Robust anti-windup controller design of time-delay fuzzy systems with actuator saturations

This study presents a robust anti-windup fuzzy control approach for uncertain nonlinear time-delay systems with actuator saturations. The discussed system dynamics is presented by the Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy model. To facilitate the design process, the nonlinearity of input saturation is characterized by a specific sector condition. Given a stabilizing dynamic output feedback fuzzy controller, an anti-windup control approach is then developed to maximize the size of estimate of the domain of attraction. Significantly, the convergence of all admissible initial states within this region could be ensured. Based on the Lyapunov-Krasovskii delay-independent and delay-dependent analyses, sufficient conditions for the robust stabilization are derived. These conditions are formulated as a convex optimization problem with constraints represented by a set of linear matrix inequalities, allowing the fuzzy controller to be synthesized more efficiently. Finally, numeric simulations are given to validate the proposed approach.     

The indexing for one-dimensional proportionally-scaled strings

Related problems of scaled matching and indexing, which aim to determine all positions in a text T that a pattern P occurs in its scaled form, are considered important because of their applications to computer vision. However, previous results only focus on enlarged patterns, and do not allow shrunk patterns since they may disappear. In this paper, we give the definition and an efficient indexing algorithm for proportionally-scaled patterns that can be visually enlarged or shrunk. The proposed indexing algorithm takes O(|T|) time in its preprocessing phase, and achieves time in its answering phase, where |T|, |P|, Up, and m denote the length of T, the length of P, the number of reported positions, and the length of T under run-length representation, respectively.     

A training-free nose tip detection method from face range images

Nose tip detection in range images is a specific facial feature detection problem that is highly important for 3D face recognition. In this paper, we propose a nose tip detection method that has the following three characteristics. First, it does not require training and does not rely on any particular model. Second, it can deal with both frontal and non-frontal poses. Finally, it is quite fast, requiring only seconds to process an image of 100-200 pixels (in both x and y dimensions) with a MATLAB implementation. A complexity analysis shows that most of the computations involved in the proposed algorithm are simple. Thus, if implemented in hardware (such as a GPU implementation), the proposed method should be able to work in real time. We tested the proposed method extensively on synthetic image data rendered by a 3D head model and real data using FRGC v2.0 data set. Experimental results show that the proposed method is robust to many scenarios that are encountered in common face recognition applications (e.g., surveillance). A high detection rate of 99.43% was obtained on FRGC v2.0 data set. Furthermore, the proposed method can be used to coarsely estimate the roll, yaw, and pitch angles of the face pose.     

Vortex pattern and wave motion produced by a bottom blunt body moving at a critical speed

An underwater object moving at a near-critical speed in a shallow-water domain had been observed to generate a sequence of upstream propagating solitary waves with an elongated depression of water surface and a train of dispersive waves followed in the downstream. This study presents the development of a two-dimensional stream function–vorticity based viscous fluid model with satisfied nonlinear free-surface conditions to study the generation of solitary waves and the induced vortex motion under the forcing of a moving object. A combined finite analytic and finite difference method is adopted to solve the flow field equations and free-surface boundary conditions in a transient curvilinear coordinate system. The model is shown to produce free-surface elevations in fairly good agreements with published results for a test case of a moving smooth bump. Other tests for the generation of recirculation zone behind a body of square shape in a confined fluid domain are also conducted to further verify the model performance. The results showing the generation of upstream advancing solitary waves and downstream vortex pattern by a blunt rectangular body moving at a critical speed along the bottom in a domain with free surface are presented. Comparisons of results from potential flow and viscous flow conditions are made to demonstrate the importance of viscosity to the wave generation. Different from the relatively regular vortex pattern occurred under the case of Re = 3500, the transition of the vortex motion for a larger Reynolds number (e.g. Re = 35,000) evolves without a regular pattern throughout the generation process of the advancing solitons. The effects of the size and bluntness of a moving object on the generated flow field and free-surface elevations are also analyzed and discussed.     

Prediction of residual stresses in high strength carbon steel pipe weld considering solid-state phase transformation effects

In this paper, prediction of axial and hoop residual stresses produced in high strength carbon steel pipe weld was made by employing a sequentially coupled 3-D thermal, metallurgical and mechanical FE model. Solid-state phase transformation during welding was incorporated into the FE model by allowing for volumetric changes and the associated changes in yield stress induced by austenitic and martensitic transformations. In the FE model, temperature-dependent thermo-physical and mechanical properties were considered, and phase transformation plasticity was also taken into account. The results showed the importance of incorporating solid-state phase transformation in the simulation of the pipe welding.     

Online gesture spotting from visual hull data

This paper presents a robust framework for online full-body gesture spotting from visual hull data. Using view-invariant pose features as observations, hidden Markov models (HMMs) are trained for gesture spotting from continuous movement data streams. Two major contributions of this paper are 1) view-invariant pose feature extraction from visual hulls, and 2) a systematic approach to automatically detecting and modeling specific nongesture movement patterns and using their HMMs for outlier rejection in gesture spotting. The experimental results have shown the view-invariance property of the proposed pose features for both training poses and new poses unseen in training, as well as the efficacy of using specific nongesture models for outlier rejection. Using the IXMAS gesture data set, the proposed framework has been extensively tested and the gesture spotting results are superior to those reported on the same data set obtained using existing state-of-the-art gesture spotting methods.     

CCS-MAC: Exploiting the overheard data for compression in wireless sensor networks

Both the overhearing and overhearing avoidance in a densely distributed sensor network may inevitably incur considerable power consumption. In this paper we propose a so-called CCS-MAC (collaborative compression strategy-based MAC) MAC protocol which facilitates to exploit those overheard data that is treated useless in traditional MAC protocols for the purpose of cost and energy savings. Particularly the CCS-MAC enables different sensor nodes to perform data compression cooperatively with regard to those overheard data, so that the redundancy of data prepared for the link layer transmission can be totally eliminated at the earliest. The problem of collaborative compression is analyzed and discussed along with a corresponding linear programming model formulated. Based on it a heuristic node-selection algorithm with a time complexity of (O(N²)) is proposed to the solve the linear programming problem. The node-selection algorithm is implemented in CCS-MAC at each sensor node in a distributed manner. The experiment results verify that the proposed CCS-MAC scheme can achieve a significant energy savings so as to prolong the lifetime of the sensor networks so far.     

Strong stability of the mono-tubular heat exchanger equation with output feedback

We investigate asymptotic behavior of the C₀-semigroup T(t) associated with the mono-tubular heat exchanger equation with output feedback by a perturbation method. It is shown that T(t) is bounded if a constraint is satisfied by the parameters and the spatial distribution function. Further, applying the Arendt-Batty-Lyubich-Vu theorem, a criterion is established to judge strong stability of T(t).     

RFID-initiated workflow control to facilitate patient safety and utilization efficiency in operation theater

Objective

To control the workflow for surgical patients, we in-cooperate radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology to develop a Patient Advancement Monitoring System (PAMS) in operation theater.

Methods

The web-based PAMS is designed to monitor the whole workflow for the handling of surgical patients. The system integrates multiple data entry ports Across the multi-functional surgical teams. Data are entered into the system through RFID, bar code, palm digital assistance (PDA), ultra-mobile personal computer (UMPC), or traditional keyboard at designated checkpoints. Active radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag can initiate data demonstration on the computer screens upon a patient's arrival at any particular checkpoint along the advancement pathway.

Results

The PAMS can manage the progress of operations, patient localization, identity verification, and peri-operative care. The workflow monitoring provides caregivers’ instant information sharing to enhance management efficiency.

Conclusion

RFID-initiate surgical workflow control is valuable to meet the safety, quality, efficiency requirements in operation theater.     

Exploring the wild birds’ migration data for the disease spread study of H5N1: a clustering and association approach

Knowledge about the wetland use of migratory bird species during the annual life circle is very interesting to biologists, as it is critically important in many decision-making processes such as for conservation site construction and avian influenza control. The raw data of the habitat areas and the migration routes are usually in large scale and with high complexity when they are determined by high-tech GPS satellite telemetry. In this paper, we convert these biological problems into computational studies and introduce efficient algorithms for the data analysis. Our key idea is the concept of hierarchical clustering for migration habitat localizations, and the notion of association rules for the discovery of migration routes from the scattered location points in the GIS. One of our clustering results is a tree structure, specially called spatial-tree, which is an illusive map depicting the breeding and wintering home range of bar-headed geese. A related result to this observation is an association pattern that reveals a high possibility that bar-headed geese’s potential autumn migration routes are likely between the breeding sites in the Qinghai Lake, China and the wintering sites in Tibet river valley. Given the susceptibility of geese to spread H5N1, and on the basis of the chronology and the rates of the bar-headed geese migration movements, we can conjecture that bar-headed geese play an important role in the spread of the H5N1 virus at a regional scale in Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.