Design an intelligent controller for full vehicle nonlinear active suspension systems

The main objective of designed the controller for a vehicle suspension system is to reduce the discomfort sensed by passengers which arises from road roughness and to increase the ride handling associated with the pitching and rolling movements. This necessitates a very fast and accurate controller to meet as much control objectives, as possible. Therefore, this paper deals with an artificial intelligence Neuro-Fuzzy (NF) technique to design a robust controller to meet the control objectives. The advantage of this controller is that it can handle the nonlinearities faster than other conventional controllers. The approach of the proposed controller is to minimize the vibrations on each corner of vehicle by supplying control forces to suspension system when travelling on rough road. The other purpose for using the NF controller for vehicle model is to reduce the body inclinations that are made during intensive manoeuvres including braking and cornering. A full vehicle nonlinear active suspension system is introduced and tested. The robustness of the proposed controller is being assessed by comparing with an optimal Fractional Order (FOPID) controller. The results show that the intelligent NF controller has improved the dynamic response measured by decreasing the cost function

Credit Default and Business Cycles: an empirical investigation of Brazilian retail loans

We use microdata from the Credit Information System (SCR) of the Central Bank of Brazil to study the relationship between credit default and business cycles. In particular, we study the first part of the argument underlying the discussion about procyclicality related to the Basel II Accord: that recessions might increase credit defaults and have adverse impacts on the losses in portfolios of lender institutions. We explore both time series and cross-sectional variation in the data. Our data on the individual level are composed of retail loan transactions in two modalities—Consumer Credit and Vehicle Financing—from 2003 to 2008. Our results support the idea of a negative relationship between business cycles and credit default, but less strong than suggested in previous studies that use corporate data. We also find low and dispersed default correlations, and smaller losses in Value at Risk (VaR) experiments than those found in the literature. These results may be possibly explained by the fact that, in the retail sector, loans are given to a large number of individuals, which may help to diversify risks.

Scarcity Rents in Car Retailing: Evidence from Inventory Fluctuations at Dealerships

Price variation for identical cars at the same dealership is commonly assumed to arise because dealers with market power are able to price discriminate among their customers. In this paper we show that while price discrimination may be one element of price variation, price variation also arises from inventory fluctuations. Inventory fluctuations create scarcity rents for cars that are in short supply. The price variation due to inventory fluctuations thus functions to efficiently allocate particular cars that are in restricted supply to those customers who value them most highly. Our empirical results show that a dealership moving from a situation of inventory shortage to an average inventory level lowers transaction prices by about 1% ceteris paribus, corresponding to 15% of dealers' average per vehicle profit margin or $250 on the average car. Shorter resupply times also decrease transaction prices for cars in high demand. For traditional dealerships, inventory explains 49% of the combined inventory and demographic components of the predicted price. For so-called 'no-haggle' dealerships, the percentage explained by inventory increases to 74%.

Analytical model to estimate performances of autonomous vehicle storage and retrieval systems for product totes

In today’s competitive scenario of increasingly faster deliveries and smaller order sizes, material-handling providers are progressively developing new solutions. A recent, automated material-handling technology for unit load storage and retrieval consists of an autonomous vehicle storage and retrieval system (AVS/RS). The present paper presents an analytical model to estimate the performances (the transaction cycle time and waiting times) of AVS/RS for product tote movement. The model is based on an open queuing network approach. The model effectiveness in performance estimation is validated through simulation

Cross-Border Securitization: Without Law, But Not Lawless

The Article discusses two puzzles posed by cross-border securitization. First, why do the innovators in this area give away their creations through publications and other means rather than attempt to extract licensing fees by registering copyrights, patents, and trade names? The Article shows that innovators benefit from giving away their innovations through fees of the first clients or future clients to a greater extent than through licensing fees. Second, how can securitization markets develop under fragmented and unpredictable laws? The Article argues that cross-border securitization is flourishing under a law merchant, which is later incorporated into domestic laws. In fact, innovations and standardization of law are developing in tandem and the same professionals that innovate are those that work on standardization of the law. The Article concludes that cross-border securitization serves as a case study of legal change from the bottom up, rather than from the top down

How is Convergence Best Achieved in International Project Finance?

This Essay will first review and then analyze the characteristics of each of three possible routes of convergence in light of three features. The first is stability and predictability of the legal environment. It is the main benefit that private investors look for before investing in a country. The second is the scope of influence and lobbying of interest groups. This feature is extracted from an analysis of the adoption of uniform laws proposed by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws ( NCCUSL ) by Professors Ribstein and Kobayashi. These authors find evidence of enactment by states of NCCUSL\u27s proposals despite a cost-benefit analysis suggesting that these proposals are not efficient. This inefficiency results from the influence of interest groups and NCCUSL\u27s reliance on ill-informed generalists. The third feature is the respect for, or promotion of, public interest considerations. This analysis may reveal a tension between the economic efficiency and the social desirability of these routes, between market-driven policy and public interest concerns. This tension plays out in different ways. The more commonly addressed conflicts of interests are between public players and private investors; between (1) the interests of the host country in obtaining adequate financial and technical safeguards and assurances from the private participants that the project will be carried out safely, on time, and in the public interest and (2) the interests of private participants in limiting the type and number of guarantees that they give. The less explored tension addresses the respect for standards, such as human rights standards, that the host country itself may be reluctant to promote, but that affect private investment in terms of reputation or expense. This Essay disregards the tension between economic efficiency and social desirability, and rather focuses on the goal of reconciling private and public interest concerns. It will seek to determine whether one of these routes is better than the others, or whether a combination of the three is the best way to achieve convergence in international project finance. In conclusion, this Essay will show that all three routes to convergence are necessary to both foster and control international project finance. The twin goals of balancing private and public interests are best fulfilled at the international level, since this level can generate clear, balanced, and uniform rules by promulgating a suitable model law yet to be prepared. State initiative is then required to enact these rules and adapt them to domestic specificities. The establishment of a legal framework at the state level should be general and flexible enough not to suffocate private initiative since the latter brings innovation and evolution of norms in project finance. No one route can therefore be preferred over any other. If one is used alone, it is more likely to be inefficient

The International Role of the Dollar and Trade Balance Adjustment

The pattern of international trade adjustment is affected by the continuing international role of the dollar and related evidence on exchange rate pass-through into prices. This paper argues that a depreciation of the dollar would have asymmetric effects on flows between the United States and its trading partners. With low exchange rate pass-through to U.S. import prices and high exchange rate pass-through to the local prices of countries consuming U.S. exports, the effect of dollar depreciation on real trade flows is dominated by an adjustment in U.S. export quantities, which increase as U.S. goods become cheaper in the rest of the world. Real U.S. imports are affected less because U.S. prices are more insulated from exchange rate movements — pass-through is low and dollar invoicing is high. In relation to prices, the effects on the U.S. terms of trade are limited: U.S. exporters earn the same amount of dollars for each unit shipped abroad, and U.S. consumers do not encounter more expensive imports. Movements in dollar exchange rates also affect the international trade transactions of countries invoicing some of their trade in dollars, even when these countries are not transacting directly with the United States.

Nonlinear Analysis and Control of Interleaved Boost Converter Using Real-Time Cycle to Cycle Variable Slope Compensation

Switched-mode power converters are inherently nonlinear and piecewise smooth systems that may exhibit a series of undesirable operations that can greatly reduce the converter's efficiency and lifetime. This paper presents a nonlinear analysis technique to investigate the influence of system parameters on the stability of interleaved boost converters. In this approach, Monodromy matrix that contains all the comprehensive information of converter parameters and control loop can be employed to fully reveal and understand the inherent nonlinear dynamics of interleaved boost converters, including the interaction effect of switching operation. Thereby not only the boundary conditions but also the relationship between stability margin and the parameters given can be intuitively studied by the eigenvalues of this matrix. Furthermore, by employing the knowledge gained from this analysis, a real-Time cycle to cycle variable slope compensation method is proposed to guarantee a satisfactory performance of the converter with an extended range of stable operation. Outcomes show that systems can regain stability by applying the proposed method within a few time periods of switching cycles. The numerical and analytical results validate the theoretical analysis, and experimental results verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach