Advanced controllers for electromechanical motion systems

The aim of this research is to develop advanced controllers for electromechan-\ud ical motion systems. In order to increase efficiency and reliability, these control systems are required to achieve high performance and robustness in the face of model uncertainty, measurement noise, and reproducible disturbances

Lyusternik-Graves Theorem for Holder Metric Regularity

The paper extends the well-known Lyusternik-Graves theorem for set-valued mappings to the Holder framework, offers an affirmative answer to an open problem proposed by Dontchev and improves recent results of He and Ng. Primal and dual necessary and sufficient conditions for Holder metric regularity are established. The results are applied to convergence analysis of a Newton-type method. Some open problems for future research are also discussed

Transversality Properties: Primal Sufficient Conditions

The paper studies 'good arrangements' (transversality properties) of collections of sets in a normed vector space near a given point in their intersection. We target primal (metric and slope) characterizations of transversality properties in the nonlinear setting. The Holder case is given a special attention. Our main objective is not formally extending our earlier results from the Holder to a more general nonlinear setting, but rather to develop a general framework for quantitative analysis of transversality properties. The nonlinearity is just a simple setting, which allows us to unify the existing results on the topic. Unlike the well-studied subtransversality property, not many characterizations of the other two important properties: semitransversality and transversality have been known even in the linear case. Quantitative relations between nonlinear transversality properties and the corresponding regularity properties of set-valued mappings as well as nonlinear extensions of the new transversality properties of a set-valued mapping to a set in the range space due to Ioffe are also discussed.Comment: 33 page

Narrow Band Gap AgInTe2 Solar Cells Fabricated by Printing Method

AgInTe2 micron-particles were synthesized by mechanical ball milling method. Only AgInTe2 phase was obtained in the powder after ball milling from the mixture of elements (Ag, In, and Te). AgInTe2 particles had the variation in the size and the biggest particle was approximately 2 µm. AgInTe2 solar cells were fabricated as superstrate structure by doctor-blade printing, and were annealed at various temperatures under nitrogen ambient. AgInTe2 after annealing showed high crystallinity and two band gaps of 0.67 and 0.86 eV. Although no photocurrent was observed after annealing below 350 °C, the photocurrent was observed in AgInTe2 superstrate solar cells after annealing over 400 °C. The short-circuit photocurrent density strongly increased up to 18 mA/cm2 for the samples annealed at 600 °C for 5 min.Key words: AgInTe2; Solar cells; Printing metho

Uniform Regularity of Set-Valued Mappings and Stability of Implicit Multifunctions

We propose a unifying general (i.e. not assuming the mapping to have any particular structure) view on the theory of regularity and clarify the relationships between the existing primal and dual quantitative sufficient and necessary conditions including their hierarchy. We expose the typical sequence of regularity assertions, often hidden in the proofs, and the roles of the assumptions involved in the assertions, in particular, on the underlying space: general metric, normed, Banach or Asplund. As a consequence, we formulate primal and dual conditions for the stability properties of solution mappings to inclusionsComment: 24 page

The Determinants of Customer Satisfaction in Fast Food Industry

This primary objective of this study is to identify the determinants of customer satisfaction for KFC in Vietnam. Fast food industry developed rapidly in an emerging economy like Viet Nam. Current competition in Vietnamese fast food has required companies to pay more attention to customer satisfaction. Data is collected from KFC's customers in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam. The research model is adopted from the SERVQUAL model (Parasuraman et al., 1988). The findings show that the main determinants of customer satisfaction of KFC Vietnam are Food Quality, Ambience, Price, Service Quality. Among these determinants, ambiance causes the most impact on customer satisfaction, following up by food quality and price. Managerial implications for KFC and other fast-food companies are discussed to improve customer satisfaction

Assessing the Determinants of Customer Satisfaction in Major Supermarkets in Vietnam

This study attempts to identify the determinants of customer satisfaction in major supermarkets in Vietnam. The sample size includes 250 responses collected by convenient method at supermarkets in Vietnam. The SERVQUAL model is employed and Exploratory Factors Analysis is utilised as research design. The results confirm that customer satisfaction is positively influenced by tangibility, empathy, responsiveness, assurance and reliablity. The strongest determinant of customer satisfaction is responsiveness (β=0.261). From these findings, some recommendations for Vietnamese supermarkets to improve their customer satisfaction were proposed

Simple thermal-electrical model of photovoltaic panels with cooler-integrated sun tracker

This paper presents a simple thermal-electrical model of a photovoltaic panel with a cooler-integrated sun tracker. Based on the model and obtained weather data, we analyzed the improved overall efficiency in a year as well as the performance in each typical weather case for photovoltaic panels with fixed-tilt systems with a tilt angle equal to latitude, fixed-tilt systems with cooler, a single-axis sun tracker, and a cooler-integrated single-axis sun tracker. The results show that on a sunny summer day with few clouds, the performance of the photovoltaic panels with the proposed system improved and reached 32.76% compared with the fixed-tilt systems. On a sunny day with clouds in the wet, rainy season, because of the low air temperature and the high wind speed, the photovoltaic panel temperature was lower than the cooler’s initial set temperature; the performance of the photovoltaic panel with the proposed system improved by 12.55% compared with the fixed-tilt system. Simulation results show that, over one year, the overall efficiency of the proposed system markedly improved by 16.35, 13.03, and 3.68% compared with the photovoltaic panel with the fixed-tilt system, the cooler, and the single-axis sun tracker, respectively. The simulation results can serve as a premise for future experimental models