Törtrendű deriváltak integrálása nemlineáris rendszerek új lágy számítási eljárásokon alapuló adaptív szabályozásával = Integration of Fractional Order Derivatives in the Adaptive Control of Nonlinear Systems on the Basis of Novel Soft Computing Techniques

A projektben speciális, "Single Input - Single Output" rendszerekre hasonló háromszögeken alapuló adaptív fixpont transzformációs szabályozót dolgoztunk ki és alkalmaztunk nemlineáris paradigmákra (Ball-Beam System, polimerizációs reakció, hidraulikus munkahenger). A következő lépés e módszer robusztus változatának kidolgozása, majd "Multiple Input - Multiple Output" rendszerekre való kétféle általánosítása volt. A frakcionális deriváltak Caputo féle alakjából numerikus közelítéssel bevezettük a frakcionális derivált három paraméteres változatát és a "kezdeti érték" helyett a "kezdeti történet" fogalmát. Megmutattuk, hogy ez disszipatív és gerjedő rendszerek modellezésére is alkalmas. E deriváltat felhasználtuk egész rendű rendszerek szabályozásának javítására és hipotetikus frakcionális rendszerek modellezésére. Kimutattuk, hogy az általunk javasolt adaptív szabályozó e rendszerekre nehézség nélkül alkalmazható. Adaptív szabályozásunkat különféle egész és törtrendű rendszerek szabályozására alkalmaztuk szimulációval. Széles körű szimulációs vizsgálatokkal kimutattuk a legtipikusabb, Lyapunov függvényt használó adaptív módszerek hiányosságait. Végül ezek kiküszöbölésére kidolgoztuk a "Model Reference Adaptive Control" szabályozók új változatát, amely Lyapunov direkt módszere helyett robusztus fixpont transzformációval működik. | In the project special adaptive controllers were proposed for "Single Input - Single Output" systems. It applies similar triangles for formulating the control law. It was successfully applied for nonlinear paradigms as the Ball-Beam System, a polymerization reaction, and a hydraulic cylinder. In the next step the robust version of this method was elaborated, it was generalized for "Multiple Input - Multiple Output" systems in two different ways. Via numerically approximating Caputo's definition of fractional order (FO) systems a three parameters, finite memory generalization of the FO derivatives was proposed with the concept of the "preceding history" instaed of the "initial conditions". It was shown that it can be used for modeling stable dissipative and unstable systems, too. The new fractional derivative was utilized for improving the adaptive control elaborated for integer order systems, and for modeling the fractional order systems. It was shown that the fixed point transformations based control can easily be applied for the adaptive control of such hypothetical systems. Our method was applied for various integer and fractional order systems via simulations. The most important deficiencies of the most popular adaptive methods using Lyapunov's direct method were pointed out. To eliminate these deficiencies a novel approach was elaborated for the "Model Reference Adaptive Control" in which Lyapunov's method is replaced by robust fixed point transformation

Tumor Volume Estimation and Quasi- Continuous Administration for Most Effective Bevacizumab Therapy

Bevacizumab is an exogenous inhibitor which inhibits the biological activity of human VEGF. Several studies have investigated the effectiveness of bevacizumab therapy according to different cancer types but these days there is an intense debate on its utility. We have investigated different methods to find the best tumor volume estimation since it creates the possibility for precise and effective drug administration with a much lower dose than in the protocol.We have examined C38 mouse colon adenocarcinoma and HT-29 human colorectal adenocarcinoma. In both cases, three groups were compared in the experiments. The first group did not receive therapy, the second group received one 200 μg bevacizumab dose for a treatment period (protocol-based therapy), and the third group received 1.1 μg bevacizumab every day (quasi-continuous therapy). Tumor volume measurement was performed by digital caliper and small animal MRI. The mathematical relationship between MRI-measured tumor volume and mass was investigated to estimate accurate tumor volume using caliper-measured data. A two-dimensional mathematical model was applied for tumor volume evaluation, and tumor- and therapy-specific constants were calculated for the three different groups. The effectiveness of bevacizumab administration was examined by statistical analysis.In the case of C38 adenocarcinoma, protocol-based treatment did not result in significantly smaller tumor volume compared to the no treatment group; however, there was a significant difference between untreated mice and mice who received quasi-continuous therapy (p = 0.002). In the case of HT-29 adenocarcinoma, the daily treatment with one-twelfth total dose resulted in significantly smaller tumors than the protocol-based treatment (p = 0.038). When the tumor has a symmetrical, solid closed shape (typically without treatment), volume can be evaluated accurately from caliper-measured data with the applied two-dimensional mathematical model.Our results provide a theoretical background for a much more effective bevacizumab treatment using optimized administration

Quality Properties of Execution Tracing, an Empirical Study

The authors are grateful to all the professionals who participated in the focus groups; moreover, they also express special thanks to the management of the companies involved for making the organisation of the focus groups possible.Data are made available in the appendix including the results of the data coding process.The quality of execution tracing impacts the time to a great extent to locate errors in software components; moreover, execution tracing is the most suitable tool, in the majority of the cases, for doing postmortem analysis of failures in the field. Nevertheless, software product quality models do not adequately consider execution tracing quality at present neither do they define the quality properties of this important entity in an acceptable manner. Defining these quality properties would be the first step towards creating a quality model for execution tracing. The current research fills this gap by identifying and defining the variables, i.e., the quality properties, on the basis of which the quality of execution tracing can be judged. The present study analyses the experiences of software professionals in focus groups at multinational companies, and also scrutinises the literature to elicit the mentioned quality properties. Moreover, the present study also contributes to knowledge with the combination of methods while computing the saturation point for determining the number of the necessary focus groups. Furthermore, to pay special attention to validity, in addition to the the indicators of qualitative research: credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability, the authors also considered content, construct, internal and external validity

Integrating Mobile Technology Quality Service, Trust and Cultural Factors Into Technology Acceptance of Mobile Learning: A Case of the Jordan Higher Education Institution

The success of mobile learning system in higher education depends a lot on the students‟ acceptance of the technology. From an early investigation, students at Jordanian higher educational institutions however are still unwilling to use mobile learning applications and services. The students‟ acceptance should be a key concern for the management of a university in considering the implementation of mobile learning system. The objective of this study is to identify the factors that influence the acceptance of mobile learning system based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). A total of 500 questionnaires were distributed to five universities in Jordan, out of which 398 question-naires were returned, representing 79% response rate. Statistical techniques including bivariate correlation analyses, multiple linear and stepwise regression analyses, T-tests, and One-Way ANOVA were used. The results showed three core determinants: Culture, Trust, and Technology Service Quality as significantly influenced Perceived Usefulness and Perceived Ease of Use. Perceived Usefulness and Perceived Ease of Use moreover have significantly determined Attitude, while Perceived Usefulness and Attitude, have significantly determined users‟ Behavioral Intention. Among the five variables of culture, the study found Power Distance to be the most contributive variable, and Trust in University as the most contributive variable under the Trust factor. Meanwhile, the most contributive variable in Technology Service Quality factor is Accessibility. For the Demographic factors, the study proved that gender, mobile learning experience, and mobile internet experience have significantly influenced students‟ acceptance. Based on the results obtained, the study proposes a model of mobile learning acceptance based on TAM. A comprehensive understanding of this model will assist decision makers to enhance the acceptance of the mobile learning system among students in Jordanian higher educational institutions in the future

3rd Workshop in Symbolic Data Analysis: book of abstracts

This workshop is the third regular meeting of researchers interested in Symbolic Data Analysis. The main aim of the event is to favor the meeting of people and the exchange of ideas from different fields - Mathematics, Statistics, Computer Science, Engineering, Economics, among others - that contribute to Symbolic Data Analysis

An extended information system success model for mobile learning usage in Saudi Arabia universities

The emergence of 4G networks allows m-learning to be attractive for educational systems. Mobile devices have the potential to enhance accessibility and efficiency distribution of educational materials and information. Developing countries, especially in the Middle East, lag behind as they face difficulties in the adoption and use of m-learning. Previous researches stated that the studies in the success of m-learning are still insufficient in developing countries, particularly in Saudi Arabia where the number of students involved in m-learning also constitutes low percentages. Nine factors that influence the success of m-learning are incorporated and evaluated into a research model. A quantitative approach was used, where questionnaires were sent to three universities in KSA. The contributing factors and the relationships between them were evaluated using a Structural Equation Modelling technique. The research revealed that information quality, user satisfaction (US), trust in technology, attitude, organisation support, trust in organisation, and the net benefits of m-learning positively influence m-learning usage. In addition, the results confirmed that user satisfaction is positively affected by system quality (SEQ), service quality (SQ), and net benefits (NB) of using (U) the system. The results also showed that there is a significant relationship between NB and US for m-learning technology. This study extends the previous research by providing a conceptual model for the successful execution of m-learning services in universities. This mediating effect of US explains the impact of independent variables (IQ, SEQ, SQ) on U. It also examined the mediating effect of U in explaining the influence of US on the NB using m-learning services. The findings of this study are valuable as input for the Ministry of Higher Education and practitioners concerned with successful m-learning services. This study constructed a new model to enhance the mobile learning usage among students in universities

Mobile Robots

The objective of this book is to cover advances of mobile robotics and related technologies applied for multi robot systems' design and development. Design of control system is a complex issue, requiring the application of information technologies to link the robots into a single network. Human robot interface becomes a demanding task, especially when we try to use sophisticated methods for brain signal processing. Generated electrophysiological signals can be used to command different devices, such as cars, wheelchair or even video games. A number of developments in navigation and path planning, including parallel programming, can be observed. Cooperative path planning, formation control of multi robotic agents, communication and distance measurement between agents are shown. Training of the mobile robot operators is very difficult task also because of several factors related to different task execution. The presented improvement is related to environment model generation based on autonomous mobile robot observations