Flexible joint robot (FJR) manipulators can offer many attractive features over rigid manipulators, including light weight, safe operation, and high power efficiency. However, the tracking control of the FJR is challenging due to its inherent problems, such as underactuation, coupling, nonlinearities, uncertainties, and unknown external disturbances. In this article, a terminal sliding mode control (TSMC) is proposed for the FJR system to guarantee the finite-time convergence of the systems output, and to achieve the total robustness against the lumped disturbance and estimation error. By using two coordinate transformations, the FJR dynamics is turned into a canonical form. A cascaded finite-time sliding mode observer (CFTSMO) is construct

Furfural is a toxic aromatic aldehyde that can cause a severe environmental problem especially the wastewater drown from petroleum refinery units. In the present work, a useless by-product from local furniture manufacturing industry; sawdust was used as raw material for the preparation of activated carbon which is chemically activated with phosphoric acid. The effect of adsorption variables which include initial pH of solution (2-9), agitation speed (50-250) rpm, agitation time (15-120) min, initial concentration of furfural (50-250) ppm, and amount of adsorbent material (0.5-2.5) g for the three adsorbents used (prepared activated carbon, commercial activated carbon and raw sawdust) were investigated in a batch process

Levan is an exopolysaccharide produced by various microorganisms and has a variety of applications. In this research, the aim was to demonstrate the biological activity of levan which produced from B. phenoliresistens KX139300. These were done via study the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer and antileishmanial activities in vitro. The antioxidant levan was shown 80.9% activity at 1250 µg/mL concentration. The efficient anti-inflammatory activity of 88% protein inhibition was noticed with levan concentration at 35 µg/mL. The cytotoxic activity of levan at 2500 µg/mL concentration showed a maximum cytotoxic effect on L20B cell line and promastigotes of Leishmani tropica. Levan has dose-dependent anticancer and antileishman

The silicon carbide/carbon fiber (SiC/CF) hybrid fillers were introduced to improve the electrical and thermal conductivities of the epoxy resin composites. Results of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy revealed that the peaks at 3532 and 2850 cm⁻¹ relate to carboxylic acid O–H stretching and aldehyde C–H stretching appearing deeper with an increased volume fraction of SiC. Scanning electron microscopic image shows a better interface bonding between the fiber and the matrix when the volume fraction of SiC particles are increased. As frequency increases from 10² Hz to 10⁶ Hz, dielectric constants decrease slightly. Dissipation factor (tan δ) values keep low a

In this work the effect of annealing temperature on the structure and the electrical properties of Bi thin films was studied, the Bi films were deposited on glass substrates at room temperature by thermal evaporation technique with thickness (0.4 µm) and rate of deposition equal to 6.66Å/sec, all samples are annealed in a vacuum for one hour. The X-ray diffraction analysis shows that the prepared samples are polycrystalline and it exhibits hexagonal structure. The electrical properties of these films were studied with different annealing temperatures, the d.c conductivity for films decreases from 16.42 ? 10-2 at 343K to 10.11?10-2 (?.cm)-1 at 363K. The electrical activation energies Ea1 and Ea2 increase from 0.031 to 0.049eV and

Portulacaria afra is a small succulent tree, previously belonging to the Portulacaceae family, but with further studies, the plant transferred to the Didieracea family. P. afra was used as an ornamental, vegetable, and ethnomedicinal plant. Uses of the plant by rural South Africans to treat chronic skin conditions and rashes, alleviate exhaustion, and aid in treating TB and diarrhea have been documented in folklore. According to pharmaceutical research, plant extracts off er a wide range of remedial outcomes, such as antidiabetic, antifungal, antibacterial, anticancer, antioxidant, and anti-infl ammatory. The study aims to determine some bioactive constituents responsible for pharmacological activities and traditional usefulness. Th