Special control mode in the problem of optimal turn of an arbitrary rigid body (spacecraft)

The problem of optimal turn of spacecraft as a rigid body of arbitrary dynamic configuration under arbitrary boundary conditions with respect to angular position and angular velocity of spacecraft in the quaternion formulation is considered. The optimality criterion is a functional that combines time and the integral value of the control vector magnitude spent for the spacecraft turn. A special control mode of the spacecraft is studied. Examples of calculations are given.     

Estimating 3-D rigid body transformations: a comparison of four major algorithms

A common need in machine vision is to compute the 3-D rigid body transformation that aligns two sets of points for which correspondence is known. A comparative analysis is presented here of four popular and efficient algorithms, each of which computes the translational and rotational components of the transform in closed form, as the solution to a least squares formulation of the problem. They differ in terms of the transformation representation used and the mathematical derivation of the solution, using respectively singular value decomposition or eigensystem computation based on the standard representation, and the eigensystem analysis of matrices derived from unit and dual quaternion forms of the transform. This comparison presents both qualitative and quantitative results of several experiments designed to determine (1) the accuracy and robustness of each algorithm in the presence of different levels of noise, (2) the stability with respect to degenerate data sets, and (3) relative computation time of each approach under different conditions. The results indicate that under “ideal” data conditions (no noise) certain distinctions in accuracy and stability can be seen. But for “typical, real-world” noise levels, there is no difference in the robustness of the final solutions (contrary to certain previously published results). Efficiency, in terms of execution time, is found to be highly dependent on the computer system setup.     

Stability analysis of a rigid robot with output-based controller and time delay

This study considers the problem of stabilizing a rigid robot with an output-based controller and time-delayed input functions applied to the robot joints. We establish sufficient conditions for asymptotic stability of the system under consideration. These conditions are based on well-defined relationships between the magnitude of the controller gains and the time delay factor.     

Route-following assistance for travelers with cognitive impairments: A comparison of four prompt modes

Navigational skills, which are fundamental to community travel and hence, personal independence, are often disrupted in people with cognitive impairments. Assistive technology, in the form of navigation devices, are being developed that can support community navigation by delivering directional information. Selecting an effective mode to provide route-prompts is a critical design issue. This study evaluated the differential effects on pedestrian route following using different modes of prompting delivered via an electronic device for travelers with severe cognitive impairments.The research design used was a within subject comparison to evaluate potential differences in route-following performance when travelers received directions using four different prompt modes: (1) aerial map image, (2) point of view map image, (3) audio direction/no image and (4) text-based instructions/no image. Twenty travelers with severe cognitive impairments due to acquired brain injury walked four equivalent routes using four different prompting modes delivered via a wrist-worn navigation device. Navigation scores were computed that captured accuracy and confidence during navigation. Results of the repeated measures analysis of variance suggested that participants performed best when given prompts via speech-based audio directions. The majority of the participants also preferred this prompting mode. Findings are interpreted in the context of cognitive resource allocation theory.     

Inner surface modification of poly(dimethylsiloxane) microchannel with chitin for electrophoretic analysis of proteins

Microchip electrophoresis in a poly(dimethylsiloxane) microfluidic device is one of the versatile separation techniques in a micro total analysis system, while an unstable electroosmotic flow depending on an inner surface of a microchannel and a nonspecific adsorption of biogenic compounds onto the inner surface are often problematic in microchip electrophoresis. To overcome these drawbacks, a chitin-coated poly(dimethylsiloxane) microchannel was newly developed by a relatively simple experimental procedure based on vacuum drying. The obtained chitin-coating showed high durability during 10-times experiments with a stable electroosmotic flow. It was also confirmed that the chitin-coated poly(dimethylsiloxane) microchannel provided the pH-dependent electroosmotic flow related to the dissociations of amino and silanol groups of chitin and poly(dimethylsiloxane), respectively. The nonspecific adsorption of fluorescently labeled proteins onto the inner surface of the channel was well suppressed by the coating, resulting in the sharp and symmetric peak without tailing in the microchip electrophoretic analysis of proteins. The separation of the proteins was also demonstrated in the chitin-coated microchannel, so that the resolution and reproducibility of the migration time were improved as compared to those in the untreated microchannel.     

Evaluation models of information technology in Spanish companies: a cluster analysis

The aim of this article is to study how Information Technology (IT) evaluation is carried out among a group of Spanish companies, establish a typology or grouping of them which uses similar evaluation criteria, determine the relationship between the level of IT maturity and the way in which it is evaluated and, finally, if there are any similarities in the forms of evaluation carried out by Spanish and foreign companies. The analysis will be based on a detailed study of 20 Spanish firms, taking into account the different stages of development of IT within each firm.     

Stressful jobs and non-stressful jobs: a cluster analysis of office jobs

The purpose of the study was to determine if office jobs could be characterized by a small number of combinations of stressors that could be related to job-title information and self-report of psychological strain. Two-hundred-and-sixty-two office workers from three public service organizations provided data on nine job stressors and seven indicators of psychological strain. Using cluster analysis on the nine stressors, office jobs were classified into three clusters. The first cluster included jobs with high skill utilization, task clarity, job control and social support and low future ambiguity, but also high on job demands such as quantitative workload, attention and work pressure. The second cluster included jobs with high demands and future ambiguity and low skill utilization, task clarity, job control and social support. The third cluster was intermediary between the first two clusters. The three clusters were related to job-title information. The second cluster was the highest on a range of psychological strain indicators, while the other two clusters were high on certain strain indicators but low on others. The study showed that office jobs could be characterized by a small number of combinations of stressors that were related to job-title information and psychological strain.     

Axially symmetric aligned microcell (ASM) mode: Electro-optical characteristics of new display mode with excellent wide viewing angle

Abstract— The new LCD display mode (ASM mode) which has the axially symmetric orientation of liquid crystal molecules and the micro-cell structure corresponding to each pixel is described in this paper. The electro-optic characteristics of this mode afford high contrast (CR ≥ 200, at normal direction) and the wide viewing angle characteristics without contrast inversion (±60° in both up-down and left-right directions).     

Concurrent C++: Concurrent programming with class(es)

C++ and Concurrent C are both upward-compatible supersets of C that provide data abstraction and parallel programming facilities, respectively. Although data abstraction facilities are important for writing concurrent programs, we did not provide data abstraction facilities in Concurrent C because we did not want to duplicate the C++ research effort. Instead, we decided that we would eventually integrate C++ and Concurrent C facilities to produce a language with both data abstraction and parallel programming facilities, namely, Concurrent C++. Data abstraction and parallel programming facilities are orthogonal. Despite this, the merger of Concurrent C and C++ raised several integration issues. In this paper, we will give introductions to C++ and Concurrent C, give two examples illustrating the advantages of using data abstraction facilities in concurrent programs, and discuss issues in integrating C++ and Concurrent C to produce Concurrent C++.     

Computer anxiety: A comparison of adolescents with and without a history of specific language impairment (SLI)

Individuals who are anxious about computers may be at a disadvantage in their learning. This investigation focused on the use of home computers for educational purposes. It compared computer anxiety in adolescents with and without a history of special needs related to language difficulties. Participants were 55 17-year-olds with specific language impairment (SLI) and 72 typically developing (TD) peers. Participants completed interviews regarding computer anxiety as well as computer importance and computer enjoyment. Measures of psycholinguistic skills, perceived ease of use and general anxiety were also obtained. Results showed that adolescents with SLI experience more computer anxiety than TD peers and that females are more anxious than males. Level of general anxiety, perceived ease of use and language ability had a direct association and were predictive of level of computer anxiety in adolescents with SLI. In contrast, only perceived ease of use was significantly predictive in TD adolescents. Gender was not a significant predictor in the context of other influential variables. The findings reveal a complex relationship between linguistic, attitudinal and emotional factors and computer anxiety. Adolescents with SLI who are at a greater risk may require multifaceted support for a number of influencing factors including general anxiety.     

Effects of age and body mass index on breast characteristics: a cluster analysis

Limited research has quantified variation in the characteristics of the breasts among women and determined how these breast characteristics are influenced by age and body mass. The aim of this study was to classify the breasts of women in the community into different categories based on comprehensive and objective measurements of the characteristics of their breasts and torsos, and to determine the effect of age and body mass index on the prevalence of these breast categories. Four breast characteristic clusters were identified (X-Large, Very-ptotic & Splayed; Large, Ptotic & Splayed; Medium & Mildly-ptotic; and Small & Non-ptotic), with age and BMI shown to significantly affect the breast characteristic clusters. These results highlight the difference in breast characteristics exhibited among women and how these clusters are affected by age and BMI. The breast characteristic clusters identified in this study could be used as a basis for future bra designs and sizing systems in order to improve bra fit for women.

Practitioner summary: This original research provides evidence for bra designers and manufacturers on the diverse breast characteristics exhibited by women within the population and the significant effect that both body mass index and age have on the breast characteristic clusters. Future bra designs should consider the variation in breast characteristics among women.

Abbreviations: BMI: Body Mass Index; UBCC: Under-bust chest circumference     

Workload and musculoskeletal problems: a comparison between welders and office clerks (with reference also to fishermen)

Previous studies have shown that subjective as well as clinical shoulder signs and symptoms are more common among welders than among office clerks. In the present study we wished to further evaluate the influence of different jobs on musculoskeletal problems, as well as the relationship between objective signs and subjective symptoms. This study confirmed that symptoms and signs from the shoulder were more common among the welders, who also had more subjective symptoms and clinical signs from other parts of the musculoskeletal system, Range of motion in different joint systems was, however, similar in the two groups except in external rotation of the shoulder, where welders had a more limited range. The degree of co-existence of subjective symptoms and clinical signs differed between different parts of the musculoskeletal system and was low particularly in the low back, hips, and ankles. This indicates low validity of many common clinical methods for determining musculoskeletal dysfunciion. General health was good in both vocational groups and isometric strength for the welders was intermediate between that of office clerks (who had lower strength) and that of fishermen (who had higher strength, as disclosed in a previous investigation). To a similar degree welders and fishermen also had objective signs from most parts of the musculoskeletal system, whereas subjective symptoms from some parts of the body and medical consultations due to these problems were more common among welders. Atrophied shoulder muscles were more common among welders than among fishermen, whereas crepitations in the shoulder tended to be more common among the fishermen. This indicates that heavy dynamic work and prolonged static work may both induce shoulder injuries, but of different types.     

Quantitative analysis of salt-affected soil reflectance spectra: A comparison of two adaptive methods (PLSR and ANN)

In this paper the possibility of predicting salt concentrations in soils from measured reflectance spectra is studied using partial least squares regression (PLSR) and artificial neural network (ANN). Performance of these two adaptive methods has been compared in order to examine linear and non-linear relationship between soil reflectance and salt concentration.Experiment-, field- and image-scale data sets were prepared consisting of soil EC measurements (dependent variable) and their corresponding reflectance spectra (independent variables). For each data set, PLSR and ANN predictive models of soil salinity were developed based on soil reflectance data. The predictive accuracies of PLSR and ANN models were assessed against independent validation data sets not included in the calibration or training phase.The results of PLSR analyses suggest that an accurate to good prediction of EC can be made based on models developed from experiment-scale data (R² > 0.81 and RPD (ratio of prediction to deviation) > 2.1) for soil samples salinized by bischofite and epsomite minerals. For field-scale data sets, the PLSR predictive models provided approximate quantitative EC estimations (R² = 0.8 and RPD = 2.2) for grids 1 and 6 and poor estimations for grids 2, 3, 4 and 5. The salinity predictions from image-scale data sets by PLSR models were very reliable to good (R² between 0.86 and 0.94 and RPD values between 2.6 and 4.1) except for sub-image 2 (R² = 0.61 and RPD = 1.2).The ANN models from experiment-scale data set revealed similar network performances for training, validation and test data sets indicating a good network generalization for samples salinized by bischofite and epsomite minerals. The RPD and the R² between reference measurements and ANN outputs of theses models suggest an accurate to good prediction of soil salinity (R² > 0.92 and RPD > 2.3). For the field-scale data set, prediction accuracy is relatively poor (0.69 > R² > 0.42). The ANN predictive models estimating soil salinity from image-scale data sets indicate a good prediction (R² > 0.86 and RPD > 2.5) except for sub-image 2 (R² = 0.6 and RPD = 1.2).The results of this study show that both methods have a great potential for estimating and mapping soil salinity. Performance indexes from both methods suggest large similarity between the two approaches with PLSR advantages. This indicates that the relation between soil salinity and soil reflectance can be approximated by a linear function.     

完全析取范式群判定SHOIN(D)-可满足性

针对非循环概念提出了一种对SHOIN(D)-概念可满足性进行判断的方法——CDNF(complete disjunctive normal form)算法.该算法通过把非循环定义的概念描述本身构建成分层次的析取范式群,并通过子句重用技术阻止无谓的子概念扩展,这样的析取范式群具有可满足性自明性,从而可以实现对SHOIN(D)-概念可满足性的直接判断.该算法基本上消除了判断过程中描述重复的现象,从而在空间、时间性能上都比Tableau算法有更好的表现.     

A globally exponentially stable speed observer for a class of mechanical systems: experimental and simulation comparison with high-gain and sliding mode designs

It is shown in the paper that the problem of speed observation for mechanical systems that are partially linearisable via coordinate changes admits a very simple and robust (exponentially stable) solution with a Luenberger-like observer. This result should be contrasted with the very complicated observers based on immersion and invariance reported in the literature. A second contribution of the paper is to compare, via realistic simulations and highly detailed experiments, the performance of the proposed observer with well-known high-gain and sliding mode observers. In particular, to show that – due to their high sensitivity to noise, that is unavoidable in mechanical systems applications – the performance of the two latter designs is well below par.     

AK-SYSi: an improved adaptive Kriging model for system reliability analysis with multiple failure modes by a refined U learning function

Due to multiple implicit limit state functions needed to be surrogated, adaptive Kriging model for system reliability analysis with multiple failure modes meets a big challenge in accuracy and efficiency. In order to improve the accuracy of adaptive Kriging meta-model in system reliability analysis, this paper mainly proposes an improved AK-SYS by using a refined U learning function. The improved AK-SYS updates the Kriging meta-model from the most easily identifiable failure mode among the multiple failure modes, and this strategy can avoid identifying the minimum mode or the maximum mode by the initial and the in-process Kriging meta-models and eliminate the corresponding inaccuracy propagating to the final result. By analyzing three case studies, the effectiveness and the accuracy of the proposed refined U learning function are verified.

     

Quantifying stimulus discriminability: a comparison of information theory and ideal observer analysis

Performance in sensory discrimination tasks is commonly quantified using either information theory or ideal observer analysis. These two quantitative frameworks are often assumed to be equivalent. For example, higher mutual information is said to correspond to improved performance of an ideal observer in a stimulus estimation task. To the contrary, drawing on and extending previous results, we show that five information-theoretic quantities (entropy, response-conditional entropy, specific information, equivocation, and mutual information) violate this assumption. More positively, we show how these information measures can be used to calculate upper and lower bounds on ideal observer performance, and vice versa. The results show that the mathematical resources of ideal observer analysis are preferable to information theory for evaluating performance in a stimulus discrimination task. We also discuss the applicability of information theory to questions that ideal observer analysis cannot address.