This study examines, through simulation, the use of fuzzy logic as a feasible control scheme for a hand orthosis that can restore fingertip pinch, lateral pinch, and cylindrical grasps to individuals suffering from C5-C7 spinal cord injuries. A simplified hand orthosis model, consisting of four fingers and a thumb, was derived for the purpose of planning appropriate grasp trajectories and for validating the fuzzy logic control architecture. For comparison a proportional-plus-integral-plus-derivative (PID) controller was also designed. Fuzzy logic is advantageous for this system since it eliminates solving coupled nonlinear equations of motion. For the various grips, the fuzzy controller produced better performance than the PID controller.

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The processes of thermal dehydration and decomposition of Mn(NOs)2".6H20 and its deuterated analogue were studied by DTA, TG and DSC. Comparisons were made between the data obtained for the two compounds. The following phase transitions were observed: melting of the compound; dehydration to monohydrate; dehydration of the monohydrate, accompanied by its partial decomposition to MnO2; and decomposition of the anhydrous nitrate to MnO2.The DSC data were used to determine the enthalpies of the phase transitions, and those corresponding to the partial dehydration were compared with the calculated ones. The formal kinetic parameters (E* and A) for the three stages (without the melting stage) were calculated from the TG curves, and the corresponding kinetic equations are reported.The pertinent literature contains data about the thermal decomposition of aqueous solutions of Mn(NO2)2. According to [1][2][3], for instance, the water is evaporated until the formation of a solution containing Mn(NO3)2 and H20 in a mole ratio of 1:1, whereas [4,5,9,10] give this mole ratio as 1:2. This is followed by decomposition of the nitrate to MnO2, which according to [1,2,4,9] [10]. The thermal decomposition of Mn(NO3)2"6H20 has been studied in [8], with the authors describing fusion of the salt, dehydration to Mn(NO3)2.1.7H20 and decomposition to MnO2.All authors report MnO2 as the end-product of the thermal decomposition, but according to [10] it contains impurities of Mn203.

The methods of TG, DTA and DSC were used to study the thermal decompositions of [Ni(H20)6](NO3)2 and [Ni(D20)6](NO3)2 in an atmospheric air medium. Intermediates were isolated at 145, 230 and 245 ~ and were identified by quantitative analysis and IR spectroscopy. The following phase transitions were observed under the conditions of the experiment: melting of the salts, partial dehydration to the tetrahydrate, formation of basic nickel nitrate hydrate stable within) a narrow temperature interval, and formation of NiO.The enthalpies of the phase transitions were calculated from the DSC data.The DTA and DSC data show that in [Ni(D20)6](NO3)2 the phase conversions take place at somewhat lower temperatures than those for [Ni(H20)6](NO3)zThe experimental decomposition of [Ni(H20)6](NO3)2 has been studied by a number of authors. Some of the data obtained are contradictory, while others are complementary.Publications [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] deal with thermal decomposition in air. According to these authors, the compound melts in its crystal water and undergoes step= wise dehydration, the intermediate hydrates differing in composition, depending on the heating rate. It is pointed out in [5] that all the phase tran= sitions occur in the solid phase a t a low rate of heating of 5-20 deg/min. The pentahydrate was reported in [4]. The tetrahydrate, described in [3,5,8], is unstable and is readily converted into the trihydrate [8] or the dihydrate [3,5]. Some authors [i, 9] report that the hexahydrate is converted into the trihydratr without anu tetrahydrate or dihydrate being observed.