Runout analysis in fatigue investigation

Those individual tests in a series of experiments that are not completed or must be suspended are known as “censored points,” or “runouts”. Inclusion of runouts in data analysis can be problematic, and such ad hoc approaches as ignoring the runout observation or treating it as a failure can significantly affect estimation. The methodology offered here alleviates the handling of runouts and censored data by using the maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) method to incorporate the censored data properly. The methodology is illustrated with an example problem using actual data and the affects of ad hoc approaches are illustrated.     

Linear mixture model applied to Amazonian vegetation classification

Many research projects require accurate delineation of different secondary succession (SS) stages over large regions/subregions of the Amazon basin. However, the complexity of vegetation stand structure, abundant vegetation species, and the smooth transition between different SS stages make vegetation classification difficult when using traditional approaches such as the maximum likelihood classifier (MLC). Most of the time, classification distinguishes only between forest/non-forest. It has been difficult to accurately distinguish stages of SS. In this paper, a linear mixture model (LMM) approach is applied to classify successional and mature forests using Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery in the Rondônia region of the Brazilian Amazon. Three endmembers (i.e., shade, soil, and green vegetation or GV) were identified based on the image itself and a constrained least-squares solution was used to unmix the image. This study indicates that the LMM approach is a promising method for distinguishing successional and mature forests in the Amazon basin using TM data. It improved vegetation classification accuracy over that of the MLC. Initial, intermediate, and advanced successional and mature forests were classified with overall accuracy of 78.2% using a threshold method on the ratio of shade to GV fractions, a 7.4% increase over the MLC. The GV and shade fractions are sensitive to the change of vegetation stand structures and better capture biophysical structure information.     

A fast evolutionary pursuit algorithm based on linearly combining vectors

In this paper, we propose a fast Evolutionary pursuit algorithm. It searches for optimal discriminant vectors through linearly combining standard bases. Experiments on the Yale and ORL databases verify its effectiveness and enhanced efficiency.     

Existence of discrete-time LQG-controllers

Existence results for the LQG-controller are investigated. An infimal Riccati equation based controller may potentially give closed loop eigenvalues on the unit circle. Assuming left and right invertibility it is shown that there exists an optimal controller if and only if the Riccati equation based controller stabilizes the closed loop system after removal of all its unobservable and uncontrollable modes. Furthermore this reduced controller is the optimal controller, and its transfer function is unique. This existence condition is a considerable simplification of the more general geometric condition recently derived by Trentelman and Stoorvogel.     

条形药包药量计算公式探讨

本文通过现有诸药量计算公式的总结和统计分析，认为经验函数划（ｎ）以二次式较合适。并根据流体动力学理论和临界能量密度破碎准则，推导出ｆ（ｎ）的二次项公式，得ｑ＝ＫＷ２（１十ｎ２）／２；该式较符合实际，故推荐供参考。     

Metaheuristic downhill simplex method in combinatorial optimization

The concept of combinatorial objects is formalized. It allows strict definition of a combinatorial optimization problem (COP). An efficient metaheuristic method to solve COPs (H-method) is considered. It includes stochastic local search algorithms as a built-in procedure. A parallel implementation of the H-method is set forth and analyzed. The results from a numerical experiment and solution of some well-known COPs on personal computers and on the SKIT cluster supercomputer are presented. The study was supported by INTAS (Project 06-1000017-8909). __________ Translated from Kibernetika i Sistemnyi Analiz, No. 6, pp. 70–79, November–December 2007.     

Continued fraction for formal laurent series and the lattice structure of sequences

Besides equidistribution properties and statistical independence the lattice profile, a generalized version of Marsaglia's lattice test, provides another quality measure for pseudorandom sequences over a (finite) field. It turned out that the lattice profile is closely related with the linear complexity profile. In this article we give a survey of several features of the linear complexity profile and the lattice profile, and we utilize relationships to completely describe the lattice profile of a sequence over a finite field in terms of the continued fraction expansion of its generating function. Finally we describe and construct sequences with a certain lattice profile, and introduce a further complexity measure.     

条形药包爆炸应力场试验研究

应用动态光弹性模型试验方法研究了条形药包的爆炸应力场分布特性。研究结果表明：起爆方式和位置影响着条形药包爆炸应力场的分布形态，并首次成功地记录了条形药包瞬间爆炸应力场的动光弹条纹，得到了理想成力场的分布形式。     

Robust adaptive control of robotic manipulators without the regressor matrix

A new adaptive controller is presented here for rigid-body robotic manipulators. It is stable and robust with respect to a class of external disturbances. The robustness of the adaptive controller is established without the ‘slow-varying’ assumption and the computationally demanding regressor matrix. The control law consists of a non-adaptive PD control part and an adaptive control part. It uses two adaptive matrices to compensate two uniformly bounded coefficient matrices derived from the original dynamics. A α σ|q?|-modified adaptive law is designed to adjust the adaptive matrices. A Lyapunov-type stability analysis indicates that the closed-loop system is uniformly ultimately bounded. The tracking error and compensation error will eventually converge into a closed region, which can be made arbitrarily small by adjusting the controller parameters. Simulation results are included to demonstrate the performance of the proposed controller.     

Using information-systems constructs to study online- and telephone-banking technologies

The research literature has seen a number of studies aimed at understanding customer attitudes towards banking technologies, and thereby providing implications for developmental planning and marketing. However, even though banking technologies have a significant amount of information systems (IS) component to them, there is a paucity of research that considers them from the IS perspective. In this paper, we fill this gap by considering three constructs, namely usefulness, ease of use and usage, that are all rooted in the IS literature. We study user’s perceptions of these constructs, as well as the relationships among them, for both online and telephone banking.