Consensus Synthesis of Robust Cooperative Control for Homogeneous Leader-Follower Multi-Agent Systems Subject to Parametric Uncertainty

This paper presents a design of robust consensus for homogeneous leader-follower multiagent systems (MAS). Each agent of MAS is described by a linear time-invariant dynamic model subject to parametric uncertainty. The agents are interconnected through a static interconnection matrix over an undirected graph to cooperate and share information with their neighbours. The consensus design of MAS can be transformed to stability analysis by using decomposition technique. We apply Lyapunov theorem to derive the sufficient condition to ensure the consensus of all independent subsystems. In addition, we design a robust distributed state feedback gain based on linear quadratic regulator (LQR) setting. Controller gain is computed via solving a linear matrix inequality. As a result, we provide a robust design procedure of a cooperative LQR control to achieve consensus objective and maximize the admissible bound of the uncertainty. Finally, we give numerical examples to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed consensus design. The results show that the response for MAS in presence of uncertainty using robust consensus design follows the response of the leader and is better than that of the existingnominal consensus design

Electric Vehicle Efficient Power and Propulsion Systems

Vehicle electrification has been identified as one of the main technology trends in this second decade of the 21st century. Nearly 10% of global car sales in 2021 were electric, and this figure would be 50% by 2030 to reduce the oil import dependency and transport emissions in line with countries’ climate goals. This book addresses the efficient power and propulsion systems which cover essential topics for research and development on EVs, HEVs and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV), including: Energy storage systems (battery, fuel cell, supercapacitors, and their hybrid systems); Power electronics devices and converters; Electric machine drive control, optimization, and design; Energy system advanced management methods Primarily intended for professionals and advanced students who are working on EV/HEV/FCEV power and propulsion systems, this edited book surveys state of the art novel control/optimization techniques for different components, as well as for vehicle as a whole system. New readers may also find valuable information on the structure and methodologies in such an interdisciplinary field. Contributed by experienced authors from different research laboratory around the world, these 11 chapters provide balanced materials from theorical background to methodologies and practical implementation to deal with various issues of this challenging technology. This reprint encourages researchers working in this field to stay actualized on the latest developments on electric vehicle efficient power and propulsion systems, for road and rail, both manned and unmanned vehicles

Robotics 2010

Without a doubt, robotics has made an incredible progress over the last decades. The vision of developing, designing and creating technical systems that help humans to achieve hard and complex tasks, has intelligently led to an incredible variety of solutions. There are barely technical fields that could exhibit more interdisciplinary interconnections like robotics. This fact is generated by highly complex challenges imposed by robotic systems, especially the requirement on intelligent and autonomous operation. This book tries to give an insight into the evolutionary process that takes place in robotics. It provides articles covering a wide range of this exciting area. The progress of technical challenges and concepts may illuminate the relationship between developments that seem to be completely different at first sight. The robotics remains an exciting scientific and engineering field. The community looks optimistically ahead and also looks forward for the future challenges and new development

Aeronautical engineering: A cumulative index to a continuing bibliography (supplement 248)

This publication is a cumulative index to the abstracts contained in Supplements 236 through 247 of Aeronautical Engineering: A Continuing Bibliography. The bibliographic series is compiled through the cooperative efforts of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Seven indexes are included -- subject, personal author, corporate source, foreign technology, contract number, report number and accession number

Clothes Talk: Youth Modernities and Commodity Consumption in Dakar, Senegal

Based on twelve months of fieldwork in Dakar, Senegal and funded by the Wenner Gren Foundation, this thesis examines how in the context of contemporary globalization, increased volumes of luxury commodities shape the modern consciousness of individuals in a developing African city. This project specifically examines this phenomenon through a study of youth clothing consumption. Dakar is a consumer society with particular consumer dynamics. In addition to class, patron-clientage and kinship are central to understanding contemporary patterns of consumption in Dakar. Clothing is a commodity that has been radically altered by urbanization and the globalization of manufacturing processes and advertising. Clothing is also a realm of cultural expression that has particular importance to Dakarois and it is the focus of many urban consumption competitions. In this study, the cultural dynamics of clothing consumption are examined through an integrated lens of the private and public dimensions of commodities. A balanced examination of the symbolic meanings and patterns of circulation and exchange reveals how youth are critical to an understanding of Dakar clothing practices and Senegalese consumption competitions in general. It illuminates how youth are liberated and oppressed by clothing consumption in the current context of globalization. The data for this dissertation was collected using a combination of traditional and non-traditional research methods. In addition to participant observation, household surveys and semi-structured interviews, youth participants produced teen fashion magazines based on their own photography and writings, and authored a street language dictionary. The collaborative research methods adopted in this study demonstrate how anthropology is an additional external force shaping clothing consumption along with transnational migration, media and decentralized production. Dakarois\u27 intense interest and awareness of clothing commodities and competitions are not pure outcomes of globalization or Senegalese cultural life. Rather, they are the result of local and global phenomena intersecting with one another while shaping the relationships between people and things

Universities and regional development : a new perspective on the second academic revolution

Doutoramento em Ciências SociaisO presente trabalho visa contribuir para alargar o conhecimento sobre o papel que as universidades podem desempenhar nos processos de desenvolvimento regional. Esse papel é abordado com base no argumento de que as dinâmicas de mudança no mundo académico assumem contornos revolucionários, configurados pela inserção do desenvolvimento económico na missão das universidades, em paralelo com o ensino e a investigação. O trabalho defende que a perspectiva dominante sobre as mudanças na missão académica, centrada quase exclusivamente nos processos de transferência de tecnologia entre as universidades e os tecidos produtivos regionais, negligencia vertentes da relação universidade-região que, tendo em conta a natureza e os desafios da sociedade contemporânea, assumem grande relevância. Assim, a dissertação propõe uma perspectiva alargada sobre a revolução académica, por forma a introduzir no debate recursos de desenvolvimento que as universidades podem fornecer às suas regiões e que, no âmbito da abordagem tradicional, são menosprezados. Para o efeito, a investigação incide sobre o papel das universidades na promoção da capacidade institucional das regiões, ou seja a combinação e mobilização de recursos de conhecimento e de recursos relacionais que sustentam a acção colectiva. O trabalho procura responder a quatro questões de investigação essenciais. A primeira refere-se ao papel que as universidades, como agentes de desenvolvimento económico, assumem nos processos de construção da capacidade institucional das regiões; a segunda prende-se com os arranjos organizacionais que estão a ser adoptados nas universidades como forma de enfrentar os desafios associados à nova missão académica; a terceira espelha a influência que as condições contextuais exercem sobre a intensidade e qualidade das relações universidade-região e explora a possibilidade da ocorrência de benefícios mútuos; a quarta questão aborda as particularidades que marcam o papel das universidades em regiões menos favorecidas. A investigação parte da conceptualização dos desafios inerentes aos processos de mudança da sociedade, os quais, no âmbito da dialéctica entre a ideia de sociedade e a idea de universidade, formatam a transformação da academia. De seguida, detalham-se a natureza e as implicações das mudanças na academia, identificam-se os problemas da abordagem tradicional a essas mudanças e sugere-se uma perspectiva mais abrangente sobre a segunda revolução académica. Os estudos de caso realizados em três universidades que operam em contextos territoriais diferenciados sustentam, do ponto de vista da praxis, as respostas às questões acima referidas e a formulação de conclusões sobre o papel que as universidades podem desempenhar nos processos de desenvolvimento regional e a sua natureza revolucionária.This dissertation aims to contribute to the advancement of the knowledge on the role universities play in regional development processes. It draws on the argument according to which there is an ongoing revolution in academia, configured by the integration of economic development in the mission realm of universities, together with teaching and research. Taking into account the nature and challenges of the contemporary dynamics of societal change, it asserts that the changing academic mission is being taken by dominant scholar approaches in a narrow, incomplete fashion, because almost exclusively focused on the technology transferred between universities and their regions’ productive fabric. In accordance, the dissertation proposes a broader perspective on the academic revolution, in order to introduce in the debate relevant regional development resources that universities can provide, which are left out of the mainstreamed picture. It does that by studying the part played by universities in the promotion of the regional capabilities needed to combine and mobilise the knowledge and relational resources that nourish the collective capacity for collective action, i.e., the resources and processes that build up regional institutional capacity. The research work aims to search for answers to four major questions, which ground the guiding inquiry line. The first relates to the role of regional development agents assumed by universities and the extent to which their agency makes them institutional capacity builders. The second focuses on the ways universities are organising themselves in order to deal with the challenges inherent to third mission activities. The third mirrors the contextual and mutually reinforcing nature of the university-region nexus. The fourth and final question addresses the particularities that expectably characterise universities’ regional engagement in less favoured regions. The dissertation takes as point of departure the conceptualisation and reasoning of the challenges associated with contemporary societal change, which, under the dialectics between the idea of the University and the idea of the Society, is shaping academic change. Drawing on the resulting scenery of academic change, it details the nature and implications of the revolutionary move in academia, identifies the shortages of the mainstream approach and introduces a new, broader perspective on the second academic revolution. The case studies undertaken in three universities operating in different European regional contexts offer a picture of the second academic revolution, in its extended version, taken from the point of view of practice. This picture provides the empirical evidence that configures the answers to the major research questions and underpins the conclusive remarks on the role of universities in regional development and its revolutionatry nature

A complex systems approach to education in Switzerland

The insights gained from the study of complex systems in biological, social, and engineered systems enables us not only to observe and understand, but also to actively design systems which will be capable of successfully coping with complex and dynamically changing situations. The methods and mindset required for this approach have been applied to educational systems with their diverse levels of scale and complexity. Based on the general case made by Yaneer Bar-Yam, this paper applies the complex systems approach to the educational system in Switzerland. It confirms that the complex systems approach is valid. Indeed, many recommendations made for the general case have already been implemented in the Swiss education system. To address existing problems and difficulties, further steps are recommended. This paper contributes to the further establishment complex systems approach by shedding light on an area which concerns us all, which is a frequent topic of discussion and dispute among politicians and the public, where billions of dollars have been spent without achieving the desired results, and where it is difficult to directly derive consequences from actions taken. The analysis of the education system's different levels, their complexity and scale will clarify how such a dynamic system should be approached, and how it can be guided towards the desired performance