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This paper presents the design for an active trailer-steering system of multi-trailer articulated heavy vehicles using driver-software-in-the-loop real-time simulations. A linear yaw-plane multi-trailer articulated heavy-vehicle model is generated to derive an optimal active trailer-steering controller. Then, the controller is reconstructed in LabVIEW and integrated with a vehicle model for a tractor– double-trailer combination developed in TruckSim. The driver-software-in-the-loop real-time simulations are conducted on a vehicle simulator. The driver-software-in-the-loop real-time simulations indicate that the active trailer-steering controller can effectively improve the low-speed manoeuvrability and high-speed stability of the multi-trailer articulated heavy vehicle when testing using a low-speed 360° roundabout path-following manoeuvre and a high-speed single-lane-change manoeuvre respectively. The investigation based on the driver-software-in-the-loop real-time simulations paves the way to future development of electronic control units for the active trailer-steering system using driver-hardware-in-the-loop real-time simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A novel TiO2 immobilized hydrophobic montmorillonite photocatalysts were designed and prepared for the advanced oxidation of persistent organic pollutants in water, which combined the pre-adsorption and concentrated effects for aqueous micro-organic pollutants with the photocatalytic destruction of organic pollutants. The photocatalysts were synthesized by immobilizing TiO2 onto surfactant-pillared montmorillonite via ion exchange reaction between sodium montmorillonite with cation surfactant, cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTMAB). The Degussa P25 catalyst loading amounts varied between 20 and 80%. The composition and texture of the prepared composites were characterized with X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscope, and energy-dispersive spectrometry. The adsorption performance and photocatalytic activities of prepared composite photocatalysts were evaluated using decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE 209) as a model pollutant in aqueous solution. The results were found that these composite photocatalysts can effectively degrade BDE 209, and the complete removal can be achieved within 180min of irradiation. The removal efficiency of BDE 209 increased with the percentage of immobilized TiO2 on the hydrophobic clay. Highly hydrophobic substrates (BDE 209) can effectively adsorb (concentrate) in or near the hydrophobic surfactant regions of TiO2 immobilized CTMAB-pillared montmorillonite photocatalysts. The degradation pathways involving photochemical debromination and hydroxyl radical addition are proposed based on the identification of specific by-products. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: An adsorptive silica-supported titania photocatalyst TiO2/SiO2 was prepared by using nanosized titania (anatase) immobilized on silica gel by the sol–gel technique with the titanium tetra isopropoxide as the main raw material and acetic acid as the acid catalyst. Meanwhile the structure and properties of the TiO2/SiO2 photocatalyst were studied by means of many modern analysis techniques such as TEM, XRD, and BET. Gas–solid heterogeneous photocatalytic decomposition of four carbonyl compounds mixture at low concentration levels over ultraviolet irradiated TiO2/SiO2 photocatalyst were carried out with high degradation efficiencies in a coaxial triple-cylinder-type fluidized bed photocatalytic reactor, which provided efficient continuous contact of ultraviolet photons, silica-supported titania photocatalyst, and gaseous reactants. Experimental results showed that the photocatalyst had a high adsorption performance and a good photocatalytic activity for four carbonyl compounds mixture. Some factors influencing the photocatalytic decomposition of the mixed carbonyl compounds, i.e. the gas flowrate, relative humidity, concentration of oxygen, and illumination time, were discussed in detail. It is found that the photocatalytic reaction rate of four carbonyl compounds decreased in this order: propionaldehyde, acetone, acetaldehyde and formaldehyde. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The photocatalytic oxidation of the organic pollutants with TiO2 as photocatalyst has been widely studied in the world, and many achievements have been made. The degradation of pollutants is highly related to the photocatalytic activity of TiO2. It is demonstrated that doping ions to TiO2 is one way to enhance the photocatalytic activity of TiO2. In this paper, Zn2+-doped TiO2 nanoparticles were prepared through sol–gel and solid phase reaction methods, characterized by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The photocatalytic activity of the elaborated powders was studied following the degradation of Rhodamine B. The results showed that the photocatalytic activity of Zn2+-doped TiO2 prepared by sol–gel method is close to that of pure TiO2 particles, however, the photocatalytic activity of Zn2+-doped TiO2 prepared by solid phase reaction method is much higher than that of pure TiO2 particles. The most efficient degradation of Rhodamine B was found with TiO2 particles doped with 0.5% Zn2+ in mole and calcined at 500°C. Also the reason for the enhancement of the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 by Zn2+ doping through solid phase reaction method was discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The latency change detection of EPs is of special interest in many clinical applications such as diagnosis of the injury and pathological changes in the nervous system. This paper reviews the adaptive latency change detection approaches under stable noise conditions, based on the fractional lower order statistics. It also evaluates and compares the performances of the presented algorithms.