Constant thrust programming for a multistage rocket flown in vacuum with a given initial/final thrust-to-weight ratio in an arbitrary stage

The burn time and burnout velocity of a multistage rocket flown vertically in vacuum with constant thrust tangential to the flight path and a prescribed initial/final thrust-to-weight ratio in an arbitrary stage have been determined. The present paper also deals with optimal staging under given conditions of flight.     

Interactive Genetic Algorithm with Mixed Initiative Interaction for multi-criteria ground water monitoring design

Design of optimal plans for environmental planning and management applications should ideally consider the multiple quantitative and qualitative criteria relevant to the problem. For example, in ground water monitoring design problems, qualitative criteria such as acceptable spatial extent and shape of the contaminant plume predicted from the monitored locations can be equally important as the typical quantitative criteria such as economic costs and contaminant prediction accuracy. Incorporation of qualitative criteria in the problem-solving process is typically done in one of two ways: (a) quantifying approximate representations of the qualitative criteria, which are then used as additional criteria during the optimization process, or (b) post-optimization analysis of designs by experts to evaluate the overall performance of the optimized designs with respect to the qualitative criteria. These approaches, however, may not adequately represent all of the relevant qualitative information that affect a human expert involved in design (e.g. engineers, stakeholders, regulators, etc.), and do not necessarily incorporate the effect of the expert's own learning process on the suitability of the final design. The Interactive Genetic Algorithm with Mixed Initiative Interaction (IGAMII) is a novel approach that addresses these limitations by using a collaborative human-computer search strategy to assist users in designing optimized solutions to their applications, while also learning about their problem. The algorithm adaptively learns from the expert's feedback, and explores multiple designs that meet her/his criteria using both the human expert and a simulated model of the expert's responses in a collaborative fashion. The algorithm provides an introspection-based learning framework for the human expert and uses the human's subjective confidence measures to adjust the optimization search process to the transient learning process of the user. This paper presents the design and testing of this computational framework, and the benefits of using this approach for solving groundwater monitoring design problems.     

Design and implementation of a block‐backstepping based tracking control for nonholonomic wheeled mobile robot

This paper presents formulation of a novel block‐backstepping based control algorithm to overcome the challenges posed by the tracking and the stabilization problem for a differential drive wheeled mobile robot (WMR). At first, a two‐dimensional output vector for the WMR has been defined in such a manner that it would decouple the two control inputs and, thereby, allow the designer to formulate the control laws for the two inputs one at a time. Actually, the decoupling has been carried out in a way to convert the system into block‐strict feedback form. Thereafter, block‐backstepping control algorithm has been utilized to derive the expressions of the control inputs for the WMR system. The proposed block‐backstepping technique has further been enriched by incorporating an integral action for enhancing the steady state performance of the overall system. Global asymptotic stability of the overall system has been analyzed using Lyapunov stability criteria. Finally, the proposed control algorithm has been implemented on a laboratory scale differential drive WMR to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control law in real‐time environment. Indeed, the proposed design approach is novel in the sense that it has judiciously exploited the nonholonomic constraint of the WMR to result in a reduced order block‐backstepping controller for the WMR, and thereby, it has eventually yielded a compact expression of the control law that is amenable to real‐time implementation. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Case-Based Micro Interactive Genetic Algorithm (CBMIGA) for interactive learning and search: Methodology and application to groundwater monitoring design

Interactive optimization algorithms use real–time interaction to include decision maker preferences based on the subjective quality of evolving solutions. In water resources management problems where numerous qualitative criteria exist, use of such interactive optimization methods can facilitate in the search for comprehensive and meaningful solutions for the decision maker. The decision makers using such a system are, however, likely to go through their own learning process as they view new solutions and gain knowledge about the design space. This leads to temporal changes (nonstationarity) in their preferences that can impair the performance of interactive optimization algorithms. This paper proposes a new interactive optimization algorithm – Case-Based Micro Interactive Genetic Algorithm – that uses a case-based memory and case-based reasoning to manage the effects of nonstationarity in decision maker’s preferences within the search process without impairing the performance of the search algorithm. This paper focuses on exploring the advantages of such an approach within the domain of groundwater monitoring design, though it is applicable to many other problems. The methodology is tested under non-stationary preference conditions using simulated and real human decision makers, and it is also compared with a non-interactive genetic algorithm and a previous version of the interactive genetic algorithm.     

Algebraic immunity for cryptographically significant Boolean functions: analysis and construction

Recently, algebraic attacks have received a lot of attention in the cryptographic literature. It has been observed that a Boolean function f used as a cryptographic primitive, and interpreted as a multivariate polynomial over F/sub 2/, should not have low degree multiples obtained by multiplication with low degree nonzero functions. In this paper, we show that a Boolean function having low nonlinearity is (also) weak against algebraic attacks, and we extend this result to higher order nonlinearities. Next, we present enumeration results on linearly independent annihilators. We also study certain classes of highly nonlinear resilient Boolean functions for their algebraic immunity. We identify that functions having low-degree subfunctions are weak in terms of algebraic immunity, and we analyze some existing constructions from this viewpoint. Further, we present a construction method to generate Boolean functions on n variables with highest possible algebraic immunity /spl lceil/n/2/spl rceil/ (this construction, first presented at the 2005 Workshop on Fast Software Encryption (FSE 2005), has been the first one producing such functions). These functions are obtained through a doubly indexed recursive relation. We calculate their Hamming weights and deduce their nonlinearities; we show that they have very high algebraic degrees. We express them as the sums of two functions which can be obtained from simple symmetric functions by a transformation which can be implemented with an algorithm whose complexity is linear in the number of variables. We deduce a very fast way of computing the output to these functions, given their input.     

Nonlinear state feedback controller design for underactuated mechanical system: A modified block backstepping approach

This paper presents the formulation of a novel block-backstepping based control algorithm to address the stabilization problem for a generalized nonlinear underactuated mechanical system. For the convenience of compact design, first, the state model of the underactuated system has been converted into the block-strict feedback form. Next, we have incorporated backstepping control action to derive the expression of the control input for the generic nonlinear underactuated system. The proposed block backstepping technique has further been enriched by incorporating an integral action additionally for enhancing the steady state performance of the overall system. Asymptotic stability of the overall system has been analyzed using Lyapunov stability criteria. Subsequently, the stability of the zero dynamics has also been analyzed to ensure the global asymptotic stability of the entire nonlinear system at its desired equilibrium point. The proposed control algorithm has been applied for the stabilization of a benchmarked underactuated mechanical system to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control law in real-time environment.     

Analysis of the “Wavelet Tree Quantization” watermarking strategy and a modified robust scheme

Here we study a recently proposed watermarking scheme based on the paper “Wavelet Tree Quantization” (WTQ) by Wang and Lin (IEEE Trans Image Process 13(2):154–165, 2004). In given scheme, wavelet coefficients corresponding to the same spatial locations are grouped together. Two such groups, selected at random, constitute a supertree. Some of these supertrees are quantized to embed the watermark information in the image. In the process of cryptanalysis we first identify the groups which are quantized during the watermark insertion process. Then we select the non-quantized groups and quantize them too, to remove the watermark. Experimental results show that the watermark is completely removed by this attack. The cryptanalysis falls under the cipher text only jamming attack which requires only a single watermarked copy. Further, we suitably modify the WTQ scheme to make it robust against such cryptanalytic attacks.This is an extended and revised version of the paper Cryptanalysis of “Wavelet Tree Quantization” Watermarking Scheme presented at the International Workshop on Distributed Computing, IWDC 2004, Kolkata, 27–30 December 2004, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 3326, pp. 219–230. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York (2004). Section 4 of this paper introduces a modified scheme which is an addition over the conference version. Part of this work has been done while the author T. K. Das was visiting Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata during 2004.     

Responses of American readers to visual aspects of a mid-sizedJapanese company's annual report: a case study

American document design process models reflect the assumption that comprehension and usability are the most important characteristics of effective documents, but it is increasingly evident that other cultures value other communicative features of documents and that purposes and intentions vary across cultures. This case study examines the responses of four sets of American readers (three sets familiar with American document design research and practice and one set of content specialists-engineers by training) to the visual aspects of an annual report. The original document was prepared for a mid-sized Japanese corporation and published and distributed in Japan; the American version is an almost literal translation of the original document from Japanese to English, with no changes in visuals, graphic design or format. Protocol analyses of readers' responses revealed distinct patterns of expectations and preferences based on (1) cultural biases, (2) degree of familiarity with the American document design model, and (3) ignorance of Japanese culture and corporate communicative practices. This study raises questions about the effectiveness in terms of cultural sensitivity of what we have called the “American” document design process model and usability testing procedures, and calls for extensive collaborative research designed to describe and analyze current practice in international settings     

Effect of curing conditions and ionic additives on properties of fly ash-lime compacts

In the present work the reaction between fly ash and lime in fly ash-lime compacts under water curing and steam curing conditions was studied thoroughly in relation to the processing conditions. Fly ash from different sources were collected, characterized, mixed with lime in different ratios and compacted. The compacts were cured with water and steam separately. The reduction in the free CaO content in these compacts was measured as a function of curing time and curing process. Role of two ionic additives, FeCl₃ and MgCl₂, on the reaction between fly ash and lime was also investigated by measuring the free CaO content. Kinetics of these reactions was studied by determining the reaction order and rate constants with respect to the free CaO content and it was observed that the curing conditions and additives affected the reaction kinetics significantly.