Analysis, filtering, and control for Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy models in networked systems

Copyright © 2015 Sunjie Zhang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.The fuzzy logic theory has been proven to be effective in dealing with various nonlinear systems and has a great success in industry applications. Among different kinds of models for fuzzy systems, the so-called Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy model has been quite popular due to its convenient and simple dynamic structure as well as its capability of approximating any smooth nonlinear function to any specified accuracy within any compact set. In terms of such a model, the performance analysis and the design of controllers and filters play important roles in the research of fuzzy systems. In this paper, we aim to survey some recent advances on the T-S fuzzy control and filtering problems with various network-induced phenomena. The network-induced phenomena under consideration mainly include communication delays, packet dropouts, signal quantization, and randomly occurring uncertainties (ROUs). With such network-induced phenomena, the developments on T-S fuzzy control and filtering issues are reviewed in detail. In addition, some latest results on this topic are highlighted. In the end, conclusions are drawn and some possible future research directions are pointed out.This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grants 61134009, 61329301, 11301118 and 61174136, the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province of China under Grant BK20130017, the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China under Grant CUSF-DH-D-2013061, the Royal Society of the U.K., and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany

An integrated approach to global synchronization and state estimation for nonlinear singularly perturbed complex networks

This paper aims to establish a unified framework to handle both the exponential synchronization and state estimation problems for a class of nonlinear singularly perturbed complex networks (SPCNs). Each node in the SPCN comprises both 'slow' and 'fast' dynamics that reflects the singular perturbation behavior. General sector-like nonlinear function is employed to describe the nonlinearities existing in the network. All nodes in the SPCN have the same structures and properties. By utilizing a novel Lyapunov functional and the Kronecker product, it is shown that the addressed SPCN is synchronized if certain matrix inequalities are feasible. The state estimation problem is then studied for the same complex network, where the purpose is to design a state estimator to estimate the network states through available output measurements such that dynamics (both slow and fast) of the estimation error is guaranteed to be globally asymptotically stable. Again, a matrix inequality approach is developed for the state estimation problem. Two numerical examples are presented to verify the effectiveness and merits of the proposed synchronization scheme and state estimation formulation. It is worth mentioning that our main results are still valid even if the slow subsystems within the network are unstable

Wives’ Work Idle Among Padi-Farming Households in Two Villages in Malaysia

The main purpose of this study was to determine wives' work role among padi -farming households in two villages in Malaysia. The specific objectives were: a) to ascertain wives' home and farm work roles, b) to determine the factors related wives' home and farm work roles, and c) to determine wives' satisfaction in their home and farm work roles. were Data collected from 101 wives of padi farming households analyzed using the following SPSSX subprograms: Frequencies, Crosstabs, Reliability, T-test and Regression. The findings of the study were: 1. The amount and degree of work participation among wives of padi farming households were concentrated to home and childcare tasks

Cumulate causes for the low contents of sulfide-loving elements in the continental crust

Despite the economic importance of chalcophile (sulfide-loving) and siderophile (metal-loving) elements (CSEs), it is unclear how they become enriched or depleted in the continental crust, compared with the oceanic crust. This is due in part to our limited understanding of the partitioning behaviour of the CSEs. Here I compile compositional data for mid-ocean ridge basalts and subduction-related volcanic rocks. I show that the mantle-derived melts that contribute to oceanic and continental crust formation rarely avoid sulfide saturation during cooling in the crust and, on average, subduction-zone magmas fractionate sulfide at the base of the continental crust prior to ascent. Differentiation of mantle-derived melts enriches lower crustal sulfide- and silicate-bearing cumulates in some CSEs compared with the upper crust. This storage predisposes the cumulate-hosted compatible CSEs (such as Cu and Au) to be recycled back into the mantle during subduction and delamination, resulting in their low contents in the bulk continental crust and potentially contributing to the scarcity of ore deposits in the upper continental crust. By contrast, differentiation causes the upper oceanic and continental crust to become enriched in incompatible CSEs (such as W) compared with the lower oceanic and continental crust. Consequently, incompatible CSEs are predisposed to become enriched in subduction-zone magmas that contribute to continental crust formation and are less susceptible to removal from the continental crust via delamination compared with the compatible CSEs

Multivariate dynamic kernels for financial time series forecasting

The final publication is available at http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-44781-0_40We propose a forecasting procedure based on multivariate dynamic kernels, with the capability of integrating information measured at different frequencies and at irregular time intervals in financial markets. A data compression process redefines the original financial time series into temporal data blocks, analyzing the temporal information of multiple time intervals. The analysis is done through multivariate dynamic kernels within support vector regression. We also propose two kernels for financial time series that are computationally efficient without a sacrifice on accuracy. The efficacy of the methodology is demonstrated by empirical experiments on forecasting the challenging S&P500 market.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Experiences of obesity among Saudi Arabian women contemplating bariatric surgery: An interpretative phenomenological analysis

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2013 The Authors.This study explored experiences of obesity, its perceived causes and motives for surgery, as described by seven Saudi women contemplating bariatric surgery. The women experienced cultural restrictions on their physical and social activities. Obesity embodied these restrictions, attracting stigma and moral failure. Traditional clothing, foods, hospitality norms and limited outdoor female activities were regarded as barriers to weight loss. Bariatric surgery was chosen to protect health and to access normative female roles. Some were encouraged by relatives who had undergone surgery. Opting for surgery reflected both participants’ sense of powerlessness to self-manage weight and the social acceptability, within their family context, of this biomedical approach

Evaluating defect reporting in new residential buildings in New Zealand

The need for defect reporting is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore at handover of new residential buildings. A general review in defect studies has consistently shown that newly built properties can be found to have a significant number of defects. Very often the responsibility for rectifying these common defects is borne by the new homeowner even though house developers are liable. In the current study, survey data is obtained from 216 recent home purchasers/owners across New Zealand urban cities. The intent of the investigation is to show that opportunities exist for defect reporting that will act as a mechanism to measure performance and thus improve the quality of finished construction products in New Zealand. The study found that a significant number (81%) of the participants were involved in the construction of their homes and could influence quality performance if they were proactive enough. The results show that (64.7%) did not engage the service of independent building inspectors for defect reporting on their new homes. Seventy-four percent now agree that independent building inspection was important in hindsight. The study findings are in line with literature on defects and the poor use of defect reporting in new residential buildings. The current challenge for defect rectification by house developers after handover is real and this could increase the confidence that new home owners can have in their developers. Defect reporting could confer benefits to new residential building quality in New Zealand and should be embraced as part of a wider best practice

Practitioners Put Research into Practice Strengthening Community-Based Pregnant and Parenting Teen Programs

The United States teen birth rate remains the highest of any industrialized nation. Although nationally the rate is declining, the problem remains complex and significant. Cooperative Extension staff in three San Francisco, California Bay Area counties partnered with six community-based teen pregnancy program site practitioners to adopt a new best practice to improve their programs. This article reports on the process, the implementation, and outcomes for both pregnant and parenting teen participants and programs. Male involvement, family involvement, and youth development/participation in sports and exercise were the best practices chosen for implementation

A LeVeque-type Lower Bound for Discrepancy

A sharp lower bound for discrepancy on R / Z is derived that resembles the upper bound due to LeVeque. An analogous bound is proved for discrepancy on Rk / Zk. These are discussed in the more general context of the discrepancy of probablity measures. As applications, the bounds are applied to Kronecker sequences and to a random walk on the torus