Illinois Institute of Technology

About: Illinois Institute of Technology is a education organization based out in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Electric power system & Wireless network. The organization has 10188 authors who have published 21062 publications receiving 554178 citations. The organization is also known as: IIT & Illinois Tech.

Improving controllable adhesion on both rough and smooth surfaces with a hybrid electrostatic/gecko-like adhesive.

Abstract: This paper describes a novel, controllable adhesive that combines the benefits of electrostatic adhesives with gecko-like directional dry adhesives. When working in combination, the two technologies create a positive feedback cycle whose adhesion, depending on the surface type, is often greater than the sum of its parts. The directional dry adhesive brings the electrostatic adhesive closer to the surface, increasing its effect. Similarly, the electrostatic adhesion helps engage more of the directional dry adhesive fibrillar structures, particularly on rough surfaces. This paper presents the new hybrid adhesive's manufacturing process and compares its performance to three other adhesive technologies manufactured using a similar process: reinforced PDMS, electrostatic and directional dry adhesion. Tests were performed on a set of ceramic tiles with varying roughness to quantify its effect on shear adhesive force. The relative effectiveness of the hybrid adhesive increases as the surface roughness is increased. Experimental data are also presented for different substrate materials to demonstrate the enhanced performance achieved with the hybrid adhesive. Results show that the hybrid adhesive provides up to 5.1× greater adhesion than the electrostatic adhesive or directional dry adhesive technologies alone.

Stochastic Security-Constrained Scheduling of Coordinated Electricity and Natural Gas Infrastructures

Abstract: This paper proposes a coordinated stochastic model for studying the interdependence of electricity and natural gas transmission networks (referred to as EGTran). The coordinated model incorporates the stochastic power system conditions into the solution of security-constrained unit commitment problem with natural gas network constraints. The stochastic model considers random outages of generating units and transmission lines, as well as hourly forecast errors of day-ahead electricity load. The Monte Carlo simulation is applied to create multiple scenarios for the simulation of the uncertainties in the EGTran model. The nonlinear natural gas network constraints are converted into linear constraints and incorporated into the stochastic model. Numerical tests are performed in a six-bus system with a seven-node gas transmission network and the IEEE 118–bus power system with a ten-node gas transmission network. Numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of EGTran to analyze the impact of random contingencies on power system operations with natural gas network constraints. The proposed EGTran model could be utilized by grid operators for the short-term commitment and dispatch of power systems in highly interdependent conditions with relatively large natural gas-fired generating units.

Role of REM sleep and dream affect in overnight mood regulation: a study of normal volunteers

Abstract: To test that REM sleep and/or dreaming aid in the overnight regulation of negative mood, 60 student subjects, selected to have no current or past episodes of depression, were tested with the Profile of Mood States (POMS) before and after two nights of laboratory sleep. There was a significant overnight effect of sleep on the Depression scale (Dep) both on a sleep-through night and a night of REM awakenings for dream recall. Pre-sleep Dep was significantly correlated with the affect in the first REM report. Although Dep scores were truncated due to the screening criteria, a subgroup of the 10 highest scorers differed from the 50 low scorers in the distribution of dream affect categories across the night. Low scorers displayed a flat distribution of positive and negative affect in dreams, while those with some pre-sleep depressed mood showed a pattern of decreasing negative and increasing positive affect in dreams reported from successive REM periods. This suggests that dreaming may actively moderate mood overnight in normal subjects.