Constraining Attacker Capabilities Through Actuator Saturation

For LTI control systems, we provide mathematical tools - in terms of Linear Matrix Inequalities - for computing outer ellipsoidal bounds on the reachable sets that attacks can induce in the system when they are subject to the physical limits of the actuators. Next, for a given set of dangerous states, states that (if reached) compromise the integrity or safe operation of the system, we provide tools for designing new artificial limits on the actuators (smaller than their physical bounds) such that the new ellipsoidal bounds (and thus the new reachable sets) are as large as possible (in terms of volume) while guaranteeing that the dangerous states are not reachable. This guarantees that the new bounds cut as little as possible from the original reachable set to minimize the loss of system performance. Computer simulations using a platoon of vehicles are presented to illustrate the performance of our tools

Application Of Geographical Information System And Smart Growth Modelling For Identification Of Ineffective Quarters In Bandar Abbas, Iran

During recent decades, planning and management of urban land use has had an important role in development of social and economy of countries. On the other hand expansion of land use can be managed by using geospatial data and development patterns. In Bandar Abbas city, the management of urban development are by trial and error urban land policies as compared to other cities due lack to the of accurate and complete geospatial data. It has been caused by the overgrowing population and migration towards the city without planning. In addition, the inefficiency and very old buildings had also contributed and became the main reason for low quality of urban life in District 1. The aim of this research was to recognize and identify the development patterns for inefficient quarters in District 1 with an inclination towards the use of AHP and Smart Growth models. To achieve appropriate patterns for managing and identifying the utilization of land in quarters, a spatial and attribute database in the GIS environment was used. The relationship between effective factors namely land use, population, density and construction of the development were considered in the analytical process. The investigation was carried out to locate capable region for urban development in the inefficient areas of District 1 in the Region 3 of Bandar Abbas. The use of AHP and Smart Growth model in GIS environment were implemented to the collected geospatial database. The collected information includes the land use of the present condition, the procedure of urban development and the effective factors over inefficient land use. The procedure of this research started with the reconnaissance of effective parameters upon land development in the surveyed region. Having identified the effective factors, layer classification was generated according to their degree of importance and criteria through the use of AHP model. It was implemented to identify suitable site for developing urban users in District 1. Then the Smart Growth model was used to generate zones under the surveyed region according to the kind of operation in inefficient patterns and land use. In Smart Growth model on the basis of divisions of land use it has been designed into three zones of Regional Center Development (RCD), Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND), and Special District (SD). Finally by investigating the relationships and their effects towards each other, and by determining smart code for each zone, the development pattern and inefficient control in District 1 were identified.The results achieved from this research have successfully identified the suitable lands for urban uses development and identify patterns of user control and land development in inefficient quarters of District 1. According to the results obtained from AHP model central and western portion are appropriate for development. Based on the results obtained from zoning in District 1 and also the Smart Growth model, a major part of the inefficiency of available textures in the quarters of District 1 is due to existing incompatible land uses, being old and obsolete residential and non residential textures, poor management, lack of supervision regulations and comprehensive lack of administrative laws

Experimental realization of a momentum-space quantum walk

We report on a discrete-time quantum walk that uses the momentum of ultra-cold rubidium-87 atoms as the walk space and two internal atomic states as the coin degree of freedom. Each step of the walk consists of a coin toss (a microwave pulse) followed by a unitary shift operator (a resonant ratchet pulse). We carry out a comprehensive experimental study on the effects of various parameters, including the strength of the shift operation, coin parameters, noise, and initialization of the system on the behavior of the walk. The walk dynamics can be well controlled in our experiment; potential applications include atom interferometry and engineering asymmetric walks.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figure

Groundwater vulnerability assessment using an improved DRASTIC method in GIS

Groundwater management can be effectively conducted by using groundwater contamination map assessment. In this study, a modified DRASTIC approach using geographic information system (GIS) was applied to evaluate groundwater vulnerability in Kerman plain (Iran). The Wilcoxon rank-sum nonparametric statistical test was applied to modify the rates of DRASTIC. In addition, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method was employed to evaluate the validity of the criteria and sub criteria of all the parameters of the DRASTIC model, which proposed as an alternative treatment of the imprecision demands. The GIS offers spatial analysis in which the multi index evaluation can be effectively conducted through the AHP. The non-point source pollution was effectively determined by the modified DRASTIC method compared with the traditional method. The regression coefficient revealed the relationship between the vulnerability index and the nitrate concentration. The best result was obtained by using AHP–AHP, followed by DRASTIC–AHP, modified DRASTIC–AHP, and AHP–DRASTIC models. In this study, the DRASTIC method failed to provide satisfactory result. Additionally, by using both the original DRASTIC and the modified DRASTIC methods in the study area, AHP–AHP performed highly in the Kerman plain, suggesting that the southern and south east parts of the area considerably calls for conservation against contamination

Quantitative characteristics and chemical composition in Caspian roach (Rutilus rutilus caspicus) sperm

In this study, quantitative characteristics and chemical composition of in roach (Rutilus rutilus caspicus) sperm were investigated. Sperm traits included sperm movement duration, percentage of motile spermatozoa, sperm density, spermatocrit and sperm volume. Some seminal plasma characteristics (sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium and chloride) were investigated. In addition, some metabolites of seminal plasma (glucose, cholesterol and protein) were measured. The Na+ and K+ ions correlated negatively with spermatozoa motility (r = -0.0518, p<.05 and r =-0.3597, p<.01) respectively. Also, there were significant positive correlations between Ca2+ and Cl- ions with spermatozoa motility (r = 0.2945, p<.05 and r= 0.1379, p<.01), respectively. Mg+2 was positively correlated with glucose and protein (r = 0.046, p<.05 and r = 0.694, p<.05), respectively. On the other hand, a significant positive relationship was found between Na+ and K+ (r = 0.548, p<.01). These parameters can be used to evaluation of sperm quality and collecting information about developing procedures for artificial fertilization of roach

Fabrication of electrochemical sensor modified with nano graphene for determination of warfarin in plasma samples

Background and aims: Warfarin is anticoagulant drug and prevents thromboembolism in cases such as pulmonary embolism and blood clot in a leg vein which under high risk of thrombosis. The therapeutic window of warfarin is very narrow. Therefore, it is important to monitoring the level of warfarin in blood patient. Electrochemical sensors are powerful tools in the field of diseases diagnosis and medical care, due to advantages such as high selectivity, high sensitivity and low. The aim of this study was fabrication of an electrochemical sensor base on modification of carbon electrode using graphene nanoparticle for quantification of warfarin in plasma. Methods: In this study, plasma sample of 8 patients who had consumed warfarin were analyzed. After precipitation of plasma proteins by acetonitrile, the sample was centrifuged and the supernatant was transferred to a test tube. The resulting solution was evaporated by stream of nitrogen gas to complete drying. The dry residue was diluted by distilled water and transferred into the voltammetric cell for evaluation of warfarin oxidation by sensor. Results: The results show that fabricated nano sensor strongly catalyzes the oxidation current of warfarin. Furthermore there are linear relationship (least squares method) between oxidation current of warfarin and its concentration in plasma. Conclusion: The sensor as a simple, low-cost and accurate procedure is able to measure warfarin in patients' plasma

A combined fuzzy MCDM approach for identifying the suitable lands for urban development: an example from Bandar Abbs, Iran

This study aims at identifying the suitable lands for urban development in Bandar Abbas city based on its real world use regarding specific criteria and sub-criteria. The city of Bandar Abbas is considered as the most important commercial and economic city of Iran. It is also considered as one of the major cities of Iran which has played a pivotal role in the country's development and progress in recent years especially after the end of Iran-Iraq war owing to its embracing the country's main commercial ports. This process has caused the immigration rate into the city to rise significantly over the past 20 years. Thus, the development of the city is meanwhile considered as a high priority. Bandar Abbas city does not have a rich capacity for growth and development due to its special geographical situation being located in coastal border. Among the limitations placed in the city's development way, natural limitations (heights and sea shore) in the northern and southern parts of the city and structural limitations (military centers) in the east and west sides of the city may be referred. Therefore, identifying the suitable lands for urban development within Bandar Abbas city limits is becoming an essential priority. Therefore, different quantitative and qualitative criteria have been studied in order to select and identify these lands. The structures of qualitative criteria for most parts involve ambiguities and vagueness. This leads us to use Fuzzy logic in this study as a natural method for determining the solutions for problems of Multi-criteria decision making (MCDM). In the current research, a combination of MCDM methods has been presented for analysis. To assignee weights of the criteria Fuzzy AHP (analytic hierarchy process) is used for land selection and Fuzzy TOPSIS (method for order priority by similarity to ideal solution) is utilized to choose the alternative that is the most appropriate through these criteria weights. The sensitivity analysis of the results is included in the research

The effect of cations on sperm motility performance and fertilizing ability of silver carp Hypophtalmychtis molitrix

The objective of the study was to investigate the effect of saline solution containing cations (Na+, K+, Ca+2, Mg+2) on sperm motility performance (duration of sperm motility and percentage of motile spermatozoa) and fertilizing capacity of sperm (fertilization rate, hatching rate, larvae length during hatching, larvae length during active feeding and survival rate) in silver carp. The results suggested that solutions containing ions did not improve the duration of sperm motility. The same was observed for the percentage of motile spermatozoa. Fertilization rate influenced by solutions containing Ca+2, and other ions could not affect this parameter. The results showed that hatching rate was higher in solutions containing 99 mEq/L NaCl, 2 mEq/L MgCl2 and 2, 4 mEq/L CaCl2 respectively. Also, survival rate was higher in the solution containing 2 mEq/L MgCl2 and 36 mg/dL KCl respectively.With regard to the obtained results, it was concluded that using appropriate activation medium can improve quality of fish sperm and subsequently increases artificial reproduction performance

Ruthenium Nanoparticles Intercalated in Hectorite: A Reusable Hydrogenation Catalyst for Benzene and Toluene

The cationic organometallic aqua complexes formed by hydrolysis of [(C6H6)RuCl2]2 in water, mainly [(C6H6)Ru(H2O)3]2+, intercalate into sodium hectorite by ion exchange, replacing the sodium cations between the anionic silicate layers. The yellow hectorite thus obtained reacts in ethanol with molecular hydrogen (50 bar, 100°C) with decomposition of the organometallic aqua complexes to give a black material, in which ruthenium(0) nanoparticles (9-18nm) are intercalated between the anionic silicate layers, the charges of which being balanced by hydronium cations. The black ruthenium-modified hectorite efficiently catalyses the hydrogenation of benzene and toluene in ethanol (50 bar H2, 50°C), the turnover frequencies attaining 7000 catalytic cycles per hou