Formation stabilization and resizing based on the control of inter‐agent distances

We propose a control strategy that could steer the group of mobile agents in the plane to achieve a specified formation. The control law could be implemented in a fully decentralized manner so that each agent moves on their own local reference frame. Under the acyclic minimally persistent graph topology, each agent measures the relative displacements of neighboring agents and then adjusts the distances between them to achieve the desired formation. As well as achieving a fixed formation, we could resize the formation only by changing the leader edge, which connects the leader with the first‐follower in acyclic minimally persistent graph, without changing the structures of the control law. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stochastic stability and stabilization of discrete‐time singular Markovian jump systems with partially unknown transition probabilities

This paper considers the stochastic stability and stabilization of discrete‐time singular Markovian jump systems with partially unknown transition probabilities. Firstly, a set of necessary and sufficient conditions for the stochastic stability is proposed in terms of LMIs, then a set of sufficient conditions is proposed for the design of a state feedback controller to guarantee that the corresponding closed‐loop systems are regular, causal, and stochastically stable by employing the LMI technique. Finally, some examples are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approaches. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Some results on disturbance attenuation for Hamiltonian systems via direct discrete‐time design

The disturbance attenuation and robust disturbance attenuation problems for Hamiltonian systems in the discrete‐time setting are considered and some new results are presented. The new results are derived utilizing the recently presented dissipativity equality obtained by adding the dissipation rate function to the classical dissipativity inequality. A selection of the dissipation rate function yields new results. These results include a condition on the dissipation structure of the system to achieve the desired disturbance attenuation level and gives direct construction of optimal control laws for any desired disturbance attenuation level. The results remove the need to solve Hamilton–Jacobi–Isaacs inequalities. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Observer based repetitive learning control for a class of nonlinear systems with non‐parametric uncertainties

In this paper, a repetitive learning control (RLC) scheme is developed for a class of nonlinear systems to handle an output tracking problem, where two state observers are introduced concurrently to estimate the unavailable control system and reference states information. The estimation of reference state information is because of the lack of reference internal model in the RLC design. By virtue of the periodicity of reference signals and the associated learning capability in control mechanism, the involved unstructured nonlinear uncertainties can be handled. The Lyapunov‐like energy function method is adopted to facilitate the learning control design as well as property analysis thus achieve the asymptotical convergence of errors in state observation and output tracking simultaneously. Moreover, owing to the robustification of the learning controller that is addressed by incorporating projection, the proposed control scheme would be applicable in practice. In the end, an illustrative example is simulated to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed RLC law. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A limit set stabilization by means of the Port Hamiltonian system approach

A solution to the stabilization problem of a compact set by means of the Interconnection and Damping Assignment Passivity‐Based Control methodology, for an affine nonlinear system, was introduced. To this end, we expressed the closed‐loop system as a Port Hamiltonian system, having the property of almost all their trajectories asymptotically converge to a convenient limit set, except for a set of measure zero. It was carried out by solving a partial differential equation (PDE) or single matching condition, which allows the desired energy level or limit set E to be shaped explicitly. The control strategy was tested using the magnetic beam balance system and the pendulum actuated by a direct current motor (DC‐motor), having obtained satisfactory results. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Less conservative stability criteria for linear systems with interval time‐varying delays

The problem of the stability of a linear system with an interval time‐varying delay is investigated. A new Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional that fully uses information about the lower bound of the time‐varying delay is constructed to derive new stability criteria. It is proved that the proposed Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional can lead to less conservative results than some existing ones. Based on the proposed Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional, two stability conditions are developed using two different methods to estimate Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional's derivative. Two numerical examples are given to illustrate that the two stability conditions are complementary and yield a larger maximum upper bound of the time‐varying delay than some existing results. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Performance of estimating depth in projection based stereoscopic virtual display

Accurate distance estimation is essential for effective user interaction with objects appearing in the virtual space. Research has shown that the distance estimation in the virtual space is not as accurate as that in the real world. The inaccuracy phenomenon is almost exclusively documented for estimating objects appearing straight ahead of the eye. A collection of the accuracy data for targets located in different angles of view in the visual field may be useful in aiding the design of user‐virtual object interaction. This study collected the object to object distance estimation accuracy for targets displayed stereoscopically. There are five horizontal and two vertical viewing angles and three depths, resulting in a total of 30 locations in the virtual space. The distance estimation for any of the 30 object pairs were performed with or without the aid of spatial cues. Significant factors influencing the accuracy and time of distance estimation were identified. Implications of the finding were discussed with respect to the stereoscopic display environment.     

Relationship between age differences and display parameters on visual comfort for autostereoscopic display

In order to investigate the age differences for viewing autostereoscopic display, we conduct a 3 × 3 × 3 × 4 mixed design with repeated measurement experiment by using three‐dimensional (3D) video clips. Visual comfort is compared between four age groups with a questionnaire. Results of subjective evaluation are compared through the chi‐square test to check if there is a statistical significance between groups with respect to the distribution of number and proportion according to five levels of visual comfort. Then we examine age differences of visual comfort under three key display parameters including crosstalk, ambient illumination, and disparity. The results indicate that the degree of comfort varies considerably among age groups as the parameters of the display system change. Although the seniors feel most discomfort and the children get best experience in general, there is no statistical difference among the subjects when the ambient illumination is medium or disparity is large. So, it is necessary to take account of the age differences in designing 3D display parameters for enhancing visual comfort.     

Evaluating the Wisdom of Strangers: The Perceived Credibility of Online Consumer Reviews on Yelp

This study examined the effects of review valence, the reviewer profile, and the receiver's familiarity with the platform (user/nonuser) on the perceived credibility of a review on Yelp.com and on the receiver's attitude toward the reviewed object. The results demonstrated a difference in cue‐taking between users and nonusers. For users, there was an interaction effect of 2 profile cues (number of friends and number of reviews) on competence. Users interpreted the cues in combination, whereas non‐users were not influenced by them. The friends × reviews × platform familiarity interaction indirectly affected attitude through competence. Further, review valence was positively associated with perceived credibility and attitude. The findings support and extend the social information processing theory and cue combination literature.     

Neural Network and Classification Approach in Identifying Customer Behavior in the Banking Sector: A Case Study of an International Bank

The customer relationship focus for banks is in development of main competencies and strategies of building strong profitable customer relationships through considering and managing the customer impression, influence on the culture of the bank, satisfactory treatment, and assessment of valued relationship building. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are used after data segmentation and classification, where the designed model register records into two class sets, that is, the training and testing sets. ANN predicts new customer behavior from previously observed customer behavior after executing the process of learning from existing data. This article proposes an ANN model, which is developed using a six‐step procedure. The back‐propagation algorithm is used to train the ANN by adjusting its weights to minimize the difference between the current ANN output and the desired output. An evaluation process is conducted to determine whether the ANN has learned how to perform. The training process is halted periodically, and its performance is tested until an acceptable result is obtained. The principles underlying detection software are grounded in classical statistical decision theory.