Observer Incorporated Neoclassical Controller Design: A Discrete Perspective

Control theory has generally been divided into two categories, modern control and classical control. Modern control uses state feedback to alter the pole locations of a given system. Classical control uses pre-compensation to alter the zeroes of the system and uses output feedback to adjust the poles to bring stability to the system. The drawback is that the application of classical control techniques can be a lengthy, complicated and iterative design process and in the end, classical control techniques still do not give information about the state of the system. Neoclassical control combines classical control techniques with the state feedback approach of modern control to stabilize the system, eliminate the steady state error, provide relevant internal state information, and reduce the time it takes to design the controller. This thesis explores the application of neoclassical control to discrete-time systems. The mass-spring-damper, magnetic levitation, and ball and beam systems are discretized using the zero-order-hold or the Euler approximation. State-feedback control is used to modify the pole locations for these systems. A discrete-time integrator is put in series to eliminate the steady-state error for a step input. The pre-compensator is also put in series to replace the numerator of the open-loop system with a desired numerator. The unit output-feedback is then used to close the loop. The closed-loop system will have a step response which matches the discrete-time optimal ITAE, Bessel, or Butterworth transfer functions. An observer is added to estimate the state of the plant in this work. The observer is applied to the discrete-time mass-spring-damper, the magnetic levitation, and the ball and beam systems in such a way that the error in the state estimate will be driven to zero within the desired period of time. This will allow the application of this controller to systems when the state is not known or measurable

Social change in greater Cape Town with special reference to National Qualifications Framework

Masters in Public Administration - MPAThe purpose of this study is to investigate what the municipalities within the greater Cape Town area are doing regarding Education, Training and Development within their different departments in relation to the National Qualifications Framework and the manner in which it affects career plans and prospects of employees and how the latter impacts on overall institutional transformation as a prerequisite for effective service delivery

Fortaleciendo vínculos educativos, una propuesta pedagógica para la comprensión y aplicación de las inteligencias múltiples en el colegio Gimnasio Bilingüe Howard Gardner del municipio de Ocaña en Norte de Santander

Carpeta práctica pedagógicaEsta propuesta busca enriquecer y facilitar la comprensión de las inteligencias múltiples y fortalecer la autonomía de los estudiantes mediante secuencias didácticas implementadas en la Escuela de Padres. Al establecer una conexión sólida entre la teoría de Gardner y el concepto de autonomía en la educación, se promueve una colaboración efectiva entre la institución educativa y los padres, contribuyendo a una experiencia educativa más significativa y adaptada a las necesidades individuales de los estudiantes en el Colegio Gimnasio Bilingüe Howard Gardner de Ocaña, Norte de Santander, Colombia. La conexión entre las inteligencias múltiples y la autonomía se fundamenta en la noción de que, al reconocer y cultivar las distintas inteligencias, los estudiantes adquieren las herramientas necesarias para desarrollar su autonomía educativa. Este enfoque se alinea con la perspectiva de Howard Gardner sobre la diversidad de habilidades y talentos, así como con la idea de que fomentar la autonomía es esencial para el pleno desarrollo ético de los estudiantes para el “saber”, el “saber hacer” y el “ser”. Los resultados obtenidos indican una mejora sustancial en la comprensión de los padres sobre las inteligencias múltiples y su conexión intrínseca con la autonomía educativa de los estudiantes. Se observa un aumento significativo en la participación y compromiso de los padres en el proceso educativo de sus hijos, evidenciando un impacto positivo de las secuencias didácticas implementadas en la Escuela de Padres del colegio Gimnasio Bilingüe Howard Gardner.This proposal aims to enrich and facilitate the understanding of multiple intelligences and strengthen students' autonomy through didactic sequences implemented in the Parent School. By establishing a strong connection between Gardner's theory and the concept of autonomy in education, effective collaboration between the educational institution and parents is promoted, contributing to a more meaningful and tailored educational experience for students at the Gimnasio Bilingüe Howard Gardner School in Ocaña, Norte de Santander, Colombia. The link between multiple intelligences and autonomy is based on the notion that, by recognizing and cultivating different intelligences, students acquire the necessary tools to develop their educational autonomy. This approach aligns with Howard Gardner's perspective on the diversity of skills and talents, as well as with the idea that fostering autonomy is essential for the full ethical development of students in terms of "knowing," "knowing how," and "being." The obtained results indicate a substantial improvement in parents' understanding of multiple intelligences and their intrinsic connection to students' educational autonomy. There is a significant increase in parental participation and commitment in their children's educational process, demonstrating a positive impact of the didactic sequences implemented in the Parent School of the Gimnasio Bilingüe Howard Gardner School

Impact of Biofluid Viscosity on Size and Sedimentation Efficiency of the Isolated Microvesicles

Microvesicles are nano-sized lipid vesicles released by all cells in vivo and in vitro. They are released physiologically under normal conditions but their rate of release is higher under pathological conditions such as tumors. Once released they end up in the systemic circulation and have been found and characterized in all biofluids such as plasma, serum, cerebrospinal fluid, breast milk, ascites, and urine. Microvesicles represent the status of the donor cell they are released from and they are currently under intense investigation as a potential source for disease biomarkers. Currently, the “gold standard” for isolating microvesicles is ultracentrifugation, although alternative techniques such as affinity purification have been explored. Viscosity is the resistance of a fluid to a deforming force by either shear or tensile stress. The different chemical and molecular compositions of biofluids have an effect on its viscosity and this could affect movements of the particles inside the fluid. In this manuscript we addressed the issue of whether viscosity has an effect on sedimentation efficiency of microvesicles using ultracentrifugation. We used different biofluids and spiked them with polystyrene beads and assessed their recovery using the Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis. We demonstrate that MVs recovery inversely correlates with viscosity and as a result, sample dilutions should be considered prior to ultracentrifugation when processing any biofluids

Kulturen des Kopierschutzes II

Seit den 1990er Jahren war viel die Rede von Kopie und Simulation, Re­produzier­barkeit und Serialität. Doch dass schon das eigene Portemon­naie Dinge wie Geld und Personalpapiere enthält, die nicht kopiert wer­den sollen und von Normal­bürgern auch nicht kopiert werden können, wird oft vergessen. Wir leben (auch) in einer "Kultur des Kopierschutzes", in der verschiedene technische, diskursive und juristische Verfahren zu­sammenwirken, um die gesteigerte "technische Repro­duzierbarkeit", um Benjamins berühmten Ausdruck zu bemühen, im Zaum zu halten. Besonders deutlich wird das auch in den manchmal aufgeregten Diskus­sionen um den Status des Urheberrechts im Feld der digitalen Medien. Die beiden Hefte der Navigationen des Jahres 2010 sind das Ergebnis einer von Prof. Dr. Jens Schröter (Medienwissenschaft,Theorie und Praxis multi­medialer Systeme) geleiteten Projektgruppe im Masterstudiengang "Medienkul­tur". Die Studierenden haben im Rahmen des gesetzten Themas selbstständig Problemstellungen formuliert und diskutiert, dieErgebnisse dieser Arbeit sind in den beiden Heften publiziert - zusammen miteiner Reihe eingeladener Beiträge, die Aspekte abdecken, die in der Projektgruppe nicht bearbeitet werden konn­te

Viewpoint: Evaluating the impact of malaria control efforts on mortality in sub-Saharan Africa

OBJECTIVE To describe an approach for evaluating the impact of malaria control efforts on malaria-associated mortality in sub-Saharan Africa, where disease-specific mortality trends usually cannot be measured directly and most malaria deaths occur among young children. METHODS Methods for evaluating changes in malaria-associated mortality are examined; advantages and disadvantages are presented. RESULTS All methods require a plausibility argument - i.e., an assumption that mortality reductions can be attributed to programmatic efforts if improvements are found in steps of the causal pathway between intervention scale-up and mortality trends. As different methods provide complementary information, they can be used together. We recommend following trends in the coverage of malaria control interventions, other factors influencing childhood mortality, malaria-associated morbidity (especially anaemia), and all-cause childhood mortality. This approach reflects decreases in malaria's direct and indirect mortality burden and can be examined in nearly all countries. Adding other information can strengthen the plausibility argument: trends in indicators of malaria transmission, information from demographic surveillance systems and sentinel sites where malaria diagnostics are systematically used, and verbal autopsies linked to representative household surveys. Health facility data on malaria deaths have well-recognized limitations; however, in specific circumstances, they could produce reliable trends. Model-based predictions can help describe changes in malaria-specific burden and assist with program management and advocacy. CONCLUSIONS Despite challenges, efforts to reduce malaria-associated mortality in Africa can be evaluated with trends in malaria intervention coverage and all-cause childhood mortality. Where there are resources and interest, complementary data on malaria morbidity and malaria-specific mortality could be added

Short Course in Extracellular Vesicles – The Transition from Tissue to Liquid Biopsies

Extracellular vesicles (EVs), including exosomes and microvesicles, carry a variety of bio-macromolecules, including mRNA, microRNA, other non-coding RNAs, proteins and lipids. EVs have emerged as a promising, minimally invasive (liquid biopsies) and novel source of material for molecular diagnostics, and may provide a surrogate to tissue biopsy-based biomarkers for a variety of diseases. Although EVs can be easily identified and collected from biological fluids using commercial kits, further research and proper validation is needed in order for them to be useful in the clinical setting. Currently, several EV-based research and diagnostic companies have developed research-based kits and are in the process of working with clinical laboratories to develop and validate EV-based assays for a variety of diseases. The successful clinical application of EV-based diagnostic assays will require close collaboration between industry, academia, regulatory agencies and access to patient samples. We expect that international, integrative and interdisciplinary translational research teams, along with the emergence of FDA-approved platforms, will set the framework for EV-based diagnostics. We recognize that the EV field offers new promise for personalized/precision medicine and targeted treatment in a variety of diseases. A short course was held as a four-session webinar series in September and October 2014, presented by pioneers and experts in the EV domain, covering a broad range of topics from an overview of the field to its applications, and the current state and challenges of the commercialization of EVs for research and an introduction to the clinic. It was concluded with a panel discussion on the regulatory aspects and funding opportunities in this field. A summary of the short course is presented as a meeting dispatch

Nodal methods for reactor analysis.

Sponsored by Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Northeast Utilities Service Company, Pacific Gas & Electric Company, PSE&G Research Corporation

The Turing Teacher: Identifying core attributes for AI learning in K-12

IntroductionArtificial intelligence in the educational domain has many uses; however, using AI specifically to enhance education and teaching in a K-12 environment poses the most significant challenges to its use. Beyond usage and application, the quality of the education is made even more arduous due to the dynamics of teaching primary and secondary school children, whose needs far exceed mere fact recollection. Utilizing prior research using AI in education and online education in the K-12 space, we explore some of the hurdles that AI applications face in K-12 teaching and provide core attributes for a “Turing Teacher,” i.e., an AI powered technology for learning, specifically targeting the K-12 space.MethodsUsing a survey, which included qualitative responses during the implementation of online learning during the Covid Pandemic, we analyze the results using univariate and multivariate tests and analyzed the qualitative responses to create core attributes needed for AI powered teaching technology.ResultsThe results present the challenges faced by any technology in an education setting and show that AI technology must help overcome negative feelings about technology in education. Further, the core attributes identified in the research must be addressed from the three stakeholder perspectives of teachers, parents and students.DiscussionWe present our findings and lay the groundwork for future research in the area of AI powered education. The Turing Teacher must be able to adapt and collaborate with real teachers and address the varying needs of students. In addition, we explore the use of AI technology as a means to close the digital divide in traditionally disadvantaged communities