Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

About: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is a education organization based out in Troy, New York, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Terahertz radiation & Finite element method. The organization has 19024 authors who have published 39922 publications receiving 1414699 citations. The organization is also known as: RPI & Rensselaer Institute.

The attitude control problem

Abstract: A general framework for the analysis of the attitude tracking control problem for a rigid body is presented. A large family of globally stable control laws is obtained by using the globally nonsingular unit quaternion representation in a Lyapunov function candidate whose form is motivated by the consideration of the total energy of the rigid body. The controllers share the common structure of a proportional-derivative feedback plus some feedforward which can be zero (the model-independent case), the Coriolis torque compensation, or an adaptive compensation. These controller structures are compared in terms of the requirement on the a priori model information, guaranteed transient performance, and robustness. The global stability of the Luh-Walker-Paul robot end-effector controller is also analyzed in this framework. >

Specific proteins mediate enhanced osteoblast adhesion on nanophase ceramics

Abstract: Osteoblast, fibroblast, and endothelial cell adhesion on nanophase (that is, materials with grain sizes less than 100 nm) alumina, titania, and hydroxyapatite (HA) was investigated using in vitro cellular models. Osteoblast adhesion was significantly (p < 0.01) greater after 4 h on nanophase alumina, titania, and HA than it was on conventional formulations of the same ceramics. In contrast, compared to conventional alumina, titania, and HA, after 4 h fibroblast adhesion was significantly (p < 0.01) less on nanophase ceramics. Examination of the underlying mechanism(s) of cell adhesion on nanophase ceramics revealed that these ceramics adsorbed significantly (p < 0.01) greater quantities of vitronectin, which, subsequently, may have contributed to the observed select enhanced adhesion of osteoblasts. Select enhanced osteoblast adhesion was independent of surface chemistry and material phase but was dependent on the surface topography (specifically on grain and pore size) of nanophase ceramics. The capability of synthesizing and processing nanomaterials with tailored (through, for example, specific grain and pore size) structures and topographies to control select subsequent cell functions provides the possibility of designing the novel proactive biomaterials (that is, materials that elicit specific, timely, and desirable responses from surrounding cells and tissues) necessary for improved implant efficacy.

Designing Virtual Customer Environments for New Product Development: Toward a Theory

Abstract: Virtual customer communities enable firms to establish distributed innovation models that involve varied customer roles in new product development. In this article I use a multitheoretic lens to examine the design of such virtual customer environments, focusing on four underlying theoretical themes (interaction pattern, knowledge creation, customer motivation, and virtual customer community-new product development team integration) and deriving their implications for virtual customer environment design. I offer propositions that relate specific virtual customer environment design elements to successful customer value creation, and thereby to new product development success.