4.1 in the control was steady at the value of 4.7 after 72hours.Iodine value of 58.4mg/g in the control increased steadily to a constant value of 58.4mg/g in the bend after 72hours.Saponification value of 147 increased to a steady value of 151 in the blend even after 48hours.These results indicated that the concentrations of the extract used has some degree of significance and points to the plausibility of using natural sources as antioxidants. Foods, oils and other allied industries may be potential beneficiaries of this botanical resource.
Keywords: Aloe vera, Natural antioxidant, Extract, physicochemical properties, oils.
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Calendar Effects Analysis of Americas Indexes
Abstract— We apply an approach for estimating Value-at-Risk (VaR) describing the tail of the conditional distribution of a heteroscedastic financial return series. The method combines quasi-maximum-likelihood fitting of AR(1)-GARCH(1,1) model to estimate the current mean as well as volatility, and extreme value theory (EVT) to estimate the tail of the adjusted standardized return series. We employ the approach to investigate the existence and significance of the calendar anomalies: seasonal effect and day-of- the-week effect in Americas Indexes VaR. We also examine the statistical properties and made a comprehensive set of diagnostic checks on the one decade of considered Americas Indexes returns. Our results suggest that the lowest VaR of considered Americas Indexes negative log returns occurs on the fourth season among all seasons. Moreover, comparatively low Wednesday VaR is captured among all weekdays during the test period.
Keywords— Risk Measures, Value-at-Risk, GARCH models, Extreme value theory, Generalized Pareto Distribution, Day-of-the-week effect, Seasonal effect.
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Quality Evaluation of Entrepreneur Education on Graduate Students Based on AHP-fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation Approach
Abstract— with the development of society, high-level applied students have been an urgent demand and the quality of entrepreneurial education of postgraduate has attracted more and more attention. Based on the requirements of universities society and enterprise for the comprehensive ability of postgraduate, we proposed the evaluation index system and used AHP-fuzzy comprehensive evaluation approach, which organically integrate the quantitative and the objectively of the analytic hierarchy process(AHP) and the inclusive advantage of fuzzy comprehensive evaluation approach, to evaluate a certain university of its quality of entrepreneur education on graduate students and verified the effectiveness of the approach. This approach can to some extent help government and universities make decisions of how to improve the quality of entrepreneurial education on postgraduate. At the same time, this approach can provide employers a new method of selecting the best staff for enterprises.
Keywords— postgraduate, entrepreneurial education, education quality, analytic hierarchy process, fuzzy comprehensive evaluation approach.
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On the Modeling and Simulation of Collision and Collision-Free Motion for Planar Robotic Arm
Abstract— Safety functioning is considered as an important issue within overall designing process of autonomous robotic systems. A general structure of collision detection and avoidance system for planar robotic arms is proposed. Simulation results of collision and collision-free motions are presented.
Keywords— Collision avoidance, planar robotic arms.