Three stage trade credit policy in a three-layer supply chain–a production-inventory model

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the optimal replenishment lot size of supplier and optimal production rate of manufacturer under three levels of trade credit policy for supplier–manufacturer–retailer supply chain. The supplier provides a fixed credit period to settle the accounts to the manufacturer, while the manufacturer gives a fixed credit period to settle the account to the retailer and the retailer, in turn, also offers a credit period to each of its customers to settle the accounts. We assume that the supplier supplies the raw material to the manufacturer and sends back the defective raw materials to the outside supplier after completion of inspection at one lot with a sales price. The system always produces good items in the model. Also, we consider the idle times of supplier and manufacturer. Finally, numerical examples are provided to illustrate the behaviour and application of the model with graphical simulation.     

Synthesis of carbon nanocapsules containing Fe, Ni or Co by arc discharge in aqueous solution

A simple, inexpensive and one-step synthesis method of metal-containing carbon nanocapsules using an arc discharge in aqueous solution is reported. It was found that Ni, Co and Fe nanoparticles could be in situ encapsulated in carbon shells when the arc was performed respectively in aqueous solutions of NiSO₄, CoSO₄ and FeSO₄. Transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and electron diffraction patterns of selected areas were used to determine the crystalline phase of the metal cores. To explain the formation mechanism of metal-containing carbon nanocapsules, a model of discharge in solution is proposed. This result presents a simply controllable way to synthesize metal-containing carbon nanocapsules.     

Scrolls and nested tubes in multiwall carbon nanotubes

Recent high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HREM) studies of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) reveal a class of defects analogous to edge dislocations in a crystal. These defects are believed to mark the transition from scrolls on one side to nested tubes on the other. On the tube side, layer spacing becomes irregular. Analysis of the helicity of the tubes shows a strong correlation between diameter and helicity. This suggests that the organizing principle for the tubes is not Van der Waals forces, as in the case of graphite or turbostratic carbon, but preservation of helicity. Based on these observations and total energy calculations, the authors speculate that graphene monolayers initially form scrolls and subsequently transform into multiwall nanotubes through the progression of defects. Scrolls and nested tubes thus coexist within a single MWNT.     

On the Design of Observer for Nonlinear Time‐Delay Systems

This paper suggests a new method to design observers in a class of nonlinear time‐delay systems with delays in system states. The method is based on an extension of the well‐known state‐dependent Riccati equation (SDRE) technique. The conditions for locally asymptotic stability of the proposed observer are investigated. Some numerical simulations are provided to show the design procedure and the flexibility of the proposed observer.     

一类多时变时滞T-S模糊广义系统的容许控制

研究了一类具有多时变时滞的T-S模糊广义系统的容许控制问题。首先,给出了多时变时滞的T-S模糊广义系统数学模型,并且利用Lyapunov稳定性分析方法,得到了多时变时滞的T-S模糊广义系统的容许的一个充分条件,所得的结果对时变时滞的变化率没有限制。该充分条件可以通过严格线性矩阵不等式来求解。然后基于所给出的容许性定理,提出了状态反馈控制器的设计方法.最后,使用算例说明了所给方法的可行性和有效性。     

Observer‐based H ∞ control for networked systems with bounded random delays and consecutive packet dropouts

This paper is concerned with the H _∞ control problem for a class of systems with bounded random delays and consecutive packet dropouts that exist in both sensor‐to‐controller channel and controller‐to‐actuator channel during data transmission. A new model is developed to describe possible random delays and packet dropouts by two groups of Bernoulli distributed stochastic variables. To avoid the state augmentation, a full‐order observer‐based feedback controller is designed via LMI approach. Based on the Lyapunov theory, a sufficient condition is provided to guarantee the closed‐loop networked system to be asymptotically mean‐square stable and achieve the prescribed H _∞ disturbance‐rejection‐attenuation level. The simulation examples illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Containment control of multi‐agent systems by exploiting the control inputs of neighbors

This paper studies the containment control problem for multi‐agent systems consisting of multiple leaders and followers connected as a network. The objective is to design control protocols so that the leaders will converge to a certain desired formation while the followers converge to the convex hull of the leaders. A novel protocol is proposed by exploiting the control input information of neighbors. Both continuous‐time and discrete‐time systems are considered. For continuous‐time systems, it is proved that the protocol is robust to any constant delays of the neighbors' control inputs. For discrete‐time systems, a sufficient condition on the feedback gain for the containment control is given in terms of the time delay and graph information. Some numerical examples are given to demonstrate the results. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Non‐fragile H ∞ control for switched stochastic delay systems with application to water quality process

In this paper, the problem of non‐fragile observer‐based H _∞ control for discrete‐time switched delay systems is investigated. Both data missing and time delays are taken into account in the links from sensors to observers and from controllers to actuators. Because data missing satisfies the Bernoulli distribution, such problem is transformed into an H _∞ control problem for stochastic switched delay systems. Average dwell time approach is used to obtain sufficient conditions on the solvability of such problems. A numerical example and a real example for water quality control are provided to illustrate the effectiveness and potential applications of the proposed techniques. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A new result on the delay‐dependent stability of discrete systems with time‐varying delays

This paper proposes an improvement to the delay‐dependent stability of discrete systems with time‐varying delays. The approach is based on the observation that the positive definiteness of a chosen Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional does not necessarily require all the involved symmetric matrices to be positive definite, which has been overlooked in the literature. The derived delay‐dependent stability conditions are in terms of linear matrix inequalities. It is theoretically proved that our results are less conservative than the corresponding ones obtained by requiring the positive definiteness of all the symmetric matrices in a chosen Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional. The importance of the present approach is that a great number of delay‐dependent analysis and synthesis results obtained by the aforementioned requirement in the literature can be improved by the present approach without introducing any new decision variables. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

移动容迟传感网络拓扑覆盖建模与统计特征*

移动容迟传感网络的拓扑覆盖研究对于相关工程系统设计具有重要意义。针对当前研究没有很好地刻画区域动态覆盖特征的问题,提出基于排队网络的建模方法。进而利用随机几何学和排队论方法,以定理形式提出关于二维平面上区域覆盖的首达时间、覆盖度分布等统计特征的理论结果。结合典型移动场景,仿真验证了上述结果的合理性和应用价值。