"I needed to hear this" : evaluation of the implementation and impact of 22 recommendations emanating from the report "I want to be heard": an analysis of needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander illegal drug users in the ACT and region for treatment and other services

This research was a 12 month, cross sectional descriptive study designed to evaluate the impact and implementation of 22 recommendations emanating from the "I want to be heard": An analysis of needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander illegal drug users in the ACT and region for treatment and other services (Dance 2004) report2. That research was conducted in response to long-term concerns within the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Indigenous communities regarding the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the ACT and region who use illegal drugs (Dance 2004)

Multimedia courseware: Never mind the quality how much will it cost to develop?

This paper evaluates multimedia courseware costing techniques such as the US Airforce Interactive Courseware Method (Golas, 1993), CBT Analyst (Kearsley, 1985), CEAC (Schooley, 1988) and MEEM (Marshall, Samson, Dugard, & Scott, 1994) against the data from ten multimedia courseware developments. The Relative Error and Mean Absolute Relative Error (MARE) are calculated to allow comparison of the different methods

The case of Johannesburg water: What really happened at the pre-paid ‘Parish pump’

Patrick Bond and Jackie Dugard consider South Africa’s retail water policy and delivery system through the dual lens of the proceedings in Mazibuko & Others v City of Johannesburg & Others , heard in the Johannesburg High Court from 3-5 December 2007, and a recent hydropolitical analysis by the country’s leading water authority, Mike Muller. Together they raise crucial debates around the first democratic government’s success in delivering water to people on low incomes. Several policy and practical issues are highlighted as deserving special scrutiny: the constitutional implications of pre-paid water meters and shallow sanitation, especially in cases of water emergency and chronic poverty; the origins and sufficiency of Free Basic Water (FBW) as well as the unaffordability for poor households of water beyond the current FBW allocation; and the politics of local and national state-society relations in a context of transnational corporations, multilateral financial institutions and market-oriented state policies. The authors’ bias is towards unveiling power relations that maintain poor people in water poverty, notwithstanding ‘developmental’ rhetori

A LPV/Hinf fault tolerant control of vehicle roll dynamics under semi-active damper malfunction

International audienceThis paper proposes a LPV/Hinf fault tolerant control strategy for roll dynamics handling under semi-active damper's malfunction. Indeed, in case of damper's malfunction, a lateral load transfer is generated, that amplifies the risks of vehicle roll over. In this study, the suspension systems efficiency is monitored through the lateral (or longitudinal) load transfer induced by a damper's malfunction. The information given by the monitoring system is used in a partly fixed LPV/Hinf controller structure that allows to manage the distribution of the four dampers forces in order to handle the over load caused by one damper's malfunction. The proposed LPV/Hinf controller then uses the 3 remaining healthy semi-active dampers in a real time reconfiguration. Moreover, the performances of the car vertical dynamics (roll, bounce, pitch) are adapted to the varying parameter given by the monitoring of the suspension system efficiency, which allows to modify online the damping properties (soft/hard) to limit the induced load transfer. Simulations are performed on a complex nonlinear full vehicle model, equipped by 4 magneto-rheological semi-active dampers. This vehicle undergoes critical driving situations, and only one damper is considered faulty at ones. The simulation results show the reliability and the robustness of the proposed solution

Adaptive Space-Time Distributed Parameter and Input Estimation in Heat Transport with Unknown Bounds

International audienceIn this paper, we discuss on-line adaptive estimation of distributed diffusion and source term coefficients for a non-homogeneous linear parabolic partial differential equation describing heat transport. An estimator is defined in the infinite-dimensional framework having the system state and the parameters' estimate as its states. Our scheme allows to estimate spatially distributed and space-time distributed parameters. While the parameters convergence depends on the plant signal richness assumption, the state convergence is established using the Lyapunov approach. Since the estimator is infinite- dimensional, the b-splines Galerkin finite element method is used to implement it. In silico simulations are provided to illustrate the performance of the proposed approach

An LP V/H∞ integrated Vehicle Dynamic Controller

International audienceThis paper is concerned with the design and analysis of a new multivariable LP V /H∞ (Linear Parameter Varying) robust control design strategy for Global Chassis Control. The main objective of this study is to handle critical driving situations by activating several controller subsystems in a hierarchical way. The proposed solution consists indeed in a two-step control strategy that uses semi-active suspensions, active steering and electro-mechanical braking actuators. The main idea of the strategy is to schedule the 3 control actions (braking, steering and suspension) according to the driving situation evaluated by a specific monitor. Indeed, on one hand, rear braking and front steering are used to enhance the vehicle yaw stability and lateral dynamics, and on the other hand, the semi-active suspensions to improve comfort and car handling performances. Thanks to the LP V /H∞ framework, this new approach allows to reach a smooth coordination between the various actuators, to ensure robustness and stability of the proposed solution, and to significantly improve the vehicle dynamical behavior. Simulations have been performed on a complex full vehicle model which has been validated using data obtained from experimental tests on a real Renault Mégane Coupé. Moreover, the suspension system uses Magneto-Rheological dampers whose characteristics have been obtained through experimental identification tests. A comparison between the proposed LPV/H∞ control strategy and a classical LTI/H∞ controller is performed using the same simulation scenarios and confirms the effectiveness of this approach