Fingertip-Sized Pressure Sensor for Luer Taper of Three-Way Stopcock in Liquid Channel

We developed an easily attachable fingertip-sized pressure sensor (FSPS) for a three-way stopcock in a liquid channel of a heart–lung machine. The FSPS has a double-pipe structure with a semispherical soft film cap on the pointed end and a diaphragm semiconductor strain sensor on the other end. An enclosed space of variable volume covered with the soft film cap prevents the semiconductor strain sensor from coming into direct contact with blood, and the double-pipe structure decreases the strain on the strain sensor when inserting the FSPS into the female-fitting part of the luer taper. It is difficult to fabricate a very fine double-pipe structure by cutting or injection molding. Instead, we fabricated it by using a three-dimensional (3D) printer. Moreover, it is difficult to fabricate a semispherical soft film cap with a 3D printer, so we fabricated it with a resin casting method using silicone resin. Experiments on the FSPS using a variable pressure liquid channel showed that it is not affected by inserting it into the female-fitting part of the luer taper and that it can accurately measure pressure in a liquid channel within a pressure range from 0 to 100 kPa.

Investigation about the Manufacturing Technique of the Composite Corner Fitting Part

Textile composite reinforcement forming has been employed in many aeronautic industries as a traditional composite manufacturing process. The double-curved shape manufacturing may be difficult and can lead to defects when the composite parts have high curvatures and large deformations. Compared with the textile composites forming, surface 3D weaving can demonstrate directly the geometry of final composite part without the stages involved in 2D product. The weaving in three directions is completely designed and warp and weft yarns are always perpendicular to the surfaces of the final 3D ply. These two manufacturing techniques are applied to produce an important piece of aircraft: the corner fitting. The 3D weaving results are compared with the experimental forming by a punch as same geometry as the corner fitting part. The conveniences and limits of each technique are investigated. The comparisons show particularly a perfect final 3D fabric with homogeneous fibre volume fraction performed by the surface 3D weaving technique.

Method for CCD Edge Signal Processing

In order to improve the measuring precision of the one-dimension line-matrix CCD, a new sub-pixel edge detection method is proposed. Firstly the date collected by the line-matrix CCD is converted to digital data by virtual oscillograph. Base on threshold comparison, the fitting part of the edge signal is picked up for further processing; secondly, the pixels are expanded following the edge direction of the edge point, and the edge signal is fitted through the two order multinomial; finally, comparing the two order curve with the threshold voltage through the least square fit method, the precise position of the edge point can achieve the sub-pixel edge location precision.

Algorithm-Based Product Development: Refined Concepts and Example Applications

Today’s industry faces the competing pressures of having to develop more and more innovative concepts at less cost. One possibility of supporting these rivaling tasks is leaving the idea of traditional product development and introducing an algorithm-based product development paradigm. By this approach it will be possible to quickly generate a large number of possible solutions based on the future product’s primary specifications and requirements. The result of this process is a set of discrete CAD models for each possible solution, from which the designer can select the most suitable one for his specific task. By this approach, engineers shall be able to plan and design their complete draft in an automated, computer aided way. In short, they need to specify the essential requirements and conditions for their design and subsequently will obtain a set of mathematically and functionally optimized CAD-models, from which the best fitting part geometry can be passed on for production.

Matter in Plotinus's Normative Ontology

To most interpreters, the case seems to be clear: Plotinus identifies matter and evil, as he bluntly states in Enn. I.8[51] that 'last matter' is 'evil', and even 'evil itself'. In this paper, I challenge this view: how and why should Plotinus have thought of matter, the sense-making εσχατον of his derivational ontology from the One and Good, evil? A rational reconstruction of Plotinus's tenets should neither accept the paradox that evil comes from Good, nor shirk the arduous task of interpreting Plotinus's texts on evil as a fitting part of his philosophy on the whole. Therefore, I suggest a reading of evil in Plotinus as the outcome of an incongruent interaction of matter and soul, maintaining simultaneously that neither soul nor matter are to be considered as bad or evil. When Plotinus calls matter evil, he does so metonymically denoting matter's totally passive potentiality as perceived by the toiling soul trying to act upon it as a form-bringer. As so often, Plotinus is speaking quoad nos here rather than referring to 'matter per se ' (for Plotinus, somewhat of an oxymoron) which, as mere potentiality (and nothing else) is not nor can be evil. In short: matter is no more evil than the melancholy evening sky is melancholy – not in itself (for it isn't), but as to its impression on us who contemplate it. As I buttress this view, it will also become clear that matter cannot tritely be considered to be the αυτο κακον as a prima facie -reading of Enn. I.8[51] might powerfully suggest, but that the αυτο κακο&ν, far from being a principle of its own, has to be interpreted within the dynamics of Plotinus's philosophical thinking as a unique, though numerously applicable flaw-pattern for all the single κακα(hence the Platonic αυτο). To conclude, I shall offer a short outlook on the consistency of this interpretation with Plotinus's teaching on the soul and with the further Neoplatonic development of the doctrine of evil.