Minimum fuel coplanar aeroassisted orbital transfer using collocation and nonlinear programming

The fuel optimal control problem arising in coplanar orbital transfer employing aeroassisted technology is addressed. The mission involves the transfer from high energy orbit (HEO) to low energy orbit (LEO) without plane change. The basic approach here is to employ a combination of propulsive maneuvers in space and aerodynamic maneuvers in the atmosphere. The basic sequence of events for the coplanar aeroassisted HEO to LEO orbit transfer consists of three phases. In the first phase, the transfer begins with a deorbit impulse at HEO which injects the vehicle into a elliptic transfer orbit with perigee inside the atmosphere. In the second phase, the vehicle is optimally controlled by lift and drag modulation to satisfy heating constraints and to exit the atmosphere with the desired flight path angle and velocity so that the apogee of the exit orbit is the altitude of the desired LEO. Finally, the second impulse is required to circularize the orbit at LEO. The performance index is maximum final mass. Simulation results show that the coplanar aerocapture is quite different from the case where orbital plane changes are made inside the atmosphere. In the latter case, the vehicle has to penetrate deeper into the atmosphere to perform the desired orbital plane change. For the coplanar case, the vehicle needs only to penetrate the atmosphere deep enough to reduce the exit velocity so the vehicle can be captured at the desired LEO. The peak heating rates are lower and the entry corridor is wider. From the thermal protection point of view, the coplanar transfer may be desirable. Parametric studies also show the maximum peak heating rates and the entry corridor width are functions of maximum lift coefficient. The problem is solved using a direct optimization technique which uses piecewise polynomial representation for the states and controls and collocation to represent the differential equations. This converts the optimal control problem into a nonlinear programming problem which is solved numerically by using a modified version of NPSOL. Solutions were obtained for the described problem for cases with and without heating constraints. The method appears to be more robust than other optimization methods. In addition, the method can handle complex dynamical constraints

Building Math Confidence in Classroom Learning Using Microsoft Excel

Math anxiety is experienced by students across disciplines and is believed to have reduced students’ career options, particularly in science and technology. Many factors contribute to this malady. Instructors, with their responsibilities and resources, should strive to exert a positive impact on their students in building math confidence in classroom teaching. The purpose of this study focused on whether positive reinforcement enhanced students’ ability to deal with math and math-related problem solving skills. Using Microsoft Excel as a tool, students were encouraged to build their math confidence by working on application exercises designed to be meaningful and practical. Implications of this study included incorporating teaching and learning strategies in curriculum to achieve the desired goal in helping students build math confidence

A Deep Study of Fuzzy Implications

This thesis contributes a deep study on the extensions of the IMPLY operator in classical binary logic to fuzzy logic, which are called fuzzy implications. After the introduction in Chapter 1 and basic notations about the fuzzy logic operators In Chapter 2 we first characterize In Chapter 3 S- and R- implications and then extensively investigate under which conditions QL-implications satisfy the thirteen fuzzy implication axioms. In Chapter 4 we develop the complete interrelationships between the eight supplementary axioms FI6-FI13 for fuzzy implications satisfying the five basic axioms FI1-FI15. We prove all the dependencies between the eight fuzzy implication axioms, and provide for each independent case a counter-example. The counter-examples provided in this chapter can be used in the applications that need different fuzzy implications satisfying different fuzzy implication axioms. In Chapter 5 we study proper S-, R- and QL-implications for an iterative boolean-like scheme of reasoning from classical binary logic in the frame of fuzzy logic. Namely, repeating antecedents $n$ times, the reasoning result will remain the same. To determine the proper S-, R- and QL-implications we get a full solution of the functional equation $I(x,y)=I(x,I(x,y))$, for all $x$, $y\in[0,1]$. In Chapter 6 we study for the most important t-norms, t-conorms and S-implications their robustness against different perturbations in a fuzzy rule-based system. We define and compare for these fuzzy logical operators the robustness measures against bounded unknown and uniform distributed perturbations respectively. In Chapter 7 we use a fuzzy implication $I$ to define a fuzzy $I$-adjunction in $\mathcal{F}(\mathbb{R}^{n})$. And then we study the conditions under which a fuzzy dilation which is defined from a conjunction $\mathcal{C}$ on the unit interval and a fuzzy erosion which is defined from a fuzzy implication $I^{'}$ to form a fuzzy $I$-adjunction. These conditions are essential in order that the fuzzification of the morphological operations of dilation, erosion, opening and closing obey similar properties as their algebraic counterparts. We find out that the adjointness between the conjunction $\mathcal{C}$ on the unit interval and the implication $I$ or the implication $I^{'}$ play important roles in such conditions