Artificial Machinery Research Articles

Hydrodynamic analysis of propulsion process of zebrafish

This study analyzes the kinematic characteristics and flow field information of zebrafish in straight and steering acceleration states using time-resolved particle image velocimetry to explore how vortices are generated and controlled to achieve the desired motion. The important role of the high- and low-pressure zones in the wake of zebrafish wavy propulsion is also presented by quantifying the pressure field around the zebrafish. With their precise body and motion control, fish have a movement advantage that cannot be achieved by artificial machinery. Exploring the evolutionary process of the fish structure and surrounding flow field during zebrafish autonomous propulsion is helpful for understanding the active control means and propulsion mechanism of fish. Zebrafish were constrained in a transparent water tank, and laser and image acquisitions systems were used to capture their spontaneous movement behavior. The results show that the pull provided by the low-pressure area and the thrust provided by the high-pressure area together provide the forward power of the zebrafish. The findings from this analysis of the bending control and propulsion mechanism of the zebrafish body can facilitate the optimal design of underwater vehicle propulsion methods, such as the propulsion efficiency and maneuverability of a bionic propeller.

Comprehensive risk assessment and engineering application of mine water inrush based on normal cloud model and local variable weight

ABSTRACT Mine water inrush disaster occurs after the critical risk degree is reached under the non-linear dynamic coupling action of hydrogeological conditions, water hazard sources and excavation disturbance of artificial machinery. In this paper, the risk assessment unit is divided from the time and space dimensions, and the risk assessment evaluation index set is determined based on the “4M1E” management system, taking into account the fuzziness, dynamics, and balance of the evaluation indicators. This method changes the defect of the index weight in the previous comprehensive evaluation method as the constant weight. The game theory set model is selected to construct the initial weight vector of the evaluation index, and the final weight vector is determined by the local variable weight equalization function combined with the indicator state value. The normal cloud model is used to process the evaluation indicator status values, and the comprehensive evaluation matrix is determined to solve the ambiguity and randomness of the evaluation indicators. Finally, a comprehensive assessment model for mine water inrush disasters is formed, and a dynamic assessment framework is used to conduct dynamic risk assessment of mine water inrush. The research results show that the dynamic comprehensive evaluation model provides a theoretical basis for the early warning and prevention of mine water inrush disasters.

COMPUTER AIDED DIAGNOSIS USING SOFT-COMPUTING TECHNIQUES AND IMAGE’S ISSUED REPRESENTATION: APPLICATION TO BIOMEDICAL AND INDUSTRIAL FIELDS

It is interesting to notice that from “problem’s formulation” point of view “Industrial Computer Aided Diagnosis” and “Biomedical Computer Aided Diagnosis” could be formulated as a same diagnosis riddle: “How point out a correct diagnosis from a set of symptoms?”. The only difference between the two above-mentioned groups of problems is the nature of the monitored (diagnosed) system: in the first group the monitored system is an artificial machinery (plant, industrial process, etc…), while in the second, the monitored system is a living body (animal or human).One of the most appealing classes of approaches allowing handling the Computer Aided Diagnosis Systems’ design in the frame of the aforementioned dual point of view is Soft-Computing based techniques, especially those dealing with neural networks and fuzzy logic. In this article, we present two soft-computing based approaches dealing with CADS design. One aims designing a biomedical oriented CADS and the other sets sights on conceiving a CADS to overcome a real-world industrial quality control dilemma. The goal of the first system is to diagnose the human’s auditory pathway’s health. The target of the second is to detect and diagnose the high tech optical devices’ defects.

The League of Nations: a retreat from international law?

AbstractDuring the First World War, civil society groups across the North Atlantic put forward an array of plans for recasting international society. The most prominent ones sought to build on the Hague Conferences of 1899 and 1907 by developing international legal codes and, in a drastic innovation, obligating and militarily enforcing the judicial settlement of disputes. Their ideal was a world governed by law, which they opposed to politics. This idea was championed by the largest groups in the United States and France in favour of international organizations, and they had likeminded counterparts in Britain. The Anglo-American architects of the League of Nations, however, defined their vision against legalism. Their declaratory design sought to ensure that artificial machinery never stifled the growth of common consciousness. Paradoxically, the bold new experiment in international organization was forged from an anti-formalistic ethos – one that slowed the momentum of international law and portended the rise of global governance.

Eighteenth-Century Wetware

This essay explores a similarity between the way people approached the relation of life to machinery during the second half of the eighteenth century, and the way they have been exploring this relation during the second half of the twentieth century and turn of the twenty-first. The essay describes a moment of intense interest in producing artificial life, from the 1730s to the 1790s, examines what set the projects of this moment apart from previous and subsequent ways of conceiving the relations between animal and artificial machinery,and closes with some speculation about the similarity between the two epochs in the history of artificial life, then and now.

The use and abuse of heroic measures to prolong dying

Because of advances in medical technology, some people, who in an earlier era would have died, are today alive and well. Others who would have died are now alive but in a coma or a vegetative state. Medical technology has created as many problems as it has solved. The cover of the November 3, 1975, issue of Newsweek had a small picture of Karen Ann Quinlan and in large letters, the phrase "A Right to Die?" This patient lies in a "persistent vegetative state" in a hospital in New Jersey, her life being maintained by a Bennett respirator. Some physicians openly said they would "pull the plug" to end her life.1 She does not have a flat electroen cephalogram. Even the states, such as California, Kansas, and Maryland, that base their definitions of death on brain activity would not define Miss Quinlan as dead. Yet Superior Court Judge Robert Muir, Jr., was asked by Miss Quinlan's parents to order an end to the use of artificial life supports that have kept the girl alive, but in coma, for six months. The court ruled that to turn off the respirator would be considered murder.* Stirred in part by the Karen Ann Quinlan controversy, "right to die" movements have gained much momentum in the United States and in Europe.2 In Switzerland, a prominent physician has been accused of murder in the deaths of elderly hospitalized patients because he allowed them to die and did not force feed and otherwise treat those in irreversible coma.3 From a hospital room in New York, Charles Lindbergh asked to be flown home to Maui in Hawaii to die of his malignant lymphoma, which was resistant to radiotherapy and chemotherapy.4 He wanted no respirator, defibril lator, or other artificial machinery. None was provided. He received excellent, prompt, responsive nursing care, oxygen when needed, a minimum of analgesia, and a great deal of love and consideration from his family and medical staff.